Kotor Montenegro Adventures

View from our place

Sheri and I continued our time outside the Schengen zone by spending six weeks in Kotor, Montenegro. After this visit our Schengen time will completely reset giving us more options for future travel in Europe. Our apartment was perfectly situated. It was on the top floor of our building with beautiful views of the bay and surrounding mountains. It was a ten minute walk to the walled city where the cruise ships docked and the tourists mill about. Walking in the other direction was a lovely path along the waterfront. Montenegro was never a country that was on my radar but after visiting this gorgeous place I cannot recommend it enough. How many more such places exist? More than I will ever get to see. Many factors are working against me. I am a member of a species that is actively destroying it's only home, I come from a country that is actively bombing and threatening to bomb other countries, and I am actively aging. I only have so many years left. It does not escape me how fortunate Sheri and I are to be in a position to visit these places and I am ecstatic that I spent six weeks of my life in this remarkable spot. Let's take a look at Kotor!

Old Town

The old town has it's roots in 300 BC making it over 2300 years old. It is one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in the Baltics. The streets are just a labyrinth of narrow passageways. I never had the slightest clue which way I was going. The streets were purposefully designed to be erratic to confuse potential invaders. It was fun to walk around inside the walls as you never knew what would be around the next corner. It could be an open square or more narrow passage ways or simply a dead end.

Kotor purports to have the narrowest street in the world. Translated to English the street name is "Let Me Pass" and as you can see I can easily touch both sides of the street without having to extend my arms very far.

The buildings now contain various businesses mostly to support tourism from pizza places, to gift stores and wonderfully quaint open air restaurants. We would come down and spend time here on several occasions and I just really enjoyed the vibe of the place as it had medieval architecture while still being able to get a cinnamon roll at a local shop.

The Cats

Kotor is famous for its cats. Especially in the old town where they have the run of the place. They keep the rodent and snake populations from the surrounding wilderness in check. The cats freely move around and enter and leave the shops at their leisure. There is a central park area where they hang out quite a bit. The locals take care of the them. They feed the cats and make sure there is water available. They even provide small housing communities where the cats can sleep. While they are all technically strays they appeared to be in good health and taken care of well.

A Three Hour Tour (what could possibly go wrong)

Any time you walk down the promenade there would be multiple boat operators offering their services to you. They were mildly persistent but not overly aggressive. We waited until we had a good weather day and calm seas before we hopped on one the dozens of boats that left the main pier area. It was a small motor boat and six of us along with our captain headed off to see the sights.

Our first stop was a man made island called Our Lady of the Rocks with a church built on it. The legend says that as the sailors left Kotor they would leave a rock in this spot as an offering for safe travels. Upon their return they would drop another rock as a thank you. Eventually so many rocks were accumulated that the island grew and a church as built on it to give thanks.

We then headed over for a quick stop at Perast. This is a small upscale town. Now a popular tourist spot. We spent a half hour here. I fell as I was getting out of the boat. I gave myself a bone bruise on my kneecap which would cause me a great deal of pain in the days to come but fortunately didn't have much impact on me in the moment. We wondered about and got some ice cream before returning to our boat to continue onward.

Next up was one of the most surprising moments. During the cold war Yugoslavia built secret tunnels into the rocks to house submarines. It was intended to protect them from potential air raids. The caves were carved directly into the rock and after the submarine was safely inside the entrance was covered in camouflage of man made rocks and heavy vegetation. We sailed all the way inside and it really struck me to what lengths humans will go to protect their ability to harm other humans.

We then hit the open water and enjoyed a somewhat bumpy ride to another island which now holds a upscale luxury hotel. However this was not its initial purpose. It was in fact a prison. It was notorious for its cruel treatment of cold war prisoners. I think a hotel is a much better idea. While it still looked bleak from the outside, apparently it is quite nice on the inside. Then it was off to the the main event.

The number one attraction in the area is the Blue Cave. This is a series of natural caves along the coast line. Sheri managed to capture some images that highlight the intense blue color of the water when the sun hits it just right for which the caves are famous. The captain had to time entering and leaving the cave at just the right moment so that there was enough room for us to get in under the rocks. This was a spectacular natural site and lived up to the hype. The pictures do not do it justice.

An All Day Tour

We signed up for an all day tour that would take us around to other parts of Montenegro. Our first stop was Lake Skadar. It is the largest lake in the Balkans with two thirds belonging to Montenegro and the other third belonging to Albania. We first had a nice breakfast on board a docked boat that had been turned into a restaurant. After breakfast we would enjoy a two hour boat trip out onto the lake. We wound our way through somewhat narrow canals before it opened up into larger lake areas. It was a remarkably pleasant and comfortable ride. Without a doubt the highlight was when we reached the enormous field of lily pads covering the water. They seemed to stretch endlessly into the distance.

