theatre of the absurd: Montenegro, part III - Kotor (iii): Kotor Old Town and more Bay of Kotor

Wednesday, 27 June 2018

Montenegro, part III - Kotor (iii): Kotor Old Town and more Bay of Kotor

Kotor Old Town

View of the Bay of Kotor from the hiking trail

I had a nice idyllic sort of morning, bought some coffee from the vending machines, and then after walking about the coastal line right outside the hostel, decided to scale the mountain which hosted the famous Kotor Fortress, the main attraction of the city. The hostel owner had advised me that there was a 'main entrance' road, which usually required a 5 euro entry fee, but since it was off season, he didn't think they would be there. (Spoiler alert: they most certainly were.) The 'backdoor route', he said, was a slightly longer path, but toll-free. I asked him which one was easier to walk, since my foot was still slightly injured, and he considered a bit and said that both were pretty much the same.

I ended up finding the backoor route, and decided to take that one, because why pay 5 euros when you've found the free, alternative route? It was definitely a lot longer than the 'frontdoor' one, and quite difficult to scale in some places, to the point where I seriously wondered if this adventure would end up with me and a broken neck, but then I would look back at the route I'd taken, and think glumly about the extremely long trek I'd already taken to get there, and that there was no turning back at this point. It was far less steeper than the frontdoor route, though, which I took when I was going back down. The front door route is just steps and loads of steps, whilst the backdoor route is a proper hiking trail that affords you a really nice view of the Bay of Kotor. 10/10 would recommend, but exercise all caution - it's not very safe and in retrospect it really was one of the most reckless things I did on that trip, in a tripful of reckless ventures. Now there's a loaded sentence.