Med Cruise: Kotor, Montenegro and Home!

We were really looking forward to exploring Kotor as I'd been reading great things about the Bay, and kayaking, and hiking. But as luck would have it, our day in Kotor was our only chilly, rainy day of our cruise and we were all feeling pretty tired of the "get up and go, go, go" vibe of this trip, so our day went a bit differently than planned.

 

At one time part of Yugoslavia, and then in a partnership with Serbia after that, Montenegro has only been fully independent (in our modern age) since 2007.  Montenegro means black mountains, and the mountains surrounding the Bay of Kotor are dark and impressive.

 

The Old Town of Kotor.

The earliest recorded mention of Kotor dates back to 168 BC, however many of the fortifications and buildings in the Old Town date from the middle ages when the town was under the rule and protection of the Venetians.  The Clock Tower here dates from the 1600s.

 

We strolled around the Old Town in the drizzle and poked into churches when the rain got heavier.  This is inside St. Nicholas which was built in 1909.  Not old at all by Kotor's standards, but interesting to us as we don't get to see many Orthodox churches in Germany. Rob and I discussed whether it was Greek or Russian Orthodox, but upon looking it up learned that it is Serbian Orthodox.

 

The stray cats have their own souvenir shops in Kotor.

 

I love the medieval details of the stone work all over town.  We passed under this gate on our way up to the trail head leading above the town, to a church, the city walls, and fort above the town.  You can see them a bit in the first photo I posted.  However, the rain started getting heavier and the cobblestones were very slippery.  Still feeling foolish from my ill-advised donkey trail trek, I volunteered to stay in town with whoever didn't want to hike.  In the end only Rob and Jake made the hike, so here are the photos from Rob's camera.

 

  

They made it to the Church of Our Lady of Remedy built in 1518 and stopped for a rest.  They were only about a third of the way to the hilltop fort at this point.

 

Views of the Bay and town from the trail. 

 

Getting closer to the fort at the upper end of the medieval walls.  Rob was very proud of Jake because it was a challenging, wet walk, but Jacob said, "If I say I'm going to do something, I'm going to finish it."

 

And he did!  Way to go Little Bear!

 

That's our ship behind Jake on the trail back down.  He was wet and tired but perked right up when Rob bought him an ice cream cone to celebrate his accomplishment.

 

Meanwhile, Charlotte, Toby, Amelie, and I stayed in town.  The girls pet friendly stray cats.  And then we found a public restroom to wash up.

 

 

Then the kids and I checked out St. Luke's church built in 1195.  This church is neat because it has two altars- one for Catholic services and one for Orthodox.  The floor is also made of gravestones, as some of the citizens of Kotor were buried under the church in a collective grave until  the 1930s. 

 When we entered the church, the Orthodox mass was just beginning, so the kids and I stood near the back (there are no pews) and listened to the service.  Our kids don't often get the chance to attend other churches and it was really interesting and different from our own worship service.  Lots of good stuff to discuss afterwards!

 

The kiddos had been so patient with my taking them to church (on a Saturday!) that we found a covered table at a cafe in a square and ordered hot chocolates all around.  Hard to believe that just the day before we had been sitting in the sun on a beach!

 

Then we met up with Rob and Jake back from their hike and strolled a little more.  This is St. Triphon's Cathedral built in 1166.  The kids had quite enough of churches at this point, so we just enjoyed this one from outside and did a little souvenir shopping as the rain began to really come down hard again.

 

By the time we made our way back to the ship everyone was wet and cold and pretty done with this vacation!  We went to the top of the ship and enjoyed the views, without cameras, as the ship maneuvered through the beautiful Bay of Kotor. 

The next morning we woke up in the port of Venice and made the long trip home. We took a minivan taxi to Treviso airport,  then flew to Frankfurt, then took a train to our town.  Then I jogged/walked home to get the car, (usually Rob does this, but he was coming down with a cold by this point,) and then drove everyone home.  We were in the door around 8 pm! Cruising isn't ever going to be our favorite mode of transportation, but we are really thankful for the chance to do this trip, and love sharing these experiences with our kiddos.