Port 55 Kotor, Montenegro

by Ed · Published April 27, 2022 · Updated April 28, 2022

Zdravo! Pozdravi!

Insignia began the journey into Kotor’s bay early on Apr 23rd, 2022. The ride in is very long, and the sun, if we had one, would have been over the mountain when we arrived. I begin with a map of the entry so you can see the long path we need. Start at the channel at the bottom left, then zig zag in until you reach Kotor.

Here we are looking back after our first big right turn at what is probably Kumbor city on the right.

We just made our final big right turn into Kotor Bay and these two islands are in the middle of the water. The island on the left is Our Lady of the Rocks. This island is reported to be man-made by sailors with a superstition that at the end of a successful voyage they needed to throw a rock into the water. This was the location chosen for the ritual, and after many years the pile of rocks became an island! The island on the right is Saint George island, containing a monastery and graveyard for nobility from nearby Perast on the mainland.

We are in Kotor Bay, and the two little islands fade in the distance.

The scenery is beautiful as each village area shows up!

Here is that same church taken a few minutes later with a different composition. I love this, but would love it more had the sun stayed out to keep it bright!

Then we hear a story about this house. This is the home of three sisters.

As the story goes, the three sisters had all fallen in love with the same man, a sailor. But he had fallen in love with only one of the sisters, and proposed marriage to her. Not wanting to have her sisters be jealous of her, she declined the offer, but wanted the man to come stay with all three sisters. The sisters were all in agreement with the arrangement. The sailor had to go back out to sea, doing so without marrying the one he loved.

The sisters had this house built, with three windows side by side. Each sister spent her days at her window watching for the sailor to come home. The first sister died and the other two sealed up her window – likely the middle window. The second sister dies and the last sister closed off that sister’s window. When the third sister died no one was there to close off her window. It is difficult to determine which is the second and which is the last window.

We finally arrive at the pier. We are welcomed to Montenegro!

We have a tour together today! We’re going to see the Highlights of Montenegro! On the bus we drive by the Sea Gate into the walled city!

Looking up above the walled city I see the the zig-zagging wall climb the slope to the fortress on top, and a church halfway up. We are told this church was placed here so the soldiers at the top of the mountain did not have to come all of the way down the mountain to attend services!

To my right is another wall stepping it’s way up the steep mountain!

The bus ascends. The plan is to get to a scenic overlook way up on the mountain, then go to lunch before visiting another historic site. As we negotiate the switchbacks I catch this lovely softly shrouded scene of Kotor.

When we reach our top of the mountain scenic overlook we are totally socked in with clouds. But we catch a break and we can see the outer waters and the airport. But we wait longer to see if we get a break over Kotor.

No break, but the mist thins and we barely catch the outline of the pier and ship below.

The clouds thicken again around us! Time to head to lunch!

After lunch we drive to the other side of the mountain, to the small town of Centinje (pronounced Che-teen-yah). We first see the Castle Church. What interested me is the church is built on the site of a medieval monastery, and they chose to not remove the remains of the monastery.

On our way to a museum I spotted these painted blocks. These are Ukraine’s colors. Vlados (Vladimir), our tour guide, explained the town is painting one brick for each person someone in town knows in Ukraine who has died. Sweet sentiment, and I pray that they don’t have to paint another brick!

This monument celebrates the 500th anniversary of Centinje being the capital city. This happened in 1982. The Ottomans moved the capital here in 1482.

This is the Museum of King Nikolai. We weren’t allowed to use cameras inside, so I have no photos. But there are uniforms, weapons of all sorts including swords, medals and ribbons and numerous documents of state on display, as well as fully appointed living, drawing, dining, and bed rooms.

Back in town we decide to take a walk inside the city walls. We bump into our ship’s Reservation Manager, Buddha, at the Sea Gate! He decides he wants his photo taken with his phone while riding the cannon and asked one of the other ship crew to take the photo for him. We take the opportunity to grab our own photos!

The first sight behind the city wall is the clock tower. The pyramidal post was the post of shame. Anyone caught doing something bad would be lashed to this tower for public humiliation.

This is the Church of St Tryphon. We didn’t get to go in to see the interior.

But what I did notice is between the two towers I could see the church, walls, and other structures up the mountain!

I loved seeing this plaque hanging on a wall! This is a reproduction of DaVinci’s Vitruvian Man.

Here is a very old church that is St. Luke’s. This church served dual purpose as a Greek Orthodox church until a separate orthodox church could me built, seven years later! The dual use was possible because the Greek Orthodox church uses a Gregorian calendar and most religious holidays are about one or two weeks apart.