Just behind the mountain takes its rights

It starts as a port. Sandwiched in the Earth which opens wide its arms to better control water just die quietly on the sand to small ripples move. Just behind the mountain takes its rights. Except that a language of sea escapes to the South, a boon to the ship that engages in the fresh morning of May. In Norway, we call it a fjord. Here also... but that is in full Mediterranean, 500 kilometres to the East of Rome, at the beginning of Montenegro. On the bridge, he already warm enough to take the breakfast and open eyes wide. On the water, absolute calm a dream of water skier. On Earth, a few banks of fog recall that a day has barely begun. Welcome to the southern tip of ancient Dalmatia, at the entrance of the mouths of Kotor which extend on about 30 kilometres. Boat, an hour of delight.

The sea widens and shrinks, expands again. The mountain is hidden under the chestnut trees and laurels, with a band of lighter olive, halfway. The quiet villages move, while houses of stone of white to become bright when the Sun will rise above in the sky. Churches, many churches. And also Islands. Island of flowers, île Saint-Marc... On Saint-Georges are barely a Benedictine monastery and 20 poplar. This morning, the monks must meditate: the Bell does not respond to the siren of the boat... Meanwhile, Notre-Dame of reefs, artificial island population just consolidate each year at a party where each comes with its stones. A little later, the village of Baosici where Pierre Loti to love with a young peasant. And then a passage so narrow that a chain was formerly tense to prevent enemy boats to pass... But Kotor is looming on the horizon, all at the bottom of the fjord. A sacred city of sailors, which Venice was proud to take in 1420 and where Russian Peter the great sent its military shipbuilding techniques.

There is a port, a true. The old city backing onto the mountain is surrounded of walls, breakthroughs only three doors antan. Signature of a region that was long, very long time, a land of clashes and looting. The Venetians wanted to assert their power. The Crusaders along the coast to reach the promised land or sometimes return. The Ottomans also felt their embrace. During the first world war, Montenegro led to Kotor harsh battles against the Austro-Hungarian empire. Yesterday, the explosion of the former Yugoslavia has degenerated into a string of wars. It is the absence of fortifications that would be amazing! The entrance of the city, a lion in the rampart recalls that the city was long under Venetian domination be Austrian, and Italian, Austrian, French under Napoleon again, Yugoslav at the 20th century before becoming Montenegrin last May.

Abundance of palaces

Once the wall is crossed, a small jewel of city to discover. In the walls, in the soil, white and pink stones are assembled in constantly renewed games. The prosperity from the shipyards reads in the abundance of palaces in two or three floors, some prior to the Renaissance. Specialists have identified 99 blazons of families! The Saint-Tryphon Cathedral is also testimony of an opulent past. The maritime museum can admire ornate rifles mother-of-Pearl and traditional costumes, but especially to visit a Palace of the 18th century sumptuous staircase of stone, reception rooms, parquet in lemon. Everywhere, some tables charming cafés hope the laziness of the visitor. The art of living has not escaped to tourists. Local real estate prices have tripled in one year, to reach 3.000 euros per square metre.

The city also deserves to be admired from the outside. A road goes in the mountain. In twenty-five properly numbered hairpins, she arrives at 1,000 metres above sea level, with a dazzling view over Kotor and the meanders of the fjord. Soon, the sea disappears. This is the true landscape of Montenegro: mountains, valleys. Here, the snow is often months winter. Stay in a hostel on the "gurno", this area of threshing of wheat which is also often the centre of local life. Smoked ham, cheese of sheep in the oil, very light red wine (it seems almost a clairet), the day fritters dipped in honey or Marmalade of cherries, marc... The morning snack becomes quickly generous in these regions. It will help calibrate the stomach turns that take the curious to the former capital Cetinje (Monastery of the early 17th century, with beautiful icons and a few incunabula), the port of Budva (nice but fortified port alas! expanding concrete) or the baroque island of Sveti Stefan. Connected to the Mainland by a jetty, this graceful fishing village had turned into a resort for apparatchiks of the

