Winter Excursions 22-23
Piva Canyon Bridge
Going Local
Before Sandy returned I did a little bit of touring locally as well as joining some of our winter crew for some go karting and a winery visit.
The Bay of Kotor in the early spring is beautiful. The air is crisp and clear with just the occasional wisps of sea fog hugging the water. When added to the steeply rising hills with snow capping the higher ones, it can be breathtaking. There are churches all around these slopes which only mountain goats should traverse with a smattering of forts and lookouts from the Austro- Hungarian times.Towns and villages mostly now around tourism are nice with Perast a jewel, carefully preserved and very worthy of a lunch, wine and relaxing interlude. The stark Lady of the Rocks church sits on top of an island adjacent to another, housing yet another orthodox monastery. The legend has it that sailors found an icon of Our Lady there in the 1400’s and thereafter venerated the islet after successful voyages by throwing rocks in there. There is now an annual festival for that.
Karting was fun. I was running late after an appointment on Cooinda and whilst not consciously practicing for karting, was pulled over for speeding by the police just outside Podgorica. There weren’t a lot of smiles but lots of stern words came my way as did a warning of a massive fine if caught speeding by them again. This I put down my poor track times to, but truth be known Steve and Tim, both with racing and rallying pedigrees were super fast. A drink was in order after this, so where better than the largest winery in Europe, for a tasting. The tasting and barrel room of Plantaze wines is located in a large tunnel excavated to house aircraft during the war. It allowed aircraft to leave both ends to use the runway. They sadly found that leaving a blast door ajar couldn’t prevent a NATO bomb from taking out the 22 jet aircraft inside. The tasting was well done and provided insights into the history and growing of the indigenous grapes in this ideal local climate, soil and topography . The wines, especially the Reserve Vranac and chradonnay as well as the the Krstac and Malavisa were excellent and worth a try. They are not expensive.
Another fun outing was the Winter Carnival in Kotor. This is replicated in lots of Montenegrin towns, however the Kotor one is quite special. After an excellent seafood lunch the winter crew headed down to watch the procession of dancers and performers from various organisations and villages strut their stuff. At the end of the procession a large effigy of a prominent person is carried which at the climax it is burned. The person portrayed representing all that has been bad that year and his/her burning becomes a form of cleansing.
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Montenegro as we have alluded, is a stunningly beautiful country but its neighbour Bosnia and Herzegovina has similarly beautiful scenery and friendly folk to boot.
We took the opportunity of cheap car hire (230 euros /10 days unlimited kms)to travel around a bit (but not enough ) of Bosnia and a little more in depth Montenegro. None of the distances are great and the roads are in good nick albeit narrow in places with not lots of passing opportunities. In fact it seemed like most of both countries had exclusively double lines in the centres of their roads. Obeying these however was optional and mere guidance to locals. So when in Rome!
Interesting here is a side note on the drivers there. Initially I was appalled at the drivers in MNE and B&H perceiving the risks taken to be more Evil Knieval than Miss Daisy, however once there a while, I become inured. In fact most of the risks were calculated based on local knowledge often times it seemed. What was most impressive in these countries with no great means, was the generosity and courteousness on the road. They are happy to help you pass if they are slower, hold patiently to let you join in or cross lines of traffic and tolerant of Aussies clueless in the turn or direction to take. A lot could be learned by Australian drivers!
Whilst the weather was sadly a little gloomy we still headed across Kotor bay by ferry on through Herzeg Novi to Bosnia with lunch in the quaint old town of Trebinje. It is a partially walled down set on the river of the same name. It is famous for the nearby Tvrdos monastery, closed when we were there, and the Arslanagić Bridge. The bridge was built during the time of the Ottomans and linked Constantinople with Venice. It was substantially damaged inWW2, repaired, then submerged before being recovered and moved where it has little use today apart from tourists it seems. A little peculiar I thought.
Leaving Trebinje towards Mostar you parallel the border with Croatia passing just 40km from Dubrovnik. Here you are in the country of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but in the Republika of Srpska one of two separate parts of the country, the other being the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Confusing yes. All this arose after the split up of Yugoslavia and the following Bosnian war from 1992. Effectively the Republika of Srpska sits in the south east and north east of the country and is home to the majotity of the ethnic Bosniak population with its capital being Banja Luka. As you approach Mostar, famous for some of the most bitter fighting of the Bosniak/Croat/Serbian war you enter the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina whose capital is Sarajevo (also known for a severe and bitter siege).
