Views Of The Bay Of Kotor From The Old Wall

The views of the rooftops, the maze of little streets of Kotor below, and the stunning overview of this little corner of the Bay Of Kotor with the spectacular mountains all around, is the payoff for climbing the old city walls behind Kotor Old Town.

There are apparently two entry points to climb the wall, the one we found was a just another of many tiny street in Kotor after a courtyard from Mr Mary's Church.

The climb looked more challenging that it was, although now I read that it was 1350 steps to get to 260 meters above the old city, and that sounds like a lot!

But with views like these, it was easy to be distracted by the bay, the village life below among the roof, and the changing cloud cover over the mountains.

The wall was first built in the 9th century, and added to through to the 19th century, and has clear pathways for tourists to make their way to the top.

It's crumbly in parts, and sections are like abandoned buildings, particularly up at the fortress at the top. There is also the chance to see life on the other side of the wall, nestled into Mt Loveen, with a few houses and livestock living in the small space there.

With every section of climb, the view got better. It also changed quite a bit with each elevation, as more of the old town and bay revealed itself.

As we climbed, one of the daily cruise ships sat at the pier for Kotor below. Whilst it kind of spoilt our natural view of the bay, it seemed that the throngs of passengers disembarked, filled the old town below us, shopped or whatever, re-boarded their ship, and were off again when we had finished our climb are were back on street level to once again enjoy the near-empty streets. Perfect!

The first main interval is the Church of Our Lady of Remedy, which not only provided a rest for our legs, but served as a reference point for how high we were as we kept climbing further up.

The old fortress at the top gave us a well-deserved resting place, and shelter from a rain-shower that swept in just as we got to this point.

An opportune local seller was hawking his wares up here, and we seized on bottled water and a couple of beers, as we waiting out the rain, and took in the views.

The wall blends right into the terrain of the mountain-side above Kotor, however at night it is all lit up, reflecting into the water below. From where we were staying, across the Bay, we got a magical view of this each evening, after initially wondering what the ring of lights were on our first night.


jouljet notes
Serious Tip: Take water with you for the climb, as the only vendor we saw was right up the top. The humidity during the Summer months means you'll need to hydrate!
Cost: 2 euro each, paid at the entrance
Time Spent: We took a couple of hours to go up to the top and back, which included our stop at the top waiting out the rain.
Quirky Tip: Take the time to get some great photos, from all different perspectives, like through the wall, which was my favourite view.

Amy, And The Paparazzi Lessons The World Fails To Learn

Amy is every bit the tragic story of a girl caught up in addiction, and hounded by the media, to her death.

The tragedy of this documentary is that of gaining an insight into the struggles, the pressures, the insecurities, and the pain in someone with such natural talent is painful.

The moments of joy in the film are those capturing Amy Winehouse in her musical glory - such soul, and an incredible voice. The clips of live songs, recordings, and music grabs are beautiful. And a painful reminder of a life and talent cut short.

Plus, through home movies and random self-captures, we see an insight into the girl - friend, and teen figuring out who she is.

I wasn't fully aware of her bulimia, but this film captures the illness, and makes the struggle so real and relateable. Her depression, and then addiction after addition; her relationships and the turbulence that these brought her, in addition to the drugs.

Her deteriorating health, from her thinning frame with every stage, to the effects of her depression and her alcoholism and drug use, is on show as the years pass across the screen.

The scenes that stay with you are those with such heart-heavy consequences - the invasion of press into her tucked away hotel, when she had planned a full detox. Just maybe this could have worked..... The exploitation her father persisted with - that moment with fans at a holiday retreat, and his filming of her, is just unforgivable. The push to put her on stage for that train-wreck non-performance that went viral, but the build-up and understanding of what was going on for her at the time, is piercingly painful.

She was such a vibrant and funny character - her waiting for her Grammy win, on stage, and so real, with her comment about Timberlake's album title. Her sass, and raw commentary on life. But also this captured moment, when she is clean and sober, is painful as she relays that she

But the most tragic of all points to the film for me was the hounding of the press. The cameramen chasing her on the street, stopping her from leaving the house. Grabbing every move she made, right up in her face every time. A frenzy of cameras and swarms of paparazzi - can they even get good shots from such practices? They certainly contributed to Amy's demise, from this depiction.

Who buys these photos? And then who, in turn, buy the magazines filled with these photos?

Has the world not learned anything from the death of Diana?

Image credit for the Dismaland Cinderella, here.

Wedding Cake-like Ornate Sarajevo Town Hall

One of the most prominent buildings in Old Sarajevo is the Town Hall, on the banks of the Miljacka River. Vijećnica, it's local name, housed the National and University library after World War II.

This building was set ablaze in 1992, in the Balkans War, which not only destroyed the building, but most of the library collection inside.

