North Montenegro – Durmitor, Tara & Ostrog Tour

It has been raining overnight. An early start at 7 a.m. today (up with the 6 a.m. church bells …). Another tour. 

RECAP: A large percentage of Montenegro (aka Crna Gora) is mountains (80%). It has a population of only 600,000. It separated from Serbia in 2006.

First stop is by the water just after leaving Kotor, near the Baroque town of Perast: two tiny islands in the Bay of Kotor – the artificial Our Lady of the Rocks (Gospa od Škrpjela) and Saint George (Sveti Đorđe) which is natural. Both are topped with a Chapel. 

It is MUCH cooler today - two layers! But after our first stop, the rain disappears.

There are beautiful views out over Risan Bay as we climb away from the coast, passing through several tunnels. The mist is still clearing.

Our next photo stop is at the artificial Salty Lake (Slano Jezero), one of two big lakes that surround the historical city of Nikšić, the second largest city in Montenegro. The lake was created in 1950 in order to serve the needs of the Perućica hydro-power plant.

North then towards the Durmitor NP along a Chinese-built road still under construction in parts. We descend through forest along a hairpin road through Gornjepoljski Vir, a huge karst spring area.

Then to the famous Đurđevića Tara Bridge which crosses the Tara Canyon, the deepest canyon in Europe (up to 1300m). It is 365m long and at 172m was the highest concrete-reinforced bridge in Europe when it was built in 1938-1940. Sadly, it had to be partially destroyed two years after it was built to prevent enemy units entering Montenegro during WWII. The structural engineer Jauković Lazar who was involved in the original construction and the later sabotage, was caught by the Italians and shot. The locals have a monument to his act of heroism.

We passed by a ski resort with many chalets near Žabljak - some quite modern - and we had fabulous views of high peaks still with snow. Žabljak is located at the foot of the Durmitor National Park. At 1456m, the city is the highest urban settlement in southeastern Europe. It is surrounded by 23 mountains peaks over 2200m and 18 mountain lakes.

We did (a very rapid) walk around Black Lake (Crno Jezero).

We were only given an hour and the path was at times very uneven underfoot so we only just made it back in time to the meeting point (4.4 kms); we walked with Barbara from Italy who we met on yesterday’s tour.

We had certainly worked up an appetite by now. Great lunch at Or’O in Žabljak.

And the sun is out! ☀️

Off next to Ostrog Monastery - via Savnik, the mountain pass tunnel at Vojnik and the Nevidio Canyon - more winding road down then up, and a few more downs and ups …

Built into a sheer cliff, 900m above the Zeta valley, the gleaming white Ostrog Monastery is a Serbian Orthodox church and pilgrimage site dedicated to Saint Basil of Ostrog, who was buried here. It was about 5:30 p.m. when we arrived here and the site was relatively free of people and lovely in the early evening light.

It was then 2 hours drive back to Kotor.