I took a bus from Croatia to Montenegro. Contrary to the weather forecast, the last day in Croatia was sunny, and I headed for Montenegro with high expectations. However, this summer vacation was not easy for me. The clouds began to show up when I boarded the bus at Dubrovnik, and by the time the bus reached the Croatia – Montenegro border, it started to rain.
On the previous day, I was able to pass Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina border without getting off the tour bus, probably because there were only one-day tour guests onboard. On the other hand, at the border of Croatia and Montenegro, not only two countries had checkpoints that were far apart, the bus passengers had to get off the bus twice to go through passport control for both countries. Furthermore, the checkpoint in the Montenegro was not well equipped, there was a little space to avoid the rain. Maybe because it was on a weekend, the border crossing took more than one and a half hours, and I got wet.
It was a dark and stormy night. Outside the window was the jet-black Kotor Bay, and I gradually began to feel gloomy.
Eventually, the bus arrived in Kotor, Montenegro, about an hour late. On this trip, I booked for a rental apartment in Kotor Old Town. It was an old house on a back alley.
When I woke up the next morning, it was strangely dark. Since the house was faced a narrow alley, the wooden door attached to the window was closed. When I opened the window, I found that it was still raining lightly, and windows of the neighborhood building were just in front of me. Since it was Sunday, I did not expect that I would be able to visit the churches in the morning, so I closed the door, went back to bed and slept until late.
When I finally went out in the afternoon, the rain was stopped and cloudy. Even worse, the town was surprisingly crowded.
My relationship with gods were very limited in my daily life, such as gods of Yakushima or gods of Steam Locomotive. Even so, I visit many religious sites when I travel.
Visiting to Kotor was the main purpose of this summer trip. Last time I was in this town, I was fascinated by an Orthodox Church. It was an old and small cathedral of the Montenegrin Orthodox Church called Church of St. Luke. I was particularly fascinated by the simple cathedral, while the neighboring St. Nicholas Church was larger and more grandiose. The St. Luke must had given quite impressions to me, because this led me to visit an Orthodox monastery in Bulgaria few years later.
The Old Town of Kotor is small but has an intricate network of alleys. It is easier to find places by wandering around or by follow other tourist groups rather than by looking at a map. Yet, there were too many people during the daytime, all I could barely do was just browsing the stores.
In the late afternoon, when the number of people had finally decreased, I started to visit the churches. I sat in the corner of the churches and gazed chapels. From time to time, there came moments of silence without any tourists at all. I was able to take my time to visit about five churches. Finally, I came across the Sunday evening service at St. Nicholas Church, and I stood in a corner of the Orthodox Church.
The next day was practically the last day of summer vacation, and it was finally sunny again. There are mountains outside the Kotor City Walls, where you can look down the old town. I could not trust the weather on this trip, so I decided to leave early in the morning. I climbed up to a viewpoint along the way, but the Old Town was still in the shade of the mountains. I sat on a bench to kill some time and helped about four groups taking their photos, and finally the Old Town got the light. Kotor Old Town itself was smaller than the Dubrovnik’s, but Kotor was surrounded by mountains which gave magnificent views.
I then made to the top of the mountain, which my iPhone said about 80 floors up. The return trip was going down the same way, but the damages to my legs and knees felt more than the way up.
When I returned to the rental apartment, it was already around the noon. There was a popular pizza place nearby, and I bought a few slices and a bottle of beer for lunch. As expected, I was exhausted and took a nap.
In the evening, I went out for one last walk around the Old Town, but my knees ached. I felt too tired to walk, so I sat on a bench at the harbor and watched Kotor at dusk. It was an impressive town, with mountains spreading out around, and clear water from them pouring into the calm surface of the Bay of Kotor. The Bay had been jet black when I arrived, was filled with blue water then.
Although Kotor is a town where tourists generally spend only a few hours by a short visit from cruise ships or an one-day tour from Dubrovnik, I was able to spend two full days there and thoroughly enjoy the town.
I initially thought that this summer vacation would be refreshing and full of dazzling sun of Adriatic Sea. In the end, this summer vacation was not easy one owing continuous bad weather and many unexpected events. In the end, I got two sunny days in both Dubrovnik and Kotor. I should have been satisfied and concluded that all’s well that ends well.
I have reached such a positive conclusion only when I go on a trip.
