Sometimes traveling to new places can be very surprising in a positive way. Our first Mediterranean cruise had many ports of call, most of which had been on my bucket list. Venice, Rome, Monte Carlo and Portofino to name a few. One of the stops that was on the cruise was the town of Kotor in the country of Montenegro. If I had ranked the ports before I went, Kotor would have been last on the list. After my visit there, it would be near the top. Why? The photo above helps explain why.
It might help to describe how you visit Kotor by boat. After cruising the Mediterranean, you cross the Adriatic Sea. As you come to the coastline of Montenegro, we expected to dock in Kotor or so we thought. Instead we entered a twisting and winding journey through the Bay of Kotor. The bay is 17 miles long, and, along the way, there aren't any industrial areas to be seen. In fact, the bay is surrounded by large towering mountains with scenic little towns. We then enter this huge bay that shows what an amazing place it is. Montenegro has only been a country since 2006 and 60% of it is mountains. It is a small country (about the size of Connecticut) and is home to only about 620,000 people. According to our guide, the most amazing fact is that it has 365 churches.
This photo was taken as we finished traversing the 17-mile entrance and the narrow space ahead is the entrance to the large bay.