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The leading specialists in cultural walking
tours
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We specialise in guided cultural walking
holidays with music festivals, opera, art & architecture,
birdwatching, wildlife and gourmet food & wine.
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Montenegro - Walking in the Balkans
The wild, mountainous interior of
Montenegro contains a network of National Parks offering
inspiring upland walking and ideal habitat for birds of prey
and wildflowers, especially orchids in early summer.
Surprisingly good hotels of some
character provide comfortable bases from which to discover
eminently drinkable red wine to accompany the distinctive
Balkan cuisine; Byzantine frescoes in rural Orthodox
monasteries; Venetian architecture along the Adriatic littoral;
and forts and museums which help shed some light on the
enormously complex history of this small, newly independent,
Balkan state.
TRIP ITINERARY
DAY 1
D included
After meeting at Dubrovnik airport in the
early afternoon, a short road transfer into the mountains
brings us to the frontier with Herzegovina. We visit the
ancient monastery of Tvdros and see the still functioning water
wheels on the river, then walk through the old Ottoman quarter
of Trebinje. Our comfortable 3 star hotel overlooks the plane
tree-filled square and has a good restaurant - typical Balkan
dishes such as grilled red peppers with lamb, garlic and rice.
DAY 2
B, L, D included
A scenic road takes us up into the
mountains and over a pass into Montenegro. We have a short walk
to see a 4C Roman bridge and have lunch in a rustic restaurant
with wooden terraces set above a small river, before reaching a
broad upland plateau. A 2 hour walk brings views of the
Durmitor mountains to the west, flocks of sheep with attendant
shepherds, 13C Bogomil carvings and Montagu’s harriers
hunting the grasslands. In Zabljak, a small mountaineering and
ski centre, our modern 3 star hotel (for 3 nights) has
well-equipped rooms with mountain views.
DAY 3
B, L, D included
A short drive through pine and birch
forest brings us to the start of a walk to the edge of the
spectacular Tara canyon, the longest and deepest in Europe (at
certain points the drop is a sheer 1,300 metres). Griffon
vultures, crossbills, nutcrackers and red squirrels may be seen
as we walk through mixed forest and meadows en route to a
picnic. We circumnavigate glacial Crno Jezero, the Black lake,
in the afternoon and find wild strawberries and blueberries
amongst the gentians, saxifrages and wild thyme.
DAY 4
B, L, D included
A narrow track road takes us up into the
heart of the Durmitor National Park, a magnificent mountain
wilderness with 27 peaks over 2,200 metres and healthy
populations of (rarely seen) brown bears, wolves and lynx. On
foot, we cross a pass where snow finches and alpine choughs are
often seen and search for high altitude flowers, particularly
gentians and crocuses as we gradually descend a wild valley
with superb views of the surrounding peaks.
DAY 5
B, L, D included
Heading east, we pause to see the Tara
bridge, bravely detonated by a Partisan engineer in 1942, and
follow the Tara canyon down to the isolated Dobrilovina
monastery, where the nuns unlock the heavy wooden door to allow
us to see the 17C frescoes. We have a circular walk round a
lake in the Biogradska National park and lunch overlooking the
water. After visiting the interesting botanical gardens in
Kolasin we check into our 4 star hotel, strikingly designed in
wood and stone.
DAY 6
B, L, D included
4WDs take us up to 1,790 metres for a
full day’s walk crossing the mountain range of Bjelasica,
characterised by rounded volcanic tops, valleys filled with
primeval beech and hornbeam forest and upland meadows with
cornelian lily, gentians and vanilla orchids. We watch for
soaring golden and booted eagles and have lunch with a family
of shepherds at their katun (wooden summer shelter) before continuing
up and over two small, steepish passes and gradually down to a
mountain tarn. Dinner this evening is in a typical old tavern
with Montenegrin music.
