After Corfu, Montenegro

Have you ever heard of Montenegro?  I may have, but never paid attention.  I never once thought, "Oh, I'd like to visit Montenegro."  And then we did.  It was amazing.  Our ship was able to park right next to the street.  Not a dock, a street.  There is a deep deep water-filled gorge that accommodates cruise ships in Kotor.  Incredible!

 I think I took this next picture from the top of the ship, looking across to the city below.  You can see the old city wall, which has been there for centuries.  The entire town is surrounded by huge mountains, with another wall at the top, so it is quite protected from invasion.

 We took a bus tour up the mountain shown behind our ship in the first photo.  As we gained altitude, the weather changed from grey to foggy to pouring rain.  We had the misfortune to be sitting in the front row of the bus, so we could see how close we were to the edge of the drop off.  This narrow road had 25 hairpin turns up the mountain.

When we got to our stop, they offered us wine, at 10:30am.  I was so rattled by the ride, I took it!  This is the little restaurant where we snacked on wine, prosciutto, homemade bread, and locally made cheese.  Delicious!  As you can see, we've risen above most of the weather.

 Here you can see how far up the mountain we are.  Our cruise ship is that little arrow, way down below.

The drive was quite informative.  The other side of the mountain has a completely different climate, and it is there that most of their agriculture takes place.  We got back to the ship, ate some lunch, then went back to the old city.  My husband had heard of a climb, to the ruins at the top of the mountain.  He suggested, "We can try it, and if we don't make it, we can try it again, an hour later."  I told him we get one shot.  If I can't make it a first time, there's no way I'd make it a second time, especially in the same day!!

 It is 1350 stairs to the top.  I've marked with arrows how far I was able to make it, and how far hubby went.  He made it to the flag.  I did not.  The walk/hike was actually quite lovely, which you would never guess from a distance.  The walls are overgrown with iris and other greenery and blooms.

 Here is a midway point, where we stopped for air.  I think it's 3000' or something like that?  At this point, my memory is hazy.  He loved it, and had no problem setting a brisk pace.  Me?  Not so brisk, but I kept plugging along.

 Here is a picture of the ruins at the top.  He made it to the red arrow.  I stopped here, where I took the picture.  I probably would have stopped on the steps below this landing, but that would have been rude to the steady stream of climbers, heading to and from the top.

One thing we did not realize was that after climbing a bit, there is a gatekeeper.  It was 8 euros to continue past him.  Some people turned around, not wanting to spend so much.  But really?  How often does one get a chance to go to Montenegro and climb this?  It was totally worth it, though once we got back to the ship?  I wasn't good for much else.

Montenegro?  I highly recommend it!  The people were friendly and welcoming to tourists.  I think one of the most fun things was the number of people who saw hubby's hat and said, "Nice hat!" as they walked by.  Good memories, yes, indeed.