On August 19th we arrived in Kotor, Montenegro. Actually Kotor is on a deep bay and has been inhabited since antiquity. We docked at Kotor but walked around both there and in Perast. There are LOTS of churches there.
Susan and Jeff walked around town on their own and then decided to hike up to the top of the mountain — no small feat!!!
And back on the ship John shows the wall of the elevator with our floor selected
On our next to last day of sailing we stopped at another town in which I have spent time in 2005 — Split. Our guide absolutely made it come alive, It is the home of the palace of Diocletian. It was built at the beginning of the 4th century.
The Unesco Symbol
You can tell that I really enjoyed the palace. Outside of Diocletian’s Palace, is a statue of Gregory of Nin. He was a medieval bishop, famous for defying the Catholic church in Rome and insisting they introduce the national Croatian language into Catholic services throughout Croatia. (Wikipedia)
Now we had to get back up a few stairs!
We saw a funny carving on the side of an old building. The man is shaking his fist at the woman who is flipping her middle finger back at him!!! That long ago
The next stop was to the museum that housed the art of Ivan Meštrovi, (15 August 1883 – 16 January 1962) He was a sculptor, architect, painter, and writer. He was adopted at age nine by a patron that recognized his genius from early wood carvings. He studied with Auguste Rodin in Paris and became a prominent modern sculptor. He later in life taught at Notre Dame.
Mastrovi designed his own home with 2 wings-one for his wife and one for the mother of his children. He divorced his first wife because she couldn’t give him an heir and married his second wife. After his death, his home became a museum.
Some of his works are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Here is a sampling.
We were then taken on a boat cruise through mountainous and wooded areas to a restaurant featuring all local food. Let’s just say the food was interesting….
It was hot, hot, hot…..and very humid — can you tell by looking at me?
That night we gathered for drinks in their interesting bar, the Salt Lab. There was an entire menu of interesting alcoholic creations….and a few non-alcoholic ones that they created for John.
Our last stop was in the town of Rovinj, Croatia. We were tired of guided tours and so opted just to take the shuttle from the ship to the town and to walk around and shop some. Amazingly, I only bought some walking shoes and a purse — NO trinkets. Susan and Jeff opted to take a swim in the Adriatic off of the rocks at the point of the town.
I have to give Susan credit for most of the pictures above. We were too lazy and hot to take a lot of pictures. Wouldn’t you know we escape the Texas heat only to get to Croatia in a heat wave with higher humidity as well.
Anyway, back on board we cleaned up and headed back to our favorite bar before dinner. The bartender there was so much fun to watch; he really put on a show all the time while making drinks!
And that was the end of our cruise. In the morning we were in the van and headed to Italy.
That’s all folks!
Beth
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