{"id":9697,"date":"2019-01-27T11:25:15","date_gmt":"2019-01-27T19:25:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/malimish.com\/blog\/?p=9697"},"modified":"2019-11-09T04:53:05","modified_gmt":"2019-11-09T12:53:05","slug":"kotor-montenegro-an-old-fortress-with-a-million-cats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/malimish.com\/blog\/2019\/01\/27\/kotor-montenegro-an-old-fortress-with-a-million-cats\/","title":{"rendered":"Kotor, Montenegro: An old fortress with a million cats."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Landed in the city of Kotor, Montenegro for the week. We didn&#8217;t know much about this little European country before we arrived but have learned a ton in these last couple of days. One thing we noticed right away is this is one of the only countries in Europe without a highway system. Driving around with a large Sprinter van has been interesting to say the least.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"46773453652\" src=\"https:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4828\/46773453652_b153f230db_c.jpg\" alt=\"Old city of Kotor, Montenegro blog\" \/><\/p>\n<p>For two days, we walked around the old city, turning down random cobblestone streets, purposely getting lost to discover new things. The kids really got a kick out of this oversized park bench.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"39860683543\" src=\"https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7807\/39860683543_795d7d6ec5_c.jpg\" alt=\"Old city of Kotor, Montenegro blog\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The city of Kotor is surrounded by fortifications built during the Venetian period and is now an UNESCO World Heritage site. Here are the girls entering the fortification through one of its ten entrances.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"45910940335\" src=\"https:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4843\/45910940335_4f986c17cf_c.jpg\" alt=\"Old city of Kotor, Montenegro blog\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Kotor is one of the most well preserved old cities on the Adriatic.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"32950182658\" src=\"https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7868\/32950182658_dce317caf4_c.jpg\" alt=\"Old city of Kotor, Montenegro blog\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"39860677143\" src=\"https:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4899\/39860677143_59deb75c3f_c.jpg\" alt=\"Old city of Kotor, Montenegro blog\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"45910929345\" src=\"https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7839\/45910929345_564cb49e93_c.jpg\" alt=\"Old city of Kotor, Montenegro blog\" \/><\/p>\n<p>We stopped to grab a little treat in the middle of the small medieval city.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"45910926075\" src=\"https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7916\/45910926075_8716a59697_c.jpg\" alt=\"Old city of Kotor, Montenegro blog\" \/><\/p>\n<p>They were out of ice cream but whipped cream covered in chocolate sauce did the trick.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"31884516967\" src=\"https:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4872\/31884516967_a3a6b3da71_c.jpg\" alt=\"Old city of Kotor, Montenegro blog\" \/><\/p>\n<p>They were out of tap water too so we *had* to order beer. Ha.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"46100769274\" src=\"https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7880\/46100769274_cabaf3037e_c.jpg\" alt=\"Old city of Kotor, Montenegro blog\" \/><\/p>\n<p>If you haven&#8217;t noticed in some of my previous photos, Kotor is known for being a city of cats. The homeless cats are actually pretty tame and taken care by the locals. It&#8217;s funny because once the kids find one cat to feed, a handful or two come running to them as well.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"32950170888\" src=\"https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7877\/32950170888_54318c568b_c.jpg\" alt=\"Old city of Kotor, Montenegro blog\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Mila ended up touching her face after petting cats and had itchy eyes. I forgot to pack allergy pills in my backpack for her so washing her face will have to do for now.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"46773427372\" src=\"https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7837\/46773427372_868514d864_c.jpg\" alt=\"Old city of Kotor, Montenegro blog\" \/><\/p>\n<p>And Luka? He was happy as a clam with all the cats&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"46100769604\" src=\"https:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4857\/46100769604_571a5d9180_c.jpg\" alt=\"Old city of Kotor, Montenegro blog\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&#8230; until one scratched him. He insisted that I wrap up his hand in a napkin and secure it with a hair tie. Oh, Luka.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"31884502827\" src=\"https:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4899\/31884502827_40cda2b5f8_c.jpg\" alt=\"Old city of Kotor, Montenegro blog\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The old city has walls that extend up the side of the mountain. It leads to a small church near the half way point and then to the very top of the mountain to an overlook of the entire Bay of Kotor. A funny thing happened when we started our wall hike. The little cat in the photo below chose to follow us up the mountain to the old church during our hike today.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"32950160008\" src=\"https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7838\/32950160008_8e4423867a_c.jpg\" alt=\"Old city of Kotor, Montenegro blog\" \/><\/p>\n<p>This cat walked a third of mile and about 200 feet straight up the mountainside never leaving our side.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"46773434022\" src=\"https:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4874\/46773434022_e91c7ffed3_c.jpg\" alt=\"Old city of Kotor, Montenegro blog\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Look at the warm rays from the sun setting on that mountain peak. Wow.