Month: November 2017

Like you, I’ve always had a pretty good grip on where to find Greece on the map, and, like you, I was always fairly baffled by what lay north of Greece. The Balkans? The word oozes choatic geography. Now, fear not, I’m content to leave you in happy ignorance. The map of Croatia alone is a circus act.

HOWEVER. While staring at a map of Europe trying to get it all straight (now that I’m drinking their beer), I noticed a little unlabelled rectangle on the Baltic coast just above Poland. Kaliningrad? Is it just me, or is this news? A Russian exclave isolated from the motherland after Poland and Lithuania joined the EU and NATO? The Alaska of Russia! (Well, that’s if the interloping turfs were both an idealogical and political counterpoint. Er, yup, close enough.)

So, Europe, what else have you been keeping from me? Sure, everyone knows about your little clown countries Lichtenstein and Luxembourg. Sure, Popeville (the trick-question enclave). Monaco? Malta? Gibraltar? If only there was a map to your secrets….

(Next up: figure out where all the Somethingstans are.)

 

 

 

Ah, Montenegro…

We made landfall in Bar on October 12th and headed for customs.  A half an hour later we were checked in with a one week cruising permit.  We headed around the corner to the AD Marina Bar, stopped by the fuel dock, and then were directed to a side-on berth. Luxury! We settled in for two nights of terra firma, restaurants, water, power, and free WiFi.  The WiFi was significant as our Greek phone data was used up and we didn’t plan to buy another SIM card until Croatia.  It was weird in Albania not being able to read the news every day, but on the bright side I wasn’t constantly confronted with the latest Trump boner.

Bar is a hopping little city.  Most spots we visit are almost entirely tourism dependent, but Bar felt like a real place where people live and work.  Once we had settled in we went for a walk and found a tasty pizza place for dinner. Bar is lousy with pizza places, I gather they get a lot of Italian tourists.

While investigating what to do in Bar, Mike happened across a real Amazing Race-style adventure, the Canyon Medjurecje day tour. It’s a six-hour canyoneering experience that includes repelling down waterfalls. I guarantee I will never go on the Amazing Race for fear of bungee jumping or sky diving, so I was into it!  Sadly, when Mike called to book it for the next day they said that the tours were suspended due to too much water in the canyon.  Next time…

Instead, the next day I went out to do some groceries and was delighted to find a gigantic supermarket, the Voli Hipermarket,  that felt like a Loblaws.  It was decadent to wander through wide aisles with a big cart, though I obviously couldn’t read any of the signage. Our mastery of the local language never got beyond “Thank you” (Hvala, in case you ever need to know).  I found all kinds of goodies, even curry paste–we’ve been searching for months to replace the tub Mike bought in Athens in April. One item we’re learning to live without is ice.  It is surprisingly hard to find these days.

Groceries completed, we went for another stroll, this time along the plaza on the waterfront. It took us past King Nicola‘s Palace and a bajillion more pizza places. I certainly will not starve in Montenegro.  Mike had a mission–he needed a bracket with which to mount zinc on the propellor–so we turned inland in search of a hardware store, passing this golden church on the way.

Mike was happy to lie low for the evening, but I got a bee in my bonnet to go see the old town, Stari Bar.  It was destroyed by war and earthquakes and is now being restored and is open for tourism.  We arrived just before dusk and immediately encountered this little guy.  I couldn’t resist petting him, and he was then motivated to be our teeny canine guide.  He followed us everywhere, up steps, down steps, over rubble, past cats–I swear I’d have smuggled him out in my purse if I weren’t overwhelmed by the thought of having a dog on a boat.  Also, unlike in Canada, I don’t get free vet services in Montenegro (thanks Dr. Mimi! Hey, don’t feel bad for her, I’m her unpaid IT person). I was somewhat heartened that I would even consider getting another dog as we both still miss Daisy, the perfect dog, so much.

I swear I was just about to go up and carry the puppy down these stairs, but then he came trotting down to join us.

 

We left Stari Bar in full darkness, the last tourists to leave.  Just before we reached the exit the puppy drifted off, so no tearful goodbyes were necessary.  What a merciful little guy.  We left the old town and turned left to walk down the cobblestone street and find a spot to eat dinner.  We settled on Konoba Kula and got some very tasty local food and wine.  The waitress talked Mike into ordering the stewed lamb. She tried to talk me into the veal, but I just couldn’t do it.  How many baby animals can one couple consume in a single meal?  I did not regret my decision, the chicken was excellent.

The next day we pushed off after lunch and only puttered three miles north before we dropped the anchor under the red cliffs in Sutomorski Zaliv.  Here Mike did his zinc installation, which went surprisingly well.  I think he was expecting a lot more underwater frustration, but he was done in no time.

The next morning we continued north.  We were planning to stop for lunch at Sveti Stefan, a 600 year old village that has been cleared out and remade into a luxury hotel.  Still not sure if this is cool or sad, but it’s certainly special. Unfortunately, there was quite a bit of swell around the island, so we didn’t feel comfortable anchoring and leaving Coral to fend for herself.  Onward and upward.

Our next destination was Budva, another hopping spot with a medieval old town.

