Mooching around Montenegro 20/10 /2017 the train

Apart from the late autumn sun, one of the real reasons that we did this trip was to experience the Bar to Belgrade railway journey. As I had hired the car from Podgorica airport and arranged to return there, it made sense to start our return journey from Podgorica station which meant an overnight stay at the Terminus hotel a short stone's throw from the platform. We bought the tickets on Thursday for an 8-10 departure on Friday.

Helen with all the luggage. The brown bag contains our pack up for the day. This is a 12 hour journey with no dining car nor even a coffee bar or trolley.

Here it comes and dead on time. The line is fully electrified but because of the state of the track the speed is limited to 43 miles per hour. Frankly I can't remember it going that fast. The picture below gives you some idea of the terrain and the construction challenge that comes with it. This is a karst geology with soluble limestone and all the steep valleys and chasms that are produced. You can see a main road under construction which I guess might eventually threaten the railway's future.

The train had a mixture of about six old Serbian carriages with corridors and compartments. This was the one we settled on after moving from our booked seats to find a compartment for ourselves.

Often described as Europe's most scenic railway, the Bar to Belgrade railway was Marshall Tito's baby and the decision to build it was taken in 1952. The complete line was finished in 1976 and electrification installed in 1977. Some other facts ; 296 miles long, 254 tunnels, 435 bridges, the most famous of which is the Mala Rejeka, 1634 feet long and 650 above the ground. This was until 2001, the highest railway viaduct in the world and you can see it in the picture below.

And the view from on the bridge. 

Whereas in the UK we call our freight service EWS (England, Wales, Scotland) in Montenegro some wag has called theirs Montecargo as you can nearly see below. 

I didn't tell Helen before we travelled, but Montenegro's  worst railway disaster occurred on this line just south of that bridge in 2006 when a train was derailed due to a brake failure (although they tried initially to blame the driver) at Bioce.  45 people died and 187 were injured. The train plummeted 100 metres down into the valley into the river Moraca. The line is still being improved as a result.
Another bridge that you can see in shadow and if you look carefully you will also see the train on it.

After the very rugged landscape and the climb up to the high point of 1000 metres, we start going down through gentler and autumnal sylvan scenery.

The Man in Seat 61 told us that because of engineering works we would be "bustituted" for about 50km and this duly happened about 100kms short of Belgrade. Here's the bus and....

here's the next train.

which takes us for the last hour to the central station Belgrade. Total journey,  arrival time 7-45pm, departure time 8-10am. Phew!
We have booked in to the Hotel Mockba (Moscow) which is the famous old hotel in the heart of the city. The architecture is what we would call Art Nouveau.

We don't have a lot of time here as our train for Budapest is leaving at 7-30am so we must be down for breakfast at 6-30. We do have time for a meal out on Republic Square accompanied by a very loud heavy metal rock group cum political meeting, I think. Whatever it was quite an experience.

The train to Budapest, no sorry, this is an even older Serbian one. 

The train to Budapest this is a newish Hungarian one.

and this is the bar, the dining car is the other side of the bar. We lunched there but may have been the only people to do so.

The bridge over the Danube just outside of Belgrade. We followed the river a lot of the way to Budapest but the scenery was rather reminiscent of the fens as we crossed the great Hungarian plain. We were joined in our compartment by a very friendly young Serbian couple who were going to Budapest for the first time. They were spending a few days there so we could share our newly gained expertise with them. All that was left for us was to take the shuttle bus to the airport and head for home.

Mooching around Montenegro 18/10/2017

Lake Skadar National Park is renowned as one of Europe's top bird habitats it is also the Balkans largest lake. The poster bird is the Dalmatian pelican which nests here along with 256 other species

We are pretty sure that we saw the pelican from the car but not to photograph (this is a picture of a picture). We did see grebes, cormorants, various ducks, heron, lots of hooded crows, magpies, the inevitable coots and one kingfisher. Here are some bird photos, see if you can extend my list.

The cormorants are the pygmy variety and 25% of the world's population of them live on this lake.

We booked a two hour boat trip which was fine but with commentary or further information about about the place could have been so much better. All the boats had curved sun shading roofs made of reeds which gave them a slightly sanpan ethnic appeal. The shallows of the lake looked like meadows of waterlilies and must be a glorious sight when they are all in bloom. In addition to the flora and fauna there were interesting fortifications and islands with, you've guessed it, isolated monasteries on them. It is interesting how religion has boomed in all the former Soviet satellites. Here it is Serbian Orthodox, witness the huge recently consecrated church in Bar and what we might see in Podgorica.

In the evening we visited the old town of Bar. Stari Bar is above the present day port and is described as an enigmatic ruin. The hype describes it as "the Montenegrin Pompeii". Its ruinous state is not the result of a volcanic eruption but the result of Montenegrin shelling in1878 when they recaptured it from the Ottoman Empire. Originally it contained 240 buildings one or two of which have been restored. We walk up a steep cobbled street past a cluster of old houses and shops to a fortified entrance. After a dark passage we encounter a large expanse of vine clad ruins and abandoned streets overgrown with grass and wild flowers. There has been an attempt to restore some of the buildings and create a cultural and scientific centre, but these seem to be floundering. Perhaps they need some EU grant aid.

We have now driven to Podgorica in order to return the hire car to the airport and catch the Belgrade train tomorrow morning at 8-10. The Terminus Hotel is, understandably adjacent to the station and really rather nice. We managed to get a bargain price of €50 the night. They arranged another bargain, a taxi for me to follow to the airport and then bring me back to the hotel, €7.

