Montenegro

Overnight stops (in date order): Morinj (x4), Podgorica (x5)

We spent our first few nights in Montenegro at Morinj, on the Bay of Kotor;

 camped close to a river with a cooling breeze.

The ancient, fortified town of Kotor –

with its many Venetian buildings –

was 20km down the coast; past the Monastery of St George – which is set on an island in the Bay.

We continued down the coast, past Sveti Stefan Island,

before heading inland to camp at a hostel just outside Podgorica, the capital of Montenegro.

Podgorica is not the most inspiring city – most of its historic buildings were destroyed during the second world war.

But it provided a good base from which to visit parts of this pocket-sized country (population <800,000).

We took a boat trip on Lake Skadar;

famous for its bird life.

We stopped off at the Ostrog Monastery, which is built into a sheer cliff face,

en-route to Žabljak,

in the mountainous north-west of the country.

There was an amazing view from the Ćurevac Viewpoint, in the Durmitor massif,

over the Tara Canyon – billed as the second deepest in the world.

The modest palace in Cetinje, the old Royal capital of the country, was the home of Nikola, the last king of Montenegro, who was exiled during the first world war.

We took the old road

to Old Bar – the ruins of a fortified medieval town on the Adriatic coast.

After a final day on the beach,

we crossed the border into Albania.