And now you get to visit a new favourite place of mine virtually
I thought I would review the map with you as Friday we went south and crossed another border into Montenegro. Montenegro remained in Yugloslavia and then in union with Serbia until officially 2006 when it became its own country peacefully. Euros are used here although not yet officially in EU
It is poorer than Crotia but quite lovely here.
This is the beginning of the Bay of Kotor which is often called the most southern fiord of Europe
Our goal was to see the bay and to visit Kotor. The picture above is one Kotor's two moats. Below is a map of this neat walled city. The old city is smaller than Dubrovnik's but the walls more extensive and rugged so we didn't climb them but we loved wandering the city.
Kotor has been under the control of many foreign powers in the last twenty centuries from Illyrians to Romans to Serbs to Venetians, Russians, Napoleonic soldiers to Austrians to Tito's Yugoslavia and finally Montenegrians but has never been destroyed by warfare although damaged by a couple of earthquakes!
The gate marks the date of Tito's "liberation" of the city from the Nazis
We found lots to shop for, many beautiful arts crafts locally made such as these plates above. I did buy some smaller dishes as Christmas presents.
And beautiful little spots such as this one above.
Lots of churches both Catholic and Greek Orthodox
And here's a local young craftsman at work
lots of cafes
and did I mention the cats? Cats are everywhere in Kotor.
You even see them on these handmade mittens (sometimes I really wonder why I didn't buy some things).
This is where we had lunch (well gelato) and enjoyed a nice concert. I made you a little video since you couldn't be there.
Needless to say we went shopping here. We hadn't known it but cats are the symbol of Kotar, believed to have come from ships from around the world that had cats on board to keep rats away. As noted we saw a number of contented looking cats in the streets. There is a cat museum as well and lots of cat items for sale. There are lots of cats in Dubrovnik as well by the way even around our hotel grounds!!!
I really liked this door of St. Mary's Church. The church was built in the 12th century on the site of a sixth century basilica and the doors were a 20th century addition showing the life of Blessed Osanna (1993-1565) who led of life of prayer and whose body is inside the church in a glass casket.
This is the interior of the church but I didn't show the casket!
We really liked these shutters and the shop was filled with lovely locally made crafts as well. I think I should have done more shopping but you never know what other treasures you will find.
I liked the juxtaposition of the old city against the mountain and fortifications.
There was a great market just outside the Old Town with locally grown produce and I tasted some delicious olives.
One final picture of those fortifications. We really liked Kotor and decided it was our second favourite place on this wonderful trip. Stay tuned for our favourite. It was perfect for just wandering the quiet narrow streets and pleasant squares, reminding me of other favourite places like Seville and Cordoba
We took a ferry across the bay to cut down the drive back a bit, but it was only an eight minute ride
But time for a few pictures
We kept seeing this monastery on the drive down but was difficult to get a good picture from the bus and now the sun made it difficult.
We whipped through customs on the way back to Dubrovnik and enjoyed a beautiful drive in the setting sun. The picture above is actually from the deck at our hotel. A few people went back to the Old City but we decided just to walk to a nearby restaurant for dinner. We just wanted to savour the day and it was an early start the next day to Split.
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