A Quick Trip to Montenegro -Day 13

A Quick Trip to Montenegro -Day 13
We met Izador, the tour Director, and he introduced us to Joseph the driver. This was an unscheduled trip, as our regular tour included a free day in Dubrovnik, and we had seen most of it yesterday. Eight of us piled into a van for the trip across the border to the town of Kotor. The border crossing wasn't too bad, and it was 2 hours to Kotor. The mountains were more beautiful than those in Croatia. Taller, steeper, and less vegetation leading to a very stark impression, but pretty. We eventually got to the coast and travelled along the water of the outer bay. There was an isthmus leading to a very well protected inner bay. A few towns dotted the periphery of both bays.
Half way around, we stopped in a small town to take a short boat ride to an island in the middle of the bay with a church on it. Any time you turn around, they built a church.
We finally got to the town of Kotor, which is another walled city like Dubrovnik, just smaller. We had to wait a while to get our guide, as Izador had not provided the correct phone number to Joseph so he could alert her. Not terrific planning.
The town was originally Roman, with the name Dekator. This lasted until the 7th century when Rome collapsed. They were semi-autonomous until the 13th century until the Slavs began to come from the east over the mountains. In the 14th and 15th century, the Ottomans were on the move, and in 1420, they "invited" the Venetians to come in for protection. You can tell on a city's walls how the Venetians arrived, by the symbols of a Lion with a Book. If the book is open, it was a friendly takeover. If the book is closed, it was somewhat more hostile. The lion medallion on the entrance to the city is holding an open book.
The Venetians remained in charge until 1797 when the Austrians arrived, then Napoleon, then the Austrians again until 1918. Then, as we know, "All the Slavs" were joined under Tito as Yugoslavia. Then the wars of the 90s, and Montenegro finally achieved independence in 2006.
The city of Kotor itself expanded, and the current walls were built in 1555. The central clock tower was built in 1612, and the still working mechanism was installed in the early 1800s by Napoleon. Over the years, the ground has settled some, and it leans a few inches, so it qualifies as the "Other Leaning Tower".
Inside, there are a few squares with multiple little streets with no rhyme or reason to the plan or direction. A main cathedral to Saint Triphon contained some relics of the Saint from 809. The original cathedral was built in 1166, and recently celebrated its 850th birthday. We also walked into the Orthodox Church to find they don't have pews, as everybody stands for services.
A nice lunch of seafood risotto and a salad, and we piled back into the van for the return trip.
Our farewell dinner was at a local farm for home hospitality. The owner showed us his 250 year old olive press, and the classical ways of crushing the olives with a horse drawn crusher and pressing them by hand with a large log to turn the screw. The first press with cold water is the best oil for salads, the second with hot water is for cooking, the dregs are for making soap, and the final paste and pits are for compost. They waste nothing. The modern methods are much faster and use spinning centrifugal force to separate the grades of oils. This press is only used now for us tourists.