Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Kotor

The old Venetian walled town of Kotor is much more interesting than the similarly sized old Venetian walled town of Budva.  Bounded by the Bay of Kotor, the Škurda River, and Mount Lovćen—the “black mountain” that gave the nation its name—it is arguably more beautiful, and with a permanent residential populace it feels more authentic.  Pick-up-sticks-like marble streets open into numerous little plazas for drinking coffee at the cafes, and at only four hectares (ten acres) in size, it is easy to get both lost and found.  I didn’t get time to climb the thousand-odd stairs which run up the mountain on the city walls to a fortress overlooking the turquoise Adriatic fjord on which the city sits.  For 400 years the city fell under the control of Venice, hence the appearance around town of the winged lion of St Mark and the variety of Renaissance palazzos.

Interestingly enough, there was an article in the Sydney Morning Herald about Kotor just the other day.  Click here.

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