Day 132: Kotor

Aug 13 - Head into old town to finish having a look around. First stop is the Cat Museum. No live cats here, unfortunately, but hundreds of pictures, photos, paintings, and woodcuts of cats through the ages. At any rate, there are many cats laying around everywhere in this town, more than I remember seeing in BiH or Croatia. The city park is host to a tribe of cats, for which have been installed boxes for them to sleep, and bowls of food. The museum description is correct when it states that Kotor is the ideal city for such a collection of cat paraphernalia, given how popular live cats are.

The cats here do not want for nutrient.

A Byzantine-style fountain near the Church of St. Mary Collegiate.

A view up the mountains north of old town. This is what invaders from that direction would have to come over the top of.

The western wall of old town has the widest exposed level ground. Hence it uses a river as a moat for added protection.

There is a nice gravel beach in the western part of town. It is predictably packed with people.

When a cruise ship docks in a little town like this, it dominates the skyline.

The Sea Gate of old city Kotor, built initially by the Venetians. It was heavily modified at the end of WWII by Josip Tito, to commemorate when Yugoslavia was liberated of the Nazis. He placed a quote below the coat of arms that says tude necemo svoje ne damo, which translates to “what belongs to others we don’t want, what is ours we will never surrender”.

Just east of the old city, right next to the Idea Supermarket, are the remains of a Franciscan Monastery. Apparently this was built over a Roman settlement, but the site is appears to be abandoned as an archaeological site and it is difficult to see which of the foundations is Roman.

Perhaps the foundations to the left on this photo are Roman. The slabs under Odette are Franciscan tombs.

A bit of writing and symbols are still visible on the slabs, but they’ve been left to the elements for a long time.

Montenegro