Bar Archives - Solotravel

A Train Trip through the Tara River Gorge

By Patricia | 2018-01-06 | Comments 0 Comment

A kind Bato dropped me back to the Bar station first thing, ready to catch the 9am train back to Belgrade through the Tara River Gorge. This time I changed seats in order to get the seat that had the windows down. Crossing my fingers that no one would have it reserved. The train left right on time. I was able to take pictures of the bays that we had gone to on the boat trip. The first stop saw people getting on, and oh dear they wanted the seats, but it turned out they were a russian family with the same idea of taking photos of the trip back. We were lucky that no one else wanted them and we made the most of the seating.

It turned out the son could speak english so we were able to enjoy a conversation of sorts.We all enjoyed the fact that we’d jump up to get photos only to find that there was another tunnel to go through. I really enjoyed their company, the first russians I have been able to relate to and it was a delight. Unfortunately, they got off the train after the canyons, but it was with cheery waves and much smiling we said goodbye. The Tara river canyons are the deepest in Europe, and have a UNESCO world heritage cover on some of the park,in Durmitor National Park.

The canyon was all I thought it would be, the cute small village turned out to be on a cove off of Lake Skadar , a huge fresh water lake that belongs to both Montenegro and some of Albania. A charming cove partially covered by the water lilies that I had seen. The train also tracks across Herzegovina and Bosnia briefly so I can truthfully say I have been there as well. I am fascinated by the people mostly men that stand up straight and watch the trains go by. I gather they are probably rail workers keeping an eye on the trains as they go through. They are usually next to a small house in out of the way places. That has been the case since I have been in these countries. Some even wear a peaked cap.

Instead of having a dining car or coffee trolley they had itinerant sellers that come through the carriages saying they have drinks of various sorts. mostly beer, water ,coke or a cola of some sort. They get on at the stations while the train is stationary and off as it leaves. This trip there was a guy that stayed with the train the whole time dishing out coffee as people asked and delivering to their seat on a small tray!

Bar, Montenegro

By Patricia | 2018-01-04 | Comments 0 Comment

Finally having had a decent nights’ sleep, I was up and eager to go look at the new destination of Bar in Montenegro! First there was the trip to the money machine to get the hotel paid. After achieving this Bator, the most accommodating owner offered to drive me to the old city where the Franciscan Monastery was found with the churches of St George and St Nicholas Dropping me off at the bus stop so I would know where to make the return journey from.
From the bustop you looked up and already had a wonderful view of the ruins.
I started to make my way up the totally impractical cobbled road as it was relatively steep I didn’t rush and just took time to admire the little shops, obviously souvenirs, one of Honey,wine and Olive Oil, and the many charming cafes, restaurants all with chairs and tables set out under umbrellas and shades, a must in the hot summer weather.

Reaching the main gate of the monastery it was a slow wander as the cobblestoned roads and paths were easy to trip on. As I wandered from one ruined room or building to another there was always the beautiful view to be captured on the camera. Interesting angles to be captured. You could see the olive tree plantations and indeed one of the olive trees was reputed to be around 2000 years old. There was an oil factory in the area for processing the olives but I gather it was slowly going out of production.

Reaching one of the high points, time to stop and admire the view and lean on someone to take my picture for me with the wonderfully blue Adriatic sea in the background.

The pictures across the city show all the terracotta coloured roof tiles, so uniform I wondered if that’s all you were allowed by the local bodies or whether its because they last the best. Which ever it is, it is a lovely picture. The monastery originally built in around the 15 century had sustained damage at various times but an earthquake in 1979 proved to be the killer and destroyed much of it. Efforts have been made to restore some of it but the financial backing is not there to support much more. What has been done is lovely and the potential of the place is very great, just a pity they cannot afford to keep going.
After spending at least two hours wandering I started back down to the bus stop. Taking a break at a small cafe for a cold drink and a piece of calorie rich baklava. I made the bus in good time , the fare being 2 Euro back to Bar.
We soon got to Bar, the only problem I had no idea which way back to the hotel. I had been shown a bus stop but it wasn’t the one I had got off at.
So as usual it was try to ask the locals, and eventually some one was able to point me in the right direction a walk of ovee 2kms in the stifling heat.
Fortunately I am easily distracted, and after buying some fruit to eat on the way, I set off in the general direction. Passing through a lovely tree covered park I came to Nikolas palace. A distinguished looking building but I had no urge

to go through it, I have nearly exhausted the palaces and castles mojo! The path past the palace took me on to the beach promenade where I walked in as many shaded places possible
It was intriguing seeing people laying on the pebbles of the shore, more like rounded stones than tiny pebbles. The water looked good, but standing on wet stones give way under your feet and its a strange feeling , nothing to grip on with your feet.

