Adriatisches Meer

We caught a bus from Kotor to Bar, a town on the coast south from Kotor. Really, it’s not much of a destination and our only reason for coming is to catch the famous (well, famous among train lovers) Bar to Belgrade train. More on that later. While modern Bar is not of interest, people come catch the train and to see the old town - Stari Bar. Our apartment is located a little away from the main drag, but conveniently, close to the bus station and opposite the train station.

We spent a few hours exploring the ‘new’ town before returning to our apartment. Most importantly, I was able to find a small cafe where a young Russian boy made me an Aussie style flat white - the best coffee of my trip so far.

Close to the station there are several traditional restaurants or ‘konobas’. It was to one of these that we went for an early dinner, and (apologies to my two vegan sons) ate a pile of cevapis washed down with a local beer. This area is famous for its grilled meat so it was a case of “when in Rome…”. It was tasty, but more meat than we would probably eat in a month at home.

So here’s the story of the Montenegro Express. This was a pet project of Tito - a train that ran from Bar on the coast to the capital, Belgrade. However, the geography of the region, with the Dinaric Alps in the way, resulted in a track that winds through spectacular mountain scenery. The journey involves crossing more than 400 bridges and passing through 200 tunnels. However, the whole journey takes 11 hours and requires a sleeper compartment, so we have decided to do only part of it, supposedly the most scenic section. We start on Tuesday, taking a train from Bar to Podgorica, the capital of Montenegro. (That’s assuming we can manage to buy the tickets - we’ll see.)Read more