Assasins Creed Kotor

There are several rules you should follow to hike safely.

Always carefully plan your hikes in advance, knowing your route.

Check the latest weather forecast from the area before setting out.

Make sure you have the right equipment, in particular sturdy footwear

Choose lightweight, breathable clothing and appropriate spare clothes

Make sure you bring and drink enough fluids

Always follow the signs and stay on marked paths and trails. Consult your hiking map from time to time and turn back in good time if in doubt.

Tell your family, hosts, or wardens where you are going.

Objectively assess your physical fitness and choose your tour appropriately. Set off early in the morning and give yourself plenty of time to get back before dark.

I managed to break ⅞ of these rules my first day in Montenegro, without even trying.

First time getting out of Ireland after covid, was a €36 return trip from Knock - Podgorica, mid November, with stopovers in London. €9 a flight. It was a great feeling - I get an urge to leave a place after 6 months, the longest I’d stayed in one place in the past 5 years had been 9 months. My life had been structured around travelling, so covid had been long. But leaving the boggy fields of Knock, landing near the Adriatic in Podgorica that evening. It’s quite the change, you get a real feeling of depayesment, of two different worlds existing so close but so far. But to bring me home again. The luggage vehicles in Podgorica airport were blue tractors. So not that different. I’d no internet, it didn’t seem worth it to get a sim, so I downloaded a map of Montenegro and found a bus to bring me to Kotor.

Kotor, is a gem of a town inside a bay surrounded by mountains, inside another bay, on the Adriatic. Look it up, it's well worth it. A medieval town that would be fitting in Assassin's Creed, it’s entirely walled, at the base of high mountains, the entire town cobbled and white plastered, with church towers overlooking the terracotta tiles. And half the price of Dubrovnik just up the road. After being woken by the morning bells of the local church. I’d a vague plan to drift around the town, but at breakfast the reception suggested a walk to a viewpoint above St Johns Fort, an hour walk from the town up, with nice views of the bay. Said the fort itself was pricey to enter. I was looking out over the bay 45 minutes later as the morning fog cleared, in my converse and jeans. Rule 1,2, 3, and 4 all broken.

Spotting the path continuing past the back of the fort, in plenty of time, I said I’d keep going, surely the view could only get better. It did indeed improve, passing old grey stoned and red tiled farmhouses, thin donkeys and woolen goats, on a route of switchbacks climbing the mountain side. An hour and a half later, I checked maps.me on my phone, and saw that there was an old Austro-Hungarian border building uphill another hour away, this was where Central Europe met the Ottoman Empire back in the day. Not something you see often in Ireland.

The border building was a ruin in the forest, and sitting here, thirsty (Rule 5, broken), thinking about the past, I met a Canadian guy on his way down. He was on a runner high, and told me that the peak nearby, Pestingrad, was “awesome”, and only another hour away. It was awesome. But getting there was another hour and a half of switchbacks to climb out of the forest, to a road. Then a few km on the road, through a little village, where I got biscuits and water in a shop, down a dirt track round the back of someone's house, and then an overgrown, rocky trail to scramble up. I got lost a few times following the trail on maps.me, and didn’t see another soul. It’d be so easy to twist an ankle or break a leg up here. Rule 6, and 7 broken. I even paused once or twice to consider if there would be any landmines in Montenegro after the Yugoslav wars. But rationalised that they wouldn’t be up here, it's too inaccessible, far more likely on open ground.

After beating my way through the bushes and overgrowth, I came to the ‘Fairy Gate’, a natural rock arch overlooking Kotor Bay. And came to the conclusion that it was absolutely worth it. And someone had attached a rope to the cliff edge, to hold onto while you scooted over long drop to Kotor. At least I was back on the right path. The summit was a rocky flat area, right on the edge, with a view over Kotor itself, Kotor Bay with glass still water, the second bay, and the Adriatic itself. Even on a misty day it was spectacular. The 15 minutes I spent up there, eating biscuits, made the day worthwhile. I probably should have told someone I was hiking though. Coming back down, as the sun was setting, I found there was a back entrance into the fort, literally a wooden ladder left against the wall, with a window above it. Class. And a nicer walk down, straight into the town, in the dark. Rule 8, not broken! I left at 9:15 for my two hour hike, that didn’t end until 18:15. Sometimes no plans are the best plans.