"...we hopped on a 2.5hr cruise into the bay of Kotor. "
by Justin de Benedictis-Kessner, Pactimo Brand Ambassador
And on the seventh day, the bikers rested.
After our arrival in Kotor last night, we all passed out very quickly (as the photos from yesterday can attest). We needed some sleep and rest for the legs. But after a week of waking up early every day, it was hard to sleep in.
Don and I were both up early and headed to the farmer's market that our apartment host, Jelena, had told us about last night. We intended to pick up some breakfast pastries for the sleeping guys but somehow managed to come home with freshly sliced prosciutto (that a salesperson offered a taste of when we walked by) along with some fresh sheep's milk cheese, raspberries, and blueberries. And somehow, no pastries! We returned with the labors of our hunting to our apartment and shared a nice breakfast with the others including some eggs and peaches from the grocery store.
Unfortunately, some of us were stuck with some stomach illness overnight - food poisoning we suspect - and so we spent a good amount of time recuperating from that in the morning. We then made a beeline for an 11 am boat tour, that again, Jelena had recommended. For a bargain price, we hopped on a 2.5-hour cruise into the bay of Kotor.
The views from this boat were incredible. While we realized that the mountains around Kotor were striking when we entered town yesterday, getting the full view from the water made us realize why this was such a strategic stronghold city since the 5th century BCE when it was founded. (Not a typo: it's actually from the 5th century BCE!)
The boat tour took us out in the bay past a couple of islands with buildings on them, and we ended up stopping at one called the Lady of the Rocks church.
We walked around, ate some of our prosciutto and cheese in the only shaded location on the island, and tried to capture the astounding view of the peaks surrounding the bay in some photos.
We also stopped in the town of Perast, where we climbed the steps of a bell tower despite the protests of our angry legs.
The views from the top make it worth the non-biking work we forever upon our legs, though.
On the way home, we relaxed again - some of us more than others. Dave an I both fell asleep for the 30-minute ride back to Kotor!
We spent the rest of the afternoon resting, again. Dave and Don miraculously managed to nap even more! I wandered around the city some more and enjoyed the interactions with the many cats that populate the city of Kotor. They are everywhere and appear unperturbed by the many tourists crowding the pedestrian streets around them.
Patrick managed to fit in an hour-long massage and Dave did some bike maintenance work while I worked on re-routing some of our remaining days on the trip to minimize ascents through the Alps. An updated for the careful readers: we're planning to lengthen some of our days in Germany so that we can shorten some days climbing in Slovenia and Austria:
A large dinner place called Konoba Trpeza around the corner from our apartment, and now we are headed back with very full bellies and well-rested legs. Tomorrow we head to Croatia (and Bosnia) with an early morning start!
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
ABOUT JUSTIN DE BENEDICTIS-KESSNER
Justin is a professor at Boston University and has lived in Boston for the last 8 years. He met the others when he was a PhD student at MIT. He was introduced to recreational bicycling at a young age by his father in Berkely, CA, where he grew up. In high school, he started rowing, which he continued as an athlete at the College of William & Mary in Virginia, and then as a coach for the men's lightweight rowing at MIT while in grad school. Justin completed his first century ride on his bike in 2012 and rode across the U.S. in 2014 from Seattle to Boston with Don and Dave. Justin is also a Pactimo Brand Ambassador Alumni.
