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Welcome to Total Montenegro News!

By Paul Bradbury

I first came to Montenegro back in 2001, as part of a 9-month backpacking adventure from Oxfordshire to South Africa. I knew nothing about the country, except that it had been part of former Yugoslavia. In fact, from memory, it still was, although the Yugoslavia of 2001 consisted only of Serbia and Montenegro. It was an eye-opening trip, and my two main memories were of Kotor and Rozaje The old town of Kotor was one of the most spectacular sights I had seen on my travels and I walked its majestic walls in took in the views. This was a hidden gem indeed! In the evening, things got even more interesting, as a pro-independence rally was held in the town. My visit to Rozaje was even more memorable, as the road to the Kosovo border was blocked by a broken-down truck and I ended up having to walk towards the border 8km away through heavy snow as midnight approached. I attach the extract from my first book, Lebanese Nuns Don't Ski, at the bottom of this article for anyone interested.

My impression of Montenegro back in 2001 was the official tourism slogan of today - Wild Beauty. My impressions were reinforced as I moved permanently to Croatia in 2003 and dabbled in Montenegrin property during the madness of 2004 and 2005. Lustica Peninsula, in particular, was arresting. I have driven through the country en route to Albania perhaps 60 times in the last ten years, always stopping for my favourite kebab in Budva, and a business meeting or two at the legendary Vuk petrol station between Budva and Tivat. And while I watched the rapid expansion of some destinations such as Budva with little planning, I also noticed that something was happening in Montenegro that was not in Croatia - foreigners were investing serious money and starting to build projects of real quality and luxury. Porto Montenegro set the standard, of course, but there have been several others. The notion that Montenegro was a playground of rich Russians and its coast was overbuilt had a ring of truth to it, but it was only part of the story.

A few weeks ago, I started researching the English and Russian information websites about Montenegro. Encouraged by their paucity, I decided to visit for a few days to see how Montenegro looked close up in 2018. I was fortunate to have been able to stay in Lustica Bay, a project which blew my mind after years of reporting on the inertia of Croatian property investment. What I discovered during my few days there and talking to the main tourism players from Montenegro at the recent Belgrade Tourism Fair was that there is a real need for a quality news and tourism portal in English and in Russian about Montenegro. Montenegro is SO much more than the stereotypes associated with it internationally, with so many things to discover, secrets to learn, and personality to get to know.

So we have decided to have a go.

Welcome to Total Montenegro News, a new website for Montenegro in English covering the latest in news, politics, business, travel, sport and lifestyle.

It is the latest portal from the Total Croatia project, which started in October 2011, and which now has destinations sites for Hvar, Split, Inland Dalmatia, Zagreb and Dubrovnik, dedicated sites for Croatian wine, cycling and sailing, as well as our flagship site, Total Croatia News. We also launched Total Slovenia News three months ago.

We would like to do something similar in Montenegro! Our motto consists of five words - Give People What They Want - and we will be aiming to provide lively, relevant and informative content on a daily basis, and if there is anything you would like to be covered, please let us know at [email protected]

Or write it yourself. Since starting Total Croatia News in July 2015, we have had more than 100 contributors to the site. Due to our limited budget, we have a small core of paid writers, but we can offer to those who want to write is a platform and a fun bunch of co-writers. Many have used TCN as a platform to write about something they are passionate about, or to promote a part of Croatia that rarely sees coverage in English. If you would like to do the same here in Montenegro, we would be delighted to hear from you. Please send a photo, bio and article to [email protected] and we will add you to the team. The aim of the site is to bring as much of the magic of Montenegro into one place to make it accessible for all.

If the site goes well, we will offer Total Montenegro News in Russian before the summer.

We are starting with a small team of writers, who are all based in Montenegro or have strong links to the country, to try and give as much diversity as the budget allows. Our initial team is a mix of local, expat and diaspora based in Toronto, Varazdin, Tivat, Budva, Podgorica, Split and Tbilisi. The team has come together very quickly, starting less than a week ago, and I have been greatly encouraged at the cohesive unit they have become, despite not knowing each other and being scattered across several countries.

If you would like to work with us to promote your business in Montenegro, please get in touch.

We will be happy to expand the writing team to cover even more if it makes financial sense to do so. We are also very grateful to both CDM and Vijesti for their support of Total Montenegro News. We will be bringing some translations from both portals each day, as well as one from CDM's English-language section. We are also very grateful for the very strong initial support from various opstine, tourist offices, big developments and private businesses. If we can all work together, I believe we can build something very special for Montenegro and start showing the world the true Montenegro beyond the stereotypes.

We are very open to constructive criticism. Running a portal in Croatia as a foreigner attracts plenty of trolls, a sad modern reality, but we are keen to take on board suggestions and constructive criticism to offer an even better service.