Kotor,
Serbia and Montenegro
Monday, September 22, 2008
Up early for a quick shower and down, no that is up, to breakfast on deck 9. We met for our tour to Kotor and Budva, Montenegro (Black Mountain) at 8:20, down to the dock and into a bus that took us first to Budva, a summer destination area, considered one of the oldest settlements in the Balkans, and a tour of the Old Walled Ramparts originating from the 15th century. We visited a beautiful little church that has painting on every wall and the ceiling - no space left unpainted, just beautiful, but no pictures were allowed. There is a medieval fortification system with city gates, defense walls, and towers Lots of history here and they have only been a country on their own for a few years now. It was a great and inexpensive holiday place until recently when the Russians and their young blonde girlfriends moved it, bought lots of property and now it is prohibitively expensive to live. 100 Euros a day for a hotel where most Monrovians make 500 Euros per month. Maya, our delightful guide, said you could tell the Russians because they wore their shirts unbuttoned down to their beer belly and had young blonde girls on their arms. The old town was interesting but we didn't stay long as she said Kotor would be more interesting. The bus ride was interesting both directions. They had had a big fire during the extreme heat summer that had burned right over the main road. Kotor is at the foot of one of Europes deepest fjords and the Medieval Walled Town dates back to the 12th century. There is a trail of over 1500 steps going up to an old fortress at the top, passing many shrines on the way, and no we did not climb it! Montenegro is a small country, about the size of Connecticut, surrounded by Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo and Albania. Population of 620,000. It has a 5-6 month swimming season and the mean sea temp is above 18 degrees C with 2700 hours of sun per year-but for us it rained in the afternoon and as we were leaving the port. It has been occupied by many-Illyrains followed in the 4th century BC by the Celts, the Romans 100 years later, The Slavic tribes in 6th century AD, Ottoman Empire in 1389, defeating the Turks in 1878 gave the Montenegrins independence then WWI found it incorporated into Serbia. WWII the region was rewarded with republic status. A lot of changes in the next years and finally in 1992 their independence was recognized - again a few changes and finally in 2006 the people voted for an independent state. While there we visited a Maritime Museum that was really interesting. Many earthquakes have occurred in this area and nearly all of the buildings have been affected at one time, but there is one church inside the walls that had never had any earthquake damage! We also visited St Tryphon Cathedral that was founded in 809. Our guide Maya was telling us that first grade children learn the local dialect, 3d grade they begin another language and in 4th or 5th they are required to learn English, and she learned very well. She mentioned that they are now starting English in the first grade. Another encounter with a Gypsy! This one had a small girl, about 4 or 5 who came up touching each of us, at different times, while the mother begged for money. Maya told her repeatedly to leave and we motioned her to leave - she looked disgusted, but finally moved on. A bit of free time in the old town and back to the ship which is sailing at 1:30 today. It was beginning a light rain as we returned and later a heavier rain. After lunch with a young couple from Phoenix the ship began leaving the port so we went up to Horizens Bar that is at the pointy end of the ship to watch us leave through a waterway with land on both sides. It was warm and cozy there, we each had a cappuccino and wondered why we had not thought of this before. Later to the computer room where I was able to send a note to Charlie with my return flight info --- that I had neglected to leave with him! Carol finally got into the laundry room to iron a few things; I went to a talk about future cruises and the 2, maybe 3, new ships Oceana is buying starting in 2010. They will be mid-sized and will hold about 500 more people than this 'smaller' one! Back to the room where Carol was reading but is now napping. Off to dinner where we did our usual overeating! Back to the room, then down to the Lounge where David Peterson, the cruise director is showing his 'home movies' -slides from his 16 years of working on cruise ships. After that was the vocalist Tambye Harvey singing a tribute to swing and Broadway music-as always, good entertainment.
Another busy but fun day. Tonight we are docked at Dubrovnik, Croatia and have a very early tour there. Some of the ship guests went into town tonight but we didn't feel comfortable going there in the dark.
