1/5/11 Kotor, Montenegro

Town along Kotor Bay on the way to Kotor

We left for Montenegro early in the morning. Kotor Bay is a southern fjord with a very narrow section that requires a local pilot, so an overnight sail wasn’t an option. This was NOT good for my tummy. Alan and Vivi encouraged us to go to the sundeck around 8:30 as we entered Kotor Bay, but it was nasty cold and I was not feeling that hot, so I let Jim play photographer. 

Old City of Kotor below the fortress

Kotor is yet another beautiful walled city, but this time the wall crawls up the hill like a mini Great Wall of China, with a major fortress at the top. This was our afternoon objective. We walked thru the walled section of town, which is sort of a smaller version of Dubrovnik – impressively intact and rebuilt after the 1667 earthquake that hit Dubrovnik too. The best part about the city was that there was free wi-fi in several locations, and I was able to download my email! 

Old City walls

Jim at the top of the fortress with Kotor Bay behind him

After lunch, it was time for our ‘wall walk’, which this time was to the fortress at the top It was reputedly 1000 + steps and 800 feet of elevation gain. The views all along were spectacular! At the top, they showed us the village (or remains thereof) behind the hill the fortress was on, which led to another even taller hill with another fortress on top of it. Apparently the far side of the second hill presented a threat from the Turks during the time of the Ottoman Empire. 

When it was time to go back down, we went down into the nearly vacant valley behind the fortress and encountered a grazing cow! The path evolved into the caravan road that the army used to take, which was much longer, but much less challenging.