Montenegro and the arrival of the superyachts at Tivat

I have been visiting Montenegro regularly since 2005 when I bought my apartment in Kotor. Every time I go back I am always fascinated to see what changes have happened since my last visit. Some have been big. Many smaller. Most have taken time.

But looking back on it all now with the benefit of a 13-year perspective, the change in Montenegro as a whole has been outstanding. Outstanding. Exciting. And positive.

Just like a geography lesson unfolding before my very eyes, as my Montenegro Man keeps saying.

But the most radical change for me has been the gradual unfolding of Montenegro as a luxury destination.

When I first visited, the only “luxury” hotel in the area was Hotel Splendido. I say, luxury, because that was how it was in the context of the time. A modest 4-star hotel set in a beautiful quiet location on the water’s edge in Kotor Bay, with an outdoor pool – which I often used to pay my 8 Euros to enjoy for the day.

Kotor had and still does have some impressive yachts mooring in its small port running alongside the Old Town Walls. But that was virtually it in the Luxury Department.

But then the serious foreign investors moved in.

Lustica Bay & a cool 1.1 billion euros

Lustica is one of my all-time favourite places in Montenegro. It is a spectacularly beautiful peninsula jutting out into Kotor Bay, about 15 minutes’ drive from Kotor and Tivat. In 2005 I looked at a village house there in the pouring rain and was very tempted to buy.

At that time, I was staggered with why there appeared to be very little going on Lustica, despite the fact that it was so unspoilt and stunning. As I know now, the infrastructure in Lustica is somewhat lacking – many of the homes have no mains water.

But when I heard of plans to develop a new “town” and marina called Lustica Bay in 2008 I wasn’t surprised at all. I wasn’t the only one, who had recognised its beauty then!

The development is a project by Orascom Development Ltd (90%) and the Government of Montenegro (10%). It will be the biggest investment in Montenegro yet – a staggering 1.1 billion Euros, and when complete it will have more than 1000 apartments, 500+ houses, 7 hotels, 2 marinas, an 18-hole golf course, a school and medical facility.

And I am pleased to see that it is being developed in such a sympathetic way, with its stone buildings clustered on the hillside stretching down to the marina. Almost like an authentic Montenegrin village. But new. And a bit bigger.

​They have also very cleverly positioned the “town” as it is barely visible from the main road above as you come from the little town of Radovici. Once I heard about the plans, I drove there several times over the years to see what was happening and couldn’t spot anything!

Because the development at Lustica Bay is being done so sensitively, it actually sits beautifully within its surroundings despite the grand scale of the development and doesn’t spoil the Lustica that I have come to love at all.

It’s open for public access now, but work still continues. So, I will watch this space, as they say.

​And I look forward to having a birthday celebration drink in the 5 star Chedi Hotel there during my next trip!

The glamour of Porto Montenegro

In 2006 I have very clear memories of dragging my boyfriend at the time (now husband) around Tivat in search of a plain white dinner set for my apartment. It sounds like it should have been easy, but as I found out, Montenegrins like flowery cups and plates. Simple and white wasn’t really their thing.

Anyway, Tivat was a pretty humble town back then. It had the everyday bustle of a regular south eastern European town, where locals came to do their shopping, take their children to school and basically got on with normal life.