Kotor; And Today's Geography Lesson

We drove on, now coastal, now highland, now coastal, into Montenegro, aiming for its coastal city of Kotor, at the end of the immense Gulf of Kotor. It is not actually a gulf, nor a bay, nor even a fiord, although that is what it most looks like. It is a ria, a river canyon that has been submerged by the rising sea. Or a sinking land mass, e.g., Britain. I had never heard of such a thing. But they are fairly common, and now I know I have seen quite a few, in Europe, the US, Australia, and especially in New Zealand, which has dozens, on both the big islands. Most of the southern coast of England is ria country. Bantry Bay, in Ireland, is another. So there is today's geography lesson. Travel is so enlightening.

Helpful map of the Ria of Kotor; as you drive around it from roughly left to
right it really does seem like a great Norwegian fiord; the big background
mountains certainly reinforce the view

On the other hand, it's warm and sunny, skimpily-dressed people are in and on
the water; this is definitely not Norway 

Kotor is another walled town, sometimes referred to as a mini-Dubrovnik; both
are World Heritage Sites; here is one of the lower parts of the wall, along a river

Much of the wall switch-backs its way up and then down the heights above
the city; rather fewer people walk the walls at Kotor than at Dubrovnik; we
certainly didn't

We were content to just wander the little wall-girt town, enjoying mostly the little
things

Cathedral of St. Tryphon

Spare parts all over the town, which is mainly Venetian in age, but bits of it
go back to Justinian and late antiquity

Fragments in a little chapel; 13th century, the lady said

A Last Supper?

Many old things to appreciate

Interior of one of the Orthodox churches; giant pictures of the Gospel writers

Dress code for orthodox churches: no fedoras!

Interior of another

Exterior

The town pump

The camper parking was right on the water; 30E but nice
and quiet

Only a block from the walled city; we went in for a stroll after dark; the towers
of the upper wall are illuminated

Next morning we were awakened by announcements for the shore party,
outside our window

Early morning at the street market under another of the walls; I was out searching
for some prized Montenegrin prosciutto...

Cilipi Folk Dancing

Vicki is the folk dancing fan among us, but I have learned, after 25 years or so (starting with Ballet Folklorico in Mexico City), that it's always a good bet, for edification and entertainment, even if you're as inept a dancer as I am. After our time in Dubrovnik, we set forth for Kotor, in Montenegro, stopping along the way for the Sunday morning folk music and dancing at the village of Cilipi.

Not sure what this is about, but it is really old

The church and tower; inside they were having communion

Including first communion for all these kids

Anyhow, in the big square in front of the church, the music begins, after a
welcome by the mistress (Ms?) of ceremonies

I think this may have been the hankie dance

After the adults dance a bit, the kids come on for a few sets

The audience--six tour buses of mostly Germans ("ja, ja, ja") and Nederlanders
("nay, nay nay"), plus a variety of Indies and lots of Croatians--are loving it

Waiting in the wings

For her role, escorting the wedding couple in their promenade, throwing
candies to the throng; alas, they were hard candies, and this one hit Vicki's
phone just as she was video-ing the proceeding; but no harm done

Drinking the wedding toast

He later becomes the caller in what I swear was square-dancing

To the tune of this guy playing the lijerica, I think

Open dancing ends the show

Before leaving we take in the local museum; also the "welcome drink," a jigger
of a local sweet fortified wine

Large paintings upstairs

A museum of mostly textiles and Croatian embroidery

Mostly because the local embroidery teacher and collector donated her large
collection to the museum

Munch, munch, munch....couldn't believe how noisy these critters are...

Dubrovnik: Cultural Attractions

So on the wall walk and also after it, wandering the little alleys, we visited a number of cultural sites...

In the marine museum

A Mediterranean galley...note submerged ramming prow; these were in use for
centuries

Marine archaeology

Traditional folk street music

Marzipan

Interesting squares, buildings, what have you...

At length, we hiked up to a wonderful air conditioned restaurant named Kopan
(a fattened castrati rooster) and enjoyed a great, light, cool meal; my marinated fish

Mediterranean salad we shared

Her chicken salad

From there we did the ethnographic museum, which is housed in the old granary

And then (see, it really is a Crown of Thorns)

Then I did part of the Walk of Shame (clothed) (high point of the visit)

As Vicki shouted "Shame! Shame!"

"You know nothing, Jon Snow!" (One of the recent Star Wars was filmed here
too)

We did a bit more walking in the alleys, including an interesting antik shoppe

But then our visit to Dubrovnik was over

And we returned to the campground, where, that evening, in the company of
many Croats and others, I watched the Croatian team smother Argentina, led
by the incomparable Lionel Messi, 3-0; a rout, in futbol terms, with highly
regarded Argentina very nearly eliminated from the World Cup

We spent two more days at the campground planning future travels and making
arrangements and also blogging and such; beautiful area; Dubrovnik not so
impressive, I thought; Vicki loved it, however