Roadtrip in Crna Gora
Trip Start
Aug 25, 2007
1
39
64
Trip End
Mar 25, 2008
Lake Skadar,
Montenegro
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Let me describe this 4 person motley crew. Well first there is James the Australian who had finished a 6 month stint as a chemistry/physics teacher in England and was travelling the world before returning to Australia for next school semester. Then there is Yaya (I can't spell French for the life of me, wie wie?), a temp air-conditioning repairman travelling until he's called back for his next job. He's 6'5" and communicates mainly in French. He and I shared our dislike for big cities and prefer rural villages. Last person is Homer-Romain, the French vegetarian pizza thrower who has worked abroad extensively and can converse in 4 languages. He helps translate for Yaya. Yaya says he learned most of his English playing internet games. Homer is making his way to Greece where he will find a job picking olives and enjoying the Greek Islands. These are my awesome travelling companions for today and some days to come. Probably due to our analytical science background, James and I tend to be more OCD and precise whereas Yaya and Homer just wing it. No guidebook. No concrete plans. The only thing they insist on is a "cigi break" hourly. I think it was more like every 20 minutes but I lost count. In a matter of a week, I had learned some French from Yaya, much European and classical history from Homer, and geology from James. When we walked down the street, we definitely turned heads. Maybe accentuated by Yaya and Homer who like to scream French heavy metal songs when we walk. Not too discreet but kept me entertained.
After my trying encounter maneuvering a car w stick shift in Slovenia, I was pleased to know that our rental car was "unfortunately an automatic," in the words of the agency. The driver, Yaya, was not happy. Apparently France did not have automatic cars and it took a lesson fomr me to use P-R-D-N-1-2 before getting on the road. There were times where we would pop into neutral from Yaya's rovering right hand. I was completely blown away by their not knowing automatic, just as my companions were surprised that I cannot drive stick.
First stop on our roadtrip was Lake Skadar, the largest lake in the Balkans. It's the largest bird sanctuary and remaining pelican habitat in Europe. There must be something with me and birds that start with the letter "p". Didn't see a live pelican, only herons. But when we were at Virpazar and the Planica outlook, came across an outlandishly extravagent resort. Had an infinity pool, swimup bar, nightclub, and yachts in the middle of a national park, next to bamboo-stilted homes. Frenchmen concluded this was a mafia hangout. We then passed dozens of rural mountain huts/villages on a single winding mountain road to get to Rijeka Crnojevica. It took us 2 hours to go 30 km. The town was a great place to relax and unwind. Completely silent except for ducks quacking while swimming by or checking their reflections in the still water. After dragging reluctant boys away from an hour-long stone skipping contest (okay, I had to throw a few myself), we stopped at Negushi village. It's known for its prosciutto ham and cheese. I wanted to join in local trade and so after passing a couple homemade signs nailed to trees, we stopped at one house. I ring the bell and the woman looks at me blankly while I gestured that I wanted to buy some ham (basically me pointing to my thigh). Then from the window above, her son agrees and ushers us into the smokeshed. In this 4 x 4 ft shed, there were hanging pig legs, reddish brown smoked, two barrels of homemade red wine, and a scale. With immaculate precision he cuts superthin slices of ham with a big knife onto the scale. He also let us try his wine which Homer drank hungrily. Okay last stop, Bay of Kotor. The serpentine roads wind the mountain ("ladder of scattero") until Kotor came into our sights. Catching Kotor at sunset was breathtaking. We stopped at few of the 39 bends for picture op and to take in this memorable roadtrip. This has been one of my best days.
After a few beers and hot chocolate, we head back to Happy Hippo Hostel. I insisted tht we watch the movie "Thank you for not smoking." The message was lost on Homer and Yaya; they were out on their cigarette breaks throughout the movie.
Comments
Bookmarked!
Hope you don't mind but I have bookmarked you on travelbookmarking.com. Had to share!
H