Montenegro Part 2

The next day, a very enthusiastic Blazo has the entire day completely planned!

First stop he organized us to meet both a television and newspaper journalist.

These things make me nervous and I get embarrassed, but we got through it.. it was special for a couple reasons.  First, Montenegro really followed these boys on their http://www.theridearound2010.me so I am sure it was good for an update.. Secondly, and most surprisingly to me is that the journalist tells me that women in Montenegro don't ride motorcycles.. I thought he was kidding, but it seems to be true from what the boys tell me as well!  So in this interview, the journalist asked me if I was embarrassed to meet the guys in Vladivostok, being a "woman" rider.  ????  At the time of interview, I really didn't understand the question, but now I do. Here is the Youtube link:

(Couldn't work out why it wouldn't play the interview within this post, so it is a separate post above..)

It's funny the things I assume.. I have been told more since this interview that is rare for women to ride motorcycles in most of these Balkan countries.  So should I be embarrassed??  I'm not, but I appreciate cultural differences. ;-)

Blazo, Nino and Marko

Now we can go for a ride along the most gorgeous Lake Skadar (Shkoder) in Montenegro. Being the largest lake in the Balkan region it also borders and views across to Albania.

But wait!  First we must have lunch.. better than lunch, a real taste of Montenegro food, fresh soup from the Shkoder lake fish.  It was soooo good, I can tell ya.!

Local fisherman

Gee whiz, I love experiencing local fresh food, the best!  Sorry, now we can go!

Also sorry for the supersize photo, but I wanted to show that white bit in the middle. It is actually a fortress called Grmozur.  Built by the Turks in 1843.  Taken over by the Montenegrans and later used as a prison/dungeon. I can only imagine what it would have been like in the day..

This is really fun...

Have you ever seen a prettier road?

There's the snowy white tips of Albania!

Next we rode down the hill to the coast again to pick up Blazo's wife, who finished work a bit early so she could have fun too..!  Don't blame her! ;-)

Montenegro girls playing a dice game

We travel the coast from Bar to Budva.. with a little stop at a lovely little church along the water..

Orthodox Priest

What a bummer church donkey has to go home early.. and we only just got here!  ;-(

Central dome ceiling

Being an Orthodox church and I really notice the difference in art work after spending so much time in Italy. Although from the top tip of Russia all the way to Montenegro so far, there are masses of old churches full of history and they put a huge effort, time and money into the beauty and art of the church walls and ceilings.. do they still do this today? If so, not much..

And every country has it's way for burials.  These graves have handles to open, which I thought was odd. They explain to me as each family member passes, they collect the bones of the previous, put in a bag and move forward in the grave to make space for the next one.  Hmm.

A finish to a wonderful big day in Montenegro.. now a ride through the mountains back to Podgorica.

Thank you and Good night!

Bosnia, Croatia to Montenegro

Oh gee whiz, I've done a lot since the last blog post.  Checking in from Athens Greece.. I've finished Bosnia i Herzegovina, back into Croatia, another 16 km into Bosnia, back into Croatia again, and then to Montenegro.. (in this blog).. but since I have also ridden through Albania, Macedonia and now in of coarse in Greece.. where to begin!??  Medjugorje..!

Sunset from my little guesthouse on the outskirts of town..

Religion plays such a huge tourism role for every country I have been in Europe, which usually includes the high price for accommodation - including this small town.  So I found a place out of town that will suit my budget - cheap! Secondly, these out of the way cheap places always have the nicest people anyway with the added bonus of the beautiful countryside, rather than concrete buildings and traffic.

Morning walk to "Apparition Hill" and that wind is still roaring over the mountain tops!

A whole lot of praying going on..from people of many different languages. Mostly Catholic I would assume.  Speaking of, it is THE place to go if you need to buy a rosary, every shop was full of them!

Maybe become a priest while your here.. ? (I honestly had no idea you can just buy these robes).

I explored the area for quite a while.. whether you believe in the apparition or not, it is definitely a place with good energy and peace once you get past all the souvenir shops.

Making my way to Medjugorge to Montenegro was easier than I expected. My gps didn't recognize most roads in Bosnia. So I resorted to google maps on my computer, of which also refused to give me an idea of route. My last chance for a plan was the trusty ol' paper map - which again, did not show any roads to or from Medjugorge!  I don't understand as this small place takes many tourists every year.. but not to worry.   Once I was riding around, the roads are very well marked.  So I am really surprised at the lack of map information.

A little ride through BiH toward the coast and back into Croatia.. hello again!  Croatia sees me often!

After a short ride, it's back through a border post for Bosnia which has 16 km of coastline.  Needed fuel here, but I must make it back into Croatia because I want to use up my remaining Kuna (Croatia money).

I rode these exact roads in November last year through a dark rainy night.. so GREAT to see it on a sunny spring day!

A simple drive by of Dubrovnik, where I stayed for an entire week through the rain last year.. look at it now, so much better!

Need to keep moving though, because my goal is to meet Blazo Milic whom I met along with Nino and Vladimir during their round the world trip in Russia last July.  Here is a reminder photo we took from Vladivostok Russia.  I remember when these guys told me they are from Montenegro, and I didn't say anything at the time, but when I got back to my computer I quietly had to google it to find out where their country was..  had no idea! ;-)

But today is the day, and I get to meet them again and see how they have got on since they returned from their epic 3 month RTW journey... 3 months!  Wow, that is endurance... If interested to see what they've accomplished, you can have a look at http://www.theridearound2010.me/

Crna Gora is offical name, meaning 'black mountain'.  Monte Negro in Spanish means 'black mountain'..

I made it through the border gates at 11:58, for my 12:00 meet time... whew!

I waited for a bit, and then I hear the motorcycles in the distance... love that sound!  I was only expecting Blazo, and I get 2 for the price of one!  However, young Blazo is not here... it's Nino and Marko!

Now I understand the wait, Blazo's bike is not happy and it stopped about 2 km away.. so with a warm Montenegro welcome, thanks guys!  we head back to see about Blazo.

Something to do with the electronics of the fuel pump.. the guys are ingenius and rig a way to fix.. and luckily my little contribution is we got to use one of my tools.. I knew I needed to carry them for some reason! ;-))

The bike starts again and we start riding the beautiful Montenegro coast.  Oops, the bike died again.. this time they call in the mechanics..

These guys were so kind and concerned that I was bored stopped at the side of the road, but seriously I wasn't.  Have a look around, it's not a bad place to enjoy a gorgeous Montenegro afternoon!  I am truly loving this place, not complaining a tiny bit, so take your time!

 Nino waits patiently as well.. ;-)

The mechanics were good, job well done..to the music of Elvis..! So we go up around the corner for a celebratory snack and a drink.

The sun is getting low, so we pass up the plan for exploring and decide to head straight for Blazo's home in Podgorica, about an hour's drive into the mountains.

TO BE CONTINUED...