Our friends Richard and Chris joined arrived at our campsite last Thursday and stayed a week. We’ve enjoyed their wonderful company discussing Schengen, ninety days in, ninety days out, benefits of being in Montenegro (neither EU or Schengen) and our travel plans over a drink or few at our local drinking hole the Tramontana Beach Bar, often accompanied with a meal, especially since we can eat inside until 11pm!

On Monday Steve asked if I fancied a trip to Herzig Novi and perhaps some shopping and I didn’t hesitate to say “Yes please”.  As we were leaving the campsite Steve asked Dušan our friendly campsite owner, if he could put us in touch with a welder as a strut on our roof rack had become loose.  Dušan got into his car told us to follow him, as he was on his way to Herzig Novi too.  He took us to his welder, explaining Mr Welder (whose name we couldn’t pronounce or remember) used to work at the shipyard until it was closed and he was made redundant; apparently the best welder in Montenegro.

Only expecting a quote and to book the car in, not a repair on the spot, Steve had to remove our top box so the welder could get to work.  Mr Welder got out his wooden ladder and as he took the first step, the bottom rung broke, and on the second step one of the legs broke off.  Dušan quickly caught Mr Welder (luckily a short and light person) and the ladder, without missing a heart beat as though nothing had happened.  A wooden block was placed under the missing leg to continue.  Health and Safety would have had a field day.

When Mr Welder had completed the repair we asked Dušan to translate for us ‘how much’.  Mr Welder told Dušan that 10€ would be fine.  Steve and I looked at each other and without communicating a word I got a 20€ note out of my purse, both thinking he might want to invest in a new ladder.  The job was done quickly and expertly and the top box put in the back of the car for Steve to affix back on roof rack at the campsite.

We made our way to the shopping malls at Herzig Novi for a look see.  All the malls we’ve visited here are very much the same; each having similar shops.  I know we have similar in the UK, but here the malls are small, fewer shops and they all have similar ranges which are budget to average. This made me wonder where the jet set who cruise in and out of the big ports get their designer wardrobes from.  Just curious.

In fact, the supermarkets and even the hypermarkets are the same too.  Most are of average size to small, none of them big, and again all having the same choice of products, with little inspiration on the fresh veg, salad and fruit displays.  Maybe it’s to do with import restrictions but there are plenty of fruit and veg shops and stalls.  I miss the hypermarkets in Spain, France and Croatia.

We had on our ‘must see’ list Kotor, which is a walled city steeped in tradition and history built between the 12^th and 14^th centuries and a UNESCO site. Managing to easily park quite close, we began to explore the walled city filled with medieval architecture and historic monuments.  No vehicles are allowed inside at all which makes deliveries by cart challenging.

I really liked Kotor with its maze of little streets and bits and pieces to look at and admire.  No matter where we walked, we came across squares, cafes, shops, bars, restaurants (some on several levels boasting their views) and something to admire.  Steve was clicking away, but as we’ve previously posted images of churches and empty narrow streets, we’re not posting any more as they begin to all be the same and blend into each other.  We found most of the shops to be open and Steve and Stella were incredibly patient as I nipped in and out of the little boutiques and shops.

We left the walled city and visited Kotor’s shopping mall Kamelija. I held my breath. Maybe this would be my shopping day.  But again this mall is very small like the others and whilst I found a couple of shops with a couple of items of interest, sadly my purse stayed in my bag.

Returning to the walled city we decided to climb the walls to the Fortress of Saint Ivan. We walked up a few of them, admired the views, took some snaps and walked up a few more.  In my head I was thinking I really didn’t walk all 1,250 of them to the top.  At the third stage there appeared to be a police notice forbidding further passage due to possible falling rocks.  Frankly, we were both relieved, seen enough, happy to see the views, capture them on our cameras and end our full day’s trip in one piece.

Prebooked through Dušan a friend of his (whose name sounded like “Nature” but was completely different) Richard, Chris, Steve and I were to take a small tour of the boy visiting Our Lady of the Rocks and Perast.  When we set out the water was milk pond.  We reached Our Lady of the Rocks and were the only visitors.  This is an artificial island created by sinking old ships loaded with rocks.  Apparently there is an annual custom of throwing in more rocks and the artificial island slowly expands. Unfortunately the church was closed, but the ice cream and souvenir shop was open.

Our boat driver took us around the monastery as it is forbidden to visit.

‘Nature’ then dropped us off at Perast, which we’d already driven through but not walked through.  On the front facing the bay is an array of colourful bars, restaurants and hotels.  We only visited one of the bars where Chris and I devoured delicious pancakes and Steve and Richard preferred to try the beers. 

On our return journey, the bay had developed a slight attitude and ‘Nature’ couldn’t steer the boat too fast or we all got sprayed with sea water. 

As it is Montenegrin Independence Day holiday this weekend we decided to have a quiet Friday. That was until Captain Ivan, who we had booked for a fishing trip asked us if we would like some organic lettuce, onions and produce from his garden.  Of course we said we would be delighted and he collected us minutes later in his car introducing us to his daughter Laura and wife Ivana.  It’s a small world, Ivana works at the Kotor Tourist Office so Steve and I had already met her. I thought they lived locally, we would pull what we wanted from his vegetable patch, and return.  Little did we know he was taking us to his place in the mountain, which he bought a few years ago. At the top, walking passed the wild boar pen, looking at our sandal foot ware, he told us he keeps the grass short so as to be able to spot snakes. I trod carefully. Ivan was proud to give us a tour around his new home to be.  He had already planted fruit trees amongst the established fig, walnut and other trees, pointed out wild asparagus and many plants whose leaves make excellent tea and which ones we could eat.  As he wants his daughter and her friends to be able to pick and eat whatever they want, everything he grows is chemical free and totally organic. We spent a very unexpected enjoyable couple of hours chatting and I expect the conversations will continue on his boat on Sunday.

After wiling a way a couple of relaxed hours, happily without seeing any snakes, he returned us driving down the narrow hair pin bends road telling us to feel free visiting any time and helping ourselves to any of his trees and produce. We might just do that.