I am too tired tonight to do this post, and our wonderful day in Kotor justice. While our weather looked a little questionable first thing this morning, by the time we went ashore just before 9am, it was sunny and beautiful with no wind at all. Quite a change from the torrential rain of our last visit! I am so very happy that we had a second opportunity to visit Kotor, because this has become one of our favorite ports on these itineraries.
This is what one hopes to see when cruising up the Bay of Kotor!
Kotor is a tender port for the Pacific Princess, although an Oceania ship snagged the coveted spot on one side of the pier, and two very small Grand Circle Cruise Lines boats (they looked like barges) lined up in the other side. Once on shore, we were immediately approached by people selling tickets to a City Sightseeing Kotor Hop On Hop Off bus. This one had only three stops total, so it was less HOHO than just sightseeing, but I was drawn to the fact that the village of Perast on the Bay of Kotor was one of the stops. G was very interested in taking in the views along the coastal road, so the bus offered something for both of us, for 20€ per person. We climbed aboard and went up to the second level. We love the views we get from that height.
The Pacific Princess at anchor in the Bay of Kotor
Though it was a bit chilly in the open air when the bus was moving, we had left the ship prepared, wearing our jackets and hats. We seem to be needing them almost everyday. The ride along the coast provided gorgeous views. The pride that Montenegrins take in their homes was obvious. Everything was neat as a pin, and we even saw extensive clean up taking place along the roads (because there was not trash, but leaves!). It's quite different than Italy and even neater than Greece. The high mountains run almost to the water's edge, with just enough room for a single main road and narrow villages.
The walled Old Town of Kotor on a good day!
Even Kotor has traffic!
The bell tower of the Church of St. Eustahije in Dobrota, Montenegro
The fall color made it even better
Our seats on the bus' second level added a little adventure when passing under the overhanging rock
Fish traps
Our first view of the picturesque town of Perast. We stopped there on our return to Kotor.
Our first stop was in Risan where archeologists have uncovered Roman mosaics dating back to the 11th century AD. A tour of that site was included with our HOHO ticket. For more information on Risan and the history of the Roman mosaics, click here.
We then reboarded the bus and drove south to the village of Perast, which I had been looking forward to for months (Click here for information on Perast from ,Wikipedia). There are two islands off the coast of Perast, one of them manmade, created over the centuries by fisherman depositing rocks in one area of the bay. It is home to a tiny monastery and is called the Island of St. George. Here's what Rick Steve's Guide to Mediterranean Cruise Ports has to say about the island (copied verbatim because I am too tired to do a re-write and give it its due):
According to legend, two fishermen noticed a strange light emanating from the reef in the early-morning fog. Rowing out to the island, they discovered an icon of Our Lady. They attempted to bring it ashore, but it kept washing back out again to the same spot. Taking this celestial hint, local seamen returning home from a journey began dropping rocks into the bay in this same place. The tradition caught on, more and more villagers dropped in rocks of their own, and eventually more than a hundred old ships and other vessels were loaded with stones and intentionally sunk in this spot. And so, over two centuries, an entire island was formed in the middle of the bay.
This island is closed to tourists, but for 5€ per person, we were able to take a boat from the shoreline in Perast to the second, flat island. It is home to Our Lady of the Rocks, built in the Baroque style in the 17th century to give thanks for prayers answered. I was thrilled to see the collection of silver votive plaques, many of them depicting ships in storms or battles, donated by grateful sailors who survived. The two islands in the beautiful Bay of Kotor are so perfect it's as if they were specifically placed there by the local tourism board.
Views so pretty that artists come from all over to paint them
The bell tower of St. Nikola Church, Perast
The building in the middle is the Perast Museum which we visited later.
The man made but now off limits Island of St. George
Another view of the Island of St. George
Our Lady of the Rocks on the second island
G immediately noticed the downspouts and water collectors. Because of course he did. ;-)
Always look up; these European ceilings are spectacular!
Once back on land, we visited the Perast Town Museum; admission was also included in the price of the HOHO ticket. This was another of those surprisingly well done museums we've been finding in these little towns. G now feels compelled to compare every museum to the Vatican Museum, which most would say is on another planet from a curatorial perspective, but G liked the Perast Museum more. It's becoming obvious to me that he likes museums where he can wander, and spend time looking at odd tools and hand written manuscripts and clothing of the day and use his imagination to picture what life was like in centuries past. He can spend several minutes studying something and then explain to me how it worked. This probably surprises no one who knows him but if I imagined him (and I did) plugged into a Rick Steve's walking tour listening to his descriptive narratives, that is not how it is working out. I listen to audio tours; G wanders and imagines. And now we know.
You may have discerned that I liked the historical clothing most of all. :-)
Having spent far more time enjoying Perast than we had imagined (because it's so darn cute...and I bought a handcrafted silver cigar band ring made by Vladimir to replace a gold cigar band ring I lost playing in the waves on St. Kitts years ago), we walked back up to the main road and reboarded the next HOHO bus that came along for the ride back along the coastal road to Kotor. We arrived by 3:30pm, in time for the third tour included with our HOHO ticket, a 40 minute walking tour of the walled Old Town of Kotor.
The funny thing is that when we had been there three weeks ago, it was raining so hard that we had no idea there was a walled Old Town. But it is a real prize, and we were happy to be introduced to it during our walking tour, which covered the history of the town and all the (I think there were five) squares dominated by palaces and churches and now mostly home to shops and restaurants, though some families still live in the walled city. It was a bit like the Cinque Terre with its narrow alleyways, but without the stairs, which, by that point in the afternoon, was a welcome relief. While we had been chilly on the bus and along the waterfront, people were dining at the outside tables wearing just fleeces, so it's obvious that dressing in layers is the way to go at this time of year.
The Cathedral of St. Tryphon in the Old Town
The Church of St. Michael
Finally we could walk no more, and made our way back to the tender pier where a tender was waiting to take us on the short trip back to the ship. It had been another 7 to 8 hour touring day, only the second of nine in a row that we are experiencing on these port laden itineraries. It's a bit of an endurance test, and at some point we are going to have to have a pretend sea day just to get some rest.
We showered and went right to dinner, and then to production show Do You Wanna Dance in the Cabaret Lounge. We are being spoiled by all these great production shows on this cruise (four so far!), and it still amazes me that these are the first times this cast is performing them for an audience. They are just that good. Almost every night there is a fun trivia or game show or party at 9pm in the Pacific Lounge led by Deputy Cruise Director Mike and we occasionally make it to them. Last night was a 'finish the lyrics' trivia and those are always fun, with people singing along. As tired as we were, we went for the first part of it until we just couldn't stay awake another minute. We returned to the cabin where G was asleep in minutes and I....wasn't, still needing to write this blog post. I simply can't get behind; I would never get caught up!
I keep forgetting to mention two things: first, I am having a lot of trouble getting and sending emails. It's the usual 'my password is wrong' error messages, that I get only when using weak WiFi. The password is not wrong; as soon as I get decent WiFi, the emails download perfectly. But I am discovering that emails I've sent are still in my Outbox, and others I don't get until days later.
Also, Carol and Grant, we met your friends Ken and Kathy onboard. We remember having breakfast with them a few years ago in Fort Lauderdale, but they were looking for G wearing a yellow shirt, which he hasn't worn once this trip (it's more of a beach shirt), so they had a bit more trouble finding us. Thanks for letting us know they are on board!
And now, I must end this before I fall asleep and my iPad falls and hits me in the nose.