Kotor, Montenegro

View from San Giovanni Fort

Kotor is located at the end of a fjord, inset from the Adriatic Sea.  We arrived at the port and entered the Old Town through the Sea Gate.  The date of the city’s liberation from Nazi occupation is depicted on the gate, along with a quote from Yugoslav President Josip Broz Tito. Kotor was founded by the Romans as Acruvium, and was under Venetian rule for 400 years, which is evident in the architecture.  

The Old Town is beautiful, with narrow winding streets, small squares, and lots of outdoor cafes.  All of the buildings are made of similar light, stone block construction and red tile roofs.  

View from St Tryphon's

Kotor street

Kotor square

Main Square

One of the highlights of a visit to Kotor is exploring the expansive city walls, capped by St John’s (San Giovanni) fort.  The walls scale up the mountainside behind the walled old city, up 1350 steps and 700 feet of elevation.  The guidebooks indicate that the ticket office is near St Mary’s Church, where there is a threatening sign indicating that anyone found on the wall without a ticket can be fined 1000 Euros, but there is no ticket office in sight.  As we discovered, the ticket booth is about 200 meters up the steps (15 Euros per person).  The climb was pretty vigorous, taking about 90 minutes round trip, but the views were more than worth the climb, with spectacular views of the old city, fjord, and surrounding mountains.  We took the hike early in the morning to avoid the heat and stay in the shade of the mountain; later in the morning the path is fully in the sun. 

View from the Koto wall

San Giovanni fort

There are several important churches in Kotor.  The tiny St Luke’s Church was built in 1195, and was shared between Catholics and Orthodox from 1657 until 1812, an amazing show of tolerance in a region that is known for religious strife.  There are some 12th century frescoes remaining in the church. 

St Tryphon's

St Tryphon's altar

St Tryphon’s Catholic Cathedral was founded in 1166 but rebuilt several times due to earthquakes.   There are remnants of Byzantine frescoes in the arches of the vaulted ceiling.  The museum of the church has some remarkable church treasures and reliquaries.  

 

St Mary’s Catholic Church, near the entrance to the city wall path, was built in 1221 on top of a 6th century church.  The most interesting element was the glass coffin containing the remains of Osanna of Cattaro (died 1565); she was an “anchoress”, which means she had herself walled into a small cell in the church in order to devote her life to prayer.  Why not just put a Do Not Disturb sign on your bedroom door?  

St Mary's altar

St Mary's Church

St Mary's chapel

St Nicholas

St Nicholas is an Orthodox church with an intricate iconostasis, which is the ornate screen with icons and religious paintings separating the nave from the altar.  Only priests and male worshippers are allowed beyond the iconostasis.  

St Nicholas

We had lunch at Restoran Cesarica, tried the local Krstac (white) and Vranac (red) wines, both pretty good.  Riblija Corba is a spicy fish soup, and was outstanding!  Excellent New York style pizza is at Primo's Pizza!

Drinks in old town

At the port