Mediterranean Cruise - Part 4: Kotor and Taormina

Kotor from the cliff path
Our ship is the little white dot in the far distance!

From Dubrovnik, it's a relatively short hop to Kotor in Montenegro, so we left Dubrovnik late (10pm) and were due to arrive in Kotor early (around 6am). Kotor is set quite a way inland from open sea through a series of fjord like waters, and many people (including me) were up early to see us navigate through, including a couple of very narrow stretches. As the dock is relatively small, and there was already another cruise ship in, we had to anchor and use tenders to get in to Kotor - we actually anchored a good mile or so from the mail dock, but as usual the transition was easy and well organised.

Looking back towards our ship just peeking our over that green penninsula

How's you language skills?

Today we were on a relatively short, two hour walking tour around the old city. In many ways Kotor is much like Dubrovnik, but smaller, and much more intimate. But it is just as crowded! Our local guide Milos was (as all our guides on the tours were) excellent, knowledgable and humorous. There are just three gates to the old City, and it's easy enough to walk round.  As with all these places, there were several churches, lots of tourists shops, cafes and restaurants keeping the tourists happy. 

Main gate to old Kotor

The Church of St Nicholas

It was soon evident that the old city is home to a large number of cats. Unlike many places where there's a cat population that often look scrawny and malnourished, these cats were clearly well fed and in good health. Milos told us that cats were brought in during the plague years (bubonic not Covid!) to keep the rat population down, and did such a good job that the city now looks after them making sure they're fed and that if they need veterinary help they get it.

Following our tour, we decided to make the climb up a steep and stony path for a more panoramic view of Kotor. This leads to a chapel where there's a viewpoint for the popular views you often see of Kotor. The path does go higher to an old fort, but that's about twice the distance, and you need to be fit - whilst the path does have steps in most places, they're narrow - generally wide enough for one, with the rest of the path rock or sometimes loose stone. (not it also costs eight euros per person to climb the path). You'll need sturdy shoes. A slow and steady 20-3- minutes later we'd reached the chapel.

A cat (one of many) in Kotor on the path up the cliff

Panorama of Kotor

They even have a cat shop
(not selling cats though!)

A tender returning to the ship

Small town near Kotor

In the screenshot above, wer'e the rightmost blue ship following another cruise ship, the Marella Explore out of Kotor. We turn left down that narrow channel, leaving less than 50 yards either side of the ship. Even then we're not in open sea

The iconic Lady of the Rocks Church near Kotor

One of the iconic landmarks near the narrow passage I mentioned above, is the Our Lady of the Rocks Church on a small island in the middle of the fjord.

The "sail away" from Kotor is truly spectacular, and the upper deck was lined with passengers looking and taking photos. It's truly fabulous.

We really enjoyed our time in Kotor, and I'd love to go back one day.

Passengers enjoying the "sail away"

One of the events we attended on the ship on our sea day passage to Messina was a Q&A session with Captain Kate McCue, hosted by the irrepressible Cruise Director Alejandro Tortorelli It was a real insight into Capt Kate's time at sea, the inner workings of being on a cruise ship and plenty of humorous anecdotes to boot.

Captain Kate McCue and Cruise Director Alejandro Tortorelli

The Captain's cat, "Bug Naked"

Got a photo with the skipper!

Passengers vs Officers Pool Volleyball
(Officers won)

An overnight sail from Kotor saw us docking in Messina, Sicily early the next morning. After a slightly later breakfast than of late, we were off on another excursion, this time a 45 minute coach trip down the coast to the pretty town of Taormina.

Messina

Taormina with Etna brooding in the background

Here we were left to our one devices for about three hours. Having researched beforehand, I knew we wanted to visit the roman amphitheatre, so we queued for our tickets. From Taormina the volcano of Mount Etna is clearly visible on the hills to the west, so we managed some decent photos as we explored the amphitheatre. 

Following this, we wandered the main street of Taormina, Corso Umberto I. Lined with shops, restaurants, side alleys, cafes it's got a real happening vibe to it, but like all our stops on the cruise, was pretty busy. We stooped in a cafe to sample the local granita a sort of cross between a sorbet and gelato. Anne had a pistachio flavoured one, and mine was a zingy lemon. Fabulous to cool us down on another very warm day. 

Amphitheatre and Etna

On Corso Umberto I

Taormina side street

Taormina piazza

Granita

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