Cruising the Adriatic--Bari and Madera

I was intrigued by the recent movie, "The Passion of Christ."  It seemed so real, with an ancient-looking, white-washed Jerusalem and a rocky, desolate Golgotha.  Our ship docked in Bari, in the "heel" of the Italy boot.  Our shore excursion visited the ancient Italian city, Madera, where "The Passion of Christ" was filmed.  We stopped on a hill outside the city to look at the panorama of caves and white-washed houses.

 

This hill was Golgotha in "The Passion of Christ," and three large crosses were built upon it.

We visited Madera's "modern" areas, with churches and government buildings dating from the 1700s, built in baroque style.  One of the churches was decorated with skulls and cross-bones, to remind parishioners of the constant nearness of death--"Momento mori," in Latin.

 

The streets were full of scooters, parked and in motion.

This street musician and his son made an interesting counterpoint to the modern sculpture displayed in front of the very traditional art museum in Madera.  We relaxed on the town square next to the museum before and after our walking tour of the cave dwellings.

 

For centuries, Italians lived in Madera caves with their animals.  In 1956 the Italian government forced them out because of health concerns.  We took a walking tour of the cave dwelling area.

 

 

We visited three churches built in the rock caves, with bits of frescos remaining.

 

We also visited a cave home.  Originally a large family lived here, with its pigs and sheep housed in another room of the cave.

 

Of course we needed a gelato to help us recover from all the walking and thinking on the tour.

Dave and I then spent an hour wandering the "new" city of Madera (the 1700s are new by Italian standards).  We liked the combination of snazzy 2000s Italian car next to baroque church.

We enjoyed watching the restaurant owners spiff up their outdoor tables, the lovers stroll together, the mothers chat next to baby carriages, and the accordionist play one more song for tips.

 

We ate pasta in a Madera cantina before driving back to our ship.

Cruising the Adriatic--Montenegro

A recent James Bond movie was shot in Montenegro.  Fake princes and dukes slip in and out of deceitful relationships in a glitzy casino, while thuggish bad guys careen down mountain switchbacks in sports cars.  Our guide in Montenegro proudly pointed out the casino and private island where parts of the movie were filmed.  We loved Montenegro.  It is wonderfully exotic, with a spectacular port, Kotor, at the end of a fjord, and a former capital with a king's palace high in the mountains above the city.  Add in past and present Russian influence, and you have it all.  (These photos appeared when I googled "James Bond movie Montenegro".)

 

 

 

 

The road from Kotor to the top of the mountains surrounding it is narrow, with 28 switchbacks. David and I counted them, from our perch in the front row of our tour bus, right above the driver.  The driver's challenges including watching for cows on the road.  The views, though, are spectacular--rugged peaks with the blue sea below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our guide pointed out the old zigzag trail up the mountain used for hundred of years, before the road was built.  One nobleman from Cetinje, the old capital higher in the mountains, had a billiard table carried by mule up the trail and over the mountain to the palace.

At the top of the mountains, we stopped at Njegusi, a town that makes prosciutto ham, "prsut" in Montenegran.  We sampled prsut with bread, cheese, and sauerkraut at a restaurant decorated with mannequins wearing Montenegran dress.  The Montenegrans claim that Njegusi makes great prsut because its meadows overlook the sea on one side and the mountains on the other, with the wind alternating between dry mountain breezes and salty sea air.

 

We then wandered outside the restaurant, admiring the quaint farms with lots of cabbages, and the tiny A-framed cabins for summer tourists.

 

 

 

 

 

Montenegro is really two countries--the Mediterranean coast and the rugged, rocky, Serbian interior.  Lord Byron, visiting the mountains of interior Montenegro, said, "Am I in paradise or on the moon?"  We continued through the mountains to Cetinje, the historic capital of Monenegro.   We visited the National Museum, which honors King Nikola 1, who ruled from 1860 until 1918.  The palace was just a large house, but King Nikola increased his influence through marrying five of his daughters into the various ruling families of Europe.  The highlight of the palace was the portraits of the royal family and the elaborate Victorian furniture.

 

This was the man who had the billiard table hauled up the mountain from Kotor.

There were also full-length portraits of the last czar and czarina of Russia.

King Nikola 1 and his wife were deposed in 1918, when the Austrians took over Montenegro after World War I.  They fled to France, but their bodies were eventually returned to this chapel in their beloved homeland.

On the hill was the monastery dedicated to St. Peter of Cetinje, who helped defeat the Turks.  The monastery supposedly contains the right hand of John the Baptist.  We didn't check that out.

Even Centinje, Montenegro, is not free from election campaigns.  Here's a billboard from the Montenegro Socialist Democratic Party.

After seeing the portraits of the czar and czarina of Russia in the palace, I asked our guide about the influence of Russia on Monenegro.  She explained that Montenegro shares religion and language with its Slavic neighbors and that many Russians visit and want to invest in Montenegro, but, "We take money from everybody."

As we drove out of the mountains and back to the coast, there were more gorgeous views of the sea, beach towns, and exclusive resorts.

 

We stopped in Budva, on the Montenegran Riviera, and wandered around its walled Old City.  We enjoyed watching people at the beach, including one toddler who played unconcernedly with his truck as his mom and I snapped photos of him.

 

 

We passed fancy yachts with elegantly dressed women strolling nearby.  The Adriatic coast is a place to see and be seen in the yachting world.  We were told at several stops on our Adriatic trip, "Bill Gates comes here in his yacht."

We ate grilled meat--good Balkan fare--at a Harley Davidson franchise restaurant in Budva.

We finished the day wandering through the Old City of Kotor, where our ship was docked.  The highlight of the Old City, for me, was the Orthodox Church and priest.