What's Up, Pussycat: 3 Days in Kotor, Montenegro
Since our destination in Montenegro was only about 54 miles from Dubrovnik, we flew there to rent our car. The Avis agent told us we'd save time if we went to a smaller border crossing that was a little out of the way, since sometimes crossings in the summer between Croatia and Montenegro can take up to three hours. We decided to listen to his wisdom, and he was right--we did drive through BFE Croatia, but there was no one at all at the crossing. Almost literally no one--the border agent was just a cop at a folding table who stamped our passports without even looking at us.
And you may be thinking, wow, 54 miles--that's so close! It is so close, and yet so far--there's one road, and it's two lanes (so one lane of traffic each way) winding around a gigantic bay. So that 54 miles took us almost two hours all told. When we first crossed the border I had a little hesitation (maybe we should turn around and go back to Dubrovnik?) but as we reached the bay, things got increasingly more pictureseque and I was ready to move to Montenegro. Kotor Bay is beautiful--blue water surrounded by huge mountains--and while there weren't many beaches in our area, people were laid out on any rocky little outcropping they could find, even if it was just on the side of the road. While I didn't see any wildlife as I did in Crete, I did see a large number of overconfident men in Speedos.
Our hotel was the Forza Terra, a small luxury hotel on Kotor Bay with rooms inspired by fashion designers. The front desk staff couldn't have been friendlier, and everything felt new and clean (check out that fun cherub picture in the back of the glass elevator!).
Below is the interior of the hotel restaurant, where we ate breakfast every morning--eggs and crepes made to order.
Our room was inspired by Tiffany, which mainly meant pops of turquoise throughout the room. The room also came with Rituals bath products, which I absolutely love--it's kind of like a higher-end Bath and Body Works. The scents are amazing.
Right across the street from the hotel is the hotel restaurant, with an amazing view right up against the water. However, for lunch we went to the sister hotel's restaurant, the Forza Mare. Our new friend Milan drove us over in the golf cart, and soon we were sitting and watching another amazing view. Unfortunately for me, the Forza Mare's restaurant focuses on seafood, so there weren't a lot of options for me, but Taylor was very happy (he ate my amuse bouche of some sort of fish paste).
I don't remember what these clams are, but apparently they're hard to get because they secrete acid that allows them to burrow into the rock; it takes someone about half an hour just to harvest one portion, since they must carefully hammer them out. (Life advice: Ask how much these clams are before you agree to order them.) I had Montenegrin prosciutto and local cheese--the cheese was mild and soft, but the prosciutto was a little barn-y for me. Our new friend Milan also hand-drew us a beautiful map of things to see in the area--he was exceptionally friendly.
I also had a handmade pasta with truffle and an egg yolk, because who needs vegetables! Not me! And Taylor's entree was an alien-looking lobster with a tentacle that whacked me from across the table.
Moving under the pergola as the rain rolled in...
For dessert, we had an amazingly rich chocolate mousse tart and Sandeman 40-year port. I also wish I'd asked what wine we had with the meal--I think it was a plavic--but it was really unique. It was a red and started off a little earthy, but then rounded out to a sweet, almost dessert-wine finish. Next stop for me, sommelier school.
And here you have the view from our balcony as the sun set...gorgeous. At night you can really see how the country got its name--the mountains are velvety black against the night sky, and you can only really tell where they end by looking for where the stars begin.
Since I suffer from fierce FOMO, I was soon clamoring to go into the Old Town of Kotor and walk around, and it did not disappoint. It felt much like Dubrovnik--streets smoothed and shining from centuries of feet, narrow alleys leading to small squares--but much smaller. Below is the Sea Gate, the main entrance to the town; it was constructed in 1555. Above the gate is the date the city was liberated from the Nazis, as well as a communist star and a quote from Tito, the Yugoslavian president/dictator.
Kotor is a walled city, founded by the ancient Romans and occupied at various times by the Venetians, the Hungarians, the French and the Austrians.
