June 22- Kotor, Montenegro

Azamara described this tour as “Italy Intensive”, however every cruise must include at least two countries to mitigate the “Hotel fees” associated with being totally within a single country. Actually yesterday was our second country- so today is #3. For this cruise that country originally was to be Montenegro.

Montenegro is bordered by Bosnia and Herzegovina to the north, Serbia to the northeast, Kosovo to the east, Albania to the southeast and Croatia and the Adriatic Sea to the northwest. Today we port in Kotor, known as one of Europe’s best-preserved cities of medieval or Renaissance vintage, Kotor’s walls were constructed right into the slopes of the mountain behind it, making it an amazing sight on approach from the sea. And thus a most picturesque arrival this morning.

Our tour today is titled “Kotor by Land and Sea”. Known as one of the most beautiful areas of Montenegro, we’re so incredibly lucky to sail to the tiny islet Our Lady of the Rocks, and explore the medieval coastal village of Kotor.

We started our tour today with a scenic bus ride to Trivet, a costal town in southwest Montenegro, once a part of the republic of Yugoslavia. It is located in the Bay of Kotor. Montenegro is part of NATO and utilizes Euro, although it is not yet part of the EU. They have applied to be part of the EU and anticipating joining by 2028. Montenegro was given to Yugoslavia by the Venetians. Montenegro has been independent since 2006 with a population of only 600,00. We continued on to the Porto Montenegro Yacht Marina where we enjoyed the view of impressive mega yachts. We walked along the waterfront and its high-end shops and waterfront homes. There was a famous “Black Pearl” yacht with three giant masts that can independently turn 360 degrees! We then went on a boat that took us to the tiny islet of Our Lady of Rock, a man-made islet built by local sailors over many centuries in the glory of Our Lady. We visited Our Lady of the Rock Church and enjoyed the view of Kotor Bay. Following this we got back on the boat and headed to a little town of Perast where we a local cake and coffee. Well it’s over 92 degrees and coffee does not sound so good. However, we were extremely entertained by a woman at a cafe who apparently accidentally dropped her phone in the water next to the pier. We watched her as she climbed down the pier, jumped in the water and dove down to retrieve her phone!! All the while her two male companions watched!! Next we headed back to the city of Kotor via our boat, where we could have had a short guided walking tour. However, at that point I was absolutely done with 97° heat and 97° humid. Even though we had spent some time on the water, sweat was dropping everywhere so we returned to the boat. Apparently with the room that we have there’s a cart that comes by every day at 3 o’clock, offering coffee, pastries, or sandwiches. We walked in our room and they asked us if we wanted coffee! Oh my goodness – nothing hot for us!!

Tonight was what Azamara calls the AzAmazing Evening. A evening of entertainment centered around a certain port. Tonights event is called “Mystical Tales at Synchro Porto Montenegro”. Along with our fellow passengers we saw performed traditional and authentic songs of Montenegro that were rearranged with a Modern and authentic twist in order to reflect the changes of today’s world. We experienced the virtuosity of the masters of guitar as well as the great power of emotions an accordion produced in the hands of the professionals. The event was hosted by a local who took us on a journey through the past and present traditional songs. It was truly magical and as expected, an experience not to be soon forgotten.

Our sail into Montenegro was spectacular!

Welcome to Montenegro

This cute small town had two churches!

The Maritime museum

Yachts everywhere!

The altar at our “Lady of the Rock”

True beauty everywhere!

The woman who made this took her entire lifetime to create one stitch at a time while waiting for her husband to come back from the sea. He said she even used strand of her hair!!