Day 75 How amazing is God's Earth!

Monday 04/06/2018 Apartment Miles UTJEHA - BUSAT, Utjeha, 85000, Montenegro

What a day we have had from start to finish, the wonders of Gods creation just blow me away.... we set out early today to head firstly to Lake Skadar, then to a Mountain Top Town, on through the mountains that were the most awe inspiring features of nature I think I have witnessed... it was their sheer size and ruggedness that made us so interesting the whole trip...
Unbeknown to us, we had no idea about Montenegro what was here and what it was made of and that is it is nearly all, massive mountains... a big majority of it is limestone that’s what makes it so interesting, it’s not just rolling hills, it’s huge rugged, jagged monoliths of rock...

Amongst all these unreal feats of creation is dotted here there and everywhere little villages, rich in culture, heritage and farming... growing in these mountains you would think would be impossible, but due to the rich volcanic soils the crops, vineyards and vegetables are so healthy from this rich soil....

A few cows and sheep but not many really.... the valleys are not very wide more deep than anything, so little paddocks of crops are tucked here and there to get the product grown, and like so many countries we have witnessed they know how to get what they need out of small parcels of land....

To witness the scenery we have today has been our pleasure from the heights to rivers below it has been unreal country. Rugged raw and at times ugly but also breathtaking. The winding rivers that have hairpin after hairpin.... the roads that are the same... The pine trees and wild flowers 💐 dotted in amongst the craggy ricks of limestone. The villages where tourism is what helps it survive some are doing a great job with interests to keep people coming, others are doing it really tough trying to stay afloat, hopefully as the season increases so does their profits to be able to survive...

As we made our way along Lake Skadar,s waterways, by mid morning we stopped at the mountain village, where we drove in not realising it was a tourist spot until we spotted the 100’s then saw all the buses.... this was where you bring your bus load of tourists for their river boat ride. We managed to park just next to a bridge which isn’t hard here as it has at least 3 or 4 in a tiny space... the village appears to be in the middle of the bridge systems... or more aptly surrounded by the bridges... Virpazar, had people everywhere, but thank goodness when we went to sit for our morning tea there were hardly any people at the cafes... only din was from a big group of school kids in the middle of the village their teachers were sitting behind us smoking away and having coffee.... as you do when you have large groups of kids... maybe sanity!! The little shop we stopped at had a lovely atmosphere, we asked for cake, the owner told us no we dint have.... but we could have their traditional donut, ok, why not... so we ordered that, then in the menu we see cake if the day... so we show him the menu.. ohh you mean cuke.... it all come down to pronounce it not like an Aussie! So thinking the donut was a little round object like home we order both... the donuts arrive a missive plate of the glorious little hit balls, served with feta cheese and honey. And then the Cuke came and it was a massive slice with cream and layers...all we could have was less than half the donuts so we asked fir the cake and donuts as take away... no worries all bundled up on plates with alfoil over them... so refueled and a quick look around onto our next surprise stop... this turned out to be Rijeka Crnojevica village...to get to our each of these villages we had to climb up mountains big, big mountains... then you come down into these quaint villages that you just don’t expect... this one was introd by a lovely old bridge across the River which as far as we know was Skardr... it had a few boats here and there that we could see, some had, had better days...

Once coming across the bridge before we had done that we noticed a huge brick chimney, crossing the bridge the chimney was on the other end... it was in what appeared a very large factory that not sadly is all shut down... it was all shut up with a very quite dead feel to it... on approaching the factory there was a massive set of courts I thought it was for tennis but on looking at it carefully it’s now a dead soccer court but now laid waste and very dead also over grown with weeds.... on the corner as we turned to go up the Main Street, there is a massive war memorial being in another language we couldn’t work out what war but this appeared to maybe be WWII... from here we drove up parked and headed straight for the little bridge.

It was very evident that this little village is struggling a few young guys standing around asking if we could go fir a boat ride... a few children playing and singing with their mum. And grandma... very quite hardly anyone around, about 3 restaurants that each looked inviting but the rest of the buildings appeared to be falling down... I so would have loved to have spent more time here and from the smell of one of the kitchens lunch would have been wonderful. But as John was on a mission we had to have a quick look... so that we did... getting g back into the car John could see a snake moving very fast trying to catch a bug which it did... thank goodness we are in the car...it was long and very thin could move extremely fast and had a light brown ting to it... as we had been in and out of the car these last few days checking out sights in Montenegro I had an eerie feeling and wondered if there were snakes about... but thinking it was like the UK where they are virtually non existent, I thought this maybe the same... but my gut instinct was right. On researching since it would appear they are non venomous water snakes but can inflict a bad bit leaving their teeth in you which cause massive infection... so dint get bitten... off we drove and first thing we see on the road it a different snake thick and with a short head.. we see some young girls walking up the road so warn them about it... but hav since discovered they are legless lizards poor things getting a bad rap as a snake... mad us wary that’s for sure...

The road from here turned into a narrow goat track,.. it was bitumen but had grass growing in the middle of it so obviously not used a huge amount, however as we went further on there were more little villages tucked everywhere so they must use the road... on the first big bend we stopped to view over the valet below and the amazing unreal views over the huge bend in the river below. Breathtaking sights for sure... on we headed and after a few wring turns and adventures around the different villages farmlets and home businesses of wine, fruit and veg we hit the highway again... we had I am sure nearly climbed to heaven in our trusty little car.