It starts as a port. Sandwiched in the Earth which opens wide its arms to better control water just die quietly on the sand to small ripples move. Just behind the mountain takes its rights. Except that a language of sea escapes to the South, a boon to the ship that engages in the fresh morning of May. In Norway, we call it a fjord. Here also... but that is in full Mediterranean, 500 kilometres to the East of Rome, at the beginning of Montenegro. On the bridge, he already warm enough to take the breakfast and open eyes wide. On the water, absolute calm a dream of water skier. On Earth, a few banks of fog recall that a day has barely begun. Welcome to the southern tip of ancient Dalmatia, at the entrance of the mouths of Kotor which extend on about 30 kilometres. Boat, an hour of delight.

The sea widens and shrinks, expands again. The mountain is hidden under the chestnut trees and laurels, with a band of lighter olive, halfway. The quiet villages move, while houses of stone of white to become bright when the Sun will rise above in the sky. Churches, many churches. And also Islands. Island of flowers, île Saint-Marc... On Saint-Georges are barely a Benedictine monastery and 20 poplar. This morning, the monks must meditate: the Bell does not respond to the siren of the boat... Meanwhile, Notre-Dame of reefs, artificial island population just consolidate each year at a party where each comes with its stones. A little later, the village of Baosici where Pierre Loti to love with a young peasant. And then a passage so narrow that a chain was formerly tense to prevent enemy boats to pass... But Kotor is looming on the horizon, all at the bottom of the fjord. A sacred city of sailors, which Venice was proud to take in 1420 and where Russian Peter the great sent its military shipbuilding techniques.

There is a port, a true. The old city backing onto the mountain is surrounded of walls, breakthroughs only three doors antan. Signature of a region that was long, very long time, a land of clashes and looting. The Venetians wanted to assert their power. The Crusaders along the coast to reach the promised land or sometimes return. The Ottomans also felt their embrace. During the first world war, Montenegro led to Kotor harsh battles against the Austro-Hungarian empire. Yesterday, the explosion of the former Yugoslavia has degenerated into a string of wars. It is the absence of fortifications that would be amazing! The entrance of the city, a lion in the rampart recalls that the city was long under Venetian domination be Austrian, and Italian, Austrian, French under Napoleon again, Yugoslav at the 20th century before becoming Montenegrin last May.

Abundance of palaces

Once the wall is crossed, a small jewel of city to discover. In the walls, in the soil, white and pink stones are assembled in constantly renewed games. The prosperity from the shipyards reads in the abundance of palaces in two or three floors, some prior to the Renaissance. Specialists have identified 99 blazons of families! The Saint-Tryphon Cathedral is also testimony of an opulent past. The maritime museum can admire ornate rifles mother-of-Pearl and traditional costumes, but especially to visit a Palace of the 18th century sumptuous staircase of stone, reception rooms, parquet in lemon. Everywhere, some tables charming cafés hope the laziness of the visitor. The art of living has not escaped to tourists. Local real estate prices have tripled in one year, to reach 3.000 euros per square metre.

The city also deserves to be admired from the outside. A road goes in the mountain. In twenty-five properly numbered hairpins, she arrives at 1,000 metres above sea level, with a dazzling view over Kotor and the meanders of the fjord. Soon, the sea disappears. This is the true landscape of Montenegro: mountains, valleys. Here, the snow is often months winter. Stay in a hostel on the "gurno", this area of threshing of wheat which is also often the centre of local life. Smoked ham, cheese of sheep in the oil, very light red wine (it seems almost a clairet), the day fritters dipped in honey or Marmalade of cherries, marc... The morning snack becomes quickly generous in these regions. It will help calibrate the stomach turns that take the curious to the former capital Cetinje (Monastery of the early 17th century, with beautiful icons and a few incunabula), the port of Budva (nice but fortified port alas! expanding concrete) or the baroque island of Sveti Stefan. Connected to the Mainland by a jetty, this graceful fishing village had turned into a resort for apparatchiks of the