Most people I've talked to about Montenegro rave about the beaches and the rugged coastline. I am absolutely astounded by the
countryside and the rough mountain ranges. It probably helps to have the fall colours enhance the white and yellow rock faces of mountains that rival the Dolomites in Italy. Or perhaps the picture perfect blue skies may help out a bit. All I know is this place makes me feel like I'm seeing the world for the first time.
Truth is the landscape is stunning and we have the freedom that comes with a rental car.
Picked up the car at Dubrovnik airport without a hitch. That's the best place pick up a car. It's out of town (yeah!) and there are a number of rental agencies to haggle with. We went with Hertz and jumped in to a Peugeot to begin our new adventure. Roads are good not to mention the fact that they drive on the right side of the road. No problems at the boarder but you sure have to watch the speed limit. In the first half hour of driving in Montenegro we passed four speed traps. It's crazy here. The speed limit goes from 40 to 60 to 30 to 50 .... all within a few kilometres. Some of the speed areas are less than two city blocks long. That's where you see the traffic police. Apparently they like cash. We've been obeying the speed limit so far.
Our home for the first two nights is an apartment a couple of kilometres from Kotor. After driving past big beach resort hotels, casinos and some run down broken buildings the road took us around the narrow gorge that leads to the delightful city of Kotor. We chose to drive rather than take the ferry. Good choice. The road took us past a lovely view of two small islands one them, Sveti Djordje, has a Benedictine Abby on it and the other, Gospa of Skrpelja, with a lovely baroque church built in 1630. Arriving in Kotor was a bit of an eye opener. We thought this town of only only 13,510 inhabitants would be kind of sleepy. Well, it would be if the cruise ships weren't in town. Taxis and people were everywhere as we tried to find the tourist information. I jumped out of the car and Shane embraced the round about while I found someone to tell me how to locate the apartment we booked. It's all part of the adventure but I thought we'd left cruise ship chaos behind in Dubrovnik!
After a few tense moments we managed to maneuver the car along the narrow waterfront road to the quiet, clean and spacious apartment we'd booked for two nights. By the time we were settled and walked to town, most of the cruise ship crowds had returned to their nests and we could enjoy this lovely old walled city.
Kotor is very unique. Situated at the end of a deep gorge the town has been a centre for trade since the 14th century. Wool, hide, meat & fat from inland and oil, wine, crafts and arms from afar all passed through this well fortified town. We walked up (and I mean up) the city walls and saw where the old cart trail starts over the pass and inland to Montenegro. The bay is surrounded by coastal mountains which meant the city fortifications had to be built straight up the hill. Made for some pretty views from the top.
By now we know the best way to avoid cruise crowds in the city is to go early or late in the day. With that in mind we hopped in the car and spent the day counting switchbacks (26 in one stretch) to the city of Citenje. After surviving that crazy dizzy stretch of road we decided to make it even worse by taking a back road to Rijeka Crnojevica. This was a good idea because we got some stunning pictures as well as learning how to make u-turns in very tight spaces on steep narrow roadways. Looking (way) down upon a huge lake dotted with islands on a bright sunny day while surrounded by vineyards is a good thing!
From the lake we made our way down to the Adriatic. The south has beautiful cliffs, sandy beaches and is less developed than the north however there are still casinos and big resorts. One of the big tourist attractions, the island city of Sv Stevan, is picture perfect and off limits to most tourists. The whole place was bought and turned in to a luxury resort. Apparently it costs 20 euro to rent a beach chair for the day. Can't imagine how much the rooms are.
We bought local sausage and had a picnic lunch before returning to swim and rest by the water. I must say it is pretty strange to see a cruise ship, that probably holds 3000 people, slip past us through this narrow passage to the Adriatic. On the day we left two ships came in to port while another two anchored in the gorge. That would more than double the population of the town. Good day to be leaving.
Driving north towards our first destination, Ostog monastery, we took another high mountain road that winds north to the Bosnian boarder before turning back to the city of Niksic, the former capital of Montenegro. The land is back to the almost inhabitable rocky landscape that, somehow, people manage to inhabit.
Ostrog is a large structure built at the face of a cave where Vasilije Jovanovic, a well known saint is buried. High up a cliff face above a large church this place of pilgrimage is one of the holiest places of the eastern church. I was surprised by the number of pilgrims, young and old...in traditional dress & jeans, coming to pray to a saint that still posses the power to heal. A slow procession takes you past his body. While I was in the cave a young couple were overcome with emotion kissing the rock entrance ways and pictures. Definitely not the place to take photos (though some from a small tour bus were). I left them in peace going out to admire the view up and down the valley.
Back to conquer more switchbacks our journey took us north to see what a Montenegro ski hill looks like. The terrain got steeper as the views became indescribably breathtaking. At a high plateau we saw sheep farms dotting the green valley with the now familiar steep pitched roof (to keep snow off). As we approached Zabljak, our ski hill destination, we saw lots of signs but no ski hills and nowhere where we could even imagine one being workable. Lots of ski chalet rentals and new construction in amongst working sheep farms. Hmmmm ? We found a big apartment for 30 Euro and went off to explore. Found Durmitor National Park, parked and went for a walk to Black lake. Surrounded by more steep rocky crags this beautiful jewel was the place to come for locals to find peace as well as family fun (big outdoor adventure climbing apparatus near the entrance). If you have some time there are lots of hiking trails here....but no ski hills.
When we got back to town there was a different fellow at tourist information who told us to leave town and drive 7 kms back where we came from. Apparently we'd passed the ski hill. So off we went, following the newly understood signs, to a run down rickety ski hill with some extremely challenging terraine. The way I see it there are double black diamond and green runs with little or nothing in between. Couldn't tell if the backside was developed from the worn map.
Next day was my favourite drive so far. The photos don't so justice to what we were privileged to see. Another sunny day as we left
Zabljak to Bosnia Hercegovina over a road that some of our maps said did't exist through the Durmitor mountain pass. Wow. Just wow. For our friends with bikes we'd thought of how much you'd love to take these turns and see these views.... Wow!
Then there was the boarder. It took is about an hour to get through and only four cars and a bus ahead. Again as we experienced last year in Turkey, we are crossing in to the European Union which means more car searching etc.
The Bosnian Hercegovina border was a collection of trailers with a beat up booth. Thinking we'd find a restaurant for lunch we were eventually pretty happy we had picnic
supplies. Our experience with this country (Mostar & Medugorje) left us thinking tourism was no problem. It is a problem in a country
struggling to come back from the war. The villages struggle. The farms have few tractors and the houses in this area of the country with a flower garden make you take notice as it is rare. Hay is pitched in to piles for the winter by fork. Abandoned or bombed buildings with a roof are used for hay storage when possible. It is a different life here. There are also few readable road signs. Again we came up with lost looks and a map only to be greeted with friendly hand gestures and incomprehensible words that actually got us pointed I'm the right directing.
Yesterday we thought we would make it farther north for the night...then reality sunk in. We decided to go with what was familiar which meant another night in either Mostar or Medugorje....we chose the latter. We thought the place would be empty but nope. There was no place available except one room at the hotel we stayed at a month ago...they had a last minute cancellation. Apparently Mary appears on the 2nd of each month ( the date we arrived) which meant that all rooms were booked. In spite of the rain the village was packed. Ana greeted us like long friends, amazed at our good fortune to arrive tired and find room. It was good to come 'home' to what was familiar after such a long day.
Packed with pilgrims we wandered through the village taking it all in....why of all places did we find ourselves back here?
In the morning we are heading back to the Croatian coastline. Such a diverse journey. I miss the mountains we woke up to this morning.