Kator or kotor? Cats are king here.

They slink under your cafe table, walk off in a hightailed huff if you try to take a picture and sunbathe in the middle of the busiest plazas, impervious to advancing ‘follow the flag’ tourist groups.

My locally handmade kotor magnet features two black cats (i couldn’t find two ginger ones) and the craftswoman who sold it to me told me the people of kotor love their cats. Not all of them take as kindly to the cruise ship tourists. We have seen at least one sign forbidding entry to cruise ship passengers. Tongue in cheek? Or meant? I asked the girl who sold me some postcards when did the season stop. November, she replied, all finish then. Towns like this; zadar, dubrovnik, padua, to name just the ones from this trip, all remind me of rocamadour, collonges la rouge etc. Stuffed with tourists, souvenir shops, handcrafts, restaurants and bars with normal life seemingly suspended for the summer.


It was good to walk around yesterday evening and find the place a lot less busy although the waiters and waitresses were eager to invite us in to their particular restaurant or bar. I was feeling a bit below par as my tummy decided three countries in as many days with added random eating experiences had been a little too much. I reclined upstairs in our room while lou dined in the square below, both of us serenaded by the restaurant’s guitarist. With the competing smells and music from several neighbouring restaurants i thought sleeping would be a problem but, no. When the restaurants shut, maybe around midnight, the whole town went quiet. We have good double glazing and aircon but like to sleep with at least one window open and we have three! Two facing the alleyway to the nearest church and the other over the restaurant parasols.

After a good night’s sleep my tummy had recovered and we ate a light breakfast under one of those parasols.

We passed on omelettes or pizza or sandwiches. Today has been devoted to exploring the many alleyways and churches within the old town. A brassband marched into one of the squares and blasted away until we could bear it no more.

The cathedral was a beautiful haven of peace and contemplation. Even the decor of creamy stonework and silver chandeliers helped cool the exterior chaos.


I wandered up to the gallery museum above and blew kisses to lou from the juliet balcony outside but he didn’t hear or see me!


Later, i couldn’t resist the cats museum. One euro entrance to a collection of seemingly hundreds of cat related postcards, magazines and documents. Bonkers but fascinating in its breadth.


While lou waited outside (as he does) he discovered the tree in that particular square had survived the 1667 earthquake and is still thriving today and is the chosen place for ‘cultural events’.

We lunched in yet another tiny plaza with a black cat in attendance and, afterwards, took a turn along the harbour front where i tasted and bought some sheep cheese from the indoor market as i felt guilty about taking photos of the chap’s stall.

Maybe in view of the tummy situation that wasn’t such a good idea?  🙂