ON THE ROAD IN MONTENEGRO – (2) INTO THE MOUNTAINS

Montenegro isn’t a big country – only the size of Connecticut or about one fifth of the area of Ireland – but journey times are relatively slow so many potential day trips to the interior of the country are impractical. It’s a great contrast, however, to leave the crowded coastline and head inland for even a few nights.

We’re off to the town of Zablyak – about 160kms and a good 3 hour drive from Kotor. Located 1456 meters above sea level, Zablyak is the highest urban location in the Balkans. Set against the backdrop of the Durmitor Mountain Range, it has the double lure of winter sports and summer hiking.

Leaving Kotor Bay, we can spot the two islands off the coast of Perast – the boats are busy bringing visitors to and fro…

It’s a lovely drive, offering up a variety of landscapes (and not a cruise ship, influencer or cat to be seen!!)

BLACK LAKE

Black Lake is considered one of the country’s most spectacular sights. It’s located within Durmitor National Park (another one of Montenegro’s 4 UNESCO Sites) and is the largest of the 18 glacial lakes in the park.

The area around the lake offers an array of outdoor activities – walking, picnicking, and kayaking (I didn’t see anyone swimming in the rather bracing water though!).

There is a popular 3km looped trail around the lake which is the ‘must do in the area.

I’m brave enough to admit that we got lost – I don’t know HOW or where we missed the ‘easy’ trail that everyone writes about!!! It might be partly due to the fact that the lake is actually made up of two lakes – in winter the water rises and they connect into one, in summer you can cut through between lakes if you wish (that’s my excuse anyway!). I’ve no idea what happened but we ended up in some rather hairy situations….

Doubt beginning to settle in! I wouldn’t call this an easy trail?

This can’t be right….

OMG! – and stop taking photos of my…..

We weren’t the only ones actually – we joined up with a twosome and a threesome at different stages but split up when no one could find the proper path. We’d have been delighted to even retrace our steps and go back the way we came – if we could have found it!! Eventually a lovely couple from California (also lost!) set us straight.

It’s a beautiful area and I seem to be the only person not gushing about it. Nothing to do with getting lost – or losing my hoodie along the way! To be honest, we’ve as nice here at home so perhaps the landscape wasn’t different enough for me.

THE DURMITOR RING

This 76km looped driving route winds through Durmitor National Park and passes through some of the country’s most striking landscapes. The UNESCO site was formed by glaciers and boasts over 50 peaks, 18 lakes and numerous rivers, plateaus, alpine meadows, pine forests and spectacular canyons – Tara River Canyon is the deepest gorge in Europe.

It’s pretty much a drive of two parts. For us (heading clockwise / south), we first encounter the karst landscape…..

The road is windy with numerous hairpins. It’s narrow but there’s room to pass and a few passing places along the way. We didn’t meet a lot of traffic (mid June) or too may sheep!

There are particular beauty spots to stop at but parking is limited…..

There area is obviously sparsely populated but there’s the odd distraction apart from hairpins, sheep and mountains!

About half way around we come to the hamlet of Trsa. There’s not a whole lot here but it makes for an obvious lunch stop at one of its eateries. There is a detour here to Piva Lake which is reportedly beautiful – it’s about 10kms off the Ring road.

The landscape changes after Trsa…

As the scenery changes to pine forest, road conditions also change and become extra challenging. There are more steep inclines, sheer drops – and no guardrails. As well as dealing with oncoming vehicles, there are potholes and debris to negotiate.

We loved the first half of the Ring but were rather underwhelmed with the northern section. Driving conditions were more demanding anyway but we found the landscape a bit boring after the dramatic rolling hills of the morning. Again, as with Black Lake on the previous day, the scenery might have been just a bit too familiar to us to be interesting.

THE DURDEVICA TARA BRIDGE

The Tara River Canyon is the deepest in Europe and the second deepest in the world after the Grand Canyon. One of its main attractions is the Đurđevića Bridge.