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Kotor is also known for its cats--they're everywhere! There's even a small cat museum. They likely came in on ships that harbored in the bay, since ships had resident cats to catch rats and mice. Now, they're a symbol of good luck for the city.
Lavender gelato...mmm
Dinner that night was at Pizza Pronto, a tiny little red-bricked restaurant with about eight tables and American music videos on a TV. We had a pizza diavolo, and it was delicious--much better than the pizza in Rome (shame on you, Dar Poeta).
The next day we were up bright and early for a boat ride we booked through the hotel--the captain picked us up right on the hotel's dock and away we went! Our boat driver's name was Banjo (bahn-yo), and he longingly told us of his wish for the Balkans to go back to being Yugoslavia, when they were strong. He also regaled us with many tales of government corruption and his hatred of youth who don't want to work hard.
Our first stop was Perast, a tiny little town that was owned by the Venetians from 1420 to 1797; despite its small size, it has 16 churches and 17 palaces. Given its location on the bay and its rich history of shipping and seafaring, its citizens were both wealthy and powerful. Multiple generations would live in the same palace, waiting for fathers, sons, husbands, and brothers to return from sea.
Banjo's most interesting Perast story was about this palace, which one of the wealthiest captains had built to be the showiest in town. When he proudly asked the architect if anyone had a grander home, the architect replied "no, until I build the next one." And then the captain promptly threw the architect over that second floor balcony to his death.
A stand selling pomegranate wine, which in hindsight I regret not buying.
Scenes from Perast
The little island below is the island of St. George, which holds a monastery from the 12th century and also a small cemetery for the old nobility of Perast. Boats can't land there, so sadly we had to motor on by.
We were allowed to dock on an island called Our Lady of the Rocks, an artificially enlarged island with a small Catholic Church. Per Banjo, some sailors discovered an icon of the Madonna and child on a rock; they took it back to Perast, but the next day it had returned to the rock. They vowed to build a church on the site, and sank rocks and ships until they had created an island on which to build the church.
We were politely waiting in line to enter the church, but Banjo came up and shoved us in, saying that Montenegrins were assholes and we'd never get in being polite...which was lucky because they closed the doors right after us to allow the crowded church to clear out a little.
The frescos inside are by a baroque painter from Kotor named Tripo Kokolja (1661 to 1713), and they were still extraordinarily bright and clear (perhaps they've been restored, but I don't know). The silver plates on the walls were donated by local families and were offerings meant to protect loved ones at sea.
The most prized piece in the church/museum is the below embroidery, made over 25 years by a woman waiting for her husband to come back from sea. She used silver and gold thread as well as her own hair, and you can see the change from brown to gray in the stitches. The tapestry is also notable for having an incredible ratio of stitches to size, though I can't recall the exact number Banjo gave us. The wife eventually went blind, as would we all from embroidering something so intricate for 25 years.
Our next stop was one of my favorites--an abandoned submarine tunnel from the cold war! It was built over a bunker with enough supplies for the army to survive for two years; the rocks on the top are actually fake and meant for camouflage.
Banjo navigated our little boat all the way in and back out--it was strangely magnificent.
Though we couldn't land on this island, I was fascinated by it--its name is Mamula, and the building is a fortification built in 1853 by an Austro-Hungarian general. There are also two other fortifications nearby, vaguely parallel, and they were built to prevent enemy entrance into Kotor Bay. I digress, however--the history of the island is a tragic one. During World War II, Benito Mussolini converted the fortress into a concentration camp, known for torture and cruelty. It has sat empty since, but has now been bought by an investment firm to be turned into a high-end hotel and casino. It would probably better serve the Montenegrin people as a museum, and I'm not sure who would want to sleep and frolic somewhere people died in horrible ways, but I guess that's what happens when you have a corrupt government that cares more about immediate profit than heritage and history.
After the island we headed out across the open sea (the very choppy open sea, might I add--sometimes the boat felt like it was slamming down into concrete and I had the bruises the next day to prove it) to the blue cave. The pictures below aren't using flash or any kind of filter--that's just the color of the water in the cave! Banjo was a little worried about navigating in through the narrow doorway, since the water was so rough, but he got us in with inches to spare.
