You can spot the locals easily in Kotor. They’re the ones not looking up. They’ve grown up around these peaks. The rest of us? Well, it’s hard not to peer skyward in this small port town surrounded by mountains. Comparisons have often been made to Norwegian fjords, such is the grandeur of the cliffs that drop to the water’s edge. And when you’re in Kotor, and you do look up, here is one of the beautiful sights you’re likely to see. High atop the city, this monastery, and further up, a glimpse of the fortress walls that have protected the territory for centuries and are now a major tourist hiking route. We stayed harborside.
I love that you were in Montenegro, land of mystery. The only other account I have ever read of a trip to Montenegro was in Rex Stout's novel "The Black Mountain" in which sleuth/gourmand/orchidologist Nero Wolfe journeys to his native Montenegro on a Cold War mission. The culinary descriptions in Nero Wolfe novels are always a treat. Enroute to Montenegro, Wolfe must spend one evening in an empty cabin in Bari, Italy. Despite a deceptively bare cupboard, he whips up a dinner of tagliarini with anchovies, tomato, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper from the cupboard, sweet basil and parsley from the garden, and Romano cheese from a hole in the ground - since any serious food lover, he explains, knows that's where the good people of Bari keep their cheese. Next morning he is off to Montenegro for more culinary discoveries whilst fighting Tito's hitmen. Thanks for giving me a new Montenegro food-and-land memory.
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