The border crossing took a while, but soon enough we were wending our way towards Kotor, our base while in Montenegro. The landscape as we were driving was even more dramatic than Croatia, with steep mountains surrounding the river.
A church in the old town
We stayed in the Old Town in Kotor, at a little hotel called Marija. There are about 6 rooms on each floor, with steep narrow stairs between each of the four floors. The beds are comfortable enough though, and they have the staples: bathrooms, aircon and wifi! It’s right in the middle of the action – one alley away from two of the big squares, and surrounded by shops, icecream sellers and restaurants.
A giant seagull
A parade!
Kotor happens to be having a festival at the moment, so as well as the tourists, there is music being played everywhere! There are bands and performances on the main stage at the entrance to the Old Town, and smaller bands, singers and ensembles at many of the other squares playing until late into the night.
Our main day in Kotor was spent visiting a few food producers. We started off by climbing (in the van) the impossibly steep mountain behind the town, with a very tricky serpentine road with 25 zig zags. Being a little afraid of heights, I wasn’t terribly comfortable with all of this, but grinned and bore it (for the most part, at least).
Proscuitto
The payoff was a visit to a farm where they make prosciutto, so we viewed the ageing house where they hang the meat to smoke and age. Then came the tastings! Proscuitto and cheese are a great mix, and these guys also make their own semi-hard cheese, which is delicious.
Our next stop, once we’d wound our way down the serpentine road again (eek!) was to head out on the peninsula to visit the olive growing region, and have lunch at an olive farm where they make olive oil. We met the two farm donkeys and had a talk from the owner who taught us the techniques to taste good olive oil and how to tell if it’s a fake (the trick is in the pepperiness and lack of residual oiliness, if I got it right).
Our lunch was more prosciutto, but with two different goat/sheep cheeses (a hard and a fresh soft one), and salad and condiments, all splashed with the local olive oil. I’ve certainly had a year’s worth of prosciutto this trip!
The beach in Kotor
We all dozed quite well on our ride back to Kotor, and then let loose around the Old Town for a few hours. After a walk along the ‘beach’, Some of us went to a tiny craft beer bar near one of the minor gates, which had some beautifully designed bottle labels on their beer, and some interesting cocktails.
Beers
After that we wandered the streets a bit more, heading to the little bazaar near the hotel that I’d previously noticed had an archery target set up down one end. There was no one else trying it, but I convinced the others that this would be totally fun, and we all had a go. The guy running the stall had a recurve bow, but without the sight I’m used to, so after I missed the target entirely on my first shot, he taught us an alternative style drawing the bowstring from a couple of inches below the nocking point and then using the arrow to sight down. This was pretty successful, and all of us hit a few bullseyes. Our hilarity drew a few more of the wandering tourists, and by the time we’d finished our go, there was a crowd of punters wanting to play. Fun!
Archery
At that point it was time to call it a night, as we had a long driving day the next day – through Albania and onto Kosovo.
Sveti Stefan – resort for the rich and famous
I hadn’t heard much about Montenegro before we arrived, apart from vague impressions as somewhere glamorous movie stars in the 50s and 60s visited, but that had been caught up in the Yugoslavia political dramas. The country is beautiful — I can see why it was a glamorous destination and still is a popular tourist destination for Europeans, with its dramatic mountains and green valleys. After two days I don’t have a much deeper view, but it’s certainly a place of rich history and culture.
Two Weeks Away 