My bus ride between cities was finally only two hours this time, after my string of 6-8 hour journeys. Just had to cross from Croatia into Montenegro basically. And as nice as Dubrovnik was, it was a little too nice, so when I arrived in Kotor I felt like I could breathe a bit more. Even though its old town area is also quite touristy, everything had a bit more of an authentic feel to it.
Also, the drive along the Bay of Kotor is quite nice. But scary. They drive fast around the curves.
After arriving, I just spent the evening walking around the old town. There are lots of stray cats, and it’s easy to get lost. I walked the walls, which were pretty rundown, and weaved through some streets. There are some really old buildings, including this cathedral.
One of the things I don’t like about it is that you have to walk down the coast of the bay a bit to find a coffee shop on the water. Right outside the old town, it’s just a parking lot and small park and other stupid things. So I had to walk like 10 minutes, but I finally found a place to chill out and have some coffee.
And this is the entrance to the old city.
The hostel had a dinner you could sign up for, so for 3€ I had a pretty nice vegetarian dinner. We then played a game called beer pong, which I had played before but without a bastardization of the sacred rules. I just played one game then went to bed, like an adult with things to do the next day.
I hiked up Lovćen mountain – partway at least, going all the way would have taken a lot longer – starting at about 7:30am. I didn’t get back until nearly 2:00pm, so it was quite the hike. I’m quite tired, but it was a nice walk.
There was a stray dog that joined me for the journey, because apparently she didn’t have anything better to do. I named her Marty, and she was very dirty, but generally pleasant to be around. She was quite effective at herding goats out of the way, which was important early in the journey. Afterwards I got her some water and some food, which she seemed to think was agreeable compensation for her expertise as a guide.
On the way down, I went to the ruined Fortress up the mountain a bit. It was rather authentic in the sense, which is a nice way of saying they’ve done essentially no preservation whatsoever. It’s a bit overgrown, and there are just random garbage bags which don’t look like they’ve been emptied in a while everywhere. So while I’d appreciate more general tidiness (from the entire city in general), the fact that it isn’t too touristy is a nice break.
After a brief break, I took a bus to the nearby town of Perast. It was pretty dead there. I took a small boat over to the island, met a couple other travelers, and had a coffee with them afterward waiting for the bus back. They drove me instead, which was nice.
Perast reminded me a lot of Hallstat in Germany, which I really loved. But this place is even smaller. So I’m still voting for Hallstat, but this place has those same picturesque qualities.
Feeling sore already, I went to the grocery store and got some beer and food to replenish my reserves. I bought a 1.5L beer for 1.50€, which apparently is a lot of beer, so I’m trying to drink it. In general, hopefully I recover quickly, as I’m headed to a national park in Northern Montenegro tomorrow which should require additional hiking and general fun, which of course is quite tiring. Too bad I can’t bring Marty.