Monday September 12th, 2011

Monday, September 12, 2011

            Now that we are home and beginning to get rested and caught up, we’ll tell you about our last week in Europe. We were in Montenegro’s capital Podgorica, a city with a population of under 200,000 (almost one-third of the country’s population). It lies at the confluence of two rivers (one of which was dry when we were there) in a fertile plain bordered by mountains and near both the large Skadar Lake and the Adriatic Sea. Like most of this part of the world, it has experienced a lot of history. The earliest remains date from the late Stone Age. During WWII it was bombed over 70 times (first by the Germans and then by the Allies). Although not directly involved in the Yugoslav wars, it suffered economically. In May 2006 it became the official capital of the newly independent state of Montenegro. It has many modern buildings alongside older ones. Outdoor cafes and pedestrian walkways (one of the main streets is closed to traffic at 5 PM everyday) give it a people friendly atmosphere lacking in larger cities.

            Once again we stayed in an apartment not far from our friends Adriana, Nikola and Karlo. Nikola had to return to work and Karlo started preschool so Adriana showed us the city during the day and made sure we tried several local dishes. In the evenings we would all go out – one evening to a very modern mall for shoes for Karlo, once to a “farm” (an area with some animals, several soccer fields, pony rides and a large play for kids with trampolines, balls, Frisbees, sand box, etc. where Karlo could run free), and to some Roman ruins.

            One memorable day we drove up into the mountains to Lovcen National Park. The road to the park was a good highway and it took only about an hour. Entering the park we drove up Mt. Lovcen on a narrow winding road with many hairpin turns (tour buses needed both lanes to make the turns) to a small circular parking area. Marvin and Nikola opted to enjoy the view from the restaurant while Adriana, Karlo and Linda continued up to the summit. This involved climbing 461 open stairs (most of which were through a 264 foot long tunnel) up to a very narrow plateau that is 5,740 feet above sea level on which is a mausoleum for one of Montenegro beloved rulers, Petar II Petrovic Njegos (1813-1851). The 132 foot long path along this plateau is only 4.3 feet wide with sheer drops on either side and no railings or guard rails! Fortunately it was a clear day with no wind. The panoramic view is spectacular – it is said you can see most of Montenegro from this summit. The mausoleum itself is remarkable with a 28 ton sculpture of Njegos carved from one block of black granite. The ceiling above the statue is 1,307 square feet of gilded mosaic.

            After leaving Mt. Lovcen, we stopped in Cetinje, the old capital of Montenegro. It still has many of the old style buildings and many of the former embassies house various government departments. Because it is in the mountains it is cooler than Podgorica and very picturesque. After exploring the town we drove off the main highway onto a very narrow, winding, bumpy one lane road to the very small (now only about 6 families live full-time) village of Bokovo where Nikola’s father was born and raised. Nikola’s parent own part of the original house and spend the occasional day or weekend there (no electricity or running water). We visited with them and Nikola’s sister for a few hours, enjoying a second lunch along with locally grown grapes and figs.

            Returning to Podgorica we again turned off the main highway onto a (you guessed it) winding narrow mountain road down to the small town of Rijeko Crnojevica on a river of the same name which is one of the five rivers entering Skadar Lake. It has a lovely stone bridge built in 1854. The area is being developed for bird watching though the only fowl we saw were some ducks floating down the river.

            We returned to Podgorica at 7 PM (the temperature was still 99 F) after a full day and greater appreciation for the ruggedness of this country. If there were some way to export rocks, this would certainly be a wealthy nation. We saw incredibly rocky terrain everywhere we went. They say you can tell when you leave Montenegro when you no longer see rocks. And indeed, on our flight back to Belgrade, Serbia, we could be fairly confident of when we flew over the border.

            We spent only one night in Belgrade before catching an early morning flight to Munich and then to Newark, NJ. Bad weather delayed us several hours in Newark before we finally arrived in Greensboro 24 hours after arising in Belgrade. YAZOO!

See the last album of photos of the trip at

https://picasaweb.google.com/104998323846009190297/201109MontenegroIV

Monday, September 5, 2011 Montenegro

Monday, September 5, 2011 Montenegro

Our stay in Ulcinj was delightful although the hot (90's to 100's F every day) humid weather continues to follow us. In the mornings we would go to the beach for a few hours. We enjoyed watching Adriana, Nikola and Karlo play in the water and build sand castles and moats. Linda even swam a few times. Then it was home for several hours to rest. In the late afternoon we would go up to Adriana's mother's apartment for “lunch” - always good home cooked Montenegrin food. After stuffing ourselves (it is impossible to refuse food in this part of the world) we would take off for a couple of hours of sight seeing and ice cream or a drink.

