Montenegro - Podgorica, Kotor and Budva

For those who haven't a clue as to where or what Montenegro is, it used to be part of the former Yugoslavian republic. It's a little state (about the size of one of our provinces) but it is certainly worth a visit, especially as everything is still quite cheap there. This will change, once Montenegro becomes part of the EU in 2025. 

Podgorica is the capital of Montenegro. There are direct flights from for instance Vienna, the option we took. We had a flight Brussels-Vienna and one Vienna-Podgorica. 

Podgorica itself isn't much of a capital town. It was completely destroyed during the wars, and part of town are still in full renovation. Still it is a good place to start exploring the region. It is easy to go to Albania from here, to Serbia and even to Croatia.

During our stay, we made a guided walking tour through Podgorica. It's already an ancient place, which belonged to several cultures.

As a mentioned, from Podgorica it is easy to reach other places. So we made some excursions to the Adriatic coast, to the more well-known resorts of Kotor and Budva. They both have walls around the center and the old towns are cosy places, with winding alleys, full of little shops.

Kotor is the town where the big cruise ships anchor for a visit to Montenegro. Real estate is a booming business here. And the coast line is really spectacular!

We found that Budva was a very cosy resort, so we returned to spend a day there. It has a fortress you can visit and from where you have a beautiful panorama over the town and the sea.

We've already planned to spend our next summer trips in this region. Probably we'll to and visit Skopje, also Albania and Croatia.

The Netherlands - The Hague

The Netherlands are very close to Belgium, so this makes them interesting to make a city trip. We visited Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Utrecht already, and in May last we went to The Hague.

The train ride from our town took about 2 hours and a half, which is not that bad. From the central station to the town center is not that far either. We had booked a room in the Hilton, which is situated in the heart of the center, in the former Head Postal Office.

From there it was easy to explore the many places to see. You can find the international court for Human Rights there, buildings of parliament, various musea - and lots of restaurants and cafés. People are quite friendly, as well.

The first day we made a walk around town, and could already see some places, Like Paleis Noordeinde,

During our first night at hotel, we were having diner and while having a drink we met an American woman who told us that the famous painting 'Girl with the Pearl' had returned to the Mauritshuis. We thought it was still in Amsterdam, on loan, for the big Vermeer expo. So we looked if we still could buy tickets, and were very lucky to find an open slot.

So it was really worth a visit.