The Irresistible Charm of Kotor, Montenegro

Sailing into Kotor, Montenegro

Very early in the trip we had heard that the sail-in to Kotor, Montenegro would be the most spectacular of the entire cruise. However, since they were predicting overcast skies and possible rain, as well as a very early sail-in, I decided not to get up at 6:00 AM to be out on deck.  Chuck however was up even earlier than that and was ready to go.  Despite being early, he discovered that the scenic sail-in commentary had already begun!   So he was off to another part of the ship to enjoy the lovely scenery. 

The weather, as “promised” was very overcast and cool, but we were pleased that the rain held off.  This was my first time on the entire cruise doing a shore excursion completely on my own without Chuck (or Alice) being with me.  I was somewhat leery, but the Shore Excursions department assured me that I would be able to handle it.  So I got all layered up and headed down to the Showroom to await the tour, Cruising Kotor Bay.  I was the first one on our tour off the ship, and discovered that we had to stand and wait for everyone to meet before we could head to the small boat that would take us on our cruise.  The tour guide, however, found a young man to take me to the boat so I wouldn’t have to stand around. A moment later a young woman joined me also, and there I was with at two-person escort to the boat.  I was on and seated before the rest of the group arrived.  We had a small contingent – eighteen guests, one ship escort (happily, it was someone from Shore Excursions so he paid careful attention to make sure that I got on and off, in and out safely), one guide, and two boat crew members.  We set off on our cruise of the bay in the cloudy weather.

The scenery was absolutely breath-taking!  I can only begin to imagine what it would look like if it had been sunny with blue skies, but at least we didn’t have rain!  Because I was away from the guide, I missed much of his commentary, but I hear enough to learn that the steep mountains that rise around the bay are not volcanic.  They are dolomite mountains made mostly of limestone. While the bay might look very much like a fjord, in actuality it can’t be considered a fjord because it was formed by plate tectonics rather than by glacial action.  No matter how it formed, the scenery was breathtaking!!!

As we cruised along, we passed several small villages nestled along the foot of the mountains at the shores.  Of particular interest were the frequent church spires seeming to rise out of the forested mountainsides, seemingly isolated from everything else.  Our guide explained that some of these churches dated back to the 12^th Century and were in use until about the 18^th Century when the people moved down the mountains to the seaside villages and the churches were abandoned. 

Soon we arrived at a tiny island that held only a couple of buildings. Our guide explained that this was a man-made island.  According to legend, the seamen had pledged an oath to lay a rock in the bay after each successful voyage.  Eventually this pile of rocks formed an island.  Built on this miniscule island is a church called Our Lady of the Rocks.  People still use it for weddings, and even today women leave their bridal veils at the altar for good luck.  And sailors continue to leave silver plaques as a symbol of good fortune.  These plaques adorn the interior of the church.  In addition, a famous 17^th Century local artist, Tripo Kokolja, painted 68 beautiful paintings that line the upper walls and ceiling of the church. 

After our visit to the fascinating little island, we headed across the bay to the tiny village of Perast, a charming Baroque town dating back to about the 17^th Century. where we visited the Maritime Museum and had an opportunity to do a little browsing.

From Perast we boarded our little boat once again and headed back to Kotor. It was a short tour, and I was happy to have managed to venture out on my own.  While I missed much of what the guide had to say, I did enjoy the magnificent scenery very much!

BT

This was the first and perhaps the only time on the cruise that we have done separate excursions.  On my first visit to Montenegro, I wanted to see some of this small country of about 660,000 so I elected to do a shore excursion called Traditional Montenegro which would show not only a small part of the country, but identify some of what Montenegro used to be.  Now an independent nation, over the centuries it has been dominated by stronger regional powers.  Located on the eastern shores of the Adriatic Sea, for many years it was controlled by Venice, a long time power at the northern tip of the Adriatic.  Evidence of this is the winged lion emblem of Venice carved on many old buildings of Montenegro.  More recently of course, Montenegro was part of the area that sparked the start of World War I.  When the war concluded, some of the nation states of the area like Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, and Kosovo became part of Yugoslavia which initially was part of the Soviet satellite system.  Under Tito, Yugoslavia steered a somewhat independent role apart from the influence of the Soviet Union.  When the Soviet Republics and the satellite nations of Eastern Europe gained independence, Yugoslavia became a part of that movement, particularly after Tito’s death in the 1980s.   Montenegro was one of the last of the former components of Yugoslavia to vote to become independent.

