Montenegro

One of the most anticipated adventures on our travels was to be a jaunt through the world's newest nation, Montenegro. This little place squeezed between the southern border of Croatia and Albania was lumped together with the Serbs following the demise of the former Yugoslavia, but following a referendum in 2006 has managed to separate itself and reclaim its own identity. And so much so that is now being fast tracked for entry into the EU, and will remain completely untainted by its former relations with Serbia, who is effectively barred from EU entry until, amongst other conditions, it agrees to hand over various nasty war criminals to the courts in The Hague and it resolves the issue of Kosovan independence. And as if to ensure this promise of EU membership - or to rub Serbia's nose in it - it's already using the Euro as its national currency, even though it is still at least a year away from becoming an EU member! Guess it saves on minting a temporary set eh.

A very stern looking Montenegrin

We had so looked forward to this part of the trip - to drive along the shores of continental Europe's deepest fjord at Kotor, to wander around the medieval walled towns of Budvar and Herceg Novi, to bathe in the turquoise blue sea, and following our trek across Eastern Europe, to just generally bum it around at the beach. But we were in for one huge disappointment...

The fjord was magnificent, the water completely amazing yes, but what may have been (according to the the travel section of The Times of London) Europe's 'best hidden secret' (or something to that effect), it was anything but! It seemed that the entire population of the former Yugoslavia, all 15 million of them, (excepting of course Slovenia and Croatia who have their own coastline) was on holiday, and where else would you go if your "country" does indeed have the bluest, most amazing beaches this side of the Med? Where you've always gone - to the coast of course!

On top of the world at Kotor Fjord

It's a long, long way down

How weird it must really be, to now be in the situation of Serbia, and to a lesser extent Bosnia & Hercegovina and Macedonia, where you no longer have any coastline, and a trip to the beach involves remembering to pack your passport along with your towel and sunblock. And will Serbians have to apply for a visa to visit their favourite former beaches once Montenegro joins the EU? If that's not enough, it throws up all sorts of other perplexing questions... what now happens to the once mighty Serbian navy languishing in the now Montenegrin port of Bar?

So there we were after our madcap dash through Albania, idling stationary amongst bumper to bumper traffic, wedged in between some seriously flash vehicles - late model Audis, glistening black Jeeps, convertible BMWs, various other assorted American vehicles, and you just can't help wondering, where does all the money come from? For a land whose peoples were suffering deeply in a crippling war only ten years ago,you've got to wonder about all this wealth on the roads. And of course it doesn't help your imagination from running away with itself when you notice that many of these vehicles are not displaying licence plates, or identification of any sort for that matter. Especially those still displaying foreign parking permits long since expired.... Yes, it makes you wonder...

The socio-political situation aside, Montenegro, outside of high summer, would indeed be very beautiful. Despite being nestled cheek-by-jowl between tents and ancient caravans, being sounded out by (yet again) 10 year old dance music and fanta-d up children, there was something very intriguing to be surrounded by a complete casserole of up until quite recently, peoples intent in wiping each other off the face of the universe. Serbs, Bosnians, Kosovars (still actively pursuing their independence from Serbia, and still suffering greatly) all enjoying their seaside vacation right here alongside Wickse and a couple of other intrepid travellers. Tito would be proud.

It must be said however, that this wasn't the friendliest of destinations, but I guess given the historical circumstances, you can't expect to see each of the different nationalities greeting each other with little more than a sense of resigned suspicion. 10 years (and still counting from the Kosovian perspective) is not a long time.

On the EU membership front though, it does seem a little futile that the EU is about to admit Montenegro, and steadfastly maintaining its offensive position against Serbia. It did very much appear from our point of view, that Montenegro may still well be a little more than a southern region of Serbia, given the amount of obviously permanent Serbian residents, investments and wealth still concentrated in these coastal shores. Entry via the backdoor maybe?

Wickse & Eric in our own little square meterage of Montenegro

Back again to the sights...despite the hideously overpopulated beaches, we did manage to find our own rocky little patch of the Med, (which we discovered afterwards was the allocated nudist cove (of course, what else does the sign "PKK" mean?)), which was totally beautiful. We gave up fairly early on on the hope of a wander around the medieval walled towns - the effort to get there, not to mention the extreme sport known as "old-town-by-the-beach parking rumble" meant that this was just totally out of our reach.

It's my rock and I won't share!

Crystal clear waters of the Med

The real saviour of the trip however was a short boat ride out onto the island-church of the Lady of the Rock, an artificial islet deep in the Kotor Fjord which was created from the hulls of 87 captured ships (of whose origin we never managed to find out). A peaceful, silent retreat away from the maddening crowds.

Very picturesque town of Perast

Our Lady of the Rock

Chilling out

Beautiful!

So, Montenegro in a nutshell? Definitely deserves a greater perserverence - outside of high summer, and perhaps once EU regulations have sorted out the dodge...

SJ