Mediterranean Iconic Shores Ocean Cruise
Day 15: Thursday, November 13, 2025 - Kotor, Montenegro
The day's statistics:
- Weather: low 60s
- Steps: Linda: 13,107; Steve: 14,249
The alarm was set for 7:00. We got up and I ventured to the veranda to look out.
It seemed that the ship was coming to a stop at this point, based on the tiny little wake. It will turn out
that, for the first (but not last) time on this cruise, the ship dropped anchor and did NOT moor.
While researching this day and confirming the name of the sites - especially the church - I used Google®
Maps® and saw this image.
Is that a cruise ship to the right? Yes, yes it is.
And not only is it s cruise ship, it is a Viking cruise ship!
The beginning of the morning was typical: shower, and breakfast (we sat near Penelope and Norman from New Jersey).
The World Café is on the same floor as the Explorer's Lounge. We stopped by the Lounge on the way to the cabin and
captured a shot of some of the town.
The ship was moored in the Bay of Kotor which is surrounded by mountains. This contributes to the climate, including
the cooler temps in the morning before the sunlight hits the area.
Our excursion "Baroque Buildings & Scenic Seascapes" departed at 8:45 AM, and our
guide was Yeleena. We didn't have a driver because we didn't take the bus. Initially.
Today was the first day we didn't walk off the ship and onto land. We took the gangway and boarded a small boat (not an orange
Viking tender pictured at the end of yesterday,
but a separate chartered boat. Our first destination today was to an island with the Church of Our Lady of the Rocks. This is
a church built on... an... island of rocks.
It was cold. Very cold. Out on the water. Motoring along at a few knots. We enjoyed the views of the mountains as well
as some seaside villages.
The boat first took us past Saint George island, which is forbidden to be visited except for the Monks.
Then we arrived at Church of Our Lady of the Rocks.
The boat just pulled up to a dock-like spot, and we disembarked. We passed a staircase at the rear, and headed
along the side of the church to the front. There was also what was once a rectory building too.
We entered the seemingly small nave. There was artwork everywhere.
We finished in the main portion of the church and we headed to a storage area where there were a number
of relics and other historic or important items.
A couple views out a couple windows before going upstairs.
One of the last items we saw was this piece. This was created a number of years ago by a female caretaker of
the facility, waiting for her husband to return from sea. It took 25 years to create. It included silver and
gold thread. But most striking - because she ran out of thread, the piece also contained her own hair. It isn't
completely evident from the pictures, but the hair was used for the hair of the Virgin and the cherubs.
The group exited the facility out the back on the second floor. We grabbed a quick selfie before we went downstairs.
The boats didn't take to long to arrive back at the drop-off spot to pick us up (which I guess makes it a pick-up point).
While we waited, I got shots of the shoreline of Perast (also in some of the pictures above), and Saint George from this side.
After embarking, we bit the small island and its church a fond farewell, and headed to the mainland point of Peraast.
The boat took us to a pier in Peraast, we disembarked, and gathered in a plaza like area in front of a church.
We were given about forty-five minutes of free time to explore the town. It was a cute little town with a number
of stairway alleys, but one section of it was closed for a filming of a movie.
We wandered about for most of the time, ducking into a small shop for a coffee and to use the facilities.
When 11:15 rolled around, we headed to the bus pick-up spot a few hundred meters down the road along the waterfront.
It only took a few minutes to walk to the bus pickup spot. We boarded and headed in the direction of the ship,
passing an oyster farm along the way.
The bus pulled into the parking lot in front of the ship, and we debussed.
We proceeded down an escalator, across a rather short walkway, and back up an escalator on the other side -
we passed under the roadway.
We walked past a number of not-yet-open Christmas booths to the original fortification wall entrance.
Right outside the entrance is an oversized park bench - so adults can sit on it and feel like a kid again (from this
perspective, it really is hard to tell if the right is a regular sized bench and the left is smaller, or if the left
is a regular sized bench and the right is oversized [it is the latter]).
