After my day of work and leisure I meet my tour group at 7 am the next day. We are to explore sights in North Montenegro. Our driver explains the buoys and boxes in the water are for fishing and mussel farming. I have tried some delicious sea bass but mussels are next on my list. We first stop to see the two islands outside of Perast. We do not boat over to them though. I am regretting my day off yesterday since that would have been my only chance to see both the town of Perast and the two islands.
We start an ascent up hill. It is curvy but I am not concerned because I happen to be in the front of the bus. There are beautiful views of the bay of Kotor from above.
I loom at the gorgeous views and then look to the side, a girl from our bus is puking her guts out into the bushes. At first I offer my seat to her but after realizing how far back her seat is I decide to just share the row with her. I share my motion sickness pills with her and the girl on the other side of me who is suffering too. I learned my lesson in Thailand so I always have the pills on me for road trips.
We stop briefly for breakfast and coffee.
Our next stop is a lake called Black lake. It is located in Durmitor National Park. We don’t have time to walk around the complete lake because the levels are high and it would take too long. I admire the views of the mountains and hike some of the shorter trails. It is pretty but nothing more impressive than what I have already seen. This is where my extensive traveling backfires on me as it gets harder to impress me these days. It is still chilly out and there is still some snow on the ground.
From the park we travel to a very large bridge over the Tara River. Some in the group are dropped off ahead of the bridge stop. They plan to zip line across the very deep canyon. The rest of us take the walk across the bridge on a very narrow walkway, making sure the constant traffic doesn’t accidently hit us when we stray off path. Despite the scary walk it is a beautiful view. The river below is a color that almost seems made up on a computer. The view is lovely.
For our final stop we stop at the Ostrog Monastery, a very popular Serbian Orthodox Church built into a hill. Many make the pilgrimage barefoot up the steep switchbacks to pray to the body of Vasilije, the founder of the church. There is also some lore about a grape vine growing in the wall of the church in a place that is not conducive to growth. There are some very old frescos inside. Unfortunately I didn’t take any pictures inside because it is forbidden and for some reason I am a strict rule follower lately (even though most are not).
We get back late but I still need to eat. I attempt my first of many disappointing servings of mussels. One would think that since they are farmed nearby that they would be fresh and flavorful, but that is not the case. The mussel meat is very small of the ones that are actually opened and the taste is probably the worst I’ve ever had of mussels. I can only guess maybe they are not in season yet. The dessert is good though.
Tomorrow I am switching countries again and head to Croatia where I’ll meet my friend soon. I probably could have spent more time in Montenegro so I’ll just have to come back some day.
Growing With Leala 