17 September 2017
After breakfast in Durmitor National Park, I left the camp and drove to Pavlova Strana which has the best view over Lake Skadar. If you want to see this, you’ll need to go via Rijeka Crnojevica. There’s nothing but a closed hotel there, but you’ll be able to pull over on the side of the road and snap a picture of this famous view. I dropped the plan of visiting Gora National Park as I realized it was too far.
The journey continued to Virpazar where I joined Golden Frog for one-hour cruise in Lake Skadar. It was 25 euros for 1 hour and 4 euros ticket for the entrance on the lake. Lake Skadar lies on the border of Albania and Montenegro, and is the largest lake in Southern Europe. Two-third of its surface belonging to Montenegro and about one-third to Albania. The Lake was stunning, and Ana surprised me with some hidden local gems. The views around the islands were so picturesque with only nature and no buildings in sight. The lake is home to many of the lake’s bird and fish species. Ana mentioned sometimes the water level can go up and bring flood to the town.
Ana offered a choice of routes and I chose the route to Lesendro Island. This island has a fortress atop it that was built to protect Montenegro from invading Turkish armies during Bishop Petar Petrovic Njegos II’s reign. Unfortunately the Montenegrins weren’t successful and the Turks conquered the area and the island became known as Njegos’ sorrow.
There were huge carpets of water chestnut. Ana picked some and cut them for our tasting. She gave me a water chestnut crafted into monster-looking as souvenir. Beverage was also supplied during the tour.
After the cruise, I stopped at Budva. Budva is said to be less crowded than Kotor but actually it was very busy. It was very difficult to find parking. I parked my car at the hospital and walked to the Stari Grad (Old town). I had initially planned to visit the Dancing Girl Statue and go up the Citadel which offers striking views but unfortunately I only had time to have a short walk around the old town and dinner before I moved on to Kotor.
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