The Dalmatian coast is dotted with little walled port towns that used to belong to the Venetian empire; a whole string of them all along the eastern shores of the Adriatic, on the Peloponnese, the Cyclades, and Cyprus–all the way to the profitable Middle Eastern emporia where silk and spices were loaded on to Venetian trade galleys. This is how Venice became a great sea power in the Eastern Mediterranean. Kotor, in Montenegro, shown here, is just one of these many old Venetian  ports of call. From the fort on the mountain behind the town you can get an unforgettable view up the long inlet, almost like a fjord. At the bottom of the picture you can make out the point of the triangular shape of the medieval/renaissance-era city; a safe anchorage for traders during their long and perilous voyages. Today, however, a destination for cruise ships–ours the little ‘Island Sky’ on the pier to the right.