Trip Report: Montenegro

Another trip report? Some of you may be wondering whether I am working or vacationing. Well, I am working, but one of the benefits of a multi-national project is a holiday schedule that includes both the US holidays and the Albanian holidays. So we have had two three-day weekends in a row, one for Albania and one for the US.

Happily, J and L invited me to go with them across the border to Montenegro. It is a tiny country with about the same population as Alaska. In terms of history, the area and its inhabitants have a long and dramatic record of changing alliances and borders, and they were one of the few peoples that successfully resisted the Ottoman Turk invasion. There is a small Albanian population there, but mostly it seems the people are proud to be independent Montenegrans.

In terms of visiting, Montenegro has the reputation of being a beautiful place with lovely seaside villages, dramatic mountains, mild weather, and good food. My brief experience last weekend in Budra and Kotor certainly confirmed all those attributes, and for a bonus I also discovered a well-developed trail system. So when I wasn't enjoying the medieval archictecture or gorging on seafood and pasta, I was following well-blazed mountain trails up to the tops of the highest peaks. Alaskan hikers take note: This place would make a great mid-winter hiking getaway!

  I'll let the pictures explain.

Budra harbor



Grilled squid

Budra old town

The village of Kotor is particularly spectacular. The town sits on a very deep harbor which gives remarkable sea access (similar to a fjiord). The old town is surrounded by walls and a moat with the ruins of a fortress up above. Walking around the old town is like going back in time to the middle ages, except with  electricity, running water and quaint hotels and restaurants.

Church at Kotor



 

Ruins of fortress above Kotor



Kotor harbor (note cruise ships!)

Kotor streets

Kotor gate at night

Kotor farmer's market

Looking at the gorgeous terrain surrounding the city, I was hoping to find some hiking. An inquiry at the tourist information booth netted me a small brochure, written in Montenegran, with a rudimentary map that appeared to show some kind of route. Further inquiry of the very kind young women working the desk at our hotel yielded this sage advice: "On foot?? It's not possible! It's too long and rocky! A car is better!!" Well, they were right about long and rocky but wrong about the car. Here are some images from the hike.

I am the small pink dot

Up...

And up...

It turned out that the little brochure was not good enough to navigate by, but navigation was not necessary because all the trails were thoughtfully labeled with destinations, distances, and helpful estimates of walking times.

Can't get lost!

High point

At the end of the weekend it was hard to leave so many trails unexplored and cities unvisited. But I felt particularly glad to see how well the Montenegrans have preserved their cultural and natural assets while still creating economic development from tourism. It's a model that I wish others would follow.