Cool European cats.............

You either do or you don't..................love cats.

Personally I'm a cat person - I like dogs but really 
enjoy cats more. I was the owner of one who made her 
home with us for 21 years and is missed still!

Everywhere we went, Venice, Croatia, the Greek Islands, Istanbul, we were surrounded by cats, mostly feral, always well-cared for by the locals. Some places have programs in place to spay/neuter, everywhere appeared to have people who fed the cats and gave them a warm place to stay. A delightful gentleman, Mustafa - a carpet dealer in Istanbul, shared his cats with us - via his huge photo album on his phone. He cares for 50 feral cats, feeding them and allowing them to rest and pose for him on the colorful carpets. One male came every day for 5 years to eat, one day bringing a kitten with him, then disappeared and was not seen again.

  

The Venetian cats were domesticated and seen mostly peeking from the windows of apartments along the canals....twitching their whiskers in the sunshine, oblivious to the thousands of tourists passing by.

So here I'm sharing some photos of the cats of all colors I met in the Mediterranean.

Our dear English friend Babs loves cats too..........here 

she was taken with the black and white one similar 

to her own kitty back in Blackpool.

One of the funniest cat tales happened here at lunch during 
our shore excursion to Argostoli on the Greek Island of Kefalonia.....

........while seated at a pretty table - loved the tablecloths - on the sunny waterfront.

There were plenty of cats strolling through our legs 

under the tables, all quietly waiting............some of 

the braver ones trying to get in Kim's lap when the 

food was brought out......

.............expecting a taste of this I'm certain!

Note the poor sea bream is smiling - isn't that hilarious.

Kim and I don't eat meat so when the set lunch of lamb was being brought to the table we asked for the 'vegetarian option' and both were served a smiling fish!!! As we do eat fish now and then we were OK with this and it was actually delicious. Perhaps the Greeks consider fish vegetarian. The accompaniments were potatoes and eggplant.

These lazy looking cats were at the monastery......

             .....some were game for photography tips from Rob, 

probably because he came down to their level........

....others just got on with grooming, oblivious to an audience!

Mykonas cats..................an island remembered for 

the great 90's movie Shirley Valentine starring the 

wonderful Pauline Collins.

Greek island cats....................Crystal Serenity 

at anchor while we visited Mykonas.

Sweet kittens.......hard to leave them behind.

Cats among the ruins at Ephesus, Turkey...............

........and Istanbul street cats with manners as 

the tabby waits its turn.......

....while this one found a colorful spot to rest outside a Turkish restaurant.

Yes, a long post, perhaps you skipped much of it if you're a dog person.................but the cats were so adorable I just had to share!
Meow!!!!!

Edited: I just found this post in my archive, apparently I never got around to posting it last year when returning from the trip - probably because I was too busy getting ready to go home to England for the Holidays.

DOGS or CATS......who do you snuggle with?