DAY 7
B, L, D included
Our route south follows beside the Moraca
river and we visit the 13C monastery, with outstanding
Byzantine frescoes, before reaching the eastern end of Lake
Skadar, on the Albanian border, to look for rare Dalmatian
pelicans (and smugglers!) from an observation tower. A local
guide takes us on a boat trip on Lake Skadar, one of the
largest lakes in southern Europe and a Ramsar protected site.
Our 3 star village hotel has a restaurant well known for fish
dishes flavoured with mountain herbs collected by the owner.
DAY 8
B, L, D included
After visiting the National Park
information centre, a little-used mountain road takes us north,
via the triple-arched mediaeval bridge at Rijeka Crnojevica, to
Cetinje, the former Royal capital of Montenegro, with an
important monastery and a museum with a representative
collection of Yugoslavian and Montenegrin art. A narrow winding
road takes us up into the Lovcen National Park where we stay in
a 4 star hotel (new, but in traditional stone and wood). An
afternoon walk on the limestone is excellent for orchids -
lesser butterfly, fragrant, green-winged, Bertolini, woodcock,
bug and pyramidal - and birds (hoopoe, red-backed shrike,
peregrine, honey buzzard and wheatears).
DAY 9
B, L, D included
We walk again after breakfast, then make
our way slowly down the incredible hairpin road which descends
into the beautiful Bay of Kotor, Europe’s most southerly
true fjord. We have lunch in a famous old restaurant, then
settle into our 4 star hotel in the centre of the walled
mediaeval town of Kotor (a UNESCO World Heritage site). The
afternoon is free for exploring Kotor’s heritage of
Venetian architecture, including St. Tryphon’s Cathedral
(completed in 1166) and numerous Renaissance palaces built by
wealthy patricians, merchants and sea captains. There is an
optional steep walk on the 15C walls up to the Fortress and St.
Ivan’s castle in the cooler early evening.
DAY 10
B, L, D included
We see some fine 3C and 4C mosaics at the
Roman Villa Urbana before driving up onto the top of the massif
which dominates the Bay of Kotor for a spectacular walk
following the old Austro-Hungarian packhorse route. After a
rest and a snack, enjoying the stupendous views, we descend to
the charming village of Perast, with its Venetian Gothic
palaces and small museum recalling its illustrious nautical
past - in the 18C Perast had a fleet of 1,000 ships and Peter
the Great sent his officers to learn marine engineering and
cartography here. We take a small boat over to Our Lady of the
Rock island to see the votive church there and return to Kotor
for our farewell dinner in the best seafood restaurant on the
harbour.
DAY 11
B included
We drive along the coast to cross the
border into Croatia and have an early light lunch by the sea
before going to Dubrovnik airport for flights home, or on to
Dubrovnik on an optional extension.
Price includes:
All accommodation for Days 1 through 11
on a double shared basis
All meals with wine at lunches and
dinners, other than those excepted in the daily notation
All land transportation in a private
air-conditioned vehicle as described except during free periods
All entrance and sightseeing fees except
during free periods
4WD transfers on Day 4 as described
Boat trips on Lake Skadar and in the Bay
of Kotor as described
Gratuities for hotel and restaurant staff
Visa and Health Requirements
Visitors from the EU and the US currently
require a valid passport, but not a visa, for entry to
Montenegro. If you are a national of any other country, please
check visa regulations with your nearest Embassy of Montenegro.
At present there are no specific and
compulsory health requirements for entry to Montenegro but we
recommend that you also check the advice given to travellers by
the Department of Health and the FCO.
Insurance
It is essential, and a condition of
booking, that you protect yourself with a suitable travel
insurance policy as soon as you book a trip. Follow this link
for a quote for a policy available to UK residents.
If you are already insured or a non-UK
resident, please inform us of your policy at the time of
booking.
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Kudu Travel Limited
Teffont Manor
Teffont Ewyas
Salisbury SP3 5RJ
Phone: 01722 716167
Registered in England
No. 03854049
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