We arrived in Montenegro, a country I didn't even know existed except on the news, in the late afternoon, after a pretty hectic journey from Albania. The journey was effected with military precision. Here's how we did it!
We were lucky to catch a bus from Berat (Albania) direct to Tirana, the Albanian capital in the morning, then had to haggle with taxi drivers to take us to another station, to catch a minivan to Shkodra, still in Albania. We arrived here around 1pm. By this stage, Belinda was a hungry fiend, but I was keen to push on. However, the next bus to Montenegro was not until 4pm! A man pulled us up in the street, friendly enough fella, and started chatting in good English. Well, he could take us to the border, and then we could walk to the next town, and catch a bus on. All for 10euros. Hmmm. Tempting! I took the bait.
Off we went in his mercedes, to the border, hopped out, stamped into Montenegro, and began walking. And walking. And walking. Where was this bloody town for a bus? Fortunately for us, a man pulled up in his car, and offered us a lift, all in hand gestures. Hmmm. Tempting! I took the bait. He was from Kosovo. Now, Belinda had been reading about Kosovo, and the Lonely Planet had not been too flattering - Kosovo was rough as guts. And the bloke - he was a blonde giant, with a shaved head, and sudden, erratic movements. Lucky Bel was in the back and was not too scared, meanwhile I was in the front, generating small talk - how, I don't know. He was speeding along these windy narrow roads, braking hard to avoid head-on collisions around corners, while I waxed lyrical about the beautiful weather by pointing at the sun and Bel got car sick. But it was all good in the end - he took us for some distance, maybe 20km to the next town, and I don't know what the Albanian guy was thinking, but if we didn't get the hitch, we would have been walking for some time! Really lucky, and I was counting my lucky stars - he even dropped us off at the bus station, and we only tipped him 5 euro. Nice guy - Bel and I like Kosovans now.
I had to feed little Belinda now, so I gave her a banana, and bought myself a chocolate bar, which she promptly ripped from my hand and devoured. We were then lucky enough to catch 2 consecutive buses with good connections up the Montenegrin coast, to arrive in Kotor, our desired destination, around 6pm. It was a miracle! We met a girl from Colorado on the final bus, and asked where she was staying - in the youth hostel in the old city. Seeing that we didn't know where to stay, we followed her, and checked in. Lucky, because the other alternative, which we checked out, was miles away and expensive. Always pays to strike up a conversaion with people! We then sat down for a well deserved dinner - I was quite pleased with my navigation today - you can see it by the breadth of my smile!
We were lucky to catch a bus from Berat (Albania) direct to Tirana, the Albanian capital in the morning, then had to haggle with taxi drivers to take us to another station, to catch a minivan to Shkodra, still in Albania. We arrived here around 1pm. By this stage, Belinda was a hungry fiend, but I was keen to push on. However, the next bus to Montenegro was not until 4pm! A man pulled us up in the street, friendly enough fella, and started chatting in good English. Well, he could take us to the border, and then we could walk to the next town, and catch a bus on. All for 10euros. Hmmm. Tempting! I took the bait.
Off we went in his mercedes, to the border, hopped out, stamped into Montenegro, and began walking. And walking. And walking. Where was this bloody town for a bus? Fortunately for us, a man pulled up in his car, and offered us a lift, all in hand gestures. Hmmm. Tempting! I took the bait. He was from Kosovo. Now, Belinda had been reading about Kosovo, and the Lonely Planet had not been too flattering - Kosovo was rough as guts. And the bloke - he was a blonde giant, with a shaved head, and sudden, erratic movements. Lucky Bel was in the back and was not too scared, meanwhile I was in the front, generating small talk - how, I don't know. He was speeding along these windy narrow roads, braking hard to avoid head-on collisions around corners, while I waxed lyrical about the beautiful weather by pointing at the sun and Bel got car sick. But it was all good in the end - he took us for some distance, maybe 20km to the next town, and I don't know what the Albanian guy was thinking, but if we didn't get the hitch, we would have been walking for some time! Really lucky, and I was counting my lucky stars - he even dropped us off at the bus station, and we only tipped him 5 euro. Nice guy - Bel and I like Kosovans now.
I had to feed little Belinda now, so I gave her a banana, and bought myself a chocolate bar, which she promptly ripped from my hand and devoured. We were then lucky enough to catch 2 consecutive buses with good connections up the Montenegrin coast, to arrive in Kotor, our desired destination, around 6pm. It was a miracle! We met a girl from Colorado on the final bus, and asked where she was staying - in the youth hostel in the old city. Seeing that we didn't know where to stay, we followed her, and checked in. Lucky, because the other alternative, which we checked out, was miles away and expensive. Always pays to strike up a conversaion with people! We then sat down for a well deserved dinner - I was quite pleased with my navigation today - you can see it by the breadth of my smile!