Monday, April 17, 2023
Our last day in Tivat. Weather is looking good, so the boat ride is on!
Paul caused an international incident when Randi suggested he go back to look at the icon, and he went in, through the "out" door, walking against 100 people who had just entered the church from a tourist boat. Dirty looks were cast our way by staff. We don't think he is welcome back.
15 minutes of visiting and our captain loaded us up and took us to Kotor, Old Town. Lots of amazing scenery en route.
He dropped is right at the main gate and a few short steps later, we were in our Kotor Airbnb. It's a spacious 4br, 3ba, in the center of Stari Grad (Old Town).
3 nights here is cheaper than our two hotel nights in Tivat. We're pleased with our accomodations.
Paul took a short break from us while the ladies and I explored a bit more and did some grocery shopping at a small grocery outside the old town gates.
we passed a late night church service, just getting out, on the way back home.
the "City Mania" sign is our marker that we've reached the right doorway for our Airbnb.
Last night, we had kids running up and down the stairs outside, playing tag or something in the stairwell. Thankfully, they were called in around 10:30, so we had a peaceful night sleep.
Breakfast at the hotel again. I had "English Breakfast" which in this instance meant sausage, bacon, eggs, grilled tomato and mushrooms. It was fine, nothing special. I said for the remainder of the trip, I'm just going to have the server bring me whatever they think I'd like, or what they would have themselves. We'll see how that goes. It could be a short lived experiment.
So then we met up with our boat captain, Petar, right at the dock in front of our hotel. It was a smaller speedboat, max 8 passengers, and for the four of us, a 2.5 hour private cruise was $180.
We boated through the strait between Lepetane and Kamenari, and then stopped at Lady of the Rocks,
an island man made, when (legend has it) a pair of fishermen found an icon of Mary and Jesus on the rocks in shallow water. Specifically, this icon..
THEY FOUND THIS ON A ROCK, IN SHALLOW WATER. IN 1452! Ok, be that as it is, they then started building this island on the spot, dropping rocks brought by small boats, until they had a platform to build the a church. THIS TOOK CENTURIES. They eventually added a small residence, and added a museum and other extensions to the church. It's now a top Montenegrin tourist destination.
Lots of art and historical items, including a tapestry made by a local artist who used her own hair in some areas.
Other photos from the island.
After the island, our boat captain took us to Perast, another sea side town. It's "old town" was quite small, so we just bought a soda in a local shop and walked around.
Tons of shops and restaurants here. Some still closed due to the Easter holiday.
Yelena has already found like 5 purse stores. Yeesh.
After a short afternoon break, we went out to dinner within the walls at at a place called "The Harbor Pub." We had a pleasant meal and when it came time to pay the bill, I handed the server my credit card and he said, "So sorry. No credit card service.".
Yikes!!!
Having no euros, we called the manager over. He was very apologetic, said that they just opened three days ago, and because of Easter weekend, didn't have their credit card system working yet. We discussed options like walking to an ATM and returning to pay the bill. Paul said that he had enough US dollars in the Airbnb, so while he and Randi walked back to retrieve that, Yelena and I enjoyed another drink, on the house. An awkward situation, but all's well that ends well.
After dinner, we walked up to scope out the gate to the mountain path.
We've read reviews that the 8 euro charge to get through the gate really isn't worth it, that the path is dangerous, stinky and not maintained. Furthermore, the web said that there is no gate staff after 8pm, so you can simply pass through.
We found the gate blocked by a substantial steel door and chains/locks. We turned around and went no further. We decided to ask our walking tour guide (tomorrow), as to their opinion on paying the fee and walking the path.
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