Thursday 25th April
We spent the morning chilling at the apartment, before heading into Kotor Old Town for the afternoon.
We weaved our way through the streets and up the water side city walls of this beautiful fully fortified town exploring the beauty and character in the cobbled streets, the old buildings with colourful wooden shutters on the windows, and restaurants and bars hidden on every corner. In many ways it felt similar to being in Venice. Small streets at every turn, easy to get lost in exploration and then somehow end up back at the same square, not taking the same street once.
It has such a nice feel to it. What I love about it as well is that it is a pedestrian city, so we can freely wander the streets. Everyone we have encountered has been so lovely as well, very friendly and helpful.
Kotor also has a massive thing for cats, they are everywhere, I'm not kidding, actual real cats are wandering around, sleeping in the sun, perched on walls, everywhere. I've started a collection of photos I call "Cats of Kotor". The people embrace it though, apparently in Kotor, cats are a symbol of good luck and fortune. We stumbled across many shops dedicated to cat crafts, and there is even a cat museum.
After spending the afternoon exploring old town, we spent the evening sat on the balcony having nibbles until the sun went behind the mountains.
Montenegro, well I can only actually speak for Kotor, in my experience is so different to what my preconceptions were. I was under the impression they were heavily developing, bordering on third world. I know where we are is a UNESCO world heritage site, and that Kotor being fortified and built between mountains and the ocean means that it can't expand, so therefore is very well kept and doesn't have development going on. We definitely saw the "development" on our way here, as a lot of towns including ones we walk through to get to Kotor are still being brought into the 21st century, but it feels very western European in Kotor Old Town. Not the scenery, or the side of the town we are on, but Old Town Kotor, like I said, I could have been in Venice, but it seems nicer than a lot of Italy in my opinion. I'm quite glad that we are staying on the side of the bay that we are, it feels much more local in Muo compared to Kotor. Walking down to the grocery store along the roadside with obviously local drivers whizzing past, passing kids playing on bikes, and local mates sharing a beer together at the local cafe, it gives us a completely different experience on this side I feel to Kotor side.
Friday 26th April
I woke up just as the sun was rising this morning and it was starting to get light and was blessed with this absolutely beautiful view of the sleeping bay in that early morning light, the water was completely still and the mountains were reflected perfectly in it. It was such a special thing to see.
We spent the day exploring Kotor bay and the neighbouring bays by boat! We had great fun exploring the bay and seeing it all from a different perspective. It is so incredibly beautiful here with the with stunningly clear water, rugged mountains, and old towns!
The first stop was the island of Our Lady of the Rocks, just off the coast from the town of Persat. It was so beautiful here!
The story of it is that some sailors were coming back from sea one day and crashed on a rock and saw that it had the image of the Virgin Mary on it, so decided that it must be a sign to build a church there. So over time when a sailor went out to sea, on their return they would drop a rock at the spot where the virgin Mary rock was seen. Eventually (32 years later) enough rocks had been dropped that it formed an artificial island they built the church on it.
We had a look around inside the tiny church and it was ornately decorated and covered in frescoes and silver plating.
Just next to Our Lady of the Rocks there is another island Sveti Juraj. This one is a natural island and home to a Serbian Orthodox monastery.
After exploring this fascinating and beautiful island we all hopped back on our little boat and continued cruising around the bay.
Our next stop were some caves, (that were meant to be) camouflaged into the coast, which was were where they kept submarines during the war.
From here we continued on round the bay and past some other towns and sailing boats, it was all so beautiful.
We were soon leaving the bay and and headed out to open ocean to go round the Lustica Peninsula to the Blue Cave. The blue cave was gorgeous and as the name suggests incredibly blue! It gets its incredibly blue colour from the plankton in the water and the way the sun passes through this and hits the ocean floor. It is incredibly beautiful, it doesn’t seem real!
From the cave we enjoyed a the relaxing boat ride back to Kotor, enjoying being on the water, chilling and taking in the scenery. It was an awesome day.
We finished the day off by having nibbles on the balcony and watching the lights twinkle on the water!
Saturday 27th April
Well, the weather has turned since yesterday. It was a super stormy Saturday. The skies were dark and there was thunder, lightning, and rain all day. So we spent the day writing, chilling out and watching the wild weather from inside the apartment.
Sunday 28th April
Today we set out to hike the Ladder of Kotor.
We found the start of the trail sitting just outside of the old town down a dilapidated road.
We started the climb up the rugged and steep path which zig zags 940m up the mountain side with more than 70 switchbacks (hairpin turns)!
This path was built in the 19th century by the Austrians as a military road and supply line, connecting Kotor and the coast to the city of Cetinje, the old royal capital of Montenegro. This is also the road that was used by local women to take their goods to the Kotor Market. They would lug smoked fish, ham, cheese, honey and wine down the mountain to sell, and trade for other things that they needed such as olive oil, salt, and clothes.
