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!

 

Hello Serbia!

Blimey, it has been two weeks since our last blog update and we have travelled through three countries, clocked up 1,100 kilometres but now sat in the beautiful bay of Kotor, or Boka Kotorska, in Montenegro! But I am getting ahead of myself as when we last blogged we were in Lake Bled, and were rather sad to leave, when we did leave Lake Bled and our new friends, Adam and Sophie (you can find their blog at www.europebycamper.com , we headed to Zagreb, the capital of Croatia. Now this really wasn’t as exciting as it could/should have been as we were only using Zagreb as a stopover and were actually camped on a campsite which you had to drive through the petrol station to get to and was directly behind the motorway, so don’t judge Zagreb on this blog as we really didn’t ‘do’ it. We left early the next day after a particularly warm night and started heading to the Croatian border into Serbia.

Major traffic at Serbian Border

We had been warned about entering Serbia as it can be a bit hit-and-miss so we were prepared and had our friendliest faces on and after a rather long queue to the border control we had our passports stamped and were promptly on our way, another easy and uneventful border crossing is what we like! The plan with Serbia was to meet up with my stepdad and younger brother, Sacha and Nicky, who go on holiday to Sachas family farm in Pančevo every year, which is about forty minutes from Belgrade (the capital of Serbia). In order for us to meet up with Sacha and Nicky we agreed to meet at the Pančevo swimming pool, which we had directions to and so weren’t worried. So we end up at this swimming pool which was exactly where it was supposed to be (turn right at the second traffic light, follow signs for sports centre and its on your left, type thing), so we parked and text Sacha to let him know we were here, to which they replied that they would be half an hour. This was fine, and we had our lunch and had a bit of a sunbathe, when the phone rang; Sacha and Nicky were here already but couldn’t spot us. Couldn’t spot us?! Have you seen Bert?? Pretty hard to miss! After a lot of chatting and tensions running high we said that we were obviously on the other side of the swimming pool to them and Steven would cycle over and let them know where we were. We didn’t have enough credit to call them anymore so I just waited by Bert the Merc while Steve went for a cycle to find them. He went all the way round and had no luck and so we decided to go into the pool and find out if maybe there was more than one pool in Pančevo that we could go to… after finding an English speaking doctor on poolside we found out that no- there is only one pool in Pančevo but we weren’t actually in Pančevo…. We were still in Belgrade. Brilliant.

Serbian Dinar

Worse thing is, is that we were kind of wondering why our satnav still said that our journey had twenty minutes left…. It took us precisely 20 minutes to get to the right swimming pool and it was never spoke of again. Ever.

At the farm, which was down a little dirt track, we were given a bit of a feast- three courses of yummy food cooked by Our Serbian Nan and Aunt and just chilled around Pančevo which offers loads of cafes and restaurants, all of which have free wifi! The next day we went to the police station as with Serbia, all tourists are supposed to register their stay with their local police station as soon as possible. Luckily for us we had our own Serbian translator (Sacha) so when the policemen in the station explained that you need to go across the street to buy the form (equivalent to 50p) to then fill out and submit to the police reception, we knew what to do, as even though most young people speak English it is not always a given with the older Serbian’s. This was all pretty straight forward and didn’t take very long so after this we went to some lovely cafes and shops (you will see a theme here of lots of cafes and restaurants as its obviously one of Pančevo’s biggest industries!) and then to a market which was really interesting and similar to those we have been to before but in this market you could get anything from a wedding dress to a new boiler!

Here are some of our favourites:

One of many lovely cafes

The inside of Boz- a converted
train carriage!

Bohemian street

At the market

We also went to Belgrade a couple of times which was great! We went to the Zoo which is really nice and is currently having work done to improve and expand some of the enclosures, but it is a great trip but a bit bizarre to see pigeons and dogs as part of the zoo! We also got the chance to see the panthers being fed (look away if you are squeamish!), and I got to touch the elephant!






 Overlooking the zoo is a very lovely restaurant called Kalemegdanska Terasa…. Surprisingly it’s the only restaurant that overlooks the zoo! When entering the restaurant there is some amazing ruins that you walk past which are of the castle of Belgrade and are actually part of the zoo walls too! Here are some photos of the ruins as no description would do the sight justice! 

Belgrade Ruins

Belgrade Ruins

Belgrade Ruins

Belgrade Ruins

Ems meal at Kalemegdanska
Terasa

At Kalemegdanska
Terasa

Meal at Kalemegdanska
Terasa

Belgrade is also a lovely city to go shopping and to relax with a beverage, it has some beautiful architecture and is always buzzing. The big shopping centre to go to is USCE which is like Westfield in London and even has a Marks and Spencer! Bohemian Street is a pretty and cobbled street which is full of restaurants and quirky art on the buildings.

For those who like a bit of adventure like us you there is also a huge recreational lake which has a wakeboard and waterskiing centre, as well as the opportunity to swim in the lake.

Bohemian Street

One of the beautiful parks in Serbia
Pancevo

Bohemian Street, Belgrade

Belgrade

Steven Wake Boarding

Steven celebrated his 23^rd birthday in Serbia so we all went out for drinks and birthday ice-cream cake! As a present to himself and me we got some new chairs!!! Wahoooo! And they are beautiful and comfy and of average height! We love them!

The Birthday Boy!

Serbia is a beautiful and very friendly country, we really enjoyed our stay here but it is a different culture and lifestyle compared to home! From cats in the police station to their ambulance car choices! Their driving attitude is also very different and yet many motorcyclists choose to wear hard hats, if anything while driving down the motorway! 

Serbian Ambulance!

Yes, thats a cat...asleep...
in a police station.

One of our friends in the loo.

After about ten days in Serbia and having a lovely catch up with some of the family and seeing some parts of Serbia that we never would have if it weren’t for the family we have out there, we made our way to Montenegro but had a stopover in Čačak, Serbia. This campsite was found after a very long drive and due to our lack of information regarding campsites in Serbia, we stopped at the first one we found once we were sick of driving! This lead us to a small but friendly campsite which was pretty dated in the facilities department but it was only £6. It was nice enough and had enough quirks to keep us occupied and entertained for the one evening we were there, such as a very old and wobbly wooden bridge we found!  But we promptly left in the morning, crossing our fingers and toes that the next campsite would be a bit better, and that we would reach Montenegro!

Health and Safety gone mad?

The Rickety Bridge

Safe on the other side

Our next blog will be our adventures in Montenegro! 

Much love and Happy Camping!