Sutomore, Montenegro
42°08'20" N, 19°02'28" E
Check out the trains and some incredible video editing:
With a few weeks left before returning to the Schengen we looked at our options. We could have flown to Istanbul, but Kotor is really far away from a reasonable airport. Albania could have been an option if an entire day on a bus sounded fun. A bus to Sutomore, only a few hours down the coast, sounded like a grand adventure. For the record, bus trips through Montenegro should be on your list of do this once in your life. The buses are hand-me-downs from possibly Germany, the drivers don’t wear seatbelts, and the bus will leave when the driver is done with a smoke break and that might be BEFORE the scheduled time. We hoped to take the ferry from Bar, Montenegro (just down the road from Sutomore) to Bari, Italy and as it turns out one of things Covid erased was this ferry. What is one to do? Enjoy the apocalyptically-empty beach town on the Adriatic for a few weeks before a ridiculous flight adventure back to Sicily. That is exactly what we did! We arrived in Sutomore and wondered if it was an actual ghost town. Thankfully our host picked us up at the bus stop and gave us a ride to the mostly empty Stalinist architecture apartment building with a view of the Adriatic Sea.
We spent many hours watching the Belgrade to Bar Railway cars as they passed on the mountain side several times every day. According to the train expert The Man in Seat 61 the Bar to Belgrade line “is a marvel of engineering, with 254 tunnels and 435 bridges on the 296-mile journey from the Serbian capital to the Adriatic.” We watched carefully and noted that the trains did run every single day and almost exactly on time. Just on the other side of a sizable mountain is the largest lake in Europe: Skadar Lake. On a sunny day wedged between the days filled with the fierce and sustained gusts of katabatic Bora winds we ventured to the train with the goal of checking out Skadar Lake. Accessibility is a hallmark of sustained funding and infrastructure, of which Montenegro has neither. As we waited for the train an elderly woman with two crutches approached us and began pleading in what we deduced to be Bosnian. Frantically, Krystal began typing words into Google translate (which has limited support for Bosnian) and pieced together “men are no good” and “broken feet.” Ah, she needed help getting ON to the train! Mind you, getting “on” the train in Montenegro requires one to adventure across the railroad tracks, up on cement blocks, and the actual train access is similar to climbing a giant metal ladder that is only stationary for two minutes. After a mad dash across the tracks (you never know which track the train will pull up on) we hoisted our new friend up on the train. Mary pulled her arms and Krystal pushed her butt. We got her all the way to a seat and counted our lucky stars that we all made it in one piece.
Skadar Lake is stunning and we recommend adding it to a Balkan adventure should you ever find yourself in this part of the world. It is a haven for migratory birds and you can venture around on a boat, bike, or hike with epic views everywhere you turn. The train is also an absolute must. In fact, fly to Belgrade and take the train to Montenegro destinations.
In August of 2022 Montenegro experienced a vote of no confidence in their Prime Minister. Much like the United States, the country is equally divided between two ideologies. During our time in the country elections were in process for a new Prime Minister and our proximity to Podgorica, the capital, highlighted the intensity. The country was plastered in political ads. There also seemed to be an air of apocalypse. We have noticed that some places revived during Covid and some died. April in Sutomore was dead and each day brought more and more life as summer inched closer.
After a few more bouts of Bora winds we venture to Podgorica on the train. The ride is about an hour from Sutomore and we were excited to spend a little time in the city. Podgorica was fascinating! Spared no lack of bombing in WWII, most of the architecture was constructed after liberation and represents Socialist Yugoslavia. Upon rounding a corner on our way to the river we noted a UN flag flying adjacent to a Russian flag. A little investigation revealed the UN headquarters in Montenegro and their neighbors, Srpska kuća, a Serbian news and radio outlet. A true representation of the two factions in Montenegro.
We ventured about and enjoyed good food and drinks. To round out our adventure Mary eagerly awaited a coffee from her favorite, a vending machine. She pushed the buttons and we waited in anticipation for the vending magic. Lots of gurgles and whirls and then we saw the coffee dispense directly into the waste tray! The machine was out of cups. So sad! A train arrived going in the direction we anticipated was towards home and we boarded. We noticed another train pull up and checked the schedule. North and south bound trains were scheduled to leave within minutes of each other. We had to be on the right one. Then we watched as the other train left the station in the direction of Sutomore! We missed our train, but realized our mistake fast enough to get off of the wrong train before it departed.
Thankfully we only had to wait an hour. When we boarded the next south-bound train it became clear why we had to miss the last one. The train we did catch consisted of Montenegrin compartment cars and they were epic! The seats were like armchairs and we had a whole compartment to ourselves for most of the ride. We opened the window and watched as we passed the Lesendro fortress of 1843 and Skadar Lake.
On our train adventures we met many folks and the most interesting was Jürgen, a surveyor on holiday from Berlin. Jürgen’s main mission is to climb mountains and Sutomore is the perfect place to be if that is one’s mission. We saw him a few times and on our last day, which also happened to be the Serbian Orthodox Easter, we climbed to Crkva Sveta Petka Trnova, a small orthodox church on the top of a hill. He shared with us stories of his time in Ethiopia and Yemen helping survey archeological sites. Later on as it started to rain just a little we met up for a beer, a Nikšičko to be exact and this is a beer we hope to find out in the world someday because it was amazing! Mary ordered a shot of rakia, or fruit brandy, and the owners loved us so much they brought a free round of their home-brewed rakia. Much like the home-brewed limoncello, this stuff is made to help you forget the world around you. We bid good night to our new friend committing to sending postcards to each other from different corners of the world.
The next day we woke before the sun and took a taxi to Podgorica, a flight to Zagreb, a delayed flight to Rome, another flight to Palermo, a train to the city, and walked 40 minutes to get back to our home in the Ballarò.