The enchanting city of Kotor

Nik and I decided to catch a bus to the city of Kotor for the day. It was about 30 minutes North and we wanted to explore as much as we could of the country before we had to leave the next day. Kotor is another walled city in the Gulf of Kotor. It is butted right against the mountain and there is a fortress that towers high above the city. We spent the day shopping around, eating a magnificent lunch, checking out the Orthodox churches and going to the maritime museum. We enjoyed the maritime museum because it gave us a little bit of insight into the history of the city. Basically Kotor was constantly being invaded by the Turks, but because of the monstrous mountains, their fortress and the walled city it was never taken over.

For most of the day I kept looking at the top of the mountain at the fortress. I was curious to see what it was like up there, but I didn't think there was anyway of getting up there safely. There are vipers here and who knows what else. We weren't about to make our own trail. While sitting for coffee and chatting with our families via Skype on our phones, I noticed a few people making their way down the mountain. It was doable!! We headed straight for the trail and slowly worked our way up the steep grade. Mind you, I was not prepared for a hike, I had flip flops and a skirt on. As soon as we started to see the views, nothing would stop us from getting to the top. The fortress at the top was nothing to exceptional (I'm sure it was in its day), but the views of the city and the Gulf below were breathtaking.

We had to head back to Budva in the evening because we had plans to meet up with Nik's 3rd cousin. Nik hadn't seen him for about 8 years, so he was very excited to see how he had grown up. Miki is related to Nik, because their grandpa's were brothers. Miki lives in Hercig Novi, a town right on the border of Croatia and Montenegro. He met us at our hotel and he took us out on the town to hangout and catch up. It was great to see Nik and Miki together. Miki was a super nice guy and I know Nik was so glad he got to see some distant family. He invited us to stay with him next time we come out and we encouraged him to come to the states to meet all of his other Kosach family. 

Both of us were sad to leave Montenegro. It is such an amazing country that hasn't been over crowded with tourists. We both see ourselves coming back here many times. Beautiful, affordable, friendly people, not over crowded and great weather. What else could you ask for?