Glassblower Extraordinaire: Kotor, Montenegro

Who knew Montenegro was even a country? I mean really?! It's near Croatia- I had to look it up prior to joining the ship. Beautiful sail in and sail out through fjords to get into the tiny town of Kotor. There is a very quaint tourist square with stone buildings and walkways. Lots of little restaurants and shopping. But the main attraction here is the fortress. You can access the start of the steps through the center of town and the people who live on that property charge you 3Euro. I never understood why I have to pay someone to walk uphill. It's not like they are even doing any sort of maintenance on this old fortress. But whatever I wanted to go up. I have now been twice and after paying the entrance fee the first time I figured out how to sneak in on a side trail of switchbacks. So these photos are from two separate adventures. To be frank I didn't care much about the fortress at all. I had a huge desire to hike to the top of the ridge, and the fortress had a hiking trail that started just behind it.

So midway up the stairs of the fortress path here is a view of the small town.

Now midway up the fortress steps there is a rabbit hole that you can pop out to the hillside and continue on a fabulous hiking path up to the top of the ridge. My first trip out here I went with my friend Drew. He was the photo manager on board the ship and I have to give him credit for the next two images. It was about a month ago now that we were first there and just before the dry season hit. There were wildflowers, butterflies and cool bugs everywhere. Note: I'm saving your eyes from the pictures of the dung beetles....ewww.

There are many goats on the trail who do not seem to care whether or not we pass through. They do belong to someone on the hillside because they have a sign on their house for Goat Milk. It was an epic journey up with great views all along the way. I love hiking!