With Alex and Tarsha
How do you know you have wonderful friends? They’ll fly out to Montenegro to meet you and go along with hiring a car from a Serbian guy to have a road trip. Alex joined me on the 18th August, with Tarsha joining a few days later. I sorted the hire car through the hostel I’m working at, with a guy bringing it to the hostel, showing me (without speaking English) how to operate it, signing a single sheet of paper and paying in cash the 90EUR for the 3 days. Insurance? No idea. Luckily we didn’t need to find out, although we had a close call at one point with Alex smashing the wing mirror… Our noble steed was a 2006 Fiat Panda (please see below), which, surprisingly, drove wonderfully. Our route is shown below, with red being us driving and orange an additional trip.
After collecting Alex from the airport we made our way to Kolasin. The first part of the drive was pretty stressful, with the road being a single track winding up the mountain and the other road users being locals zooming down taking up the whole road. But after that the drive was honestly wonderful. Despite the RAC’s warning of poor road conditions in Montenegro (thanks for the research Al) the rolling tarmac ascending and descending through the mountains was very enjoyable to drive on. The final part of the drive was through a canyon and wow it was impressive. The sun was setting so the colours were lovely, and the scenery even more dramatic. We passed through a huge number of tunnels, many hand cut into the rock. We stopped at a monastery which had a well kept garden. Darkness had just about descended when we made it to Kolasin and we found a cosy looking restaurant to eat, and to give Alex his first taste of Balkan food. I drove the short distance remaining to the airbnb and we saw our accommodation for the next two nights. Thank god we’re good friends and Alex hadn’t had the lamb shank at dinner! The “tiny cabin on wheels” was a perfectly apt name. Alex slept badly, and therefore so did I.
After being told breakfast had stopped being served at the campsite we enjoyed a Balkan breakfast en route to Biogradska Gora, our first national park! Montenegro has five national parks, with Biogradska Gora being the smallest but apparently the prettiest. Leaving our car at Biogradska lake we hiked up Bendovac mountain. The walk reminded me of England, zigzagging up through forest. Once at the top however the scenery was much more unique. The mountain valley was open and green, with blueberry bushes dotted around. There were two farm houses with little huts surrounding them, traditionally used by shepherds but now open to hikers. It was gorgeous. The view and the atmosphere of the little farms made it my favourite national park that we visited. Back down at the lake I was less impressed, with the lake being a bit murky and muddy. We hurried back to the tiny hut to use the hot tub as it was closed the previous night, only to be told it was still shut for cleaning. Disappointed, we played cards as it got dark.
Waking early the next morning we headed west across Montenegro to our second national park, Durmitor. This is the most famous one and is home to the tallest peak in the country, Bobotuv Kuk. On our drive over we stopped to take a closer took at the Tara river, stumbling across a traditional wooden raft we were able to clamber on. We enjoyed breakfast in the ski town of Zabljak before visiting Crno Jezero (the Black Lake). This was Alex’s favourite spot, and I appreciated it too. The lake was very blue, with mountains rising up on one side. The edge was lined with trees, and the water level had receded so the vibrant green reeds were exposed in places. The water was the perfect temperature, and we enjoyed a swim. We could’ve spent all day there, and it would’ve been a great place to swim after hiking Bobotuv Kuk. Alas, Tarsha had now landed in Kotor and so we began the drive back to meet her, making a brief detour to get a better look at the mountains. I wish I had had more time to spend in Durmitor, especially to hike the mountain. We decided to spend time in Biogradska Gora and I’m very glad we did, with the hike there being different to the ones I’d done previously in Slovenia and Albania, whereas Bobotuv Kuk would’ve been very similar. Even with a month in Montenegro there’s still so much more I’d like to do!
Tarsha and Isabel (another volunteer at the hostel) had been busy in our absence buying supplies for a sunset picnic. We drove up to a fortress way above the Kotor bay. Someone had just finished painting faces all over one of the interior walls so we explored the labyrinth of rooms under the smell of varnish. We chose our location on top of one of the turrets for our picnic. The sunset was beautiful, even if the sun did disappear behind a cloud before it hit the sea.
To fit in one last national park before the hire car was collected, we left at 6am for Lovcen national park. This is the closest one to Kotor. Tarsha drove us up the dreaded Kotor Serpentine and we admired the rocky yet green landscape of Lovcen. It was so different to both Durmitor and Biogradska Gora. We reached the Mausoleum which is on the second highest peak in the park, only to be told it didn’t open until 9am and we weren’t allowed to go up to the top. Undeterred we headed to the highest peak instead. This is where the Fiat Panda really impressed, as did Tarsha’s driving. The track up was more rock than road, and it was very slow going with us all anxiously listening to the twangs of rocks hitting the metal underside. After 20 or so minutes we found somewhere to park up that was wide enough for us to turn around, and we walked the final bit to the top. The views were outstanding.
I handed the keys back to the same Serbian man that dropped it off, nervous for him to find some issue with it. Needlessly so, he didn’t even look at the car before driving off.
And so ended our few days driving around Montenegro. It was my first time properly driving abroad, and a left hand drive car. It was a great experience and the freedom it gives over public transport is insane. In countries where it’s affordable I’d absolutely recommend hiring a car for a few days!
The rest of Alex and Tarsha’s visit was more relaxed, with beach days, ambles around Old Town, copious amounts of Monopoly deal and eating good food. I convinced them to do one last adventurous thing with me, which was a rafting trip. This took us all the way back up past Durmitor to the stretch of the Tara canyon on the Bosnia and Hercegovina border. The Tara canyon is the second largest canyon in the world, behind the Grand Canyon. It was great to see more of Montenegro on the drive up. The rafting itself was hilarious, with my face hurting from laughing by the end. The atmosphere was insane, mostly caused by the strange weather, and of course the scenery. The canyon was beautiful, very green and the water was crystal clear. We drank straight from the river. The weather began dry, but with crazy clouds falling low in the canyon, cutting the mountain view into fragments. At times it would pour with rain. At one point it hailed aggressively. We were soaking wet from both the spray of the white water and the rain. It was wonderful. We swam and cliff jumped at one point, and found the water to be absolutely freezing. After the swim the cold set in and we paddled more aggressively to keep warm. We stopped at a waterfall and a weird bar set up on the canyon side, at this point we were in Bosnia. It wasn’t much further until we reached our finishing point. There had been some tears (from a Welsh lady in the boat as she shouted at the other boat to stop splashing, which was very funny), but we’d all survived! We got dry and changed into our warm clothes and I had the exact feeling of finishing a few hours body boarding and swimming in the sea in the rain in Woolacombe, and getting changed in the cold to finally be all cosy in a hoody and comfy trousers. It was wonderful. I’ve found it so interesting how having experiences and feelings that remind me of home stops me feeling homesick. The things I miss about home can be recreated and that does the job perfectly! We had a wonderful lunch - delicious soup followed by fish and beef with potatoes (again, reminding me of home strangely) with salad and bread.
Then the 22nd rolled around and it was time for Tarsha and Alex to leave. I waved them off in the taxi and then bought a huge punnet of fresh figs to cheer myself up. I’m so lucky to have friends who have come out to visit, and I appreciate it so much. And not just because they bring me out Marmite, Cadbury’s chocolate and skincare products… So thank you very much to Tarsha (and Alex, but he repeatedly told me he doesn’t read the blog so this is a pointless addition) for flying out and for your wonderful company!
