Category: Uncategorized

Tbilisi

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Weary from the mountains and another epic minibus journey, arriving into Tbilisi was a real blessing. I spent five days pretty much just relaxing and hanging out with Bram and few other people I’d met. The city is really vibrant, easy to get around and cheap. I will definitely return for another visit. I saw a few sights, did the free tour and explored the old parts of the city. A few highlights below:

At the last minute we found out that Georgia were playing Denmark at the national stadium. Tickets were only about £1.40 so we went along
Elliot,
Myself, Gio and Bram. We met Gio through a couchsurfing meet up. He was a local
Georgian and bought our tickets for us
The Chronicles of Georgia, a huge soviet monument on a hill above Tbilisi. I explored with Turk (I’m the photo), another guy I met through the hosgel
I also met up with Nick and Briony again and we explored. The museum of Illusions

Haircut in the Alley

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After 6 weeks or so of travelling I thought I’d treat myself to a fresh trim. The next major stop would be Kazakhstan and I felt that Tbilisi would be a safer bet. I made enquiries with the guy from my hostel who confidently told me there was a man in the alleyway at the bottom of the building where he goes. I investigated.

Upon further inspection I found the place but thought it prudent to wait until the next day to consider my options. I’d been told the price was 5 Lari, around £1.40. It did seem good value despite looking like it might be a public convenience.

Following a period of reflection, I returned the next day. I strolled in, attempted a greeting and tried to explain what I was after. He was stern and did not speak a word of English. I tried showing him some old photos I’d dug out on my iPhone but he didn’t seem in the least bit interested and so I settled for gesturing how much I wanted lopping off and leaving him to his own devices.

Once seated, he reached for his white jacket. There was a moment where I wondered if I’d made a terrible mistake and was about to have a tooth extracted, or worse, but soon enough he started snipping away. The only unusual part was when without warning he dove in for a little trim on the eyebrows, perhaps necessary but a new experience for me. Otherwise, I was pretty pleased for my £1.40.

He was deeply serious and expressionless throughout, and there was only one fraction of a second where I managed to get him to crack a smile. It was more a slight upward quivering of his outer lips but I settled for that. He was not so obliging when I asked him for a selfie!

The Caucusus

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From the bright lights of Batumi, I headed north to the Caucasus Mountains. This was one of the places I’d been waiting to tick off my wish list. Bram had decided to come along too and so we’d arranged a bus to a village called Mestia which was the starting point for much of the hiking in the region of the Svaneti National Park.

Having organised a ticket with the lady from the Hostel we were told to wait outside on the road for a lift to the main bus station which was some way out of town. Eventually, what looked like a cross between the Scooby doo van and the A-team van came screeching around the corner and pulled up to the curb. We put our bags on the rear seats and off we went.

The driver was a young Georgian gentleman with a shaved head, sporting an inane grin. As we pulled away ‘Still Dre’ was blasting out of the speakers (https://youtu.be/x7yPhExdj3E – see here if you need to set the scene). The gangster rap was swiftly replaced with some traditional Georgian binky bonky ballads however. He clearly had an eclectic mix in music.

We purchased our bus tickets at the station and waited, expecting to be leaving on one of the many large coaches in the surrounding bays. Wishful thinking. An old mini bus pulled up. It was not in good condition. Myself, Bram and a few others piled in. Mercifully it wasn’t full up as the leg room was non existent. If you sat bolt upright you could just about get your knees in. I was able to sprawl out a bit though.

There aren’t many coaches running in Georgia because of the nature of the roads. It’s most common to take one of these minibuses. They can act like shared taxis where people hop on and off at various points in the journey. It’s just as well we weren’t on a coach in the end as the roads up in the mountains were narrow and very winding.

It wasn’t comfortable. The main issue was the lack of suspension. The smallest of bumps would cause the whole bus to shake and rattle. Larger bumps, of which there were many sent you flying about and smashing into the seating or side panels. We were under the impression the ride would take around 6 hours, but naturally it took 9. One of the least comfortable journeys I’ve done, but the scenery out of the windows was interesting throughout. Bruised and battered we arrived in Mestia around 10pm.