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"39860671503\" src=\"https:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4873\/39860671503_bd0c51258e_c.jpg\" alt=\"Old city of Kotor, Montenegro blog\" \/><\/p>\n<p>We obviously couldn&#8217;t believe this cat was still hiking with us. Straight up the side of a mountain no less.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"32950154948\" src=\"https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7885\/32950154948_0394cd9076_c.jpg\" alt=\"Old city of Kotor, Montenegro blog\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"46100757684\" src=\"https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7868\/46100757684_1a5089f393_c.jpg\" alt=\"Old city of Kotor, Montenegro blog\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Yup. Still there.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"46100759074\" src=\"https:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4913\/46100759074_323c4de1a7_c.jpg\" alt=\"Old city of Kotor, Montenegro blog\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"31884493417\" src=\"https:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4914\/31884493417_21e30448fb_c.jpg\" alt=\"Old city of Kotor, Montenegro blog\" \/><\/p>\n<p>And when we got to the old church, we all took a break and made a new kitty friend.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"31884494527\" src=\"https:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4897\/31884494527_d985355021_c.jpg\" alt=\"Old city of Kotor, Montenegro blog\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Mila could&#8217;t believe how much these cats loved us.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"46773415762\" src=\"https:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4825\/46773415762_0546df3e91_c.jpg\" alt=\"Old city of Kotor, Montenegro blog\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Some places you\u2019ve seen a million times on the internet and others you stumble across on a drive. We did not plan to come to Kotor nor knew anything about it. When it surprises you in the best way possible, it reminds us of why we explore.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"46825818581\" src=\"https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7817\/46825818581_3222a684e2_c.jpg\" alt=\"Old city of Kotor, Montenegro blog\" \/><\/p>\n<p>And then the five us&#8230; plus these two cats&#8230; made our way together down the hill again. No joke.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"39860661353\" src=\"https:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4889\/39860661353_2fd505166e_c.jpg\" alt=\"Old city of Kotor, Montenegro blog\" \/><\/p>\n<p>One thing I know for sure is these three kids will never ever forget that hike. Thanks, kitty cats (which they named Callie and Kyle).<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"39860653303\" src=\"https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7829\/39860653303_82b8479cc5_c.jpg\" alt=\"Old city of Kotor, Montenegro blog\" \/><\/p>\n<p>On our second walk to the old city from where we were staying, we took our time getting there via the tiny coastal.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"46825814461\" src=\"https:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4832\/46825814461_3b6e0d197b_c.jpg\" alt=\"Old city of Kotor, Montenegro blog\" \/><\/p>\n<p>And of course we made more friends. This one walked a little ways with us. Not up a crazy hill like yesterday&#8217;s cat but still a decent amount that made us all laugh.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"32950146068\" src=\"https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7851\/32950146068_c48c704397_c.jpg\" alt=\"Old city of Kotor, Montenegro blog\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The color of the bay today is jaw dropping.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"46825804091\" src=\"https:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4832\/46825804091_97d162093f_c.jpg\" alt=\"Old city of Kotor, Montenegro blog\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"39860639233\" src=\"https:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4836\/39860639233_867662f7b3_c.jpg\" alt=\"Old city of Kotor, Montenegro blog\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Sometimes I still have to remind myself that we are in no rush. No need to keep walking to get to our destination, which today is the old city. These little moments are my favorites.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"45910897085\" src=\"https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7891\/45910897085_8443babe9d_c.jpg\" alt=\"Old city of Kotor, Montenegro blog\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"46773400752\" src=\"https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7846\/46773400752_550e7b9124_c.jpg\" alt=\"Old city of Kotor, Montenegro blog\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"46825802961\" src=\"https:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4827\/46825802961_073b6cafbc_c.jpg\" alt=\"Old city of Kotor, Montenegro blog\" \/><\/p>\n<p>So it happened again. We saw and fed ONE cat and then&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"46773394302\" src=\"https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7858\/46773394302_33c899b745_c.jpg\" alt=\"Old city of Kotor, Montenegro blog\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&#8230;all of these other cats appeared out of thin air. It&#8217;s comical.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"46773404262\" src=\"https:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4915\/46773404262_60506e7c55_c.jpg\" alt=\"Old city of Kotor, Montenegro blog\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Mila amused that her water bottle was named &#8220;diva&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"31884469357\" src=\"https:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4858\/31884469357_1e0fb280ca_c.jpg\" alt=\"Old city of Kotor, Montenegro blog\" \/><\/p>\n<p>And then this happened. The old city experienced a hail storm last night. We weren&#8217;t too far from the old city last night but we didn&#8217;t get any hail.