The ultimate hiking book for the Bay of Kotor, describing 12 great walks and 1 boat trip to visit 17 iconic fortresses. With 240 images and GPS waypoints, this is the essential fortress-visiting companion, and also a fascinating source of information for Geocaching enthusiasts.
Close to the Bay of Kotor, Montenegro’s favourite tourist area, hidden and almost unknown among the surrounding mountains and hills, lie a large number of wonderful old fortresses, relics from the last decades of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, built to defend their huge military harbour and protect the southernmost outpost of the empire. Ravaged by earthquake, lightning strike, the impact of extremely heavy rainfall, and in some cases robbed of their best hand-crafted stone, they are set in stunning scenery and connected by equally well-crafted stone pathways.
Using the combined skills of the author, an experienced day hiker and photographer, with the assistance of Volker Pachauer of Graz University in Austria, an acknowledged expert in the history of these old structures, and founding member of the Austrian Society for Fortress Research, it will enable anyone with hiking skills to discover and explore many of these hidden treasures for themselves, learning something of their history.
It is hoped the book will add impetus for a possible conservation project, the creation of a museum employing local people, to celebrate the historic Austro-Hungarian fortresses of Montenegro.