Montenegro

Today we did not just drive through Montenegro but all the way to Kotar.  This tiny country  is just about the size of Connecticut.  The difference between these places we visit, differences of religion, education, and income for example, made me think how different our lives would be if we were not truly the UNITED States of America.

Salaries are to be considered.  The government provided minimum is about $200 USD while the average has recently increased to slightly over $500.  So prices are commensurate in some areas but not in the capital or by the sea side.  We had cake and tea for $5 today but lunch the other day was $30 equivalent.

Another fun but interesting fact confirmed with good humor by our guide, Bogdan, is that Montenegrans are lazy.  Rumor started because their location, tightly wedged in between mountain and the Adriatic did not allow for farming, only some cattle raising.  You feed them and milk them and turn them loose.  Nothing else to do all day.  Of course it is not true but fun.  It is also not true that when you ask why the women of Montenegro do not have affairs the answer is that no man wants to do another man's job!  When people joke about themselves it is not rude to laugh at all.

Vicki shares her post card of the Ten Commandments of Montenegro.

It was good that as we left the hotel Tina checked to see if everyone had their passports because Jim would have been stranded at the border!  To get to Kotar we drove through the border control with no problem actually.  Except that when the bus driver went to check in he took two bottles of water to smooth the way.  Then came and got our very pretty guide, Tina.  While he took water to the other policeman she spoke with the first.  She did this we found out after because last time she did not get out to speak to them.  The border control policeman sent the driver to get her.  He asked why she did not come to say hello to him and flirted with her for a bit.  So when we returned through to come home she was quick to get off the bus.

In the states it would be harassment but just a way of life here.  She told us one time when the same thing happened with another guard he had the bus do a U-turn and go to the back of the line so that the next time the would know to come say Hi.  And they did because they had to.  That day it took two hours to make the crossing and I am sure she would have been extremely frustrated as would her guests! But then some of the guards don't want to bother in anyway with having to talk to the guides and just want the list from the bus driver.  In that case they come on board and you show your passport.  If you are on a bus with Albanian plates you have to get off and hold your bags.  You might remember that happened before.  It is because Albania is known to have mob connections and drug trafficking.  So now we know why that happened but Llri had not explained that.

So today four border-passport checks.  It is the everyday way of life in most of the places I visit.  When these countries are fully accepted into the EU then free border access will become a way of life as in Western Europe.  One of the things the things they have to get better organized is border control and registration of people coming into the country with or without papers.  Illegal immigration.  However most of the migrants we have read about just want to pass through.  Germany which provides so many services even to illegals is their goal.  Italy is second on their list as the US is not an option because it requires air or ship fare.  But on the other hand legal citizens here would like to come to our land of opportunity but they follow the rules so it takes a longer time.

For the seven of us who had been in the original group it was a repeat but then we continued on past the ferry boats and into Kotor. The extra hour past the boats was a beautiful part of the drive which we had not seen..  The mountains edge almost right to Boka Bay and the tiny towns seemed perched there, clinging to life with their mussel buoys.  It is the main kind of 'fishing' although there were some fish traps.  One small town build and /or repairs small boats.  Life is very tied to the sea.


We found our small boat which is where we met Bogdan. Bog means God and Dan means day.  His sparkling personality set off his tall good looks very well.  At 6 foot 4 he is the shortest of his friends but he could definitely be a God of the Day!  Montenegrans are tall by nature and the women and men both are easily all six foot or taller.

Our ride took us out past the church of Our Lady of the Rocks and also the Death Island.  We did not disembark.  A Crystal cruise was in Perast and the church island was packed but it was okay.  The best part is the exterior and the story.  A fisherman found an icon of the Virgin on a rock and this was taken to mean a church should be built there.  The fishermen would then throw rocks into the bay there to wish for a successful voyage.  Six ships were sunk there when no longer wanted or too damaged to repair.  Rocks were added and increased until there was an island.  The church was built and the tradition continues.  Every July 22 at sunset all the locals go out in their boats and throw rocks into the sea to support and preserve the island.  I would have been happy to go ashore and visit the small church as that is what I thought the plan was.  The art work is famous.  However the hour of a pleasant boat ride with these new friends and our personal guide-god was great. Our Lady of the Rocks

Here is the story of the Death Island which Bogdan told so well.  Please read and enjoy!
Love Among the Cypress!

 After continuing our cruise around the Bay of Kotor we docked and went ashore for a tour of the walled city. 

Notice and remember the churches high up on the mountain.

We toured the small town for about 45 minutes. As we entered through the gate we touched the mail box where mothers giving their babies with no fathers to the nuns would leave a note. It would have the girl's name in case she wanted to come back within a year to claim the baby and also a name for the child.  Touching it may make your wish come true.

If Elva is wishing for a baby it will be a little sister for sweet great - grandson, Felix!

We saw several churches, A pillory where wrongdoers would be chained with a sign around their necks to proclaim their faults.  The clock tower supports the laziness theory.  When it began to lean after an earth quake they added a roof to make it look more straight.  It was the easiest way.

 

I thought that this was an unusual backdrop for an altar.

