Fri Aug 9, 2024
Hi Folks! Today was another WOW day! We’ve been to Kotor before but to be honest I never tire of watching the sail in thru the fjords into the Bay of Kotor. It is truly magical and definitely a WOW moment! The first set of pictures are all from the early morning sail in.
Montenegro is one of the smallest countries in the world, being smaller than Connecticut. The whole country has a population of
600,000. It used to be part of Yugoslavia, just like Croatia and Slovenia. It was under Venetian rule for over 400 years and it was the Venetians that named it “black (negro) mountain (Monte)” or Montenegro.
We did a fun tour today with the first stop being the quaint little town of Perast. It’s just a 25 minute scenic drive along the coast from Kotor. It also sits right across from the island church of Our Lady of the Rocks. We took a boat over to the island which has the church, a museum and a gift shop on it.
According to legend, a local seaman found an icon of the Virgin Mary and Jesus on a rock in the sea. So upon returning from each successful voyage the local seamen would lay a rock at the spot where the island is now and eventually it got built up to be today’s island. The custom of laying rocks at that island is still alive today. The people there have faith that the Virgin Mary protects their town of Perast.
There is also another small island right next to it called St George’s that is cared for by Benedictine monks. No people are allowed to visit though.
After visiting Our Lady of the Rocks, we walked around Perast. It is very small but has a beautiful setting on the water. It has a couple old churches and lots of restaurants. We then drove back to Kotor.
We went on a walking tour of Kotor which is a medieval looking walled city. It has a town square with a clock tower along with several churches. Our guide took us thru town explaining each of the buildings and churches.
We also visited the largest church which was the Cathedral of St Tryphon. We also saw the
Serbian Orthodox Church of St Nikolas and the very little church of St Luke. All in all it was a great tour and we love Montenegro. We’re already scheming how we can come back here in the spring or fall and stay for a month or so!
We then went back to the ship and relaxed and got ready for dinner. I’ll send another update later. TGIF to all!
PS: These pics are all from the early morning sail into Kotor!
The Wandering Italian 