Bay of Kotor

One of the reasons to go again to the Balkans was the Bay of Kotor. Last summer I did not have enough time to see it and everybody I met was euphoric about its beauty when talking about it. From Cetinje there is a small road directly to the bay but it is too dangerous for the buses so that one has to to go to Kotor via a detour with a stop in Budva.

The bay consists of 3 basins and is huge. As a natural harbor the bay was permanently contested in history. It was divided for a long time between the Osmans and Venetia. The city of Kotor had always been a part of Venetia. By the way, when you see a Lion of Saint Mark with an open book in a city you know that this city once had its own sovereign court (like Kotor), when the book is closed then the court was directly run by Venetia (like Trogir).

There was a cruise liner in the bay so that the small town of Kotor was totally overcrowded with older people with overweight ;-). These people usually don't go to places that are not accessible with a lift so that climbing up the Kotor fortress was a wise decision. The Venetians built that strong fortress with incredibly steep walls up to the mountains. Let's listen to Jean Pierre Mirouze - Sexopolis while climbing.
Unfortunately I took the wrong way up. I wondered myself why no others were there, that the path was rather a trail and full of snakes. After I returned I found out that I took by chance the most difficult way  through a "high risk zone". I was still coughing a lot but giving up was no option. It was very hot and shadow was rare so that I needed the 2 liters water I had with me in only an hour. On top of the fortress some people sold water for 10 €/liter. This is usury but I would have paid even 100 €!

The southernmost entry of the city and the fortress of Kotor.

These are the ways up to the top of the fortress. I missed the split at point 11 and went upwards along point 12 to point 24 in the "high risrk zone"

A plenty section, but full of snakes
and lacertidaes.

View at the trail from above.

View from the top of the bay. While sitting there
Otis Redding - Sitting on the dock of the bay came into my mind with
the wrong text "sitting on top of the bay, wasting time" ;-).

This is the normal way up.

The fortress was destroyed during World War I. While seeking for shadow in the ruins I found a hole in a wall that was part of the trail up to the Lovćen mountain. (Whoever is possible to climb up this trail from Kotor to the Lovćen during the day in summer is a real hero - the trail is stony and steep, above the fortress there is no shadow and the sun burns like in a desert.) Following the trail you come to a small church and a house. Although the house is right behind the fortress the people there wondered to see a tourist and I was invited to drink some fresh juice and to taste some self-made goat cheese. Their grandson (about 12 years old) spoke a very good English and could "bribe" me with more juice to buy some of the cheese. The view from this house over the bay is breathtaking and while thinking about it I would say it was one of the relaxing highlights of the whole journey.

The mentioned hole in the wall of the fortress.

View from the house

This is the mentioned trail from Kotor to the Lovćen. This section has dozens of serpentines.

The way down consists of dozens of serpentines. I met there a musician from the cruise liner who was fed up with his job. It was his last trip with the ship before quitting the job. I was not surprised to hear how boring the life on the cruise liner is for an employee.
After the tourists returned to the cruise liner one could normally walk around the city. I already wrote about the water polo final I watched in Cetinje on TV and in Kotor I got the chance to see a water polo game live in a stadium. I can fully recommend water polo - it never gets boring, there is always action and in this game one of the trainers got very angry and ranted at the referees for a long time even after the match - all in all good entertainment. In general, the players are quite aggressive in water polo. In games broadcasted in TV you can see how they kick each other under the water line because this is very hard to see by the referees that are outside of the pool.

The water polo stadium of Kotor.

A typical place in Kotor.

The Cathedral of Saint Tryphon.

A nice portal.