In hindsight, I should have gotten a picture with someone on the right one for perspective...
We passed through the gateway and stopped in the plaza on the other size.
The highlight of the plaza was a clock tower that has been working since the 17th century,
and one of the only structures that survived the 6.9 magnitude earthquake in 1979.
The next major highlight was came upon was Saint Tryphon's Cathedral, built in 1166.
Then we continued our walk through more of the town.
Our walk took us in a large loop, and we wound up back in the smaller plaza where the Hard Rock Café was.
Yeleena pointed out to us how to get to the top of the wall if we wanted, how to exit, where else to go within the town
walls, and how to get back to the ship. We said our good-byes, and headed back to the churches in town.
The intent was to visit Saint Luke's and Saint Nicholas churches. However, as we went in that direction, we passed
Saint Clare's Church first, and decided to step inside because it was open. We were glad we did.
After a brief visit, we continued to our initially intended destination and first visited Saint Nicholas Church,
which seemed to now be a "museum" rather than a place of worship.
As we passed across the plaza to Saint Lucas' (Luke's) Church we saw a Christmas tree and an alley.
Saint Lucas' Church was built in 1195, and was once shared with Catholics. It was very small.
We picked up our postcard and shot glass at a store on the corner and headed back to the small plaza Yeleena left us.
Then we headed back to and across the plaza with the clock tower, and up a flight of stairs to the top of the wall with
one side overlooking the roadway between the wall and the ship, and another side overlooking a water feed from inland.
After looking around a bit - there was pretty much just a restaurant up there - we simply headed back down,
out the main gate whence we came, back under the roadway, and all the way through security to the ship.
There is a staircase - called the Laddar of Kator - that takes 700 steps (approximately shown by the orange line, though
the beginning is cut-off) to reach St. Juraj Church. Further up,aonther 700 steps (the blue line) - 1,400 in all - leads
to Kotor Fortress.
Using Google® Maps® to get the names and spellings of the churches above, I happen to notice this unusual effect
from the satallite imaging. At least I can only assume it is an anomaly and not the start of a sinking ship...
We headed to the cabin to drop our excursion items before heading to lunch.
Lunch was in the World Café, and we had our typical servings: Linda a sandwich and salad; I had a couple small
plates of different things; and then our usual dessert - small fruit tart for Linda and a couple other items for me.
Our afternoon was starting to become a ruutine when we had a free afternoon: take our wine to the Explorer's Lounge, and
play cards (Pinochle or Dominion). Today was no exception... except... someone stopped by the table to inquire about what
we were playing. Her name was Kits. Her husband Mike was napping in the room. We explained the game and she said she'd
see us around.
While we were playing, we caught this late-afternoon view.
Eventually, it was time for dinner. As we were invited by John to join his group, we stopped by the reception desk to
cancel our table-for-two, and then joined the grouop in the private dining room.
Our "hosts" were Cindy and Mike; we were also joined by Joel (who was a traveling off-duty Viking employee but was invited
by Cindy and Mike because they recognized him from a previous trip), Claire and Ernie (who we met earlier on our trip),
Denise and John (who invited us), and Gale and Don.
We didn't fret the menu too much because it was Manfredi's "fixed menu".
Linda had the lasagna (which was a full portion because it was the entree), and vanilla ice cream.
I had the lasagna (which was a half portion because it was an appetizer), chichen parmagiana (it may look pretty big - and
it sort of was - but it was really thin), and tiramisu.
The meal lasted a total of nearly three hours - but that's what happens when a large group talks and neglects to order the
next course...
We took our beverages and headed out. Since we were in Manfredi's, we were on the first deck not the second like where
The Restaurant is located. So we had a slightly different perspective in the ladies performing tonight.
Eventaully we were back in the cabin.
At some point, the ship started to leave port, but the town was lit up (probably a little nicer than the pictures may indicate).
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