August 24 – Our Lady of the Rock, Perast and Kotor, Montenegro

This morning we motored in to Kotorfjord, Montenegro.  It isn’t technically a fjord but has the look of one.  

We took the tenders into dock where we boarded buses that took us to a ferry where we crossed the narrow passage.  They we got on a boat for a ride, later transferred to a bus to the top of the mountain for lunch, got back on the bus to go down, then got back onto boats for the ride back to another bus and then to the port where we got back on tenders.  Lots of transportation this morning.

The bay and fjords were beautiful.

Just before arriving at our first stop one of the guests passed out.  Fortunately the ship’s doctor was a long on this shore excursion.  Turns out the man was just dehydrated and was fine but they arranged to get him back to the ship. 

The small boat took us to Our Lady of the Rock.  Legend had it that a statue of the Virgin Mary was found on a small reef at the site.  Over decades the locals brought rocks out to fill in around the reef.  It eventually became a small, man-made island and the chapel was erected here. 

We visited the chapel…

with its lovely ceilings, 

and the adjacent small museum

with some lovely views of the bay and the small village in the distance.

We then headed towards the nearby village of Perast.  

Along the way we passed by an even smaller island that had a small church of St. George and monastery on it.  It is closed to the public. 

We walked around the waterfront of the village…

and St Nicholas Church.

Then the boat took us to the town of Kotor where we boarded buses for the ride up the mountainside with it’s 25 switchbacks.  The buses did an amazing job on the tight turns.  And overlooked the fjord and the Kotor bay and the views were spectacular.

At the top of the hill we had a wonderful lunch at a local restaurant, did a bit of shopping and then reboarded the buses for the windy return to Kotor. 

In Kotor we had the opportunity to visit the Venetian-styled city...

with hefty city walls

and a lovely cathedral. 

Views as we sailed away.

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More Kotor
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Once on board everyone seemed to need to check their email.

We had pretty spectacular sunset.