Montenegro

Montenegro is the place you want to go if you love to hike, bike or just want to drive through some of the  most beautiful county side and meet some really nice people.

With a rope tied to the wheelbarrow to help with the weight, this construction worker halls tiles up the mountian.  He doesn't want to slip off as it was quite a drop off the other side!

In the village of Crna Gora, in the Durmitor National Park, little yards with sheep and goats dot the mostly barren fields.  Rocks that have been picked from the fields make most the fences not to mention building material for the houses themselves.

A perfect place to put a bench to enjoy the view of Durmitor N.P just before asending down to the plateaus and th city of Zabljak.

Behind Ken the mountians of DurmitorN.P.and the road up from the canyon we just rode.

Ken made friends with a couple of taxi drivers who were waiting for fairs from the cruise ship in Kotor.  They made him look rather smallish(and he stands 6'1" or 186cm) Montenegro has the second tallest men in the world next to the Masai, in Africa. 

By night the wall of the old town of Kotor.  With the river on one side and the mountians behind, on which the fortification was built, the top was 1350 steps up from inside the city wall itself.  We made the climb and what a view we got!

The view from our lunch spot during a hike in Biogradska Gora N.P. We hiked an elavation gain of 450 metres up from Lake Biograd.  The surrounding mountians are mostly over 2000 metres. 

The city of Kotor far below, the Old Town, new town and cruise ship which nearly blocked the entrance to the bay(apparrently it accomodates over 5000 people

A Church on a small island in the inlet was built as hanks from the fisherman, in hopes they would always have good fishing and calm seas.

At the border of Albania going into Montenegro we thought we had special treatment as they motioned us, with the bike, through with the people traveling by foot into the customs area.  It was one of our easiest border crossings yet!

Pine trees cling to the sides of the gorge in Durmitor N.P.  This park is second only to the Grand Canyon when it comes to depth.

Mary had a little lamb, and it lives in Montenegro.

Ken contemplates soaring like a eagle over a canyon in Durmitor N.P.  What a great little spot the house in the background has, just so long as you are not a sleep walker...it is a long way down.

At the top of the Mount Lovcen, 1750 metres high, located in the Dinara Alps in the Lovcen N.P. stands a mausoleum was built.  It was started in 1951 and was not opened to the public until just about 25 years later.

At sunrise, a few threatening thunderheads develop over the Adriatic Sea at Safari Beach campsite in Ulcinj. 

25 switchbacks make their way up the mountain behind Kotor, you just can't be afraid of heights in this country.

Still in Durmitor N.P. mountians drop into turquise blue lakes.  The single lane roads were cut into the mountian side with lots of tunnels, and no guard rails.

A diamond in the rough, that is what we think of when we think of Montenegro, our favourite country in the Balkan countries...so far.  For such a small country it has so much to offer. Four amazing National Parks with awesome hiking, mountian biking and beaches.  We started our stay in Montenegro with one of the easiest border crossings yet which made us happy right from the start.  Our first stop in Montenegro was at Ulcinj where we stayed for 3 days camping on the beach and enjoying a little sun.  Here we met Klaus and Renata, from Dressen, we shared some of her fresh baked German cake and coffee along with some great travel tips for Montenegro and Croatia.  

After a couple days of basking in the sun we headed for the hills, once again looking for those small roads.  A single lane road from Bar across to Lake Skadar and the National Park of the same name was one of the best yet and then the same day we continued on from the capital city Podgorica to Kolasin the entrance to the Biogradska Gora National Park.  We found the best pension in town "Pension Kolasin" where we spent two nights and did a hike in the park.  The hike took us up into the park to Lake Biograd where we hiked another 450 meter into the alpine meadows and rocky cliffs.  We need to get a little exercise once in a while. 

From Kolasin it was off to Zabljak and another park, Durmitor National Park located in the north of Montenegro bosts having one of the deepest canyons in the world, Tara Canyon, over a kilometre deep, second only to the Grand Canyon.  The first day we arrived it was a little hazy but on the second day the weather cleared up and the visability was amazing.  Deep canyons,  solid rock cliffs and mountian tops, lakes and pine trees growing straight out of the rock, and small villages dotted the mountiansides, all sitting amongst piles of rocks that people had cleared from their land and now used for fences, houses and barns.  We had a lot of "WOW" moments.     

We had to tear ourselves away but after two sensory overloaded days we headed back down to the coast and the city of Kotor.  The Old Town of Kotor sits at the base of the mountians and tucked into the back of a weather sheltering bay.  A fortress sits on the mountian behind the Old Town and at night is lit up along with the wall around the city itself.  At least one cruiseship anchors in the bay everyday  during the cuising season so the town can get a little busy and touristy but we loved the city, climbing the 1350 step of the fortress and doing a bike ride through Lovcen National Park, located right behind Kotor, riding the 25 switchbacks and on to the top of Mount Lovcen, Crna Gora, The Black Mountian(Montenegro in Italian) after which the country was named, to an elevation of about 1750 metres.  We have had some very good luck finding pensions(one really bad, Hotel Javor in Zablijak, but we won't go there...and neither should you), again in Kotor it was our good luck to find Kovacevic Apartments where we stayed with a very nice couple.  The man at the pension makes rakija, they call it homemade brandy,  here, but I think we would call it moonshine...it was really good and Ken swears it is good for digestion and settling the stomach.  We also enjoyed some of the best food we have had in a while, including stuffed peppers, calmari, and of course shopsa salad(simular it greek salad).  Damn it was hard to leave...again!

From Kotor it was of to Croatia.