Saturday, April 13 – Kotor

Another fine breakfast selection to start my day. I’m getting spoiled!

The calories will come in handy today because I’m going to hike The Ladder of Kotor. The rocky path climbs up the mountainside in a series of switchbacks between the Scurda Canyon and the Fortress Walls of the Old Town of Kotor. The Ladder of Kotor (aka the Ladder of Cattaro) is a historic mule track, which was built in the 19th century by the Austrians, in order to connect Kotor with Njeguši and Cetinje, Montenegro’s former royal capital.

I didn’t hike the complete Ladder of Kotor trail to Krsac and the P1 Road. Instead, I opted to turn around at the “Top of the Kotor Ladder” viewpoint, which was plenty long enough for me!

The trailhead isn’t physically marked, but fortunately it is identified in Google Maps!

I took my time at the top, and actually found a tree that I could sit beneath and rest for a while. Perfect!

After a couple minutes more of our stare down, the pair became bored and decided to go look for something to eat. Whew!

There’s a interesting story behind the trail that you can see running diagonally over to the walls of the Fortress. Access to the interior of the fortress is from sea level near the Kotor Old Town. The entrance fee is €15. In the past, people would ascend the Ladder of Kotor trail and then divert over to the Fortress via the trail seen here. They would then enter the Fortress through the window in the wall, thereby avoiding the entrance fee! Well, the folks running the Fortress caught on to this, and now when visitors exit the Fortress they’re required to show their ticket. If they don’t have one, they’re charged €15. (I suppose someone could sneak back OUT of the Fortress through the window!)

The trek back down to the trailhead took 90 minutes. A little quicker due to the aid of gravity (duh!), but I also spent less time taking pictures.

The Old Town of Kotor is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. And it is like a maze walking through there. I got lost many times. (And I had to go in there because that’s where my hotel was located. But I loved it!)

Here are a couple photos from the Old Town as I made my way back from the trail to the hotel…

After resting up, I went back out and walked around the town a little bit.

Sunday, April 14 – Kotor

Today I’m going to make the short trip around the bay to the town of Perast. My options for getting there are:

• Taxi, 15 minutes, €20
• Bus, 30 minutes, €2
• Bike, about 45 minutes, not sure of bike rental cost
• Walk, about 2 3/4 hours per Google Maps, free

You know there’s no way I’m taking a taxi! And I wouldn’t be comfortable riding a bike amongst the reckless drivers here. So, that leaves bus or walk? I actually thought I might do both; take the bus there, and walk back. I like the idea of walking because I could then take my time and enjoy the views along the bay. Plus, the buses only run every two hours on Sundays, so I may be able to walk most of the way back before a bus even shows up!

Now, the only drawback regarding the bus option is the fact that they’re known to run notoriously late, or sometimes they don’t even show up at all! But I’m feeling adventurous, so let’s give it a shot. The timetable indicates a 9:18am pickup just outside the Old Town near my hotel. I’m at the stop at 9:10, waiting with four other folks. And to my surprise (joy), here comes the bus at 9:22! Awesome! Twenty-five minutes later I was dropped off in Perast.

I was a little confused by the location in the photo though. It states Bay of Kotor, so I associated that with the town of Kotor. Not so fast! After arriving in Kotor on Friday, I walked around the waterfront looking for this bell tower, with no success. What the… After doing a little research, I discovered that the photo was taken in Perast, which I had planned on visiting anyway. The plan comes together! (stupid, but lucky!)

This is a very small town! (The population of Perast is 269) Here are some scenes from my walkabout…

There is also a water taxi service going out to one of the two islets off the coast of Perast, called Our Lady of the Rocks. The service is continuous, with boats running every 20 minutes back and forth. The round trip fare was €5.

Okay, I think I’ve explored all I can of Perast! Time to begin the walk back to Kotor.

With all of my sightseeing, the walk ended up taking 3 1/2 hours. But it was well worth it, don’t you think?

Today was great! In fact, these past two days in Kotor have been a blast! (and the beautiful weather certainly contributed to that!)

Travel Note: If you’re interested in traveling to Kotor, be aware that it is a cruise ship destination. I was lucky in that no ships were docked during most of my stay. One finally did arrive on Sunday afternoon. I checked the Kotor port schedule before I set my Montenegro itinerary though, and was happy that most of my stay would be cruise ship free!