Friday, August 15 - Into Montenegro
Our plane left Prague at 1:30 pm and we touched down in Dubrovnik, Croatia and were in our rental car headed to the Croatia - Montenegro border by 4:00. We are now out of the Schengen zone after 33 days.Our plan is to see Dubrovnik after our cirlce tour through Montengro, Boznia Hersgovina, and northern Croatia. We didn't take into account that even though the distance beyond the border to our night's accommodation was short, it seemed everyone from Croatia was headed in the same direction for the weekend, and the border traffic was bumper to bumper and moving very slowly. I don't think the border oficials were very efficient. There seemed to be some consternation over our rental car papers as the registration stamp was in the wrong place. We alone held up traffic by 15 minutes as the the three people in the control room chatted back and forth scratching their heads looking annoyed. Finally, they passed us through.
After being in the Schengen zone where there is no border control between countries, this was a real throwback, but we were happy to get some souvenier stamps in our passports. The climate here was Mediterranean humid, with growing cloudiness over the mountains. In fact while we were getting our rental car in Croatia, I photographed the formation of a funnel cloud and it was a bit scary as it was not far away, but for whatever reason it never touched down and was sucked up into the inky grey clouds as the storm passed by us.
We drove around a beautiful fjord on our way to Budva, where towering granite mountains dipped into the colbalt blue sea. Wish we could have sailed our own boat here. It looks quite protected now, but don't know if the water becomes more treacherous when winds funnel down from the mountain tops. The subterranean surface is rocky so not sure how ground tackle would hold. Nevertheless, it looks like a beautiful place to sail.
We arrived at our destination after 7:00, met our friendly host Dragan, ate at a nearby restaurant enjouing local food (lamb roast and grilled chicken with Serbian salads). The temperature was warm all evening and we slept on top of the sheets, just as we did on our boat while in the tropics.
Saturday, August 16
The following morning we marveled at the mountainous roads as we headed first south along the coast then up and over the granite passes. The scenery lookind down on the villages sea, Lake Skadar, mounain farms, monestaries and churches hanging from the cliffs, were spectacular.
Our major stop of the day was at the Ostrag Monestary, the third most visited holy healing place for Catholic pilgrims. The monestary is carved into a cliffside. A road goes to the top, but the devout climb the stairs from the cliff bottom up. The very devout climb the rocky stairs barefoot, and the most devout on their knees. We noted a few barefoot people amongst the many stair climbers, and no one on their knees. We were amongst the many cars driving up the hill to the last parking lot. There was a gate with an English speaking guard that lead to the road and parking lot all the the way to the top. When we toped to inquire, he said only infants and infirmed could go past the gate. He would make an exception for us if we would be a good friend to him. We were tempted but had used all of our Euros for lunch, so we parked in the parking lot for the not so devout and non-believers with and with one less good friend.
The monestary is on the UNESCO World Heritage list. People were climbing to the top with empty containers to fill with holy water, and were camped out on the deck in front of the monastary hoping and praying for miracles to cure themselves or their loved ones. A lot of improvements and construction was going on with 3 new holy water fountains. Loud speakers in the deck court yard filled the air with chanting. The holy retail store was doing a brisk business taking believers money for all of the holy goods they were selling....wine, olive oil, gilded photos and icons of various saints, but particularly of Saint Basil, whose remains are at this site.
At many of the rental car places we have been in, there have been a little happy and unhappy face electronic surveys of "How was our service?". Customers either push the happy face or unhappy face button. Wonder what statistics the Catholic church gathers on the effectiveness of holy water and pilgrimages as a cure. Would be very interested in knowing, but then if they knew, it might put a real damper on the miracle business.
After our day's drive through the granitee mountains, we arrived at a beautiful mountain lake, a reservoir constructed in the 1970's. Our guest house had a nice view of the lake Pivsko, and we immediately, put on our swim suits and walked five minutes to the rocky shore. The lake temp was about 74 and felt pretty brisk as the air temperature at 2400 feet was not as warm as when we were close to the sea. Even though we were in in sunlight peaking out from passing clouds, dark ominous clouds were gathering on the mountain tops.
We ate our dinner at the guest house Zvono where we are staying. Most interesting was our evening cocktail. It was made with homemade honey mead wine, golden on the bottom with a red wine floating on top. It was very picturesque ( but did not have my camera) and it was a very tastey wine cooler.
Day 67 - We are about ready to leave Zvono Guesthouse and Restaurant and look forward to some more gorgeous scenery on our way to Saravejo.
All is Well with the Worrall Travel R's in Montenegro
You are real good fellows, only move forward!
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