The path is challenging and starts to gain elevation immediately, but because it's more of a gradual climb than the stairs on the city wall it felt less strenuous. It's more of an endurance hike than the city walls. It was such good fun and we quickly started to see the incredible views of the bay!
Along the way we ran into a local on his way down from visiting his friend who lives up the mountain and had a nice little chat with him. He wasn't young either! I can't believe that someone lives up here, it's the only way up so they'd have to be so fit to walk up and down anytime they needed something!
About 45 mins into the hike we came to the house where the old man has set up a couple of tables and chairs out the front for visitors to sit and have some homemade juice, cheese and meats.
From here there is a second trail that goes behind the house and leads to the abandoned village of Špiljari. It is now all in ruins sitting in a small valley of the rocky mountain with donkeys roaming around!
There is also the 1000yr old chapel of St Ivan which is still standing and if you peer inside you can see the faded frescoes on the roof.
After exploring around here for a bit, we found our way back to the main path and continued our hike up with impress views over the bay.
2.5hrs in and we were much higher up that we were on the city walls and had spectacular views of the bay below!
It was at this point we turned around and started the long hike back down!
It was such a fun hike, and really cool to see some more of the rugged countryside and a glimpse of the history of this beautiful country.
Once we'd made our way back to ground level we walked through Old Town Kotor and had a well deserved ice cream (it was only 1 euro)!!
We then spent the evening feeling quite accomplished and enjoyed sitting on the balcony with some nibbles and a cold drink, looking out at the mountain we'd just climbed.
Monday 29th April - Wednesday 1 May
The weather had unfortunately set in for the rest of the week and turned really cold again. The days seemed to alternate between storms with black skies, lighting, thunder, and rain pelting the windows, followed by a grey day and heavy rain on and off all day. So these few days were spent cozied up inside, chilling, writing, and watching it all from our windows.
It was fascinating watching the bay change. We'd see the clouds rolls down the mountains hiding their peaks and sometimes up to half way. Other times the clouds would seem to roll in through the valley so we could see just the base and the peak of the mountain. And other times the rain was so heavy we couldn't see anything but white!
The colour of the water would change anywhere from a darkish greyish colour on stormy days, to deep green when the sky would clear a little and the vegetation on the mountain, now lush from the rain, was reflected in the water. When the wind was strong it would seem a vibrant blue with little white caps everywhere. And when it was calm, it was the most beautiful vibrant paradise. It really was fascinating to watch it morph with the weather.
Nature put on a spectacular show for our last evening in the bay though. After a rainy day, the sky cleared to reveal pockets of blue as puffy white clouds rolled across the mountains and a full rainbow appeared! It was so beautiful!
We fell asleep to our brave lion lighting up the bay one last night.
Thursday 2 May
We woke up to the sound of a cruise ship fog horn and sunshine! It looks like the sun decided to come out for our last morning!
We enjoyed the morning soaking in the sun and the beautiful views from the balcony and then headed down for one final walk down along the bay.
The pool was finally filled and ready to be used, although it was way too cold to actually swim so we stopped by the pool on our way back to the apartment to at least stick our hands in!
After some lunch, we finished packing and cleaning up and took in the views one last time before we handed the keys back and were on our way.
We decided to catch a taxi to the bus station and the service was exceptional the other day, so we called them and they said they would be five minutes, giving us plenty of time to get to the station. Well, after a lot of waiting, and numerous messages back and forth it looks like there had been some sort of delay due to crowds in town. At this point we only had 13mins to make the bus so we started to walk with the intention of flagging down any taxi we see. Just as we're leaving the complex the taxi comes speeding up! Sweet, we jump in and the driver asks how long we have until the bus leaves, we tell him 10mins, he looks at us and says "no problem" gives a little chuckle and then zoooom we're away in a flash! He speeds his way down the street and makes good on his promise having us there in time!
As it turns out the bus was late anyway, so we arrived with plenty of time. We had bought our tickets online and apparently we had to have them 'verified' at the station and pay a 'bus station tax' of 2 euro per person. Sure.
Our trusty Flixbus doesn't service Montenegro so we caught Bus Croatia, which was fairly nice, it was a modern coach with comfy seats and a proper ticketing system for baggage. Although, the bus driver smoked inside the bus right underneath the no smoking sign!
We have absolutely loved our time here in Montenegro and have grown very attached to our little part of the bay. We feel quite sad to be leaving! It's felt like quite an adventurous part of the trip and has been great to feel like we've gained more of an idea of the culture here and the history of this small countries and it's people. It has such beautiful scenery and countryside, it's so raw and rugged and unlike anything I've seen before. The people are so friendly and helpful and of course the apartment has been incredible and absolutely made the stay so comfortable and given us a bit of luxury! A massive massive thank you to Anne and John for giving us the opportunity to come here!
So off we go, we wave goodbye to our home for the last two weeks as we take the scenic drive round the bay and towards Croatia!
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