Montenegro - Kotor

Luckily I made it onto the crowded bus, the only of the day, along the coast to Montenegro. This is quite an exciting place to be - it's the newest country in the world, having unilaterally declared independence from Serbia only last year. I was headed to the main tourist attraction - the walled city of Kotor.

The view across the fjord from the castle

'City' is quite a generous description of the place. Kotor is very, very small - probably not even a quarter the size of Dubrovnik, a similarly-walled city, which I also thought was small. However, the real attraction of Kotor is its dramatic location, at the edge of the biggest fjord in southern europe.

Climbing back down the ruined fortifications

The town is built against the base of an imposing hill, atop which is located a castle. I stupidly made the exhausting climb in the heat of the midday sun, up over 1,600 steps, but was greeted by a worthwhile sight.

Unlike Dubrovnik, this place doesn't seem to exist purely for tourism

I would say that the fortifications and fjord are much more of a reason to visit Kotor than the town itself, although it is very charming and quite authentic. There are not so many tourists here, and those that are seem to be Montenegrin and Serbian. It suspect it won't be long though until the cruise ships start turning up!

There are cats everywhere

Once again my timing proved lucky indeed, as I arrived at the height of the Kotor Festival, featuring various displays of sculpture, art and music. I didn't get to experience much of the night life as I was staying in possibly the worst hostel I've been in, and it wasn't possible to meet anybody.

Festival decorations

I quite liked Kotor and Montenegro and hope to see more of the country, so tomorrow I will jump on a bus further up the coast to Budva, the main coastal resort in this area.