Kotor - Battlements Going up the Mountain. Occupation History; credit cards

Walled City of Kotor - Montenegro
Curtain Walls

.

Kotor, Montenegro, curtain walls






.






Curtain walls;  These extend as a total barrier, often in a broad perimeter around a castle, here going up the mountain as an escape for an entire town, there, in the back.

Why need such extensive wall structures apart from the main walled town.  The separate curtain wall is a familiar sight in the Balkans, going up the mountains.  The curtain wall was needed because of the location of the town, at roadways and ports invaders used through the years. Occupation after occupation. With mountains as a backdrop, the city could be better defended, but. Kotor still has been in many hands - warfare upon warfare.

Occupation history:

• Illyrian 300 BC or so (Old Greek),
• Roman 168 BC,
• Byzantine then until the 1100's,
• Serbian to the 1300's,
• then Hungary in the 1300's,
• then Bosnian at the end of the 1300's,
• Venetian in the 1400's as a voluntary transfer of protection against the Turks, and to 1797,
• then Austrian to 1805,
• Russian to 1807,
• French to 1813, temporary fight for independence, lost, and
• back to Austria to 1918,
• liberation after WWI,
• then the Germans,
• and liberation from Germany 1944.
• part of Yugoslavia,
• then part of Serbia after the breakup of Yugoslavia, and
• in 2006, independence from Serbia
  

Add to that plagues and earthquakes.

The city is over 2000 years old. No peace. There used to be an upper town and a lower town. See ://www.destination-montenegro.com/kotor-history.htm

Kotor - look closely at the mountain to see the curtain walls going up the side, another defense.


At Kotor, as in places in Croatia (especially Ston, see Croatia Road Ways, Ston post), you can see curtain walls going most all the way up a mountainside, with a large fortress at the top. These serve as another line of defense, if the the city walls are breached the population flees up the mountain. There is refuge there, better than below.

Kotor is a UNESCO World Heritage site. See whc.unesco.org/en/list/125; and thesalmons.org/lynn/wh-montenegro.

There are also palm trees, just as there are in the warm parts of Scotland even, and the old buildings. See the old town at www.photo-montenegro.com/home. Go further to these notations if that is helpful: php?akcija=rezpret&fKategorija=Kotor&fPodKategorija=Old+Town. Kotor was less damaged by invasions than many coastal towns, I understand. See www.matf.bg.ac.yu/konferencije/kotor/.

Getting around:

There are many ATM's, but you may find that only selected cards will work, and the money is not Euro. We ran into five currencies this trip - different in Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia, Montenegro and Serbia. Some will accept Euro, but we preferred to use the country's cash and withdrew some for each day.

Credit cards.

Before you leave US: You should alert your credit card or debit card places that you will be in specific countries so they will not block your getting cash. We did that ahead of time, and still found that one card could not be used. Much fraud out there.

Kotor Bay. Perast Islands - on way to Kotor

Kotor Bay
Perast Islands

Drive to Kotor, Montenegro, Around the Bay

.
From Dubrovnik, Croatia, it is an easy drive to Kotor. Leave late in the day from Dubrovnik, spend the night anywhere, such as old Cavtat, on the Croatia side; and leave in the morning to catch the views to Kotor.  Montenegro: see the cities and descriptions at http://www.visit-montenegro.com/croatia-dubrovnik.htm/.

.

And, there are buses, of course, and rental cars from Cavtat for a day's junket.

.

For maps, see this site that covers all the old Yugoslavia countries, the Adriatic coast - at http://www.atlapedia.com/online/maps/physical/Slovenia_etc.htm; however, this site as others may not be updated as to the independence of Montenegro from Serbia in 2006, so check this one: ://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/europe/yu.htm/

Kotor Bay, Montenegro, Our Lady of the Rock, Perast Islands; Island of St. George














The island of St. George, as well as Kotor itself, has a long history, from 229 BC as an Illyrian city, see http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Bay_of_Kotor


.

Our Lady of the Rock, Perast Islands, Kotor Bay, Montenegro














On the left, and in the center right, is on Our Lady of the Rock Island, off Perast, on the way to Kotor.

 The road goes around the equivalent of a fjord. See close-ups at http://www.perast.com/html-ENGLESKI/islands.  Navigate from the home page, using the further address information only as needed . Our Lady of the Rock is man-made - an island created over 550 years of dropping rocks on an underwater ledge, and then sinking captured ships over the same spot. Ingenious.
.
The buildings on the right are an island, really a reef, called the Island of St. George. It houses a Benedictine monastery. See more on the islands off Perast at www.montenegro.com/en/Fascinada,_Our_Lady_of_Skrpjel,_Perast_Islands.
.
This would be an excellent geo-tourism site because of the geological sites and attractions. See book "Geotourism" by Ross Dowling at http://elsevier.com/wps/find/bookdescription.cws_home/706060/description#description.

Kotor area- on the Balkan equivalent of a fjord

Near Kotor, Montenegro

Kotor, Kotor Bay, fjord, Montenegro


Here the mountains go right into the water, with little towns clinging around, and fortresses for last resort, up the cliff-side, fully walled. There are palm trees below, and where it is flat, lovely walled areas and twisting streets. This is a World Heritage area: see whc.unesco.org/pg.cfm?cid=31&id_site=125.

Here is a summary of the town's history, and a fine photo gallery for Kotor at www.barakatravel.com/?action=galeria&galeriaId=68. Go to home page first at the dot com.

The Financial Times has an article including Budva, see issue April 26-27, 2008, at page 10 --A flawless pearl - for now, by James Owen.  He notes that Budva was flattened in 1979 by an earthquake.  The restorations are not evident - so well done that we thought they were original. This is different from Germany where the devastation from bombing was so extensive and covered so much, that the renovations and reconstructions look Botox.