During our vacation trip to Montenegro, we obviously enjoyed a lot of seafood in Montenegro and local fermented grape juice of course. Especially, we were excited about buying fresh seafood on the shore from fishermen and preparing our (not anymore their) catch at home.
In my opinion, there are more tasty oysters in neighbouring Croatia, however, the taste of mussels from the Bay of Kotor outperforms many regions offering similar production. In local warehouses, it was possible to buy different kinds of seafood (and the price was excellent indeed). It was a real celebration of summer every evening in Montenegro all week long.
Seafood in Montenegro is a usual thing for locals. Humans have used seafood in their cuisine for thousands of years. For example, mussels can be smoked, boiled, steamed, roasted, barbecued or fried in butter or vegetable oil. As with almost all shellfish, mussels should be checked to ensure they are still alive just before they are cooked.
We have had mussels for a meal in many countries and definitely those we had in Montenegro, along with Scottish mussels, have been one of the best experiences. We did not particularly buy any fish, which I believe should also be excellent in Montenegro. The main reason for that was a huge variety of shellfish – mussels, clams, scallops and many more.
Quick and easy seafood preparation recipe – scallops
Scallops are high in protein, low in calories and contain a whole lot of good things for our body like Omega-3, minerals and vitamins. I am wondering why there really are not that many things around, which are that much beneficial for our health as well as really tasty.
So, what you should do if you have been lucky enough to buy some big fresh scallops (this recipe may not be suitable if you get frozen scallops from a supermarket).
The first thing – bring home and wash if there is some sand or dirt on the shells
Open shells and leave scallops in one half of the shell (kids may like to play with them later on).
Chop garlic, put over scallop, add pepper and salt.
Put on a frying pan (see a picture here) and cook until it gets ready (it should not take long – just a few minutes).
Enjoy your results and read about our experience of visiting Durmitor National Park in Montenegro.
After visiting Durmitor National Park, Tara River Bridge and some challenging off-road driving we arrived at our final destination in Montenegro – Adriatic coast.
Bay of Kotor
Town Kotor is located along one of the most beautiful bays of Montenegro. The old town of Kotor was built during the Middle Ages, between the 12th and 14th centuries and listed as a UNESCO World Natural and Historical Heritage Site since 1979 (to be more precise, UNESCO lists the whole complex – Bay of Kotor, City of Kotor and surrounding territory).
Bay of Kotor
In the Middle Ages Kotor was a natural harbour on the Adriatic coast but this place was inhabited already about two thousand years ago. Our accommodation was located in Dobrota village, about 3.5 kilometres from Kotor however in reality it is sometimes even not possible to determine when one town ends on the coast and another one begins. Dobrota looks straight onto Mt. Vrmas and the seaside promenade of the town runs for several kilometres along the shore.
Numerous little stone jetties are splendid more than anywhere else. We booked our accommodation in Dobrota in advance, it was located in a large private house. The main advantage of the accommodation was that it was in a quiet area with a large terrace and shady garden, about 20 metres from the coast.
Adriatic coast
The rest of our time in Montenegro we spent either walking around the town and enjoying the sun or visiting other towns and beaches of the Adriatic sea. The city walls of Kotor are very interesting (they are about 5 kilometres long, up to 20 metres high and up to 10 metres wide).
A very interesting site in the Kotor area is an artificial island Gospa of Skrpjela (Lady of the Rock). According to stories seamen from Kotor and Perast created islands bringing with their sailing vessels large stones.
Sveti Stefan island in Montenegro
There is a church on this island. Another very special is the island of Sveti Stefan. In reality, this is a town hotel located on an island. It is connected to the mainland with a narrow strip. The town was built in the 15th century, and it became a town-hotel in 1960. Many famous people have visited Sveti Stefan. To visit the island there is an entrance fee but near the entrance, there are beautiful sandy beaches (one full day we spent there).
Our longest trip was to Skadar Lake. The Skadar Lake (Skadarsko Jezero) is the largest lake on the Balkan Peninsula, it is situated in the far Southeast of Montenegro. The shore of the lake is full of bays, peninsulas and riffs, however, it is most popular because of bird watching – there have been more than 280 bird species registered so far at Skadar Lake, which is more than half of the European ornithological fauna.
