As Forcefully Uplifting as the Countermelodic Opening Bars of Allegro Energico 1st Movement Symphony 1 by Victor Hely-Hitchinson and It’s Not Even Christmas Yet
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 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!”
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.
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.
