What Kate and Kris Did

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What Kate and Kris Did

British couple teaching English abroad, in Kyiv, Ukraine. We blog about starting out as an English teacher, travel and living abroad.

We're a couple of English teachers from the UK working and travelling around the world. Our blog is a mixture of travel stories and advice for teaching English abroad, with a slant towards wildlife watching, music and beer.

04/03/2026

Another weekend away in Montenegro - this time to Budva.🇲🇪

This town has a much bigger old town, and long beaches stretching down the coast.

The weekend was the first of sun after weeks and weeks of rain. We took a walk along the coast to Sveti Stefan, an island attached to the land by a 'tombolo' (a strip of sand) with pink beaches either side.

We couldn't look around Sveti Stefan, as it was a posh hotel resort but now it's shut up. 😔

Budva Old Town is a narrow maze of stone streets, full of little shops, bars and eateries.

On Sunday, we hopped on a bus to nearby Kotor - more photos coming soon

15/02/2026

Podgorica, Montenegro's capital, is not a particularly well-known place and tends to be thought of as a bit dull.

There isn't much old architecture like other towns and cities around here, because much of it was destroyed during the two world wars, but it has pretty rivers running through it, an Ottoman bridge, cool street art and some fun bars.

We had a great weekend there. We took a free walking tour and learned about the history and life there from a very enthusiastic local, explored the night life and had some good food.

We plan to go back 😁

04/02/2026

Saturday day trip to the nearby town of Bar.

Unlike other old towns around here, Bar's is inland, not directly on the coast. There are remains of a castle, old walls, an aquaduct and churches from various eras.

We took a 30 minute bus ride from Ulcinj to Bar, and then a 40 minute walk up to the old town. After a wander around the town, we were hungry for some food.

We chose a random restaurant near the castle which turned out to have been written about on many guidebooks. It was full of locals enjoying lunch, and we had our first local Montenegrin food!

Stuffed, we walked down to the marina to see all the boats. Of course, since the town is called Bar, we had to check out a local bar!

We will be back to explore more of Bar before we leave.

28/01/2026

After 90 days in Albania, we moved on to Montenegro.🇲🇪

We can only stay for 90 days in each place before we apply for residency somewhere, so after a fun three months in Durres, we had to leave.

We took a taxi over the northern border into Montenegro. We are staying in a town just across the border called Ulcinj.

It's got a castle and old town, and beach areas. As it's winter, the beach area is closed up, so we are staying in the top end of town, where the locals live, close to supermarkets and shops.

These pictures show blue sky, but it's really been pretty overcast and rainy so far. It's not too cold though - like 5-15 degrees - which is good because the only heating inside is an aircon unit and an electric radiator.

We are planning to travel around Montenegro while we are here so stay tuned for us to show you around

10/11/2025

We ate a LOT in Berat.....

It was Kate's birthday, so we treated ourselves to nice dinners, but also there was a great range of food - some of it special to Berat. 😋

It was rude not to try it! Plus, it's really good value 💲

We also got a big breakfast on the balcony of our guesthouse room each morning, served by the friendly helpers, who didn't speak much English but it didn't matter.

05/11/2025

We went to Berat for the weekend to celebrate Kate's birthday

Berat is famous for the Ottoman architecture...the white houses with rows of windows looking at each other from two sides of the river, with the old castle at the top.

It's less than 2 hours by bus from Durres, where we are staying at the moment.

We spent a lovely weekend wandering the cobbled streets, climbing up to the castle to admire the stunning views, eating the local food and drinking in little cafes and bars.

You can see why a million tourists visited Berat last year!

26/10/2025

Our next stop is Durres, a city on the coast of Albania 🇦🇱

You may remember that we were in Sarande, in the south of Albania, at the start of the year.

Now we are back, but closer to the capital, Tirana. Durres has a city area, a big port and then a long wide beach that curves around the coast.

It's one of the oldest cities in Albania and dates back to the 7th century. The city has random bits of old fortress and an amphitheatre just dotted around.

We've rented an apartment about three blocks back from the beach, with a distant view of the sea.

We have three months to explore, so stay tuned for more

10/09/2025

The last couple of weeks in Bansko have been spent going for walks through the stunning scenery, in the Pirin National Park and to nearby dams.

One Sunday we took the 'gondola' (cable car) part the way up Vihren Mountain......which is full of ski slopes for the winter....but also stunning views over forests and mountains.⛰️

It's an oddly slow cable car. The journey up takes around 30 minutes and as you can see from the photos, it doesn't go particularly high above the ground. 🚠

We assumed the top of the cable car would give us a panoramic view of the valley and mountains but actually it drops down into a dip between peaks - perhaps as a shelter from the wind in winter.

Of course, it still had a bar for a beer before the 30 minute journey back down again. 🍻

Our time here has gone so quickly! We have just over two more weeks to enjoy this place 😍

20/08/2025

Here we are in Bansko, for the next few weeks. In the winter, it's a ski resort. In the summer, people come for hiking, mountain biking and to work online.

Accommodation is cheap and the weather is sunny 🌞 As we are around 1000m above sea level, it's cooler than the cities and beach resorts around Europe right now

We'll let you admire the views.

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