It's Not Flat!
⬅ previous ⬆intro next ➡Day 2 ~ 7 September ~ Tivat to Virpazar
Goodness me! I'm 67! How did that happen?!Fortunately I don't want to cry even if it is my birthday, so I won't.
To breakfast. Amanda appears to have a very large dish of something white, which she describes in her diary entry as "...oatmeal with yoghurt. Huge and gloopy." I have a cheese and ham omelette.
We set off, at a bit of a slow pace because of works on the road, but we trundle along.
After an hour or so, we stop for a walk to Fort Kosmač, an Austro-Hungarian fortification which we're told has some great views.
It's mostly a ruin now, but there's an information point with a drawing on clear perspex that lets you get an idea of what it would have looked like.
Use your imagination a bit.
The interior needs even more imagination. In fact, Wikipedia's article on the fort says, "The extent of the collapse is so complete that it is no longer known how the interior was originally laid out." It also says, "there is a significant risk of falling masonry and visitors are advised to be extremely cautious in entering the building".
We are either sufficiently cautious or sufficiently lucky or both, and all live to tell the tail.
Marko takes a group picture. This the first time you can see P&T's faces properly, although probably still a bit too unclear to pick any of us out in a police lineup. Not that I would know anything about police lineups, what on earth are you thinking?!
Back in the bus, our next stop is Rijeka Crnojevića on the shore of Lake Skadar where we'll be taking a boat ride later.
First, though, coffee at a little place where I've found another cat!
Our boat will be taking us under that bridge leading to the lake proper.
And this is the view of the village back from the bridge.
Before that, though, we'll walk alongside the river to some old water mills.
They're all totally disused and overgrown now. The first mills were built in the 15th Century, but this concrete structure is obviously much more recent. There is still a hydroelectric plant in operation supplying power to the region.
We have left the path, but it's not hard to walk here.
A slight scramble down to some pools below a rocky cascade. Thérèse isn't quite sure she's up to it physically so stays back.
The water is incredibly clear. If I'd brought my filter bottle, I'd definitely fill up with this.
It's beautiful, and there's nobody here but us.
Amanda catches me in full photographic action!
And Marko stands watch above.
Peter is a bit shy, so I don't have a similar picture of him.
It's very cold!
Thérèse tales this picture of us coming back up.
We return to the path and Marko says that there's a cave that interesting to see a little further along, but it does mean climbing some quite uneven rocks. Well I'm up for it, of course, and Amanda says she'll probably need some help, but we're used to that. P&T decide not to, though.
This way! Let's go.
Here we are looking in.
And here we are looking out.
I shall do my famous "mountain goat with a hat and a camera" impression.
And then Marko takes a picture of the two of us together.
That was fun! Now back into the village for lunch.
Locally caught trout with salad for lunch at this waterside restaurant. Delicious, but enormous portions. This seems to be a bit of a Montenegrin thing, that you should not get up from the table feeling you could eat any more.
Now for our boat ride.
Like I said, under the bridge we go.
The boat gets up quite a speed once we're out on the water, and it's really hard to get bird pictures with my long lens because we're bouncing about so much.
This isn't great, but it's still one of the best.
Remember "The Dambusters"? Is this a bouncing-bomb-bird?
So not recommended as a photography platform, but it's still a great ride. We slow down when we get into some narrow channels, but now there are no birds to be seen through the vegetation.
We now stop to visit the Serbian Orthodox monastery of Kom. It's still in operation with a mostly self-sufficient population of monks who raise their own animals and grow vegetables.
The entrance is at the top of 700 steps.
For €5 we can enter their chapel to see the 15th Century frescoes, but we have to cover any exposed flesh with these wraps and photography is strictly forbidden.
It's behind that door. That's all I can show you.
For our donation, we also receive a small box of goodies.
Let me get ahead of myself show you a couple of pictures from later. It's a pretty little box.
Peanuts, dates, some local wine. Sadly the latter will turn out to be, err... a penance?
Anyway, back to now...
Descending, we spot some of the monks' cows. They don't seem to have a lot of grass to eat here but they look happy enough.
Back out into the lake and when we reach open water, there's an opportunity for those who want to have a swim.
Well Amanda doesn't need telling twice!
She's well up for it. Me, I need a wetsuit for anything less than tropical waters, so I'm declining, thanks. Amanda reckons it's warmer than some swimming pools but I'm not convinced.
We continue on to Virpazar where we say goodbye to our boat and take a short walk to our hotel for tonight.
Via this curious rock with a thing on top.
It's a WWII war memorial, and while the top is obviously a bronze sculpture on a brick plinth, I'm really not sure the rock itself is entirely natural. The Internet has not been able to enlighten me, though.
We have a short walk before dinner. It's a much busier place than our departure point, and the narrow main street tends to get clogged with cars. Lake tourism and watersports are obviously a big thing here, but it's much less pretty-pretty than Rijeka Crnojevića.
Somebody has let out the secret that it's my birthday, and the hotel have made me a special cake with a candle. Everyone sings "Happy Birthday" and then they present me with a bottle of their own wine. We've been drinking it with dinner, so I don't have to be polite and pretend!
We've been told tonight is a lunar eclipse, but I think the best time to see it was when we were in the middle of dinner, and this partial phase doesn't really look much different to a normal moon. The main difference is just the fuzzier edge. Ah well, never mind, still a fine birthday.
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