The curtain closed on my week of Balkan So Hard adventures with a beautiful sunset in Kotor.
Fatigued by Porto Montenegro's rows of same-y looking yachts, supercars, and overpriced (but delicious!) restaurants that only expats and tourists could afford, H and I wanted a more 'real' experience of Montenegro. We took our most expensive cab ride yet---€15! I love this country!---and left behind the glossy glamour of the port for the old-world charms of the medieval city of Kotor.
H: "Have you ever seen such a splendid fortress of walls?"
Me: "Well, my ancestors are Chinese, so..."
H: "Just look at the King in his castle, high up in the mountains, lording it all over his people...what's he going to do when his city is invaded? He's trapped in the mountains..."
Me: "I suppose His Majesty had dozens of escape routes tunnelled in the mountains...and he could've taken a medieval speedboat out to Porto Montenegro and done a runner to Ibiza?"
H: "...."
Kotor is so wonderfully preserved, in fact one of the best kept old medieval towns in the Adriatic, and a UNESCO world heritage site. Out of reverence for its history---it was fortified since the early Middle Ages---we stopped with the bad jokes, and just strolled around, taking in the beauty of it all.
Although we couldn't resist a starfish jump or two. Once a child, always a child...
Dinner was a modest and simple affair...
...fish pate...
...fish soup...
...Montenegrin fish and chips...
...I broke the fish theme and ordered 'squid filled squid'.
I stared at the menu for a good five minutes trying to decide if it was a typo---did they mean shrimp filled squid? Surely 'squid filled squid' is just, well, squid?
Apparently it's squid stuffed with soft, chewy, pulverised squid.
H and I carried on strolling...
...past churches...
...shrines...
...and we scaled walls in search of secret gardens.
Eventually we headed out of the walls to look back at the city...
...and the mountains and streams surrounding it...
As we took in the most beautiful sunset I ever did see, in Montenegro. Good night Montenegro, I enjoyed your company.
All my Montenegro blog posts here; BALKAN SO HARD.
Ps. The full and improved Balkan So Hard rap---
Balkan so hard Monten****s wanna fine me,
first Slavs gotta find me,
what's Kosovo to a Croat to me can you please remind me?
Balkan so hard that Serb cray.
My proudest achievement yet.