Montenegro!

Another two weeks have passed already! We must be having fun as it seems only a few days ago that we were in Montenegro! We are currently at a lovely campsite just 1 km from Zaosrog in Croatia- this campsite has loads of shade and is about 50 metres from a beautiful and clean beach! 

But lets back track to our adventures in Montenegro!

After leaving our campsite in Serbia we headed to the Serbian border to get into Montenegro and thought it would be a breeze as Montenegro is part of the EU and getting into Serbia wasn't hard so how bad could it be?! After an easy run to the border, we pulled into the little booth with the man in... but didn't make a great first impression as Steve whacks our wing mirror into the mans booth. We then nervously smile at the border man and apologise as we pass over our passports. He looks at these, hands then back and shouts- 'Insurance!' so we start rummaging around in our bag to get our documents folder out to show him that we have special insurance that means we are insured in all European union countries and a few others just for good measure (this sentence is written in about six other languages as well, to prevent language barriers getting in our way) he looks at this and shouts again 'Insurance!'. Hmmmm, we then pass over pretty much every document we have to him and hope he lets us through. This goes on for about an hour of him shouting 'Insurance!' at us and us pointing at our Insurance documents. In the mean time a tremendous queue has formed behind us while people are trying to reverse to get around us to go to a different booth. We can also see an English couple being pulled to one side and having all of their belongings taken out of their car and laid out on a table. Crap. This was not looking good. Despite our fears of border control taking everything we own in Bert out of Bert the Merc or us being turned away, the man in the booth eventually showed our insurance documents to the bloke sitting next to him, who then chucked us our stuff back, waved us forward and we were told we could go. Now we've read in our lonely planet guide that an 'ecotax' of 10 euros is supposed to be paid at the border for any foreign cars entering Montenegro, after he gave our passports back we enquired about paying this but it fell on deaf ears so we just carried on through, ready to drive on their lovely potholed roads and try not to get run of the road by the locals and their rather poorly timed overtakes.

Our first night in Montenegro was in Biogradska Gora, which is the last virgin rain forest in Europe and my oh my- it is beautiful! It costs 3 euros each to get into the national park as you could just spend the day exploring the forest on one of the many marked trails there is to offer and then have either a picnic or a bite to eat at the restaurant. There is a very basic and nature based campsite within the park and this only costs 10 euros a night to stay but there isn't any showers or electricity, but for a one night stay after a hectic and stressful morning, it was ideal! We had a walk around and had some dinner at the restaurant which was scrummy and then we sat near the lake and watched as some storm clouds started to make their way towards us. We then had the privilege of watching an incredible storm over the lake and national park, with loads of fork lightning, until we got so wet that it was cup of tea time in Bert and then bed!

 

We then headed to Budva for a few days, and were quite looking forward to spending some time on the beach but, to be completely honest, we really didn't take to it. I think that because it was August when we were there that it probably didn't help as it was packed with people on their holiday. but we didn't find it particularly clean either, both in the sea and out of it. So we only stayed there for two nights to give us a break from driving. 

Next on our list was Kotor, which was amazing! Old town of Kotor is a town within the bounds of the castle walls and is such an interesting day trip. We walked along the castle walls to the highest spot available to tourists which gives you a great view of Kotor, it is quite a steep incline and has loose stones and rocks on the way up so make sure you wear trainers to give you some extra grip! It is a great walk and there are steps available but they are quite narrow- think single file! But what a view!

A small church at the top!

The view from the top

There are loads of places to eat and drink and shop within the walls of Old Kotor, and lots of little alleys you can go through, it is a bit of a maze but loads of fun! 

After spending the day exploring Kotor we started driving again to see if we could find a campsite and we hit the jackpot! A beautiful campsite called AutoCamp Naluka which had recently refurbished toilet facilities and we nabbed a pitch which was literally on the river which led to the sea! The river leading down to the sea was freezing (about 12 degrees!) and so even in the evening there weren't any mosquito's to nibble on our legs as the water is too cold for them. It was perfect! We stayed there for about a week and we would kayak from the river out into the sea, and walk to the beach for the day and go swimming with our goggles to see all the fish, and not far down the road was a small market to get our essentials. It was absolutely bliss and we really enjoyed our time there. 

After spending a week at the campsite we needed to get going to Croatia as we planned to meet my dad, his wife and my brother (Nick again!) in Cavtat in a couple of days! The day we left the owner of the campsite came up to us and said that it was a good day to leave as there was a storm coming; he had given a similar warning yesterday and all we got was a bit of rain! So we thanked him and started to go. Within a few minutes the rain came. And it did not stop! The road became like a river very quickly and we were quickly glad that we weren't at the campsite, sinking in the mud, dangerously close to the river! 

Raining English style!

Eventually the rain did stop and we found ourselves not far from the Montenegro border to Croatia, but there was a stonking great big queue! We waited about three hours to get to the border. On presenting our passports we were quickly waved through into Croatia again, where the sun has been shining non stop! 

We enjoyed our time in Montenegro, especially the national park we visited, Kotor and our lovely campsite, but we would not go back to Budva, and be warned that in Montenegro you would be lucky to find a Western style toilet! And the food quality is not as high as one would hope, so stock up before you go as choice and variety are practically non-existent. We wish we could have gone to Durmitor National Park as that holds the deepest canyon in Europe, and the second deepest in the world- Tara Canyon. 

Montenegro is a beautiful country with loads of interesting roads and views along the way!
 Expect another blog regarding our adventures in Croatia so far!

Much love and Happy Camping!