With no windows that opened, this was the only source of ventilation
Bram, shotgunning the backseats
An intense game of backgammon taking place at one of the stops we made

‘Mini Hike’

After a good rest, we went for breakfast and decided on an easy hike for the day. We tried to to take two chair lifts up the mountain for a walk along a ridge. The second chair lift was out of action however, so we had to do a fairly punchy 600m ascent to get up there. The scenery was incredible, and we had some cracking views of some of the bigger peaks and the glacier off in the distance.

Top of the first chairlift and the start of the hike
Bram taking a breather
The not quite so scenic communications mast at the top


Big Hike

The next day I was craving something a little mor challenging. Bram haD taken the early bus back to Tbilisi and so I set off to climb the Chkuti ridge. The hike would be about a 23-24km round trip, with around 2000m of ascent climbing up to some stone cairns at 3100m. With hindsight, perhaps a little ambitious given that I hadn’t done much serious hiking since the last summer.

Armed with some instructionS from the internet and primitive map on my phone I set off. The walk was incredible, but brutal. One huge solid uphill. It took a couple of hours to walk up onto the ridge and then another couple of hour to climb up to the cairns. It was hard. Really hard. I didn’t imagine actually making it until I was a few hundred metres from the top.

The ridge itself wasn’t too severe, although for someone with a fear of heights it was certainly thrilling and a little scary in parts. All the hard work was worth it because the views from the top were breathtaking. I didn’t linger at the top as I was conscious that the weather was closing in. The descent was equally challenging as it was punishing on my knees and I had to ration my water for the last couple of hours.

The walk to get up onto the ridge
The path wasn’t always entirely clear!
First steps up on the ridge
Finally within sight of the Cairns
The highest I’ve ever hiked up to
2/3 cairns
View from the top

Thoughts on Cappadocia

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I’d not heard of Cappadocia in Turkey until chatting to Nick and Briony, the English couple I’d met in Sofia. They sold it enough for me to incorporate it into my plans and what a great recommendation it was. I ended up extending my stay and spent 4 nights/5 days.

This was finally a chance to get outdoors and also to have some time to relax and recuperate a little. During the day I set out into the valleys and did some hiking. When I wasn’t hiking, I chilled out on the roof terrace of the hostel. There were great views looking out over the town and I spent most of my evenings there gazing out, occasionally in possession of a local beer.

I was really blown away by the scenery. Besides being stunning, it’s unlike anything you’d find in Europe or anywhere that I’d seen before. There are a series of valleys full of unusual rock formations called ‘fairy chimneys’ or ‘hoodoos’. I believe they’re the result of a volcanic region shaped by millennia of erosion. The people who’ve inhabited the area built there homes into the landscape creating caves in the rocks. You can see these everywhere. Some are quite simple and others are huge and multi- levelled. The whole region is full of them. The dwellings date back to the 4th century although they have been used by later inhabitants. You can visit an open air museum, or do what I did and wander out into the valleys and explore them for yourself.

Hot air ballooning

Cappadocia is famous for its hot air ballooning. Literally hundreds of them take off every morning as the sun rises. I hear it is spectacular to go up (sadly a little too expensive for me) but it’s equally amazing to go and watch them all rise upwards against the back drop of the unusual landscape. This does involve getting up at around 5am but is absolutely worth it. Most people in Göreme, the main town climb up to ‘sunset point’ where there are views down towards the valleys. I choose not to do this because they charge you to get up there. It’s only about 40p but I felt you should never have to pay to see a sunrise/sunset. Also, there are hordes of people up there, which for me slightly takes the edge of the magic of it all. Instead, I walked out into the valley and found my own spot. There were a few people there but the view was more interesting and you got closer to the action.

