The old Slovakian mining town of Banská Štiavnica

The past whispers of grandeur have faded on the streets of Banska Stiavnica.  Heavily mined since the 3rd century BC, the Slovakian town of was once a hotbed for innovation and mineral wealth.  A massive source of gold and silver for Europe in the middle ages, the mining town was home to  a number of firsts.  It was the first mine to use gunpowder and the town housed the first technical school in the world.  Today, the old town is mined out and exists simply as a perfectly preserved medieval town, left as it was in its heyday.

Granted Unesco status in the early 90's, the old city square surrounds a gigantic plague column that looks like a strange art deco version of the eye of Sauron.  So what to do in such a place?  Wander.  Aimlessly.

We loved exploring this strange town and its surroundings, and, we had some bad pizza while watching 30 seconds to Mars videos in a little pastry/pizza shop.

Cumil the watcher, the missing paparazzi, and other weird statues in Bratislava

Bratislava has a number of strange statues.  There is this guy peeking out a manhole.  Another is a French soldier resembling Napoleon on a park bench.  There is also a guy tipping his hat commemorating an old Bratislava resident.  One of the most famous statues - The Paparazzi - was missing when we visited.  After looking for about an hour, we found some evidence of where he once stood, but we never figured out where he went.

The path to Njegos Mausoleum atop Mt. Lovcen

The road was too wet, the winds too strong, and the rains too hard.  As we ascended Mt. Lovcen in a beat down Skoda with our great driver "John" aka Cizmovik aka Clutchmaster Supreme, we decided to head back down, failing to reach our summit where the old prince bishop of Montenegro was put to rest - Petar II Petrovic-Njegos aka the Shakespeare of Montenegro.  We gave up halfway up the mountain.

As we went around the mountain, our driver stewed, feeling more guilty with each km.  He wanted us to see the top sight in Montenegro, so he made another run at the mountain from the other side.  He assured us that we would not miss our flight later that day and tossed the taxi meter out the window.

Budva, Montenegro from above

 Budva held like a cup by the Montenegros

Climbing the mountains behind Kotor

 After waiting small eternities for the skies to clear so we could climb the fortifications behind teh ancient city of Kotor, we found a few hour window to make the climb amidst cloudy skies and a tough beginning to the day.  While I did my morning routine just fine, Kristin was really dragging.  She managed to spill Cheerios all over our sink and accidentally put her pants on backwards.  I remember thinking, "yup, that's my climbing partner."

Of course, it was more of a pace up a few thousand steps than a true climb.  The weather was less than ideal, but the views were dizzying.

Kotor at Night

 The Kotor waterfront with the black mountains behind it - the black walls mark the sea gate wall

Dining at Galion in Montenegro

Galion is the best restaurant in Kotor, so we had to eat there.  The main dining room is built over the bay of Kotor surrounded by Mediterranean fjords (above).  It is dramatic and the food is absolutely perfect.   The meal blew our minds.

We liked it so much that we asked for a reservation the following night, and they declined us because we were dressed like slobs.  Our server was gracious the entire night, but we were dressed like we had been exploring in the rain all day, which we had been.  He said in broken English, tomorrow is very busy., maybe not come. 

That said, I would eat there again - it was that good.

 Rolls the size of donut holes

 menu 

 Fresh catch 

 Salad 

 The best, I mean the best, risotto ever 

 Montenegro steak

 The Saint Pierre fish in truffle with polenta and pesto = heaven

Dessert

The greatest sandwich ever

Tarifa, Spain 2008.  I ate the best sandwich ever much to the ire of my brother.  It had traveled to two continents prior to being consumed.  It was a foot long and about 1 inch wide.  It was a weird little sub, long on flavor and perfect in its simplicity.  I think it was filled with egg and cheese, but who really knows for sure.

I don't even remember.  I trudged back to my time capsule of a myspace page to read the old blog about this sandwich.  Information is scarce and I could only find a few lines.  How good was that sandwich?  I may never know again.  If I ever invent a time machine, then I will investigate this before I tell my old self to stay in college for a few more years.  Oh wait, I already did that.

Rain in Kotor, Montenegro

Some places you can just look at on a map, and by some combination of location and name, you know they will probably be really cool.  Such is the case with Kotor.  Cradled by the black mountain fjords of Montenegro and sitting at the end of a long and dramatic Mediterranean bay, it is a place of fiction come alive.  It is also a place of rain.  Of our 4 days in Kotor, it rained for 4 days.  During our visit, Kotor had the highest rainfall in Europe. Yay.

Still, we loved our time with this strange old city.

The story of Sveti Stefan

Beginning as a Muslim fishing village in the 15th century known as Divic, Sveti Stefan has undergone a series of peculiar makeovers in the last 500 years.  It was built to defend against invaders, similar to Dubrovnik.  It housed Adriatic pirates for a number of years, while also protecting against them.

Budva - The Russian Riviera of Montenegro

Heading south along the coast of Montenegro, we came upon the strange city of Budva.  For some reason, wealthy Russians have built Budva into a home away from home, and it is a strange and in parts beautiful place.  We saw totally chrome Audis, Lambo Aventadors, and all manner of other luxury brands - most driven by Russian looking men.  

The harbor is filled with yachts.  There is no shortage of upscale restaurants. But, the place is sort of this weird dicothomy of run down 80's Yugoslavia and nouveau riche Russia shipped in morsels into Budva.  So while some buildings decay, others are built up unchecked.  It is a weird place, especially around the beach outskirts.

Stormy Perast in Montenegro

Too often we travel by plane.  It is fast, but we miss the transitions that connect one place to another.  The ride from Dubrovnik to Montenegro was all about transition.  We began in decent weather and passed into storms as we drove through "no mans land" - and area spanning the border between Croatia and Montenegro.

The coast line changes in Montenegro to the largest Mediterranean fjords in the world.  The black mountains rise out of the dark emerald waters, and small villages and roads delicately hug the coastline.  It is incredible that this is coastline at all.  With the storms and lack of open water, it is an easy point to forget.