Mighty Little Montenegro - Bay of Kotor

Ah, little Montenegro. While laying out this trip, we figured we might as well stay a night here on the way down to Albania. Kotor looked absolutely stunning in photos, so from Dubrovnik, we caught a bus there, since we were now car-less.

We checked the bus schedule online and had a couple options in the morning. We caught a cab to the bus station in Dubrovnik, bought our tickets for an earlier bus that we'd planned, and entered the chaos.

There was a surly bus driver and no direction as to how to line up, where to put luggage (an extra charge) and the boarding process. Utter chaos. We finally boarded (some people not realizing seats were assigned) and there was a constant beeping from the bus.

We took off, and the driver would pull over and stop the bus for a couple minutes, then restart, and we'd keep going. This happened a few times. And when you're on a cliff, this isn't very comforting. I had no idea what was going on.

We got to the border of Croatia and Montenegro, and once again, no directions on what to do. Get off the bus and line up? Someone would board the bus and check our passports? The first stop I think we all eventually realized we'd have to get off the bus and line up one by one to go through passport control leaving Croatia. And then when we got to Montenegro's booth, the driver came back and took all our passports in order and took care of stuff.

Eventually we made it into Kotor. Our Airbnb host told us how to get to the place where he'd meet us, and we realized we could walk there instead of taking a cab. Our place was inside the old city with no cars anyway, so we took off on a little walk, after we inquired into a bus from there into Albania, but that wasn't super fruitful. We decided to figure it out later.

I was obsessed with this building near the bus station.

We met Goran at an old gate to the city, and he showed us to his apartment. It's one of the nicest places we stayed. Great linens. Those towels were Shaq-sized.

Looking out our window.

After a little internet research, we realized that getting into Albania from here would involve several connections and take all day. Lucky for us, Google told us that a hostel in Kotor would operate a shuttle into Tirana if enough people signed up. We threw some laundry in and walked over to the hostel to inquire and get tickets to Albania. This was an excellent idea. With our next move settled, we took off exploring. The old city here is another UNESCO site.

This pizza to go was really good.

Beach time! Once again, not sandy beaches, more docks and rocks, but I didn't care.

After our sunbaking, we went back to the place to hang laundry, changes shoes, and prep to climb the fortress! There was a stone fountain outside our place with fresh water, so we filled up our bottles and took off. I was convinced I wouldn't make it up these walls, since they were pretty high, but of course I had to make the summit.

My laundry!

Did you know that Montenegro received independence only in 2006?

Back down the mountain and home again, then more exploration. We chased the sunset to the bay.

We found a group of girls here who were shamelessly taking selfies. Not of their group. Each of them separately. I should've taken their photo. What's the world coming to? I fear the next generation.

 We came back into the city walls and found a lovely place to sit outside for dinner. I had a pasta with prosciutto that was a bit too hammy, but still pretty good. We called it a night for laundry and a soccer match. Well done, little Kotor.