Your'e only as good as your last hair cut

The view from the fortress

The Bay of Kotor is a highlights reel of both the Adriatic coast & the Fjords of Norway that have been assembled in to one section of Montenegrin coast.  The deep blue waters are surrounded by mountains on all sides that crash steeply down to the water’s edge.  Sitting nearly 300 metres over the walled city sits an old fortress, connected to the walls of the Stari Most (old town) by some 1350 steps and perfectly blended into the grey rocks of Mt Lovcen.  Although much smaller and less travelled than Dubrovnik the old town is impeccably preserved (although the cruise ships dwarf it during the day).  Despite the very steep climb to the fortress there are men selling beer on route to keep you going and the views down the length of the bay through the arrow slots of the fortress are simply breath taking. Having arrived at the bus station we were greeted by a 300 year old women with a beaming smile and no English who led us to her home just outside of the old town through a mixture of smiling broadly and gesticulating wildly with both hands.  Her son made us homemade fruit juice and whilst talking to him it still became apparent that the civil war still has ramifications across Montenegrin society today.  Despite being born and raised in Dubrovnik his family are Serbs and had to swap houses with a Croat family in Kotor to escape the genocide in 1994.  The majority of Montenegrins are also Serbs and the two countries were united, however in 2006 Montenegro voted for independence form the unequal alliance with Serbia and now most of the population regard themselves foremost as Montenegrin, not as Serbs.  Although he speaks the same language and has lived in Kotor for 21 years he is not allowed to work as an ‘immigrant’ in Montenegro. His mother still receives abuse from other local families looking for tourists arriving at the bus station and the family are regarded as social lepers by others in their neighbourhood.

We went straight down to the waterfront the following morning and as we lounged on the pebble beach in awe of our surroundings I went to experience a Montenegrin haircut, an ordeal for me even in my own language and one any other tourist in Kotor should be warned of.  I was greeted by a women who would not have looked out of place in an East German shotput team from the 1980’s who upon my arrival glared and simply shouted ‘How?’.  After a pause to collect my emotions having been confronted by this brute of a women and ascertained what she wanted me to tell her ‘how’ I wanted my hair cut (although I feel it was not much of a choice in hindsight) I nervously sat down in the chair whilst she went to the toilet.  Unfortunately the salon was quite small and after 10 minutes of my eyes stinging from the combined effect of the foul stench of her lunch radiating from the toilet some 3 foot away from me and the electric razor that she had tried to embed in my skull I left with a fringe that was at least 1 inch shorter on the left side of my forehead, much to the amusement of Hannah.

Perast waterfront

Our final day around the bay was spent visiting the picture perfect town of Perast, a simple 20 minute ride on the local bus around the edge of the bay.  The small town, with its white brick houses and waterfront bars is situated along a single road alongside the bay.  A few hundred metres off shore are the tiny islands of St George and Our lady of the rock (man made in the 15^th Century) with a beautiful church on each.  At the top of the town (closed to all traffic apart from locals) is a shaded area to swim in the clear waters under the overhanging pine trees gazing jealously at the incredible yachts.  A perfect way to recover from the ordeal of my Montenegrin haircut.