We are up early for taxi to bus station which was changed earlier in the trip via phone call from GetByBus when walking through Bascarsija, Sarajevo's old bazaar - because they had noticed their email to me to advise me of this had bounced - good service! Changed bus station is 8 kms out of the centre of Tirana and there were police at multiple points enroute so not sure what is on today.
Hard to believe this is the reverse journey that we made 2 weeks ago on the day I suffered the # arm.
Fortunately little traffic at this hour so we arrived early without any hiccups. Bus also early as were some other passengers so we were fortunate to get seats up the front.
Police presence trailed us all the way out via the airport. Traffic by now was incredible, particularly coming the other way
Eventually the bus could speed up a little - but it still looks like a slowish trip to the border.
Bus driver lowers his window and lights up a cigarette … they are so addicted everywhere in the Balkans. At least his taste in music is good (sometimes) - Carmen is playing.
We come into near Shkodër (our 1st stop after Tirana on our Intrepid tour); we recognise Edith Durham Street which we walked along 2 weeks ago to lunch … We move into a different part of Shkodër that we never saw on the Intrepid tour. How did we miss this??
And like we noticed back 2 weeks ago, there are bikes everywhere. It is real heart-in-your-mouth stuff as bus and other vehicular traffic negotiates their way through. Mad. Fascinating.
INTERESTING! Mary Edith Durham was a British artist, anthropologist and writer who is best known for her anthropological accounts of life in Albania in the early 20th century. Her advocacy on behalf of the Albanian cause gained her the devotion of many Albanians who consider her a national heroine.
We pass one of the many fairytale wedding venues which are popular in Albania. BIG weddings. BIG show. BIG deal. No doubt BIG expense!
So off to Hani Hotit on the edge of Shkodër Lake for the border crossing and bye to the Kastrati service stations (and nearly always a lavazh/car wash) that line the roads here.
The lake is huge: the largest in southern Europe. The road climbs and winds as we skirt the perimeter. We pass a sign to Bar … now 20 mins to Podgorica.
So since our visit here 2 weeks ago, the garderoba (left-luggage) at the bus station has gone up in price from 2€/bag/day to 1€/bag/hour. Que?
So initially we declined.
We walked the 100 m to the railway station and no garderoba there. But we did get a free loo. Now, can you believe: the capital city of Montenegro, main railway station, and the loos are squat toilets.
So with bladders relieved, we worked out a strategy. Criteria: 1. Coffee 2. Our night train to Belgrade doesn’t leave until 8:40 p.m. and it is now 12:30. 3. We want to see something of Podgorica despite the fact that most internet sites ‘bag’ the place.
The other issue is that the rail tickets we bought in Belgrade at the start of this trip for tonight’s train have lost most of the ink and are now pretty much illegible. Hence another reason to be at the railway station.
The girl at the counter speaks excellent English AND can read the ticket (x-ray vision eyesight). She writes down on a scrap of paper our carriage and seats.
Ok. So next plan. I HAD considered that we take the earlier local train as the night train leaves AFTER sunset so we won’t in fact see much/anything. This has been dilemma all trip for me as this is meant to be one of the great train journeys of the world; the daytime train no longer runs so that was not an option.
The Man in Seat61 says the journey over the celebrated Bar to Belgrade railway is one of Europe's most spectacular train rides. It's 476 kms long and is a marvel of engineering, with 254 tunnels and 435 bridges between the Adriatic and the Serbian capital.
Construction of the line started in the 1950s but was only completed in 1976, opened by President Tito himself.
Now, given that our local train trip from Podgorica to Bar two weeks ago was also meant to be scenic but the windows were disgusting, I’m not holding my breath.
Anyway, the girl at the station confirms we can do the earlier local train to Kolašin as I planned and then pick up our night train as it comes through later. Hmmmm.
Yes we have to buy the local ticket but I had thought that would probably be the case and at 3.20€ each it is hardly a deal-breaker.
