The Road to Turkey via Montenegro, Serbia and BulgariaOct 11, 2004
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Kotor City, Montenegro
Old City Fortifications in Kotor, Montenegro
Dancing Girls in Kotor selling VW's!! Maybe Ford should try this approach!
| The journey to Turkey via Montenegro, Serbia and Bulgaria was challenging, yet culturally intriguing. The border crossings were especially interesting with having to walk over no-mans land between Croatia and Montenegro and a rather refugee like train crossing between Bulgaria and Turkey where we were ordered off the train at 3am into a small room with 200 others for passport control and visas. After crossing into Montenegro the condition of the roads, buildings and vehicles decreased significantly. Many buildings still displayed signs of war with some derelict and others partially rebuilt in the area close to the border. However three hours drive down the coast at the head of the deepest fjord in Europe you arrive in Kotor. This is a medieval walled city with tiny winding streets that are so lovely and filled with quaint cafes that you don't mind getting lost in them. The town is overlooked by a fortress that is a 30 minute hike straight up the mountain, but gives you fantastic views of the town. On a weekend the town becomes alive after 10PM with many of the cafes turning into bars and clubs with thumping rave music. The prize for the most fashionable Europeans should go to the Montenegrins, they really know how to dress up for a night out....... meanwhile we joined them in our backpacking pants, t-shirts and sandals. The people were again so friendly, despite the recent bombing (78 days in 1999) by the United States and NATO forces. They speak of the war and say it was hard times, but just get on with life and seem to hold no grudge. Upon leaving we sat on a very crowded train station at 10PM heading for Serbia and realized that we were probably of only handful of people there that had not experienced war first hand. This particular journey turned into a sleepless night but one of the most enjoyable nights of our trip so far. The way the night trains here seem to work is that six complete strangers are placed in a compartment together and by the morning you are the best of friends having talked, joked and laughed all night. We ended up with seven to eight people in our compartment with four standing outside all talking for an entire night. Our compartment mates found someone who spoke both English and Serbian to translate for us, and we soon found ourselves as the center of attention for the entire night. They were so interested in where we had been and where we were going and what America was like, they knew more about the current election and politics in America than most Americans. We were tired the next morning but really felt like we had experienced some of the happy go lucky culture of the region. We arrived in Nis, Serbia and headed for the bus station, a nasty place where after a visit to the bathroom Erin broke down crying to Shawn "I can't stand these bathrooms (hole in the ground) anymore it's dirty, smells and there is no toilet paper". At this point Shawn whisked Erin off to a nice hotel for the day to recover until the bus left that evening. Sometimes money doesn't matter..... We made a quick stop in Sofia, Bulgaria, which was a fascinating city (worth a return trip) and hopped on the night sleeper train to Istanbul, Turkey. So after four hard days of traveling we were finally on our way to Turkey! |
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