I consider myself a fairly well-traveled person.
That’s why I’m embarrassed to actually admit this …
I didn’t know Montenegro existed until we started planning this trip!
I guess since I didn’t know about Montenegro, I didn’t have any preconceived notions about it, either.
Travel Tip: If you’re a country counter, and your cruise ship collects your passport, make sure you check it out and take it into port with you. We checked ours out from the Guest Services Desk. Ask around where you can get them stamped. Not every country has someplace close to port, but a lot of them, like Montenegro, do!
We sailed into Kotor on the NCL Spirit. The crew, captain, and cruise director talked up the arrival — FOR DAYS. All we heard was how amazing the sail-in would be. They described it as “the most amazing thing” we’d see on this cruise. And also one of the “most amazing sail-ins in the world.”
Now, keep in mind, on this trip we’d already been to Venice. Cruised the Grand Canal and visited St. Mark’s. Greece and the Acropolis were still ahead. As was all of Rome, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Florence and Barcelona.
So, I knew if they were making this big of a deal over the sail-in, it just had to be A-MAZ-ING!!!!! Because why would they pump it up so much if it wasn’t true, right?!?
Mmmkay.
We got up early, like 6:00 a.m. early, and joined hundreds. maybe thousands, of other cruisers on deck. We gazed into the distance. We gazed and gazed and gazed.
We sailed in through the Bay of Kotor. Cliffs lined each shore. We later learned that the bay is the closest thing the Mediterranean has to fjords. And they were beautiful.
But, in my opinion, NO WAY was the sail-in even close to the coolest part of this trip! I think the hype ruined it for me. All of the talk about what we were going to experience and see had my expectations so high that nothing was going to live up to what I expected to see..
As we sailed, we came to two islands. The first holds a Benedictine monastery, an abbey, and a graveyard.
The second island is appropriately named “Our Lady of the Rock.” A church sits on this man made island.
We disembarked and had several hours to kill before our tour, so we headed to the medieval portion of the city. The entire area is a World Heritage Site.
After getting our passports stamped, we walked through Kotor’s Main Gate and back into time! One of the first landmarks we noticed was the Cathedral of Saint Tryphon. A shop owner told us the Cathedral was built in 1166!
Live like a local: Sit back and enjoy a Nikšićko — the official beer of the country. Or sip a rakija. It’s the national drink of Montenegro. It’s nicknamed “waterfire.” Now I know why!
The main square features a beautiful old clock and all kinds of restaurants and shops. We were in port on a Sunday. We grabbed an outdoor table and ordered Nikšićko — the national beer. We just sat awhile and watched families walk around dressed in their Sunday best.
We struggled to decide how to spend our afternoon in Montenegro. When we had to make a decision, we chose an olive mill tour with lunch through a company called Active Travels Montenegro.
We met Marko, our guide for the afternoon, outside the ancient main gate of Kotor’s old town.
After piling into his car, he started driving up the side of a mountain. The road was steep and treacherous at places, but Marko delivered us safely.
When we arrived at the family-owned olive mill, they greeted us with a welcome drink called rakija. It’s supposed to have all kinds of healing properties and made of different fruits and spices. But all I could taste was fire … like moonshine fire! Wow, it was strong!
We took in the fantastic views from the mill’s hilltop as we learned how the family harvests, mills and presses the olives it grows … and that some of the olive trees were thousands of years old!
Then we headed inside to enjoy a fabulous lunch. Everything we ate was fantastic! But my favorite were the olives grown and harvested just feet away. They tasted so fresh and just … BETTER!
Checking the list: According to the book “1,000 Places To See Before You Die,” Kotor is “one of the best-preserved medieval ports in Europe!”
After lunch we drove back down the winding mountain and took in more amazing views. And just like that, our day in Montenegro ended.
What did we miss?
What should we do if we visit Montenegro again?