So we agree on a compromise. Pay the bloody new fee at the garderoba and go look around Podgorica (after a coffee first) then get the bags after a couple of hours (as a compromise) and have a late lunch close to the station so we don’t have to trail the bags along too far.
So, on dropping off the bags, we notice an appealing-looking restaurant right near the station, lock that in, pass a very nice cafe shortly after and have good coffee and a delicious piece of mud cake shared, then aim for the Old Town and the Old Ribnica River Bridge.
Now as I said, Podgorica is generally said to be an unappealing destination.
However, given it’s undergone 5 name changes, passed through the hands of everyone from the Romans to the Turks to the Austro-Hungarians, and twice been wiped off the map entirely, it still has some appeal: its streets are a hotchpotch of Ottoman oddments, Austrian shopfronts, brutalist blocks and shiny new malls.
We pass by the Clock Tower and have a lovely stroll through the Old Town (Stara Varoš) - an Ottoman-era neighbourhood - and along to the lovely Njegošev Park past the old bridge over the Ribnica River. Very picturesque but also a magnet for the Instagrammers - argh!!
We walk back as planned to get our bags and lug them to the restaurant we had noted earlier: the loveliest vegetable risotto for me and a 2018 red Croatian wine. No complaints from me and none from MF who has been walking around all morning like something the cat has dragged in. The Reluctant Traveller seems perfectly happy now …
And EXCELLENT toilets; and the 2 hours over lunch have flown by.
The plan was to go to the station at 4:30 p.m. to get our tickets for the earlier 5 p.m. train as far as Kolašin. We need to go as far as Kolašin as the overnight train doesn’t stop anywhere between Podgorica and Kolašin.
So let’s see what happens now …
Purchased our tickets - the woman at the counter this time doesn’t speak English at all … Train duly arrived - completely different from the previous one to Bar 2 weeks ago: beautifully clean windows and comfortable seats - 6-seater compartments so we had to squeeze our luggage into one of the seats one bag on top of the other and tie them down with an ocky strap so they wouldn’t fall off.
There are 2 local girls in the compartment too and they are very kind: squashing up to allow us and our luggage to fit in.
The scenery certainly was amazing - tunnels, mountains, cuttings, steep gorges, aquamarine river below, viaducts, mist, sun on the peaks, beautiful forests.
The Mala Rijeka Viaduct located about 25 km north of Podgorica, was once the highest railway bridge in the world (surpassed by one in China in 2001). It is located above a deep cut some 198 m high.
Kolašin is a ski centre. We are high - 1016 m. It is quite cold; the puffer jacket finally gets an outing.
Lots of athletic types. I would think good hiking here. I saw 2 people with arms in slings so I am simpatico. We stop at Sherpas. Pretty upmarket. Great music. Good food but I can’t eat it all: too rich, too much. Would like to re-visit one day.
We went for a walk through the town as darkness fell: lots of apartments and chalets and lots more being built.
Back uphill to the station. We had used Google Translate earlier to ask the woman at the station if we could leave our luggage in the office which she kindly consented to (Леви кофер? Хвала вам = left luggage? Thank you).
It was good to see the station attendant was still there when we arrived back to connect up with the train at 10 p.m. She was inside with the door closed and the room full of cigarette smoke; I don’t know how she could breathe!
We are a bit early AND the train is a bit late. It’s certainly cold. We share the platform in the semi darkness with a couple of hikers who came striding in just after we arrived.
Train appears out of the darkness and we clamber on board with some nice assistance from the conductor.
Our couchette is very cute - probably one of the best fitted-out overnight trains I’ve ever been on. Toilet down the end of the corridor … in the middle of the night I always have the horrors as I return and all the couchette doors are closed and I try to remember which is ours … (!).
We settle in and quickly fall asleep (well, MF certainly does - I can hear him snoring in the bunk above).
Fortunately passport control is smooth. No issue with the Kosovo exit stamp, although woken about 1 a.m. for this (just as I had fallen asleep - argh!). Slept reasonably OK to the rhythm of the train chug-chugging through the night taking us out of Montenegro and into Serbia.
Walked 10 kms.
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