Hotel Vardar Kotor

... is a town set within a valley and nestled in the Bay of Kotor, which means it is stunningly located in a near-perfect setting (It also mean the view on the bus was somewhat marred by all the people on the left-hand side of the bus leaning over those on the right-hand side with their cameras to take pictures...).

I left the bus station with no map and no directions and decided to walk back in ...

... Kotor seemed like just a little triangle way down below.

The walk down was equally ******* the knees, and upon reaching the apartment we rested for a bit and headed out for dinner. Afterwards we found a café in one of the little squares and just spent several hours drinking wine (Vranac is excellent) and watching the local Kotorians dance to 80’s disco music in the square. They have some pretty interesting dance moves….

... br>This chain smoking Tony Soprano look alike maneuvered our bus through beat up streets filled with either Mercedes or donkey carts. There doesn't seem to be much of a middle ground in terms of private transportation. On this bus we had a string of garlic and Sylvester the Cat hanging from the window instead of Jesus and french fries. One scene that repeated itself over and over starting at 6am was wedding processions of Mercedes ...

... 8217;ve seen, cobbled roads, little churches, vendors selling their wares from the stone openings. Gabe though spotted some guys eating a pastry type thing that he had wanted to try in Bosnia-Herzegovina, so we went on a hunt for them. I was thrilled to be finally doing something for Gabe since he never allows any of the focus to be on him or what he might want. On our own we weren’t able to find it, but just as we’d ...

... green rivers including the Rijeka Skurda that feels straight out of Switzerland that there is the ruins of San Giovanni Fortress that is perched on this hill above the old town. The Stari Grad (old town) feels Italian with it's open squares and ornate churches an d there are abandoned buildings in the modern town that have been elaborately painted with colourful murals.

In the short time that I had in Kotor, I ...

... water was sapphire blue, clear and warm. The beach itself was not large, but completely hidden by huge rocky cliffs. The three of us took a kind of small craft about a quarter of a mile out into the Adriatic; Darko and I jumped in for a swim. Bojana was partially nude sunbathing at the time on the boat and since she was unable to swim, Darko teased her by stealing her clothes, pretending not to give them back to her. She immediately became upset demanding Darko return her clothes ...

I came to Kotor, the most beautiful spot in Montenegro, in a storm. The sky was dark, rain pelted the bus windows with loud thwacks, and the seas were choppy. In my apartment, the lights flickered on and off all day, and I sat with my duvet bunched around me, reading my book, waiting for the tempest to pass. It didn't and at night when the power went out for good, I read by candlelight. In the morning, the sea remained rough and the wind was so strong, I feared I'd be ...

... starting holding free elections (no longer under any 'rule' per say) less than 2 years prior. So, after settling into Zagljak, we made our afternoon plans in Durmitor National Park. The National Park was created in 1952 and includes this massive mountains, the amazingly beautiful canyons of Tara, Susica and Draga rivers. Durmitor National Park became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980. (UNESCO by the way, stands for United Nations ...

... about this on our walk home, and when we got back to the hotel, we had a lively and interesting exchange with the desk clerk, who seemed so happy to be practicing his very good English. As we walked back to our room, I said to LJ, "I have a job for him... at that restaurant." We woke up today (Monday, June 5), for another day in Dooby. Upon awaking, I reported a bad dream that included being attacked by a local stray cat. We headed to the hotel buffet breakfast, which is the ...

... handed our passports to a series of different Croatian/Montenegrian officials, got stamps and carried on walking a bit more and then got on another bus towards Kotor. One of the strange things about Montenegro is how it uses German Deutschmarks as currency. We knew this before we arrived, but what we didn't know was that there are absolutely no bank-machines, no places to use credit-cards and certainly, it seems no one would dare cash an American Express Travelers cheque!! We ...