Before my trip in Montenegro I heart that it's the country of mountains. That's true. The landscape was beautiful with mountains covered by pines. The certain pine gives that dark color. So the country is called "black mountain". I also enjoyed the gorgeous canyons on my way. From the bridge I admired the Tara river down deep in river valley. I started the day by the beach in warm Mediterranean climate and ended in cool, fresh air close to mountains covered by snow. The tiny country has different climates and sceneries. I liked the old style houses and big hay poles roadside.
The Kotor bay was especially spectacular. It reminded me of fjords in Norway. But it was much warmer. We went down in serpentine road that was quite narrow. By the sea we visited the old town Kotor which was intriguing. It was the town that resisted the Ottomans. You can still admire the walls around the town. You can even climb into them and see the town from up but unfortunately we had no enough time for that. You also need the proper shoes for walking on uneven road and steps.
Montenegro is not just mountains, it's also the blue sea. The beaches are long and have small round stones but I found a peaceful part of it with some sand and close to the old town of Budva. I found this small old town very fascinating. The cats of Budva were in better shape than those of Kotor.
During my visit I enjoyed lamb and fish. Not to forget all fruit and vegetables! And of course these are the areas of nice wine. So good food at a reasonable price.
Local people were quite friendly. I bought some guided tours that were in English and Russian. In Montenegro there are many tourists from Russia which has the historic background. Russia has had common interests with Serbia and Montenegro, even the Soviet Union had connections to former Yugoslavia. Nowadays many Russians invest in Montenegro.
One day visit in Albania started very early and I returned late. The whole day on the way was not that hard but inspiring. We went first to Skadar. It was already the center of Illyrians. We were told that in communist era all the temples were destroyed. The only church that remained, was the Catholic church but it was used as sport center. Nowadays it's again the Catholic church and close to it there is the Orthodox church and the biggest mosque in Albania. All the religions have their temples. The annoying thing in Skadar was beggars hanging around.
After Skadar we drove to see the big harbor city Drach. From the top floor of a high building there was a good view. The ruins of amphitheater told of ancient times. The harbor was busy. There were people walking at the beach boulevard. Some big buildings were new and elegant but some were abandoned with broken windows. I also wondered statuary that were mainly men in arms. They were representing the socialist realism and reminded of communist era.
Then we moved on to Tirana, the capital of Albania. Before the city there were many offices and stores of international companies by the road. There were also the new colorful blocks of buildings. In the center you cannot miss the huge mosaic on the facade of the national museum of Albania. The style was socialist realism, of course and the theme was revolutionary, a group of militant people. The main square had also an opera, a famous mosque and an equestrian statue. In Tirana I had a tasty lunch in an old style restaurant close to the square. I also visited in the new and charming Orthodox church. I also had a glance at the neglected monument of Hoxha who was the former, hated dictator of the country. He called himself pharaoh of Albania and constructed a kind of pyramid for himself but which has now graffiti on its surface. He was the man who made people to build hundreds of thousands of bunkers. He also isolated the country from the rest of the world and ruled by Stalinist methods. Something good he did, for example the illiteracy was eliminated during his period.
I saw many people on the fields working but no tractors. I got the impression that the farms were small. Women were wearing white scarfs. From the border shop I bought a coffeepot to prepare Turkish coffee at home. I can recommend this combination trip to Montenegro and Albania.