Construction began in 1937 – at 365m long and 172m above the water, it was the largest vehicular arch bridge in Europe built from reinforced concrete. In May 1942, with a large number of Italian and German troops stationed in Žabljak, the Partisan command gave the order to blow up the bridge. The task was entrusted to one of the original engineers – Lazar Jauković – who planted explosives on the central arch. Jauković was captured by the Italians and executed on the remains of his bridge. It was rebuilt in 1946.

OSTROG MONASTERY

Founded in 1665 within caves in a cliff face, some 900m above the valley, this is Montenegro’s most revered Serbian Orthodox site. Despite the traffic (yep – more hairpins!), pilgrims, tourists and souvenir stands, there is still a sense of peace up here…

There is a lower monastery (where most of the monks live) and true pilgrims walk up the 3km steep path (often barefoot) from there but us mere mortals can weave up to a car park (if we can tolerate any more hairpins!!)) and walk the final 200m.

St Basil of Ostrog, the founder of the monastery, died here in 1671 and his body is enshrined in a tiny cave-church. Pilgrims queue to enter the shrine and tourists may also enter (with appropriate dress / no photos). From here, one can continue in to the main building and climb to the upper terrace and another cave-church with faded frescoes.

It is believed that St. Basil invisibly walks the monastery grounds at night so devout followers leave socks for him to change into in exchange for good health and protection….

Small Stuff

Black Lake is less than 10 min drive or around a 30 min walk from Zablyak. There’s a National Park entrance fee – €5 per person – and parking at €9 for 3 hours or €15 for the full day. (Lucky for us the parking attendant was nowhere to be seen when we returned as our misadventure put us well over our three hours!!!). There is a cafe beside the lake and stalls selling local jams, herbs, etc.

Durmitor National Park has an entrance fee of €5 each which we paid at one of the carparks along the route. (There is a multipass which you can buy if you’re going to visit several parks). Road surface is fine in the southern half and there are fewer sheer drops so it makes for a more comfortable drive. Not the best place for a big car or camper van though!!!! It’s suggested that one start in the south and see how it goes and turn back at Trsa rather than doing the loop if the driver is uncomfortable – the northern road is narrower so passing oncoming traffic becomes even more nerve-wrecking!. It takes 3-4 hours to complete the loop without detours.

Ostrog Monastery is about an hour’s drive from Podgorica.

Where we Stayed

Apartments Grbovic in Zablyak for 2 nights (total €112). Room only but we had kitchen facilities and there’s a supermarket close by. It’s close to several restaurants and has on street (free) parking.

Sorry! My only Photo!!

Food and Drink

Two things to note! – (1) they LOVE their meat up here and (2) it’s cheaper than the coastal resorts. There is a selection of restaurants and a few bars in town – we were glad we’d booked Or’o ahead of time because it was very busy. Our landlady recommended Nostalgija for the following night.

Lunchtime in Zabljak! Toms BBQ Chicken with bread (we weren’t sure what exactly it was going to be) – it has FIVE fillets of chicken in it!! (It came with a bowl of soup, cabbage salad and homemade juice for €10)

My version has TEN kebabs!!!

A meat platter in Nostalgija! (Yes! We shared!)

Language

You cannot assume that everyone in the service industry here speaks English.

Weather

It’s definitely cooler up here – One needs a hoodie in the evening and I was glad to opt for full length trousers and runners.

How Long?

If you’re not staying around for sports or hiking then you’ll get a good sense of the place in 2 days.

What we did –

Day 4 – Left Kotor after breakfast. Arrived Zablyak at lunchtime Met our landlady and walked around to nearest restaurant for BBQ chicken and kebabs! Drove to Black Lake – ‘Walked’ around lake!! Dinner Or’o.

Day 5 – Drove the Durmitor Ring with lunch in Tsra. Dinner in Nostalgija.

Day 6 – Left after breakfast. 2 hours to Ostrog Monastery. We had to queue for 40 minutes which we didn’t anticipate. We’d intended visiting Njegos Mausoleum but skipped it and continued on to Budva.

Moving on – next time…….

Back to the coast and Budva…

Bye for now…