Breathing Easy In Montenegro, Like A European

Where It All Began...

A few years back, I worked as a coordinator of a prominent exchange program for students from Serbia and Montenegro, and naturally I have developed a personal attachment to the region. The trip to Montenegro has been years in the making, and that's why it is very special to me. I wanted to visit the Balkans for so long, dreaming of traveling through the countries that were once Yugoslavia and imagining how much I would love that place. On August 17, 2017, I finally set foot on the Balkan Peninsula and walked into my dream.

First Stop on The Grand Balkan Tour: Montenegro

Montenegro was exactly what I imagined and much, much more. I imagined the blue horizon and calm sea waters, and it had that. I knew that it's a country of mountains, and those mountains were everywhere. I had tried some of the Balkan food before and really wanted to taste the authentic food there, and that food I had in Montenegro was just as delicious as in my dreams.

Crna Gora (the name of the country in Montenegrin, which means Black Mountain) is a small but very picturesque country. Its territory is basically all mountains. Although the Balkan mountains are not super tall, the narrow, one-lane serpentine roads are nevertheless pretty scary. There will be a separate blog post on that :)

These mountains come up right to the sea shore and this leaves the coastline very narrow and crowded with luxurious buildings and hotels, restaurants, and yacht clubs. As a result there aren't too many large beaches, but the ones that we had a chance to visit were very nice.

Beach #1: Przno

The water there was super clear, but rather cold for my taste, even in the middle of August. However, since the temperatures easily get up to 35 degrees C or higher, any beach becomes a much desired escape for the locals and tourists alike.

One cool feature of the Przno beach is that there are many indoor-outdoor cafes and restaurants all along the mini-bay. After a couple of hours under the intense Mediterranean sun, it was so nice and refreshing to sit under an umbrella and sip a glass of iced coffee, which they call "Nes" (for Nescafe).

Beach # 2: Jaz

The Jaz beach (pronounced "yaz" not "jazz") is a very popular, large beach. While you could feel bigger rocks under your feet at Przno, Jaz had very fine pebbles instead of sand, which didn't make much difference to me. In fact, I prefer the fine pebbles as you don't feel as dirty when you leave the beach. Just happy and relaxed. Life as it should be.

One of the benefits of Jaz is that you can also go on jet skis and out into the sea, where you can race against the waves, the breeze, and your own fears. And that's exactly what we did and that was INCREDIBLE. Being out on the open water gave us the most majestic view of the coast; no pictures taken from the jet skis, sorry :)

The Views

Whether we were hanging out at the beach, embracing the panoramic view at the top of the bell tower in Perast, walking along the pier, sitting on our balcony in Kotor, zipping up and down the coast on a speed boat, or driving on the main "highway" which follows the rugged coast, we got to see unbelievable views of the Adriatic sea and the mountains of course.

And now about the people...

It was hard not to notice something calming and easy-going about the people here. The lovely people of Montenegro are real Europeans - they don't hurry, they speak slower than we do in the US (at least here on the East Coast), they are very polite and accommodating, and they know how to relax and enjoy life. Basically, they are amazing in every way, except maybe their driving and smoking :)

There is a joke-legend that Montenegrins love to rest more than anything in life, and that might be true. It seems that the whole nation abides by the 10 Montenegrin Commandments.

Even if you have not seen these commandments before, you might have heard that some call Montenegrins lazy. But I don't think so. That quality they have - to pause and simply enjoy life - is admiring. And if you want to understand Montenegrins a little more, this Montenegrin lady explains the truth about her people.  

Enough with generalizations and stereotypes! I want to tell you about two of my former exchange students - super smart and beautiful people - Jovana (who after graduation moved to Tivat to work on marketing for the brand-new, luxury marina Porto Montenegro) and Radovan (who now lives and works in Podgorica, the country's capital).

Both Jovana and Radovan spent a year in the U.S. attending college on a State Department scholarship. They are simply brilliant people. I was so happy to see them again, several years later, so successful and just as nice and cool as I remembered them. It warmed my heart hearing that, even after all these years, they were still bubbling about their experiences in the U.S. It was especially sweet that they were still in Montenegro, where it's not unusual for young people to move abroad after college, either for grad school or for work. Also, I was in luck that they were in town because most people in Montenegro are "on holiday" during the entire month of August. They really do follow their beloved 10 Commandments :)

While I had two real Montenegrins in front of me, I decided to ask them a few questions (sort of an informal interview about this unique country and its people). These were the three main questions on my mind:

1) Why did Montenegro have to split from Serbia? How is it better for you - or the country overall - to be independent?

2) Do people still use the Cyrillic alphabet? If some do, who are they and when would they typically use Cyrillic as opposed to the Latin letters?

3) How many times a day do you drink coffee?

Thanks to my local experts, I got answers to my questions and will share them in the next blog entry! Check back in a week! Cao!