Kotor and Budvar, Montenegro - August 2

First impressions are that this place is stunning! The ship is docked in a cove (which I am told is a volcanic fjord.) There are mountains all around this small cove and it’s hard to see how we ever got in here – I tried to make a video, but I don’t know how well it worked. When we wake up it is still early enough that the sun hasn’t made its way over the mountain and everywhere is that calm, still, quiet that mornings can have before the day has really started.

Our first stop today is a small resort town called Budvar about 30 minutes from Kotor. Things are pretty cheep here (between 1 and 2 Euros for a beer) and it’s all about the beech. Maybe it’s the low prices that help people afford the giant yachts (pic) all over the harbor here. Apparently Montenegro doesn’t have its own currency and just uses the Euro. I figure it has to have something of its own, but not that we are told – how do people get paid for example? This certainly makes it easy for the tourist. We end with a walking tour of Kotor, a pizza and back to the ship for a siesta.

The whole way out of this fjord is filled with spectacular scenery – the mountains dotted with houses here and there, beeches and boats all over the water. We even see the Starclippers sailboat (pic) we were on a few years ago. I don’t think big cruise ships could make it in here – power lines cross from one side to the other that we barely clear. Every so often there are houses so far up the slopes with no sign of a road that it seem like they were just dropped there. There is also a fortress (pic) way, way up that would have been interesting to visit. We end the day with room-service the luxury of room service.