Mon 22nd Apr 2017 – Sat 26th Apr 2017
Video of the country : AroundEarth : Montenegro
Apart from the magnificent landscapes, made of the hugest mountains in Europe, and a large quantity of welcoming beaches, many large forests were paving the path on the way to Albania.
We had a break near a wooden restaurant, at the top of a viewpoint, and caught electricity supplies from there. The owners were nice enough to let us charge our devices, since the converter we used to enjoy during our rides was not working anymore with the car plug. A Montenegrin family, who had its car parked right next to our van, heard us speak French and came to say hi. We exchanged few words and got informed that a well-known forest, with waterfalls and lakes, was nearby. The family, composed with a mother, a father and their daughter (who was also speaking English and few words of French) was heading there for the day. We decided we would catch up with them later on.
The forest was easily accessible and huge. We walked among massive trees, climbed some of them, and observed the quiet lakes that were peaceful places where it felt good to just listen to the silence. Hours later, we found the previously met family, who shared a walk with us, telling us about the healthy properties of the edible plants we noticed on the way. These plants were made of green leafs, with small white flowers, and tasted like onion. After leaving the little group, we started collecting as many leafs as possible, thinking it would make a great meal for the upcoming dinners. During the labor, we heard loud noises coming from a group of early-30 year-old people, drinking and partying at a barbecue spot. They invited us for drinks, and managed to find electricity plugs nearby. We parked the van next to them and started playing music in the woods, sharing beers with them, trying out their food, and met Marco and his national handball team. They were together with some ladies and other friends, who taught us a bit about the country. Montenegro was a young country, born in 2006 after a referendum in which 55% of deciders chose the faith of an entire people and decided to separate from Serbia. People here were approximately 50% Muslim and 50% from other religions – mostly orthodoxies.
We left them there and, after buying groceries in their town (Mojkovac), we headed to Podgorica, Montenegro’s capital city. Podgorica was a big city with few people, mostly made of large roads, small buildings, bridges and canals. Summer starting to warm up the place, we decided it was time to go to the coast and find some fresh air. Doing so, we arrived at the top of a mountain, with an incredible view of all Kotor and surrounding cities, where most of the (small) Macedonian population lives. Small roads and poor driving skills from the locals unfortunatly drove us into some critical situation on the road. Going down to Kotor, we had to cross cars on very tight roads, and dodging one of them coming a bit fast, we bumped on a rock and burst one of the wheels. We thus had to change it in the middle of this small road of mountain, with people barely being able to pass. Hopefully, Jordand had already done it, and it was changed in no time. On the following day, on antoher small road, we blocked the van across a turn. The slope was too important and the van too long, so that when we turned, one of the wheels ended with almost no weight on it, so it could turn, but the van was not moving... So no way to go back, and in front : a ravine... At this point I was convinced we will have to call for help (and pay!), but before this we tried to put some clothes under the wheels to see iff it could help. It didn't at first, confirming my fear of being totally stuck, but we tried over and over, and centimeter by centimeter, w managed to go out of this. After all the adventures we decided to spend some days chilling on the coast, but there wasn't much life there and despite the magnificent landscapes, we found ourselves interested in going on and headed toward Albania, in quest of adventure.
– Written on Wednesday 14 June 2017 at 2:00 PM (Day 56)