Eventually making it back to the hotel by mid afternoon for a bit of R and R in the air conditioning.
Later in the cooler evening hours I walked back to the town for a meal.

Adriatic Coast Cruise

By Patricia | 2017-11-09 | Comments 0 Comment

Lonely island Small church — Lonely island, Small church

Bato had mentioned in passing a boat that went up the Adriatic coast for the day, so I decided to do it. I am not keen on boats, particularly seagoing small ones. The young couple decided to go on the trip as well. It was good value I thought €10 for the day trip, stopping off at different places to pick up and drop off people as well as stopping in a couple of places for an hour, the main stop for three hours, Budva.

The day was the usual sunny warm day with a good breeze off the sea, lots of white horses, we managed to find the boat. Bato had to go as he couldn’t park the car. Pointed us in the general direction and a few minutes later it was found. Due to leave at 8.30 it left at nearly 8.45 but hey it’s Montenegro! There weren’t that many people getting on at the main jetty, but we soon discovered why, the boat started picking up folks from the next bay by running the boat up on the pebbles and a ladder that hung on an angle. Interesting to watch and listen to it scrape the bottom of the boat. We continued on out and around the rocks and cliffs of the various bays picking up people .

The boat was rocking quite violently and scaring me, the spray coming back into the cabin made people laugh, some actually got quite wet! The captain obviously very capable as you could see him trying to minimise the boat movement. There was a lad of about ten that couldn’t handle the movement and he was seasick several times over the whole trip. He would come right at the stops, but back on the boat the illness overtook him.
The crew put the bumpers alongside the boat to protect it from the jetty where it remained tied up for an hour while we all wandered around the small resort. Toilet and coffee stops no doubt and for me a wifi fix with an espresso coffee to keep up the caffeine levels .

The cliffs and the deep blue of the sea were magnificent, The rock stratas changing from one bay to the next. There were many building works going on , one had literally had the cliff removed behind it and was already about five stories high. Given the number of people at the towns and small bays there is a real need for increasing the number of beds. A small church sitting at the very top of a rock in a bay had you asking why? The road you could see on the mountain sides behind all the towns , connecting Bar with Dubrovnik and towns further along the coast.
Wish I’d been aware of the connections, as Zagreb right the way through to Bar and the train on to Belgrade would have been magnificent. Whether there was a bus service, another matter.
The last stop for the day was the town of Budva. An adults playground if ever there was! From the boats of the rich and famous to pedal boats for fun! The first stop for me was the old town, Altstadt Budva, had me walking through the small cobbled streets , look outs, churches. Many of the streets had small boutique style shops using the space available. They were very cute, as well as the usual cafe’s and restaurants the place reeked of charm!!
The beach front covered with people in various stages of undress, there really are people that should not wear bikinis! Just back from the bodies were loads of bars, all with plenty of shade, tables and chairs, back again and along both sides of the road, more like a pedestrian mall really as no one bothered where they walked were the souvenir shops, ice cream sellers.
You even had to pay for a cone before you.got the ice cream. There were considerable choices in the ice cream flavours, then it was the question do you want one ball or two!! There were massage professionals plying their trade mostly along the beach front.
The sheer numbers of people on the beach, including many children, it was probably school holidays amazing!
The three hours flew by punctuated with stops for a cold coke every so often. Come 3 pm and the boat was on its way again for the return trip along the Adriatic coast to Bar.
The hour stop on the return was at a small bay complete with restaurant and …. squat toilets for which one had to pay the princely sum of .50 euro. Total rip off. They should be banned particularly in an almost modern country. The music these countries seem to , play is dated from the Bee Gees first appearance! I don’t mind a bit , its almost like a time warp! But decent toilets have been around for a long time there is no excuse.
Getting off the boat here was from the bow, and down a ladder and into the water and pebbles. The stones weren’t as big as some on other of the beaches, but you still sank in them. I had taken my sandals off to avoid them getting wet. So left them off for the walk up to the restaurant and toilets. The sand was extremely hot , so I walked quickly between umbrellas for the shade and some cool sand!
Polishing off a chicken fillet burger saw dinner taken care of, and indeed, was very tasty. Time for a paddle in the water before climbing aboard again for the trip home. A pleasant walk home with the young couple from the hotel, as we could walk to the beach easily from the hotel. We all agreed that it was a serendipitous trip, thoroughly enjoying the day!

