MONTENEGRO
It is said that Montenegro's name derives from Venetian and translates as "Black Mountain". As you can imagine from this name, Montenegro has a lot of mountains to hike.
Contents of this blog :
DAY1:PODGORICA AIRPORT → CETINJE
Podgorica Airport is a small airport. It didn't take much time to go outside the airport after the landing.
We noticed that our backpacks didn't arrive. The airport staff told us that our backpacks were still at the Warsaw airport where we had a layover. We left our local number and address of accommodations for the next several days.
You can easily find a SIM card at the kiosk in the airport. For those who travel from other EU countries, you should be reminded that you can't use other EU countries' SIM without extra charges like you can within EU countries. Although, a local SIM card isn't that expensive in Montenegro. We bought 500GB SIM for 10 euros and the internet speed was super fast!
We took a taxi to Podgorica bus station. Unfortunately, there is no transportation from the airport to the central part of Podgorica. It took us 15-20minutes, cost 10 euros. (We managed to get the discount.)
You can book a ticket online but as a bunch of other blogs say, not necessary. We bought the tickets at the site. For the schedule, check Busticket4me.
As soon as arriving Cetinje, we headed to the accommodation. The host was super friendly and gave us some homemade cakes saying "feel at home." We told him about our lost luggage and his immediate response was "Oh..Shit....." he explained that we shouldn't keep our hopes high as the public authorities are not to be trusted.
716m elevation gain
7hours22min
Restaurants and cafes are on the way.
9 AM: we started the hike. Our plan was to buy food from a supermarket but it turned out that all the supermarkets were closed on Sunday. Luckily, we found a bakery open and bought this huge baguette. I was really surprised how cheap it was, it was only 0.6euros!! We had espresso shots on the way to and were super pumped to crash the hike!!
Until we got to Lovcen National Park, we walked on a road but 360-mountain view didn't bore us at all. *You could take a proper trail to Lovcen National Park. Check Alltrails map.
There are accommodation and restaurants in the national park. We found a casual bar to have a beer break. Montenegrian beers are yum.
Visited the information centre. The guy was very friendly and a big fan of Poland. It seemed like the bond between the two countries is strong.
After walking a while, the view of Kotor suddenly showed up in front of us. It gave us goosebumps.
Descending to the town of Kotor thru the famous switchback called " The Ladder of Kotor". Many cows on the trail blocked our way lol Good reminder to slow down to enjoy the view.
The highlight of the trail. As we were descending to the town, the sun started setting. Without other hikers, we soaked up the magical time.
Arriving Kotor. Had Italian at a restaurant and indulged in Baklava.
DAY3 ：KOTOR→PODGORICA→ZABIJAK
The day to move to the next destination Zabijak. Our bus was scheduled to leave in the afternoon so we had some time to explore the town of Kotor. There is a fortress to enjoy the view of Kotor but we kinda did that a day before and it was from a much higher point. :)
Kotor is registered as UNESCO world heritage. It has a long history begging from the Roman emperor era. It thrived as a port town.
You might see many stray cats in Kotor. Believe it or not, cats are a kinda symbol of Kotor. (They have a cat museum too!) The exact time is unclear but stray cats travelled on a ship with sailors to Kotor from all over the world. It was so cute that there are some cat houses in the old town.
Caught a bus to Zabijak, didn't have to book a ticket in advance.
Arriving in Zabijak.
Zabijak is the highland village which is next to the biggest national park in Montenegro, Durmitor national park. The national park has the highest peak of Montenegro "Bobtov Kuk". Zabijak itself is 1,456 metres above the sea level so it was much colder than Kotor. As you can imagine, the village is surrounded by mountains.
We used airbnb, and the experience was one of the bests in entire my life.
DAY4：BOBTOV KUK（2,523 M）
27.4km
No food or water resources are available.
Hiking trail from Zabijak to Bobtov Kuk.
Usually, people drive to the other side of Bobtov Kuk and start the hike from there. There is a trailhead and it is much shorter in this way.
Our actual trailhead to Bobtov Kuk starts from Black Lake.
No snow in early October.
There are many peaks so it is easy to get confused. Actually, some hikers ahead of us might end up with a different peak, not Bobtov Kuk. I would suggest checking the map frequently.
The summit has a limited area so we couldn't stay long.
The sun goes down to the opposite side meaning it can go dark quite fast. Bringing a headlight could be a good idea.
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