Peacful Cetinje and Montenegrin/Albanian Ulcinj 07-08.08.2009

…or how we finally get some rest and plan the further journey.

We spend in Boreti one more day. This time we’re hitchhiking to the first real Montenegrin city. The old capital of the country. Cetinje. And that’s where we find the hidden charm of Montenegro. Peace, silence, signs of history, almost no tourists, normal, not overrated prices… Yes, that’s what we needed. The old embassies in neglected, abandoned houses, churches (also Orthodox ones), calm cafes.
We’re enjoying the local food, because it’s finally here (I don’t know why, but on the coast the country denies to serve anything but omnipresent pizzas, kebabas, pasta, etc.). And when we’re coming back, we meet the same driver, who took us to Cetinje. This time he’s with his friend. But on the way (the road is narrow, leads through the mountains and there’s a lot of phone numbers to emergency road services written on the rocks) we stuck in a huge traffic jam. The driver calls police and finds out that we’ll have to stay in the jam for more than 30 minutes, because there was an accident, so he turns back and goes to the town to spend the time in a café. And we’re going with him. His friend (only she speaks English, the driver speaks only Serbian and Italian and is not eager to talk although I do understand most of what he says) tells us that there’s plenty of accidents of the road, because Montenegrins usually disrespect the traffic regulations. She also says that Montenegrins don’t like to work and compares them to the lazy Spaniards. One we get to a café, the driver offers us coffee and beers all the time, he drinks 4 alcohol drinks, gives money to his friends’ kids, everyone calls him the “King of Budva”, because he’s a parking chef in Budva, comes from Cetinje and everyone knows him here. And finally after 1,5 hour we get back to the car. And we reach Boreti safely.



Thus the day passes quite lazily and pleasantly. In the evening we meet two crazy hitchhikers – Milena and Adam. They’ve been on the way through Europe since 3 weeks now and also plan to go to Albania. Soon we all go to the beach, which is the most beautiful in this time of the day. Because it’s empty and mysterious, although the water is quite cold. But we do swim anyway.
And the next day we leave our camping and 3 cars give us a lift to Ulcinj. It’s supposed to be as an Albanian town. That’s what our last driver said – a student from Kotor, who works as a supplier, drives around the country almost every day and often takes hitchhikers with him. Most of them are from Poland and from the Eastern Europe. He’s surprised that we don’t need visas to get to Montenegro. Here everyone needs one to an almost every country. The exception is Greece, Turkey and the countries that once built Yugoslavia. But from January these restrictions should be over.
But for now I’m disappointed again. Contrary to all the promises there are many tourists in Ulcinj, it’s also dirty and not really interesting. Although we still haven’t visited the old town. On the way to a camping, which was supposed to be 6 km away, we and a French couple are offered a room for a price of a camping. Which is 5 euro. That’s how we stay on a peaceful outskirts of Ulcinj, in a village, far away from tourists.
And now we’re planning our journey to Albania, because we still don’t know much about this country. Oh, and almost everyone who we meet goes to Albania, especially hitchhikers. The Poles are almost storming this country. Usually - the young ones.
And now I want to say hallo to our travel companions – Dorota, Ania, Mariusz and Marcin, who got lost somewhere on the way And to Milena and Adama, who are probably in Albania now And for Alicja and Piotr, who help hitchhikers a lot and treat them with things they haven’t seen for a long time