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"45910891855\" src=\"https:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4878\/45910891855_67aef2d398_c.jpg\" alt=\"Old city of Kotor, Montenegro blog\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The kids freaked out and jumped right in. Soaking their shoes in the puddles and jackets with snowballs. They were ecstatic.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"32950135698\" src=\"https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7825\/32950135698_881d983cf9_c.jpg\" alt=\"Old city of Kotor, Montenegro blog\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Found a meat shop that cooks your meat for you and throws it into a sandwich too.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"46100729204\" src=\"https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7924\/46100729204_e593398059_c.jpg\" alt=\"Old city of Kotor, Montenegro blog\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Oh yeah.\u00a0\u0106evap\u010di\u0107i for me.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"45910883705\" src=\"https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7853\/45910883705_1be228edc4_c.jpg\" alt=\"Old city of Kotor, Montenegro blog\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Broken old buildings that I find beautiful.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"46773383632\" src=\"https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7909\/46773383632_8383cbc7b9_c.jpg\" alt=\"Old city of Kotor, Montenegro blog\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Made it back into the fortress. Notice anything? Besides Christmas decorations still up in late January.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"32950120198\" src=\"https:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4881\/32950120198_8a7dfd92e4_c.jpg\" alt=\"Old city of Kotor, Montenegro blog\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Kitty cats on presents. Haha.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"32950112848\" src=\"https:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4885\/32950112848_d21782db40_c.jpg\" alt=\"Old city of Kotor, Montenegro blog\" \/><\/p>\n<p>We also went to see if we could find our hiking cat friend and mission accomplished.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"32950120178\" src=\"https:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4893\/32950120178_78a03abff5_c.jpg\" alt=\"Old city of Kotor, Montenegro blog\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"46773381862\" src=\"https:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4817\/46773381862_a50f9f73b2_c.jpg\" alt=\"Old city of Kotor, Montenegro blog\" \/><\/p>\n<p>A dog even showed up when we were sharing Yoda&#8217;s kibbles with these cats.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"46773382182\" src=\"https:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4815\/46773382182_e5a25e5866_c.jpg\" alt=\"Old city of Kotor, Montenegro blog\" \/><\/p>\n<p>This poor cat was being bullied and climbed up a light post to save himself. Dan eventually scared the bully away.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"45910884655\" src=\"https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7800\/45910884655_ecab526bcb_c.jpg\" alt=\"Old city of Kotor, Montenegro blog\" \/><\/p>\n<p>And that pretty much covers our visit to the old fortress city of Kotor.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"32950114708\" src=\"https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7917\/32950114708_e4ce035313_c.jpg\" alt=\"Old city of Kotor, Montenegro blog\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"32950106958\" src=\"https:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4881\/32950106958_09c31f98f3_c.jpg\" alt=\"Old city of Kotor, Montenegro blog\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"45910881915\" src=\"https:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4855\/45910881915_d7fd94334a_c.jpg\" alt=\"Old city of Kotor, Montenegro blog\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Tomorrow, we start heading a little more south along the Adriatic to another city in Montenegro.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"32950102888\" src=\"https:\/\/farm8.static.flickr.com\/7825\/32950102888_be5be3592a_c.jpg\" alt=\"Old city of Kotor, Montenegro blog\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Here is the video Dan put together of our time in Kotor. Enjoy!<\/p>\n<p><code><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/z4zgDdbHnpE\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<\/code><\/p>\n<p>Thanks for following along on our adventure,<br \/>\nMarlene<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Landed in the city of Kotor, Montenegro for the week. We didn&#8217;t know much about this little European country before we arrived but have learned a ton in these last couple of days. One thing we noticed right away is this is one of the only countries in Europe without [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":10213,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1,215],"tags":[216],"class_list":["post-9697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily","category-europe","tag-montenegro"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/malimish.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/32950154948_0394cd9076_c.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pkBzA-2wp","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/malimish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/malimish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/malimish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malimish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malimish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/malimish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9697\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malimish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/malimish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malimish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malimish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}