Cruising the Bay of Kotor

There are numerous ways to explore Kotor.

Already in love with this place after exploring Kotor Old Town on foot, I was keen to take the water approach and 'sea' how much better the views were from the water. There are public boats available in front of the Old Town you can take, but I chose a private boat tour with 360 Monte travel agency.

Here are are some visually immersive snaps of the Boka Bay.

The beauty of a boat cruise is that you’ll get a completely different perspective of the area - small fishing villages along the coastline, traditional stone brick houses hiding among mountain greenery, small islands with the tiniest of churches, unexpected caves, and even a secret submarine tunnel.

We cruised past uninhabited Mamula Island, a former Austro-Hungarian fortress that was used as a concentration camp during WWII.

These old concrete tunnel used to hide submarines for the Yugoslavian Navy. Buried deep into the side of a mountain, it was super interesting to see it in person, definitely not an every-day thing you get to see when travelling.

Regular dips in the sea were mandatory during the height of summer heat.

Approaching the Blue Cave, we jumped into the turquoise sea and swam into the cave to be totally taken back by how blue it really was. It is called Blue Cave due to the way the light hits the bottom and makes the whole cave look incredibly blue.

The surreal beauty of the endless sea.

We stopped for lunch at a wonderful seafood restaurant with a breathtaking view of the bay.

Probably the most picturesque place was Perast, overlooked by the islets of St. George and Our Lady of the Rocks.

We docked on Gospa od Skrpjela (Our Lady of The Rocks), a man-made island built up by locals over 500 years and one of the most photogenic places in Boka Bay.

In 1452 two local fishermen found the painting of St. Mary on the rock in that place. Even if the painting was moved to St. Nicolas Church in Perast it returned to the rock, three times. Eventually, it was decided the church needs to be built in that very place. Only until 1603 over 100 ships were sunk for that purpose. It’s as charming on the outside as well as on the inside.

I had a really grape time.

Cruising along the Bay of Kotor, surrounded by the dark mountains and shimmering turquoise water, soaking up all the sunshine, was a real highlight. There’s nothing quite like sightseeing from the comfort of the deck on a boat. It is proven that staring at the sea actually changes our brain wave frequency and puts us into a mild meditative state and a better mood.