Today on Rosies tour of Old Town Kotor we cut across town using the back alley known as Craftmens St to Rosie favorite square. Our journey takes us out the far gate of the town and we circle the outside of the walls taking in the local green market on the way. Lets get started!
Coming in the back gate of the town that the locals use we enter Catpiss (St Marys) Square, the quickest route from here across town that dodges all of the main squares is along Craftmens Street. This runs the entire length of the ancient town along the foot of the mountain.
During the Middle ages and later, Kotor was famous for its craftsmen. Workshops were grouped according to their trades in this narrow alley called Craftmens Street. They included shoemakers, tanners, butchers, stonemasons, goldsmiths, blacksmiths, swordmakers, bakers and many more.
A list of these craftsmen, of which 46 trades were first noted in the town logs dates back to 1326. The streets heydey has long since passed, the colorful paved streets and tiny buildings now open their doors to souvenir sellers and artists. Still you can look at the street and imagine the hustle, bustle and noise of its glory days.
I met Vlad on this street….he is here everyday and is somewhat of a ‘modern craftsmen’….he twists names out of wire and attaches them to necklaces for the tourists….Rosie must admit he is great to watch and does do a cracking job. Five Euros a name….well I certainly got my monies worth with a name as long as Natalie (my niece) ….Ema (the daughter of the apartment owner) on the other hand, wasn’t a very big job.
Meet John and Johnny, they are town porters of which there is a squad of them that transport all deliveries into the Old Town on these pushbike trailers. No cars have ever driven these streets in Old Town Kotor, they are too narrow and tight. The porters wait at the locals gate for delivery trucks to come and then they have turns taking the deliveries to where they need to go in the Old Town. Everything from gas canisters to 20kg water bottles, food and kegs of beer for the bars and restaurants. Rosie also saw a new bed and a whole new bathroom being wheeled into the old town. The squad of about 6 carts keep pretty busy throughout the day. Craftmens Street is the quickest route through town for the deliveries….and it is only one cart at a time wide….
These two scoundrels below look pretty happy, it was 1030am and they reeked of booze…Rosie had the unfortunate meeting in a quiet narrow alley and they wanted a kiss for me to pass…yeah right!
Craftsmen Street is the route Rosie takes when she dosen’t feel like dawdling or there are heaps of tourists in the town she wants to evade. This street takes her right across the town to the far end and into the Square of Salad. Rosie’s favorite square in the whole of Kotor.
Yep, The Square of Salad, so named because it was the Square closest to the fields outside of the city walls where all of the market gardens and fresh produce was grown back in the day. Most tourists don’t really make it across this side of town, this square has no great family palaces in it but it has a great coffee shop that Rosie visits every day.
Welcome to the Cafe Perper….totally not on Tripadvisor so well off the tourist radar. This cafe only serves coffees, beer, soft drinks and cocktails.
The old man taking orders and fixing the drinks looks outwardly gruff…but Rosie has come to know, over the month that he is abit of a softie. He speaks no conversational English, only enough to understand your coffee or drinks order. After two weeks, he has started to smile at me and pat my shoulder, he shakes my hand sometimes and pulls out my chair for me to sit on the terrace. I never have to ask for my coffee now because he knows my order. I sit and next minute my coffee is in front of me.
Rosie sits in this square every morning out on the terrace, drinks her coffee and watches the world go by. This is her view of what is right in front of her.
Rosie loves the building directly in front of the coffee shop, its green shutters and the ferns growing out of the guttering that glow bright green in the sunshine. There is always washing hanging from the middle window of this house and sometime the middle aged lady of the house leans on the window sill of the left hand window and surveys the square herself.
The old timers sit in the back row of the terrace and after their first coffee of the day revert to smoking, drinking grappa or beer, reading their newspapers and placing sports bets inside.
There is a set a steps next door to the coffee shop that leads up to the fortress and many are the tourists Rosie watches as they debate whether to commit to the climb or not. Many also are the tourists that descend from the lofty heights in the hot sun and go to the freshwater tap in the square to quench their thirsts and wet their heads afterward.
This square also has its share of cats that Rosie watches in amusement as tourists oooh and aaah over them and take their photos. This wee American boy was reduced to tears when The Gruff Waiter of Rosies coffee shop picked up this cat he was patting on the cafe chair and tossed it aside. He didn’t want it on his tables.
Restaurant Santa Scala is at the end of the square, it rates in the Top 5 Restaurants in Kotor and Rosie has had many a lunch here on their outside patio…so many that she now always gets offered a free dessert to finish.
This restaurant is one of the oldest in town having opened its doors in 1931 and is totally exceptional. A big white patched tabby is the Kotor Cat that has claimed this restaurant as his own and sits watching you from under your table or curled up sleeping in a seat next to you.
Okay…Rosie has been known to give it a couple, only a couple mind you… of her fried squid when she has that for lunch, just because it is such a good cat. Scala Santa also make the most delicious shrimp with truffles pasta EVER, the cat gets non of that creamy goodness. Over Rosies head hangs the washing from the green shuttered building and its a pretty relaxed long lunch she has with a bit of chit chat from the waiter as he speaks excellent English.
Inside the restaurant it is like a Aladdins cave full of treasures from the nautical past of the town. The ceiling is low, held up with dark thick wooden beams and the fire place is open on both sides, so when lit would give heat to whatever room is beyond. It would be very romantic to dine here at night.
A man often comes and plays the saxophone in the square when the cruise ships are in town and he is guaranteed of an audience and good tips. This man also displays his art everyday here, sometimes he sits at the coffee shop table sipping a brew and others he sits on his wee stool painting away. It is surprising how many paintings he does sell, Rosie has observed.
Its a relaxed square where time has no meaning, but there is always something happening to see and observe. Rosie hopes you have enjoyed being shown around the Old Town as much as she has enjoyed staying there.
Wandering out of the square, down the lane on the left of the picture above you come to the southern entry of the town, The Gurdic Gate.
This gate built in the 1550s means business, it has a long tunnel to get to it and the ancient engineering of the drawbridge is still in place. Outside looking up the hill the ramparts are impressive and blend into the mountain side as they travel upwards.
Rosie loves how the town walls are built out of the same stone as the mountainside. You kind of miss the walls further up the hill at first glance. You really have to stop and follow the regular line with your eye to see it in its entirety as it blends in so well. It sure is a grand beautiful site.
As your eye traces the wall, you are always drawn to the wee church perched high above the town. The Church of Our Lady of Remedy.
Outside the Gurdic Gate and along the town wall on the harbor front is a small local green market. It is totally seasonal and everything is locally grown. One stall sells beautiful leaky, oozing honey comb…it looks sensational and also wasn’t there when Rosie decided to take photos. The market runs daily and is closed on Sunday expanding to twice the size on Friday and Saturday.
Tomorrow Rosie will show you around the town she frequents outside the Old Town and introduce you a bit more to the different personalities of the beautiful Bay of Kotor.
