October 25, 2022 - Cruise - Montenegro and Corfu, Greece

 First, here are a few pictures of our ship and views from our balcony.

View from our table at dinner time.

A little about Montenegro - It is one of the Balkan countries across the Adriatic Sea from Italy.  It is noted for a Mediterranean type of climate along it’s coastline while peaked by rugged limestone mountains just above the coastline and toward the interior.  Montenegro has had a varied history; once declared independent in 1878 by the Congress of Berlin, then part of Yugoslavia after WWI.  When Yugoslavia broke up in 2003, Serbia and Montenegro together proclaimed a federation, then in 2006 it became it’s own independent nation once more.  There are just over 600,000 people in the entire country, with 80% of them living in Kotor, the rest scattered in various villages throughout.  The dominant religion is Eastern Orthodox with a small percentage of Roman Catholic and Moslems.  Montenegro depends largely on tourism, but is also well-known for its honey, mead, cheese, and smoked ham.  

We went on a scheduled tour which took us up the mountainside along 20 switchbacks to 3,000 feet above sea level, had lunch at a 1884 village, walked around the old capital town of Cetinje, then back to Kotor.  Here are some of the pictures I took.

These pictures of from a viewpoint at Switchback number 13 - seven more to go!

Here is a home from the 1884 village:

The national instrument - similar to a flute/recorder called a Frula

Here is another home in the same village.  The owner had a smokehouse in the back where he prepared his own meats.

From the old capital town of Cetinje:

The palace:

Kotor:

Old Town Kotor:

Now try to zoom in if possible on this picture.  You should see an ancient wall which was built in stages from the 12th century that goes up the side of the mountain.  About half way up is a church called the Church of our Lady of Remedy, built in 1518.

Overnight we sailed from Montenegro to Corfu, Greece.  And this morning we disembarked early for a Hop On, Hop Off tour of the island.  Unfortunately, we didn’t see very much, although we took a tour of the Palace where Prince Philip (Queen Elizabeth II’s husband) was born.  It is now a museum.

My favorite highlight was sitting down to watch the local Corfiots and had this amazing breakfast!

Greek Coffee, variety of breads, fresh-squeezed OJ, butter, jams, honey, Nutella, cheese, ham, and REAL Greek yogurt with granola!  Best breakfast I’ve had in forever. 

We’ve had dinner at our own table each night, but yesterday we had breakfast with a lovely couple.  Chris and Mary are from a very rural area of Ohio and we mostly talked politics and religion (believe it or not) and national/world travel!  We got to compare ideas and notes!  It was a respectful, but lively lunch conversation, as you can imagine.

Tomorrow is Athens, then Mykonos.  Again the ship’s Wi-Fi is spotty for being able to blog, so just stay tuned.