At the beginning of June, together with friends, we went to Montenegro (meaning Black Mountain) to visit Durmitor National Park and the Adriatic coast. It was exciting not only because we hadn’t been visiting this country before.
On June 3rd, 2006 Montenegrin Parliament declared independence of the country (previously it was a part of Yugoslavia and various incarnations). It was interesting to find out what people think and to see how a small country starts its independent living. Montenegro has a territory of less than 14 thousand square kilometres and a population of less than one million.
Arrival to Montenegro
To reach our destination, we crossed Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary, and arrived in Montenegro from Serbia, crossing those days very recently established border control points. The first stop we made was at a petrol station soon after crossing the border and were really surprised about the cleanliness and order prevailing around.
Large rest area and surrounding landscapes let us to relax after a long trip through Serbia. It was late afternoon, however, we didn’t have a hotel booking, so after a short break we continued driving and had to find suitable accommodation before sunset.
Driving from Mojkovac to Zabljak, we found a convenient motel “Ravnjak” with separate bungalows (address: 18th kilometre of the road Mojkovac-Zabljak, phone: 084 472 144). The next morning we ordered a really excellent breakfast. In case you don’t need an apartment, it is worth stopping there even just to have lunch or dinner.
Visiting Durmitor National Park
Our next destination was Crno Jezero (Black Lake) located in Durmitor National Park about 25 kilometres from Tara Bridge and about 3 kilometres from Zabljak. Before arriving at Crno Jezero, we looked around the town of Zabljak which is the highest urban conglomerate in the Balkans (located 1450 metres above sea level).
Zabljak is surrounded by 23 mountain peaks over 2200 meters high. There are 18 glacial lakes in Durmitor National Park, however, Crno Jezero is the largest and the deepest of them.
It is situated at the feet of the mountain massive Medjed. Crno Jezero is formed by receding glaciers and it has 2 halves – Big Lake and Small Lake. There is a 3.5 kilometres long walking path around the lake (we used only some part of it).
There is a parking place near to the lake. About a kilometre before the lake, car traffic is prohibited, however, access to the lake is very convenient – trails are covered with asphalt. There is also a restaurant on the coast available. More than 3 hours we spent walking in this area, enjoying nature and the beautiful landscape around the lake before moving forward to other parts of Durmitor National Park.
Tara river canyon
We continued our trip and the first site to visit in Montenegro was a bridge across the Tara River (this bridge called Djurdevica Tara is a symbol of the Tara River). Tara River cuts the Tara River Canyon (Tara River Gorge) which is the longest canyon in Montenegro and Europe and the second longest in the world after Grand Canyon in the United States (Arizona).
It is 78 kilometres long (there are also sources mentioning that it is up to 82 kilometres long) and 1300 metres high at the deepest point.
The canyon also is a part of Durmitor National Park and it has been listed as a UNESCO Heritage Site since 1980. Tara Bridge was built between 1937 and 1940 (rebuilt in 1946 after the Second World War). The bridge is 365 metres long, has 5 arches and the largest span is 116 metres. The roadway stands 172 metres above the Tara River. For sure, this is one of the most interesting sites in Europe to be seen.
Off-road driving in the mountains
To have more fun, we decided to cross the mountains before going to the Adriatic coast. And we had a lot of fun and challenges! Mountain road was very challenging to drive because sometimes it was covered by melting snow. There were some sections covered by asphalt but some were not.
We even reached mountain pass Sedlo (1907 metres above sea level) and continued driving, however, a few kilometres before the crossroads we had to stop because heavy road machinery was still cleaning the road after the winter season (it was June 12th but the depth of snow covering road was still about 3 to 4 metres). We found out that at least one more day should be spent cleaning the whole section of the road to get to the crossroads.
After a short interview with the reporter of the local newspaper who was preparing an article about snow clearance work, we turned around to get back to our starting point to continue the trip to the capital of Montenegro Podgorica. Late in the afternoon, we reached the Adriatic coast and continued our trip to the next destination – Dobrota, a small town near Kotor.
We had booked a guest house there to stay for a week and enjoy our vacation on the sunny beaches of Montenegro, explore interesting places in the surrounding area and enjoy local food specialities..
