ON SOUTH TO MONTENEGRO

8th - 10th May 2019

By bus at 12.00pm from Dubrovnik to Monty Negro! It's only about 40 miles to the border down the coast road and my destination was to be Kotor. The border crossing out of Croatia at a place called Karasovici involved long traffic queues and a tediously slow checking of passports. A couple of miles further on at, I think, Debeli Brijeg was an equally tedious repeat performance with the Montenegran customs. It must be remembered that Croatia is in the dreaded EU (but has the Kuna as currency) whereas Montenegro is not in the EU (but uses Euros). Don't ask me.

After that there were further long delays due to some chaotic road works. We were held at a red traffic light for what must be a world record 25 minutes! Then around the northern side of the Bay of Kotor, which is in effect a spectacular Fjord surrounded by mountains, to arrive in Kotor at 4.30pm, and the total distance is only about 70 miles. According to the book; "wedged between brooding mountains and a moody corner of the bay, the achingly atmospheric Kotor is perfectly at one with its setting...blah blah blah". It pissed with rain for most of the time I was there.

Kotor, top left of Montenegro, is another floating city cruise ship destination. They come up the fjord (well they would wouldn't they). Left: One of two such vessels in port. It also has an old walled city. Another walled old city which so attracts the touristi hordes.  Smaller than that in Dubrovnik but even more compact and is a total maze of unmarked alleyways. Map reading is impossible. It reminded me a bit of the Souk in Fez but without Arabs, and wetter. You just have to wander around using the sun (if you're lucky) as a compass and hope you find what you are looking for by accident as I did; a little hotel called, ambitiously, Palazzio Dusko.......

Which turned out a real winner. 45 Euros per night (low season rates). Very comfortable and very helpful staff. Right: My room which had all mod-cons including a large flat-screen TV with programmes including BBC World 24 (which, as it happens, I find remarkably 'PC' and irritating).
It took me several trips out of the hotel before I could confidently re-locate it again.

Left: The southern, Gurdic, Gate. There are three gates.

Right: The western, Sea Gate, by the harbour. Note the very large green bench/seat which provides a popular photo-op.

There is also a northern, River Gate, ouside which runs the Skurda River.









Left: A local Kotorian having a siesta. Or maybe he is on guard.

Right: One of the 28 (yes 28!) churches in this little town behind which, to the east, is a range of mountains. The near peak has 1300 steps leading up to the top. It was raining so I didn't bother. That was my excuse anyway.

Being at the southern tip of the fjord (Bay of Kotor) the  town is surrounded by mountains on three sides.

On the other side of the western range is the town of Tivat, with an airport in a mountainous valley. Easyjet fly in there. Not easy I suggest. Definitely a Cat 10 Squeaky Bum ride.

Left: Another church. Actually I think this is St Tryphon's Cathedral, originally consecrated in 1166. Apparently St Tryphon could cure all known sicknesses. Who needs the NHS with people like that around! That's enough churches.

Right: The other thing which Kotor is full of is cats. Why? Nobody seems sure but it may have something to do with ships. They infest the place. They even have a 'Cats Museum' (right) which I did not enter. The locals are obviously fond of them.













Right: One of the little streets amongst which you get totally lost.
















There are lots of bars and restaurants in the streets and small squares. Eating outside was a bit of a damp experience while I was here.

Being a touristy place most of the hoteliers and bar staff speak excellent English. There is an English/Montenegran 'useful phrases' guide in my guide book. One of the 'key phrases' is "gavoreetya lee Engleskee?" which means "do you speak English?". What is the bleedin' point of that? Why not just ask "do you speak English"?! They either do or they don't.



It is possible to walk along the top of (some of) the city walls. Not so manicured as Dubrovnik and much shorter. Left: A view down to the harbour....











Right: ....and one of the squares.

I have a friend who bought an apartment in Tivat (8 miles over the rocks from Kotor) six years ago. Probably a very wise investment considering the recent tourist developments. She offered to drive me and her cousin who was staying with her up the 'scenic' mountain route to the town of Cetinje. Cetinje, about 40 miles south-east of Kotor, was the Capital city until 1946 when it passed the baton to Titograd, now called Podgorica. As such it housed all the foreign embassies and still has a Presidential Palace.

The road up the mountain was precipitous with many (lost count) U bends and overhanging vertical drops of several hundred feet. The road was narrow and only just allowed two cars to pass. You meet anything larger and reversing, because they wouldn't, into a sort of lay-by was hazardous. Quite buttock-clenching really. It was a climb of over 6000ft.

Left: On the way up, a view overlooking Kotor from the south.

About half-way up there was a sign advertising a zip wire. I reckon myself to be a bit of a connoisseur of zip wires which in South America and Asia have delightful and long (2km) zips through forests from stand to stand, passing through the tree tops. Fun. About 50ft off the ground for the most part. So I asked my friend to stop and I would have a go here. As it happened, when we stopped at the zip wire start we (or I) were a) the only takers and b) it was in cloud. The zip man said it had just clouded over. The line was only about 500meters long, he said. Pathetic, I thought. I strapped in (right) and waited a couple of minutes. The clouds began to clear.

In retrospect I wish they hadn't. Just off the launch platform there was a drop of about 2000ft! I nearly shat myself!

It went fast and furious and the 500m trip over a vast drop was somewhat 'exhilarating' to say the least and not quite what I had had in mind. 

I had been told to keep my legs horizontal and just as well I did because arriving at the base station we were doing about Mach 1 and if I had hit the platform with my legs down they would have been snapped off! Bleedin' Nora! 

Very efficiently someone was waiting at the bottom in a car to take me, recovering from shock, back up again. 

All's well that ends well, but be careful what you ask for.

After that little interlude we wiggled our way on up the mountain and then down towards Cetinje. We passed through wild country, a nature park, and impressive scenery with a surprising number of small 'chalets' which seemed deserted. I was told they are used in the summer months by hikers and travellers. 

Enough for now and further drivel to continue from Cetinje and onwards. So far so good.

PS. According to my useless phrase book the Montenegrin for "there's a mistake in my bill" is "neka je greska na racunu". Can you imagine the ongoing lack of communication if you said that! Pah.