After smashing my wing mirror into somebody’s roadside bin I pressed on to see the town of Kotor, wondering if hoards of angry metal dumpsters were pursuing me down the narrow road.

I was so taken with Kotor that I drove straight through without further investigation to discover a wider road with a line down the middle.  Alas, it soon became clear that Montenegran motorists haven’t actually discovered what the lines are for yet, especially if there’s a bend in the trail.

Eventually I arrived at the tiny town of Perast.  I knew this because my hostess had already told me about the two islands I could see in the bay.  Boats to one of them.  Dead people on the other.

I bought my fridge magnets for the kids here.  Half price!  Then enjoyed a coffee by the sea before handing over €5 for a boat trip to the church on the island without the corpses.  It’s a nice church.  But just a church all the same.  I’d have loved an ice cream but the souvenir shop wasn’t quite into that sort of thing.

I sat in a pleasant sun, admired what appeared to be a small military vessel go past and chuckled to myself at the ease at which aggressors would get able to trap it in the Bay of Kotor if needed.  After a few minutes I returned to the quaint town, enjoyed a chicken lunch at the same place that had served me my coffee and idled for an hour or so on their wifi pondering this beautiful haven.

And there is a paradox.  Everybody should see this place.  Even though the infrastructure is basically dreadful.  It’s like seeing civilisation as it should be, not as it’s become.  But to improve access and add accommodation around the Bay of Kotor would be to destroy it’s charm.

It’s rather beautiful just as it is.

The Joys of Driving Abroad