The hot air ballooning pulls in a huge number of tourists, many from China. Thankfully most tourists opt to go on tours where they’re carted around in minibuses to all the key sites and viewing points. This means that if you’re happy to explore yourself you barely run into another soul.

Cappadocia did however, for me, encapsulate much that is wrong with the new trend of ‘instagram tourism’. It seemed like many tourists had come there simply to get the perfect instagram shot of themselves with the backdrop of the hot air balloons. At 5.30am there were ladies dressed up to the nines and made up within an inch of their lives primed to get that photo. I’d just about managed to crawl out of bed spotting a Boris Johnson barnet. There were even couples there getting their wedding photos done. Much time was spent crafting the right image and then they were pretty much out of there. Don’t get me wrong, it’s hard not to take photos, I took plenty myself but that wasn’t my motivation for visiting. I may be wrong but I felt many people were more interested the photo than the moment itself.

In the town there was a Turkish carpet shop that charged £8 for you to take a photo there. I guess this had happened as so many people were coming to get their photo taken for social media and never buying any carpets!

UNESCO world heritage site

Unsurprisingly the area of Cappadocia is listed with UNESCO. Whilst some of the more significant cave dwellings and stone churches are protected in the open air museum a lot of them are not. I felt tourism here was not entirely sympathetic to the integrity of the region. One of the areas in the rose/red valley had been made a playground for ATVs (quad bikes) and motorbikes. ATV tours were led out around the area with up to about 20 in a group, although there were hundreds around at times. Besides the racket they make and the dust they kick up they’ve permanently changed the landscape with all the tracks they make.

It was also sad to see the amount of litter everywhere. There were no apparent restrictions on where you could or couldn’t go and not many set paths. People clearly went out drinking and hung out in the caves. I don’t think I came across a cave that didn’t have litter in it or smell of wee!

Given the uniqueness of the place it was a shame not more is done to look after it.

Göreme

Cave dwellings

My own cave dwelling

Night time view from the hostel roof terrace. I did not get bored of spending time there.

Thoughts on Istanbul

Henry

Istanbul marked a significant milestone on my journey as I’d made it to the edge of Europe and was shortly to leave the continent behind as I pushed on into Asia. Technically I made multiple forays into Asia during my stay as I nipped back and forth across the Bosphorus both by train and on foot.

Istanbul is vast. I barely scratched the surface and focused most of my efforts on the European side in the ‘old city’ where I did see quite a bit.

My first experience of Istanbul, besides arriving with no clue about where I was or where to go was walking down to see the famous Blue Mosque (Sultan Ahmed Mosque) which was very near my first hostel. The Mosque is currently under construction and so has scaffolding up the side. I wandered around and hadn’t realised there was another enormous Mosque, The Hagia Sophia nearby. I found myself stood in a park between the two gazing up at them when the call to prayer started, emanating from huge loud speakers. It’s quite something. It’s extremely loud, and all the mosques go at the same time and so it echoes around the city in a discordant non-harmony. I found it weirdly moving when coupled with the spectacle of these enormous monuments.

One of the thing you immediately notice is how the Mosques dominate the skyline of the city, towering above all other buildings. This is something you can see on both sides of the Bosphorus, although further into the Asian side there are a lot of impressive sky scrapers.

I spent a lot of time just walking around the city, exploring and soaking it up. You see so much more on foot.

I actually didn’t visit either of the aforementioned Mosques and instead opted to see the Süleymaniye mosque instead, in part because it was free! (Pics below).

I went to the Topkapı Palace although having seen my fair share of national monuments I’m not sure it was worth the £10 to get in. There were too many people and not enough to see that I found interesting. Far better was the Archaeological museum which housed an impressive collection of ancient artefacts spanning several historical periods dating back to 2500 BC. They seemed to have so much that there was a literal dumping ground for artefacts that didn’t make the museums and even when you visited the toilets there were a load of unmarked archaeological finds littering the corridors. The other place I really enjoyed was the Basilica Cistern.

