Well, today it's off to Kotor. During breakfast the old-ish lady traveler was eating too, and we chatted a bit. I omitted most of my trip when she asked where I'd been, and gave the impression that I was only visiting the former Yugoslav countries. I didn’t feel like recounting the whole story. This time it was she who gave the line about us all, in the end, being basically the same.
Anyway so this is where it starts to get hectic, until I get back to Zagreb. And then after Zagreb I'm on my own again. This time, so far I've only been alone in Vladimir / Nizhniy (6 days or so), then Istanbul (a week). This part (Split, Dubrovnik, etc., back to Zagreb) will be the longest stretch so far.
The bus ride was pretty nice though I was foolish not to sit on the right side this time. The weather seemed pleasant but it didn't stay that way for long once I got settled in. The hostel itself is nothing special and lugging the briefcase was a chore. It was hard to find in the labyrinthine old town. I also started to get another damned headache as we went along. Maybe more pressure problems?
I set out for the walls but had trouble finding access to them, and eventually had to ask at the tourist info center. It began to rain of course as I head towards them, but it did mean that there was no one manning the checkpoint. Well, sorry, what do you want me to do?
Climbing the walls was incredible. The only thing more exciting that climbing a mountain, or visiting a fortress, is climbing a mountain fortress! Pity the lighting was so poor, but from time to time the rain and clouds let up. It was impossible to capture the scale of being up in the mountains, though I took a short video clip and thought "Foundations of Stone" would make for a perfect soundtrack.
I'm surprised Montenegro is so close to being a member of the EU already, and uses the Euro. The Euro is an insidious bastard, since psychologically spending 25 kuna seems like a lot (25!), but spending 3 euros doesn't, especially since you can do that with two coins (“coins aren’t real money”, right?). So for dinner I spent 8.60 euros which is 12 dollars, about the same as I was reluctant to spend at the cafes in Dubrovnik (60 kuna). Ha. Of course it is right in the center square, which would have been really expensive in Dubrovnik. That said, I put down 10.60 for the meal and he helped himself to the other 2 euro as a tip I guess. I was annoyed on principle, but whatever.
All the same, since I'm only staying one day here, the cost of transportation isn't amortized, so it's altogether probably 50 bucks for the day. Still, who knew Montenegro was so incredible?
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