🇲🇪 Montenegro
Kotor
Kotor is the jewel of Montenegro — a UNESCO World Heritage medieval city of 23,000 people at the deepest point of the Bay of Kotor (Boka Kotorska), the southernmost fjord-like inlet on the Adriatic coast (the bay is not technically a fjord — it was not carved by glaciers but is a submerged river canyon (a ria) — but its depth (50m maximum), its steep mountain walls (rising to 1,749m directly above the water), and its dramatic twisting shape give it a fjord-like character unique in the Mediterranean). The Venetian Republic controlled Kotor for 400 years (1420–1797 — the longest period of rule by any single power in the city's history), and the legacy of this occupation is the extraordinary ensemble of Venetian Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque buildings inside the intact medieval city walls (the walls: 4.5km in circuit, up to 4.5m thick, mostly built 15th–18th century by Venetian military engineers). The San Giovanni Fortress (Fortress of St. John — above the city on the steep Lovćen massif: 1,350 steps up the zigzag path through the city walls; the climb takes 30–45 min and gives the most dramatic high-altitude view of the bay in all of Montenegro). The Bay of Kotor is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (1979 — the 'Natural and Culturo-Historical Region of Kotor'). Best months: April–June and September–October.