Zihuatenejo is the coastal city that Andy wants to escape to, in one of the best movies ever made. That’s in Mexico.
Today, I’m going to Montenegro, which is a completely different place, even if they sound a little alike.
That’s right. I’ve been in Croatia for about 1 1/2 days, and I’m leaving for another country. The timing was perfect, as is is supposed to rain all day in Dubrovnik.
It’s a very short distance though, like Minneapolis to Eau Claire.
The day started a little stressful – my phone didn’t charge overnight so was down to 13%, and I knew I’d be gone all day. I have a portable charger, and it worked, so I was glad to find it wasn’t my phone – how would I have taken photos all day?? (I get anxious when it gets below 50% on a normal day)
My guide met me at 7, and we were on our way. First stop was the border crossing into Montenegro. When he said he was going to take back roads to a less traveled crossing, I thought to myself “this is the scene in the movie where the dumb American figures out she’s going to be murdered.” Spoiler: I wasn’t.
Our next stop was for Espresso (me) and a cigarette (him). During that break, we discussed music, and he was excited to hear I liked classic rock, and said we could listen in the car. It made have been a language barrier, as we spent the next few hours listening to Prince.
Perast/Our Lady of the Rocks
Our next stop was Perast. Perast is at the base of St. Eiljah Hill. A lot of it was destroyed in an earthquake in the 70’s. Just off of Perast, in the Bay of Kotor, is a man made island. It was made by sinking old ships, full of rocks. On purpose.
The legend actually is that local sailors found an icon of Madonna (no, the other one) on a rock in the sea in 1452. Every time these sailors returned from a successful trip, they added another rock, in honor of her and her protection. (Now, every year on July 22, there is a tradition where the local residents go out and throw rocks at the island, making it larger). You don’t remove a rock if you have an unsuccessful trip, and you’re not supposed to throw stones I thought? So this whole thing is a bit strange.
And I guess where there is an island, there is a Catholic Church that wants to conquer it. So obviously, the largest building on the fake island is the Catholic Church of Our Lady of the Rocks.
The church is also famous for the art it houses, including a tapestry embroidered by a woman who used gold and silver fibers AND HER OWN HAIR. It took her 25 years and IT CAUSED HER TO GO BLIND. Islands are weird places man. Really weird.
Kotor
Our next stop was the city of Kotor, where I spent time in their Old Town, also known as Stari Grad. Same idea as Dubrovnik’s, but smaller – and intentionally chaotic. Their strategy was that even if you breached the walls, the streets were so crazy that you’d get lost within them. They did a very good job of that goal.
I also climbed (halfway) to the Kotor Fortress. It’s about 1,300 steps, and I only made it to about 700. The “steps” were wet from the earlier rain, making it all very slippery, so that was some additional fun. My issue was that I had promised my guide I’d meet him at 12:30, and there was no cell phone reception, so I turned around at the midway stop. (Which I wasn’t actually sad about, to be fair.)
Budva
The last planned stop was Budva. Budva was described to me as Miami Beach on steroids – full of gambling and night clubs, with Russian and Saudi Arabian money. We did have lunch there – it was delicious, but my meal was large enough to feed a family of 3. I didn’t even eat any of the fries – and I love fries!
Detour
Here’s where the plan went a bit awry, officially.
My guide and I had been chatting yesterday about the plan. He had mentioned that, if I wanted, we’d actually have time to go all the way into Albania; there was a nice hotel, and then we could come back early in the morning. We had agreed I didn’t need to decide in advance, but when I left the apartment this morning, I had packed some clothes just in case.
It was still raining in Dubrovnik, so why not?
Albania
So, until not that long ago, Albania was a really closed down country – it was compared to North Korea, with the idea that not a lot of people came in (and, I think, not a lot could get out?). It has a huge amount of bunkers – possibly the most per square foot of any place in the world – because the dictator was so paranoid of being attacked. (He never was…because unfortunately, there isn’t that much in Albania that anyone might want to steal?). The area is lovely, but definitely more economically depressed – the roads are much rougher, etc. Border crossing was slow, to the point where vendors actually set up their for stands in between the car lanes.
I have seen more American Flags in Albania though (2) than I saw combined in Croatia and Montenegro (0) which I thought was interesting.
Castle of Kruje
This castle was the center of a rebellion, known as the Skanderbeg Rebellion in 1443. It was built in the late 5th century, and served many area leaders. Then, on November 28th 1443 Skanderbeg deserted the Ottoman Army with 300 other Albanians, faked a letter from a Sultan to take over the castle, and then declared a revolt against the Ottomans. The double eagle symbol was his flag, which is now the Albanian flag. He withstood 3 massive sieges; the castle was eventually taken back after his death (though his sons and grandsons continued the fight). His legend is a source of pride in the country. The Italian composer Vivaldi even composed an opera called Scanderbeg!
The grounds where the castle was are now home to a museum, with some remnants on the grounds.
Skanderbeg Museum
Skanderbeg is a hero in Albanian history, so he gets a museum. It’s new, and very nicely done (with I’m guessing a pretty tight budget)
This guest book was about halfway full. I flipped through the whole thing, and I was the only person from the US to sign it so far!
Kruja Bazaar
This is considered the oldest market in Albania. Tons of different things – normal souvenirs, but also beautiful handwoven rugs and embroidered fabrics. Alas, no room in my carry on.
It wound up being a fun bonus adventure, and I’m glad I said yes.
It was a long day, so we are staying in Kruja. The GPS wasn’t working, but my guide – who is originally from Macedonia, and speaks 9 languages (including Albanian) asked a guy on the street for help. The guy literally got in the car with us, and helped us navigate crazy narrow streets up and down really tight areas and hills to get to the hotel. I tried to offer the guy some euros for helping but he laughed it off and explained to me that Albanians are very kind people. (I mean, I’m a kind person, but I’m not getting in a car with someone to help them out??)
Albanian is actually a really hard language. It is likely some sort of Illyrian language, and is fairly unique compared to most of the area.
No sleep-time tea with me, but I am going to sleep watching The Intern.
