Cruise Diary: Kotor, Montenegro

Guests Jan and Dick Yetke set sail on Prinsendam’s 64-day Grand Mediterranean Voyage in March, and we’ll catch up as quickly as possible. Enjoy the journey with Jan and Dick!

This country and port were a first for us, and for most of the passengers on this ship for that matter. It was a beautiful, great stop! We all loved it!

The local people were very friendly and welcoming. And because we are on this fairly small ship, as cruise ships go these days, we were able to dock right downtown! Awesome! I have also included a map photo showing our route into the town/harbor. Very unique we think.

So, since this was a first-time visit for us, we signed up for and took a HAL tour: Budva, Kotor & Coastal Views. It was about four hours long and was excellent! Upon leaving the port (downtown of Kotor) we drove up and over the mountains down to a very nice city and summer resort town called Budva. This excursion was showcasing the beautiful Montenegrin Riviera, starting in Budva – center of the country’s tourism industry. We walked down a beautiful plaza and main street to the old town, which is a walled city dating from the 15th century. Our guide was a young man who spoke very good English. We enjoyed everything he told us, but he was specifically interested in making sure we knew the differences between the Orthodox and Christian churches. We had a short tour inside here and then were given two hours of free time which was great.

We strolled around just looking at the shops, etc. Then we went through a wall opening, which took us to the large beach that had some nice resorts opening onto it as well as a couple restaurants. Dick and I walked on a path just up over the water, which wound around the cliffs. Kind of neat! We met back with the tour guide, walked back down the beautiful, wide, tree-lined main road, and re-boarded the motor coach. We then drove along the coast and back over the mountain to Kotor, enjoying a beautiful view of Kotor Bay. We then got off the bus and continued on a walking tour through the old medieval Mediterranean town – a UNESCO World Heritage Site – where we visited the Cathedral of St. Triphon (12th century) and the Maritime Museum. We also saw the Orthodox Church of St. Luka from the outside.

An amazing thing we all saw was the magnificent wall that had been built starting from Kotor Old Town up the mountain to a fortress at the top and back around and down. It looked like the Great Wall in China, but a mini version. Some of the guests actually climbed it up toward the chapel and the building at the top.

After the tour, Dick and I sat down at one of the outdoor cafes just outside the walls of the town and across from the ship. Like we said, the ship was docked right downtown which was really neat! We then went back to the ship, got our bicycles, and had a great ride. We first rode right around the harbor as far as we could go along the waterfront. Then we came back and went the other way along the waterfront for quite a while, which took us back along the channel we had sailed through. It was really neat! Eventually, due to time, we turned around and went all the way back to the ship. We had a nice ride of about 8.1 miles. All aboard was at 6:30 p.m. and we got back around 4:30-5:00 p.m.