- walking tour
- Fortress of San Giovanni and Church of Our Lady of Remedy
The second port of call, Kotor a coastal town in Montenegro, located in a secluded part of the Gulf of Kotor. Our ship sailed through the Bay of Kotor and glided for an hour through the mountains on a 17-mile waterway known as Europe’s southernmost fjord, but it is a ria, a submerged river canyon. It was quite a spectacular view with overhanging limestone cliffs and mountains rising on both sides of a long, thin bay which lead to the old walled town.
We went on a walking tour of the old Mediterranean port which is surrounded by fortifications built during the Venetian period. The medieval old town of Kotor is very well preserved and is a UNESCO world heritage site. It has a great number of monuments of the medieval architecture: churches, cathedrals, palaces, and museums and is complemented with the multitude of narrow streets, squares, and markets with lines of laundry fluttering from wrought-iron balconies, and hundreds of cats – the descendants of seafaring felines – laying about in laneways.
The old town has numerous sights, such as the Cathedral of Saint Tryphon in the old town (built in 1166) and the ancient walls which stretch for 4.5 km (3 mi) directly above the city on top of which stands the fortress of San Giovanni. The walking tour was a great way to see the sights and gain an understanding of the culture of the town and its history. As no cars are allowed inside the walls the only way to gets goods in and out of the narrow city streets is by three wheeled carts.
At the completion of the walking tour we decided to climb to the church and fortress at the top of the mountain of St John which is 280m above sea level. The guide suggested instead of climbing 1,350 steps and paying 8€, take the winding gravel path just outside the walls for free and follow the path until there is an entry into the interior of the walled city and then continue to the top on the path and steps and return via the steps. By taking this route we managed to see both sides of the mountain.
It took 1 ¼ hours to walk to the top and ¾ hour to return to the bottom. The view all the way is incredible and from the fortress the sights of the Old town of Kotor contained inside the walls and the stunning blue bay are spectacular.