We wanted to go to see Montenegro and in particular the town of Kotor recommended by our guide book. As Nick didn't have an international driving licence and I did, we went via the airport and added me as an additional driver on the hire agreement. The first part of the drive in Montenegro was somewhat tedious as the urban speed limit there is 40 km/hr (25 mph) and that means that you cannot even get into 4th gear. The coastline here is fjords, which means that there are lots of twists and turns but the views are great and that helped to pass the time on the longer than expected journey to Kotor. Kotor, similar to Ston, is a fortified town with long walls encircling the town and the fort on the hill behind it. We parked just outside the old town and walked in to find a restaurant. Luckily, we were all happy with a pizza restaurant because every restaurant in Kotor was a pizzeria! Then we walked up the walls towards the fort (but didn't make it to the top) and admired the very good view of the old town and the fjord coastline.
The old town of Kotor has preserved many of the mediaeval buildings but there are many more modern intrusions than in Dubrovnik. There was a considerable amount of conservation work being done in the town and I am sure that this will increase over the next few years.
On the way down to Kotor, we passed signs to some Roman mosaics but didn't find them, so we looked out for them on the way back. The signs ran out as soon as we left the main road and we had a fruitless search up a narrow road. I then spotted some construction work close to the main road with a sign saying 'USA Aid' – a new roof to protect the mosaics, perhaps? And it was. There was a project meeting going on when we arrived and we were welcomed by the people and shown the mosaics. Very little was visible as they were under protective covers whilst the construction was continuing. However it was clear that they were in a good state of preservation, surprisingly so given the fact that the Roman villa had been known about since the 12th Century.
I was glad to get back over the border into Croatia so that we could travel at a more reasonable speed. The Croatians have a simple rule on urban speed limits – once you pass a town or village name sign, you are in a 50 km speed limit unless otherwise indicated. It is very easy to miss the signs and I had warned Nick of this when they first arrived. Unfortunately, I missed one. They had positioned the speed trap carefully – on a downhill slope, just after a long fast section of road, close to the airport and just after a confusing set of signs. I was pulled in, taking the place of another poor victim who was pulling away. I had to hand over my passport and was then taken to see the picture showing my car clearly breaking the 50 km speed limit. I wouldn't have minded if I had been braking the speed limit all day, but I had been so careful! The police were very pleasant and even surprisingly sympathetic but it still cost me 500 kuna (£50) and I pulled away a wiser and poorer man.
Photos: Island viewed across the fjord near Kotor; Kotor old town and fjord.
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