Spend a chilled weekend in Kotor
Kotor in Montenegro is the place to go for IMAX-standard scenery, café seat surfing and some of the freshest seafood the Balkans have to offer.
Whether you ride in along the spaghetti-style roads of the Adriatic coast or cruise in through the bay, the first thing you’ll notice about Kotor is the cinematic scenery that surrounds it. The city is backed by the shark fin-shaped mountains of the Dinaric Alps and surrounded by hillsides of red-roofed houses. It’s a setting that’s part Norwegian Fjords part Amalfi Coast.
Close up, Kotor is no less photogenic. Its UNESCO World Heritage Old Town is a cat’s cradle of quaint cobbled alleyways and tawny-bricked buildings. Despite being less than a mile wide, this place is home to more than 20 fresco-clad churches and stuccoed palaces, including St Tryphon Cathedral with its baroque bell towers and pink stone pillars.
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For every sight to be seen there’s a drink to be sipped or a snack to be sampled in Kotor. There are upwards of a dozen piazzas in the Old Town, corralled by cafés, restaurants, wine bars and ice cream parlours. Local specialities include sweet and savoury strudels, fresh-from-the-bay seafood and krempita – dictionary-thick wedges of cream, custard and cake.
As a prime cruise ship destination, Kotor can get busy on the days when the big cruise lines are in port. There are plenty of places to avoid the crowds, though. Head out onto the bay on one of the smaller boat trips or take a little refuge on one of the pebbly beaches that stretch along the bay away from the Old Town.
Then return after sunset when the cruise ship passengers have departed, and the only things that fill the passages of the Old Town are lantern light and the sound of violin or guitar music, which lilts from the uncrowded restaurants and bars.
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Friday
Check into: Hotel Astoria. This boutique hotel is located inside a restored 13th century palace in the Old Town. Its interior looks a little like a Games of Thrones film set. There’s a gnarly floor-to-ceiling replica tree and a gilded banqueting table in the lobby and the walls of the corridors and rooms are adorned with ancient Elvish-like lettering.
Explore: the UNESCO Old Town. It’s easy to get lost in the scribble-style layout of lanes here. While maps are available from the Tourist Information booth outside the Sea Gate, the best way to experience this place is to go free-range. This way, you’ll stumble upon some of the lesser-trodden alleyways where local life carries on behind green-shuttered windows and washing lines hang high above the cobbles like bunting.
Take time to pop into the jewellery shops, antique dens and the monastery bazaar, where you can pick up local produce like nettle brandy.
Take a break for: a slice of strudel. These flaky, flour-dusted pastries are a speciality in Kotor. The bakery on the corner of Trg Od Brasna square is one of the best places to pick one up. They’re freshly baked here every day. Take your pick from a sticky cherry, mealy poppy seed or rich walnut filling.
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Tour: Kotor Bay. Book a boat trip from the Tourist Information booth near the Old Town’s Sea Gate and bob around the kingfisher blue waters of Kotor Bay for a morning or afternoon. Typical three-and-a-half hour cruises take in the seaside village of Perast as well as Our Lady of the Rock island and the church that perches on top of it.
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Local legend says that if you walk around the altar inside the church three times and make a wish, it will be granted. Some cruises end with a shot of the local firewater – plum Rakija.
Eat dinner at: Pescaria Dekaderon in the Old Town. The outdoor terrace here eyeballs St Tryphon Cathedral. Take the hint from the sign on the wall that reads ‘a meal without wine is like a day without sun’ and order a bottle of Montenegrin Chardonnay. Then – if you like seafood – add the mussels in red wine sauce to your order. They’re butter-soft and caught just across the bay from Kotor.
Saturday
Hike: the city walls. Tackle the 1,350 steps up to the St Giovanni Fortress to get an eagle’s view of Kotor’s Old Town with its rust-red rooves, and the limestone cliffs of the bay in the distance. A combination of kerb-thick steps, slightly slippery cobbles and rough ground, the route up takes between 45 minutes and an hour to complete. There are often water and drink sellers on the path, though, and buskers are also often there to provide a soundtrack to your climb.
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Eat lunch at: Citadella. Part of the Boutique Hotel Cattaro, Citadella bar and restaurant serves food with a view. Its open-air terrace is perched on top of Kotor’s city walls. From one side you get wide-screen vistas of the bay and from the other you can look out over the rooftops of the Old Town. Go for something local, like the Montenegrin platter of meats and cheeses and wash it down with a glass of locally produced Vranac wine.
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Pop into: the Cats Museum. This whimsical museum is only a few hundred paw prints wide, but it features cat memorabilia from all over the world. Exhibits include a wall of photographs of cats with movie stars like Sophie Loren, a selection of cat-based games, a display of the ways cats have starred in advertising for brands like Rolex, and paintings of heroic cats, including one who broke the sound barrier. Entry is a euro, but cats enter for free.
Watch the sunset at: Konoba Akustik. Next to Kotor Beach, Konoba Akustik has an outdoor terrace that directly overlooks the area of Kotor Bay where the sun sets. Order a cold Montenegrin-brewed Niksicko beer and watch as the dusk turns the mountains of the bay the colour of warm coals. Once the sun has set the terrace is lit by candles and fairy lights.
Tuck into dinner at: Galion, a five-minute amble along the bay from the Gurdic Gate of the Old Town. The chefs at this fairy light-lit restaurant take centuries-old recipes and tweeze them into fine dining dishes. Specialities include grilled octopus and tuna ceviche. Try to get a seat on the terrace for eye-widening views of the bay.
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Sunday
Mooch around: the farmers’ market on Gradska Pijaca, just around the corner from the Sea Gate. There are two long rows of stalls here. On the trestle tables of the first row you’ll find buckets of patent-skinned olives, pyramids of seasonal produce and dried apricots strung together in garlands that look like Hawaiian leis. On the second row, you’ll discover fresh seafood, truncheons of cured meats and frisbee-sized cheeses.
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If you only try one thing here, make it the tricolour cheese. Locally made, it features three strata of flavours – hot paprika, sweet blueberry and local herbs.
Bask in the sun at: Kotor Beach. This pebbly beach is only ribbon-wide, but it’s topped by sun loungers and parasols and it’s fronted by a cordoned off swimming area that’s presided over by a lifeguard in the summer months. Paddle boards are available for hire by the hour or day and there’s a snack hut that sells cold drinks and ice creams.
Have a pre dinner tipple at: Caffe Bar Cesare in the Old Town. During the day this bar bustles with cruise ship crowds. Head here once the ships have left the bay, however, and you’ll find it a changed place. Candles flicker on the tables and friends and couples talk in hushed tones at the tables. The wine list features plenty local reds, whites and roses.
Dine at: Che Nova. The outside terrace of this restaurant and cocktail bar looks out over the Bay of Kotor. At night you can see the lights on the opposite side of the bay reflected into the water like streaks of spilt paint.
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The highlights of the rustic menu are the homemade pizzas. For a local twist try the Montenegrin, which is topped with local ham, mushrooms and local cheeses.
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