07 October 2019 - Research suggests that tourists visiting Kotor mostly complain about traffic jams. However, the issue might be solved already next year if only the local government opted for the construction of an underground passage on the riva (for transferring passengers from cruise ships to the Old Town), better pedestrian traffic management and parking of cars and buses, President of the Municipality of Kotor Željko Aprcović clarified for Radio Kotor, as Cafe del Montenegro reported.

"Construction of an underground tunnel and better pedestrian traffic management will significantly contribute to smooth traffic flow next year," emphasized Aprcović.

Concerning the construction of a boulevard through Grbalj towards Budva, he said that he had a meeting with the representatives of the Transport Administration and both sides noted the project would be an added-value for the overall traffic flow from Verige to Lastva Grbaljska.

"The value of the passage investment amounts to 35 million euros. Along with a certain investment in the water supply infrastructure towards Herceg Novi, costs will rise to 50 million euros," Aprcović indicated.

When asked why no one is mentioning the construction of an overpass in Kotor anymore, he said: "it is unrealistic to expect him to tell something more about the topic."

Read more news about lifestyle in Montenegro at TMN's dedicated page.

October 6, 2019 - Fantastic view of Kotor and its hinterland from above - photo by Ranko Maras

September 22, 2019 - The manifestation Kotor Circle ended yesterday in the city. The second edition of this Festival of free thought will be remembered for political censorship directed by the local DPS government. Namely, on the day of the festival beginning, the financier - Kotor Municipality, informed the organizers that they would be denied support if, although it was foreseen by the previously defined agenda, Goran Jovanovic, alias Timur Tmurni appeared at the Festival.

Kotor circle: Teofil Pancic, Copyright: Timur Tmurni FB

 

Pancic came to the gathering wearing a "Je suis Timur Tmurni" t-shirt (I'm Timur Tmurni), alluding to t-shirts with similar messages worn several years ago by intellectuals around the world in support of the Paris satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.

Kotor Circle: NGO Anima's Performance, Copyright: Timur Tmurni FB

 

Activists of the NGO "Anima" followed the beginning of the second festival evening, sitting in the front row, with patches over their mouth, which read "censorship." All the audience expressed their support for Timur Tmurni and his newly acquired status as a dissident in Kotor.

19 September 2019 - The Decision on the Enlistment of the Bokelj Navy on UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List by the end of 2019

Minister of Culture of Montenegro Aleksandar Bogdanović recently paid a working visit to Kotor, during which he met with the representatives of the local government, and visited the Maritime Museum, the Bokelj Navy and the old prison facility, where work on establishing new facilities will begin soon.

According to the statement issued by the Government of Montenegro, discussions with local government representatives included numerous topics, such as art programs in the city, city development projects, as well as current issues regarding Kotor’s status on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The meeting emphasized that the previous edition of KotorArt justified the festival’s status as one of the key cultural programs in the country. In this regard, Minister Bogdanović and President of Kotor Municipality Aprcović agreed that the state and the city should consider the possibility of an even more generous budget for KotorArt's program next year.

When talking about activities in regards to UNESCO, Minister Bogdanović emphasized that communication in this area is intensive.

Most of the discussions between the Minister and President Aprcović concerned activities in regards to Kotor’s status on the UNESCO World Heritage List. In this regard, the entire natural and cultural, historical area of ​​Kotor is currently under HIA review, while at the same time, the Management Plan is being revised. At the end of the month, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the city’s listing on the UNESCO World Heritage List, an ICOMOS meeting will be organized in Kotor. “I hope that we will soon get an opinion from UNESCO on the spatial plan of Kotor, so that we can start corrections as soon as possible, since we are obliged to submit a new Conservation Status Report by February 2020,” Minister Bogdanović said.

During his visit to the Bokelj Navy, Minister Bogdanovic stressed that it would soon be known whether it would be part of the UNESCO heritage.

“The most important will be the end of the year, when a decision will be made in Bogotá to enlist the Bokelj Navy on the UNESCO List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. Last year, we submitted the nomination file, it met the technical parameters, and we received 300 signatures of approval for the nomination,” said Minister Bogdanović.

16 September 2019 - According to records published by the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism, there are 453 hotels in Montenegro with 43.639 beds. Nearly 55% account for four-star and five-star hotels. This year, 38 high-end hotels have been opened, and there will be even more.

As representatives of the Ministry said, categorization procedure helps achieve one of Government’s goals – creating conditions for the improvement and raising the quality level of catering capacities.

One of the key measures defined by the Reforms in the Area of Tourism Agenda is the development of new and improvement of the existing accommodation facilities. The most important activity in that context is defining models for the enhancement of the construction of four and five-star hotels, reports CdM.