The countryside is mountainous and rocky before heading down into the plains area. Its starkness and harshness reminds a little of the west of Ireland and whilst there are plenty of farms, it is hard to see them eeking a substantial return there. You pass numerous churches and shrines which is not uncommon in the region, however many are in tribute to those lost in the war. If there were ever an advert for the abolition of plastic bags, Bosnia is it. I thought parts of Asia were bad but literally all the fields and fences are festooned with them in plague proportions, doing the otherwise pretty countryside a great disfavour. It only got worse the closer we got to Mostar.
Mostar itself has a pretty rundown appearance as you proceed from the outskirts to downtown. Situated in a bowl the natural topography is impressive but it is not until you are down near the old town do things look spruiced up. There is still plenty of evidence of shells of buildings from the war. In the old town there are the obligatory touristy souvenir shops intertwined with mosques, hotels, mini markets and restaurants along a cobbled road leading through the old bazaar down to the iconic and impressive old bridge, Stari Most. We dined at a nice little restaurant, Babilon, with perfect views of the bridge whose staff and host were generous in portions and advice.
The next day we did a more languid walk through the old town visiting the Museum of War and genocide Victims. Whilst shy on artefacts, it is long on some brutal personal accounts of the siege laid by the Croatians and Serbs as well as horrific tales of the other massacres in Bosnia. The history of just those few years alone in Bosnia is very sad with politics, corruption, lies, deceit and power plays in abundance, resulting in decades of mistrust and misery to come. Having assisted the Bosniaks and Bosnian Croats to break the siege by the Serbian JNA, two years later the Croatian army were laying siege to Mostar themselves and it was they who ultimately destroyed the Stari Most. It does your head in trying to understand and work through the labrynth of Balkan politics, war, religion and ethnicities. I don’t and cannot claim any biases as there were atrocities on all sides, some ostensibly more brutal than others, like Srebrenica.
From Mostar it was a short drive to the village of Bune to the Dervish (Sufi) monastery embedded in the hill beside a waterfall. It is a very picturesque setting partially besmirched by a number of garish restaurants on the banks of the river. A visit to the monastery was worthwhile albeit the austere lifestyle presented few artefacts for display save some Sufi writings in cyrillic which is not our forte. There was certainly no whirling or dancing on display.
Back to Montenegro
The drive from there was back towards Montenegro up the mountains for some truly spectacular views. The Piva valley is probably the jewel of the views. Built in the 70’s the road follows the valley along the Piva river and ultimately the lake/dam. The sides of the valley are sheer in so many places, but this was no impediment. A large number of tunnels were bored through the igneous rock to facilitate the road. Coming from Australia where we agonise for 30 years over one harbour or Blue Mountains tunnel, it was refreshing to drive these quality tunnels.
We headed to a rafting lodge nestled in the valley just across the border on the Tara river, famous for its white water rafting. It was all a bit early in the season so it wasn’t all humming, but the meal and hospitality were good. Not far down the road is the famous Đurđevića Tara Bridge where ziplining is the go. The bridge was the largest of its type in Europe completed in 1940 only to be partially blown up by partisans (including one of the builders) to thwart the Italian advance through the area in 1942. The zipline was scenic and as with all these things over too soon. After a pleasant lunch it was off to one of the ski fields of Montenegro.
The theme of spectacular scenery continued through to Kolasin one of the main MNE ski fields. Our marina maintains a lodge there for the free use of residents in winter. We missed by a week! Like so many resorts it had the obligatory ski shops, bars, lodges, hotels and restaurants. The place we chose for dinner was a find. Restoran Vodenica has great food, service and wine in a quaint old style house sitting atop a stream. There was still plenty of snow around making for a pretty outlook but the lifts had stopped, so no skiers and it was all pretty quiet in town. There were plenty of small lodges and huts around the town reminiscent of Falls Creek in the early 70’s.
All too soon it was back to PM and back to boat work. After sitting behind mining trucks on tortuous winding narrow roads it was quite perverse to end up on the newly opened 4 lane each way motorway as we headed back. A most impressive road like this we did not expect!
