Montenegro Coast, Mountains, and Skadar Lake
September 22, 2008

After a couple of days in Kotor I headed along the coast of Montegro. I stopped briefly in Budva and took a lovely photo of Sveti Stephan. I wanted to continue on to the mountains, but it was getting dark, so I stopped in Cetinje for the night.

The next day I drove up to Skadar Lake. The mountain road was VERY narrow and quite winding, so I went very slowly. Several times I had to pull over on a tiny little ledge overlooking a cliff to let another car pass. At those times I wished that I still had my little motor scooter!

The toe curling ride was worth it though for the spectacular view of Skadar Lake. The lake is extremely large and has several small islands in it. Plus, the leaves were just starting to change, which made it even more picturesque.

I continued on through the mountains to the northwestern part of Montenegro and ended up in Plitvice for the night. Plitvice is next to the Pivsko Jezero River which is a fantastic shade of turquoise. The river runs in between some very steep mountain cliffs; a very dramatic view. My only complaint about Plitvice is that it was very cold while I was there (I am glad I had the foresight to bring my gloves and winter coat)!

The next day I took another mountain drive back down to the coast. Again the view was spectacular, though much different from the view of the days before. I drove through the area where people normally ski in the winter. The mountain tops were bare and beautiful, dotted with grazing cows and small village homes. I got a bit worried at one point because I was getting low on gas and there were not any major towns in sight for hours. Fortunately, just as the gauge hit "Empty" I arrived in one of the ski villages and was able to refuel.

After an entire day of driving, I ended back in Kotor for a night. Tomorrow back to Croatia...

Montenegro Coast
The coastline of Montenegro is very picturesque.

Budva
This is a photo of the old town of Budva, one of many little stone villages on the coast of Montenegro.


Sveti Stephan
A small little medieval town on a tiny island off the coast.


Skadar Lake
Looking at Skadar Lake from the mountain path. The lake is really beautiful!


Islands of Skadar Lake
I would love to buy this island! It is so picturesque (and a nice size for a small resort!)


Leaving Skadar Lake
I took this photo as I was leaving Skadar Lake. The lake turns into marsh land on the western side.


Mountain Village Home
This is a charming little farm house that I came across while driving from Skadar Lake to Plitvice.

Plitvice
The beautiful turquoise river of Plitvice. Sadly it was very cloudy the day I took this picture, so you can't see the true color of the water; it is a Caribbean blue!

Through the Mountains
Taken while driving through the mountains on my way back to the coast. It was nice to get a taste of fall! Since I have been living in Bangladesh for two years, I haven't seen fall in awhile!


Mountain Top
This is the view at the top of the mountain. It was quite windy and cold, but also very serene. In many places I drove through the clouds because the mountains were so high!

For more photos you can see my Montenegro Flickr Page: Montenegro Photos