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Published: September 18th 2007
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Our coastal driving of the adriatic sea continued down into the country of montenegro....the seaside stops to beat the heat continued here and it became tougher and tougher to find modes of communication or banks. we happened upon the huge lake skadarsko jazero. the small village on it's banks was too cute...the local fisherman/ hotel owner of the pelican hotel was so nice to take us on a tour of his home which included many generations of his ancestry and personal gems of his fishing years. We stayed that night in a old ladies home...she passed crazy the town of crazy miles ago which she was happy to give us a sample of every hour or so....ask us about those stories. we sampled the local tequila brandy and fresh fruits. We hit nearly every coastal town including budva which you can picture as a little cabo san lucas on the sea, kotor, a medieval old town that's encircled by a stone wall that leads up and around the surrounding mountain...also, enjoyed the sunset treading the warm water...amazing views. we headed inland to see the ostrog monestary which has been built into the side of the mountain...gorgeous but still quite a trek
into the hills for our little car..."malby" lost a few years from her life on that one. Nearing the border with albania, we found it funny that it was difficult to find any information on albania..tips, stories, very little hotel help...we figured out soon why. After a two hour wait at the border for apparently no reason we asked the border guard where we should visit in his native country...his answer "Greece". We laughed at what seemed a cute joke but he held his poker face...if only we had taken his advice sooner. The drive into the first city which was little more than a dirty, litter lined alley but our stomachs didn't seem to care and we hunted for food and shelter to no avail. We found a gas station hotel that charged us a small fortune to stay that night but they did have stale peanuts!! I have to say with no reservation that the drivers in this country are the worst we have ever come upon. immediately, we were in a country of a billion mad men behind the wheels of mercedes (8 of 10 cars are)...and they all seemed to have a death wish. Every half
mile staked the spot of a death with a small shrine or memorial housing candles and pictures of the victims of no doubt a head on collision. we alone witnessed at least one major wreck a day and these people would weave and pass with oncoming traffic without blinking...it was absolutely amazing!! I found myself yelling God's name every hour and now looking back, it wasn't being shouted in vain..i truly thought someone was going to die! Another fact about this country that needs mentioning...the garbage. I could not get over how little the locals cared about the environment. the mentality seemed appeared that they would keep their doorstep clean but dare not sweep a foot outside it or even better...toss garbage anywhere and everywhere. We found ourselves in several conflicts trying to discourage the constant disregard for THEIR country by wagging our fingers at them for tossing garbage out the windows of cars, boats,etc. It affected me more than i would have thought, knowing that many cultural differences mean little elsewhere...yet, it still angered me. We eventually found the correct road to take us south to the border with Greece and we punched it. Again, not finding a place
to stay we decided to drive all day and all day it turned out to be. The road took us high into the mountains at night where on pot filled roads we dodged oncoming traffic around hairpin curves, forest fires filled the left sides along the road and on the other side of the narrow roads cliffs dropped off to certain death. It was the type of driving that doesn't allow you to blink, your eyes dry out, your palms drip sweat and you whisper to God your best intentions for the future if he delivers you from this little hell. 6 hours of this with "Malby" at near collapse at the top of each mountain pass....6 peaks in all. We came upon a gas station/hotel that was family run and the owner was willing to take our last 16 dollars to take a room there. He must have seen our sorry state and took pity on us...i nearly kissed his feet. I scrambled to the mirror just to see if all of my hair had turned white. next morning we found our way down to the coast and enjoyed the pier but stayed away from the garbage filled beach...it
hurt to see such blue waters shared by greece being polluted at every turn of the head. We pushed on to the border after a rough road ride of an hour and like seeing the pearly gates of heaven.....we entered the paved roads of greece!!! hallelujah!!! See, folks..it's not all sun chairs and mojitos.
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Mel
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albania
wow, glad you guys made it out of there safe...so disgusting to see all that garbage everywhere. can't wait to see your Greece pix! :)