Day 131b: Dubrovnik - Kotor

Aug 12 - The immigrations officer on the Montenegro side stamps Janet’s and Odette’s passports, but not mine. It probably doesn’t matter, but I go back to the line, even though clearly no one wants me to walk that direction, and get the officer to put a stamp in.

I used to be quite vigilant about making sure my passport got the correct entry/exit documentation, because that was the only record. Not having it done left me open to risk of problems at borders, and in many cases could lead to pressure for bribery. Today, however, many countries have digital scanners. The open passport is inserted into the machine, and you are instantly recorded. In some cases, there may also be a camera that completes a facial ID at the same time. When I enter the US, I do this all myself at a self-service kiosk without seeing any live immigration agent at all. As countries modernize, passport stamps (other than residence or work visas) may become completely redundant.

Overall, I do appreciate the greater efficiency of just scanning the passport and not taking the time to stamp it. Anything that reduces the time standing in line at bland border facilities is good. I am willing to sacrifice the ‘souvenir’ aspect of passport stamps, for the same reason I like the idea of carrying around less paper, and filling out less forms, to prove who I am and what my intentions are. That there is some database showing all of my digital travel information on a huge screen at Langley, Virginia, and government agents are looking at it right now, deciding what danger I pose US interests, is just a consequence of living in a hi-tech world.

My initial impression of Montenegro’s towns is similar to that of Croatia’s, except maybe a bit more threadbare. A few more abandoned buildings and peeling siding. Cyrillic script comes in big on the billboards, but still about half the writing is in the Latinized alphabet.

There is a lot of advertising, in Cyrillic, welcoming an Orthodox priest named Porfirije to the city of Herceg Novi. He is the patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church, and is on an official visit to Montenegro.

The scenery could hardly be more dramatic, virtually all of the bus trip is along steep coastline. Bathing areas are many but tiny and bereft of sand. Just laying on a concrete slab or a rock by the water is good enough for people. We wind around the Bay of Kotor, which almost pinches off at one point, and despite how close the two ends come together, there is no bridge. A number of small ferries instead make the trip. We, however, continue around by land for another hour, along a road that follows the old Roman route. Smoke rises from many brushfires on the steep mountainsides, such that the western part of the bay is shrouded in a haze. At one point we squeeze past a number of fire trucks trying to put out a fire encroaching on the road. Eventually pull into the overcrowded Kotor bus station and make our way on foot to the apartment. The main roads in Kotor are just solid lines of cars, but we are fortunately on a quiet back street, in a little house by the apartment owner’s tomato garden.

Montenegro history reflects a bit of what we saw in BiH. Solid mountain ranges though much of the country led to a strongly divided realm, with three primary kingdoms or areas of influence. The Illyrians dominated the coastline, as they did to the northwest in Croatia. It first received its current name (Crna Gora, or ‘black mountain’) in the Charter of King Milutin, in 1276. From 1077 much of the current territory was finally incorporated as the independent Kingdom of Doclea (Duklja), later known as Zeta. Through much of its history as a kingdom, it fought against incursions by the Venetians (who occupied the Bay of Kotor), the Albanians, and later, the Ottomans. While it was feasible for invaders to seize larger cities on flatter land, many Montenegrin clans in the mountains stayed independent of outside influence (much like in BiH). Post-Ottoman occupation, it became the first Balkan independent kingdom again in 1910, only to be annexed by Serbia after WWI and later, absorbed by Yugoslavia after WWII. Upon the breakup of Yugoslavia, it formed a union with Serbia, but broke away to form Montenegro as we know it now after an independence referendum in 2006.

Kotor, like most of what we see around the Bay of Kotor, is quite dramatic. The mountains rise to nearly 1000 meters, straight out of the ocean. Kotor itself has an old city in two parts, one on level ground by the ocean (the ‘lower part’, and another part going straight up the mountainside (the upper part or Hill of St. Ivan). The town was founded by either the Illyrians (3rd Century BCE) or the Romans (168 BCE), and was called Akruvijum. In Byzantine times it was known as Dekaderon. It was part of the medieval Serbian kingdom later on, and later seized by both the Hungarians and Bosnian kings. In order to escape invasion by the Ottomans, the people of Kotor voluntarily gave over management and security to the Venetians in 1420, until 1797.

It is about 18:00 and the temperature is cloudy and cool. Janet really wants to take advantage of the weather to go up The Ladder of Kotor, an ascent through the defensive walls that snake directly up the mountain behind the old town. The 1364 steps take about 40 minutes, up to a tower with a flag.

More rain in the evening, we are glad to have it, in hopes that it puts the fires out on the other side of the bay.