I’m sitting on the covered terrace at our place near Virpazar Montenegro. We arrived yesterday early afternoon after departing from Kolasin where it was snowing all morning. It’s warmer here but far from hot.
This is our 7 th time staying in the area. We love the green valley and surrounding mountainous landscape here although don’t like the town itself other than its scenic spot. Once a quiet fishing village, the town is now almost 100% geared toward tourists who come here for boat rides on Skadar Lake, the largest lake in the Balkans. About half the lake is in Montenegro, the other half in Albania.
The town center consists of one square paved with big old stones with a few small shops and restaurants around it. There used to be only one ATM in town and it was often empty. This year there are half a dozen although the first one we tried was empty. There are also numerous booths with info about boat excursions. Any time someone walks by one of these booths the people manning them assertively ask if you want a boat ride. We have been on two wonderful boat rides in the past, one with Marko and one with his sister but don’t feel inclined to do one during this visit. The other thing this town has lacked is a bakery (most towns, even small ones, have at least a few). However, we discovered a new French style bakery just opened 2 days ago! We bought a couple things that we will try tomorrow.
The one lane road into town passes between two buildings and there is always a bottleneck here. We keep thinking that some day someone will knock down one of the buildings and make the road wider but i hope they don’t. But it is a weird obstacle for drivers on this through-road. On the other side of the little bridge next to the square is a new, finally open, totally out of scale and character high end hotel and restaurant. It was (as we have come to expect) built with mob money. Also immediately over the bridge is the turn onto the one lane road that takes us to our lodging. The first time we came here we were extremely stressed each time we met an oncoming car but by now Jim has become (relatively) comfortable navigating these tiny roads. When two cars meet one will back up to a wider spot to let the other pass. We enjoy the walk to and from town on this road. At this time of years wildflowers of many types thrive by the roadside, as do wild fig trees and pomagranates.
We are staying someplace different this year (Pavle’s Oasis) because the place we’ve stayed the last few times is booked, but this place is more spacious (over 1000 sq ft) and a little quieter because it stands alone. There are only shrubs, trees and birds across the street and small vineyards and orchard next door. It is also considerably cheaper. Because the owner is friends with our friend, Marko, we are paying only 45 euros/night which six years ago would have been typical here but now is inexpensive. Nikola, the owner, and childhood friend of Marko, hurt his leg and can’t drive from Podgorica where he works, so Marko is looking out for us. Nikola grew up in this house and inherited it after his dad died a year or two ago. They used to sell wine and honey from the house. Now Nikola rents it to travelers. It has a wonderful large covered terrace in front which is a great place to listen to the always singing birds. It’s so pleasant. There is also a terrace on the sunny side of the house covered by a grape arbor. Two years ago the grape crops were destroyed by bad weather but so far this year is looking good.
The morning is quiet aside from the birds and an occasional car, scooter or pedestrian going by but mostly the road is empty. It’s about a 15 minute walk to town which we always enjoy. Not sure what we will do today. Jim and I are wired differently and thus have different preferences regarding how we spend our time. We both love walking, hiking, exploring and eating, but I prefer doing these things in moderation so I have plenty of free time to just sit, hangout, write or do nothing. Jim likes a bit of that but tends to prefer being more on the go. So I’m not sure how we will spend our few days here. We are hoping Jim can borrow a bike from Marko and do at least one bike ride. We also will likely take a couple long walks. I prefer choosing places we can access without needing to drive anywhere (since riding in the car is stressful for me). We’ll see.
…
We decided to walk to town and do the hike up the hill on the other side of the main road on the edge of town. On our way to town we encountered Marko on an e-bike carrying a cooler. He was on his way back to his guesthouse after giving guests a boat tour this morning. He gave us big hugs and said we will meet later after his new guests arrive. Then we stopped at the brand new French bakery that opened 2 days ago. This town has never had any bakery in all the years we have been visiting, unheard of in the Balkans! We carefully crossed the main road and walked the (narrow) switchbacking road to an old church and a viewpoint.
