Durmitor

Durmitor National Park

To escape the summer heat along the coast we decided to head inwards to spend some time hiking in the Montenegro national parks. We found a campsite in Žabljak, the starting point for Durmitor National Park hikes. It was nicely cool and I immediately got a flashback from last year's Norway experience when it started to rain. A good thing we were only staying two nights.

There are numerous hikes from Žabljak and while I would have probably chosen the highest peak as our destination I decided against it after I checked the weather forecast: it was supposed to rain in the afternoon. So we went only as far as Ledena pećina, an ice cave. We didn’t actually visit the cave though, we were anxious to go back because clouds were gathering ominously and so we turned around to descend.

Horses in pasture at Durmitor National Park

We cut across the mountain to take a shorter route on our way down where we stumbled on three horses in pasture. I was slightly nervous about getting too close to the horses as I wasn’t sure whether they were used to tourists hiking in their meadow. Then I noticed a shepherding dog running from somewhere and it became obvious that the dog felt responsible for the horses. He started barking at the horses and although it seemed they didn’t mind him much, he managed to get them out of the way so we couldn’t get too close to them. Witnessing such a scene was certainly something incredibly unusual to me, whoever thought a dog could shepherd horses?

Black Lake, Durmitor National Park

We spent some time relaxing around the Black lake on our way down and made it into camp at exactly the time it started raining. Perfect timing! Unfortunately there was no hot water in the showers and I had to suffer through a cold shower in the cold weather in the rain. I couldn’t really hold that against them as the next morning when I paid for the camp I realized that this was probably the cheapest camp we had ever stayed in.

Podgorica

Our drive the next day took us through Podgorica, the capital of Montenegro. We stopped briefly although there is nothing much to see. The reason the photo is so foggy is that my camera was wet from sleeping in a tent in the rain. I was sure glad to be heading back towards the seashore again and on to our next destination, Albania. Who knows what awaits us there?

Driving in Montenegro

Ulcinj

Something needs to be said about driving in Montenegro. The roads are bad, but perhaps it only seemed so after being spoiled by the long stretch of hundreds of kilometers of new highway that we took through Croatia. The coastal road in Montenegro is full of traffic and all kinds of obstacles so that driving is not very fun. It takes hours to cover distances that seem not too far apart on the map.

I had to laugh so much when I was handed a tourist brochure which had on the back a list of driving recommendations. Among others, there was an item about how drivers should park according to regulations. Marko and I didn’t really know what parking regulations are in place in Montenegro. We didn’t see any designated parking areas and we thought it best to learn parking regulations by observing local custom. From what we saw we were able to deduce that in order to park in Montenegro, drivers should follow this procedure:

Step 1: Stop the car.

Step 2: Turn off the engine.

That’s it. You’re done. The car is parked. If it just so happens that you stopped the car on the road, you shouldn’t be concerned. It is up to the vehicles in traffic behind you to realize that you aren’t stopping just for a traffic incident such as a red traffic light or a dog on the road but that you are parked there and therefore the vehicles, if they want to move along, have to pass you. Apparently you get bonus points if you park diagonally across from a similarly parked car, thus forcing the traffic to snake in between.

After a while we had become so used to this parking regulation that we were both startled in the city of Cetinje where we stopped for a red traffic light. When the light turned green, the entire lane to the right of us started moving. We were both confident that the cars were parked there, assuming that any car that isn’t moving – is parked. So we wound up awkwardly in the middle of the crossing. Oops.

Don’t joke about Montenegro

Bay of Kotor

Our next destination, Montenegro. I couldn’t help but think of the saying that there are no jokes about policemen because it’s all true. Or about blondes. Or about Montenegrins, I gathered. There are many jokes about how Montenegrins are lazy or at least that they take things slow and easy. So, our first encounter with Montenegro, waiting for more than an hour at the border crossing, proved to me that there are no jokes about Montenegrins because it’s all true.

It took us less than fifteen minutes to clear the Croatian side of the border. Assuming that no cars materialize in between the two border posts, it would have been reasonable to expect another fifteen minutes to clear the other side of the border. Instead, the cars moved along a snail’s pace for more than an hour. When we finally reached the Montenegrin border, we saw very official looking officials, who strutted around making sure that everyone noticed how very official they were. They hardly looked at the travel documents, rather walking around the cars pretending to check whatever they were pretending to check, taking their time before they finally let each car pass. They waved us on without even pretending to check anything.

But first impressions can be deceiving as we were able to observe on our way back. In the opposite direction, we breezed through the Montenegrin border in a matter of minutes while we had to wait for nearly an hour on the Croatian side. Who knows why, they just waved us on when we approached the official in the booth.

Petar Petrović Njegoš

We drove to Lovćen, the place with a colossal mausoleum for Petar Petrović Njegoš, an obviously beloved Montenegrin leader who was also a poet. I was awed by the grandeur of the mausoleum, comparing it to the pyramids of Egypt. I don’t recall ever seeing a mausoleum of similar proportions for anyone other than a pharaoh. Or maybe I just haven’t traveled enough yet.

Kotor

We spent the night along the Bay of Kotor, a beautiful area with a charming old city, ruins along the hilltop, scattered churches, perfect for early morning hiking.