A view of the clock tower with the pillory in front.

After we had pretty much seen all the little town had to offer we went to the market place where we sampled Red Wine, cheeses, prosciutto, Blackberry Wine and Rakjia, the national drink.  I could barely swallow a sip of that but I discovered that I like Blackberry Wine.  Maybe that is why my Mom always had some in the cabinet above the kitchen sink!

The Rakjia has a story of its own.  When you visit someone's home they give you a shot of Rakjia and a kiss on each cheek.  You must then say that it is the best Rakjia that you have ever had and then you get another shot and another before the socializing even starts.  Bogdan said that when he was a little boy his Grandfather would give him Rakjia and prosciutto every morning so he would grow strong and tall.  He hated it.  But when he got to be a teenager he would say to his Mom, please can we go to see Grandfather!

Just as we were dispersing for some free time we met too costumed navel officers.  Their tradition uniforms were from before Napoleon.  We saw many men dress like this today because it is the 40th anniversary of the great earthquake.  One man that Karen, Elva, and I met later in our walk said it was also his 40th anniversary.  His name was Romeo, yes there is a lot of Italian influence on the Dalmatian Coast, and his wife was Victoria.  He has a daughter Karen and a son Gary.  He explained the details of the outfit and was so very happy and chatty.  He agreed that on his wedding night the earth moved!

This father and son love performing this way. Neither is our Romeo.  We found him in a back alley!

Remind you of anyone you have seen before?  Like the guy opening the door for Dorothy and friends in the Wizard of Oz!

The three of us, Karen, Elva, and I walked around the same path pretty much that we had already been. We didn't find the easy steps up the wall but did go into the church that had two altars.  It was one Orthodox and one Roman Catholic.  Yes, it was unique except once inside we learned that it had been only Orthodox since the 15th century.  We saw a lot of cats.  Very, very many.  At one point in time all the cats were killed because no women wanted cats near them.  If they were seen with a cat they were thought to be witches and hanged immediately.  But then the Black Plague happened and it was realized that cats controlled rats and once again cats were desirable things to have.  People come from all over the world to get a Cat of Kotor.

The unusual icon is set in front of and away slightly from the velvet curtain.  It reminded me in some way of the fortune teller machine at a carnival.

For a small place to have 10 churches is amazing.  Most interesting were the ones we did not visit.  Tow of the men who together with their wives are traveling from California did visit.  Both are up the mountain.  In the time of the plague they were built and then also used a a refuge when there were battles.  Our two brave Davids climbed all the way up the wall and the stairs to the top!

We saw the well were women drew water.  And yes, every time I hear a phrase like that I think of the Loretta Lynn song Coal Miner's Daughter.  Can you image climbing down these steep rocky slopes every day to get heavy wooden buckets of water to carry back to family and animals!

We passed some of our friends having sea bass and mussels for lunch but we had eaten plenty of samples in the market.

Rita is smiling but Vicki is already digging in.

We then went to look for the easy steps and met our Romeo who directed us to the oldest or first city gate.  Out side we had a great view of the wall which we then spoiled by putting ourselves into it. 

We walked back around the outside to the main gate and made our way to Forza Cafe for their famous Moscow Cake and tea.  Not sure why it is called Moscow Cake since it is layers of a nut shortbread loaded with sliced pineapple and sour cherries all held together by more almond whipped cream than even I could eat and topped with slivered almonds!  Oh, when I say more than I could eat I didn't mean that I didn't finish every delicious and very light bite!

We all gathered on time at the meeting spot and I will say here that I have never been part of a group that has been better than this one about that!  We finished the trip around the bay and took the ferry across to save us the hour and a half return just as we did when we first traveled to Croatia.  Tina helped pass the time by teaching us correct pronunciation and telling us more about both Montenegro and Croatian history.  Another successful border crossing times two and we soon were back to the hotel.

This bus barely fit onto the ferry.  The back end did not go all the way up!

Some folks went into the old city for a concert in the church which began at nine p.m.  Elva and I walked on the seafront promenade.  It was along the part of the coast that runs behind the hotels which are behind ours.  This is a huge complex of about ten hotels of differing qualities but all expensive.  At least more than I would pay if traveling on my  own.  Dubrovnik is not a cheap vacation!  There was another beautiful sunset and we retired to our rooms to eat our sandwiches which we had made at breakfast.  I was writing to you when I decided to check Facebook to take a typing break.

Notre Dame was burning!  The fire had just started!  I texted my girls and Maddie and Christian and told them how happy I was that they had had a chance to visit it.  I was quite distracted and it took me forever to complete my post for you.   I hope you have had the opportunity to bask in the splendor of this magnificent Cathedral.  If your religion or faith or lack of it prevents you from appreciating Notre Dame as a House of God then it should not preclude you falling in love with it as a museum of fine art.  If you did not have the chance to see it you still can recognize its value to the world.  Let us hope that it was accidental.  which makes me long for the time when we didn't have to wonder such a thing.  Perhaps someday there will be a new cathedral built upon its remains that will equally move the world and bring it to peace and joy!