"There are currently 25 five-star hotels in Montenegro. One hundred seventy-nine four-star hotels, whereas others refer to one to three stars," said the representatives of the Ministry.

Analysis of the current state of affairs of hotel structure takes into consideration the fact that the Strategy adopted at the end of 2008, when the many-year-long economic crisis started, has severely affected the investment projects in Montenegro.

"However, despite such ambiance, we are very satisfied with the structure of our hotels now, as the number of high-end hotels exceeds the projections envisaged by the Strategy," said the representatives of the Ministry.

Raising the offer quality in hotels and other catering facilities achieves the strategic goal of the development of tourism in Montenegro- high quality, all-year-long tourist offer.

"In that context, Government is focused on creating conditions for enhancing the development of catering services, as the most important segment of the tourism product," said the representatives of the Ministry.

With the aim of raising competitiveness level and creating conditions for the extension of the season, Ministry has been implementing the project of the establishment, improvement and control of the quality level of hotel facilities as well as other accommodation facilities.

Commission of the Ministry of Tourism is in charge of the categorization of catering facilities.

"Commission for categorization of catering facilities conducts the categorization procedure and assigns the category depending on the organization, equipment and maintenance of the facility, type and quality of services and other categorization criteria," explained the representatives of the Ministry.

Read more news about traveling through Montenegro at TMN's dedicated page.

A record 137,508 tourists visited Kotor fortresses from 1st April to 1st September.

The total revenue from ticket sales was 1,100,064 euros.

In the same period last year, 104,492 tourists visited the fortresses, generating a total income of 835,936 euros.

Željko Knežević, from the Kotor Directorate of Planning and Construction, which manages the city walls, told Boka News that some 33,000 additional visits had been made in the same period.

The reasons for this, Knežević states, are twenty percent more cruise ship visits compared with last year, paid entry beginning earlier, on 1st April, and the fact that conditions for visiting the fortresses were very good, given the improved weather.

“The positive trend for visits continued throughout September, we have good prospects for tourism in the coming months, and we are expecting a record number of visitors by the end of the year,” Knežević stated to Boka News.

Entrance to the fortresses costs eight euros.

The Ministry of Science of Montenegro, in cooperation with EMBL (European Molecular Biology Laboratories) and the Institute of Marine Biology (University of Montenegro), organized a summer school in the field of molecular biology from 9 to 11 September.

"The regional school was organized in Montenegro for the first time and was intended for students of biological, medical and biotechnical sciences. In addition to students from Montenegro, students from Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Macedonia participated in the school. The idea is that this school becomes a tradition and every year we have the opportunity to enable a number of students to become acquainted with one of the new fields of molecular biology. Dr. Detleu Arendt, leader of one of the EMBL research groups at Heidelberg, dealing with the exploration of simple marine organisms and the cells they are made of. The attendees were addressed by Dr. Mirko Djurovic, Director of the Institute of Marine Biology in Kotor, and all participants were welcomed by Mr. Djurdjina Bulatovic on behalf of the Ministry of Science of Montenegro," as said by the Ministry.

Illustration (Photo: Ministry of Science)

The theme of this year's school is "Single cell sequencing" and was an ideal opportunity for students to become acquainted with state-of-the-art molecular biology research techniques.

Participats of the school (Photo: Ministry of Science)

"In addition to lectures and practical work in the laboratory, students also had the opportunity to learn about the methods of sample collection in the Bay of Boka, which were demonstrated to them by a team of experts from the organization EMBL  (European Molecular Biology Laboratory), which represents a significant success in the field of internationalization of scientific research,
 the Ministry said.

Text by Vijesti online, on September 11th, 2019, read more at Vijesti

Academy painter Ratko Šoć’s exhibition of paintings and drawings entitled “Fantasy - Paintings and Drawings,” celebrating 60 years of the artist’s work, will open on Tuesday, 10th September, at 8 pm at the Gallery of Solidarity in Kotor Old Town. The exhibition is organised by Municipal Public Institution “Museums” (OJU Museums) and will be opened by journalist Slavko Mandić, Director of Skala Radio.

Of Šoć, art critic Dejan Đorić said, “Šoć is one of the Montenegrin “barbarogen” artists who conquered Belgrade and indeed Europe with his volcanic imagination and sense of artistry. Born in Cetinje in 1938, he graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Novi Sad, but has never associated himself with urban trivialities.”

Ratko Šoć has had over 50 solo and group exhibitions at home and abroad, is the recipient of numerous awards, and currently lives and works in Vrbas. His many decades of work include numerous pieces in the area of painting, graphic design, caricature, illustration, scenography, and he is also known as an aphorist.

The exhibition “Fantasy - Paintings and Drawings,” by Ratko Šoć will be open until 5th October at the Gallery of Solidarity.