A 30-minute drive to Budva provided more mountain views and then the crystal-clear Adriatic Sea – and our first view of the Dukley Hotel & Resort.
The five-star hotel’s collection of modern-looking, low-rise blocks of rooms and apartments rise in stepped lines from the coastline. It sits on a corner of the bay opposite Budva’s Old Town, which is more than 2,500 years old.
Hill help - golf buggies are available to help navigage the resort's incline[Missing Credit]
Dukley is a comparative infant, its construction started in 2007 and was completed in 2017. It’s the passion project of Uzbekistan-born Jewish owner Neil Emilfarb. Emilfarb, who left the Soviet Union as a child before spending 46 years in the United States, fell in love with Montenegro and made it his home in the early 2000s. Montenegro itself became independent from Serbia only in 2006.
What’s also special about this resort is that Emilfarb, in homage to his Jewish parents, included a Jewish community centre complete with synagogue and, in the adjoining four-star Harmonia hotel, a kosher restaurant, Shalom.
Dukley – which takes its name from the medieval south Slavic state Duklja that once existed in present-day south-eastern Montenegro – has seven restaurants, two of them in the adjoining four-star Harmonia hotel. Dukley guests can eat at any of these, including Harmonia’s certified kosher Shalom. Harmonia’s other restaurant, Café Benedict, is also to become kosher.
Having started our day at 4am in Gatwick (flights are limited off season) our first stop was the tail end of the lavish breakfast buffet. A golf buggy whizzed us from the hotel’s reception down the resort’s steep winding path to the Laguna Beach restaurant, which sits next to one of the resort’s three beaches. The resort is full of steps and hills, but the buggies are available at any time to convey you from room to restaurant, pool or beach.
A huge spread of fruits, vegetables, cheese, patisserie, pancakes, cookies and juices with an option to order freshly cooked eggs kept us busy until our room was ready.
After admiring our huge two-bedroom, two-bathroom almost-apartment with its generously sized lounge, open-plan kitchen and my vast walk-in wardrobe, we headed out to explore Budva. With only three days there, we kept moving.
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Rooms with a view: the resort overlooks the Budva bay[Missing Credit]
The Old Town on the other side of the azure bay is a stark contrast to the modern metal and glass of Dukley. Although the walk, past boats, beaches, cafés and restaurants lasted a good 40- minutes, a constant stream of feral but friendly cats basking in the mellow sun provided a distraction.
As one of the oldest settlements in the Balkans, Budva Old Town is worth devoting an afternoon to. Although we didn’t get to see them (I was accompanied by a sleep-deprived teen) there are some reportedly beautiful Roman mosaics in the town’s archaeological museum and a range of medieval churches.
Boutiques, gift shops, bars and cafés line the narrow streets, which open out beyond the castle ramparts to pebbled beaches. In the height of the summer the streets would no doubt provide a cool escape from the heat, but on a windy October afternoon we needed shelter not shadow.
Despite the autumnal temperatures we picked up gourmet ice creams from Moritz Eis and headed for the stony beach to eat them. On the way we were passed by a group of Israeli tourists on a guided walk. Regular flights from Tel Aviv – even off season – mean that many of the hotel’s guests were sabras. With a continued warm welcome, the country has become popular with Israelis.
A lounge in the hot tub on our huge balcony terrace helped pep us up, before heading out for dinner at Shalom as a golden orange sun dipped behind the mountains.
Keeping kosher: The buffet in the Shalom restaurant[Missing Credit]
We were there at Succot, which meant dinner took the form of the Middle Eastern-style buffet to be eaten in the succah.
We both piled plates with a colourful array of fresh chopped salads, schnitzel, hummus, tahini, stewed meats and fresh bread to eat under a starlit sky.
The first two nights of the chag offered a more formal banquet-style meal for all programme guests together at the long tables.
In Shalom’s kitchen is Israeli chef Igor Kovriga, with kashrut overseen by the Chabad Emissary and Chief Rabbi of Montenegro. During the summer months, the numbers at the weekly Shabbat dinners have grown to over 200. When numbers are sufficient, there’s a daily minyan led by Rabbi Eliezer Ehrenfeld.
Breakfast at Shalom the next day was a simple, milky spread of pancakes, shakshuka, omelettes, cheese and salads with fruits, cereals yoghurts and breads.
We then met our guide Dijana for a private trip to Lake Skadar. On the way, Dijana proudly recounted Montenegro’s colourful past. It was a key vantage point in the region and fought over by Venetians, Ottomans, French and Spanish, all of which have influenced their culture and cuisine.
Paparazzi-free Palace: Posing in front of celeb-friendly Sveti Stefan[Missing Credit]
Although only an hour’s drive away – some of it through a disconcertingly long (4km) tunnel – it was like arriving in a different country. While we were sipping tea, which, unlike the English, Montenegrins drink only when ill and always with lemon and honey, Dijana told us that her country’s language had changed four times already during her 30-something years. Which would explain why I had not been able to find Montenegrin on my Google translate, only Serbian. The languages of the surrounding countries are similar – dialects of the same language so easily understood within the region.
[Missing Credit]
Skadar, which is a national park and the largest lake in the Balkans, is home to 50 islands. We set off on a long boat while dragonflies (charmingly known here as fairy horses) darted about over our heads.
They were soon replaced by various birds. There are 279 bird species here and 48 types of fish. We were enchanted by darkly feathered cormorants standing motionless with wings outstretched to dry them in the sun.
Our driver had brought a snack of local cheese and fritters plus honey to dip them in and wowed us with water nuts that he cut from vegetation in the lake. The crisp, white nuggets – a little like Chinese water chestnuts – had sustained locals during times of famine as they could grind them into flour to bake with.
On the way back we stopped to view a former five-star hotel – Sveti Stefan – now abandoned. Earlier this century, tennis star Novac Djokovic had taken the whole island to keep his nuptials private from paparazzi. The hotel is no longer operating and is accessible only on private tours.
With October’s temperatures nudging 20C, our remaining time at Dukley allowed for cocktails and lunch on the one beach open all year. A second, which is more sheltered by surrounding vegetation, had already closed for the season. The resort (which also includes a number of owner-occupied apartments) was designed to keep as much of the natural surroundings as possible; even the reception area has been built around an existing olive tree to protect it. All the paths of Dukley Gardens are lined with plants and bushes.
What was special about Dukley was the combination of luxury and kashrut – both properties offer kosher dining and Shabbat-friendly accommodation. All in a beautiful and accessible country only a few hours’ flight away. t
Victoria and her son were guests of Dukley Hotel & Resort
Double rooms start from £130 off season and £250 in peak season
Tour operated by Adriatic Concierge agency (adriatic-concierge-
montenegro.com/)
