Mountain climbing by car – Durmitor National Park

Mountain climbing by car – Durmitor National Park

Hang on to your hats folks. Take a motion sickness tablet, down a long draught of cold water and prepare for the drive of your lives. We are venturing north west into the high sierra of Montenegro to Durmitor National Park. In winter it’s “ski central” and the rest of the year it hosts hikers, white water rafters and other adventure seekers who quickly become hooked on the awesome peaks and the 18 beautiful glacial lakes. But first you have to get there……..

Montenegro is a seriously mountainous country and in Durmitor there are several peaks over 2500m; the tallest is 2523m. It’s a three-hour drive from the Bay of Kotor and the road started to climb immediately on a new section of highway that weaved in and out of tunnels. Despite the heavy rain the driving was OK on a two-lane road. Unfortunately those conditions gradually deteriorated and by the last leg the journey had become perilous – a cross between the bends down to Lake Barrington and Mt Arrowsmith on the Lyell Highway but only about half as wide. Thankfully most people here drive little buzzboxes like our Hyundai so most of the oncoming traffic encountered requires slowing down and ensuring you don’t shear of each other’s side mirrors. Fortunately there are few 4WDs or large saloon cars BUT there are buses, large ones. And visitors like to take the bus to Durmitor so encountering these vehicles on a bend or particularly sheer drop off is not for the faint hearted. It was not quite as bad as Peru but definitely “white knuckle” travelling …especially in the rain! Thank heavens for the car radio which soothed our nerves. Radio Montenegro treated us to “Italian Hour”, some Elvis and even some Rolling Stones albeit interspersed with local talent.

We passed through some major and minor settlements enroute which looked very dreary under the leaden sky. There is quite a bit of rural poverty here and, in parts, the larger towns are extremely drab and bear the scars of being severely beaten by the ugly stick of the former Yugoslavia. But closer to Durmitor there are lovely little hamlets with farm animals and pretty orchards and you could be mistaken for thinking you are in the Swiss Alps. You know you are nearing the destination when the mighty peaks loom ahead and the sweeping vistas take your breath away. Not unlike Yosemite National Park with its famous Half Dome peak, Durmitor is beautiful even in the rain.

 It was even better the next day in full, glorious sunshine! We walked around Black Lake and then bravely took a late afternoon drive on the backroads to try to catch a glimpse of the legendary Tara Canyon. The swirling mist certainly made for atmospheric viewing and we were glad to be in the shelter of the car. A walking party of about 20 hardy souls were doing it the hard way, ably led by a very large chap naked to the waist and gesturing wildly with stout walking poles.

We teamed up with a Swiss couple and formed our own little convoy in case we became lost on these mountain/canyon tracks. We ended up in the quaintest of rural settlements which reminded us of the Amish farms in America. Many are used by shepherds who retreat to their home bases only during winter. They must lead very simple lives tending their stock and raking hay into most attractive bell-shaped stacks. The fields are mauve with crocuses.

We overnighted in the town of Zabljak at the Ski Hotel, a handsome wooden lodge which was somewhat overshadowed by an enormous and ugly hotel, yet another legacy from the former Yugoslavian era.  Our hostess spoke perfect English and was able to recommend a few places to visit. She came into her own the following day when the Hyundai let us down again – you guessed it - the same bloody tyre flat as a tack! Not happy Jan! Our lovely lady provided directions to a tyre repair place which thankfully was not far away.

 This time the NEW rubber tube had a hole in it and although the fix it man assured us it would OK, we were a little tentative setting out on our return journey on the white-knuckle drive.

To give thanks that we made it, we called in at the 1665 Ostrog Monastery. This involved another narrow mountain climb off the beaten track but at least it was within coo-ee of civilization. No less than 7 tourist coaches beat us to the monastery and alas most of the passengers were already in line to the shrine to pay homage (and probably to kiss) the fabric-wrapped bones of the heroic priest, St Basil. After waiting for 10 minutes, the queue did not seem to move much so the Lovibonds abandoned their pilgrimage and instead headed south to Lake Skadar National Park, a Ramsar listed wetland with floating meadows of waterlillies. It was very pretty, very calming and good for the soul.

Our last night in Montenegro was spent at the capital Podgorica. It has absolutely nothing to recommend it but our hotel had the most comfortable bed and the sweetest receptionist who ensured a picnic breakfast was ready for us at 6am when we headed to the “aerodrom”.  We left the Hyundai in the carpark and I kicked the tyre for good measure. We are now bound for  Santorini via Belgrade and Athens. It will be a long day.

I’ll leave you with some interesting price comparisons:

Fresh fruit and veg are very cheap. It’s all grown locally and for sale at roadside stalls – peaches, capsicums, tomatoes, cucumbers, cabbages, watermelon, berries, onions, grapes, plums, figs, potatoes. Bananas from Ecuador are also inexpensive.

Beer is super cheap. A half litre of the very good local brew at a bar is Aus $1.80 and from the supermarket even less. A 5 litre plastic drum of wine at the supermarket is $8.

There were not many dogs – dog food is expensive : 3kgPegiree Pal meaty bites $8. Lots of cats through but they ear the local vermin!

Petrol is about $2 litre but tyre repair (and probably mechanical servicing) as we know is el cheapo!

Restaurant/café food is cheaper than Australia but you need to order extras like salad, vegetables etc.  I had a local delicacy, lamb cooked in milk, and it was just that – in chunks. I ordered vegetables but was not specific enough because it came with boiled potatoes only. The local fish (partic squid) was excellent. Andrew had Montenegran roast lamb with roasted potatoes which he said was good.

The local savoury snacks are called borek. They are bit like Turkish pide and Greek Spanikopita but with more emphasis on the pastry which is filled sparingly with meat, potato, or cheese and chard. They are very filling.

There is plenty of yoghurt on offer but the milk tastes like yoghurt as well – a bit sour.

On our boat trip on the Bay of Kotor, the skipper gave us all a glass of the local plum brandy. It was the most vile take on Friar’s Balsam I have ever tasted, positively poisonous!

Generally Monenegro is pretty third world. There are luxurious resorts on the coast but when you look under the superficial veneer you find flaws – shoddy workmanship, ill-conceived design (taps that run directly onto the rim rather than into the bath,  MDF toilet seats (painted of course), floors with an obvious rise and fall across the room, shoddy tiling………

There is little civic pride – lots of rubble and weeds everywhere and of course the litter  problem I have mentioned before. We read that one town is about to embark on rubbish recycling… not before time!