I heard about the Bay of Kotor from one of work colleagues. Having never heard of it I googled it and ever since then have always wanted to visit. As a result, I went in a different direction to the others and headed south to Montenegro while they ventured on to Split. This meant I had to get a boat/bus back to Dubrovnik then change to another bus to Kotor. Fortunately the connections were pretty good - I arrived in Dubrovnik 20 mins before the bus to Kotor was scheduled to depart. As it turns out the bus arrived an hour late anyway (I found out later this was due to the slowness of the Croatian/Montenegro border but that's another story). It's not very far from Dubronik (approx. 1hr 45 min) but going through Croation and Montenegran immigration does add a bit of time to the trip...
The drive on the Montenegran side of the border is lovely. The mountains get higher and higher, the bus drives next to this beautiful enormous lake and through several small towns that date back to who knows when. Kotor itself is beautifully located - carved into the side of the mountain and surrounded by mountains that plunge directly into the lake. The old town itself is very interesting, a great place to get lost in it's winding streets - every corner holds a new surprise, whether it be another church or a building that is 600 years old or just a beautiful scene. The streets in the old town don't have names so the owner of the apartment where I was staying met me at one of the gates to guide me to my room.
I spent the first night in Kotor roaming the streets and getting my bearings. It is a really lovely place. There are a lot of package tourists during the day but the nights are much quieter, some streets you have to yourself...
The next morning I got up reasonably early to walk up to the old fort that sits above the town like a local version of the Great Wall of China. This is a must do for anyone that visits the area as the views are great and the fort itself if really interesting to wander through. It hasn't been restored (yet!) which makes it so much better to walk around although the OHS&W people wouldn't like it!
One the way down I found a path that led to the valley behind the fort where there was an old church (no idea how old) and some abandoned buildings. After bumping into a couple of donkeys (which aparently are everywhere in Montenegro) I noticed a walking path snaking up the mountain that was too tempting to not climb. I didn't walk all the way to the top but I did go a far way up (continuously stepping around huge mounds of donkey poo) and was rewarded with some of the most amazing views. It really was what I call a choir moment, you know, when you can hear the choir music before the scenery is so beautiful. I eventually made the decision to head back down to the town which turned out to be the right one as I found out later I was on a path that was a six hour walk to Lovcen National Park! I managed to fit in a four hour walk that day - I would have loved to have done the whole walk but was not prepared and didn't want to do the whole thing by myself.
The next day I visited Perast, a town on the lake famous for two man made island featuring a monastry and church. The place was lovely but the most eventful bit was the bus ride there. I took a local minibus (1 euro for 1/2 hour each way - cheap huh!) and I think the driver was an aspirational formula 1 driver - Montenegrans have a reputation for being rather careless driving; quite surprising considering the country is mainly mountains with lots of winding roads...
The final day was spent in Centinje, a town that was once the capital of an early Montenegro empire and is now more known for its museums. It was a bit of strange place but the best part was the drive, a bus meandering through the mountains overlooking the bright blue of the Adriatic. Can't really ask for any better scenery really.
I wasn't able to spend more time in Montenegro but I would have loved to have spent a couple more weeks there. It is a seriously beautiful country with it's wild mountains, beautiful lakes and gigantic piles of donkey poo. There is a lot to see there even though it is a small place. I have vowed to return...