The food in Turkey came as welcome break from the previous stodge. Whilst still very meat and carb orientated I finally experienced the introduction of vegetables! The cuisine was a lot more varied and I ate very well.

Whilst I enjoyed the city, by the end I was keen to escape. I’d had my fill of cities, especially being in such a busy, hectic and enormous one like Istanbul.

Hagia Sofia Mosque

Grand Bazaar

Balat

A neighbourhood in Istanbul, formerly the Jewish quarter it think. An instagram paradise:

Istanbul by night

The Süleymaniye Mosque

The archaeological museum

What on Earth was going on here??

Looking to Asia from Europe

Fin

Badger?

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Arriving into Sofia late, I sought out my hostel and crashed for the night and the next day I went on the free tour. A short while into the tour, our guide was telling us that the national animal of Bulgaria was the Lion, referencing its repeated use in the architecture. He then asked us to say where we were from and what our national animal was. Of course I was asked first. Put on the spot and under pressure I found myself saying ‘I’m from England and our national animal is the badger!’ Not because I thought this was so but in a poorly judged attempt at a joke. I had however, in the moment, been dispossessed of the faculty of humour. I wish I’d said Boris Johnson. Needless to say no laughs and I think most of the international group now believes this to be a fact.

Thankfully, there was a British couple in the crowd who when it was their turn backed me up with by also declaring badger our national animal, further cementing the lie. I appreciated the solidarity and this later served as an ice breaker and I got chatting to Nick and Briony who it turns out had also just quit their jobs and were travelling east on a very similar trajectory to myself. This was their day one and so we went for a beer to talk about our travels.

We parted ways when I had to move from my hostel and go to buy train tickets but I ended up walking past them an hour or two later in a restaurant so I joined them for some further liquid refreshments before I staggered back to my hotel. The following day I managed to also walk into the same coffee shop as them which is good going for what is a fairly big city. Hopefully they didn’t think I was stalking them. I’ve a feeling our paths will cross again on the next stage of the journey….

I really enjoyed Sofia overall. Much more to see than I had imagined and I was particular impressed by the many ancient ruins that had been excavated and turned into open museums through which you have to pass to traverse the centre of the city.

A few highlights of Sofia:

The opera House

Old Roman church

Palace of Justice

Old Turkish baths

Some of the many Roman ruins from the old city that are now open museums around the city

Traditional outfit I wish I’d bought. Can’t remember the name but you’re supposed to hang a load of bells off it to essentially scare people

The local teenagers are obsessed with K-pop (Korean pop music) apparently. They get together and practice their dance routines in public.

Beograd

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Arriving in Belgrade early in the morning I went to my Hostel, the ‘Hostel Hedonists’ which all seemed very chilled out and relaxed. I dumped my stuff and engaged in my usual routine of going off to do the ‘Free’ tour. I find this gives me a good feel for the city and is a nice starting point for later exploration. I hadn’t realised what a large city Belgrade is and the centre is much like any modern European city. There is some interesting architecture dotted about with influence from Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian empires as well as some traditional Serbian buildings and older Roman ruins. That being said as the city has been razed to the ground so many times in the past there’s not all that much to see.

Exhausted from my overnight train experience, I spent the afternoon relaxing in the garden of the Hostel making the most of the WiFi. There were a large amount of Brits staying there which was a change as I’d barely met any yet. Unfortunately, there were a couple of real specimens. One over-confident public school ‘lad’ who I imagine wasn’t much older than 21 spent the whole afternoon in the garden loudly phoning his various mates and family members. I wish I could convey the embarrassing nature of his conversations. I was close to recording him at one point. He blabbered on about all sorts of inane stuff and clearly had a very high opinion of himself. Every sentence he uttered ended with the word ‘dank’. The Oxford dictionary defines this as “unpleasantly damp and cold“, although I believe he was using the colloquial version which The Urban Dictionary defines as “Another way of saying COOL or AWESOME TO THE MAX“. I dare say he could work on expanding his vocabulary.

