Kotor, Dubrovnik and Korcula

The most impressive sailing so far this trip has no doubt been into Kotor, Montenegro. Kotor is at the very end of a long fjord known as the Bay of Kotor. It can't be called anything else; it looks just like Norway but drier and with fewer trees. And no snow! We had a perfect day for the sailing, too. According to the ship's crew, their previous visit two weeks earlier had to be aborted once they got to the town as the wind was howling down the bay and the captain could not dock Esprit.

The town of Perast, also a medieval settlement,
down the bay from Kotor

These 2 islands off Perast are man-made. The one on the left
was created by fishermen who dropped stones into the water
at a particular site to ask a particular saint for luck with a good catch.
Eventually the island appeared and a church was built on it.

It was fortunate for our sailing that the winds were down, but it made shoreside activities a little more difficult, especially for those of us who decided to walk at least partway up the city wall. The city fortifications go up to the top of the hills behind Kotor, and apparently there are about 1,400 steps to get there. Calling them 'steps' can be something of a misnomer at times. The wall dates back to the early 6th Century when the town was under Roman rule, and the steps have not been replaced since then so they are rather worn and in some areas broken and uneven. Not really dangerous to walk as long as you pay attention to your feet and not the views.

You may have noticed a theme on this cruise - cats! Everywhere we went, from the Greek towns and islands and now in Kotor, there seem to be cats. None seems to have a particular home, but, here anyway, they are taken care of by the local shopowners and residents. Are they sure that 'Kotor' wasn't named because it was the home of so many cats?

We didn't have a planned tour here, so we walked around town and, once we found one of the three wall entrances, thought we would give it a try, part way only because it was quite warm and humid. The wall and the road (along which the cannons and other weapons were dragged up to the firing positions) zig-zag up the hill; the steps are only about 12-16" wide and built right beside the wall so there certainly isn't much room for people to pass each other, and the road is on such a steep angle and the stones so old and worn smooth that we didn't want to chance going up or down on it. We did, however, see people in flip-flops and bare feet using the road - better them than us!

The Gate to this entrance, at the bottom of a long staircase
BEFORE you even start the wall.

Part way up. A sailing ship called the Pan Orama had docked
on the other side of the pier from us.

Still higher...and we didn't go much farther.

There is still water around much of the lower wall

After the wall walk, we took a break in the park near the ship's dock, so we got a nice photo. When we arrived, the MSC Musica, a standard-sized cruise ship, was docked on the other side from us, and we couldn't see anything of town until it left, unfortunately too early for us to get out for a photo to show the difference in sizes of the two ships.

The masts of the Pan Orama are sticking out behind us

We left Kotor just around dusk and sailed back out to the Adriatic and onward to Dubrovnik. Sunday was turnaround day for Esprit, but there were 18 of the 61 guests staying on for the next cruise. As there was no excursion to the old city, we had decided to take a 'Dubrovnik Walks' walking tour and then go up and walk along the city walls. We only managed one out of two - we have hardly ever seen as many people in one place as were in Dubrovnik! It is apparently already after the main tourist season (there was only one other cruise ship, the AIDAbella, in port with us), but the buses seemed to come in droves.

The tour was actually quite informative, but it was almost impossible to take a picture when there were people and umbrellas in front of everything all the time. We never got any showers but it was spitting off and on, just enough to be annoying, and require an umbrella. We didn't get to the wall for a few reasons: 1) way too many people up there already, 2) our tour guide said it can get quite slippery when it is wet, and 3) the last shuttle back to the ship (a 15 minute ride at least) was at 4:30 and it was already close to 3:00. Not enough time to see much of what we wanted.

It was not the nicest day; a strong breeze was blowing in from the sea

This was a lull in the crowd; when we came out it seemed that
there were at least twice as many people at this gate. The statue
over the entrance is of  St. Blaise, the patron saint
of Dubrovnik.

Looking down the main street toward the bell tower. The bell is
unique in that it tolls on the hour, and then, in case anyone missed
it the first time, again at 3 minutes past. It must be really annoying
at midnight!

The Cathedral of St. Blaise. He became the patron saint
of the town because, in medieval times he came to one
of the town leaders in a dream, warning him of an impending
invasion. Based on this dream, the town prepared, and
when, in fact, someone did try to invade, they were able to
fight back and keep their city.

Boy, did this guy get around!! Another statue
of Roland, the same medieval knight depicted
on the big statue in Bremen's Marktplatz and
in Bratislava.

Even all the side-alleys and staircases
were crammed with people.

From the old port. Mt. Srd is in the background. There is a
cable car to the top but it was only running intermittently because
of the high winds.

 There doesn't seem to be a good time to visit - old Dubrovnik is ALWAYS crowded from April to October and a ghost town through the winter. Whenever we get back here again we'll know what to expect.

Our next stop was the island of Korcula, and its medieval walled town. Korcula is supposed to be the birthplace of Marco Polo, and has, like much of the Adriatic, been governed by a long succession of seafaring countries because of its strategic position.

Crystal Esprit has something no other ship (including the Royal Caribbean behemoths) has: a submersible! The sub is available for a not unreasonable fee for a 30 minute ride. We probably would never do it because of Monica's claustrophobia, and it isn't out at every port. In fact, it is not allowed in the water in Greece because the archaeological authorities don't want to chance artifacts being stolen from their waters.

The sub in its garage on Deck 2

We watched as the first couple were taken out to board
the sub near an island.

Our acquaintance John did a dive and was quite impressed with everything, except that there wasn't much to see around the islands near Korcula. This sub isn't like the Atlantis semi-submersibles they have in the Caribbean; it goes down to about 30 metres, or 100 feet! When Crystal Esprit repositions to (what's left of) the Caribbean for the winter, it should get quite a bit of use.

There weren't very many tours at Korcula, so we elected to take the tender in and look around a bit. As most of the other places, it is a very old, small, fortified town that has a lot of history, mostly of being taken over, and taken over, and taken over. It would be easier to just post a link to Wikipedia than to even try to give a condensed history of the area.

The walls of the old town. It is a very small place!

The local cathedral

Just as everywhere else, the waterfront
seems to be crowded with one restaurant
after another. All people do here is eat and
drink!

Along the shoreline we found this small
boat at anchor. The water looked beautiful.
One of our fellow guests went swimming
and said it was really nice.

Another restaurant at the walls; the sign says:
'Skinny people are easier to kidnap. Stay safe- eat
cake and drink cocktails'!

A beautiful view of Korcula on our way back to the ship.

It was another very pretty stop on the cruise, but according to the captain, the weather would be getting a little cooler for the next few days. At least we brought some cooler weather clothes along with us. We'll see what happens in Hvar, our next stop.