We walked along the waterfront (not as hectic as in Budva but still lined with restaurants and sidewalk cafes) to watch the sunset over the old fortress. It was interesting to watch the tractor-pulled sand-sifter clean the public beach. We also continue to admire the way waterfronts are developed for the use of people.

One evening we raced (in a car, of course) along the typical narrow winding roads and climb a steep hill to watch the sunset from the Svach Ruins. This was a place where 365 churches were built in the 8^th century by the widow of Vladimir – a tragic story of love, intrigue, power, politics and battles. The Balkans have so much history of battles, conquests, and changes of government that it would take a lifetime to learn. As someone (maybe Winston Churchill) once said, “the Balkans have produced more history than can be consumed locally.”

Another sunset was viewed from the mouth of the Bojana River watching the river water fight the sea. There is a large island there created by a sand bar forming over a shipwreck. Part of this border forms the border between Montenegro and Albania. When we were touring Kotor Bay we were very close to the border of Croatia. We still catch ourselves being surprised at how small this country is.

Naturally we had to walk through Old Town – the ancient walled fortress which now houses a museum, restaurants and many original stone houses (that are still lived in) along the very narrow, winding, steep, worn slick rock alleys. The museum is the old prison and we saw the cell purported to be the one in which the Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra spent 5 years imprisoned after being captured during a naval battle in 1571. The name of the character Dulcinea in Don Quixote is a variant of the name Ulcinj.

The town of Ulcinj is built on rocky hills and the houses go straight up the sides of the hills. You get to them via mazes of narrow, winding, steep (we estimated one grade to be at least 45%) roads or stairways. Our last night in Ulcinj we visited Adriana's sister Violeta and her family. They live in a lovely home on one these steep roads (one car width wide) that look like only a mountain goat could traverse it. It was the Muslim holiday of Eid marking the last day of Ramadan so we were served cakes, sweets and nuts (this after an ample meal).

The 1 ½ hour drive from Ulcinj to the capital of Podgorica over and through the mountains was uneventful. The road is a modern highway with passing lanes on the steep grades (one was marked as 8%). A 2.5 mile tunnel through the mountains eliminates a lot of climbing. The roads skirts part of huge Lake Skadar which forms the border with Albania.

See the photos at:

https://picasaweb.google.com/104998323846009190297/201108MontenegroIIIUlcinj

Next time we will report on our stay in Podgorica.

Monday morning, August 29, 2011

Monday morning, August 29, 2011

     We have now been in Montenegro almost a week, visiting our friend Adriana, her husband Nikola and their very active 3 year old son Karlo. Last Monday morning we took a 45 minute flight from Belgrade, Serbia to Podgorica, the capital of Montenegro. Nikola met us and drove us directly to the resort city of Budva on the Adriatic Sea where Adriana and Karlo were waiting for us. We stayed in a modern apartment in the same building as an apartment owned by Nikola's parents and where Adriana, Nikola and Karlo stayed.

      Budva is a very popular tourist center with many hotels and apartment rentals (both modern and older), outdoor waterfront restaurants, souvenir shops and crowded beaches. Although the locals appreciate the influx of money, they bemoan the loss of the slower pace of life and all the development.

      Because of its location, Budva makes a good base from which to explore the lovely coastline filled with beautiful bays and beaches surrounded by the rocky limestone cliffs that come right down to the sea. We spent two days exploring the dramatic large Boka Kotorska Bay (which is sometime called the southern-most fjord in Europe, 15 nautical miles long) dotted with smaller bays and towns. Many towns were partially destroyed by an earthquake in 1979 and have been rebuilt. Most now have an “Old Town” section with stone buildings and very narrow cobble-stoned streets (we would call them alleys). Tivat is now home to the new Porto Montenegro where an old military base and shipyard is being converted to a modern basin for mega yachts with exclusive hotels and condominium. We enjoyed admiring the huge yachts and sailboats. Kotor is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Most of this area has been inhabited since prehistoric times and has been ruled by many different entities: Ancient Romans, Ostragoths, Saracens, Serbians, Bulgarians, Venetians, Ottomans, Hapsburgs, French, Russians, Austria-Hungarians, Italians, Yugoslavians. Perast is an old small fishing village at the head of the bay which does not allow cars.

      On Friday we left Budva and drove south along the coast to Adriana's home town of Ulcinj where her mother and two sisters live. The entire coast is very Mediterranean – narrow winding roads, cliffs, blue-green water, small towns nestled in coves with small beaches. Ulcinj has not been “discovered” by tourists as much as Budva so seems more “natural”. Once again, we are staying in an apartment, this time it is directly under Adriana's mother's apartment.

      Ulcinj is known for its lovely “Long Beach” (7.5 miles) where it is possible to find much less crowded sections. Our favorite is called Bora Bora and is adjacent to the more developed (and therefore crowded) Copacabana. Karlo especially loves the freedom to run around unhindered.

