Friday, September 18, 2015
We had an earlier start today, but it put us an hour ahead
of the big Gate One group all day, so it was worth it. Breakfast was a buffet
at 7am. There were no eggs cooked to order here, but it was fine. We didn't get much sleep last night for howling dogs! We reckon we've only seen about 16 dogs since we landed in Tirana on Tuesday and there were probably 18 dogs howling all night all over the tiny town of Kolasin!
We were in
the bus rolling by 8am. Gabriella has started our rotating seats so Clay and I
grabbed the right front today. That was our turn. I think it was a good day for
it because we had a long day in the bus and it was another cliff-hanging road
with lots of hairpin turns, switchbacks and tunnels. Today we were in Tara
Canyon driving alongside the Tara River. It is supposed to be the 2nd
deepest river canyon after Colorado. We learned that Montenegro has a
population of about 650,000 people. Montenegro was the last country formed from
the splintering of former Yugoslavia in 2006. We had our first stop for a 30
hour lake side walk (if we wanted) at a National Park Biogradska Gora. It was
the first national park in Europe declared right after Yellowstone. Then we
drove to Durdevica Bridge spanning the Tara River Canyon along with a couple of
ziplines. We had another half hour there to visit souvenir stalls, walk the
bridge, take photos or go to a café for a drink and the view. We did all that. The
bridge is famous for the architect of it blowing it up in WWII to prevent an
invasion. It is rebuilt now. We had lunch in the Durmitor National Park. It was
salad, a potato based moussaka and the local fried bread. Our final stop of the
day was still in Durmitor (where we drove most of the day) at Black Lake. We
had over an hour here. It was a long hot walk just to get to the lake which was
very low water due to the long hot dry summer they’ve been having. So, I just
parked it on a bench and enjoyed the view and the breeze in the shade while
Clay walked about a ¼ of the walk around and back. I had a view of the highest
peak in Montenegro and I could really feel the altitude where I sat. I guess
now I understand what Gabriella meant when she said that Montenegro has no
plain. It is really mountainous!
Dinner tonight is at 7pm at the buffet restaurant again.
Breakfast in the morning tomorrow is 7am. Bags out at 7:45am. Bus departs at
8am. We should have our last hot day of the summer tomorrow according to local
forecasts. It was over 100F down at the coast today and that is where we are
headed tomorrow for our hottest day yet. Sunday a cold front is coming through
with the threat of thunderstorms and rain. So, good for them as they say they haven’t
had measurable rain since July and good for us that it won’t be quite so hot,
but hopefully we won’t get too wet. We have another full day on our way to
Dubrovnik, Croatia. We will drive back the way we came (!) to Podgorica (the
capital, formerly Titograd) then on to Cetinje (formerly the capital). We will have a
local guide for a museum visit there. Then another thrilling drive down the
deepest fjord in Southern Europe to Kotor. In Kotor, an old walled city, we
will have free time to get lunch. Then drive across the border to Croatia and our
hotel for the next 2 nights in Dubrovnik. This is where we will have a 2nd
welcome meeting and pick up 20 or 22 new tour participants that will overwhelm
our little 16 person group.
