After four days of stormy weather – with high winds and buckets of rain at times – the sun finally came out and the Bay of Kotor in Montenegro had calmed down to its sparkling best.
We hadn’t explored the inner part of the Bay yet so decided to pull our anchor up and take a look – in the company of Catabella and Entre Nous.
On the way we passed by Portanegro Marina and saw a massive Russian super yacht that was apparently impounded – at the behest of the EU – when Russia invaded Ukraine. We heard that it has cost the Montenegrin government a massive amount to maintain as the oligarc owner threatened a law suit if it wasn’t returned in good order!
The inner section of the Bay of Kotor is roughly shaped like butterfly wings (see below) and we decided to head first for the lower section of the left “wing” to Uvala Sutvara.
To get there we travelled through the narrowest section of the Bay – the 2,300 metre (7,500 feet) long Verige Strait which is only 340 metres (1,120 feet) wide at its narrowest point. It turned out to be quite an obstacle course!
As we made our way towards the Strait we found ourselves in the middle of a yacht race and had to slow down and change direction a few times to avoid getting in the way of the competing boats.
As the boats rounded a buoy they launched their colourful spinnakers making a delightful sight for us!
The next hazard was a ferry – one of many plying the distance between between the villages of Kamenari and Lepetane.
This ferry saves motorists about a 45 minute drive around the bay via Kotor, Perast, and Risan (although having done that drive I would highly recommend it as it is truly stunning!)
Having avoided the various hazards, the rest of the trip was just wonderful. Even the most well travelled and jaded world explorer would hard put not to be enthralled by the splendid scenery.
The rugged mountains rise up majestically towards the blue sky and sweet stone villages, like medieval Perast, nestle gorgeously in their impressive shadow.
As we turned to head for our chosen anchorage, we could see the picturesque little islets of St George and Our Lady of the Rocks. More of them in a later blog!
Settled in our tranquil little bay, we had a wonderful few days, walking, playing Scrabble and ….. discovering a very special place.
It was John and Jonathan who discovered this magical spot – on a dinghy ride pottering around, they followed a shallow and narrow river under a bridge and into a gorgeous garden – complete with bridges reminiscent of Monet’s garden, an old mill house and flocks of noisy ducks and comical geese. And best of all there was a beautiful restaurant there!
They returned in great excitement and said they’d booked us in for lunch that day!
I have to admit, I cannot think of one time that Jonathan has waxed so lyrical about a restaurant. He is definitely not a foodie – in fact he is quite liable to forget to eat on occasions – but he loves beautiful locations with wonderful ambiance so his enthusiasm told me that this place (Ćatovića Mlini) was going to be something very special.
At lunch time we jumped in our dinghy, as did Sue and John, and together puttered our way to the mouth of the shallow and narrow river (more of a stream really) leading to the restaurant (Ćatovića Mlini)
The first thing we noticed was how clean the stream was – you could clearly see quite large fish swimming nearby.
Then we saw how green and lush the garden was, with lots of lovely trees and even a beautiful Japanese style bridge reminiscent of Monet’s garden. It was perfect!
As we approached the restaurant, a waiter came out to tell us where to park our dinghies and to help us climb out. It was very kind but we are so used to negotiating high wharfs and knobbly concrete that the restaurant’s beautifully constructed quay made it easy to hop out relatively gracefully without any help! Nevertheless we accepted his hand with due gratitude.
Once at our table we were able to take in more of our surroundings. The starched table cloths, tasteful cutlery and lovely glasses were a given but we were all very impressed by the old mill race and the small indoor restaurant which is mainly used in the winter months.
The food (a mere incidental in Jonathan’s book) was delicious and the local white wine was aromatic and quite the best we have tasted in a long time.
We lingered over lunch and afterwards looked round the old mill building and wandered round the beautiful gardens, reluctant to leave.
The next day we sailed to Kotor, this time passing closer to the islets mentioned earlier. We also passed the medieval village of Perast which looks lovely and is still on our “must see” list.
The ancient fortified town of Kotor which has been recognised by UNESCO as a world heritage site, sits in the bottom half of the other side of the “butterfly wings” in the Bay of Kotor.
The town itself is built at the foot of the San Giovanni hill (looks more like a mountain to me!) but the fortifications spread right up the extremely steep slope.
The impressive walls are more than 4.5 km long and they follow the triangular shape of the city and the hill. They rise steeply up the hill to an elevation of 280 metres.
It is a favourite occupation of fit tourists to climb up to the top of the fortifications but did we do it? You’ll have to wait until my next blog to find out!
Salty tales from Bali Hai on Sunday 
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