      Here are the links to two new photo albums:

https://picasaweb.google.com/104998323846009190297/201108MontenegroI

https://picasaweb.google.com/104998323846009190297/201108MontenegroII

Monday Morning August 22nd

Monday Morning August 22

 We are on our way to Montenegro.  We had a delightful stay in Belgrade with Maya and her friends and family. During the past few days we did a lot of sightseeing in Belgrade.  We went to the Nikola Tesla museum (Tesla was the genius who invented alternating current and the electric motor (amongst many other things), the Museum of Yugoslavian History, and we took a half day cruise on the Sava river, which joins the Danube at Belgrade.  We had a lot of small adventures too, in the restaurants and plazas and municipal systems of Belgrade.  So far, this has been a wonderful adventure.

Belgrade reminds Linda very much of Sao Paulo, Brazil when she lived there in the 1950's - the red tile roofs, houses and buildings made of brick and concrete, wooden shutters on the windows walls or fences around properties, wrought iron gates, cobblestone streets, narrow sidewalks with house doors opening right onto the sidewalks, old architecture with statues and elaborate decorated masonry, bright painted masonry, old buildings with peeling masonry next to modern steel & glass, abandoned half finished structures, old rundown next to the newer well-kept, many parks, tree lined streets and boulevards, older houses in the country made of sticks and mud. Even the language sometimes sounds like Portuguese, though some words can be foolers. Bel, belle, beau all mean "white" not "pretty". Belgrade actually means white city as the concrete buildings used to all be white. Now they have aged to gray. The beautiful women and the hot weather are more like Rio. It is surprising that a city at the same latitude as Bangor, Maine should feel tropical with sun that burns and heat that makes you soaking wet in an hour (though the humidity is not the suffocating type of North Carolina).

Now we are off to Montenegro, to visit with Nikola, Adriana, and their son Karlo.  We will be on the Adriatic coast for a week, and then in the capital, Podgorica, for a week.  We'll post again when we have the time and energy.

Our last group of photos of Belgrade are in:
https://picasaweb.google.com/104998323846009190297/201108BelgradeIII

Wednesday Morning, August 17th

Last Friday we and Maya and her niece Helena took a 5 hour bus trip to Zlatibor, a mountain resort area near the border with Montenegro.  We went there to visit our Montenegrin friend Adriana, her husband Nikola and their 3-year-old son Karlo.  They were visiting Nikolas mother Jovanka and father Blavo who have a home near the resort, in a town named White Lands, so named because the earth there is a light grey color.
 
We had a nice time visiting with these folks, and the kids had a grand time at the resort.

Sunday we visited a restored village named Sirogojno, near Zlatibor,  that had been occupied as late as the early 1900's.

We came back to Belgrade on Monday (another long bus ride) and just rested the rest of Monday and Tuesday. See the photos of Zlatibor at

https://picasaweb.google.com/104998323846009190297/201108SerbiaZlatiborI
and
https://picasaweb.google.com/104998323846009190297/201108SerbiaZlatiborII

We are going to be in Belgrade through Sunday, and expect to take a day cruise on the Beautiful Blue Danube on Friday.  We'll post again when we have the time.  YAZOO!
 

Sunday August 14th

Sunday Morning August 14th.  We are enjoying our stay at the mountain resort of Zlatibor.  Photos that Linda is taking here will be available mid-week.  In the meantime, here is the last batch of photos from Belgrade last week.  Nothing really exciting, but Belgrade is a very beautiful city, and there are some very nice views of it.  These commentaries are short because we are busy having fun and we are exhausted at the end of the day.

See the photos at:
https://picasaweb.google.com/104998323846009190297/201108BelgradeII

Friday morning August 12th

YAZOO!  We spent the last two days doing whirlwind sightseeing in Belgrade.  We are heading off to the mountains this morning, with Marijana (Maya) and her seven-year-old niece Helena, to spend the weekend with Adriana and her family.  The second part of our trip (August 22 - September 5) will be spent visiting with them in Montenegro.

 We have finally been able to put some photos out on Picasa.  Of interest are: two smoking rooms at the Munich airport, the sight of which brought us right back to Winston-Salem; plazas, buildings, and street entertainers in downtown Belgrade; Kalemegdan Citadel; the baptism ceremony of a 35-year-old woman (that's her three-year-old watching the ceremony), and, just after the piece of cake, our visit with Maya's family (parents, brother and wife, and their children).  We wish we had time to tell you more.  We are having a grand time participating in our vacation, and don't have a lot of time to be just spectators.

See the photos at

https://picasaweb.google.com/104998323846009190297/201108BelgradeI

YAZOO!