#blatics

[sinatraaloof]

Karula nationalpark, Estonia.

[halfhobo]

Wed/Thurs, Oct 14/15

A three hour bus ride along the rocky coast of Croatia through a downpour I arrive in Kotor, Montenegro. Not knowing anything about this place other than a passing traveler told me it was one of the most beautiful places he’s been to yet, it doesn’t disappoint.

Checking the weather forecast I know that I have about 3 hours before rain sets in for the next few days so I drop my bags in my 8 bed dorm room and hurry out to climb the mountain. I fill my water bottle, pay the 3 Euro fee and start the ascent up the 1350 steps to the top of the fortress. Knowing the weather is not only my side I move up the mountain faster than I have any other climb. I get to the top red faced and sweaty but turns out all these European stairs are giving my legs new stamina!

The view is pretty spectacular. I wander around the ruins at the top for a while before I find a hole in the wall and find a tiny church and more ruins behind the fortress. There is no one around. It’s quiet and I’m enveloped in the massiveness of nature and centuries of history. I’m happy. I love these moments of tranquility and recognition of just what a small part of the universe we are.

On the way down the mountain I meet some British Columbians who recognize me as a fellow Canadian by my ‘lack of an accent’ so we share travel stories on the steps for a while. I meet a girl from Singapore, we hangout for a few hours, go to dinner and say goodbye knowing we’ll never see each other again. It’s more common than you think on these sorts of trips to spend hours getting to know someone to just as soon say goodbye. Back in the dorm I avoid beer pong in the main room downstairs by catching up on the blog over painfully slow wifi while listening to some locals scream at each other across the narrow lanes for 45mins.

I wake up too more rain. Forecast isn’t promising and there isn’t a whole lot to do in this town that does’t involve the great outdoors. I walk a bit in between the downpours but eventually admit defeat. I start looking at ways to get to Albania tomorrow but it turns out it’s a bit convoluted. I’m starting to feel a little ‘Europed out’. As great as the castles, churches and fortresses are I am eager for a change of scenery. I am debating skipping the next few countries and just flying straight to Istanbul for a bit of a vacation from my vacation. I think the forecast for the next few days will decided for me.

I chat with some of my new roomies as they check in throughout the day. The 23 year old girl from Alaska with the massive bag who has never traveled before and the odd guy from NYC who likes asian girls and eats louder than anyone I’ve ever met. I leave the room for a bit to get dinner and when I return I enter what I assume is a cologne factory. 2 new Irish dudes have their phones at full volume playing techno music while shouting at each other over the noise and my bunk is now draped in musty wet laundry. I immediately retreat downstairs. Time to FaceTime some familiar faces.