The night before we arrived in Kotor, our host messaged us to let us know there had been a murder in or near our apartment, so staying with them was a no go. Oh well, we booked another place and slept off the nagging suspicion that this may have been a ploy to get in someone else that was willing to pay more.
Oh, but that heat. Close to 40c. No wind. Too much for the like of us from the grey soggy shores of London. This isn't what we were used to. Our bodies and minds were melting. We arrived at our apartment number two late in the evening after what Google informed us would be a 2 hour drive stretched into more than 6 hours due to the car struggling with extra weight from some lovely young German tourists that hitched a ride with us, shenanigans at the border when our car registration was immediately detected as a print-out rather than the original and the whole of Montenegro trying to driving home from the beach on their one coastal road (and okay a beer break overlooking the picturesque private island resort of Sveti Stefan).
We were all ready to slide into the soothing conditioned air... it was going to be heaven, an oasis of cool. Oh, but wait, what was that? Oh, it's actually booked out for two weeks to someone else but we didn't get the email as Montenegro is inexplicably the only country not covered by roaming. There goes that plan. Off to the only krappy cheap hostel that we could find to stay for the night. No air conditioning. Hot sweatyness. Perfect, just what we needed after climbing mountains and running out of clothes. Mmmmm smelly... at least we managed to find somewhere the following night where we could cool down and wash our souls and stinky mountain attire.
Oh, but that heat. Close to 40c. No wind. Too much for the like of us from the grey soggy shores of London. This isn't what we were used to. Our bodies and minds were melting. We arrived at our apartment number two late in the evening after what Google informed us would be a 2 hour drive stretched into more than 6 hours due to the car struggling with extra weight from some lovely young German tourists that hitched a ride with us, shenanigans at the border when our car registration was immediately detected as a print-out rather than the original and the whole of Montenegro trying to driving home from the beach on their one coastal road (and okay a beer break overlooking the picturesque private island resort of Sveti Stefan).
We were all ready to slide into the soothing conditioned air... it was going to be heaven, an oasis of cool. Oh, but wait, what was that? Oh, it's actually booked out for two weeks to someone else but we didn't get the email as Montenegro is inexplicably the only country not covered by roaming. There goes that plan. Off to the only krappy cheap hostel that we could find to stay for the night. No air conditioning. Hot sweatyness. Perfect, just what we needed after climbing mountains and running out of clothes. Mmmmm smelly... at least we managed to find somewhere the following night where we could cool down and wash our souls and stinky mountain attire.
The Bay of Kotor consists of four smaller gulfs - Herceg Novi, Tivat, Risan, and Kotor. The town of Kotor is butted up against a steep cliff, cradled by a calm sea, naturally sheltered by its deep-in-the-fjord position, and watched over by an imposing network of fortifications. Kotor has survived centuries of would-be invaders by its imposing town wall, which scrambles in a zigzag line up the mountain behind it. The walls are fortified by bastions, and ramparts on their way up to the top of the St. John Mountain that backs the city. On top of the mountain is the San Giovanni castle at 280 meters which dominates the eastern bay, the fortification system and the city.
We vigorously attacked the climb before the sun came over the hill, up the 1,350 broken-assed stairs, panting, sweating and generally wondering what the hell we were doing to ourselves. The view was well worth it though - the Bay of Kotor lay spread below us, rimmed with houses lapped by sparkling water and watched by the high peaks. Kotor town itself while charming was small and very touristed, so didn't hold our attention long.
The oh-so-sweet view from the balcony of our third-try, air conditioned, washing machine enabled, oasis of calm apartment in Kotor where the chief entertainment was the family of kittens from next door:
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