105. The Magic Painting

Today started reeeeeaaaaally early. Even the old people thought it was early, so that’s saying something. There was an optional tour leaving at 7:25 am. It was like last semester at Purdue all over again! Where most days of the week, I had 7:30 lectures.  We took a bus up 25 switchbacks to the old capital of Montenegro called Cetinje. I wish I could tell you all about the bus experience on the steep slope, but we were on a bus, so I was asleep. At the top of the mountain we stopped for a snack of prosciutto, bread and cheese. Grandpa made sure there were no leftovers. This little town also had some dogs running around so Scarlet and I made sure to befriend them.

In Cetinje we took a tour through the royal palace. This King ruled over a population that was smaller than that of Indianapolis and was the first and last king of Montenegro. He lost power after World War II. But he still had a nice house that we explored! All of these old outfits were laying out, some jewelry, a gun room, and the bedrooms were all decorated. The best part was comparing his painted portrait to a picture someone took of him. Cameras aren’t as forgiving.

We didn’t take the switchback road back down to the boat which most people were thankful for. Our second adventure of the day was taking a boat to Our Lady of the Rocks Island.

The story goes there once was a picture of the Virgin Mary sitting on a Rock just off the coast of Kotor, Montenegro. Some sailors found it and brought it to the church in town. The next morning, the painting was found again on the rock off the coast. This happened for three days. Finally the people decided there just needed to be a church built on the rock. So what once was a 2 square meter rock turned in to an entire island.

The church now houses a collection of things gifted to The Lady by sailors who were saved in the sea because of her. One of the most impressive gifts was a piece of embroidery that a local lady willed to the church. It was very intricate and depicted the lady surrounded by angels. She made this during the 25 years that her husband was at sea. There are two stories behind it. One is that she eventually went blind and died alone, her husband never returning from sea. The more popular one is that her husband came back frequently and brought her the precious silks she used to make the piece. The most impressive part was that the angel’s hair was actually made from her own. You could see how long it took her to make because the hair went from brown to grey around the piece.

Soon we crammed back on the boat that took us to the island and headed back to the Athena. For the next 15 hours or so we will be on the sea. No internet or anything! After dinner we had Movie night! No Man's Land was showing and there was popcorn served. Scarlet hated the movie because it didn’t end, but I thought it portrayed a very unique view of war that most movies avoid preferring heroic gestures or just lots of blood, but definitely a clear winner.

After a long day, Scarlet and I headed to bed earlier than usual, but made sure not to miss the ending of Romeo and Juliet that was playing on the TV in our room. Another ending that Scarlet didn’t prefer.