I had read that Kotor in Montenegro was a particularly beautiful place so decided to have a stop there. I was not disappointed. Kotor sits at the end of what for all intents and purposes I will describe as a fjord. It is not actually a fjord but looks enough like one that that is what I will call it. It is a town on a fjord surrounded by mountains. Again I felt like I was in Norway. But for a fraction of the price. Kotor, like Dubrovnik, has an Old Town: a walled town of narrow cobbled streets. The wall of Old Town Kotor actually carries on up the mountain behind Old Town and it is easy to climb the steps to the top which provided me with amazing views. It was great exploring inside the ruined forts of the wall as well. I felt like a kid. Once I climbed to the top I couldn't resist and climbed the mountain behind this as well for even better views of Kotor, the fjord and where it reaches the ocean and the surrounding snowy peaks. The trail continued and I really had trouble convincing myself to return to Old Town instead of exploring the path but I had no water and did not know if there were any dangers so eventually, reluctantly turned around.
I stayed in private accommodation in Kotor. It was basic but it was worth it for the cultural experience. The people were so lovely. Only their daughter spoke English but even if she wasn't home they wanted me to sit and drink Turkish coffee with them. I really am not much of a coffee drinker but it was ok and and it was fun spending time with these lovely people who kept wanting to give me extra food. The daughter was 27 and a lovely girl and we really enjoyed sitting down drinking Turkish coffee and then she would read my fortune in the coffee. She longed to meet a man with blonde hair and blue eyes which she obviously could not find in Kotor (but the men there were extremely good looking if you go for dark hair and dark eyes!) and we taled about men and love like we were teenagers. It was quite fun!
I visited the nearby town of Budva on the coast which had a very small Old Town. I tried black risotto, a specialty of the countries of that area. It's delicious. I highly recommend it.
After 3 nights in Kotor, I took a bus to the town closest the to the border with Albania hoping to meet a bus from Tirana. There was no bus that day and the town was not very pretty. A taxi into Albania was the same price as the night's accommodation so I chose that option which made for a nice journey. The closest Albanian town was Skodra and the taxi took me all the way to where the minibus was about to depart for Tirana.
