February 13, 2021 
āļø #41 The Blind Sightseers “Escape The Lockdown” With Distant Memories: “Kotor, Montenegro”š²šŖ(2017)
Ā Ā HiĀ friends and welcome to Day 41 of this monumental, inconceivable and definitely memorable blind sightseers tour….!Ā Ā
Good Morning friends! (dobro jutro) š Ā
Are you ready for a scorcher today? Itās going to hit 41ĖC as the heat wave moves in! āļø Also i had no idea (until looking) that itās our 41st day of our lockdown memory tour, fantastic! š Ā Ā
We booked the āBlue Cave Speed Boat Tourā for today but this tour was cancelled (last minute) yesterday evening. The excursion team told us the Montenegro officials read that your were blind and said āA blind person cannot board a speed boatā so they cancelled it! We said āWeāve done much more challenging things than stepping onto a speed boatā but weĀ acquiesced and asked if there were any other tours left.
They only had āHighlights of Montenegroā a 10-12 hour tour with lots of walking. I said āWow this is going to be magnificently burning hotāā¦I wasnāt wrong! š°Ā
Well letās see what weāll be doing…Ā
The port of Kotor finds a home on the worldās southernmost fjord – or the āBride of the Adriaticā, as itās also known. As places go, itās beautiful. Think blue seas. A stony shore. Green mountains. All drenched in the heavenly scent of lemons, oranges, mimosas and camellias. And hereās your chance to explore this gorgeous part of the world.
First youāll stop at the mountain village of Njegusi to taste the regionās delicious smoked ham and cheese. Stomach full, youāre ready for…
Cetinje. Known as the āValley of Godsā, it was once the smallest European capital and itās filled to bursting with beautiful buildings. Here you’ll visit the King Nikola’s palace before having some free time to stroll around. Next youāre off to…
Budva – the most popular tourist destination on Montenegroās map. And quite rightly so. Beautiful architecture meets seductive sandy beaches in this spot. Perhaps thatās why lots of millionaires decide to live here.
Leaving the shipā¦š³ Ā
After another lovely breakfast we stepped off the ship. āWoahā i said whilst leaving the lovely cool ship and walking into a hot oven. āHow can it be this hot already?ā Sarah quickly replied āOohhh thatās better the ship was freezingā. š¤£ Ā
On the coach…š
Yay, the Thomson excursion team has made sure the tour guide saved us the front seats on the coach. The first challenge (for the excellent driver) was to climb the famous Kotor serpentine road. The road was simply amazing, and witnessing the driver expertly navigate the hairpin turns and narrow road was incredible. The guide passed a picture (see below) around the coach and Sarah took a photo of it so i could zoom in on my iMac at homeā¦Thanks Sarah š²Ā
Arriving at Njegusi…
Ā The serpentine was pretty quiet and didnāt have much traffic as it was still early morning. Iām not sure how he guided this massive coach up and around those bends without flying off the cliff, but iām glad he did, lol! š Ā
We reached the top and the view was simply breathtaking! Sarah was stunned on itās beauty and said āWow you can just make out our ship all the way down thereā. šĀ
Yayā¦Iām here too! I thought iād add a photo of me just to make sure you knew i was here, and didnāt collapse into a pool of molten flesh after leaving the ship, lol! š¤£ Ā
Ā The group headed into the mountain top restaurant and sat down at tables overlooking the stunning view. I donāt think anyone was hungry as the waiters place a humongous baguette filled with the legendary local ham and cheese in front of all of us. Everyone kept saying āWeāve only just had breakfast about an hour ago on the shipā, even i was struggling and iām never full! š The ham and cheese was super tasty and it wouldāve been nice to take some home with usā¦But it was time to go!
Ā We had a few more minutes to take some photos of this stunning place as people were filtering onto the coach.
Ā Ok just one more shot of Sarah waving and saying hello to you guys, then we really do have to get back on the coach. š Ā
On to the next stop…
It was late morning now and the serpentine started to get a little busier.
And then…
The coach hit the brakes, our group said āWooaahhhā and the drivers sorted out a way to carry on. Our coach had to reverse (no idea how he did it) up the hill and around some corners until he found a little pull in. It had taken our driver over half an hour to pull off this manoeuvre, and after a round of applause he drove on. Ā
We arrived in Cetinje…Ā
Leaving the air conditioned coach and stepping out into the centre of a bubbling volcano (thatās what it felt like to me)we followed our guide towards the museum, but on the way he quickly stopped to talk to us about a church building.