Belgrade to Bar, an Amazing Train Journey

By Patricia | 2017-01-04 | Comments 0 Comment

I slipped out of the Belgrade hostel early, actually glad to leave that one, I’d picked up fleas! The room didn’t have an outside window, made it quieter, but the downside was it had a window inside onto the next room, shadowed glass of course, for privacy, but they had forgotten that lights from that room effectively lit up my room. So had just fallen asleep last night only to have the very bright light shine through, along with the noise of fellow hostel guys. This meant I didn’t get to sleep until nearly two. The reason I have private room mostly is for that reason, I don’t disturb and no one disturbs me.

As well as not being as clean as I liked and I can’t say I am particularly fussy in that area, what really annoyed me was website had said the kitchen was fully equipped, and had lots of good reviews about the place. In my book one small hot plate does not represent a well equipped kitchen, lack of a microwave not even a toaster that I saw, perhaps one in a cupboard????.
One bathroom and toilet in the same room for the needs of probably twenty people when full , fell short of representing a good hostel. Did have an air conditioner but the first night I froze, the second I had turned it up and with the addition of some of my clothes made it warmer to sleep as there were no blankets ,just the empty duvet cover. The 5 minute walk to the station was more like 15 minutes when towing a heavy bag.

I made the station with plenty of time to spare, the bags were particularly heavy as I had stocked up with food for trip, I wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice learning from my Budapest to Belgrade trip! Just as well I did as it was an 11 hour ride. People all started boarding as soon as the train had slowly backed into the station and stopped. We were all obviously allocated seat numbers so that made it a lot clearer. These trains are just not designed for travellers like myself as there are invariably no places to store big suitcases for a trip which means they have to be parked in the least disturbing place, not easy actually.How ever settled in my seat next to the window ,facing the direction of travel I was ready to take on the day. The lady in the international ticket office did very well I thought.

We left right on time and the train trundled out at a slow pace, through the city and picked up its speed once leaving the boundaries. At first it was the standard Serbian scenery that I have become used to seeing the crops, the sunflowers and the inevitable flat land enterprises. The train was packed apart from the seat next to me and the lady opposite. Every time the train stopped I crossed fingers that no one would take it. Eventually my luck ran out, and I had to stow the back pack under my feet as it wouldn’t fit anywhere else, I could see the lady opposite me wasn’t impressed at all. The seats in this train were in clusters of four, two sets of seats facing each other and no where to comfortably put your feet without kicking someone else’s. How ever we got by, I spent most of the time on the ipad or just gazing out the window. The toilet was a disgusting mess, that made a person cringe just thinking about it, let alone using it!

The smokers went into the vestibule between carriages which meant the smoke was blown back into the seating compartment. There are so many smokers in these countries , they will inevitably have many health problems in the future. The pity is they include a lot of young people as well as the old. I have no doubt that in the years to come they will fall into line with western countries and ban smoking from trains and restaurants in particular!!! The border police for Serbia came and went after a long stop, then the police from Montenegro came aboard to do their passport checks ,another stop. It was nice being welcomed to the country instead of being taken off of the train for a visa infringement.

It was from this point on, while I was reading a book on the ipad, that the terrain started to get interesting. The tunnels had started quite early in the trip, so nothing new there, but the hills started to grow into mountains, very big mountains they were too. The rivers so pretty as the water dropped over the stones in the river beds. The tree covered mountains started to lose some of their trees and turn to bare tops and rocky outcrops. Soon the train seemed to be just snaking around the rails with massive drops on one side. Tantalisingly, you would see maybe a minute of stunning mountains , then racing back through a tunnel. There are well over two hundred tunnels on this line, bridges are many. One of the highest viaducts in Europe is on this line, I was told this was the deepest canyon in europe, I can believe that, it was massive.

I think this trip by train is one of the better ones in terms of scenery, I have seen a few. After going through the many tunnels and around the mountains, it seemed to me that all of a sudden we were down on the flats again. Water lilies galore , I thought they were on various wetland ponds and lakes. The train passed by the cutest village set in a small bay of sorts, with their boats all lined up, the sort of sight I have seen in Scotland and England. Soon we are passing the sea, before long coming into Bar, a trip of over 11 hours. I was thrilled to have the hotel owner pick me up from the station, there is no way I could have made it on my own. Probably been ripped off by yet another taxi driver.
Thankfully the hotel/hostel turned out to be a good one, and the owners made me and the other guests they picked up from the station feel very welcome. And a decent nights sleep to boot, bliss!