When we were at the tourist office the other day, one thing the lady suggested we do was to drive on a route up into the mountains. She gave us a map and we decided to give it a try. It was only 115 km, and she said it would take us about 3 hours. Wrong!!

First, the road was in pretty bad shape, washed completely out in some places and fixed with gravel, so we had to creep along. Then we would come across BIG cows in the road and have to steer around them. Not to mention the road was just a little wider than the car, so any time a vehicle came from the other direction, it was almost like playing Chicken!! And finally, it was a mountain road, so VERY twisty, turny.

The views were incredible, though, and it was after about 3 1/2 hours in that we were ready to bail, only we couldn't. No way back, other than to turn around and go back the way we'd come. Neither of us wanted to do that, so we soldiered on.

At this point, hunger was playing with us as well, and we were in the middle of nowhere. At one of the last viewpoints, there was an old woman selling ice cream products and drinks out of vending type machines. Keep in mind, we're on top of a mountain in BFE and she's got electricity to run the freezers!! Too funny!! We each got a chocolate bar and a bottle of ice cold water, which tamed the hunger pains enough to make it home.

There's a lake on the other side of the mountain from us called Skadar--the largest lake in Europe...it was ENORMOUS! However, unlike Lake Ohrid in Macedonia, this one is extremely undeveloped and not very pretty. I think it's because it looks shallow. We drove for a couple of hours and never did see the end of it.

The entire trip ended up taking 5 hours. We both were exhausted when we got back. And to make matters worse, the last couple hours of the drive, my lower back and right hip/leg flared up and I was really hurting. Don't know if it was all the climbing we did the day before at the ruins or what, but it hurt.

We decided to have dinner at the same place we ate the night before--Rich got seafood pizza and I had pasta with veggies. Shared a Shopska salad--brought home leftovers. They give way too much food!

Today we are at the beach. Not sandy like at Durrës, mostly small rocks. So glad I brought my water shoes, makes it nice to walk into the water. And speaking of the water, ITS FREEZING COLD!! Another difference from Durrës--don't know if it's because we are more north, or if it's because it's rocky and deeper--in any case, you don't stay in long.

We've been blessed with more beautiful weather. We are driving to Makarska, Croatia tomorrow--will probably take all day. Will update when I get back to wifi.