Vlah churchā¦šĀ
Walking along a track the guide pointed out this lovely old church building and started talking about itās history.
FromĀ Wikipedia…
The church was initially made of “plot” (Serbian: ŠæŠ»Š¾Ń), i.e. of sticks, switches and mud. It was rebuilt three times. First as “suvomeÄa” (Serbian: ŃŃŠ²Š¾Š¼ŠµŃŠ°), which means of stones without mortar; then of “klaÄena” (Serbian: ŠŗŠ»Š°ŃŠµŠ½Š°), which is stones with lime mortar; and finally, in 1864 the church received its current form. A guard rail around the church was built in 1897 using barrels of Ottoman rifles captured in 1858 during the Battle of Grahovac.Ā
The part about the guard rail using barrels of Ottoman rifles captured in 1858 really stuck out to me. I hope my two quickly taken photos showed the guard rail? We didnāt get any closer as the guide was moving fast! š¢
Walking towards the Museum of King Nikola…
The guide returned and told us that the President will be inside the museum we were about to be guided around. So weāll have our break now of about an hour as another group was before us and will be first to go inside the museum. We wonāt be able to go back to the lovely air conditioned coach but there is the main square just over there, and there are some shops and a cafe. As the group separated we walked towards the square.
Sarah said āThere is not much here but this looks like a souvenir type shop. Letās get you out of the heat before you explodeā. It was a souvenir shop and we bought a lovely painted plate with Montenegro written on and it hangs above the doorway to our kitchen. š Ā
Heading out of the shop we walked around the corner and Sarah said āOOooohhhh look at that dress!!ā I knew exactly what the noise meant (as i canāt see what iām looking at, lol) and we walked towards the shop. The dress was hanging up outside the shop and Sarah was completely taken with it. she said ālook at the designā¦itās all handmade stitching, the colours are beautiful and itās simply exquisiteā¦I love it! šĀ
Inside the shop…
Minding the step into the shop Sarah had a little look around to see if she could see the dress (the one outside) anywhere inside the shop. The local woman behind the counter said āYou like the dress?ā as she held up a black dress that Sarah didnāt want or like. āNo i wanted to ask about the dress outsideā Sarah said whilst pointing out of the window. āThis dress would look really nice on you!ā the woman insisted, āno i donāt like that dress itās too dark for me, do you have the orange and red flower dress thatās hanging up outside in my size?āĀ
The woman continued in her heavy accent āYou donāt like? Why do you not like? It look lovely on you!ā Just as I was thinking that weād never get out of here without even looking at the dress the woman said āThere is only 1 of the dress outside but this dress (the one she was holding) we have many. Sarah said whilst looking a little disappointed as there was only 1 of those amazing dresses āCould i have a look at it please and try it on?”
The woman finally put down the other dress and got the one from outside and passed it to Sarah. āWow this is amazing but itāll never fitā Sarah said whilst trying not to get too excited anymore, but she went over to the changing rooms and tried it on anyway.
āWow, you look stunningā i said knowing sheās about to tell me i canāt see it very well anyway, lol! āIt fits perfectly, i thought there would be no way it fitsā¦Iāve just got to have itā Sarah said with a beaming smile on her face.Ā
Leaving the shop with Sarah (sheās super excited) still stunned that she’d got the only dress of that kind available and it fitted perfectly, we headed back towards the cafe.
The cafeā¦ā Ā
It was really busy and it was the only cafe open around this square and everyone seemed to be here. There was a man selling cold bottles of water under a sheltered bit so we went and bought a couple. Sarah found the only 2 chairs left which were in the sun. As we sat down with a bottle of water each…
Sarah shouted āAArrggghhhhā and flew up out of her seat (i thought iād accidentally pushed the ejector seat button like in James Bond’s Aston Martin DB5). At the same time half of the contents of her water bottle hit me in the face and covered mostt of my shirt (i was glad of the cooling down). But i said āWhatās just happened?ā āAwww the burning hot arms of the chair scorched my forearms as i sat down!ā Ouchā¦I can still feel it as iām typing this! š¤Ā
Leaving the cafe it was time to meet up with the group to have our guided tour around the museum. On the way Sarah found some art and a fantastic building.
