I had no idea that there were Fjords in southern Europe.  When I think of these steep, river valleys, I typically think of Norway but on the bus ride from Dubrovnik to Kotor  we had a chance to see the majestic fjords of Montenegro for several hours.  It was one of the best views that I have ever seen.  The green forested mountain slopes dramatically fall down to meet the blues sea and all along the winding coast are tiny red roofed villages.  Kotor itself is an atmospheric medieval walled town on the water.  It is kind of like a smaller, slightly less touristy Dubrovnik.  We spent our first evening wandering around the old cobblestone streets and checking out the town.  We weren’t terribly impressed with most of the food but Amanda had an octopus, shrimp and tomato salad that was really nice.

On the second day, we decided to take a rafting trip up in the beautiful Tara River Canyon near Durmitor National Park.  It was about a three hour car ride into the interior of the country but the views were again spectacular and our driver was really interesting.  A young Italian couple named Luka and Valentina were signed up for the trip too and we ended getting along really well.  The “whitewater rafting” turned out to be more of a gentle float due to the fact that we were there in the late summer, but we still had a nice time.  The four of us shared our raft with three Belorussians and two Croatians.  The captain spoke no English so one of the Croatians (an older guy with a spare tire and a speedo) helped translate his commands.   After the float, we met up back at the rafting base and they prepared a huge BBQ with some of the fresh river fish.