Njeguši: Montenegro's Village of Ham, Cheese & Kings

Njeguški pršut is dry-cured and lightly smoked over beech wood, then aged in the cold, dry mountain air that gives it its distinctive flavour. It is traditionally served thinly sliced with njeguški cheese, a firm cow's-milk cheese sometimes matured in oil, plus bread, olives and a glass of local rakija or red wine.

Several family konobas in the village serve tasting boards straight from their own smokehouses. It is the single best food stop in the Kotor hinterland.

Njeguši was the home village of the Petrović-Njegoš dynasty that ruled Montenegro from the 17th century, and the birthplace of Petar II Petrović-Njegoš, the poet-prince whose mausoleum crowns nearby Mount Lovćen. You can still see the modest stone house where he was born.

Njeguši sits on the old road that climbs the Kotor serpentine toward Lovćen, so it pairs naturally with a Lovćen day trip. The drive up the switchbacks, with the whole Bay of Kotor opening up below, is half the experience.