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| Bay of Kotor - Our Lady of the Rocks and St George Island |
It was another long day. The alarm went off at 6am so we could go out to watch as we passed into the bay of Kotor, Montenegro. I threw on some clothes and staggered outside and got an amazing sunrise photo. I haven't seen a sunrise in years, and this was a beautiful one. As we got into the bay, it started raining. It rained on and off all day, and right now I am under the canvas cover of the bar on the Lido Deck watching the two crew members scramble to push all of the rain off the roof. It is storming like crazy.
We docked at Kotor next to a huge cruise ship. Breakfast was served, and then we all scrambled to get ready to board buses at 8:30 ahead of the cruise ships. We drove the 20 minutes around the bay to Perast where we boarded small boats to take us to the island of Our Lady of the Rocks. It was raining fairly steadily, but by the time we got to the island, it had let up.
Legend says that a statue of the Virgin Mary was found floating in the middle of the bay at this spot. Fishermen then brought rocks to drop into the bay and eventually created an island and built the church, hence, Our Lady of the Rocks. There were several beautiful paintings on the ceiling created by Tripo Kokolja, a 17th century artist from Perast. Over doors by the altar were dried bouquets of brides who were married there. Also in the chapel are beautiful silver small plaques thought to ward off disasters.
My favorite item was an embroidery made by parishioner Jacinta Kunic-Mijovic in 1828. Her husband left for sea and never returned. It was made of silk and her own hair which eventually turned gray after decades of working on it.
We then returned by small boat to Perast where not much was open, so we all went to a local cafe and had lattes before we boarded the buses back to Kotor at 11. It was once again raining, but we persisted and took a quick tour of the old town of Kotor.
I really wanted to see many things in this quaint old town, and I did manage to see many of them with the group led by a local guide named Ryan. As we walked through the town gate, we saw the old clock tower (1606) with its pillar of shame where local criminals were tied as punishment.
We then went to the town's Cathedral of St Tryphon. This is a large and beautiful church with columns of pink stone brick interspersed with plain marble columns. The altar is lovely. We walked past the town fountain with its Baroque metal work. We only passed by St Nicholas Church and then the Church of St Luke where I ducked in to see one of the oldest churches in town (1195) with both its Catholic and Orthodox altars. Then we rounded the corner to see the church of St. Clara where I rushed in to see the beautiful Baroque altar sculpted by Francesco Cabianca.
By then it was almost noon, and we had to get back to the ship right outside the old town to make it on for lunch. We were all totally drenched by then. The town was filled with the cruise ship passengers who all had their umbrellas open. I knew we probably wouldn't make it back into the walled city, so I was glad that I saw what I did.
Lunch was a buffet on our deck and consisted of enough food to feed a large army: scallops with capers, roast beef rolls stuffed with cheese, stuffed mushrooms, a platter of local meats and cheeses, cucumber salad with yogurt, white cabbage salad, rice salad with mint, a delicious broccoli cream soup topped with slivered almonds, roasted lamb chops with rosemary potatoes, vegetable lasagna, vanilla mousse with cherry compote, and homemade strawberry ice cream!
The rain let up a bit by the time we boarded 2 large buses to drive the 26 switchback road up to Njegusi. The road was quite narrow - 1.25 lanes wide, and it was a game of chicken all the way up. Cars had to back up when we met to a place where the buses could pass. It was quite cloudy, so we only got periodic glimpses of Kotor Bay, but it was still a beautiful drive which took a little over an hour.
Njegusi is known for its smoked and air-dried ham and local cheeses. We went to a small restaurant where we saw the smoked hams before have a taste of the ham, cheese, some wonderful bread and drinks. Rebecca (one of the staff grabbed me and walked me down to another smoke-house where the other group was just leaving. A little old local couple were showing off their hams and their honey wine. I was given a taste of the wine, and then Tom our expedition leader was given a shot glass of rakija - the local clear spirit that burns all the way down. After 45 minutes in the little town, we headed back down the switchback road back to the boat.
As soon as we were all on board, the ship departed Kotor. I could easily go back there again!
At 6:45 oysters and champagne were served on the Lido Deck, but I stayed down on our deck and watched as we left Kotor. I had to quickly shower and dress for dinner at 7.
More food: spinach salad with truffle vinaigrette and feta cheese, pasta with mussels, and a chocolate mousse with mango ragout an pear sorbet.
After dinner I came to get my iPad and go up to the Lido deck to write the email. As soon as I started up, a drenching, wind-blown rain came pouring down. I was soaked when I got to the canvas covered bar. The sweet bartender Biboa came over with a towel and got the worst off. He and Adrianne were using polls to push the rain off the canvas top. The wind was blowing, and as soon as a lull came I went back down to the room to type this.
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