Comfy night and lovely ocean views at brekky before we headed for another of the Balkan countries today, Montenegro, literally the black mountains. We are still quite bemused but do understand some of the challenges that face the former yugoslavia region/need to delineate countries when there is clear overlap between ethnic groups here.

The different ethnicities and origins, combined with the effects of different periods of control over the geographic distribution of the differing groups, with inevitable overlap, makes for a turbulent place. For example, Croatia has a lot of catholic croats (55%), orthodox Serbs (45%) plus a few muslims. Bosnia has lots of muslims (70%) and serbs (30%) but prior to the siege in Sarajevo this was higher. Montenegro again has the mix of Albanians (a different subset of muslims than those described as turkish muslims...broader grouping) plus Serbs and some Croats....so it's tricky. Ottoman occupation (Muslim) plus there are also a lot of Jewish people too. Borders simply can't define these groupings and historic tensions between the leaders of these groups still simmer away...like grudges that can't be dropped. The everyday people though are more than happy to get along! But, nationalism can be dangerous if you're on the outer.

Anyway, once across the border we first visited a great town on the largest lake in the region as our lunch stop. High mountain peaks surround it and we stopped for lunch at a town called Perast. Just offshore in the lake are two small islands that have churches on them. Legend has it that only one of the two is naturally occurring and the other has been built up over time by the locals. The churches and graveyard on one are very old. We could only visit one...the other is said to be extremely haunted...kinda glad we didn't visit it! Sadly, there were a lot of other vacuous tourists taking 1000000 selfies that was a bit annoying, as was the need to pay for the boat plus entry to the church (although I snuck in the exit by accident). Again, lots of nice cats handing around...lots the cats and dogs!

Back on the bus and off to Kotor, another walled city. This one is UNESCO world heritage listed. A bit of a walk from bus with bags to our hotel within the city walls was fun with plenty of grumbling from our fellow tour group members ;) Anyway, the hotel is cool but altogether we're not fans of the town.

We decided not to join the guided tour, but instead, Bronnie had a self guide tour of the city whilst I forked out the 15 euro to gain access to the mountainside fortification and churches on the side of the hill, along with the 1300 or so stair up the hill to the top. The town itself sits on the water which has access to the ocean relatively nearby but is out of sight of the exposed ocean. The city is walled completely with some of the curved, thick walls that were explained as being suited to deflecting cannonballs in Dubrovnik. Behind this wedge shaped walled city are imposing mountains that I am guessing rise about 400-450m above sea level. Strikingly, there are fortifications that zig zag but effectively enclose a width similar to the city right to the top of the hill. A series of steps have been placed there along with a rough track that would have been used to take materials up.

The steps themselves are uneven and quite large making for awkward climbing. They are also built next to a low stone wall (approx 40cm high)...no OHS and not great to have sheer drops on the other side for someone who doesn't love heights, especially when the wobbles seem to make them likely to lean towards the drop not away...oh well.

On the way up there was a nice chapel above 1/3 way, and some lovely cats just hanging around saying hello to tourists. As I neared the top, the path got narrower and steeper as I passed a fort with slits etc and even a gunpowder battery. Once reaching the castle viewpoint at the top I couldn't quite bring myself to cross the narrow metal bridge into the castle as it was too exposed with sheer drop underneath, so I did my best to take piccies and video from there. The day was lovely and sunny as I headed back down (less worried about going down but was wobbly today) and I got some great piccies.

When I got back to the hotel, Bronnie had come to a similar conclusion as I was that despite its clearly impressive craftsmanship (apparently the italians had a bit to do with the design), that it lacked the polish/feel of say Dubrovnik and it fell short really. The people weren't as warm or something. Hard to articulate but it was certainly there. We are getting used to turning down the people who come up to us asking for money too, even when it is occasionally small children. A pizza and some show at the hotel along with a try of some Rakiya, a fruit brandy that is commonly made in the non-Muslim groups in the Balkans. Not bad.