Making a good choice

We felt rather small anchoring in Kotor not just because of the imposing San Giovanni hill rising steeply behind the ancient town, nor because of the towering and rather foreboding mountains that surround the anchorage but mainly because of the absolutely massive cruise liners moored outside the old city walls and only roughly 300 metres from where we were anchored!

I know the tourists these giant vessels bring are the lifeblood of picturesque places like Kotor but their monstrous size threaten to overwhelm the very places the passengers long to visit.

We timed our first visit to Kotor to coincide with the departure of one of these floating cities but Kotor still seemed reasonably crowded.

This walled town is perfect for wandering round with its combination of delightful lane ways, gorgeous plazas, its churches, clock tower and museums, not to mention some good shops and plenty of eateries.

We were anchored close to our buddy boat Catabella and other friends, Peter and Deb aboard their Lagoon motor catamaran Entre Nous. One evening Deb and Peter threw an “Aussie” pie night which was a great event.

Another highlight of our stay in Kotor was a visit to the Maritime museum which was small but interesting- with exhibits that demonstrated Montenegro’s rich naval and military history.

From Kotor we travelled to the village of Dobrota – Donji Orahovac in the top left hand of the “butterfly wings” that form the inner section of the Bay of Kotor.

It was another tranquil and lovely bay – with a couple of unexpected culinary surprises. John had taken his dinghy in to find a shop to buy a couple of household items and in the process of trying to find a suitable spot to leave the dinghy, discovered a small and basic cafe.

In contrast to the gorgeous restaurant I raved about in my last blog, this was just a simple shack – but what a feast we had!

The only things on the menu were freshly caught oysters, small but wonderful tasting mussels and fresh fish – all served with copious amounts of crusty white home baked bread – no salad, no vegetables. Ooh and home made wine which was very drinkable and very cheap!

When it came to leave the waiter informed us that we could only pay in cash which we didn’t anticipate and ended up four Euros short. We said we would bring the balance the next day (which we did) but he told us no to worry and gave us another bottle of wine as a parting gift!

With the beautiful scenery, the tranquillity and all the fabulous experiences, made us feel we had made an excellent choice of Montenegro for our winter home.