Kotor/Budva, Montenegro

We arrived in Kotor for a couple of nights on our way to Budva, for additional three nights, kind of our final stop for unintended interregnum. We have had some tenant issues back home that need resolving, forcing us to head home until closer to our Mont Blanc hike, sigh. In the great words of Arnold Schwarzenegger, we’ll be back.

Kotor, and Budva, are the land of cats. Yes that’s right. Cats are somewhat worshipped here similar to cows in India, since they are considered to be the town’s savior during the black plague, when they would go around eating all of the rats that were spreading the disease. You will find cats adorned on all sorts of souvenir gifts and artwork. Locals go around making sure all the street cats are well fed making them come across more as community pets than stray cats.

Kotor’s city walls are a UNESCO World Heritage Site which were constructed back in the 6th century. In a time of never ending invasion, have times really changed, one would be hard pressed to find a port city that is not also a fortress. These fortress walls run straight up an incredibly steep hill/mountain. Insane they were able to build it.

Kotor has the typical Old Town within the city walls, as we have seen numerous times, Budva too. Like other similar cities, Split, Dubrovnik, Kotor and Budva, it is quite pretty and nice to walk around, but having had this amazing opportunity to travel so much, there is a rinse, repeat quality to these areas.

We decided to spend the day sea kayaking Kotor Bay. Started out pretty windy but did calm down later in the afternoon. Once again, managed to avoid getting swallowed whole by Jaws and paddled out to a nice beach where we relaxed for a good long time. At night, Kotor’s fortress gets lit up at night and the walls meandering across the hillside, creates a heart in the waters of the bay, pretty cool.

Budva is basically a chill beach town. Nice. We hiked all day yesterday since they have a hike (9km one way) that connects all seven beaches. Absolutely lovely walk. We would occasionally stop along the way, for Stacy to swim, for us to get ice cream, to eat… and just made a day of it.

Towards the end of the day, we happened upon a local volleyball game where they were borderline professional athletes. It was fun to sit with the locals and be a spectator. Budva is a great place to chill and do recommend both cities. Tomorrow it’s on to Tirana, Albania to spend a short afternoon before going to the airport for our long flight home. I’ll try to write one more Penguin after Tirana. Czytaj więcej