such wonderful things surround you. Montenegro

 

And so, fair reader, the CanAmericans left bustling city life behind and headed for the serenity of the black mountains of Montenegro. Our apartment was in the center of Old Town where cars cannot drive, so our taxi driver dropped us outside an enormous stone gate, mumbling something in a language we’d never heard before and pointed. So we ventured through the gate and into the odd world of the bayside city, Kotor.

Dobby on your 12th birtday

Our room was situated immediately above the Old Town Pub, so our nights were saturated with the pub soundtrack: some chatter, some laughter, and a lot of bumping bass. One night we heard what sounded like a parade directly below us, so we headed down to check it out. We found only five men, screaming at the top of their voices, watching Montenegro play in the water polo quarterfinals in the Olympics. Their enthusiasm was contagious and occasionally frightening, since when the other team scored they would spit on the ground and slam their heads into the walls. Fortunately they won so we got to be a part of a mad celebration when one of the guys lit a red flare inside the bar while the others danced and sang to their blasting national anthem. Those five guys know how to watch a game. We should all take notes.

Typical game day celebrations

Old Town was only a few minute walk from a beautiful stone beach facing the Bay of Kotor. In some parts of Montenegro, “going to the beach” meant laying your towel on the side of a cliff, so we were glad to have a pebble beach nearby. We watched kids fling themselves off the end of a pier for an hour or so before deciding to give it a go ourselves. The kids must’ve known something we didn’t, because our group left the cold water of the bay covered in scrapes and scratches courtesy of the rocky ground. It was a breathtaking view and a somewhat treacherous swim.

up in the sun they slave away while we're devoting full time to floating

One of the most beautiful things we’ve done on our trip came the next day when we ventured to Tivat, Montenegro to explore the open Adriatic Sea by kayak. The five of us (along with our Montenegrin guide Boyan, an Irishman, and a French woman) took four kayaks out on a tour of the blue caves. We kayaked into 4 different caves, 3 of which could not be reached by big boats, once again making us feel very pleased with our choice to do the less touristy option. This meant we had exclusive access to the “inside out cave” (you back into it so the light pours in in front of you), the bat cave (my personal favorite. A pitch black cave filled with hundreds of bats) and dessert cave (extra treat at the end of the tour, tiny cave where we had to lie flat on our kayaks to get under the rock wall).

exiting the "inside out" cave

The biggest draw of the tour was the blue cave, an enormous cave with clear bright blue water. We snorkeled around the cave with maybe 50 other tourists. The water was shockingly blue and clear and so salty we had a very hard time swimming underwater, but became quite impressive water treaders. If team USA trained in the Adriatic, maybe we could’ve made it to the semi-finals in waterpolo too.

two lovers holding hands in the sea. and chris. 

Montenegro has brought an interesting gear shift on our trip. Everything moves a little slower and so do we. We didn’t take a walking tour, but Boyan our kayak guide shared a lot about his life in Montenegro, so I felt like we received a modern day education as opposed to an historical one. And damn did we see some incredibly beautiful things. From here we move on to Dubrovnik, Croatia by bus. Where I assume we will be welcomed with the Game of Thrones theme song. 

MERMAN!

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