2geonomads

Saturday 10th May 2014

Breakfast in restaurant overlooking Kotor Fjord on the way into the Old Town and Gail, John and I set off through the North Gate to walk up the demanding path to the Castle of St John ( 260 metres and 1350 steps to the top ).

Maureen stays in town to do some retail therapy. Gail does a sterling job to get two thirds of the way and J and I press on to the top. It is a walk/ climb not to be taken lightly and much to J’s amusement  this well- known vertigo-sufferer freaks out when we have to cross decidedly fragile metal plate footbridge which is the only way of entering the fortress itself.

John admiring the view above Kotor

On the way back down we meet a couple from Dunfermline who had been to Perth recently to recapture the moment when they had first met in Perth, Scotland many years ago. Who said romance was dead.

Towards the bottom of the descent we met another  couple, he dressed in an England sleeveless football shirt and dripping with perspiration and the wife with her peaches and cream complexion as red as a lobster. J and were laying bets that they wouldn’t get to the top, al least no alive!

Meet up with Maureen, who has managed to buy a very elegant outfit in town, and sit at an alfresco cafe outside the walls of the Old Town to enjoy drinks. We also manage to arrange a private boat trip on the fjord for 4.30 pm. In the interim J explores the waterfront while I head off in the opposite direction to the supposedly more modern part of the town. Very sad to see this area in such a state of disrepair and the former pre-eminent Hotel Fjord overlooking the water in totally derelict state. While taking a photograph of this once glorious building I was approached by a man who had worked there in its heyday ( and probably from his appearance his heyday as well ). He regaled me with stories of its former splendour and gave an insight into why it had gone into such rapid decline ( corruption, poor management among other things )

The boat trip on the fjord with Ivan, the skipper and his wife, is an absolute delight which ends with him phoning a friend on shore whose father owns a restaurant, Tiha Noc ( quiet night ) specialising in lamb dishes. We are dropped off on shore and driven to the restaurant by the restaurant owner’s son. The meal lives up to expectations and we later take the short walk back to the flat after a day to remember in this fantastic location.

Cheers

The Obese Ferret