Ohrid to Podgorica

Monday (5th June)

We got a boat trip down lake Ohrid to the St Naum Monastery, at the southern tip of the lake.

Past the bay of bones, a reconstruction of an old settlement whose homes were on wooden piles driven into the lake floor. As the museum is closed on Monday, we continued straight to the Monastery landing jetty.

We walked a 2km circuit around the springs of lake Ohrid, past the Holy Mother of God Church.

Had lunch over looking the lake, then visited the Monastery, with peacocks in the grounds. Had an ice cream.

Then got the boat back to Ohrid, a nice ‘holiday’ day out!

Tuesday, we walked up to Samuel’s fortress, through the park, back down on to the Bridge of wishes. We visited the paper museum, hand made paper and printing pictures on a replica of the Gutenberg press.

Wednesday, we had an early start to catch the bus to Tirana in Albania.

We stayed in a lovely family run hotel, more like a cafeteria with rooms, near the local university but was nicely done out. After dropping our bags off, we walked into the city centre, and were really surprised by the modern architecture, we were not expecting that!

We had dinner in the Cafeteria, a beer, homemade red wine, main meal with bread and pasticia (local type of pasta bake!) for the total price of £9!

Thursday, back into the city centre, we walked via the Tanner’s Bridge, the Grand Park of Tirana, And government buildings, which were surrounded by security, as the President of Estonia was in town, we asked one of the security detail.

We had lunch in a restaurant in the old castle, which sounds grander than it is! Had a local set menu, lots of courses, and we ate too much. It was all very good.

Friday another early start to catch a bus to Podgorica, the capital of Montenegro. A grumpy old driver who shouted at people, and threw bags around, when people queried the 2 Euro charge being levied to put bags into the hold. Nic was holding a 5 Euro note ready to pay for our bags. Other passengers then distracted the driver as he was giving Nic her ticket for our bags, and before we knew it we were on the bus and Nic still had the 5 Euro note in hand! We sat tight and the driver didn’t seem to notice!

The town before before the border, a lot more people got on the bus, standing room only, or actually sitting room in the isle, they were all young western travelers! Aussie, Kiwi, Americans.

The border was the same mix of somebody collecting passports, disappearing with them all, coming back and handing all of them to the first person on the bus! To find their passport and pass them back, thankfully before we got the pile, one of the Americans, did a roll call and handed them out. But we then had to get off the bus with our passports and attend the booth, so we had no idea what the first collection was about. Everybody back on the bus, then drive 100m and everyone off the bus again this time to enter Montenegro.

The bus ride was quite sociable, with lots of chat due to the close proximity of other passengers, one sitting on Nic’s feet and leaning against her legs.

We got off the bus at Podgorica, giving up our seats to those continuing to Kotor.

We had a flat with a lovely sunset view in Podgorica. We were met by our host and did a quick load of washing to go out on the balcony to dry. Then headed into town for a stroll to find a cash point which did not charge to withdraw cash, ( 5 machines later!), and do some grocery shopping at the local mall on the way back.

Saturday, we headed via a few notable buildings to the local park, a very hot day, but a lovely walk followed by lunch in the town. We shared a Tomahawk steak and side dishes with a glass or two of wine. As we were about to pay the thunder and lightning started followed by the rain, so we had a digestif before, risking the walk with our trusty brollies at the ready.

Sunday, back on a train, from Podgorica to Bar, still in Montenegro, a busy train lots of people heading to the beach. In Bar our accommodation was just opposite the rail station and the bus station. Our first job on arrival was to get bus tickets for Monday, but they would only take cash, we had some cash € but not enough, so we had to walk into town to find a cash point. Back to the bus station with more cash to get tickets to Mostar in Bosnia & Herzegovina, but that’s for next week’s blog.

After securing our bus tickets, we could not be bothered to walk back to town again for dinner. Luckily there was a place just round the corner, local barbecue restaurant. As we arrived Novak Djokovic was just winning the French Open, and there were several locals gathered round the TV.

We found a table and ordered a drink. The chef/ waiter spoke very little English, but with the aid of a photo of their menu on Google maps, we managed to order some chicken, cevapici (local meat sausage shaped patties), salad and some bread. There were no frills, but boy was it good, fresh, tasty and tenth of the price of the meal the day before !!

W/E 11June

1 train

56 Kms

Total so far

48 trains

9,129 Kms