ROAD TO HIVEFEST // FIRST STOP - KOTOR, MONTENEGRO

Hello friends.

If you catched-up my last post, you will propably already know that we attended HiveFest 2024 at Split,Croatia with my man @knowhow92. HiveFest was a great chance for us both to finally take some days off and go on vacation. We discussed it and agreed that it would be a pitty if we just take a plane straight to Split and lose the opportunity to explore some more places, as Croatia is pretty close for a roadtrip from Greece.

It was actually our first time doing a roadtrip through other countries and we were both so excited about it. We organised our plan for every country and city, accommodations, famous attractions and informations. We started at midday from our hometown Ioannina which is very close to Albania boarders and crossed almost all Albania. A big part of Albania roads has a speed limit of 40-60 km so that made it really frustrating to drive. After 5 and a half hours on the road we did a stop for sleep at a seaside city called Durres, we didn't explore that much, just walked around the city center for an hour and had a couple of drinks at a beach bar,cause we were too tired. The next morning we woke up early and start driving to cross the Albania-Montenegro borders. It took us about 5 to 6 hours to arrive at our destination, the beatiful city of Kotor.

The most famous attraction is Kotor's old town which is located inside of the walls. Around Kotor you can see all those big beautiful mountains that cradling the city and adds a very interesting aesthetic to the medieval bulwarks.

The bulwanks has 3 different doors to enter the old town.

Inside of the bulwanks the old town has flagged roads and many stoned houses and shops. The whole aesthetiic transfers you to medieval times which is amazing.

We were wandering throught the stoned alleys of old town for some hour...

...exploring every small detail...

...until we saw this old church, St. Tryphon Cathedral which was built at 1166.

The night had fallen and we were still exploring every aspect of this old town. We reached the second entrance of the bulwanks which is a bridge buy the sea. The lighting was perfect to highlight those medival walls.

We kept walking around the old town. As you can see almost everything in there is made of stone.

We stopped for some drinks and dinner. There are plenty restaurants and bars inside of the bulwanks and all keeping that medieval vibe and that uniformity is something I really loved about Kotor.

We also did a stop at this beautiful old town's square. From here you can see at back the lit town walls that expanding at the hill behind. There is a path you can follow to reach the city walls built on the hill which is about 4.5 km long. It is around 1350 steps to the fort that overlooks the bay of Kotor. Unfortunately we didn't have the chance to do the trail cause we had to leave early in the next morning, but I guess it is a must do activity when visiting Kotor.

Late at night we arrived at the third and last entrance of the bulwanks which is also by the sea. I loved this spot because of the great harmony between the walls and and nature. The vegetation on the stoned walls and the point that all this meets the wild hill is amazing.

That's pretty much all about our first stop during our roadtrip vacation. Kotor is a very worth visiting destination for sure, not for so many days but at least for one or two. What I loved most about the old town is the uniformity you can see, almost every buildig is made of stone, very well maintained which is gives you this feeling of medieval times.

Hope that was helpful if someone is thinking about visiting Kotor.
Thank you for stopping by.
See you at the next post about our second stop.
😊