Montenegro day 11: Bay of Kotor

Wednesday, 12th October 2022

The Bay of Kotor has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1979. As with Budva, the town of Kotor was almost completely ruined by an earthquake in 1979 and has since been rebuilt.

We headed to Kotor from Budva and, the closer we got from Kotor, the worst the traffic got. Car and coaches lined the roads and slowed the traffic. If this is the speed in Autumn, I do not want to know how slow it is in Summer!

We decided to park the car before arriving at the bay because all parking at the bay is paid parking. We parked on a side road from the E80 road, near a Eko petrol station. No payment required. There were many others parked on the side of the road. The car was still there when we returned.

There is a fruit & vegetables market on the outer wall of the Old Town.

We had seen the below fruit in supermarkets and had no idea what it was. I asked a lady managing a stall in the market. She did tell us the name but I neither remember nor could I prononce it. We bought some to try. It looks like a fresh date, size of the pit is similar, but the consistency and taste is just like an apple. How peculiar!

Kotor Old Town is characterised by tight alleyways, spacious squares, cobblestoned streets, Venetian buildings, encircled by well-preserved stone walls. 

No cars are allowed in the Old Town so carts are used for transporting cargo.

With the exception of the council's electric bin vans.

The City Tower, 1602.

The Old Town has 3 gates: Sea Gate, Gurdić Gate and River Gate.

Sea Gate (West Gate), built in 1555, is the main gate.

The words of communist Yugoslav ruler Josip Broz Tito are etched into the gate along with the date Kotor was liberated from Nazi occupation, 24-11-1944: 'Tuđe nećemo, svoje ne damo' ('What belongs to others we don't want, what is ours we will never surrender').

Gurdić Gate (South Gate), built 13-18th century.

River Gate (North Gate), built 1540.

Venetian palaces belonging to the Venetian families that once held the power in Kotor abound and they can easily be identified by their grand entrances.

Palace of Pima Family (Palata Pima), 17th century

Palace of Buca Family (Palata Buća), 13-18th century

There are even more churches and monasteries in Kotor than palaces.

St Tryphon Cathedral or Kotor Cathedral, 1166, Catholic.

St Luke's Church, 1195, Catholic church turned Orthodox in 1657. It had 1 altar for each faith as both masses were performed until 1812.

St Nicholas' Church, 1543 but rebuilt in 1909 after a fire, Orthodox.

The City Walls were started by the Illyrians in the 2nd century BC but it wasn't until the 15th century that the Venetians finally finished the fortifications. The western wall and parts of the north wall can be walked. Access is via the main gate; having passed it, turn left and walk past the terraces until you reach the stairs on the left hand-side.

Western Wall:

Looking towards the Bay from the top of the Sea Gate.

Looking into the town to the square Trg od Oružja.

North Wall:

Looking over the river Škurda to the mountains behind Kotor

Looking onto the Bay of Kotor and the many cruise ships.

Looking into the town to the square Trg od drva.

By the River Gate looking to the Riva Bastion and the mountains.

It was surprising to find that Kotor has even more cats than Budva. Indeed, Kotor's cats are the finest of residents and are living the good life. The town provides shelter and food, tourists provide the cuddles and the ego-boosting photographic sessions. 

Historically, cats were necessary to keep pests at bay on the very important maritime industry's ships. Those ships brought cats into the town and the cats continued to keep the town's resident pests under control, rats and snakes.

I am going to call the square Trg od drva the 'Square of cats' because they seriously own the place.

We needed some fuel for what was to come next so we sat at café Letrika. Two cappuccinos and one latte cost €9. Ouch! Kotor is expensive.

To reach the top of the city walls where the Kotor Fortress is and the best views of the Bay of Kotor are, one needs to queue on a gate and go through a guard. The gate is open 8am-8pm.

It costs €8, you get a ticket to scan at the turn-still and then you have to bin it. Yes, you read correctly, you bin it! According to the guard, people were passing the tickets around and re-using them, which cannot happen because I bet this is Kotor's best money-making site. 

