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Photo Contest – September 23, 2011
September 30, 2011
The winner of our 9/23/11 photo contest is Rocky Cestroni of Huntingdon Valley, PA. Rocky’s name was randomly selected from those who correctly identified the bay in last week’s photo (see below) as the Bay of Kotor, located in the country of Montenegro. Montenegro is a beautiful Southern European country located along the Adriatic Sea across from the calf of Italy’s boot. Special thanks to Michal Zvalova for sharing this special photo with us as well as the close-up of the church below.
Photo Contest 9/23/11 - Bay of Kotor
The image below is a close up of one of the small islands (or islets) shown in last week’s photo. This islet is man-made and houses Gospa od Skrpjela (Our Lady of the Rocks), a baroque chuch which was built in 1632 and enlarged in 1722. According to legend, the islet was made over the centuries by the seamen who kept an ancient oath. Upon returning from each successful voyage, they laid a rock in the Bay. Over time, the islet gradually emerged from the sea. Our Lady of the Rocks was seen on this site.
The church contains 68 magnificent paintings by Tripo Kokolja, a famous 17th-century baroque artist from Perast. His most important painting, ten meters long, is The Death of the Virgin. There are also paintings by Italian artists, and an icon (circa 1452) of Our Lady of the Rocks, by Lovro Dobricevic of Kotor.
Gospa od Skpjela (Our Lady of the Rocks)
Here is a view of the entrance to the Bay of Kotor (alas, we wish we could take credit for this storybook photo – credit goes to Bart de Boer) . There are many cruiselines with itineraries that incude Kotor, Montenegro and those itineraries typically include other picturesque ports such as Dubrovnik and some less frequented ports of Greece, Italy and Spain. The cruiseines include Celebrity, Oceania, Seaborn, Silversea, MSC and Holland America.
Entrance to the Bay of Kotor - (photo credit - 2008 Bart de Boer)