Kotor Montenegro: The Clock Doesn’t Strike 4

Kotor is known for the Stray cats. At one point the port of Kotor was infested with mice so cats were introduced to cull the vermin. As a thank you for their efforts, the restauranteurs feed them regularly. The tour guide assures me that despite their bedraggled appearance, its a good life here for the cats. An interesting feature in the old city is the clock tower. The 4 is not consistent with the Roman numerals on the other numbers. Apparently only Big Ben has the right way of depicting the 4 in modern day clock towers. 

The water in the moats and lagoons around the old city, is a mixture of sea water and natural water giving it that turquoise phantasmagoric shimmer. "It's just a bit blue, and a bit green,' said my partner, deliberately scoffing and dismissing my fancy adverbs, 

Apparently Kotor is on the up. The new Prime Minister is only 38, got a Master’s degree in Economy in Singapore and has implemented policies that have proven to be a hit both economically as well as for the people. He's raised salaries and pensions. Unlike in the UK where a changing of the guard means austerity. One has to introduce austerity at the beginning of a term, because you can't raise taxes whilst running for a second term. Plus you can always blame it on the last government. 

Kotor saw a huge influx in immigrants after Covid, and after the breakout of the Russia's invasion of Ukraine. This has spiked a cost in renting and buying real estate in Kotor. 

Lady of the rock

Arguably you cannot visit Kotor without a boat trip to the Lady of the Rock. A Middle 15th century artificial island that has a mythical, yet romantic history. It's rumoured the sailors that would enter the bay, would throw a rock each time they came to visit and over time that culminated into the man-made island. It's in a stone’s throw to another small island which serves as a working monastery. Although a family with kids ran a mock on the rocky shores. They collapsed and bathed on the sun chairs after. ‘Don’t look like monks to me,' mum scorned.

As we left Kotor on our cruise ship, a pair of dolphins flipped at the stern as if to wave us goodbye. On the starboard side we spotted old submarine tunnels, now brimmed with polystyrene. We headed into the kind of sunset no photo nor painting could hold a candle. 

Photo by Linda Gerbec on Unsplash