DURMITOR NATIONAL PARK - MONTENEGRO

This country presents you with many goods and we had a lot of them: swimming in the ocean, hiking in the mountains, relaxing at the lakes, dressing in short sleeve t-shirts one day, and warm sweaters the next in another region, wearing sandals and boots, bathing in the sun and getting wet in the rain, enjoying mild warm breezes, and  brazing ourselves in strong icy winds.

The Durmitor park is a natural wonder of beautiful landscapes and views. It is utterly rich in fauna and flora, with thousands of different species. One could spend a whole vacation only there and not get bored at all. One day we decided to explore a small part of it and drive higher into the mountains. We started in Zabliak, a little town with funny houses in many colors, strewn over a large area. 

We soon felt the chill of the altitude and the scenery changed and got very secluded and lonely. 

Pretty thistles appeared along the road in the otherwise plain meadows. 

Sheep were grazing in the pasture with a friendly shepherd herding them and smiling at us when we stopped to photograph. He knew no other language than his own, which is completely strange to us, but we managed a conversation using hand gestures and facial expressions - it worked perfectly.

The higher we drove, the more ragged and bare the mountains got, displaying no trees but only low bushes and shrubs. And it started to get really cold and windy. 

Our aim was to reach lake Valovito. We found it, but it was almost dry now before winter, nevertheless the view was taking our breath away.

And there in the middle of nowhere stood this small solitary hut, a tiny mountain restaurant with an energetic owner, who spoke to us in high speed servo-croatic, but we "understood" his whole speech :-) and told him we don't want soup, but coffee. He made us the best and hottest coffee ever, which we had outside on his terrace near the wood logs for heating the stove, warming our hands on the cups.

Then the clouds broke and rain started heavily pouring down and we slowly headed back to our hotel.

Much more is to experience in Montenegro. There are the monasteries, Dobridovina and the lovely Moradca, and Ostrog being the most spectacular, suddenly appearing after a scary drive on a very narrow road through a wonderful landscape high up the mountain, glued to the rock, clinging to the cliff.

But I will finish the trip with this post, it was a long journey. If you are still hungry for more just visit once this precious place on earth, or enjoy all of my husbands photos at:
www.picasaweb.google.com/uri.eshkar

Photographs by Uri Eshkar.