These crazy Russians were swimming in it, and the water around their bodies was bright blue. They must have polar bear blood, because that water was freezing.
I started with crispy feta rolls drizzled with honey and walnuts, and Taylor had more of his beloved mussels and prawns. I also had a pasta with guanciale. I had no idea what it was and assumed it was a kind of cheese, but turns out it's a farmy tasting Italian cured pork. (If you can't tell Montenegro was not the place for me to eat and enjoy it...but it was so pretty and interesting that I didn't mind very much.)
The Kotor Witch! I'm not sure what this was, but it made me laugh.
More views from around Kotor Old Town.
And another rainy sunset at dinner...no food pictured from our meal, as we ate at the Forza Terra restaurant and it was not great. The panna cotta had a skin and that may be the closest I came to food poisoning the whole trip. But I did enjoy watching all the little fish zip around the dock! I also enjoyed our waiter's stories about famous people who had stayed at the Forza Mare, including Brad Pitt; he even gave us photographic proof in the form of a picture of himself with Jerry Jones from the week before.
On our last full day in Kotor, we woke up early-ish determined to storm the castle--the Castle of San Giovanni, to be exact. The walls of the fortification were started in medieval times, but constructed on and off by pretty much every group that occupied the city. The hike itself is about 1,300 steps and 1200 meters up. You walk to the entrance through the Old Town, but you start the incline before you even get to the gate.
The road to the castle and starting the ascent...
It was hot this day--one of the hottest of the whole trip--so even at 10:30 it was exhausting going. The stairs are a single person wide, so you can choose to walk up those and step out of the way for others pretty constantly, or walk up the rocky path beside them. Either is hard, but the view gets better and better. And if you need a little break, there are several smart entrepreneurs on the way up selling cold beer and bottled water.
Taylor: "Why are you hiking in a maxi dress?" I don't know...it seemed like a good idea at the time.
At this viewpoint I was tempted to stop, but then I saw a truly ancient Asian man go trudging by upwards, so I carried on. If he could do it, so could I.
Creatures of Kotor!
The views get more and more rewarding as both you and the temperature climb...
And then, geriatrics with stamina be damned, we gave up. We reached the bottom of the castle and I was too hot and sweaty to keep going (can you see how red I am in that picture?). It was quite a ways further up and the view was probably amazing, but that's what Google is for.
Look closely--it's a kitten!
We didn't stay in Kotor once we descended, because FOUR cruise ships docked at the same time. It was shoulder to shoulder shuffling trying to get out, and the traffic was so congested there was no way to get a taxi. So, we walked the two miles back to the hotel. It wasn't too bad, since the rain had rolled in and cooled things off.
For lunch we chose a restaurant near the hotel called Dobrotski Dvori--I'm not sure what kind of food it was. Bosnian? Serbian? It was meat-focused and there was an outdoor grill, anyway.
I had lamb kebabs and Taylor had cevapi, which are Serbian sausages. He also had grilled octopus, since we didn't realize how huge the portions would be.
Beautiful wisteria walking back to the hotel...I also saw a canopy of kiwis, but I didn't get a picture of it (though I did squeal...as mentioned in previous posts, there's nothing I enjoy like seeing a new fruit in the "wild").
The moat outside Kotor at night...lovely.
My thoughts on Montenegro...I loved Kotor until the cruise ships docked, so if there is any way to check those schedules, I definitely would before trying to spend a day in the city. The Old City is beautiful and I wish I'd taken a walking tour to learn more about its history and architecture. I didn't have many expectations for this part of the trip, and so it was largely a delight--the boat trip was by far the highlight, combining both adventure and fun. There are also a lot of places we didn't get to visit, like Sveti Stefan and Lustica Bay, so I'd certainly go back one day, despite the horrifically slow and boring experience of driving there and back from Dubrovnik.
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