The “Big Montenegro Tour”

Us at the Njegos Mausoleum Overlook

It was early—8:00 am.  We were sitting on the curb by the taxi stand near the supermarket in Budva.  A sleek black Mercedes pulled right up in front of us and a short, dark-haired Montenegrin leapt out of the driver’s seat to greet us.  His name was Ghorgie, from Cetinje, and he was to be our personal tour guide for the day.

We were supposed to pick up two other guys in Kotor who would join us for the tour, but apparently they got too drunk the night before and decided to cancel.  The Kotor hostel manager came out to greet us and quickly explained to Ghorgie that they got too drunk last night and didn’t want to go anymore.  To emphasize the “bus-like” nature of Gordana that I discussed in my last post, the Kotor hostel manager paid Ghorgie 70 euro out of his own pocket, to cover the cancellations, just so Gordana would not find out and so he wouldn’t have to talk to her on the phone!  Regardless of how it happened, Kati and I spent the day being chauffeured around Montenegro by a personal tour guide.

Our first stop was Lovćen National Park.  To get there the car crept up the steepest, most narrow road I’ve ever been on.  Ghorgie whipped around the hairpin turns connecting the 27 switchbacks we had to ascend to reach the top.  When we finally reached the summit, you could see the entire Bay of Kotor and it was stunning.  Yet we continued up further, to the top of Jezerski Vrh which, at 1657 meters, is the second highest peak in the park.  On top of the mountain sits the Njegoš Mausoleum, where Vladika Petar II Petrović Njegoš, the most beloved king/philosopher of Montenegro is buried.  Before ascending to the top we had a typical Montenegrin breakfast, pršut (prociutto) and smoked goat cheese.  Then we climbed the 461 steps to the mausoleum itself.  The main room in the mausoleum is guarded by two giant stone statues of women that represent the mother and sister of Montenegro.  Entering the main room is quite a sight as it houses a massive black granite statue of Petar II under a canopy of pure gold tiles, given to Montenegro by the Italians.  Below the main room is a very modern (and creepy) crypt holding his body.  We finished our tour of the mausoleum at a nearby overlook from which, on a clear day, you can see over 75% of Montenegro and even the Italian coastline!

Our next stop was in the city of Cetinje, the former capital of Montenegro until it was moved to Podgorica after World War I.  The Cetinje Monastery is very sacred in the Orthodox religion because it contains the three-fingered right hand of John the Baptist and a portion of the cross on which Jesus was crucified.  While these relics used to be available for public viewing, apparently the insensitive laughter of English visitors upon seeing them led the monks to be seriously offended and cover them up.  However, Ghorgie pulled some serious strings for us and convinced the resident monk to let us see them (The other visitors behind us were not too thrilled when the monk quickly shut the top of the wooden coffin when they walked up).  Ghorgie also pointed out another unique church in Cetinje.  The church looks small and plain, surrounded by a black picket-fence, however, the bars of the fence are made out of the barrels of rifles taken from dead Turks when the Montenegrins repelled Ottoman invaders.  Building the fence out of their gun barrels is meant to symbolize the nation’s eternal protection of the Orthodox Church from the “evil” Muslim invaders and non-believers.  After Cetinje we stopped by Rijeka Crnojevića, the largest river that flows into Skadar Lake (The largest lake in the Balkans).

Ostrog Monastery

Our next stop was the one I was most excited about.  In fact, it’s the whole reason we took the Big Montenegrin Tour in the first place.  I had been told that it’s easy to take an organized day-trip from Budva to see the Ostrog Monastery.  The only problem was that nobody bothered to tell me those tours are only in Russian, never English.  Thus, we ended up with Ghorgie, going to see the monastery.

The Ostrog Monastery is built into a cliff-face 900 meters above the Zeta Valley.  It’s one of the most sacred places in all of Orthodox Christianity because it’s where the remains of St. Basil, the most important Orthodox saint, can be found.  The monastery is often referred to as Sv. Vasilije’s Miracle because nobody understands how the monastery was actually built.  When you look at it, the monastery appears to grow out of the very rocks themselves.  In yet another miracle, the second chapel in the monastery was hit by a bomb during World War I but was not destroyed.  You can still see the bombshell in the wall of the chapel as you walk in.  Experts came in a number of years ago to examine the shell only to find out that it is completely functional, leading to the widespread belief that God himself prevented the bomb from detonating to save the monastery.

The rest of our day was consumed by lunch and a few stops at minor viewpoints, like Skadar Lake and Sveti Stefan.  Despite the amazing sights we saw, one of the best parts of the day was simply riding in the car with Ghorgie.  Over the course of the entire day he enlightened us on the history of Montenegro, the political situation (both past and present), and how to show respect in the Orthodox Church.  Additionally, we covered every topic you can think of from how Ghorgie met his wife (a great story for another time) to how he believes the US government is responsible for 9/11 in the same way that the Montenegrin government engaged in race mongering against the Mushahadeen in the 1990s.  The three of us had an absolutely amazing day and I believe that I’ve now garnered a very deep understanding and appreciation for both the country and its people.