A Brief Trip into Montenegro

Soon after I left from Pristina, I encountered road construction and rain.

I had a very brief trip to Montenegro, shorter than I had intended. Entering Montenegro from Kosovo is unlike any other border crossing I've been through. First, I exited Kosovo and then I had to drive nearly 6 miles to get to the Montenegrin entry point. Supposedly, this inbetween space is (not hotly) disputed territory. There wasn't much between the two points, but there were a handful of buildings and houses that looked occupied. It was odd.

The drive into Montenegro from Kosovo was spectacular. The mountains were stunning. I didn't stop too much. My destination was Ulcinj, a beach town to the west.

I entered Montenegro in the evening and the mountain views were stunning.

Once it started to get dark and I turned on my headlights, I realized that the lights didn't work very well so I found a roadside hotel to stay in. The first thing I noticed about Montenegro is that it is better set up for tourists than Kosovo. There are fairly frequent roadside hotels and attactions (mainly monasteries) are well sign-posted. In the morning, I woke up and continued my drive to the coast.

A monastery alongside the road.

Bee-you-tiful mountains.

FYI, I managed to eat cooked real food as well. Heh.

So I woke up, drove a bit, stopped for breakfast and drove all the way to Ulcinj. I got there and wondered why in the heck I wanted to make it my destination. I don't like beaches particularly. I'd much rather spend time in the mountains. I didn't think Ulcinj was worth exploring or staying in. Disappointed by the chaos and ugliness, I thought for a bit about what I should do. Then it came to me: Ravioli!

Huh? Ravioli? Yep. Ravioli. Ulcinj is close to the Albanian border and a few hours from Durres, which, although also a beach town, has a really great ravioli restaurant. I figured that since I wasn't going to be happy staying in Ulcinj, I might as well do something I would enjoy. Ravioli it was.

The roads in Montenegro are pretty good. There was a lot of congestion around Ulcinj and through Podgorica (the capital), but Montenegrin drivers do a pretty good job of obeying the rules of the road. Albania is a totally different story, though. The roads can be rough and drivers are insane.

Albanian roads aren't exactly 4-lane blacktop.


In spite of the crazed drivers who pass at will around blind corners and in the face of on-coming traffic, I made it to Durres in once piece. After finding an ATM and taking out some leke, I found the ravioli place. And I ate ravioli. And it was good.

My experience has been that hole-in-the-wall Italian is almost always terrific.

And, basically, that was it. I drove back to Kosovo. The Albania-Kosovo road is long, windy, narrow, and well-trafficked. There is a new road being built from Durres to the Kosovo border near Prizren, but it's not yet finished. Despite the various stages of construction the road is under, it is possible to drive the road most of the way from Kukes to the border (Kukes is not even 30 miles from Prizren).

Albania has beautiful mountains as well.

There are several unfinished highway bridges in the Kukes area. Supposedly, the bridges were to be finished 18 months ago.

It didn't seem to matter that construction crews were actually working on the road. It was open to traffic.

The road was blacktopped in some spots. But occasionally there would be weird barriers like this...concrete blocks in the middle of the road that were spaced so a car couldn't drive through? I was able to go around.