This comes to you from the impossibly beautiful Bay of Kotor in Montenegro. No wonder this place hosts at least 2 cruise ships daily – it is a scenic wonder that could be mistaken for a fjord but geologically is a drowned river valley.
The bay’s deceptively narrow entrance from the Mediterranean opens up into a glorious 60km blue waterway flanked by towering peaks dotted with ancient fortresses. Hugging the shores are the remnants of medieval towns and in some instances the ruins of third century BC settlements.
We have set up base in the World Heritage listed stari grad (old town) of Kotor at the head of the bay. Thanks to the tourist dollars that flood in here, the C 1555 stari grad has not only been preserved but reinvented to play perfect host to the thousands of visitors who visit each day from cruise ships, surrounding towns and from Kotor itself. Japanese, Chinese, Serbian, Russian, American, French, you name it, they are all here and, like us, are totally captivated by the charm of the architecture and gobsmacked by the dramatic setting.
Apart from immersing ourselves (and getting lost in the labyrinth of alleys) in the old town, we have climbed 1300 steps to the old fortress 300m directly above the settlement, strolled the waterfront promenade and taken a ferry trip to two gorgeous little islands. One of them, Our Lady of the Rock, was actually “built” from debris after shipwrecked sailors found a religious icon on the rogue rock that sank their ship. The manufactured island looks quite natural now and has a tiny chapel dedicated to the legendary icon.
We shared the ferry with about 20 passengers from the Holland Amercia ship, Noordam, on a 30 day Mediterranean cruise out of Barcelona. How easy it would be to see the sights that way and retreat to your luxury cabin each night! However, they would not get to sit on the beach for the afternoon with the locals as we did today. The Kotor “beach” is white pebbly gravel and requires at least 2 hotel towels under the butt to avoid discomfort. The water is a perfect temperature for swimming at this time of year so we enjoyed our first dip in this part of the Mediterranean.
Because of the high rate of smoking among the locals, the beach is strewn with butts. Holidaying Russians, Serbs, French et al contribute to the butt problem in the streets and along the fortress track. Plastic drink bottles and other stuff are also liberally scattered which is a shame in such a lovely place.
Other blots on the landscape here are abandoned buildings. One of them is the giant Hotel Fjord taking pride of place right on the waterfront. It was a state-run hotel back in the days of Yugoslavia and more recently was taken over by the Montenegran Govt. It went bust in 2006 and was bought by an Irish investor for $9m who had visions of developing it into a super resort. Sadly he is now being sued by his co-investors and it is decaying rapidly right under everyone’s noses. It is not the only neglected building spoiling the landscape. It would be great if the town of Kotor directed a large portion of its tourism income into picking up litter and providing incentive to investors to fix up (or demolish) eyesores.
Our apartment owner, Dragan, is a bit of a mover and shaker. He walks fast and talks even faster – thankfully in pretty good English. He has converted a three-storey building in the old town into very nice apartments. While windows are not a feature because the buildings are so close together, Dragan has incorporated some of the original stonework into the plastered walls and provides large containers of water “for when the town supply is interrupted”. He can arrange anything you want except adequate parking for his guests. Dragan showed us where we should park but unfortunately everyone else had the same idea! When the proper space became available around 10pm, the poletzi had struck and had provided a nice welcome in the form of a fine!
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