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.

October 24, 2022 - Greek Isle Cruise

We spent our first day in Montenegro.  Due to Wi-Fi availability (or rather, the lack of) posting a blog while on the ship is presenting some difficulties.  So, I’m not exactly sure when my next post will be.  Just check in periodically.  And, of course, I’ll make notice on Facebook when a new blog is posted.

October 23, 2022 - Last Day in Venice

Walter arrived this morning, so I met him up at the airport.  We came back to the AirBnB to drop off Walter’s luggage and then we went back out exploring.  I showed him all the sites I’d enjoyed this week while he was still home in Pittsburgh, working.  After lunch we made our way to the Gondola pick-up spot.  Here we got on a Gondola and our Gondolier took us up through part of the Grand Canal and then onto some of the smaller tributaries.

He showed us where Marco Polo grew up.

We then went to two more sites together that I hadn’t seen yet.  The oldest church in Venice, San Giacometti di Rialto was consecrated in 421, making it about 200 years older than the church in Torcello.  Someone asked me on Facebook what was the difference.  It was not open when we arrived.

The other site being the Bridge of Sighs.  If you were accused of a crime, you would be presented at the Doge’s Palace for sentencing.  If you were found guilty, you would go directly from the palace to the jail over a small bridge.  This enclosed bridge had two windows where you can see your last glimpse of all you lost (that being the beautiful city of Venice), heave a great sigh, and enter the prison.

We spent the afternoon sitting at a cafe on Mark’s Piazza, sipping a drink and having some snacks.  We then came back to the AirBnB to take a short nap.  We spent the evening wandering more streets and having dinner.  Here’s a romantic shot of two other people enjoying dinner out tonight.

It’s an early night for both of us, as we need to depart tomorrow via a 75 minute boat ride to the train station, and then a 3 hour train ride to Ravenna before getting on the Cruise Ship.  I probably won’t have much to post over the next two days.