Kotor has been a wonderful place, thanks to the cruise ship crowds, it is not the “place to visit instead of Dubrovnik” to avoid the crowds that we have heard in the past. Yet we have had the best time, and there has been a lot of time for sketching.

But first, a painting I did from our time in Prague. As much as I like Kotor, I am still enamored with Prague, possibly because, due to its size, you can get away from the crowds. This is the Old Town Bridge Tower, at the end of The Charles Bridge.

Kotor does remind us of a smaller Dubrovnik, thus there are plenty of places for morning coffee or an afternoon break – plenty of people watching and sketching opportunities.

On our taxi ride last week from Podgorica Airport the driver pointed out the Kotor Cable car. We took it on Saturday and are so glad we did. Kotor is, of course, at sea level, when we got out of the gondola I checked the altitude on the Compass app on my iPhone – 4,400 feet. I couldn’t believe we were that high so I consulted topographic maps, and yes, in fact it was correct. What a view.

This church sits high up on the mountain, we saw it from the gondola.

Easily the highpoint for me in Kotor was the speedboat tour we took on Monday. It was on a small boat, only ten passengers, under 20 feet in length. I loved the fast ride over the wakes and waves – it takes me back to the days when I drove a waterski boat.

We stopped first at Perast, then a cruise by St. George Monastery and the Lady of the Rock. With that we headed out toward the Adriatic to see the Blue Caves, and then on the way back we saw the tunnels that were used to hide Yugoslavian submarines during WWII.

Since we are back in Europe I am going out for morning coffee. Tricia joins me a bit later. The mornings are nice as they are not hot yet, and the cruise-ship hoards and tours have not yet clogged the streets. The temperatures have been in the 80Fs.

Yesterday, Thursday, we took a taxi to Perast. Then we took a boat out to the Lady of the Rock. We were early, so there were only three of us on the boat going out, just an hour later the boats were all packed and the island was overrun. I did get a sketch in of the church.

We have eaten pretty well, only one meal a disappointment.

We took the bus back from Perast yesterday. We waited for about 20 minutes at the bus stop, where at least five huge tour busses were parked with their contingent of passengers. Our Blue Line bus finally came and it was already packed, standing room only, so, like the good little sardines we are, we packed ourselves in for the ride back. I kept reminding myself of the savings, 2EUR for the bus 35EUR for the taxi.

We left the bus at the edge of the old town and were met with this view. The bow of the ship is only 200-300 feet from the city wall.

I have admittedly, but not apologetically, become a curmudgeon regarding cruise ships. Yes, I know, I know, we have been on four Norwegian cruises, and parts of them I did enjoy. Yet being here, and in Prague, I realize I can’t contribute to the crowds any longer.

Apparently the crowds do not always increase the local business as much as you would expect, the feedback is mixed. One shop owner explained that it is the city council that is most in favor of the ships stopping here because of the large moorage fees that go into the city coffers. I have no idea how much Kotor gets, but some quick searching tells me that the range in general for cruising is $20,000 – $90,000 per visit. And Kotor gets at least two ships per day, and often four.

My father said that there is nothing worse than a reformed smoker, so OK, I will be the unbearable reformed cruiser. However, in an attempt to not lose all of my followers here, I will curb my future tirades, but I do feel better getting this off of my chest.

This has been such a good trip, hard to believe we left Portland 17 days ago, it has gone by so fast. Tomorrow we head for France where we will spend all of June.

As always, thank you for following. I hope whatever journeys you are on this week that you find a moment to do a sketch to capture the place and moment.