We finally hit Cetinje it was a fairly big city and really didn’t want to spend time exploring cities today so on we went... the road at this point was being done up and we had to drive on to wet tar... yuk on out little car.. the road when done will be great but for now it’s a pain... no signage to warm you that there is work happening and guys all over the road.. I wander how many get hit... because no one slows down here it’s full go and if your slow no matter if it’s a tight hairpin or full white line who cares around you speed. The road became worse suddenly we came upon a big tunnel with wood holding it up, again no sign by now the road was dirt and we had to guess that you could go into the tunnel.. hoping it didn’t collapse... once in we were hit with a barrage of oncoming lights... it was 2 way traffic but everyone had to drive in the left side for us right side for oncoming traffic due to the huge metal objects poking out if the right side these were every 100 m or so... we mange to dodge cars and trucks and finally hit daylight on the other side... by now we needs food and seeing a restaurant sign pulled off this crazy road fir lunch, even though it was 3 pm.... I go into the main area ask for a menu... no menu ohh ok do you have lunch. No only sindwich, him and chise... I had to ask 3 times I felt bad, finally realised he was saying Ham and Cheese so said great 2 pls... and tea... (they came out while heaps of motorbikes come through... we had past hundreds of bikes today some on the hairy goat track that nearly ended up on our laps. Plus cars we met on the goat track as well, that was a hairy trip in itself.... ) back to the sandwich... it turned out to be very odious prosciutto home made, home made stale bread and home made cheese... it would have been fine if all fresh but it was so stale the bread was crumbling and the smell of the meat quite sickening... so I wrapped it up in the serviettes to pretended we ate them paid the bill and off we set still hungry and he saw us coming cause charge like a stud bull...

Then we hit the thrill if our day, the road continued to climb and with it hairpins started to appear... by now it was bitumened freshly but wasn’t sticky... there were very little barriers and as we climbed it became quite evident that it was a long long way down... we managed to pull over to one side to have a look, and ohhh my glory the view below was the mist breathtaking scene we have ever Witnessed... a huge bay, with a massive ship sitting in it, a city surrounding the hills below, the hills were covered in wild flowers 💐 it truly was an unreal sight. Worth having very few barriers along the sheer steep edges that fell away to the city below... have since found out it was it was 3,000 ft down or over 1,700 m a long drop. As we hair pinned our way down we ended up behind 3 massive busses, some trucks and a heap of cars... this us where cars were in a hurry and still passed buses and trucks on hairpin bends... you just held your breath hoping no one would go over the edge... oncoming traffic had to tuck themselves agains side walls if the range to make enough room for the buses to get around... apparently 100’s of buses do this daily to give the tourist a thrill.... I could think of other ways to get a thrill....

We finally made it down and every part of this trip didn’t the Lovcen Range was as breathtaking as it started views to die for... finally we hit Kotor and what a jewel it was, a massive fort with fortress walls all up the sides of the mountains above, a church standing up on a high area... the fortress walls came all the way down to the main city area so as we drive along the harbour that not only had the city walls in one shed but floating millions if dollars worth in huge cruises and luxury ships, what an unreal sight after being in run down Villages today.....

The colour of the bay was a dark teal blue so pretty and the massive ship we could see from above up close didn’t look as big as it appeared from above... the illusion of the eye 👁!

We really didn’t have time to look at much as it was now 5 pm, so we had a drink watched the world for a short time, had a real quick look 👀 and then headed towards home...

The Hwy home was along the coast to our next spot which was Sveti Stefan island... the island of the rich I would say looking at it... the walk to it was a through a tiny trail that took us past a very expensive resort... as there were security guards everywhere, watching we didn’t access their property... which had this horrible silver metal wall all around it... quite an eyesore... trying to hide what’s behind but looked so cheap I the way it’s done... once we finally managed to get to a spot to view the island it was on a private beach for the resort, right next to a huge mansion that overlooked the bay... guards standing around to make sure you didn’t go onto their beach.... and you could only see 1/4 of the island anyway... mind you the bay was just gorgeous. The house looked amazing and as I watched these 2 Australian women having a deep conversation over being left behind from the ship... wether they were or not I don’t know next thing I spotted them getting into a taxi to how knows where... but if they were left behind I would hate to think what it will cost them to catch up to the ship....

So having a quick look we hit footed it back up the track to our car, off we set towards home past 1,000’s I mean 1,000’s if hotels, resorts, bnb’s apartments etc they are just everywhere and more and more being built... to be honest it’s gone made here and looks an absolute eyesore a bug jungle if buildings all over the place no rules, no planning just happening... and when you look in the hills close to the ocean, they are land filling everywhere to make more land for more accommodation that only gets used in the season months from end may-maybe oct at the latest....

Our final and last stop was our little bay not far from our apartment to have a pizza by now it’s 7.00pm, both tired from our big day but so glad we did it... Had our pizza watching the sunset... then headed to have a last look out at the point of the bay.., when we arrived we noted the Catamaran moored I the bay, so on our walk John could see the flag on the back was an Aussie flag... I noted that the people on the Cat were getting into their dingy... they made it ashore I called out to ask if they were Aussie... yes they were fro pm the Goldcoast, a man and his wife and 2 young daughters and a mate. The guy and his mate flew to France where he bought the Cat sailed it to Italy where the wife and daughters meet them, then they have sailed across to the Eastern block coast line. Away for 2 months I think he said. So good to talk to Aussies even if for a shot period.... This finished our day off amazingly....

Headed home to see the sun totally set and great long day!Baca lagi