This fascinating Museum used to be the royal palace of the Montenegrin King for more than 50 years. So once the president had left we had our chance to see it. š Ā
The museum guide took us around the house and explained the significance and rarity of many of the items on display. She brought it all to life with a passion and pride that left a lasting impression.
The museum has many rooms which were presented as they would have looked when used as a royal palace, including the king’s and queen’s bedrooms, reception rooms, official meeting rooms, etc, and the various displays included clothing, weapons, furniture, medals and flags and other regalia from this historical royal house.
The temperature outside was 41ĖC but inside it felt even hotter. We were told not to lean on any hanging wall paintings but the heat coming off any one of our group couldāve melted the painting (and the frame) from 10 feet away! The museum was incredible but everyone was so hot they all just wanted to leave.Ā
Back on the coachā¦šĀ
āAww feel that air conditioningā i said whilst trying not to melt Sarah with the heat emanating from me! āļø
Wait a minuteā¦Yes itās that time again!Ā
The coach stopped just long enough for Sarah to take a couple of wonderful panoramas.Ā
ā¢ļø HEALTH WARNING…Ā
Arriving in Budva…
The guide flew off the coach and continued walking at breakneck speed for about 10 minutes. Sarah and i were tripping up little curbs, dropping down slopes and even started falling away from the group at one stageā¦But then he stopped to Ā show us this beautiful place…
The guide said we had an hour free time and to meet him back in the main square ( i think i know where that is, lol). Ā
Sarah instantly found a coffee shop and wondered if they did iced coffees like the ones we’d had in Greece? They did even better than that! Sarah got me a massive one and said āIf you stand here in the shade of the coffee shop, iām going to go and see if i can get onto the beach. āOk iāll not moveā.
DING DING DINGā¦š Ā
Yes itās that time againā¦The sound of the āBlind Sightseers Gastronomic Leaderboardā bell has just rang as this iced coffee hits the top spot! šŖš¼ šĀ
I didnāt need to move as this iced coffee was incredibleā¦It even had 2 scoops of vanilla ice-cream with a double espresso poured over the top. I talk about this coffee as many times as i can. Wowā¦The ice cold coffee contrasting that scorching sun, mmmmmm. āļøĀ
Yay, Sarah managed to get onto the beach and put her feet on the sand so we were both very happy! š Ā
Not sure why i took this photo of the path?
We met up with the group and followed the guide back to the coach, the air conditioning wasnāt even cooling me anymore i was just too hot. Iād been boiled for about 10 hours and i think itās going to take about a week to cool down. šĀ
Back on the shipā¦š³ Ā
Wow what a day! 41ĖC is the hottest Sarah & i have felt so far on our travels, and we always talk about this day. But first itās time to meet Brian & Ann for the final time on this cruise .
Youāll never guessā¦??Ā š² Ā
During our lovely 4 course evening meal Brian & Ann gave us this lovely Montenegrian design wooden box as a gift. Ann said āWe didnāt go on any trips today so we looked around the town. We found a craft store and found this lovely box, i knew youād love it and we just had to buy it for you! We were blown away with their kindness and friendship and we keep this box on our sideboard in our living room. Oh we also still have the 2 chocolates inside which Ann was handing out on her birthday! š Ā
Back in the cabin…
We were disappointed not to find a folded towel creature on the bed on our last day of this wonderful cruise. But this was the first of 2 cruises Sarah managed to book at the same price as the Barbados cruise and stay we had to cancel. Sarah managed to book them a couple of months apartā¦But weāre going to jump ship (Thomson Spirit) and climb a board the Thomson Majesty and sail away to our next destination! š āļø ā ā“
We hope youāve enjoyed being on this āClassical Greeceā cruise with us? Did you have a favourite place
Hope youāve enjoyed the adventure todayā¦Let me know your favourite part?! š¤ Weāll meet tomorrowā¦Same timeā¦Same place for another adventure!Ā šĀ
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šĀ Join us:
- Tuscany Tour
- Transatlantic Sunset Cruise
- Matlock Bath
- Mayan Treasures Cruise
- Classical Greece Cruise
- Treasures of the Mediterranean Cruise
- Seven Isles Cruise
- Barbados – Southern Palms #1
- Tough Mudder 5K
- Tropical Delights Cruise
- Barbados – Southern Palms #2
- Aegean Shores Cruise
- Ancient Kingdoms Cruise
- Ultra Step Challenge
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