We are standing above the famous Kotor fortress it hasn't been an
easy hike to get here but look at these amazing views and we're only half way!
If you're new around here my name's Emily and this is my partner Jordan
we have a mission to see as much of the world as we can before our money runs out
two days ago we caught a bus from Budva to Kotor and spent yesterday exploring
the gorgeous winding streets of the old town before heading back to our hotel
to make sure we were ready and rested for the best thing you can do here so it's almost 9pm
and we're getting ready for bed tomorrow morning we are planning a hike that should take six hours
and is pretty much straight up hill we're starting so early tomorrow that we've done the prep tonight
we've laid out our clothes packed our bags full of water and snacks and set our alarm for 4
30 tomorrow morning that gives us the best chance of being at the top of the mountain when the sun
rises over Kotor if everything goes to plan we should get some pretty good views wish us luck
it is 5 28 we've been on the trail for about a half an hour walking by my phone's flashlight
and it's finally starting to get light it is so cool hiking up this early you can see all
of the lights behind in the town because everyone's still asleep but also the kotor
fortress was all lit up as soon as we woke up and it's still actually lit up now
so special to see it at a time when no one no one else is up here we're a half hour in i
think there's at least another hour or two to the top and then we have to go all the way back down
so tired so this path through the mountains was originally built by the Montenegrin people
it was connecting the town of Kotor to what was the historic capital over the hill
which means all families used to come and carry all their shopping and all their wares over these
mountains in order to sell at the market in Kotor which is just insane look at these rocks
these little marks are how we know we're on the right path
to be honest it's the second one we've seen because it's been so dark
the height hasn't really been that bad so far it is all gravel so sometimes it feels
like you go one step up and slide half a step back but we've passed
two super cute super local houses the people just live on this mountain somehow it looks like they
have cats and dogs and goats they also seem to sell like coffees and drinks and cocktails
so if you're doing this at sunset it would be way better than fortress save your 8 euro
entrance fee spend it on some drinks so much better does that sound we don't have any money so
probably got another hour another hour and a half until we get the top it's already getting light
but because the sun rises on the other side of the mountain it hasn't hit this area yet
that's where we started and that's the top go go go
on the walk for well over an hour now
we are over halfway getting treated to pretty incredible views
but apparently this is made up of 72 switchbacks so it means we've only done 30-35 switchbacks
got a lot to go also looks like it gets steeper
because of the rocks that we have to walk over you're constantly looking down so you don't trip
means that whenever you do look up you get a totally different view of the bay
than you had before every switchback is different everyone is so beautiful
yes this route up the mountain is less crowded yes this route up the mountain
is free but there's a third reason why we're doing it there is a barbecue shop that's down
in Kotor that just looks incredible dripping in grease amazing pieces of meat we really wanted
to have it but we've been a bit lazy lately so this is our way of making it worthwhile
also a more immediate reward right at the bottom of this hill where we started the trek we passed a
bakery that was open at like five in the morning and they have incredible looking burek which
we fell in love with in Serbia they even sell a potato one so i think that's what i'm gonna get
to be honest it's all i'm thinking about it's getting me through these switchbacks
they're so close this last couple of switchbacks we've fallen into silence
don't know if they're a bit steeper or we're just tired now because we're near the top
or you can hear all you can hear is us hiking and breathing
we're getting so close now and the sun has just peaked over the mountain and started lighting up
the opposite mountains oh we're gonna get there you can barely even see where we started at all
and the fortress has gotten so small from here i've just got these few switchbacks left
and that should be at the top Eemily is coming up behind a lot of the blogs and stuff i saw
about this hike people didn't make it to the end i was wondering why you've all made it so close
because god do i get it now this last bit it's tough i don't know if i'm gonna make it
just keep going
i think i see the top did a little bit of off-roading to get her a bit quicker
but there it is
only like three switchbacks left i'm trying to pick up the face
because i don't want to miss the sunrise i have a stitch my legs hurt my knees hurt
Jordan's so far ahead because he keeps off-roading
i will make this
oh that Burek's going to taste so good
one switchback left i can't believe we got up at 4 30. we're on the trail head by five
and we're still cutting it this close
they weren't joking when they said this is strenuous
getting a really good view of the mountains around and i've kind of hit flat ground now
flat-ish so it's got to be up here top of the mountain
we did it we made it we're just watching the sunrise
two and a half hours later not bad it took us about two hours to get here and then we've
been here for 20 minutes yeah watching the sunrise over all of the mountains
from here you can see the beginning of the trail just and all the switchbacks we walked up
a long way down you can just see people starting to climb up the Kotor fortress
we've been up here for ages after a nice rest at the top it's about 8 a.m
we're going to head back down and get this burek yes and then shower, nap, bbq yes
we did hear there would be animals on the trek and now on the way down
we finally see them i think the way down isn't good enough anyway
that was awesome turns out goats might be up there with favorite animals i still think
the donkeys in Romania win but wow yeah just any animal you're with you're like
favourite what a great little encounter on the way back down.