Montenegro An unexpected beauty
On the crossing from Croatia to Greece, we make a stop in Montenegro.
Montenegro. I would never have thought that we would be travelling here soon. But as you know, life writes the best stories 😉 The reason for our visit here is quite simple: the wind. It's not the right time to sail to Greece, so we're waiting a few more days and thought Montenegro might be exciting. Neither of us have ever been to this country before, and the Bay of Kotor is highly praised in the sailing world. Well, let's take a look at it then! 😀
Between fancy superyachts
As in any other country, we have to go straight to customs after entering the country. Yes, even in the EU, because Schengen applies to us as people, but not to our boat. However, as Montenegro is not a member of the EU, we have to go there anyway. The least complicated customs office for us is in Tivat, not far from the Croatian border. We always go through the formalities without much emotion, and a few hours later we are moored and cleared in Porto Montenegro. Oops, that's not our world at all! 😬 Pretty much everything here is fake. It's really bizarre, even a "village" was specially built in the harbour. The clientèle is of course also accordingly... Well, we can indulge ourselves for one night, clean the boat of last month's salt water and fill up with fresh water. In the evening we have an aperitif in the cockpit and observe the colourful hustle and bustle on the harbour promenade from here.
The next day we quickly head for Kotor, a pearl at the far end of the unique Bay of Kotor. Mountains up to 1800 metres high rise up from the seashore here, offering a unique sight. Not only is the scenery breathtaking, the old town also has its own charm and attracts visitors with live music on every corner 😍 It's also a bank holiday! 🥳 And today we finally got round to our solar arch again: We've noticed a left-right movement of the superstructure when there are waves, which we don't like at all 😬 A cross strut needs to go in there! As we almost fell into a coma at the price suggested by the welder in Croatia, we decided to take matters into our own hands. Now nothing is welded, but it's nicely bolted and can be removed again if necessary one day. We're really pleased with the result and we'll see how the arch behaves in waves.
A detour inland
For the first time since we've been travelling, we have a few days to ourselves that we can spend as we please. We are drawn to the inland, because we have the sea all the time anyway. That's why we hired a scooter and cruised around a bit - a good solution, as our desire to hike is very modest in this heat 😂😅 The landscape is extremely varied, one highlight is definitely a lake that meanders like a river into the hinterland 🐍 At the top of Mount Lovćen, we visit the mausoleum of Someone Someone (😂) with a perfect atmosphere and almost no people... Also interesting are the many remnants from the time of the war, which strongly characterise the country and probably also the people. Finally, we eat some meat (something we rarely do) in a restaurant with a cool view ⛰ Now we're ready to go, tomorrow morning at 07:00 we're off: clear out and off to Corfu! A 37-hour journey across the Adriatic into the Ionian Sea awaits us. Food is pre-cooked, the Oxley (our new parasailor, a light wind sail for downwind courses) is ready for a possible first ride 🐎 The second boom for rigging the genoa is also prepared - we're looking forward to some mischief 🤓⛵️😉