It was rebuilt, and re-opened in May 2014, and this is it, in all it's Austro-Hungarian architectural glory!

When Oh Mercy Talks About Love

The introduction to the new Oh Mercy album this year was via the intimate Parlour gig, one June Melbourne night.

Parlour has been labelled the "AirBnB for gigs", where you can sign up to have a band come and play in a space you may have for the occasion. This particular evening was in a art warehouse, a kind of communal work space, called Magic Johnston.

It was solo Alex, with an occasional accompanying violinist, in a space like a lounge room, where the gathering of people sat on cushions on the floor, or stood around the walls. Mulled wine kept us all warm!

He tested his new songs, mixed in with a couple of covers, and some older favourites. Songs like Sandy and Let Me Be Him, along with Lady Eucalyptus, My Man and Deep Heat. He was chatty and engaging. He also had copies of the new soon-to-be released album, which meant that I got my copy early!

The proper launch of When We Talk About Love was at Howler. I joined Nicole and Mary in the bandroom in time to catch a song and a half of the second opening act - and recall a bemused look between us we listened.

This fourth album from Alex Gow was written in the US mostly, and as he has told it, was him working through a break-up. Sad, grieving tunes of loss and longing.

This time also saw the introduction of his new band make-up, which actually made the sound of Oh Mercy quite different. To that end, the solo songs of this gig were probably my favourite, being more true to the band we have followed for so long.

Opening with I Don't Really Want To Know, it was a showcase of the new songs, with All Roads Lead To You, and Without You as stand outs. Plus Lay Everything On Me, Drums and Keith Street from previous releases.

Nauru Memory - The Fisher Boy At Sunset

Unbeknownst to us, this was to be one of our last memories on Nauru, before we were whisked off the island, and out of work. After arriving back on the island, Nat and I wandered down to the shore and the area of beach where we spent NYE, to take in the sunset.

Here, we encountered a couple of local kids, fishing for that night's family meal.

I am not sure that he caught anything - after this photo, he revealed to us that he had gotten his hook caught on the rocks below, and his line had snapped as a result.

For all the tough memories from Nauru, I will say this - Nauru has the best sky and sunsets I have ever seen, anywhere. Must be something about being a fleck in the middle of all that ocean.

A Tram In Sarajevo

The trams in Sarajevo is one of the oldest networks in Europe, as it was actually Vienna's test line! Part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was first opened in 1885, and they were horse-drawn.

Now they are quaint, old and rattly, but do the job with character.

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Help Make The World A Little Better: Wrap Of Reads And Links

Since Nauru, I have been actively involved in advocacy in many ways. I am also working within the asylum seeker sector again, which means keeping up to date with policy, current issues and changes, and being aware of stories, conflicts and their impacts.

So I want to start sharing some of that reading, and knowledge. To help you, my readers, be more informed. To be aware of some of the issues, the current situation for the many people war, conflict and persecution impacts, both here in Australia and around the world.

So here is a snapshot of some things you can read, watch and do to stay informed, and help make the world a little better.

Read

The world media has been awash with the situation in Syria, and the impact the ongoing war there has on the flow of people seeking safety in Europe. But can you name the place where more people have been killed this year in conflict?
It's Yemen, where Saudi bombings are happening every day, for the past 200 days.

You can read the 200 Days Of War in Yemen, by UN Dispatch
and
the statistics that Explosions Hurt More Civilians In Yemen Than In Syria This Year.

Yemen is the place of safety and refuge for many asylum seekers and refugees from parts of Africa like Somalia, and so targeting them causes more stress and turmoil for these people.

Watch

Watch this pretty amazing video on Human Rights, by Rights Info:

Write

To your MPs!
Julian Burnside has shared these tips about keeping it short, and with a question, to gain a response and create some dialogue and thought.
Aussies writing to their Labor MP is particularly important between now and November 10, when the party is set to debate it's stance on offshore detention. So let them know what you think!

Join

A Welcome To Australia walk next weekend, October 31, all around Australia. Details of gathering events can be found here, on the Facebook page.

Give

The old bike that you no longer use, and is collecting dust, to the Australian Red Cross bike program - they will tinker with it to run like new, and provide it to an asylum seeker in the community in need. This gift of a bike may help a young person get to school every day, or to let someone ride to a potential new job for a new start at life. This makes a huge positive impact on people's lives!

Donate

Any spare change you can to the fund to support asylum seekers in the Australian community have access to legal assistance for their refugee claim process. Access to funded assistance has been cut, and so organisations who are helping in this most crucial process are doing so on the smell of an oily rag, and donations!

The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre legal support and Refugee and Immigration Legal Centre (RILC) both here in Melbourne, servicing Victoria
and
RACS (Refugees Advice and Casework Service) in Sydney


Know of anything else? Share it in a comment below!