Standing outside Kotor Old Town and looking at the solid dark grey walls blend into the dark grey rockface of the mountain looming vertically up behind the town, you know just by looking you are somewhere ancient and awesome.
Rosie and The Operator are out early and the sun has not yet risen over the top of the mountains and banished the shadows away from the town. Rosie has a little shiver, the town is silent and feels a little ominous in this light.
Standing before the River Gate, which is the gate that the locals predominantly use to navigate through the back streets of the town you get the idea of what Rosie is feeling…especially since this gate was built in 1540. It used to have a drawbridge that was closed at night to protect the town. It feels like being on the set of a movie looking at this scene, in front of you there is not one hint of anything of this century, it is like stepping back in time.
Before you cross the stone bridge there is a community notice board which tells you what is on in the town and it displays the Death Notices….which always have a picture of the dearly loved departed.
Directly through the Gates is St Marys Square…or as Rosie likes to call it ‘Cat Piss Square’. This square is always full of cats…which is a very Kotor thing.
They are all strays, which are super well feed and looked after by a multitude of crazy cat ladies in this town and restaurants which feed them left overs, hence they are all good natured, plump and smoochy.
Dont touch them, snapped The Operator, the cranky cat feeder himself….Im sure I can see the fleas jumping off their bodies. Oooookay, one particualry pissy smelly shop where the cats wander in and out of is the Kotor Cat Souvenir Shop. There is always a crowd taking photos of the totally photogenic cats that pose there…for a small cat food donation please, to help us feed the cats of course.
Central to this square is the Church of St Mary by the River, it was built in 1221 and has beautiful bronze doors depicting the life of the Blessed Ozana born in 1493. A young village girl turned nun and upon having mystic visions saved the town numerous times from attack and from itself when the citizens and the nobility squabbled.
Rosie never lingers in this square…..the pervading odor of cat piss being too acrid. It does always amaze her though the amount of tourists sitting on the seats by the fountain with upwards of five cats on there knees reveling in their ‘kitty time’.
The air is damp, the buildings are mossy and so much older looking than the fancy Venetian towns of Croatia. Kotors Old Town is predominantly original from the 14th and 15th Century, so this place was built a couple of hundred years earlier than the majority of towns visited in Croatia.
Rosie loves it, this town feels old, really old…..you can tell it has stories and secrets, the surroundings add to this feeling and Rosie can say she has never felt this way about any town before.
Looking up this alleyway at the uneven cobblestones and the stone steps of the houses where thousands of entry and exit footsteps over time have worn them down in the middle giving them the look of sagging is incredible. The patchy paint, weeds growing out of the stone walls and strung washing across the street all adds to the surrealness of this time and place.
The alley ways that link the main squares of Kotor are narrow, cobblestone and beautiful. Shops line the alley mainly selling souvenirs whilst small grocery stores, shoe and clothing shops are also found between them.
Cafes, bars and restaurants are everywhere, mostly they rely on their outdoor terraces as their inside space is so tiny! Washing hangs in the alleyways just like any other town and the bells of the churches ring out the hours, halves and quarters.
There is so much to be seen down the alleyways and Rosie can say she seems to stumble across a new alley way every other day.
The Square of St Lucas is one of the most atmospheric squares in the town. On its checkerboard pavers sits, the tiny cute stone church of St Lucas whom the square is named after and was built in 1195 as per the founders plate attached to the wall by the window above the front door.
It looks amazing from the front in all its simplicity especially being framed by the larger more modern buildings behind it and then framed again by the giant mountains and the tiny church high up on the hillside that looks down over its shoulder into the square.
It also looks amazing from the back with all of its shapes geometrically coming to the fore. The inside of the church is just as simple as the outside.
The newest church in town also sits in this square, the Greek Orthodox Church of St Nicholas built in 1902… technically though there has always been a church on this site since the 1500s.
This church is so different and mysterious inside. The air is hazy with the scent of incense, Rosie and The Operator walk in for a look around and a baptism is happening in the open plan church as tourists walk around them taking photos.
The art work looks amazing and old and the priest doing the baptism, Rosie sees him wandering the church and the square alot looks like someone out of a medieval movie.
Serious, he wears long black robes to the ground, has a portly belly and wears a low multi pointed black cap. His hands are always clasped on the shelf of his belly and he sports the biggest bejewelled crucifix you have ever seen! Serious, think mayoral chains and add a crucifix….Rosie was trying to get a sneaky pic…but to no avail without being totally noticeable.
This square is normally always humming with people, however, most of the photos I am showing on this blog and others show the town and squares empty. Rosie chose to come back and take pics on the rare ‘no cruise ship days’ when the town is blissfully quiet. None of the squares in Kotor are big and to get the best photos you have to press your back up the walls of the buildings on the edge of the square. Whilst Rosie was doing that and trying to get a good shot, a melancholy wavering wail of a solo violin sounded from above her. It was so plaintively beautiful sounding…this was then followed by the erupting cascade of the rest of the orchestra joining in. The Montenegro School of Music is housed in the building Rosie had her back to. The music coming from the open windows was sublime resounding out over the square. The music school is in the pic below – it is in the building with the flag.
Next to St Nicolas Church, on the corner is the tiny Hair Salon Bajlo, with the small black canopy over the door. Rosie had booked in for a touch up on the recommendation of our apartment owners wife Tamara. The salon looked unremarkable from the outside, beige block of an ancient exterior, but inside!
Super trendy and ultra modern in a grungy boho kind of way. Rosie must say, for the lack of English that they spoke…she had the best colour match so far anywhere outside of her home salon in New Zealand. Rosie was a little disapointed though….she wasn’t offered a coffee….
What Rosie loved the most was the ‘wall of history’ inside the shop….this salon has been going for decades running out of these premises. Rosie particularly loved the group pics of the stylists outside the salon through the ages….you can totally tell what decades they were from from their own hairstyles and clothing. Awesome history.
St Nicholas church is also very popular for weddings on Fridays and Saturdays….they fair run them through nearly one after the other. The brides look so beautiful and the guests are always suited in their European best.
Just like in Croatia the groom escorts the bride from her parents house and they walk to the church together with the males in the family flying the flag and singing songs along the way. They are so loud and boisterous, they sound like a bunch of chanting soccer supporters. It looks so much fun. Rosie was lucky to watch this wedding pass whilst she was having coffee….
….and then saw them leaving the church after the service on her way home. After every wedding, the bells of the church go crazy, celebrating the occasion for a booming couple of minutes that can be heard over the whole town and Bay.
Stay tuned tomorrow as Rosie shows you around the beautiful Cathedral of St Tryphon and introduces you to Museum Square where she loves an afternoon tipple in the sunshine.
