TRAIL: KOTOR, MONTENEGRO – GO THROUGH THE WINDOW

Even though it was a while ago (October 2016), there’s one short half-day hike that I loved so much I have to share it – it’s when I went through the window in Kotor, Montenegro’s Sveti Ivan Fortress (St. John’s Fortress) and found a sun-kissed valley of ruins, a crumbling chapel, and one solitary cow.
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Just navigating the narrow streets and alleys of Kotor is an adventure. The cobble stone streets glisten and the green shuttered buildings are picture perfect. It’s like a living postcard.

​As you wind your way through the streets, you arrive at an archway – the entrance to the walk up to the fortress. Thankfully there is a handy map of what’s to come on the wall. ​I recall we had to pay a small fee but it was nominal – just 3 Euros at the time.

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The steep climb up the stone fortress steps starts right away – there’s no easing into. Most people only climb the first 100 meters or so, just to get to the fort.

​At this point you get amazing views of the bay and town below so if you’re not really into hiking, this is a good place to rest and soak in the scenery.

But I had read about a window that leads to a valley and so we kept going. There’s no indication of this window on the map so most people don’t know it exists and that makes it beyond cool in my books.

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With no indication of exactly where this window was, we explored the nooks and corners of St John’s fortress and stopped at any hole in the wall to check what was beyond and then we found it. If there ever was a picture window – this is it.

Looking through the window you gaze upon a lush green valley and if you’re lucky you’ll see the resident cow who grazes in her own private oasis only to be disturbed by the odd hiker who dares to walk through her pasture.

I can see why people might be a little intimidated to actually go through it as it’s a fairly steep drop on the other side. So steep that I went down first and my sister threw the backpack to me as it was easy to scale it without it on. ​
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​Here is the window (*see note below - update):

Once we were on more stable even ground I became completely transfixed by the beauty that was in front of me. It was also so very, very still. Hardly any noise.

The sun was warm and even felt a little different than it did on the other side of the mountain. It seems a little weird to say that but I remember the feeling so well.

​And there was the cow, who thankfully, didn’t pay us any mind as we walked by.

To our surprise we came across ruins of what looked like a small village. All the stone buildings, except for the chapel, were just crumbling walls and foundations, remnants of life from some other time.
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Once inside the musty chapel and after my eyes adjusted from the sunlight, it was quite remarkable to see the walls still had blue and red paint on the plaster that indicated it must have been once beautiful and colourful and a place of true sanctuary.

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It was hard to leave this place – it felt like our own little sanctuary away from the busy world of tourists on the other side of the window but we had to say goodbye and climb back through the window.

​On the way back down into town, we decided to take the less travelled trail and get off the beaten path. It truly was the trail less travelled so much so that it took us a while to even find it as it had over grown so much. But our persistence paid off and we found it.

It took us down the other side so basically making the hike a loop. We essentially followed the walls of the fortress all the way down. Compared to the throngs of tourists on the way up, we saw only two other souls brave (or crazy!) enough to tackle the unstable trail on the way back down.
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This short but vibrant hike will take a morning and the nice thing is that when you get back down to the bottom you can settle in at a nice restaurant and have lunch while you watch all the tourists point up at the mountain knowing that you not only went up it but that you found and went through the window.​

*Update: About a year after we did this lovely little hike officials closed the window.

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