With just a month to go before we be wed, Pete and I were desperately in need of some down time (and more importantly, some semblance of a sun tan!) We’d booked our cheeky ‘weddingmoon’ back in December but with Google predicting showers and storms, we couldn’t help wondering whether we’d chosen the right destination…
One three-hour flight later, weaving our hire car round the sweeping coastal road from tiny Tivat airport, we knew Montenegro had been exactly the right choice. Cobalt blue sea stretched for miles, sweeping out from the crumbling cliff top dotted with terracotta houses and whitewashed walls. Those famous black mountains loomed before and behind us, distractingly beautiful (making it even harder to concentrate on driving on the right, yeek!) After half an hour we wound up a steep dirt track to our mountainside home for the next six days: Villa Vita. Built into the hilltops, the villas share two insane infinity pools (more about those later) linked by a maze of rosemary bush and fruit tree-lined stone pathways and overlooked by the family’s goat farm high above. As we stepped out of the car, the sun was beginning to set and the sprawling rose gardens were flooded with warm golden light. It was one of the many Ahhhhhhh! moments that would define the holiday over the coming week.
We discovered Villa Vita through Explore Montenegro; it’s one of five or six Rezevici villas along the ‘Budva Riviera’ but, no word of a lie, we only saw one other couple staying there the whole trip (and they left two days after we arrived). Which meant we had the whole place to ourselves for a week – one of the perks of holidaying slightly out of season. Our villa was the smallest: ‘Villa Vita Just for Two’ but it felt huge; the wooden flooring, high ceilings and stone walls kept it cool and the exposed wooden beams took me right back to family holidays in traditional country farmhouses in the south of France. Our bedroom opened out onto a shady patio while the French doors in the open plan living area took us out to a long terrace looking straight across the coast. Every night we’d sit out with a glass of wine to be treated to another incredible sunset. There’s also a proper kitchen if cooking’s your thing, but unsurprisingly we were far too lazy!
Extreme bitchy reading face.
Each day we’d meander along the paths and stone steps to the pools, surrounded by Cyprus and olive trees. On one level there was the smaller pool where we’d sit out in the early evening with a bottle of wine and olives. Then you’d go up to the outdoor Jacuzzi and, finally, high on the hillside was the largest infinity pool. This was one of those places that seems too amazing to be real; we spent an appropriate amount of time just lying prone in the sun, gazing open-mouthed at the incredible azure sea.
Sat above the main pool is the wonderful Restaurant Casa Mia, serving some of the freshest food I’ve ever tasted (another reason not to bother cooking for ourselves!) We devoured fresh tomatoes and basil, delicious Italian stew, homemade pasta and cake-like bread, all washed down with copious amounts of local white wine. The quality of the food combined with that insane view… Sorry, what wedding diet?
On our last night the Italian owner of the restaurant brought out a tray of traditional Montenegrin liquors and strongly encouraged us to sample shots of each one. We reluctantly obliged. If you don’t fly back with a hangover, it’s not a real holiday, right? To be honest, the waiters seemed determined to keep us merrily drunk most of the holiday, serving some of the strongest Aperol Spritz I’ve ever had (and I make them at home)…
Oh yes – you might have noticed a furry friend or two in some of the pictures above. Pete and I are the kind of losers who spend at least half an hour a day on holiday moaning about how much we miss our dog, so we couldn’t have been more excited to be greeted by Curly and Ben, the resident pooches. And then one day, on the way up to the tennis courts… BOOM!
PUPPIES! And by the gym, kittens! After that, Pete suddenly realised how much he’d been missing working out… Incidentally, if I’d grown up with tennis courts like these, overlooking the vast oceanic panorama, I’m certain I’d be Pro by now.
While we were playing, the owner of the villas came down from the farm above and handed up fresh berries! We were well and truly spoiled, and loved every second of it.
I’d recommend Villa Vita to anyone visiting Montenegro. Not only was it heaven in itself, hard as it was to drag ourselves away, it also offered the ideal base to explore the towns and beaches nearby. Watch this space for another post about our adventures in Kotor, Budva, Sveti Stefan, Petrovac and Porto Montenegro!
