kotor

got up early to walk along the marina. colorful yachts and boats were docked and people were breakfasting on the decks. on the other side of the marina, the old city walls went up the mountain side. the old town of Kotor had a triangle shape, at the base of the mountain, with a 4.5KM long fortification wall that went up to the St John mountain. I knew I wanted to climb this thing. The old town is very pretty, with labyrinth cobblestoned narrow alleys that ended in squares, each with a church and grand town houses they called palaces, all modeled after the Venetians. lots of restaurants and shops. local musicians played on the squares, violin and cello. Celloman played the GOT theme. Really digged this place. in the afternoon we drove to Perast for seafood lunch by the bay (i had the squid and it was fresh and delicious). Built by Italian sea captains, Perast is a very picturesque town with venetian flavors. the panorama offered beautiful palaces and houses with gardens, protected by a venetian fortress and dominated by the church of St Nikola. after lunch we got on a boat to visit the lady of the rocks island and after that a very enjoyable and refreshing boat ride on the bay of kotor, east europe's largest fjords (and she loves fjords), with views of the towering cliffs of the Dinaric Alps, Venetian red roof houses, fortress walls and churches, back to Kotor. Since we're doing budva in the late afternoon, we decided to get up extra early the next day to climb to the Lady of the Remedy church, the halfway point to the St John fortress. it would be much cooler anyway. after a shower to shake off the sweat and heat, we drove to budva. the city was filled with tourists and locals sun bathing. the small old town had a wall all around it and I of course walked the entire length. The views from the wall werent much since the wall was not very high. Tried to get to a beach to look at the Adriatic, but one couldnt get to it as the beach side was lined with restaurants and hotels. Defeated there was no desire left to pay the ticket to go up the small fort. For dinner I had the seafood pasta that wasnt any good. only got a few small pieces of squid. not impressed with budva simply because it was too touristy and crowded. The night life was loud and it completely smashed an otherwise romantic town by the adriatic.


Kotor photos:



Perast photos:



Budva photos: