Tuesday, 24 May, 2016 – Perast to Kodor to Mountains behind to Perast
It has rained over night and the weather is quite cloudy now. There were church bells from 5 in the morning. The breakfast buffet at our Hotel is one of the best I have seen on this trip. They actually had Strawberry juice as well as Orange and Lemon juices.
We have a brief walking tour around Perast with our guide for the next two days, Vesna.
She tells the story of the two islands just off the coast from Perast. One has to do with a small crop of rock that some fishermen found a Madonna painting years ago, I cannot recall it all. Supposedly the crop of rock became an island by men bringing rocks there over the ages. Eventually a cathedral was built there to house the painting. The painting is called The Lady of the Rock. We take a water taxi out to that island.
We land on the island and the first order of business is to do a tour of the cathedral and the Lady. There is some kerfuffle with queues and groups and while Vesna could have done the tour on her own she was not allowed because of the crowds.
When we get in there are a lot of people around and explanations are being given. Eventually we get near the painting.
Supposedly testing has been done that shows that the painting came from the late 15th century. We were invited to take a look behind the altar where original rock was held. I skipped it.
We toured the museum part of the building too where there were a number of interesting artifacts. One was a painting done by a lady in the past who put all sorts of interesting materials including a lot of her hair. There was some discussion between guides as the legend surrounding all that. We head back to shore.
We then head off for a difficult part of the day – driving through the mountains. We drive through Kodor which is another very crowded beach town made worse by (at least) 3 cruise ships in harbour. We have a bit of “excitement” when a small box of wine falls in the back of the van breaking one of Hugh’s wines he had bought at an earlier winery. We stop to cleanup the mess and then proceed to drive up the hill. This leg is very windy with 25 numbered switch backs and we are behind a bus almost all of the way. Frustrating.
Great site showing Montenegro and the 25 hairpins
We stop at a restaurant at the top that supposedly has the best prosciutto around but the owner advises us that the road will be closed soon for repairs so we stop only for a short break. Long enough to get behind the bus again.
We reach a small village where another bus has got itself stuck and is going back and forth to try to get out. Andrew is able to get around both of the buses on the inside and we have relief for a while but eventually get stuck behind more slow traffic. After some missteps and with the aid of the host, we arrive at the farmhouse which is our destination.
The owner and his wife turn out to be absolutely delightful people and have set up a spread for us. There is there own fruit brandies to start the meal.
The dishes were chicken and carp. All of the food was from the garden or nearby. They made the redwine too and there was plenty of it being served.
We then take a tour of the garden where he has vines, vegies and bees for his honey. There are also lots of wrecks of old cards everywhere.
This part of the day has been delightful as were our hosts. We get on the road. We are taking a big circle over the mountains and will eventually reach Kodor. Then another period before we are finally home at Perast.
Editorial comment: we departed Perast at 11:00 AM and arrived back after 8:00 PM. In that period there were at most 1.5 hours of stops so at least 7.5 hours of difficult roads and travel. It was very difficult on Andrew and also on Julie and I, and probably the others. The visit to the farm was great but I cannot say it was worth all that difficult driving.
Any way, we are to have dinner at the Hotel restaurant again. Boris selects another table on the water. The weather has cleared but it is quite cool. There are heaters in place and when one table leaves they are moved closer to us. Andrew decides to skip and apparently went straight to bed, not a surprise really.
Vesna had explained that lots of fresh water pours down the hills which is great for mussels. There are mussel chains all along the coast.
