YOU GO SLAVIA! - Part 7: It's My Birthday And I Can Go To Montenegro If I Want To

August 20th, Albania:

I woke up one year older than the year before in a surprisingly modern, but cheap, highway hotel in Albania.

We checked out and then hopped in the car and drove a few kilometers to the town of Durrës, Albania's largest coastal city.

We parked the car near the city center and went in search of breakfast.

Durrës had some fairly modern-looking buildings...

Some old Roman ruins (with a random pipe running through them)...

There were some nice streets and a big new mosque...

Crap for sale...

We walked through the streets towards the waterfront...

There was an old castle wall near the beach...

And we got a nice view of the Durrës waterfront...

I just kept on runnin'

We walked back up the street and found a nice bakery for some breakfast goods. I spotted a plaque on one building commemorating some sort of anti-fascist demonstration from the 1940's. You can see the communist star still shining brightly at the top...

We ate our breakfast, the Slovenians got some ice cream, and we went back to the car...

We then set off towards the north.

Throughout Albania we often passed these gas stations...

For some reason the station-attendants always had really high voices.


You never know what you might see on the side of the road...

We continued northwards on much better roads than in the south of Albania. Soon enough we came upon the town of Shkodër on a large lake of the same name.

A large fortress greeted us as we came to the city. We were a bit castled-out so we decided to enjoy it from the road...

We were far from home...

We decided to take a look at the lake so we drove across an old rickety bridge towards the waterfront...

Even on the lakeside there were these half-finished concrete structures, abandoned...

Photo op on Shkodër Lake. Far in the distance on the other side of the lake is Montenegro...

The lake was a bit dirty and had a funny smell. The Slovenians wanted to go for a swim, but I passed...

We saw one last bunker...

And then passed back through some poor parts of Shkodër on our way towards Montenegro...

It's hard to see it, but this kid has the typical Albanian look...

Driving in style...

We reached the border and crossed to Montenegro without a hitch. I looked down at my freshly-stamped passport and realized that the marked date seemed oddly familiar. It was my birthday! -a fact I had forgotten in the running together of days whilst traveling.

Montenegro is the Venetian name for Crna Gora, which is Serbian. They both mean "Black Mountain." While the mountains there were far from black, there was a certain ruggedness to the coastal terrain that one finds neither north or south of this country.

Montenegro was once apart of Yugoslavia and separated peacefully from Serbia in 2006, making it one of the world's youngest nations.

We found the Montenegrin radio station as we drove onward eventually coming on the Adriatic coast again.

It was lunchtime when we reached the town of Bar. I ordered the grilled calamari...

We drove on up the coast a little ways and came to a fine-looking beach.

The sun was warm, the pebbles smooth, the water cool, and the day perfect...

With a belly full of squid, warm rocks under my soft towel, and the cheerful rhythm of the gently landing surf, I laid out for awhile and enjoyed a long fine relaxing moment on an otherwise busy trip.


Baywatch Nate...

Behind us were the rugged hills and off the coast were countless small rocky islands...

There was a good crowd at the beach, though it made it more festive...

After our swim we dove further up the coast, pausing on a couple of occasions for a panoramic photo op...

It was a beautiful day.

Here's a billboard advertising property for nearly a million euros...

Along the coastal hillsides were countless olive groves basking in the Adriatic sun...

And it was in one of these groves I picked up my Montenegrin rock...

This rock had enjoyed a particularly fine view of the Budva Riviera and the almost-an-island of Sveti Stefan.

This little rocky tidal island with a natural causeway was once just a small fishing village. During the Yugoslav era, however, it was developed into a luxury resort on the Budva Riviera. In the 1960's and 70's it was one of the places for the rich and famous to visit. It's popularity declined a bit in the 1990's but now it is once again one of the most exclusive resorts on the Adriatic.

I mean, just take a look at that yacht in the bay...

We drove down for a closer look...

We crossed the isthmus and caught some nice views of the Budva Riviera on both sides of the island...

We left Sveti Stefan and drove a bit more until we came to one of the unexpectedly coolest places on our trip.

The Bay of Kotor...

The pictures don't do it justice by a long shot.

This humongous bay starts out as just an ordinary bay along the coast of Montenegro. But about 10 miles into the bay is a narrow strait leading to another bay shaped somewhat like a bow-tie. All around this bay are towering mountains coming right up to the waters edge seemingly pushing the coastal towns into the bay.

The sun was casting a reddish light on the mountains as we crossed the strait into the narrower part of the bay...

A lone island with a small church sits in the middle of the bay...

All along the bay are former sleepy fishing towns, now blossoming resort areas...

We finally came to the town of Kotor deep on one end of the bay. We parked the car and walked to the main entrance of the old town...

As we walked through the entrance we were greeted by the clock tower...

Inside the old town we found one of the coolest, quaintest, and most unique little towns in Europe. Having a heavy influence from the Venetian empire, Kotor reminded me a bit of Venice though without the canals. It was also quite small, though it was filled with narrow alleyways, cute-as-a-button shutters on the windows, and romantic balconies.

It was a joy to explore this jewel of Montenegro as the sun was setting and the evening lights were coming on. Even the city wall on the hills around the city was lit...

A Serbian Orthodox Church overlooked one of the central squares...

Festive music mingled with the sloshing of ancient fountains added to the festiveness of the approaching evening...

It was a great to see Kotor at dusk, though I hope to visit it again during the day someday. With relatively few tourists, this also seems to be one of the Adriatic's best-kept secrets.

(Shhhhh.... don't tell anyone!)

We went back through the main city gate with a little Montenegro boy...

And a band under Madonna playing traditional music (not Madonna)...

And the night had now fully arrived. The city wall surrounded the town like a glowing snake.

We drove around the bay in the dark until we found a campground further down in the larger bay. We had brought our tents along with us and so we each payed €6 and were given a place to pitch our tents surrounded by a variety of different Europeans in their camper trailers.

After setting up our tents for the evening we went for a night swim in the bay.

I tried to teach the other guys the game "Marco Polo" (which I thought geographically somewhat fitting), though I found it doesn't work too well in a huge bay at night.

It was great floating in the cool water staring up at the clear stars. This sealed the deal for me as one of the best birthdays I've ever had.

As an encore, we showered and got dressed again and took a midnight stroll along the waterfront. There were small cafe's, bars, discos, and restaurants still hopping.

We stopped at a small restaurant and I ordered some crepes while the Slovenians flirted with the waitress in their best Serbian...


(the waitress took the picture)

We went back to our tents and even though the ground was a bit hard, I slept like a baby.

The yellowish path was our route for the day...

View Yugobalkantrip in a larger map

Coming up next: The Pearl of the Adriatic, a War-torn War Zone, a Pulse-pounding High-dive, some killer Ćevapčići, and Cats, Cats, Cats...

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