We had a tour booked today so we were up with the sparrows for a change. The ship docked at 8:00 am within a bay surrounded by majestic mountains rising straight up from the water. What a view! This place is referred to as the mediterranean's only fjord, it isn't really, just tectonic forces, but it certainly looks like one.

Our tour was a small boat cruise through the bay stopping at a small man made island with a church (Our Lady of the Rocks) which took 100 years to build the island and 100 to build the church. We then stopped at Perast, a small village on the bay.

We briefly visited a small maritime museum (one family's old fancy home) and walked down the main street, which was about 200 metres long and stopped at a café (with free Wi-Fi). We had freshly squeezed orange and lemon juice with bruschetta and a ham and salad sandwich ($16 in total) while relaxing and enjoying the view before finishing the cruise back to Kotor and our cruise ship. Just in front of the café was a basketball court built in a small space jutting out from the shore.

Across the mountain in front of our cruise ship was a wall around the old town which stretched half way up the mountain around the nooks and crannies and back down to the shore. We imagined how difficult it would have been to build.

Our guide had given us some information in Montenegro's history and they have certainly had a lot of variations in control. From the Greek, Romans, Peloponnesian and the Venetians (for 400 years), to self government, inclusion in Yugoslavia, ties to Serbia and now, from 2006, to being self governing once again. Both a very old and a very young country.

The population is only 650,000 and they rely on tourism for six months a year. Montenegro is not in the European Union yet, but their currency is Euros. Montenegro (Black Mountains) was named by the Venetians due to the shade cast by the steep mountains making them look black.

The cruise ship set sail at 2:00 pm and Anthony and I found a nice shady spot overlooking the view as the ship sailed through the "fjord". It was a gorgeous day, sun shining and 32 degrees. We had a couple of swims (in between the squealing, diving children) and a gelato while enjoying the trip back to the Adriatic Sea.

We had a nice spot with an open window to the breeze and the view. All of a sudden a crew member came and closed the window without a word. When I raised an objection he noted that the wind was making the roof rattle and it was too noisy!! We could barely hear the rattle over the noise of the passengers, what a joke. After he left we opened it again. We are such rebels.