Feline Fine | Lavender’s Green
Our guide is the exquisite Liset Kuhar who is Peruvian by birth.
“I came to Montenegro and fell in love with it. That happens a lot when people come to this country!” We’re in Kotor, a Unesco World Heritage Site on the bay by the same name. It’s beyond gorgeous.
“Kotor was founded by the 4th Emperor of the Byzantine Empire, Constantine Porphyrogenitus, in the 10th century. The town walls, extending for 4.5 kilometres, were built between the 9th and the 14th centuries. The Fort of St John towers over the town.” A vertigo healing climb to the Church of Our Lady of Remedy, 1518, is a life must.
“Kotor is the most important town on the coast of the Bay of Kotor.”
“The town is triangular in shape with north, south and west gateways. The most recent entrance was constructed in 1555; the oldest dates from the 1400s.” A wedge of beauty.
Christmas decorations – festoons, mistletoe and ribbons – hang from the stone architecture. It’s not Christmas though. “We love Christmas, Advent, the whole season here. The Mayor of Kotor declared he’d spent so much on Christmas decorations they were to stay up for several months!”
Most towns do not have nine palaces. Kotor is not like most towns. Buća Palace is 14th century. Drago Palace dates from the 14th to 17th century. Bizanti, Grunbonja and Pima are 17th century palaces. There are four 18th century palaces: Beskuća, Grgurina, Lombardie and Vrakjen.
Cats are everywhere, nonchalantly strolling the streets, curiously peering out of doorways, meticulously sprucing themselves on walls, vainly posing on pedestals, playfully jumping up steps.
We’re in love.
It’s the town on everyone’s luscious lips. Londoner Astrid Bray says “you bring the party with you”. Everything is very grand and very mad. “It’s all about the third fermentation” notes Jan Konetzki Director of Wine at Four Seasons London. Global Director of Rare Champagne Parisienne Maud Rabin observes “everybody is saying c’est la vie: this is destiny. Always in a positive way”. Every frame is a still life drama. And like Montenegro’s Kotor, the Christmas decs are perennial. We’re only getting started.
