Montenegro

Dear friends and family,

Today finds me in Budva, back on the coast. I spent a week in the Bay of Kotor, first in Herceg Novi and then in Kotor. These are both inland protected salt water cities dating back to prehistoric times, due to the good harbors of protected waters.

Montenegro feels really different than the EU countries I have toured so far. One of the biggest differences is that tourists from Russia can visit here and hold property. They are prohibited from travelling to EU countries or the US by the sanctions from the Ukraine war. I turned on the TV in my apartment the other day and found news channels CNN, three from Russia, two from Montenegro, two from Belgium of EU news and Aljezeera as well.

I met K, a Russian woman from St Petersburg, Russia in the grocery store and then she gave me the Herceg Novi tour by foot and by bus. She has a small property here that she has owned for 18 years. Her son lives in Serbia to be free of risk of induction into the Russian army to fight in Ukraine. Once in the army, as long as the war is going on, you are in for the duration. She told me that hundreds of thousands of educated young men have left the country to keep out of the army and that presents Russia with a huge brain drain of educated men. Russia did not stop people from leaving if they chose, whereas Ukraine prohibited these potential soldiers from legally leaving. 

I enjoyed my afternoon with her and my education of things Russian. Thanks K. 

This country has only been independent since 2006 (from being part of Serbia). When I looked in Google translate for Montenegran translations I found nothing. I was told to just use Serbian as it is the same. 

The infrastructure here is emerging which means sometimes the roads are brand new, but more often they are terrible and of course the terrible parts are along the edges where I get to ride. The highway over the mountain from Kotor (inland) out here to Budva (on the sea) was under construction and had at best, one good lane with big drop offs at the edges and I got to share it with all the construction cement trucks and dump trucks servicing the construction. Psychologically very difficult to deal with. 

This country is a very popular tourist destination in the summer, of course hardly any tourists but me here this time of year. The prices of lodging dropped by about half once I crossed the border and restaurant meals as well. There are excellent restaurants here at great prices. Organic, free range, non GMO, etc are all promoted and still cheap by US standards. A good organic three course meal costs about $22 and is usually more than I can finish. Very little tipping, so that is the total cost. 

The riding here is challenging, not only with the road conditions but the mountains. A couple of bike tourers from Turkey working next to my apartment asked what did I expect with a country that has “Monten” as part of its name. They said that once I get to Albania the coast road is mostly flat. We’ll see. 

My bike was getting worn and tired and in Dubrovnik I found a great bike shop and the mechanic/owner Ivan replaced my brake pads, rotated my tires and cleaned and tuned the whole bike. Felt and looked like a new bike till the construction mud, but still rides better. Good thing for the new brake pads for the steep downhills to keep me in control, more or less. 

I did the hike up to the fortress on the hill high above Kotor. I was amazed that with all the tourists that must hike this in summer, the path conditions were scary with broken rock stairs and no protection from falling over the side if you stumble. I gues if they lose a few tourists there are more where they came from. 

There are cats everywhere here. Literally thousands. My research showed that they came here on sailing ships, where they kept the rats and mice at bay and then landed and stayed on land with almost no predators. Order anything with fish and you will find a friend looking hungry at you while you eat. Amazingly, all the ones I saw so far seem healthy and not starving. 

Once again, I am staying inside the “Starigrad” which means old castle in Serbian. It costs more, but is the closest I get to be a king in my castle so am enjoying it. And at a whopping $30 USD per night, affordable.

Most of the restaurants so far in this country have outside seating. Only. I guess the present weather (40-60 degrees F) is the coldest it gets and with the tents and outside gas heaters, makes it comfortable enough. Still, I keep getting surprised when I walk inside and see only the servers counter and the kitchen. 

Last night I had to try the Chinese restaurant named “Kineski”. Once the meal was finished I walked into the servers area and asked where the name came from and explained that that was also my name. The young man insisted that this was the translation of the Chinese name and had nothing to do with Poland (ski typically is a Polish ending). When I had dna checked by 23andme they said I was 95% Polish in heritage, but I guessed they missed the Chinese part. 

The US political situation is being watched closely everywhere I go and I can feel the impact that the US has on the world. No one has asked me about what’s going on which surprises me, I guess they get their own interpretation from the news they watch. Besides, what would I say “We tried democracy for a couple of hundred years and now we are trying oligarchy”? And “I will let you know how it works out”

With that said, I relish the ease of which I can travel to all these different countries. If a tariff war or fighting war starts, I would guess that the ease of which I could travel will be curtailed, so I enjoy what I have.

Sending love,

Charley