Kotor

Snuggled between a high cliff and the Adriatic, Kotor-Montenegro is often referred to as “little Dubrovnik.” This thick brick walled city with its labyrinth of tiny streets and alleys can be explored in a day. We spent an afternoon and the following morning meandering the Old Town; marveling at churches, climbing the steep wall behind the city and delighting in a seafood dinner.

Old Town

After finding parking in one of the three lots outside the city walls, we made our way into Old Town via the main town gate. The water of the Bay of Kotor used to come right up to the gate. In the 1500’s the gate would have been the city’s last line of defense. Today it welcomes thousands of visitors a day. The writing above the gate translates to, “don’t take what’s ours and we won’t take what’s yours.” Once through the gate, we entered the sunny Square of Arms. The centerpiece here is the Bell Tower.

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Cathedral of St. Tryphon

Wondering further into the narrow streets of Kotor, we arrived at one of the city’s main attractions; Cathedral of St. Tryphon. For a few euros per person you can tour the cathedral’s interior. Stop to see the bones and skull of St. Tryphon in a silver casket behind the reliquary. Plus, you can step out onto the balcony for a great view of the square below. However, the most interesting feature of the cathedral is its exterior. The church has rebuilt four times due to earthquake damage and subsequent fires. The most significant damage occurred after the 1665 earthquake. It was during the rebuild after that quake that the church ended up with mismatched towers. Builders simply ram out of money to finish the second.

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St. Luke’s Square

In a square just beyond St. Tryphon, we stopped to see St. Luke’s and St. Nicholas’ churches. The two Serbian Orthodox churches were built 700 years apart. The shorter, St. Luke’s is simpler while St. Nicholas’ is a bit more ornate. One striking feature of both is that neither has pews. Orthodox worshippers stand as a sign of respect throughout services. After poking our heads in the churches of St. Luke’s Square we made our way back to St. Tryphon’s to eat dinner at City Restaurant near the cathedral.

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Town Walls

Our trip in Kotor was in August, one of the hotter months in the Western Balkans. Given the heat, we opted to hike the walls behind the city in the early morning, before the real heat of the day. We were glad we made this choice, as the zig zagging trail was mostly in the shade for the uphill climb.

For 8 euros each, we hoofed it up the wall to the Church of Our Lady of Health. The hike consisted for rocky path like sections and many sections of narrow stone steps. Most of the wall was completed during the Venetian occupation of Kotor in the 17th and 18th centuries and is anywhere from 6 feet to 50 feet wide. Parts of the wall are as tall as 65 feet. The hike to Church of Our Lady took about an hour round trip and offered postcard like views of the bay below.

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Cats of Kotor

All over Kotor, you’ll notice cats. Sleeping on doorsteps, lounging under cafe tables in squares or taking a cool, shady cat nap along the city walls. Cats and Kotor have become synonymous and our animal loving, nine year old says the cats were the highlight of his trip.

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Where to stay

• The walled city of Kotor is hard to access when traveling via car and needing overnight parking. We opted to stay 10 minutes outside the old city in Dobrota and were lucky enough to find a place with a shared outdoor pool. This was by far our boys’ favorite place to stay.
• We booked Kruna’s Place through AirBnB.

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What and where to eat

• Our favorite meal in Kotor was at City Restaurant. Ordering seafood here is a must. I was drooling over the grilled prawns.

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Our Western Balkan adventure took us to Lake Bled-Slovenia, Plitvice Lakes National Park, Split, Dubrovnik and Mostar. Click the links above for more details on those trips.

Happy Adventuring, Rochelle