We were talked out of Montenegro before we started our trip, but after learning more about it from people on the Camino, we decided we should give it a try.
After several bus rides from Dubrovnik, we made it to Zabljak, Montenegro. Home to Durmitor National Park and near Tara Canyon, the deepest canyon in the world (after the Grand Canyon). I had been eyeing this part of the globe for a while. Getting to raft through the Grand Canyon takes either years or thousands of dollars, sometimes both. Rafting down the Tara Canyon takes showing up to the river.
There is also quite a bit of hiking that can be done in Zabljak, something we were excited to do since we hadn’t had much exercise since the Camino (unless you count Elizabeth trying to kill me in Cinque Terre). Our hostel host provided us with a map and list of hikes in the area. We were excited to get a start the following day.
Our first adventure was a bike ride to a lookout of the Tara Canyon. During this expedition we learned just how bad Elizabeth was on a bike and just how terrible I am with directions. The scenery was magical, but our attitudes kept a dark cloud over the landscape. We got lost so many times, even though both of us attempted navigating, we ended up barely getting anywhere. Thankfully, we did get to see a few things including the Tara Canyon, otherwise one of us might have just headed back to the coast.
Our second day in Zabljak was more successful. Instead of navigating on two wheels we decided to stay on our feet all day. We joined a group of five other folks from our hostel and headed to the ice cave. It was a full day of hiking to get there and back. We covered around 26 KM over the course of 9 hours or so. We did a fair amount of stopping and breaking. I took plenty of photos and we all did yoga in a valley, elevation 1776 meters, fitting since it was Independence Day.
We eventually made it to the ice cave. What’s the ice cave? It’s basically a tiny glacier that runs into a cave. The cave had stalactites and stalagmites and ice versions too. It was quite cold down there, but I got some great photos. Elizabeth chose not to come down as the path was very treacherous.
Then the fog rolled in and we all had to scurry back down the mountain to our hostel. We had our hostel host’s famous last words ringing in our ears “Do Not Walk Into The Clouds.”
Exhausted after a full day of hiking, we decided to spend the next day on the water. River rafting on the Tara Canyon river was an interesting experience and one I would never do again. At least I won’t be rafting with the same “company” again. It was a ragtag tour from the start. My least favorite part was the constant back and forth as we drove over the bridge that was connecting two sides of the 2nd deepest canyon in the world. We have no clue as to the point of the back and forth over the canyon. At one point, I told Elizabeth if he does it again, I’m getting out and walking home.
Once our driver made it to the river, we met our guide who provided no direction or instruction the entire time. He also wore no life jacket, carried a man bag, and talked on his cell phone, all while holding a cig, and using his oar as our rudder to steer us down the river. Needless to say there was not much whitewater in this rafting adventure.
It was totally worth it though because the river is incredibly beautiful as is the canyon itself. I would have paid double for the views we got.
The rafting trip is more of sightseeing trip. At one point all the rafts stop to get a closer look at a waterfall. The rafts all stop again at some cliffs so that people can jump off if they choose. We were two of a very few who chose to jump. I assumed it was because people were afraid of the height, which was only probably 10 feet high or so. What I realized after landing in the water, post jump, was that I was the idiot who didn’t know the water was at hypothermia type temps and the current was swift. We both survived, but just barely.
Once are raft trip came to an end, the adventure continued. In our van ride home, we were surprised to find four additional people in the car. This was four more than the van could seat. We had children in the trunk area of the van, our guide was catching a lift with the van, and a small child was sitting in the front row bench seat begging to sit in the drivers lap to steer the van. It was a cluster. I am surprised no one died.
Our final day in Zabljak had the threat of inclement weather but we didn’t let that stop us. We had met/reintroduced ourselves to a couple of girls we had met during our Med Sailors yacht week. They didn’t know each other before the cruise, but they were put in the same room together and had been traveling together through the Balkans ever since. Together we decided to bike to the Devil’s lake. Named such for the dark circle within the lake. It is really just a plain lake shepherds bring their flock to. True to form, the clouds darkened, thunder and lightning crashed, but almost no rain came. We made it safely back to the hostel.
That night we packed and prepped for another long day in a bus. We had extra space in our Airbnb so we struck up a deal with the girls we had biked with and decided to all head to Kotor together. There is only one bus that takes you from Zabljak to Kotor. That bus only travels on one of the two roads to Kotor, but as we learned you might have to take both roads especially if there is a wreck on the main one.
So away we went, headed down the back road to Kotor. None of us had any idea where exactly we were or how long it would take to get to our destination. A local, who also knew English, calmed our fears by letting us know this was the old “main” road some 20 years ago, before the new road was built. She said no one ever drove on it anymore.
Good thing too. It had room for 1 1/2 vehicles and not near enough guard rails. Of course at the speeds we were going, we would probably have driven right on through the rail and to our ultimate demise.
After our extended bus ride we eventually made it to Kotor and to our Airbnb.
Our time in Kotor was even less structured than in Croatia. We did venture into Old Town quite a few times, we took a bus to a little town called Risan and toured the bay on a 3 hour crusie. Other than those few things, we spent the week at the beach or inside hiding from the summer sun. We were spoiled by Zabljak’s nice cool weather. In Kotor we were back in the sweltering sun.
Kotor old town is a much, much smaller version of Dubrovnik. The two really don’t compare size wise. Dubrovnik is grand. Kotor’s is more compact and less commercialized because of it. One benefit was we were able to see all of Kotor in an afternoon.
The main attraction in Kotor is climbing to the top of the fortress for great views of the city and bay. Temps were around 100 degrees and we were miserable, but we still had something nice to look at.
The rest of our time in old town was spent perusing the many churches both Catholic and Orthodox, enjoying the children’s art festival in town or looking at all the cat merchandise, cat museum, living stray cats… Anything and everything about the Kotor cats.
When we visited Risan, we were visiting more Roman ruins. Here we were again in another country further south and east than we had been on our trip and yet the Romans had been here too. The city has been around for thousands of years, since before the Greeks, but the mosaic ruins were only found a decade ago. It was great to get to see more history of the Roman Empire.
Our final adventure in Kotor was our 3 hour cruise that took us to the blue cave, Perast and Lady of the Rocks. In the cave we had the opportunity to swim. I think everyone should swim in a cave when the chance comes their way.
The town we visited wasn’t particular special, but it was a picturesque small town on the coast. Our Lady of the Rocks was the real star of the tour. The story is that a perfectly preserved painting of the Madonna with Child washed up to the monastery that is in the middle of bay. The monks then began throwing stones where the painting was found. After a lot of rock throwing an island was created. On the island a church was built and the painting was stored in it.
Montenegro was definitely worth visiting. If you are ever in the area, do yourself a favor and spend a couple of days there. After our boat cruise, it was time to pack up and head to our next country… UK or bust!
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