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Monday 29 July 2019

Tivat, Montenegro (Тиват, Црна Гора)

The small town of Tivat lies on an inlet from the coast of Montenegro.  Formerly home to a Yugoslav naval base, the town is developing into a popular holiday resort.  I visited Tivat in June 2019.

A small number of bus routes serves Tivat.  These are provided by Blue Line.

The principal bus route is an hourly service running around the inlet to the historic town of Kotor.

I found low-floor single-deck buses operating this service.  These vehicles are relatively short in length, nevertheless they had three sets of doors.



 
 








 























Despite being equipped with electronic destination equipment, these buses displayed their route details on boards in the windscreen.

The electronic screen merely displayed "Blue Line" on a scrolling message.






A peninsula sits between the Bay of Kotor, on which Tivat is situated, and the Adriatic Sea.

Blue Line operate services from Tivat onto the peninsula.

One one service I noted short-length coach-type vehicles with high floors.





 




















On the other, I found a minibus operating.














 


This image was taken at the main stop for Blue Line's bus services in the centre of Tivat, alongside Tivat Town Hall.





 

I commented that the low-floor buses were using boards in the windscreen to show their route details.

I was also quite surprised to find manual ticket machines were still in use.

This ticket was for a journey between Tivat and Kotor.






Longer-distance domestic and international coach services call in to Tivat.


















These operate from a purpose-built coach station a couple of kilometres out of the town centre.







Boat trips are a popular way to see the Bay of Kotor.  A number of operators provide excursions, mostly all-day trips.  Theses leave from a quay in the centre of Tivat.

I found boats of various sizes and vintages catering to the tourist market.









































A few kilometres to the north of Tivat, the Bay of Kotor narrows to form a second inlet, which opens out again into another large bay.

A ferry service crosses the inlet at its narrowest point, enabling traffic using the coast road to avoid a detour of around 30 kilometres around the head of the bay.

Several vessels operate a continuous service, 24 hours a day during the summer months (June to September).
 

For the rest of the year, the ferry operates at least every 15 minutes, except between midnight and 06:00 when the service is generally hourly.

As far as I can tell, the ferry is free for foot passengers, but there is a charge for motor vehicles.



Back in Tivat, boats can also be hired for private trips.

In the background to this image is Porto Montenegro, a marina for yachts.




Porto Montenegro is being developed from the former naval docks into an upmarket marina which aims to rival Monaco.

I found a battery-powered shuttle operating within Porto Montenegro.













































Finally, a kilometre or so beyond Tivat's coach station is Tivat airport.  This is one of two airports catering for passenger flights into and out of Montenegro.  However, there is no public transport service between Tivat and the airport.  The link to and from the airport is left to taxis.