Grand Europa Shkoder

... and hang out for a while. I can&#8217;t even really remember what else we did in Bar. I remember walking the long walk back to the train station early because we were so bored and cold. We played chess in the smoke-filled waiting room then hopped on the train. <br><br>Oh, and another thing: in Montenegro (and as you will read in a later blog entry, in Serbia) people can smoke almost anywhere. It&#8217;s crazy. Europe is much ...

... its odd that that Ulcinj hasn't marketed its ugly side&#8212;its history of piracy and violence. Other places have had huge success at marketing their sordid pasts, like Salem, Massachusetts, the gore tours of London, and the Dracula's castle in Romania, etc. Even the name, Ulcinj, is a PERFECT for creating the ambiance if piracy. Yet everything online about this city is trying to white wash its past and trying to ...

... ahead, we tried to sneak in at a smaller border crossing and got a long way, with no mention of Eco-Tax, but eventually got turned away because of the insurance issue. Pah. Back to main border, this time a less flappable Eco-Tax rep, and no way around the insurance, we paid the full &#8364;218 crossing fee. Thats almost &#8364;70 per hour in Montenegro. Pretty sure James Bond didn't have to pay that.

... their quaint fishing-village looks but apparently the insides have been gutted and filled with top end designer chic, it's a proper A-list celebrity hang-out. Closed for renovation when we were there we could still enjoy the pink beaches and beautifully clear sea along its causeway.    We took the 30 minute bus ride to Kotor one day - another old town but this time at the head of an inlet surrounded by mountains (giving rise to ...

... actually very nice. With that much-needed dinner sorted, I went in search of other decent pubs in the capital. I was to be disappointed. Like the Serbs, Montenegrins favour a café culture and while this results in dozens of places to buy beer, it results in very few where you feel you should be drinking it. I eventually settled on Café Titograd, mainly due to the name. Tito was the dictator who controlled communist ...

... all believers (some of us lied), the monks specially showed us their treasures in a locked bejewelled casket-a portion of the true cross and the mummified right hand of St John the Baptist. Not to sound blasphemous to Orthodox Christians but the hand reminded me of anatomy lab. It was stuck in median nerve palsy position and showed its age out of formaldehyde. Even I cringed.

... but was happy to let us openly explore. We later learned that he, the bus driver, and the cook were all quite worried about our little adventure (and after being to Albania, I don't blame them). He started off by telling us that we should carry enough money to bribe the cops if we were to get pulled over. He said $40 euro apiece would probably be enough. Exciting way to start your brief, eh? After a few more warnings and a mini-pep talk he ...

... to my pizza place and ordered the mushroom pizza again. I just loved the low prices in Montenegro! A small bottle of Coke was 79 Euro cents in Ulcinj compared with 2.50E or 3E in Viareggio, Siena, Budapest and others. 8/6 I was up early again and tried to figure out what I should do today. Originally I was going to Albania but I scratched that. I walked along the ridge above town to see the old town. It is mainly private apartments with a couple of ...

Sorry a long one... if your not a reader, just look at the pictures. Firstly why is the Serbia and Montenegro team all black apart from one guy? There is not one african guy here! Montenegro is as of a few weeks ago seperate from Serbia. To continue from Mostar, I got the bus to Kotor in Montenegro. Ended up sitting next to a british lady and her bf was behind me. She (Jessica) was a teacher of disabled children and he (Steven Lowenstein) has written some best seller on ...

... the whole time, driving very fast, big gestures and talking with the other guy sitting next to him, beer bottles and a lot of stuff in the back of the car, it was just funny, but it's hard to describe. Anyway, we were just sitting there and laughing :-)