Montenegro

Following the fiasco of the arrival in Dubrovnik, I decided to take the day off from working and let someone else do the legwork. I booked a group tour with a local agency to go into Montenegro for the day. Montenegro was the world’s newest nation back in 2006 when it separated from their then partner, Serbia. Recently, you’ve heard that Kosovo also separated from Serbia in the last few weeks. Obviously, Serbia isn’t very well liked!
I guess I shop make an attempt to explain the whole Yugoslav situation. The nation was pieced together back at the end of the First World War. It was mostly a marriage of convenience. Each region of the Yugoslav nation was too small to survive on its on back in the early 1900's. Each region is ethnically and religiously different. It was held together after World War II by the Communist dictator, Tito. But once Tito died, the late 1980's and early 1990's led to the slow dissolution of the nation. The Slovenians (Catholic) broke away first with light bloodshed. Croatia (also Catholic) broke away next, and the Serbs were reluctant to allow their Yugoslav nation to break apart. War was started, mostly agged on by a war of escalating words between the two countries leaders (Milosevic being the more notorious one). The first shots were fired in Plitvice National Park. The war eventually reached the walls of Dubrovnik, as ethic Serbs in Montenegro shelled the city from above, destroying over 2/3 of the city roofs and a lot of the city walls I walked on. Bosnia (Muslim) soon also splinted and the Balkan War was on. Serbia and Montenegro are both Eastern Orthodox, which explains Serbia’s current ties with Russia. If it all sounds confusing, it is!

Our day trip to Montenegro included a trip to the Bay of Kotor and the largest fjord in Southern Europe. It also included a trip to the walled city of Kotor and a trip to the Budva Riveria. Montenegro is a much poorer country as compared to its Serbian and Croatian neighbors.

The fjord was beautiful but it wasn’t quite comparable to the ones I had seen in Norway and New Zealand. Kotor had a lot of raw energy. They have city walls that were built around the city and then up the surrounding mountainside (kinda like a small version of the Great Wall). I would have loved to have climbed it if we had had more time. The walls climbed WAY up above the city.

The trip to the Budva Riveria was interesting as well. The coastline is currently being bought up by the Russians. Evidently, the low prices in Montenegro and their ties to the ethnic Serbs make it an attractive destination. The beaches there were quite rocky. They were raking them in preparation for the summer crowds. It wasn’t anywhere near the beach quality we would know by Western standards. Of course, most of the European beaches are also rocky like this...but usually a little cleaner.

It’s Thursday now, and I am bus tripping back to Split. I just boarded by Blue Line ferry for the overnight voyage across the Adriatic. I didn’t get a room (they were quite pricy), so it may become another one of those interesting nights since I will be sleeping somewhere on deck. I should be at my final destination in Venice when I post this sometime on Friday afternoon.