In the early hours of the morning, the ship made its way through the Bay of Kotor (or as it is more commonly known Boka). It is a winding bay of the Adriatic Sea in south western Montenegro. The bay is about 28km long from the open sea to the harbour of the city of Kotor. The bay is surrounded by the mountains of Orjen on the west and Lovcen on the east.

This was our second tender port and after tendering ashore, we started our exploration of Kotor . Kotor is a triangular fortress port that sits at the bottom of the Montenegrin mountains – in fact the area surrounding it, is sometimes referred to as Europe's deepest and most southernmost fjord. It was first settled by the ancient Romans in around 5BC and was fortified by Byzantine Emperor Justinian in 535. The Bay of Kotor (Boka Kotorska) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

After clearing the port, we decided to follow a tourist sign and walk to see a church. The church was about 2km away and involved a stroll along the water. On our way to the church we managed to make a wrong turn (which was soon corrected). While walking up the wrong street we encountered a kitten that was veering close to and on to the road, before hiding under parked cars. Not wanting to see the kitten get squashed, we decided to get it and moved it further away from the road and a nice grassy area that was very close by. Hopefully it was able to find its mother.

The rest of the walk to the church was uneventful . People were swimming and enjoying their Saturday. We stopped off at a post office to get some stamps and to try to call home – purchasing stamps worked but making a phone call did not. When did make it to the church, it wasn’t exactly what we were expecting, namely there didn’t seem to be a way in to look at it. Feeling parched and a little hot, we headed back to a café we passed and had a cooling beverage. It was at the café that Mum discovered that Montenegro wine was selling for 1 euro per glass (very cheap) and that it tasted quite pleasant.

After strolling back to town, we had a quick pit stop at a small shopping complex where I was finally able to find some purple toner! I had been searching for it since Dubai and am looking forward to reducing the yellow tones my hair is current throwing out. We also picked up some other supplies.

Next stop was the old town, where for some reason, the hawkers out the front of the city gates decided that we needed to purchase genuine fake Ray Bans . But we digress.

Old Kotor was built like a maze for defence purposes, with this in mind it is quite easy to make a wrong turn and end up lost After entering through the western gate was made our way through the town and came across the St. Tryphon Cathedral. The cathedral contains a museum that holds several relics as well as some manuscripts. Inside the cathedral we had a quick look and lit two candles before realising that is was about 1pm and we were getting hungry.

Wanting to get away from the tourists, we wandered up a couple of side streets and came across a lovely restaurant that wasn’t busy and had free Wi-Fi. Once again when ordering, our eyes were bigger than our appetites – I opted for cheese prepared local style and a white risotto, while Mum had a tomato and cheese salad and a seafood plate. It was all delicious and we ate as much as we could.

While walking back to the ship we stopped off to have a quick look at the town clock tower and an old palace . After a couple of photo stops we boarded our tender back to the ship.

The trip of out of the bay was pretty and quite a few passengers were on deck to watch the scenery go past.

Tonight there was a Rock and Roll deck party. With the lack of other passengers dressing up, the entertainment staff were quite taken with our blow up guitars and everyone loved Mum’s outfit. Unfortunately there was no free bottle of wine for best dressed only most romantic couple and best twister.

Fun fact:
For people wanting to avoid messy situations with the legal system, the Place of Reconciliation – a small square in Perast (town nearby) – gave locals a place to resolve disputes without involving the courts.