Wander More Work Less

This morning we were up and walking by 7:45 AM as we wanted to visit Rozafa Castle before things got too hot. We had a 3.5 km walk just to get to the bottom of the hill the castle sits on, so we didn’t want to be doing that when it was 31 degrees. At 23 degrees, the temperature was just right—and even better, most of the walk was in the shade of buildings. We headed out along one of the main roads in and out of Shkodër, so it wasn’t very scenic. But there were footpaths for most of the way, which was great.

It's another early start for the Kiwi Flashpackers. We need to be in Kotor for the 8:00 am bus departure, which means catching the 6:30 am bus from Orahovac. A quick breakfast and tidy-up. The quick pace wasn’t helped by me knocking a glass onto the floor, smashing it. Not a great start. 😡 But things improved—both buses were running to schedule, and at 8:00 am sharp, we were off, heading to Shkodër, Albania. A new city and a new country! Never heard of Shkodër? You're not alone—we hadn’t either. It's a small city on the edge of Lake Shkodra (or Skadar, as it's known in Montenegro). So why are we going there? 🤔 To see a bridge! No not this time. To see an old castle ruin, and hopefully the lake, and because it’s a convenient place just across the border to break up the trip into Albania. The bus ride is expected to take 3 hours and 10 minutes, plus any waiting time at the border. Heading out of Kotor, we are immediately slowed down by roadworks. They're building a ...

Note to self: Don’t go dangling out of fortress windows! It leads to bruised ribs and a sore chest the next day. 😮 We took the bus to Perast this morning. It’s just two villages away, so it didn’t take long to get there—but it’s too far to walk, and the busy road makes it a bit dangerous. We saw three cycling tour groups ride past our bus stop, and then our bus got stuck behind one of them shortly after. There isn’t enough width on the road to pass safely. Perast is a bigger place than Orahovac, with a much longer waterfront street and a noticeably more touristy feel. Lots of people were out walking, and there were several fancy restaurants and hotels. The main drawcard of the town is its proximity to the two nearby islands, each with a church: Saint George and Our Lady of the Rocks. You can take a small boat out to them for 5–10 Euros, but apart from a very short walk around the tiny islands, there’s not much else to do. We were happy just to wander the town itself, using the alleywa...

I set my alarm for 5:45 a.m. this morning so I could catch the first bus into Kotor. There were still a few rainy-looking clouds about, but I suspected they would clear as the sun came up. The reason for the early start was to avoid the sun and the heat — I'm going to walk up the hill today! The Old Town access to the Kotor Fortress doesn’t open until 8 a.m., which is too late to beat the heat. It also costs €15. I’m going to check out the free alternative route instead. The bus is on time, so my walk begins just before 7 a.m. It’s only about 21°C and shady, so conditions are good. The walk isn’t too steep thanks to lots of switchbacks, but the track is quite rocky and rugged in places. About two-thirds of the way up, I come across an old building and a fork in the track. Left continues on the main track, while right is steeper and looks more direct. I go right. It pops out near a lovely old church building—or at least I think it was once a church. It’s quite small and doesn’t look...

Well, maybe we didn’t do nothing, but it was definitely a day of not doing a lot. Breakfast was followed by a walk on the one street in Orahovac that isn’t the main road. The street is only about 800 meters long, so we walked from the middle to one end, then to the other, and finally back to almost the middle. That brought us to the beach entrance — and we were ready for a morning swim. Swim complete, it was coffee time and then some reading. The Norwegian weather forecasters were close, but not quite right. There were a clap or two of thunder last night but no rain. The thunder did set off Doggo the dog barking around 2 a.m., but that didn’t last long. As for rain, we did get a bit around 11 a.m., but it wasn’t heavy and didn’t stick around. They’re still saying we’ll get some tomorrow… but who knows? 🤔 After lunch, we spent a few hours doing some Plan A research and rough timing. We've now drafted the timing and places to visit, and we’ve got good options lined up fo...

We caught the 7:35 am bus into Kotor, hopping off near the waterfront. We were looking for what people call the Promenade. Initially, all we found was the tourist boat marina and cruise ship dock. We ended up walking to another supermarket to see if they had different offerings. They had peanut butter, which we decided to get, and another muesli—but the muesli was super expensive, so it stayed on the shelf. We entered the Kotor Old Town (lower town) walls through the Southern Gurdić Bastion gate. We soon found steps leading up onto the walls. They’re free to access here, unlike Dubrovnik. They probably aren’t as fancy or as long, but it was still very interesting to walk along them, looking down into the Old Town streets. There were also good views of the Kotor Fortress (upper town) walls heading up the mountain behind the town. We walked the full half-circumference. The back half of the town butts up against the mountain. We then wandered the inner ...

It’s a do-nothing day today, which is great. Breakfast, then a walk to the nearby village of Ljuta. It’s Sunday, so the narrow and normally busy main road feels safe enough to navigate on foot. There's no footpath between the villages. The village is slightly bigger than ours. It has a bigger mini store, a church, and more houses. We wander along the lovely waterfront road that runs parallel to—but below—the main road, admiring the fancy houses with their waterfront swimming platforms. There are a few people fishing but it doesn't appear that they have caught anything yet.  Ljuta village gives good viewing spots back to Orahovac.  Orahovac waterfront swimming spots and beach (on the left) is shown below. It’s almost 5 km return, so once we're back, we’re definitely warm enough to head down for a morning swim. Only a few people are on the beach at 9 a.m. Thirty minutes is enough in the water, and then it’s time for coffee. Yes, I know—"it’s a tough l...