May 4: Montenegro

 We've Left Greece - Arrived In Kotor, Montenegro

Yet ANOTHER fabulous day!  When we woke up we were gliding into the port of Kotor and the temperature was in the low 50's - just delightful!  The view out our balcony of the mountain and the sailboats in the foreground was a cool way (literally) to start the day.  Throughout the entire day we never hit 70 degrees and with the breeze and the altitudes we were at, it was jacket weather all day long!

Our excursion was titled, "Highlights of Montenegro" and even though what we did was accurately explained, we did not realize that to have the scenic overlook from the mountain top we'd be driving up a VERY narrow (about 1 1/2 lane at best wide) road with twenty-five.....count them, 25 switch-backs.  And let me tell you, when we were on the side of the bus on the edge of the road it was pretty much a look straight down.  MOST of the road did have about a four foot wall - not that this would have stopped our bus should it topple over :O  And twice we met a car head on, and the car had to back up to a wider part of the road - usually right on the turn.  No thanks to EVER driving on this road.

On the left, the view of the mountain as we left the ship and we were told we'd be driving up the mountain; on the right an aerial view of the switch-backs in the road up the mountain :O

Oh, but when we reached the photo-op overlook.....the drive was WELL worth it.  You'll note a guardrail - as we were posing for pics Kim said, "We can sit on the rail" to which I gave the look of "you must be COMPLETELY out of your mind" and she quickly said to our photographer friends, "never mind, he'll never do that!"  LOL

THE View - you can see our ship, the Viking Sea on the right side of the harbor

Turning your gaze about 45 degrees to the right

From here we continued onto the plains on top of the mountain and soon reached a restaurant where our "snacks" were waiting for us.  It was fresh bread, cheese, smoked ham and red wine - at 9:30am.  But as our guide, who started EVERY new announcement all day long with, "....my dear and beautiful people...." said,  "It HAS to be 5pm somewhere!"  We then drove for about 40 minutes through a national park, the only one older in the world is Yellowstone Park!  The scenery was amazing as you can see from the photos below.  We stopped in a small town where we took a short tour of the king's mansion which is now a museum.....we aren't museum people, but it was interesting enough.....

Restaurant stop / "snack" / museum outside-inside

We walked around the town a little, and then had about a half hour of "free time" where we were advised to try the exceptional hot chocolate, Montenegroian style.....like soupy chocolate pudding with whipped cream.  Did NOT disappoint, it was GREAT.  

We had about a 90 minute drive home while gradually working our way down the mountains to reach the port.  Our guide was great keeping us entertained with music, stories, and information about Montenegro.  We stay in port until nearly 10pm before heading out for Croatia where we'll spend the next two days.