Wednesday 26 October 2011

Pomegranates


Montenegro. Another day, another boarder, another currency, though thankfully back to the Euro. We'd skipped Dubrovnik part two in the end as the campsite used up the last of our Kunas and we didn't want to get more and stocked up at the bakery once w'd crossed over into Montenagro. We stuck to the coast road first, drivng around the stunning Kotorska Bay, an extensive and weird shaped inlet with a coastline of over 45km. The amount of photos I now take every day has got out of hand but it's hard not to!
We got diverted by a sign promising prehistoric cave paintings at one point and got directed up into the hills above the inlet, We never found the paintings but the views were terriffic and we found some old bunkers around the hills, from what era we weren't sure.

We sunk down into the bay again passing through woods that were about fifty percent pommegranite trees, I couldn't resist any longer and popped out to pick a few and very tasty they are too. We emerged in the town of Perast and immediately took in the Venician style buildings the guide says are remiant from the Italian colonisation of the area. When we took a walk around there was less to the town than we expected but I did see someone growing kiwis in their garden. I was amazed- they grow like grapes, I had no idea. I was so excited by them that the owner picked and handed me an armful!

We headed back up into the hills via the twenty five harpin bends that rapidly ascend an almost vertical slope above Kotor. The view gets better and better with each bend until, a little like the Eiffel Tower, the distance just become unreal and the view misty with distance. We headed into Lovcen National Park and up to the tallest peak (1749m) where, at the top, not only stands the mausoleum for Peter II, Montenagro's national hero but, with stairs leadin all th way up from the fairly elevated carpark, the views out across this country are unsuppassed. The white rocky mountians or hills seem to go on forever and look like they should be wild and barren but if you look closer you see many trees and shrubs and villages, homesteads, even a city in amongst. This is because when the threat of the Ottoman empire was closing in all around, the people and monks of Montenagro retreated here and succesfully kept them out, preserving their own culture and customs.
We drove on northwards, out into this strange landscape and found the best camping spot so far- up a bare, stoney hill with a phone mast at the top with an absolutely stunning 300 degree view. Not only may I run out of memory card space for my photos at this rate but I'm raidly running out of fresh vocablurairy to describe just how increadible each new area is!

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