The Hals Family World Adventures: Day 6 - Climbing the Walls of Kotor and Old Town Time

Uncle Tom with Hannah (yes, I know he is her first cousin once removed...but that's way too long to explain)

Enjoying a morning on the balcony - it rained most of the morning, meriting a guiltless sleep in and then leaving us with a beautifully clear view before the next storm rolled through

Our day started out rainy but cleaned up nicely...even though further storms were looming. We all set out together to climb the medieval city walls of Kotor. The walls that are lit up at night that line the perimeter of the old city are not the walls to climb...there is actually a path up the middle that passes a church on the way up to the top. I was so excited about this day, it was the main thing I had planned to do in Kotor. But when I woke up I was still having sharp pubic symphysis pain. So ridiculously frustrating. I even got ready to go and walked to old town with everyone hoping it would improve once I got moving...nope. And it was bad enough that I was worried if I pushed it I might struggle through the rest of the trip. So the gang went on without me and Daniel and I quickly tried to decide contingencies with how I would rejoin later on. (I am back blogging noww and I can happily say that skipping out was a great decision on my part - I am able to enjoy Dubrovnikand all the walking that comes with it!)

At first my time in old time was overwhelmed by my frustration and disappointment, but then Hannah woke up in the ergo and I refocused my efforts and we enjoyed peeking in and out of churches (Hannah loved the lights and the areas where people light candles in prayer or in memorium). Then we spent some time in front of old town letting her stretch on a marble bench...and then the rain hit and we ran under a restaurant awning for cover where I was quickly ushered inside "for the baby" as they said. I ordered a lemonade...which was lemon juice and a bottle of water...haha, while Hannah had her own snack. And then we headed back out. At some point I saw the gang hiking down the wall and headed to the main entrannce/exit to meet them. Oops...instructions were to meet them in the square...but I had seen them! I wanted to surprise them! There's only one exit right? I asked someone and they said yes. While I was waiting a shopkeeper invited me to sit down and we had an entire conversation with her - she was from Serbia but had moved to Montenegro fifteen years ago and had two kids. We talked about the education system, occupations, tourism, etc. Very interesting conversation! After that I went to the square and grabbed a snack...and finally caught up with them. They had taken a SECOND exit I didn't know existed! And hadn't seen me in the square as planned because I was waiting for them at the main exit...and had walked back to the apartment to find themselves locked out... bad bad news. I felt terrible...(but frustrated too, because I had been tethered to the square waiting for them for hours). Nobody was happy and I couldn't blame them at all.

Meanwhile - the wall climb went really well until the squall blew through...but it made it less miserable climbing up 900 feet. From the apartment to the top and back down and back to the apartment it was 3.5 miles, took 2 hours and 31 minutes, the elevation change was 879 feet, and Daniel burned 524 calories. (per Daniel's GPS watch). When I asked the gang what they thought? Meredith said, "well, my calves are still burning." (several days later). Overall the view was awesome and they had a great time. Pretty much the only thing that marred their experience was my inability to meet back up with them easily. Sigh. Sorry guys.

some of the 1300+ steps up to the top of the city wall fortifications

snail's pace?

Tom and Meredith at the top

Daniel and Tom (cousins) keeping their manly distance

City Wall Fortifications - Kotor, Montenegro

Once we all had lunch and recovered we eventually made it back to old town and had a fantastc meal at a restaurant I had spied during my wanderings. I had an amazing mushroom and chicken penne that had a cheesey cresm sauce that was unbelievably good. The waiter was this very sweet, traditioonal cute old man who was eager to please and ended the evening explaining that the bill "did not include gratuity but if we gave none he would still have a smile on his face." We had a fun evening hanging out and watching a lightning storm in the distance.