Croatia Travel Blog

19 January 2008 No Comment

Montenegro is coming into it’s own as a tourist destination and a place for wealthy westerners to buy cheap beach front property. The country of Montenegro has been in the news lately, first for it’s separation of independence from Serbia in 2007, and second for being a featured location in the 2006 restart of the James Bond movie franchise, Casino Royale. Actually non of the filming was actually done in Montenegro for the movie. Karlov Vary (Carlsbad), in the Chez republic was the actual shooting location. Most importantly Montenegro is following the lead of it’s northern bordering country, Croatia, in claiming independence, setting up a democratic government, and opening itself for tourism.

Montenegro, which is located between Croatia on the norther border, and Albania on the Southern border offers a rich cultural and historical heritage, which goes back before Roman rule. It features Romanesque, Baroque and Gothic architecture that remains in outstanding condition.

The land that makes up Montenegro was originally settled by the Illyrians, then went to the Romans, and by the 12 century was united in the Serbian Realm, the “Zeta”. After Serbia fell it was ruled by a noble family, the Balsics, then finally fell to the Ottomans in 1499.

Skipping to 1878 Montenegro achieved independence from the Ottoman Empire under the reign of Nicholas I. In 1910 it became a kingdom, expanded its territory in the Balkan wars, then lost it all when it was unable to defeat Austria-Hungary in 1916. In 1918 Serbia liberated Montenegro, which then elected a union with the Kingdom of Serbia. In 1929 it became part of the kingdom of Yugoslavia until it was turned into an Axis powers puppet state in 1941. After being liberated in 1944, Montenegro became part a Communist Yugoslavia under Tito.

After the fall of Communism in that region in 1992 the Montenegrins voted to stay with Serbia as a mini-Yugoslavia. During the Bosnian conflict Montenegro took part in attacking Croatia with it’s police and paramilitary forces. They shelled Dubrovnik and several Bosnian towns along the coast from their norther border. In 1996 they severed ties with Serbia. On June 3, 2006 Montenegro was declared an independent state by the Parliament of Montenegro.

When traveling through Montenegro on a Croatian Atlas Tours bus, we still felt some of the tensions from our Croatian guides. There was an intense distrust and dislike of Montenegrins by the Croatians for what was done to them. Though few remnants from the bombings are still visible in Dubrovnik and along the coast, the internal scares are still deep within the people.