29 August 2913. We sailed into a beautiful fjord with Kotor at the end. Montenegro was a part of the former Yugoslovia and in 2006 voted to become independent. I (Chuck) admits to not knowing the geography and history of that part of the world very well. Kotor is a resort-like destination town. It's quite beautiful. It is easy to understand why vacations would be spent there.
We anchored in the bay so we had to take a tender into the city. The tender is a fancy way to say life boat. During the 10 minute ride between the ship and shore, I was thinking about how the life boat would be packed full with anxious passengers in rough seas waiting to be rescued. Not great thoughts I suppose, but it seemed quite clear that they were built for survival. So, that was comforting.
The old part of Kotor was a walled city with narrow streets, small squares, and lots of charm. Here are some pictures from the city. On the left is a picture of the church. If we read the signs right it has existed in this location since the 10th century. It is still an active congregation and is also a bit of an art museum in the towers. On the right are 2 young entrepreneurs who were selling shells. Caroline bought 2 (for 5 Euros). They had a bit of discussion about how to divide the money, but it was settled amicably.
The city was a maze which we wandered through. As you can see from the picture on the left there were narrow streets with small shops interspersed with doors to residences. Occasionally, they opened up into small squares with a cafe or two and some open space. While Caroline and Mary shopped, Chuck stopped for a cold drink and took advantage of the free WiFi at the cafe in the picture on the right.
Kotor is a beautiful town. We would come back for another visit given the chance to spend a couple of days there.
The major part of the show for the evening was the dance contest. There were 4 categories of dance (country, swing, street, and Latin) with 2 groups in each category. The "street" dance was hilarious and good. There was a 13 year old boy and his grandma (who looked about 90 years old) dancing in the group. You would have to see it to appreciate it. Their team won. Because Chuck took a movie of the performance, there are no still pictures for the BLOG. Caroline and Mary had to perform at both shows and had a good time once their nerves settled down. The picture is of some of the dancers on the stage after all of the performances.
After the first show, Chuck went off to dinner. Caroline and Mary got to eat between shows with the other dancers and some of the main performers. When they were done we met to hear the DiGi sisters perform for a bit, then headed up to the Crow's Nest for more music and dancing. A busy and fun day.