Croatia and a couple of Balkans, Day 3 , Montenegro Kotor and the trip back to Dubrovnik

Kotor is yet another walled city sitting at the end of it's bay. We parked by the dock where an enormous cruise liner, the Viking Star which we had seen in Dubrovnik, was sitting while it's occupants were presumably taking in the sights of the old town. On the barren hill of St John rising behind Kotor was a steeply rising set of walls and forts which would have been interesting to have a look around, given enough time and stamina.They were first constructed by the Romans and been used by the Illyrians, the Venetians, the Ottomans, the Hapsburgs, Napoleonic France and even the Russians.

We looked around the city which is much smaller and scruffier than Dubrovnik. It contains a Roman Catholic cathedral, St Tryphon and two Greek Orthodox churches, St Luke and St Nicholas, both sitting in the same square. St Luke's is a very small rounded affair which we went inside before having a welcome drink at one of the cafés. It was built as a Catholic church and at one time both Roman and Greek Orthodox congregations used its premises on different days, but now it is purely Orthodox. In Montenegro around 75% of the population is Orthodox and only a fraction is Croat.

 Again the washing was hanging any way which would dry it.

On walking back to get the car we were amused to see the cruise liner doing a three point turn in the small space of the harbour before heading out again for the open sea.

We drove back a slightly different way involving a ferry trip across the straits to get on to the Dubrovnik side. The ferry was held up in mid stream while the same cruise ship motored across the channel. The sun was going down while we were waiting, giving me a chance for a mid-water shot.

Back in Dubrovnik we shopped for pasta in the supermarket and had supper at home.