Godspeed to Olympos, Fri, 22 Sep 2023 | written by Simon
Simon at a City, Mountain, Sea, UNESCO site in Europe, Montenegro

Well, don’t trust the weather forecast, is a moral of that story! I got up in the morning to find a fog so sick that I couldn’t see 20 metres ahead, save enjoy gorgeous views of the whole country. I stayed in the van for a bit hoping it will clear up, but it never did. In the end, I didn’t even visit the mausoleum – after all, what’s the point of the views aren’t there?

Naturally, as I descended and got out of the cloud level, the weather was perfectly lovely! Uh…

On the way, I passed a zip line stretching across a massive gorge. I stopped, thought a second, and reversed. Time to zip! I’ve never done that before, but it was ran by three teenagers who definitely look like they know what they’re doing, so erhält could possibly go wrong. And it was amazing! I’m now regretting passing on another one I saw on the hills over Budva, it looked even longer. Next time!

The descent to Kotor is extremely picturesque, with the road following a long and steep serpentine. Lots of waiting for buses to pass, but no matter – it’s just time to take on the views.

On the way, I checked out Fortress Gorazda – a completely open structure where I was welcomed by a cow and a donkey. Fun to explore but nothing special.

Kotor itself, however, is a whole different story. It is special in every way. The old town is super cute with it’s narrow streets, constant ups and downs, and city walls you can follow around. Then there are the walls that go steep steep up the mountain towards the fortress. It’s honestly insane that they felt the need to add walls to the already super steep hill. Venetians, eh? The views from the top are amazing, of course.

And then there are the cats. And kittens. So many kittens. Lying stretched in the shade, on the streets, on benches, in cafe windows. Walking all around, pawing at each other’s tails, fighting, chasing… But mainly sleeping all over the place. And weirdly enough – not begging for food. I got a burger and sat on one of the benches in between a couple cats. Soon enough, I had loads of them around me, with one obviously making itself at home on my backpack. They didn’t care much for the burger, but they sure enjoyed the cuddles.

Quickly, I became the centre of attention with lots of people taking pictures of me. I’m a bit worried I’ll be the next meme or something. And there are so many people here! This place is crazy popular.

As I extracted myself from the cats and visited the upper fortress, I drove off to Perast, a much smaller but also beautiful town on the bank of the Kotor Bay. Lovely pier, fewer people, a good evening chill. Though I cannot agree with what they called a ‘beach’ here – a slab of concrete with stairs going to the water is not a ‘beach’… It is, however, good enough for an evening skinny dip to wash off the sweat of the earlier climb.