My day effectively began around 4:30 AM when we crossed the Montenegrin border. Police came on board and woke us all up to check passports, but didn't give me any further trouble. I noticed that it was snowing, something that I hadn't expected to see for a few weeks at least. It was beautiful in the orange glow of the lights by the customs station. On a return trip from the bathroom (the bathroom floor had a very spongey feel to it and I suspect it's just a matter of time before someone's foot goes straight through) I ran into a group of other Anglophone travelers that had all met working at the hostel I stayed at in Bratislava, and they were having a proper party in their compartment. They gave me some terrible jungle juice and drunkenly rambled at me for a while. At one point someone had the brilliant idea to see how many people we could cram into a single bunk bed, and we managed to get all 5 of us very tightly packed in there. On the one hand I respect the idea of having fun on your train ride like that, on the other I don't think it was really for me. I went back to my bed for the remaining couple hours, but didn't sleep again. The last hour or so of the ride was incredibly beautiful. With the sun up, it was clear that we were riding high up on the mountain ridge, far above the nearest road. Our course took us through a million little tunnels and dozens of bridges with fantastic views of the valleys and summits. The train ride wasn't fast, but it's hard to argue that this isn't the best way to get from Serbia to Montenegro. We finally got in around 7:30.

So, Podgorica. I had about 2 hours before the bus to Kotor, so I used the time to explore the city. In no way does it feel like a national capitol - I'd have a hard time believing it was a county seat. It's tiny, unimpressive, and extremely quiet, though I later learned that this last bit may have been due to today being a national holiday celebrating some Montenegrin writer. I don't want to suggest that it's awful, there's just not a whole lot going on. When I went back to the bus terminal they made us "print out" our tickets - very transparently a scheme to charge a few extra euro while providing no actual value. Side note - Montenegro isn't EU, and thus shouldn't be allowed to use the euro. But they just sorta adopted it anyway and the EU hasn't punished them, so it's the official currency here. I guess I prefer it this way rather than having some other stupid currency that won't be usable anywhere outside whatever tiny country I currently happen to be in. Anyway... The woman at the counter was incredibly irritable and rude, but after a few minutes of complaining about the digital tickets I had she gave us some passes that would let us into the terminal. I fell asleep for maybe half an hour of the roughly 2 hour drive and was awoken to another gorgeous view: we were driving toward the coast, but the mountains drop off almost directly into the sea. It reminded me a little of Cape Breton Island, and the city of Budva looked somewhat like the pictures I've seen of Honolulu. We had to work our way down a tight series of switchbacks to even get into the city, and from there we went on to Kotor.

Kotor is simply stunning. The closest comparison I have is to New Zealand's Fiordlands, and while it's not quite as impressive as the terrain of Milford Sound, it's remarkably close. Huge mountains plunge directs into azure water, the walled old city is nestled into the base of a nearby cliff face, and a snaky system of fortifications extends almost straight up the steep slopes. The city is strongly reminiscent of Split in some ways, but it's smaller and more intimate. It's also more exclusively a tourist trap, since while Split's economy is hugely based on tourism, it's still got other major industries once you get further from the main waterfront. Kotor doesn't, but honestly, I think it's better that way. The city can get away with being a tourist trap when it's this stunning. I showed up at the hostel and found nobody at reception, but there was a group of people there heading out to do a boat tour of the bay. They'd negotiated a lower price (30 euro for 3 hours, seems pretty reasonable) and invited me - within 90 seconds or so of getting to the hostel and meeting this group, I signed on to the excursion. We drove around the bay for a while and stopped at a bunch of cool spots along the way: an old Alcatraz-style island prison, a cute church that wasn't even really on an island but more or less emerged directly from the sea, an old submarine bunker from the Yugoslav days, and a huge cave. It was amazingly interesting and the backdrop of the mountains is unbelievable. I've seen few cities in the world this spectacular.

Kotor also has a reputation for its cat population, and there's one park in particular where they like to hang out. They're really friendly and if you sit on a bench for a few minutes, you're certain to accumulate a cat or two on your lap. A Dutch girl from the boat trip had bought some cat food and was totally swarmed, but she seemed to be enjoying herself. She actually lived in Boston for a while, so we've made tentative plans to meet up next time she's back. I took a nap to catch up on sleep and ended up playing cards in the kitchen for a while before the common spaces closed - nothing here is open very late but I wasn't tired thanks to that late nap, so my only option was to poke around the city by myself for a while longer. It's not as interesting by night, but the walls that go up the mountain are lit up and it creates a really cool effect. I'm looking to hike up there tomorrow; while there's a fee to get into the walls from the normal route, there's apparently a back way accessible by hiking trail that you can use to get in for free.

I've only been in Montenegro for about 20 hours as of the time of this writing, but it's been incredibly impressive. I really knew nothing about it but can already wholeheartedly recommend that you make a stop if you're in the area. It amazes me that a country this safe and beautiful has such little presence in the western media sphere, but maybe that's for the best. It isn't too crowded now, and while that's partially because it's the off season, that didn't stop Split from being extremely busy just a week ago. Really looking forward to seeing more tomorrow.