Road trips, mountain walks and holidays

In the middle of March, we managed to go on a short about a week-long trip to Bulgaria. We had to drive more than five and a half thousand kilometres in eight days (more than six hundred kilometres per day on average). The idea of a trip was born when I was returning from a business trip; I met a young lady on a plane sitting next to me. She told us a lot of interesting things about Bulgaria and we went to check how it is there in the west of the Balkan peninsula. Arrival to Bulgaria Late in the afternoon, we arrived in Bulgaria by ferry connecting the Romanian town Calafat and Vidin in Bulgaria (the location of Vidin and Calafat on the map). The size of the Danube River is very impressive there – another coast of the river looks quite far away. And here it is – a journey back to the last century: apart from customs and border control, there were several other official authorities collecting currency for various mandatory border crossing “services” – phytosanitary control, veterinary

Coast of the Black Sea After visiting the monastery, we continued our way to Burgas (see more about our whole trip to Bulgaria and Bulgarian fermented grape juice). Burgas is the second largest city on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast after Varna. Between Plovdiv and Burgas, we saw lots of newly established vineyards – the view was really impressive! We did not stay in Burgas for long – just filling up petrol and a quick look around while driving. We aimed to go to the south along the coastline to see old and newly established seaside villages and resorts. It was surprising how many new buildings are being constructed along the coast! Any small village located on the coast was like a big busy building site. In 2007, even in our host country, we saw many offers to buy a new property in Bulgaria. In reality, a major part of all new buildings are located far away from advertised sandy beaches because houses are built on cliffs. It may be true – very near to water, however often it seemed imp

Seafood in Montenegro During our vacation, we obviously enjoyed a lot of seafood in Montenegro and local fermented grape juice of course. Especially, we were excited about buying fresh seafood on the shore from fishermen and preparing our (not anymore their) catch at home. In my opinion, there are more tasty oysters in neighbouring Croatia, however, the taste of mussels from the Bay of Kotor outperforms many regions offering similar production. In local warehouses, it was possible to buy different kinds of seafood (and the price was excellent indeed). It was a real celebration of summer every evening in Montenegro all week long. Seafood in Montenegro is a usual thing for locals; humans have used seafood in their cuisine for thousands of years. For example, mussels can be smoked, boiled, steamed, roasted, barbecued or fried in butter or vegetable oil. As with almost all shellfish, mussels should be checked to ensure they are still alive just before they are cooked. We have had mussels f

 After visiting Durmitor National Park , Tara River Bridge and some challenging off-road driving we arrived at our final destination in Montenegro – Adriatic coast. Bay of Kotor Town Kotor is located along one of the most beautiful bays of Montenegro. The old town of Kotor was built during the Middle Ages, between the 12th and 14th centuries and listed as a UNESCO World Natural and Historical Heritage Site since 1979 (to be more precise, UNESCO lists the whole complex – Bay of Kotor, City of Kotor and surrounding territory). In the Middle Ages Kotor was a natural harbour on the Adriatic coast but this place was inhabited already about two thousand years ago. Our accommodation was located in Dobrota village, about 3.5 kilometres from Kotor however in reality it is sometimes even not possible to determine when one town ends on the coast and another one begins. Dobrota looks straight onto Mt. Vrmas and the seaside promenade of the town runs for several kilometres along the shore. Numerou

 At the beginning of June, together with friends, we went to Montenegro (meaning Black Mountain) to visit Durmitor National Park and the Adriatic coast. It was exciting not only because we hadn’t been visiting this country before. On June 3rd, 2006 Montenegrin Parliament declared independence of the country (previously it was a part of Yugoslavia and various incarnations). It was interesting to find out what people think and to see how a small country starts its independent living. Montenegro has a territory of less than 14 thousand square kilometres and a population of less than one million. Arrival to Montenegro To reach our destination, we crossed Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary, and arrived in Montenegro from Serbia, crossing those days very recently established border control points. The first stop we made was at a petrol station soon after crossing the border and were really surprised about the cleanliness and order prevailing around. Large rest area and surrounding lands