Montenegro > The Montenegrin mountains

It thundered heavily during the night. The rainwater pounded down in large amounts on the canopy next to our room. In the morning, as we walk to breakfast, the weather has cleared. The sun cautiously breaks through. Three cars are parked in the alley next to the hotel. Our Land Rover is the second in line. Once we have the car ready, the hotel owner moves the car of Austrian guests out of the way. We drive out of Sarajevo again. On the opposite side of the Miljacka River, we climb into the hills. Through backstreets, the navigation leads us into the mountains. Some streets rise steeply; I estimate the gradient on some stretches well over twenty percent. You just have to get a running start and hope no cars are coming the other way. The Trebevic mountains hosted the 1984 Winter Olympics. The Olympic facilities are now severely dilapidated. Especially the remnants of the bobsled track, covered in graffiti, symbolize this. It’s surreal to walk through the concrete trough where snipers were still positioned during the war. From the hill, we also have a magnificent view over Sarajevo.

Montenegro - The abandoned bobsleigh track from the 1984 Winter Olympics

From here, it’s easy to see how large the city is. We enter Montenegro as our next destination into the navigation. The distance to Niksic is less than two hundred kilometers, but the navigation predicts that through the mountains it will take well over four and a half hours. We’ll see. The first stretch to Foca drives smoothly—village after village. Sometimes it’s hard to guess the exact speed limit. From Foca onward, the road becomes noticeably worse. The road to the border winds through the mountains. In several places, the road is unpaved or under repair. Without warning, we suddenly find ourselves at a barrier: the border of Bosnia and Herzegovina. A narrow bridge takes us to the Montenegrin control post. The entire border crossing takes less than forty minutes. That’s just as well, because it’s still quite a drive to Biogradska Gora National Park, where we’ll stay tonight. We pass a dam and follow the lake. Numerous tunnels lie ahead—sometimes short, sometimes long, sometimes several right after each other. None of the tunnels are lit. Originally, we planned to reach Biogradska via the Tara Gorge on Montenegro’s northern side, but the mountain road through Kolašin is over an hour faster. We take this route. At Šavnik, we leave the main road and drive up the narrow mountain path. The road spirals immediately upwards. Without too much difficulty, we reach the main road again forty kilometers later. Montenegro is a beautiful country, but the steep mountains make building good infrastructure challenging. Even the main E65 road to Kolašin winds through the mountains. Trucks crawl up the slopes. In one village, police are using a laser gun. We were driving too fast. We pull over. The officer politely asks us to drive a bit slower, and then we are allowed to continue. Luckily, no fine. Shortly after, we turn off toward Biogradska Gora National Park. We buy two entrance tickets and drive on to the lake. Camping is allowed around the lake. At the reception, we pay three euros for the overnight stay.

Montenegro - The lake in Biogradska National Park

We look for a flat spot in the rocky area. Although the car isn’t completely level, we still unfold the tent. By the tent, we have a drink. Before starting dinner, we walk around Biogradska Lake. We also walked here four years ago. It’s nice to be back. The walk around the lake is 3.5 kilometers long. The sun slowly sets behind the mountains, and it immediately becomes cooler. At the tent, we prepare macaroni. With a glass of wine, we enjoy our meal in the forest. Around us, a few other campers are present—all tourists: a German family, a Belgian and British couple, and at the bottom of the site, an Italian camper. As darkness falls, everyone gradually retreats to their tents or campers. We do the same. At half past nine, we climb into the roof tent.