July 11, Monday - Kotor
Kotor is another port we visited 9 years ago. It is just as I remember it. The old city is walled with many shops and restaurants mixed in with museums and churches. We elected to visit independently.
WeFish farm on the approach to Kotor
We started down a lane to the cathedral. We had not gone far when we noticed some interesting hanging lamps decorated ornately with colorful glass. After admiring these in several shops we decided to go into one to learn more about the lamps. We did not recall seeing them the last time. The shopkeeper was happy to talk about the history of the lamps. Their presence in Kotor dated back to early trade with Turkey. They had recently become popular with tourists. He noticed me admiring some chess sets and told me of their origins. They were ornate, made of metal and heavy. They were moderately priced and although I love chess sets there was no way I would reasonably get one home. He showed us some jewelry of his creation but we were not buyers today. As we bid farewell a young woman entered the shop. She was the only person to enter during the 20 minutes we were there.
We made our way to the cathedral and then the maritime museum. We only visited the cathedral this time. Now we did window shopping on our way out of the old city. As we looked at some things in a jewelry shop window the proprietor came out to lead us inside. Their was the lady from the first shop. As we were shown some rings the proprietor of the first shop appeared. We had stumbled on to his second shop. We all got a good giggle out of this as we parted on a friendly note.
Cathedral blocking the sun
There is a chapel on the way up the mountain
Told you so
The Cathedral has an inside too
A few streets later we enter a large shop with a nice assortment of jewelry, glass products and trinkets. The sales girls were all very friendly and low keyed. Alice took their pictures and we thanked them for their kindness.
We were about to leave when another girl appeared from yet another room. It was full of Venetian masks and glass jewelry. We found a blue glass bead necklace that I finally convinced Alice we should buy. It was not expensive but pretty nonetheless. After getting a picture of this young lady we purchased the necklace and proceeded to the exit in the wall.
On the way we were “accosted” by another shopkeeper. This led to a rather hard sell attempt to get us to buy what is called silk leather here. This is very soft leather that feels like silky cloth. The jacket he had put on Alice was very nice and “only” 600 euros. We thanked him for showing it to us and made our exit. Around the corner I did a quick Amazon search and found a similar piece for $199. We are not interested at any price.
Finally outside the wall we walked in the direction I remembered as taking us to a beach. We soon reached a bridge over a stream flowing into the sea. The place was right and confirmed my recollection but the bridge was new. This is one of many changes since we were here 9 years ago.
Fountain near the bridge
Looking at the mountain behind the old city we spied the steep trail that led to a little church high up. That had not changed except that the trees were taller.
Church on the mountain
About a quarter mile further on we crossed the very busy road to get to the sea. This traffic was new. Once at the seaside we spotted the beach farther down. Telephoto lenses meant we could stop walking and return to the ship.
The beach was well populated
Oosterdam at anchor
This had been a great revisit. We were happy to see so much unchanged while many positive changes have occurred. Oosterdam provided a cool and comfortable haven.
We have been working with the open seating dining room manager to try to secure a better table that could be ours for the full 43 days. Today she solved the problem. If we would agree to early fixed dining, we could have a table for 2 with a starboard side view for the remaining duration. This was perfect. We always eat at 5:30, the table was very nice and the serving team was outstanding.
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