We were also treated to some excellent bird watching. This is an activity I have found myself enjoying more as I age. Skadar is one of only two places that the Dalmatian pelican can be found. They are the largest pelicans in the world and one of the largest flying birds with a wing span of up to 10 feet. They are the bullies of the lake. Due to a large amount of air in their lungs they are not capable of diving under water. In order to eat, they let other birds catch fish and then simply attack them and steal the fish from them. Not very ethical, but nature always finds a way.

Next up was a trip to Durmitor National Park that features Crno Jezero (Black Lake). An approximately two mile hike encircles the entire lake. It was a wonderfully pleasant walk with many great spots to take pictures and feel a bit more connected to nature.

We then had a long drive back to Kotor. As we wound our way back to our home base we stopped at a few lookout spots where we enjoyed the views. It also just happened to be the weekend of the Kotor-Trojica hill climb. This is an auto race that goes up the winding mountain roads. The day's activities were over, so we came down the very road they race on. When we reached the bottom we would see the various cars that were there to participate. Our guide was a bit of a race car driver himself and had a lot to say about the event. The next day when we were in our apartment we could hear the cars racing in the distance.

A note about the history of Montenegro. Before Yugoslavia split up, it was ruled by Josip Broz Tito or simply Tito. He was the leader from 1945 to 1980. A complicated figure. He came to power during WWII as he led the nation against the Nazis and managed to hold them off without the help of Russia. He kept Yugoslavia together despite it containing six republics with his message of "Brotherhood and Unity". Despite being a communist, he split with Stalin. He would survive many assassination attempts ordered by Moscow. Yugoslavia was a bit of a bridge between the East and the West during the cold war as he did not take a side in the conflict. Tito ruthlessly suppressed dissent and controlled the media. Yugoslavia had more economic power than their size would suggest during this period. The older generations look back fondly on Tito, while the younger ones are not impressed. After Tito's death there was no strong leadership and the country would fall into multiple civil wars over the years and eventually split into the 7 different countries we have today. Our guide was clearly nostalgic for the 'old days' as he felt that Montenegro had lost all its influence and economic power now that it was a much smaller country.

Opulence

I understand my hypocrisy of highlighting wealth. George Carlin famously said anyone that drives faster than you is a maniac and anyone that drives slower is an idiot. We like to think we are leading good lives and are in the sweet spot of not living too excessively while also helping our fellow man when we can. So when I see wealth like this I can only shake my head. The above yacht sauntered by our apartment. After a quick Google search I discovered it is one of the most sought after yachts to charter by the ultra wealthy. It costs a mere $1.1 million to rent for one week. Not sure how one justifies this but where do you draw the line? I lead a life of absurd comfort so am I no better than those I demonize?

On our way back from the Blue Cave we passed billionaire pier (the name I gave it). This is where the richest people in the world dock their boats. The purchase price of these boats range from $50 million up to $500 million. In addition they cost roughly 10% of their value to operate each year to cover fuel, maintenance and staff. Think about that! Someone out there is spending $50 million dollars a year just to maintain a boat they most likely spend very little time on. I would hope we could agree that this does cross a line.

Food

What would a visit to a place be without a report on the food? We predominately ate at home with Sheri making many wonderful meals. There were multiple grocery stores near by. On the first day I was looking for milk. I looked in the dairy section and could not find any which seemed odd. Finally, I broke down and asked the store clerk where it was, and she pointed to another corner of the store. I dutifully went over but saw no refrigerators, so I didn't know what to think. I found Sheri and told her that there was supposedly milk in the corner of the store but I couldn't see how given the lack of refrigeration. We went over and inspected more carefully and indeed did find the milk on the shelf. It was not refrigerated and just in a carton. I did not know this was a possibility. Sheri pointed out that in some places they 'ultra-pasteurize' their milk and it will remain stable and safe for a long time at room temperature. I love discovering little things like this.

We did eat out a few times. Sheri would get fish, and I had a steak or two but the best part of those meals were the mash potatoes. Absolutely amazing.

Undoubtedly, the highlight on the culinary front was 'Pizza Di Tom'. Tom has a small pizza shop that was located on the ground floor of the building we were staying in. Fortunately, we tried it early on and then proceeded to go there once a week. The crust was amazing. It was some of best pizza I have had and is easily winning best pizza in Europe so far. Tom ran a one man shop and we would talk to him as he made our pizzas. He was super nice, and I love the sunglasses he donned when I asked if we could take a picture with him.

Time To Move On

It is amazing how the time keeps passing by. Montenegro turned out to be one of the biggest surprises to me. It is an absolutely gorgeous country. The people were nothing but kind to us (even if they knew we were American). It is a less chaotic way of life than back home. Montenegro will soon join the EU and Schengen zone so I feel very fortunate that we were able to visit before limitations kick in. It is hard to pick and choose where you want to go when you are limited to 90 days. Wow, that was pretentious! Anyway, off to Southhampton where we will be boarding a cruise to Iceland.

Brad and Sheri