It was Sunday, so stores were closed and we couldnât run errands even though we still had the car. We were tired from the weeks excursions, but still wanted to explore a bit locally, so we drove out past the airport to the church of St Michael the Archangel.
The church was built in the 12th century, though Orthodox Serbian monks were believed to have lived here since the 6th century. The Venetians came to rule in the 15th century, and it was believed that local politicians poisoned the food here, killing all 70 monks that lived in the monastery at the time. The building was abandoned, and it wasnât until the mid 1800âs that the new church was built. The current church is modest in size, but beautifully decorated and even contains the relics of the the martyred poisoned monks.
The belfry (now I know where the bells are tolling from that we hear in the marina) is huge, given the size of the church.
The graves are particularly interesting. Land here is all rock, so people really couldnât be buried in the ground. Crypts were built (in this case they did dig through rock, but most are above ground). The irony rings and tabs with holes are used to lift the top off for a new body to be added to the tomb.
From there we headed up into the hills to visit a restaurant recommended by fellow cruisers – PeÄenjara Gostiona Nadoveza. It was completely packed with locals and we luckily scored one of the last remaining tables. Over beers and the typical Montenegrin âmeat festâ (delicious!), we watched more and more cars arrive and park with no thought to how others would come in and get out. Crazy as it was, there was no honking, no yelling, and everyone figured things out. A lovely end to a long week touring Montenegro!
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