Montenegro Memories

Anna Hall
2 hours ago
2 min read

Another trip I took this summer was to Ulcinj, Montenegro! This weekend trip happened after our study tour wrapped up, and I traveled with seven other students who are also interning in Kosovo. Even though we’re all placed at different organizations, our internships were coordinated through the same team at ISLA. I’m really grateful for being part of a shared program, because that helped us get really close to each other and have a sense of community outside of our internship. Since we’re all from the U.S. or Canada, it’s been easy to bond, and we’ve done a lot together so far, like this trip that this blog is about!

We chose Ulcinj because it looked beautiful and was pretty close to Prishtina, about a five-hour overnight bus ride. Our bus left at 11:00 PM…so, yes, we arrived in Montenegro at 4:00 in the morning. I somehow managed to sleep most of the way, but is bus sleep even real sleep? Thankfully, my group was able to check into our hotel right away, but the other half of our group had to sleep at the bus station until their check-in time.

After a much-needed nap, we started exploring. Ulcinj has a few main beaches: Big Beach, Small Beach, and some rocky ones scattered in between. We started at Small Beach, a classic sandy beach with bright blue water. Restaurants were right up on the sand, so it was super easy to grab lunch nearby. Later in the day, we met up with our friends at a beach club on one of the rocky beaches that had sunbeds and umbrellas. The water there was so clear, and we spent hours just swimming and floating around. It was just perfect. Exactly what I needed after writing my final paper for the study tour!

As the sun was setting we went back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. That night, we headed to the Old Town of Ulcinj, which is atop a steep hill that felt like a mountain after our full beach day. But it was worth the climb! The cobblestone streets, old stone buildings, so many cats, and panoramic views were just unreal. We ate dinner at a restaurant on the edge of a cliff, where we had the best view of the sunset over the Adriatic Sea.

The next morning, we had a few hours before our bus back, so we spent the whole time just floating around in the water, soaking up every last minute. Of course, we had to have llokuma (Balkan doughnuts) for breakfast- the best way to end the trip! Montenegro wasn’t even really on my radar before this trip, but now I can’t stop thinking about how peaceful it was (minus the part where I got stung by a jellyfish). It’s one of those places I didn’t know I’d love until I was actually there, but now I’m already thinking about how I can plan to go back!