Now we had a problem because Manuel likes to keep tickets for his trip journal. We had 3 tickets, we binned 2 but pretended to bin 3 and he kept 1. Problem solved!

To get to the fortress you need to walk up 1355 steps on a sometimes very damaged cobblestone stair along the wall. The human traffic is unbelievable and it's Autumn! I haven't seen and heard these many Americans since Mexico. There are 4 cruise ships docked at the Bay and they must all  be on-board. 

Halfway to the top there is a church, Church of Our Lady of Health our Our Lady of Remedy, built in 1518. It is a small but pretty shrine and, as usual, photography is not allowed inside. There is a lady guarding the church and she was displeased with my bare shoulders...

View of the Bay and the tower of the Church of Our Lady of Health.

St Marco's Position, one of the towers on the wall.

The Old Town with it's tilled roofs, encircled by the walls.

Kotor Fortress (Kastel Sveti Ivan) goes by many names: Illyrian Fort, Castel of St John's, Castle of San Giovanni. It was built in the 9th century on the Hill of St John.

When you finally reach the fortress, it is nothing but a ruin. 

The lion of Venice still in proud display.

However, the fortress has the best views of the bay and the Old Town and provides for good photographic moments.

The Bay of Kotor is the biggest bay in the country with 616km². The bay is often called Europe's southernmost fjord but it's not a fjord, it's a ria, a collapsed river bed that opens onto the Adriatic Sea.

Once at the top there are 2 options to descend. Either you go back the same way or you hop onto the Ladder of Kotor for a different scenery. Not one for repeating, I decided to try the latter.

The Ladder of Kotor or Ladder of Cattaro is an old military trail built by the Austrians which connected Kotor to Cetinje, Montenegro's royal capital. It has over 70 switchbacks and it's in good condition for its age. The trail is 6.4km one-way.

Somewhere along the eastern wall near the fortress there is a window which can be traversed. It has a strategic ladder on the outer side so you can descend and you will be out of the City Walls and onto the Ladder of Kotor trail.

View of the window from the outside of the walls.

In some blogs this window is known as the 'free-ticket' onto the City Walls. This meaning you could actually go up the Ladder of Kotor and hop-on the City Walls via this window and then descend the City Walls. The guard at the turn-still doesn't check anyone exiting, there is only control at entry point. However, some blogger also mention that sometimes there is a guard at this window. There was no guard today but I can see there being one in the busy Summer months.

We did not hike the full length of the Ladder of Kotor. No. We just joined the trail by the fortress and descended to the Old Town.

The abandoned Chapel of St John can be seen from the fortress as it is that close. It was much quieter outside the City Walls so we sat by the chapel for a picnic lunch.

The chapel was likely part of the village by the walls that is now nothing but a ruin, but a ruin with excellent views: Špiljari.

Views from the Bay can be seen, but this time you can see the outskirts of the Old Town, not the Old Town itself, and the beautiful outline of the City Walls.

The never-ending switchbacks on the way down.

The trail is lined by pomegranate trees.

The trail passes the Old Power Station on the river Škurda, and along the north walls passing the Riva Bastion and finally onto the bridge of the River Gate. You're back at the Old Town!

It can be difficult to see in the photo below because the stone is all the same colour but the City Walls continue from the Riva Bastion on the river all the way up the mountain until the Kotor Fortress at the top.

Both the City Walls and the Ladder of Kotor are worth trekking but if we were to do this route again, we would do it the opposite direction. We would go up via the Ladder of Kotor to enjoy the switchbacks and the outline of the City Walls and then through the window to the Kotor Fortress for the incredible views and down the City Walls for views of the Old Town and the bay.

Stats of the trek:

Distance: 5.77km

Time: 3h29 (1h47min walking time)

Average moving speed: 1.65km/h

Elevation gain: 399m

After the effort, the reward. Again, expensive, 3 double scoop ice-creams cost €12.

I pleaded with the boys to visit the Maritime Museum of Montenegro which is in Kotor and had great reviews but they really didn't like Budva's Museum so I was overruled and they dragged me out of the Old Town. Hasta la vista, Kotor!

The museum is in Palace Grubonja (Palata Grubonja), 17th century.