Our walk was pleasant with gorgeous views the whole way up the rocky little mountain/big hill. We drove up this road once and I found it stressful because in many places it’s only a car and a half width wide and there are exposed drop offs with no guardrails, just an occasional boulder placed here and there. I much prefer walking on these types of roads. This road was lined with wildflowers and blooming pomegranate trees. Weather was perfect for a walk- partly cloudy, warm sun, mid 60s. A handful of cyclists passed us (a few on ebikes and a small pack of more serious riders on ‘real’ bikes. Not many cars passed us so the walk, even though on the road, was peaceful.
The old church high up the hill is not too far from the road but requires a short walk down a dirt road (where we saw a tortoise). There is a spring-fed fountain (as there always seems to be) outside the gate around the small church yard. The cemetery is overgrown although there are a couple fairly recent graves, and inside the tiny delapidated church are ropes and things that appear to be used for moving and lowering caskets. The church is in horrible shape with cracks and green algae (or something) on the low roof. There is a lot of random stuff strewn about, some is waste, other things still useful like plastic bottles of water, candles, and a couple bottles of wine behind the sagging iconiclastis. There are newer faded framed icons and older faded ones, plus 2 very primitively rendered serpants on either side of the cross. Once again I wondered what life was like here 100 years ago, or even 40.
There was a young German couple with two very young kids there as well. They had passed us earlier on e-bikes. They were polite and civil but not interested in chatting. We ran into them again at the nearby viewpoint.
On our walk down the hill we stopped at a booth by the side of the road next to a glamping camp ground where a woman was selling overpriced honey and rakija. We bought some honey just for the heck of it. In past years we have sometimes received gifts of home raised honey but not this year. Around the bend from the booth stands the lone house on this stretch of road. A very loud cow was bellowing in her small penned area by her barn.
We stopped at the one store in town on our way home for some groceries, went home, then back to town for dinner at a place we hadn’t been before. Food was fine but unremarkable.
…
Sunday morning we walked a couple hundred yards up the street to Marko’s place. He had invited us for coffee and to meet his girlfriend, Ivana, who we have heard about for 6 years. Despite an earlier unexpected rain shower (saw a rainbow when sitting on the terrace) the sun was out and we sat under an awning in one of the yards of Marko’s ‘estate’. The estate includes the old house (where there is a 2 br apartment), an outdoor kitchen, gardens and vineyards, and high up the hillside his Prevalis Nature Cottage, handmade by Marko with great craftsmanship. The eco friendly building has two spacious studio apartments with lovely views across the valley. This fall he plans to start digging (by hand) the foundation for a new studio sized house that will be buried, solar powered, and have its own water system. He has had a dream of building something like this for a long time and is very excited about it although it will be a lot of work.
We drank water from his spring and drank Turkish coffee while chatting with Marko and Ivana who we liked as much as we like Marko. She initially studied English and did some translating but now works doing digital marketing in Podgorica. But she also offers Reiki healing and Astrology readings. The two of them live traveling in the off season and have been to many far flung places- the Maldives last year, Vietnam the year before that. The couple is not yet married but will get married when they have kids.
We asked about the very large building being built by his uncle that was newly under construction when we were here 2 years ago. Marko is very sad that his uncle decided to build there but he had no say in the matter. He said his uncle is currently in jail for smuggling cigarettes, a common endeavor here. His uncle is connected with the mafia, or so he implied.
(after writing this I realized I misunderstood- the guy who built the big building in front of Marko’s is NOT his uncle!)
We talked about the state of the world and its woes and beauty. Marko is an idealist so has not given up hope for a better world but doesn’t expect that any time soon. He tries to model the values and lifestyle he wants to see more of in the world. He is extremely distressed about what is happening to the Palestinians and their land.
After coffee Jim borrowed a bike from Marko and went on a long bike ride up our road. On his way down he stopped and visited Rajka, a woman we stayed with a few times in the past. Meanwhile I had a luxurious day of doing nothing other than writing, relaxing and listening to the birds. I have been yearning for some days like this our whole trip and am happy to finally have a chance to just ‘be’ in this beautiful comfortable spot. We’ve decided to stay here 5 nights instead of 3.
Leave a Reply