As we headed toward the harbour we spotted what appeared to be a little red submarine.  Intrigued, I took a bunch of fuzzy, faraway photos, convinced it must be the toy of some billionaire.  Come to find out, it’s a tourist attraction that has popped up all through Montenegro and Croatia–the SemiSubmarine.  Not a real sub after all, but it looks like a pretty cool little excursion.  Would have been neat to take my mom on a ride like that as it’s surely the only way she would ever see what’s happening under the surface of the water (I tried to talk her into trying my full-face snorkel mask, but she wasn’t having it).

We anchored just outside the harbour and then headed to shore to explore and try and get a WiFi password from a network we could see from the boat.

The old town was bustling, lots of people and businesses and a fortress to explore.

The next morning we left to head into the magnificent Bay of Kotor.

Our intention was to go all the way to Kotor in the deepest part of the bay and then work our way back out, visiting some other towns, but we had such a magical time in Kotor, a UNESCO world heritage site, that we spent our last three nights in Montenegro anchored in the same spot.

When we arrived, there was a HUGE cruise ship in the harbour, The Royal Princess.  It soon became clear that she is a sister ship to The Love Boat (Pacific Princess) when she blew her horn upon departure: she has multiple horns that play the first few lines of  The Love Boat theme song, kind of a ship horn carillon.

There was only one other boat anchored in the bay, a catamaran called Nimrod.  Shortly after we got settled, Nimrod’s owners dinghied by on their way back from town, and so we met Sue and Chris, a delightful couple from the UK.  They are social creatures and hadn’t encountered many boats this off-season, so we became fast friends, starting with drinks on Coral later that evening. Sue brought over a really tasty bottle of bubbly that was part of her stockpile from Crete, and Chris brought one of the gigantic bottles of beer you find around here.  Sue and Chris were heading south en route to their winter berth in Italy, so having spent the summer in Croatia they were a fount of knowledge and tips for our cruising time there.  Very helpful!  They had also been in Kotor long enough to have a good lay of the land, so on their advice we decided that instead of hiking up the old town ramparts we would hike up the mountain across the bay to an old Austro-Hungarian fortification.  Sold! At the end of the evening they invited us over for dinner the next night, a feast of mussels that Chris harvested himself in the shallows of Kotor.  Sold again!

The next morning Mike was puttering up top on the bow when he saw the chain being jerked around.  He hollered for me to come and take a look, and there was a dolphin having a spa morning, scraping his back against our anchor chain.  I already posted the compilation video, but here is the link in case you missed it:  Kotor dolphin!  (I can’t believe it only has 64 views so far–this sucker is destined to go viral!  Maybe I’ll write a Bored Panda article about it.  I’d love to make some of that sweet sweet youTube money.)  Sue and Chris were watching from their boat and said that the dolphin had been going at it for ten minutes before we noticed what was happening.  They didn’t want to come over and alert us in case it scared him off, so they took some photos as proof in case we didn’t clue in.  How sad would I have been to miss that show?!?! Clearly all’s well that ends well and we watched the frolicking for over half and hour.  My only regret is that we didn’t catch him on video when he emerged from the water vertically, tail first.  That was some real circus stuff.

After the dolphin departed, we finished our breakfast and headed to shore for our hike to Fort Vrmac.   It was all switchbacks up the side of the mountain, luckily mostly shaded as it was a scorcher.

 

There was lots of clover growing, and we soon encountered the goats who love to feast on it, along with a couple shepherd doggies.  If a dog follows you home you get to keep it, right?

 

  

Two hot hours later we were at the summit with a view over the ridge overlooking Tivat.  Here is the picture to prove I climbed a mountain! No joke! There were more animals hanging out up on the ridge: some cows with fuzzy ears (who left very impressive stereotypical cow patties all over the place) and at least one chicken.

  

Chris and Sue are geocachers, so they knew that you could actually go snoop around in the old fort which is dark, dank, and creepy AF!  They warned us to bring a flashlight, which was a good thing as there are giant holes in the floor on the upper stories.  Yikes.  If anyone is plugged into the American Horror Story production team, this place could definitely inspire an entire season.

On the way back down the mountain we bumped into our old friends the goats.  They didn’t appear to have made much progress.

Quite a day so far communing with dolphins and climbing mountains.  To top it off we had an amazing dinner with Chris and Sue.  Saffron mussel soup with decadent garlic cheese bread, what a treat! I also got a tour of my first catamaran.  Another fun evening with our new friends inspired us to stay in Kotor for our final night in Montenegro.  This would allow us to go for another hike up the walls of the old city to the fortress halfway up the mountain, and also to spend a final night hanging with Chris and Sue.

Chris also had tips for the fortress hike:  we could skirt around to the side of the mountain and walk up switchbacks, climb through a window to get inside the walls, continue to the top of the Castle of San Giovanni, and then walk down the stairs that follow the walls.  As a bonus, we skirted the 3 Euro entry fee. It was a great tip as the switchback route was much easier than climbing all those stairs, and the stairs are quite narrow, so there is a lot of jockeying for position with the hundreds of other people doing the same hike.  Taking the stairs on the way down I was more than happy to step off to the side to let the poor folks ascending have the right-of-way.

Once we were safely at sea level again we wandered around the old city, stopping for pizza, bien sur.

Mike made a delicious pad thai for Chris and Sue, and we spent a final evening drinking and laughing, two of my favourite things.

The next morning we pulled up the anchor and headed north again, with a stop at the customs dock in Zelenika to check out of Montenegro. And  just like that, our magical week in Montengro was over.  We could have easily spent another week just in the Bay of Kotor, but we’re on a schedule now, so Croatia here we come!