From Kotor we drove to Herceg Novi via de E80 and E65 roads, effectively driving around the beautiful Bay of Kotor and almost to where the land meets the opening of the bay onto the Adriatic Sea. This road is part of Montenegro's Panoramic Road # 3 ('Sea and Heights') and it is worth the time it takes to drive. The tarmac is in good condition, in October there was little traffic and the views are breathtaking.

Full map for the Panoramic Road on: Panoramic Road # 3

On the way we wanted to stop at Perast but there was paid parking and the village is pedestrian-only for non-residents. I wasn't really keen on paying €4 for less than an hour stop so I turned the car around. As I was doing so, the guard hailed me and started chatting, I told him we just wanted to have a quick look at Perast, he wanted to know where we were from,  'Portugal' I said, he gave the usual reply 'Cristiano Ronaldo!', laughed and said 'Go on, drive through only, you cannot stop or I'll get in trouble'. I winked at the guard, said thank you, drove away and sent Ronaldo a platonic kiss.

Perast is one of the highlights of the Bay of Kotor. It has a perfectly preserved town core and, due to its strategic position at the entrance of the bay, it was an important town in the Venetian times, both in terms of defence and as a checkpoint for the transport of goods. Just off coast from Perast there are 2 islets:

• Island of Our Lady of the Rocks (Ostrvo Gospa od Škrpjela): the only man-made island of the Adriatic; it has an 11m high Byzantine-style Catholic church; there are water taxis you can take to visit the island.
• Island of St George or Island of the Dead (Ostrvo Sveti Đorđe): natural island; it has a cemetery where the famous Captain Perast is buried; it can only be admired from the water as it is closed.

Warning: below are rushed photos taken through the window of the car.

On hindsight it would have been better to walk because the only road along the bay is very narrow and it was full of pedestrians. Perhaps making Perast a lunch stop and take a water taxi to visit the Island of Ostrvo would make it worth the €4 parking fee. The village did look like it was worth it.

View towards Perast with the Island of Ostrvo in front.

Herceg Novi was founded in 1382 and it has been under Ottoman, Venetian, Spanish and  Austrian rule. During the Yugoslav era, Herceg Novi was the most popular Montenegrin holiday destination.

The Clock Tower (Ottoman, 1667)

Bellavista Square

St Archangel Michael Church, 19th century

The detail of bay leaves at the entrance of the church.

On Google maps it is marked a 'Viewpoint of Herceg Novi'. I would recommend as the below 2 views can be seen.

View towards the inside of the Bay of Kotor.

View towards the exit of the Bay, onto the Adriatic Sea.

We walked down the many stairs of the Old Town until we reached the beach.

View towards Fort Mare Fortress (Ottoman,14th century).

There is a promenade between Meljine and Igalo, passing through the beach of Herceg Novi, with a total length of 7km (one-way). It's called the Five Danica's Walkway (Šetalište Pet Danica), named after 5 young ladies all named Danica who died during WWII, and sits on top of a disused railway line that used to operate between Sarajevo-Zelenika.

Being sunset and as pretty as sunset is, we decided to walk the walkway to Igalo for dinner.

Olympic pool by Herceg Novi harbour with water polo lessons ongoing.

Herceg Novi harbour.

There are many beaches along the promenade.

Igalo is a part of Herceg Novi and it is known as a spa town. Josef Bros Tito used to spend a lot of time in Igalo and built a Summer residence here called Tito's Villa Galeb. I couldn't figure out online whether the villa could be visited but at the time we arrived in Igalo, it would have been way too late to visit anyway.

We settled for dinner at Romana restaurant by the waterfront. Service was slow but the food was delicious and we had the sound of the water as background noise. For 3 mains + 1 side-dish + 1 water + 2 orange juices we paid €69.20.

Steak with onions

Black risotto

Sea brim fillet with swiss chard Dalmatian style

This was a seriously long day. We had to walk back to Perast, up the hill to get the car and then drive back to Budva. I slept almost the entire drive. Jorge was keeping Manuel awake with singing. I am so glad I did not hear that! When we returned it was almost midnight.