After the magnificent morning sail-in we arrived at Kotor, the best of the bays at the bottom of what some would call a fjord.  Barb’s guide said that this could not correctly be called a fjord but my guide indicated that, while it didn’t have the characteristic of being formed by glacial action, it had other components of a deep channel with nearby mountains on both sides.  In fact she said that the fjord through which we had just sailed was the only non-Norwegian fjord in Europe to be in the top 25 most beautiful fjords.

As we left Kotor, we drove through the Montenegro countryside to Tivat Bay, then up through the mountains with hairpin turns and magnificent views of the bay, toward a tiny old village of Lastva.  Nothing could be more representative of “traditional Montenegro” than this nearly abandoned mountain village.  It seems that the population of Lastva is easy to count since the population is exactly 1 person – a lady in her 80s.  The rest of the town has moved away.  There are some old abandoned houses, but a beautiful Roman Catholic Church, St. Maria Church.  It is well maintained and has some important relics of important historical significance.  There  are about 40-50 services held in the church annually, mostly weddings and funerals for former residents.  As an example, there is a statue of Jesus’s father, Joseph, that was given early in the 20^th century by all the men in the village at that time who were named “Joseph.”  There were 26 or 27 Josephs, including a man whose grandfather was one of those Josephs. The man described the church in his native language and it was translated for us by our guide into English.

After a visit to this old church, we were taken to a now closed mill in which olive oil had been produced until about 15 years ago.  It was the last remaining of eight olive mills in Lastva which at one time had boasted 6,000 olive trees.  We saw the way olive oil was made and marketed but now more modern techniques are used so this building had become obsolete.  It was preserved to show the old way that olive oil had been processed.

A few steps away, we visited a house where we were seated and given a snack which consisted of bread, cheese, smoked ham, and local beverages or water.  As we enjoyed the snack, three men played traditional music and a woman danced some local dances.  Outside, there were some made handicrafts for sale.

When we returned to Kotor, we got off the bus and began a walking tour of the beautiful walled city, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  The guide showed us various places of historic importance.  One of the first she pointed out was the “pillory post” which was just inside the main gate.  A person who was found to have done something wrong would be tied or chained to the pillory post and the residents were free to throw stones or any other objects at the individual who had committed the misdeed.  The city had been devastated by an earthquake in 1667 but the town has been rebuilt, being as true to way the town had looked before the big quake.  We visited he Cathedral of St. Tryphon, built in the 12^th century. The interior is beautiful and is highly regarded by the Roman Catholic Church.   Catholics are a minority in Montenegro, with about 70% of the population adhering to the Greek Orthodox tradition.  We were shown an exquisitely beautiful gift from the Vatican to Montenegro within the last few days.  For several years now, the Vatican has been giving three cities a large bigger than life “Easter Egg” that the major Catholic Church in the city may keep. It is beautifully decorated and a source of pride to have been the recipient of the egg.  This year, our guide explained, Kotor, Montenegro, Paris, and Riga, Latvia were chosen to receive the gift.  The guide said that the day before we arrived, the egg was on display outside St. Tryphon and today was the very first day it was housed in the Cathedral.  From there, she took us around various other part of this amazing example of early architecture.  After lunch, I walked literally across the street and wandered through some of the other fascinating streets of this walled town.

Although the cloudy weather hindered the great beauty of Kotor which would have sparkled under blue skies, nevertheless it was a memorable day and one never to be forgotten.  A most unusual way to spend Good Friday!

CT