Tivatski Zaliv

Kotor is an Adriatic port town in Montenegro, located on the Bay of Kotor (aka Boka) and with a population of around 15,000. The port is surrounded by fortifications created during the Venetian period—when the town was ruled by the Republic of Venice (which existed between 697 and 1797). The Bay of Kotor is one of the most indented parts of the Adriatic Sea's coastline. Kotor has one of the Adriatic's best-preserved medieval old towns and is famous for its Saint Tryphon Cathedral (built in 1166) and its city walls stretching for three miles above the town. The name “Montenegro” derives from the Serbian “Crna Gora,” itself derived from the Venetian “Monte Negro,” and can be translated as “black mountain,” referring to the dark forests that once covered the Dinaric Alps. Although on the border of the Ottoman Empire, Montenegro was able to maitain its independence throughout the 15th century. The Kingdom enjoyed a short period of independence in 1910 before being absorbed by the Kingodm of Yougoslavia in 1929. It encountered a lot of changes in status before becoming in June 2006 the last European country to have achieved its independence.

Our guide for today’s tour was Isadora, who was exceptional! Montenegro is roughly the size of Connecticut, and it has been independent only 18 years. It has a population of some 620,000, but it gets three million tourists annually, and roughly 500 cruise ships a year tie up. Our bus trip up the mountain had 25 hairpin turns, and the number of each one appears on the wall so you can keep count. We stopped atop the mountain for delicious Italian ham and cheese on wonderful homemade bread and local wine and beer. Local brandy is 45% alcohol! Visited the home (now a museum) of the country’s last royal family, whose present-day members live in France. Our last stop was a stroll through Kotor’s Old Town (one of our guides along the way remarked that all of these places have an Old Town!). More crowds and heavy traffic, but the weather was much more hospitable than in the last few days.

Sailing out we saw close-up Our Lady of the Rocks, which is one of the two islets off the coast of Perast in the Bay of Kotor. It is an artificial islet created by rocks and by sinking old and seized ships loaded with rocks. According to legend, the islet was made over the centuries by the seamen who kept an ancient oath after finding the icon of Madonna and Child on a rock in the sea on July 22, 1452. Upon returning from each successful voyage, they laid a rock in the Bay of Kotor. Over time, the islet gradually emerged from the sea. The tradition still goes on.Read more