Gym's Ramblings: Making it to Montenegro

Neither Gym or his lovely wife knew what to expect in Montenegro or Croatia, the next two ports of call. We were pleasantly surprised in both these countries. The weird thing was that just 25 years ago, Croatia was at war with Montenegro and it was a nasty little spat. In 1992, these two mostly christian countries were at each others throats, shelling and bombing each other's cities and doing lots of crumby things to each other's citizens. Gym saw no evidence of the war in either country and found the citizens equally charming and welcoming. However, just to be on the safe side, Gym let Mrs. Gym lead the way in both these countries, just in case there were any lingering landmines.

If we had flown in to Montenegro, it wouldn't have been the same. If you have never been to this country before, the best way to arrive in Montenegro is to sail into the Bay of Kotor. This picturesque bay is 28 kilometres long and is very much like a fjord but is technically a sunken river-valley. Like fjords though, the Bay of Kotor is framed by steep mountains on both sides that merge with the water at a steep angle. Beautiful little whitewashed villages and towns cling to these steep shorelines. Each settlement has at least two tall churches painted white, like the other buildings and all the buildings have red roofs. Due to the steep sides of the valley, a town or village may only have 2 or 3 streets paralleling the shore. As we slowly cruised in, we passed small fishing boats trolling between these settlements, alongside the ship.

Then abruptly at the end of the bay, we docked beside the medieval, walled city of Kotor. Kotor is the icing on the cake, of the Bay of Kotor. Like Corfu, it owes much of its architectural style to the Venetians. It is very cool. Most of Kotor was built between the 15th and 17th centuries when the Venetians were in charge and it was built to keep the Ottoman turks out. The turks were always an issue for the people of Kotor and especially in 1538 and 1637 during which the city was besieged. Both of those major sieges were repelled by the Venetian-backed defenders.

After getting off the ship, we would not initially explore Kotor, as we picked a tour that had us take a little spin around Montenegro, before coming back to Kotor later in the day. We were led by a guide named Bogdan, a very animated young man who told us we could call him "Bob". I would place Bob at around 25 years of age so he had not experienced the war. The first part of Bob's tour was a little hairy. Don't do this tour if you have a problem with motion sickness or heights. Immediately after getting off the ship and onto the bus, we climbed the P1 - Kotor to Cetinje "highway". It is an infamous two-way road, with only one lane. It abruptly climbs up the Orjen mountain range behind Kotor, to a height of about 1000 meters above sea level. There are 30 hairpin turns that we wheeled around before stopping to finally get out and see the view. So, one might ask, what about oncoming traffic? Yes, there was some! As we climbed up, zig-zagging around the hairpins, we came head on with several cars that were going down. They had to stop and back up around the previous hairpin to let us pass. It was quite the thing to witness. Mrs. Gym was ready to jump but we hung onto her and made it safely to the top. The view was spectacular.

In Cetinje, we toured the Royal Palace of King Nikola. Nikola lived in the palace for more than 50 years. It was the seat of the Montenegrin Royal Family from 1867 to 1916. Although it is no castle, it is a massive structure which is now a museum that has several impressive reception rooms and bedrooms enough for the royal couple and their 12 children. Not only was Nikola a productive father, it was said that he was the father-in-law of Europe because 5 of his daughters were married to princes or kings of other European countries. Nicola was also famous for routing the Ottomans in a war from 1876-78. In one room of the palace several captured turk battle flags are on display.

Fortunately, we didn't have to return to Kotor on the P-1. Instead, we descended back to sea level on the highway to Budva. Budva is a modern seaside city that is the anchor of the so-called Budva Riviera, the centre of Montenegro's touristy area. We didn't stop here. The bus continued on a long loop back to Kotor which ended with us traveling back into the valley of the Bay of Kotor, via a long tunnel that terminated on the outskirts of the walled city. There we accompanied Bob on foot and he led us on a walking tour of that tidy little fortified city, tucked underneath the Orjen mountains. It is a place Gym wants to go back to someday to explore at his leisure.

We reboarded the ship and left the Bay of Kotor in the dark. Kotor and the defensive walls that were built in a semi-circle up the mountain, are all lit up at night. It is a breathtaking sight.