After a mediocre breakfast buffet at hotel we set off north. Our goal was to check out a small town called Kotor that Louise had recommended. Although it was only 40 kilometers away, it took probably an hour to get there as the road along the coast of this massive sheltered bay was narrow, windy and often had swimsuit clad locals walking around. As we neared Kotor, Garth spotted some rock walls of an old fortress zigzagging up the mountain on the other side of the lake. It turned out to be the Kotor fort which we later visited. Betty’s brakes started to get less and less reactive as we wound along the lake. I wondered whether the recent visit to the garage in Kosovo where the front brake pads were changed was related. It was raining a bit as we reached the town and it was quite disconcerting when the wheels locked up as I approached a roundabout. We found a parking lot just outside the entrance to the walled old town and found a restaurant inside for some lunch. The plan then was to climb up the fortress then return to deal with Betty’s brakes as it looked like the brake fluid level was low so maybe that’s all she needed.
Driving to Kotor:
The castle from a distance:
Spot Betty with the other rides...tough to say whose is better...
A church in the old town:
For lunch, Garth and I had these strange, deep fried, rolled salt pancakes with cheese and ham in mine, bacon in his. They were recipes for heart attacks for sure and I barely finished the first of two I was given and Garth was beaten even before that! We wandered through the narrow streets of the old town and found the stairs to begin the climb up to the fortress. It was at least a couple of hundred meters up with partially broken stone steps zigzagging up the steep hill. A number of stone walls were lined with archery slits every meter, it was phenomenal to think of the number of arrows that could have rained down on an attacking army if this fortress was fully armed. Just as Garth mentioned that we should have brought some water with us (we’d only brought our raincoats figuring the weather looked inclement as we had left Betty), he turned around and sure enough there was a local who had carried up a cooler full of cold drinks, water, pop, even beer...at an inflated price of course. It was 1.50 Euros for water, only 50 cents more than usual so not too bad. We bought a couple and continued our ascent to the top. At the top, there was yet another vendor who had obviously worked a lot more than his competition, his prices: 2.50. Garth brought up the interesting point that near the end of the day, surely the prices had to go down as he did not want to have to carry them all the way down. I didn’t think of this until typing this, but perhaps he has a secret stashing place.
Garth's rating of the rolled pancake:
Hiking up to the fort:
The view from the top of the fortress was spectacular and we snapped many pics. It was one of those places where many tourists were more than obliging to snap a pic of you and your group for the return favour. Garth and I pondered the possible paragliding opportunities. The landing zone was easy to figure out with a large soccer field down in the town and it was easy to see a possible launch area. To one side of the fortress there was a switchbacking path that wound its way up the mountain at least another two times what we had climbed. There looked to be some power lines up near the top which could possibly be a hazard but I’m sure something could be figured out...it would just be a bit of a bummer to hike for 2-3 hours with a 35 pound backpack only to find out you have to turn around and go back down! It was already past 3pm so it didn’t look like an option for today and regardless, we had Betty’s brakes to deal with already.
The archery slits:
Looking down, tough to spot Betty:
Holly and I at the top:
The view:
Garth and Holly:
After a little time at the top, we descended back into the old town, had a drink at a cafe while people watching and then decided on our next plan of attack. After consulting the local tourist info booth, I was off to the nearest gas station for brake fluid. I got the fluid and sadly it didn’t seem to make a difference to Betty’s brakes. I met up with Garth and Holly and they were going to suss out an apartment with a room to rent for 50 Euros a night while I was headed to find the nearest mechanic to see if I could park and sleep in Betty there. I eventually found a dilapidated large garage and the first few guys I met didn’t speak English but were happy to find a guy that did. It turned out that Saul, who said call him Harry, primarily worked on boats but he was happy to hear my story and give some advice that I just might need to bleed the brakes. I asked whether he had a good jack and he offered to hang around until I returned...what amazing luck on a Sunday night at 7pm. I returned to Betty and Garth and Holly were already there with good news that they would be okay with staying at the apartment they checked out. We started to leave the parking lot only to realize that we couldn’t find the ticket to exit. Damn. I was able to do a 50 meter reverse back up the nearly full lot and pull into an empty stall where we did a thorough search...nothing. I walked to the booth and it was going to be 10 Euros to leave...no biggie, we figured we’d be paying 5-6 Euros anyways and I didn’t want to delay Harry.
Arriving at the garage, some other guy who didn’t speak English helped us with a hydraulic lift as Harry showed up. He had some other task he wanted to accomplish so Garth and I set about getting Betty jacked up to remove the front wheels (turns out we had to first jack it up with my jack in order to fit the hydraulic one next). After removing the wheels, Harry returned and helped us with the brake bleeding. He was surprised that we had visited Kosovo and as Garth put it, he was a dower fellow who claimed that he preferred the communist times of Yugoslavia than the mob driven country that he now lived in. He also felt that it was merely “half time” (in soccer terms) for the Serbs and their motives in the area. It was an interesting insight to the feelings of a local.
Working on Betty's brakes:
Betty’s brakes felt a bit better after the bleed, still not 100% but definitely better than earlier. I parked just outside the apartment that Garth and Holly were staying at and we walked back into the old town for a nice dinner...another interesting day on the road...
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