Another day, another country – Kotor, Montenegro. A bit of liquid sunshine in the morning didn’t dim our spirits as we hoofed around this old walled city. It’s quite small, so we were able to walk the entire city with its narrow stone streets in just a couple of hours.
In Kotor, cats are everywhere, as you can see from the pic of the peeping tom. The locals are cat crazy – they love them, feed them and care for them. Tempted though we were, we didn’t buy the lady in the window.
The Tryphon Cathedral in the middle of town was beautiful without being ostentatious. It’s named for Saint Tryphon, the patron saint of Kotor, a 3rd century martyr who was killed in Turkey at the age of 16 by the Romans for practicing Christianity. About 500 years later his remains were found and brought to Kotor by the Venetians (those Venetians really got around) and here they stayed. The actual stone box that housed his remains is pictured.
Kotor is often called the hidden city because a secret Yugoslavian navy base was situated here during the Cold War. I snapped a picture of one of the submarine pens that were dug into the mountainside as we steamed past.
Unlike Croatia, Montenegro transitioned peacefully to independence after the breakup of Yugoslavia. It is a multi-ethnic society so wasn’t torn apart by ethnic strife like some of the others.
Tomorrow morning, we will wake up at the island of Corfu!