Kotor; Saturday, 06 May, 2023

Overnight there had been quite heavy rain in Luxembourg and in the morning there were still showers passing through, but a quick look at the forecast for Montenegro was all I needed to see to confirm that jeans and a jacket would be a bad idea, so I dressed for the weather I wanted, rather than the weather I had and, after a quick breakfast, checked out of the hotel and cheated by walking over to the bus stop and caught the bus the 2 minutes back to the terminal, therefore avoiding the bad weather.

I’d checked in online already so I only had to drop off my bags, which turned out to be a good move as the queue for check-in was pretty large – given it’s location Luxembourg airport actually serves not just the whole of the country but some significant parts of both France and Germany and so it can get pretty busy on a Saturday morning.

A smooth journey through the airport and onto the flight, with the only hiccup being the inbound plane being about 30 minutes late so that we eventually departed 40 minutes late. The journey down was very impressive once we finally cleared the cloud banks that covered much of Northern Europe, the skies clearing in time for the unmistakable view of the Venetian Lagoon and then the dramatic Adriatic coast of Croatia before a final dramatic flypast of the Bay of Kotor before we turned back on ourselves and landed at Tivat airport.

Once again, virtually back row of the plane, but this time with a back set of stairs meant that I was towards the front of the queue for immigration into Montenegro – the difference being everyone was being stamped into the country, no Schengen zone here (yet). Not that it made much of a difference as the immigration officers were all very efficient and virtually everyone was through in the couple of minutes before the luggage came round so I could grab my bag and head outside to meet my transfer round the bay to Kotor.

The old town of Kotor is totally pedestrianised, so the taxi had to drop me off just outside the main gate to the city, so I walked the last couple of hundred meters to the hotel to check-in and drop off my luggage before heading out to explore the city.

I spent a long time just wandering around the narrow lanes and paths of the old city, hemmed in by the walls round three sides and the imposing mountains directly behind, that the walls conveniently continue up. I had a bit of a wander along the lower city walls, which cover about 2/3 of the city and are free to wander along, leaving the walls heading up the mountain to the fortress until a different day.

On my way back through the old town I stopped off at the cathedral to have a look around both the church and the small museum and treasury on the floors above, before heading behind to visit the small St Pauls chapel and the archaeological remains in the garden above it.

From there it was a short walk through the old town to the Gurdic Gate or South Gate to the city. This is the most impressive of the city gates with a drawbridge, two off-set gateways and then in front of the whole complex a moat jus to add to the medieval vibes.

After all that exploring I headed back to my hotel and stopped off for a quick early evening drink on the outside terrace before freshening up and then heading out again in search of somewhere for dinner.

Dinner completed I had another wander round the old town in the dark with the floodlit buildings and, with all the day trippers gone, very quiet streets and alleys, before returning back to the hotel and my bed.