This post is a record of our 3 hour hike along the medieval ramparts of Kotor, arguably the most popular hike in the entire Balkans by virtue of Kotor's popularity with tourists arriving on Adriatic cruise packages. If you're visiting Kotor and have questions about fitness requirements, view points and time required for the full hike, read on.
This was just the 7th of our 22 day Balkan Road Trip, and it occurred to my wife that every medieval town that we had visited so far -- Gjirokaster and Berat in Albania and now Kotor -- featured a hill top citadel accessible only via a thigh-burning workout. Gjirokaster was a short 20 minute climb, Berat took twice as long, and Kotor would take us a generous 90 minutes with at least 30 minutes of photo stops before reaching the top.
This is a hike of easy to moderate difficulty with a modest climb, only 280 metres in elevation gain and attempted, at least in part, by just about every visitor in average fitness. You don't even need to climb all the way to St. John's Fort if all you want is a panoramic photo of Kotor -- a 20 minute hike to the lower levels of the trail would do.
08:30. First we had to fuel our hike with a hearty breakfast of supermarket pastries, rich Balkan yogurt and the Montenegrin charcuterie specialties of prsut and budjola, the delicious local specialty of smoked pork neck cured and air-dried in the harsh winter gusts of the Adriatic Coast.
09:55. Two trail heads start out from the old town, a main one starting under an arch behind the 800-year-old church of Svete Marije Koleđata in the northern part of town, and one closer to our apartment beginning from the little square of Pjaca Skaljarska.
10:00. Either trail head would lead to the ticket office just above the roof level with clear views of the twin bell towers of Sv. Tripuna, one of the only two Roman Catholic cathedrals in Orthodox-dominant Montenegro.
10:10. Whether Kotor belongs to the historical region of Dalmatia remains a politically sensitive discussion, but we did spot the first Dalmatian dog of our trip blocking the hiking trail, napping in the shadows of the steep mountain where sunlight won't likely reach until closer to noon.
10:20. 50 metres above the town we had our first unobstructed view of the world famous Bay of Kotor, often mistakenly referenced as the southernmost fjord in Europe. This deep inlet was not carved out by glaciers in Norwegian fashion, but formed when advancing sea levels partially submerged a prehistoric river gorge.
10:30. Everyone stopped for the view as well as a drink of water at Our Lady of Remedy, a tiny 16th century chapel with the seating capacity of about 10. For casual tourists this would make a convenient turnback, and for hikers a chance to purchase refreshments from the hawkers before the steeper sections above.
10:40. After a short rest we continued up the grueling switchbacks alongside hundreds of multi-national tourists marching off the cruise ship, attempting the hike in every form of inappropriate footwear from leather high heels to slack sandals.
45 minutes of hiking above town and we're still seeing stray cats being well-fed by the locals, as they have been for centuries for managing Kotor's population of mice thriving underneath the crevices of the medieval cobblestones.
10:53. Through the crenellations of a crumbling bastion one can catch a bird's eye view of the triangular shaped fortress of Kotor, its medieval houses now dwarfed by the massive cruise ship parked just a stone's throw away.
11:00. Halfway between Our Lady of Remedy and the Fortress of St. John, we scaled some frighteningly steep stairs at a dilapidated fort before coming across a sign declaring them to be off-limits. You don't need to climb such stairs to complete the hike, but you do need the minimum fitness level to sustain a 60 to 90 minute stair climb with frequent rests.
11:10. Temperature was quickly rising above 30 degrees as the trail started to emerge from the morning shade. To break the monotony of exhausting switchbacks, the city has strategically placed a number of curators in medieval garb along the route, sharing the stories of these walls from the narratives of blacksmiths, stonemasons and nobility.
Ever since the arrival of their ancestors on medieval galleons, these cats have apparently taken over from the Winged Lion of Venice as the talismanic symbol of Kotor, proudly featured in cheap souvenirs, a dedicated feline museum as well as an unofficial cat square.
11:20. Our proud moment of reaching St. John's Fortress came with the reward of possibly the best panorama of the Bay of Kotor, its steep dark mountains plunging down to the sea in a classic Montenegrin landscape.
Fortified by ancient Illyrians in the same era as classical Sparta or Athens, this mountaintop citadel predates Venetian Kotor by nearly two thousand years and now bears the honour of two UNESCO World Heritage Sites, one for the cultural landscape of Kotor and one for its role in the 1000-kilometre-long fortification for the old Republic of Venice.
11:24. A Montenegrin flag now proudly flies above the 2500-year-old stronghold, realistically a 60 minute hike from the townsquare though it took us 90 with frequent photo and rest stops in the 30 degree heat.
The view behind the castle led towards the tiny hamlet of Spiljari comprised of two surviving houses and the crumbling chapel of St. George, along an ancient donkey path that zigzagged through the craggy mountain passes towards Lovcen National Park.
We began our steady descent after 40 minutes at the fortress, taking the exact same route in half the time and reaching the townsquare at 12:45. In retrospect the entire hike could be accomplished within 2 hours, though one would need the discipline in limiting the photo stops.
We rewarded ourselves with a hearty take-out lunch from the cheap and excellent Tanjga (see map) with appetizers and drinks from the neighbouring supermarket. A filling cevapi sandwich for 4 euros and roasted veggies for 3.6, delightful slices of smoked Montenegrin beef prosciutto to be washed down with a couple cans of Nikšićko lager. It was a cheap 12 euros for two that afforded us the extra budget to splurge at the classy Galion at dinnertime.
Delectable roasted peppers, majestic Venetian ramparts and the twin islands of Perast were some of the memories that I brought back from Montenegro in appreciation for a coworker who happens to hail from Herceg Novi. Unfortunately we had only two nights in Kotor with no time remaining for Durmitor National Park and the interior, but it was an intro to a fascinating and underrated nation recommendable to fellow travelers considering a visit to the neighbouring (and extremely popular) Croatia.
No comments:
Post a Comment