I have read about the new cathedral in Podgorica which was started in 1993 and finally consecrated in 2014. It is controversial as they like their old but it is certainly impressive particularly the interior with its very lavish frescoes. The Lonely Planet guide states that one fresco depicts Tito, Engels  and Marx burning in hell together. Well I looked pretty hard and only found one fiery fresco. I enquired with a couple of people, including a guide but they denied any political art. 

The fiery fresco. I was told that it represents the forty martyrs who were burned. I think that I believe that that story better. Can anyone spot Tito, Marx or Engels? Or any other heroes for that matter, anyone for Corbyn?? 

Mooching around Montenegro 17/10/2017

When you mention Montenegro to most people, they either aren't very clear where you are talking about or, if they are cruisers, they think Kotor. The Bay of Kotor or Boka as the locals call it is usually referred to as a fjord and this is just what it looks like with very steep sided valleys plunging down beneath the waters giving access to ocean going cruise ships. Some geographers however argue that the bay is a submerged canyon. The surrounding terrain is limestone which I suppose supports the canyon theory. Whatever the origin of this phenomenon it is achingly beautiful and undoubtedly Montenegro's top tourist trump.

Scattered with photogenic medieval towns admiring their reflections in cobalt blue inlets, the Boka is stitched together with scenic serpentine coastal roads and mountain passes. We drove north from Budva passing the Tivat airport whose runway almost masquerades as the main road. At Tivat the old naval base has had a multimillion dollar makeover into a first class marina for the uber-rich. In fact you could be mistaken for thinking you were in Monaco.

We drive on to the short car ferry across the Verige strait from Kamenari to Lepetane which is rather reminiscent of the one on Lake Windermere.

This allows us to drive clockwise round the inner bay stopping first at Perast, after which, you might notice, our ferry is named.

Looking down towards Perast which is port side of the distant narrows. Further round and now starboard of that same narrows is the principal town of Kotor.

Normally we encounter this sign when someone has been mopping the floor, this however is a little more serious.

Part of what the fuss is about in Perast. This is the island of Our Lady of the Rock. It is in fact an artificial island. On the 22nd July 1452 an image of Madonna was found around a single rock. The locals rowed out to add to it, as they have done every year since on the anniversary of the first sighting. The church was erected in 1630 and contains sumptuous Venetian paintings and hundreds of silver votive tablets. In other words the usual medieval church catchpenny. Meanwhile today thousands of tourists pay €5 for a boat trip to the island. The town itself, on its single road, boasts 16 churches and 17 formerly grand Venetian palazzos and is a shadow of its former self.

Now what could possibly bring these sea-going juggernauts to the very end of this beautiful fjord /ria? The answer is, of course, the ancient town of Kotor. It is wedged between the water and the towering mountains, enclosed within its own walls but also snaking up the mountain to peer down on itself and check the waters for visitors or invaders.

This picture does not really give you the impression of the old town, but the next one of the cathedral inside the town also shows the fortifications above, if you look carefully. 

The town itself is a jumble of shops, museums, bars, churches and palaces. There are a good number of people still living within the old town along with hundreds of cats who are allegedly are the descendents of sea-going cats off the ships. In the right hand tower of the church above I came across this pile of rusty metal which in fact the ancient movement of the church clock.

We had a great lunch in the square outside the cathedral and after a walk around the town, we make for the hills. Having read in the guide book that the road from Kotor to Mt. Lovcen is one of Montenegro's great drives. It is 17 kms of good but narrow road that snakes up 25 hairpin turns, each one reveals a vista more spectacular than the last. From the top, the panoramic view, takes in the entire bay and across to the Adriatic. 

We go up, 

and up.

and up some more. Until the full monte as it were.

Mooching around Montenegro 15/10/2017

This blog is a little milestone because it is my 100th one. I don't suppose for one minute that anyone besides myself has read them all, although Carol Rogers might just have done. Can I thank you Carol for your loyal support over the years.
How about a closer look at our accommodation that we are rather disappointed about. See what you think.

Here is the front of our building, our apartment is the penthouse right side. The top half balustrade is the front of our balcony. The actual apartment is out of shot. See below the main room, the kitchenette (interesting 1960s euphemism?) and shower/toilet are along the corridor towards the front door.

And our view from that balcony

The beach is pebblely but clean. The end that is further away is managed during the summer season ie sunbeds and parasols, lifeguards and showers, but is much quieter at this time.

However five floors up on top of the next-door Kalamper Hotel is a five star facility complete with complimentary bottled water which we can enjoy for €10 a day. We did.

Another view of the Kalamper rooftop heliophile's paradise. You can see how busy it is and also the bar and eating area beyond the parasols. We enjoyed some smoked salmon for lunch which seemed appropriate in this, the land of the smoker.

The next and last resort down the coast is Ulcinj then you reach the Albanian border. The majority of the population of Ulcinj is Albanian and therefore Muslim. It certainly has a distinctly eastern flavour and is especially popular with the Kosovan holiday makers. It is a delightful town which flows down a steep valley to finish with a promenade and sandy beach. Above this to the north is the Stari Grad (old town)  up into which we climbed and drank a literal sundowner.

The old town and sandy beach from the promenade.

Looking back at the promenade. The sand in the shade is less flattering but look at the minaret attached to the mosque in the foreground. It looks like a rocket ready to take off to an Islamic heaven. In contrast the concrete sculpture (?) in the centre skyline looks rather like its big brother that has plummeted to earth. Finally the little harbour below the Stari Grad. The prom became really lively a little later in the evening and we enjoyed an excellent dinner there.