March 30 in Kotor, Montenegro

Today is the day we finally left Greece, in a long overnight sail from the island of Corfu to Kotor, Montenegro. We completely passed by Albania, even though we were told that we saw some of the Albanian mountains from Corfu.

The medieval town of Kotor is isolated at the end of two consecutive bays. I got up early to see the ship pass through the first narrow passage, then I slept for about 20 minutes and saw us pass through the second narrow passage, passing by two small islands that we would see later in the evening. Both islands had churches. The church of St. George was on one and Our Lady of the Rocks the other. This latter is a man-made island, where some sailors were said to have found an icon of the Virgin on a rock protruding from the bay. In subsequent years, townspeople along the bay dumped more and more rocks to make enough land for a small church. Even now there is an annual festival for people to dump more rocks on the island. The blue-domed church dedicated to the Virgin is a marker for ships entering the bay.
The geography is fascinating. Some people call it a fiord, like in Norway, but these deep canyons were not made by glaciers but by river beds. A rising sea flooded them, and even now the water is just brackish, not good for fishing but good for raising mussels. Mussel farming is a local industry and mussels are a local delicacy.
The small medieval town is a UNESCO world heritage site, contained within walls that not only encircle the city, but go up steeply into the surrounding mountains. We left the ship (the huge Viking Sky dominates the water front) and walked to the entrance of the old city with our guide. I was glad that she was eager to talk about the countries from the former Yugoslavia and learn a bit about its recent political history. When Yugoslavia was breaking apart in the 1990’s I was too preoccupied with our young family to pay very much attention. It seemed a part of the world that was mysterious and hopelessly complicated for me to spend too much time trying to figure out. For the past several days I’ve been staring at maps of the Adriatic and its eastern countries and I find myself wanting to know more. So now I have the motivation.
Montenegro is the newest of the independent states, just having broken from Serbia in 2006. They have applied to be part of the EU, but have not received final approval. While we were walking around someone from out group mentioned that the US Senate had just voted for Montenegro to join NATO. Even though Montenegro is not yet in the Eurozone yet, they use the EU currency as the legacy of having used the German Mark to help fight a nasty hyperinflation in the 90’s. When Germany switched to the euro, so did Montenegro. The six countries from the former Yugoslavia are now Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia/Hertzegovina, and Macedonia. Serbia still contains the semi-independent provinces of Kosovo and Vojvodina, according to our guide, but the situation is still complicated. Kosovo has declared its independence, but not all countries recognize it. The US does and has built a military base there.
Our guide was a very young and eager to express her opinion that the people of the Balkans should not be fighting any more. She wants everyone to get along and hopes that young people will not be drawn into the fights of previous generations. I would hope this along with her. Montenegro is too small a country with too few resources to have wars with its neighbors. Tourism is its main industry. Maybe the lure of the big cruise ships will help unite the economies of these Adriatic states.
We followed our guide through the main square to a Roman church where we caught our first glance of Roma (gypsy) person, begging on the steps to the church. The guide seemed distressed that she was there and then relieved when a policeman showed up to shoo her away. Inside the church dedicated to St. Tryphon, a 2^nd century Christian martyr originally from Turkey whose head is supposed to be located inside, we noticed people other than tourists visiting to pray. Our guide told us that 70% of Montenegro is Eastern Orthodox and 30% Catholic, but in this town the percentages are reversed. St. Tryphon is a saint shared by both traditions and on his saint day, the town can come together for his procession. Our guide also told us that the Orthodox church is split itself between Montenegran Orthodox and Serbian Orthodox—more complexity. She told us that the Orthodox church is corrupt and losing its hold on people.

The town of Kotor has been rocked by earthquakes, as many towns along the Adriatic have been. A particularly bad one in 1667 destroyed much of the old town, and left the two towers of the cathedral with uneven heights. Another earthquake in 1979 was similarly devastating. Both of those earthquakes happened on Easter Sunday, in a year when Easter was the same date in both the Catholic and Orthodox calendars. This year 2017 is another year when the Easter date is shared, and some superstitious folks are nervous.
Another interesting building in the old town is a former merchants’ palace, now turned into a maritime museum, celebrating Kotor’s heritage as a maritime trading center. Kotor was a trading town, part of the Venetian empire. We are quickly learning that this part of the Mediterranean is a fighting ground between the Islamic Ottomans, the Orthodox Byzantines, and the Catholic Venetians. and we need to understand that conflicted part of the middle ages in order to understand the buildings and countries as they are today. All have conquered and fought over the Adriatic coastline, and all have left their influence. The city walls in Kotor were built by the Venetians to fend off intruders. Artifacts in the museum include collections of swords and firearms. Some of the swords were captured Turkish swords. Kotor used to be known for its arms manufacturing, but not any more. Our guide told us that firearms are now strictly controlled. Maybe all the fighting has soured the population on guns. We noticed that Montenegrans are tall people. Our guide was very tall and told us that she was a notive. Rol knows of some NBA players from this country.
With some time to spare, Rol and I wandered the narrow, and NOT grid-like, streets. We could have easily gotten lost but for the pictograph map given us by the guide. I traced our route through the city so that we could find our way back. Some told us that even native Kotor people get lost in the old city. One of the walks we considered, but quickly determined that we weren’t going to do was the climb the walls of the city, up to the chapel of St. John high up the cliff. It might have given us some great views if could have tackled the 1,000 or more steps. Better to go back to the ship, and rest up for our excursion later that evening.

I mentioned the church on the rocks at the entrance to the harbor. That evening we took a boat out to the church to listen to a concert of music from two guitarists, locally famous. It was a beautiful short boat ride and the host met us with a glass of champagne to put us in the mood. The guitar duo played their own compositions. We could hear influences of eastern and western music. Rol bought their CD and subsequent presentations from this trip will no doubt include that music.