There were thankfully some more tolerable people staying there and I did meet some interesting people. Following a barbecue there was a little party in the hostel before everyone was heading out to the Belgrade beer festival. Deciding this wasn’t my sort of crowd and following a lengthy and heated debate with a Polish man about gun control I opted for an early night.

The next day I checked into a nice hotel as I needed a bit of a comfort and some privacy after a month of living in dormitories. Before checkin I decided to visit the Serbian Museum of History which was excellent, apart from skipping out any 20th century history which I most interested in finding out about. When I finally got to the hotel I realised that I’d left my small rucksack with my DSLR camera and most of my valuables at the museum! A slightly heart stopping moment but thankfully I later recovered it with ease and without panic.

Later in the day I had to buy tickets for the train to Sofia which involved an hour long trek across Belgrade in the heat to Belgrade Centar train station. Not the prettiest of stations I’ve ever visited.

It wasn’t a very scenic route either. Once there and to my great frustration the ladies in the office told me to buy the tickets at the departure station (Topcider) the next morning before getting the train. I had to point out that I’d walked for an hour to get there and that I was very much going to purchase them then and there.

It wouldn’t have been a decent visit without checking out the city walls, my new favourite pastime. From the fortress and walls there were great views out to the confluence of the River Sava and the mighty Danube and you really got a feel for how much the city sprawled outwards.

Statue of ‘Victor’ installed following the First World War but intended to celebrate victory from the Ottomans (I think). He was considered to be too indecent to go in the city centre as he may corrupt the young women of the city. More likely make the men insecure.

The confluence

As I was coming to the end of my time in the Balkans I thought it only proper to have one last meal of Çevapi in the evening. The restaurant was a little dubious with some interesting options on the menu. They also kept a managerie of small animals inside including rabbits and various rodents. Not exactly what you’re really looking for in a restaurant. What I got was a and over-priced and overcooked meal but with all the walking I was hungry enough that it didn’t matter.

Night train to Belgrade

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I took the sleeper train from Podgorica in Montenegro to Belgrade Im Serbia. In large part my reason for doing this was that I couldn’t stomach another long bus journey and I also would then be able to take trains all the way to Georgia.

When booking the train there weren’t any places left in the sleeper cabins, only seated. There was a day train but I impulsively bought a seat on the overnight train instead thinking I would save the cost of a night’s accommodation. This turned out to be a poor decision. What unfolded was my most crazy journey so far.

Boarding

Taking a train is not inherently a difficult task, nor should it be daunting. When you’re on your own in foreign lands, don’t speak any of the local language and are the only non-native waiting to get on the train it can feel so however. Mainly because you don’t know what you’re walking into.

The train arrived.

I managed to get a guard to point me in the right direction from the platform and then spotted my carriage and got on. There were lots of people on the platform and it was a bit of a scrum. The train was already packed and upon reaching my seat which I’d paid €3 to reserve there was a large grumpy man parked there. I tried to show my ticket and gesture but was quickly ushered down the aisle by the irritated people behind me. It was clearly a free-for-all and so I walked further down and managed to bag a seat next to another enormous grumpy man who didn’t seem pleased to have me next to him. He insisted on having his short stocky legs fully spread encroaching on a good deal of my leg room. I decided it best to just let this go as he was a stern and serious looking gentleman.

This photo doesn’t really show the full extent of the situation (I was a little worried he’d see me take the photo) but I had to sit at an awkward angle for most of the journey.

Once seated, some people were trying to enforce their seat reservations. Arguments were erupting everywhere. It was chaos. I thought that maybe I should have tried harder to sit my reserved seat and I was now waiting for someone to come and yell at me for being their seat. Aware of my inability to communicate this was an uncomfortable twenty minutes or so. Thankfully I came out of it unscathed. The train conductor arrived amid the fracas and made a half-hearted attempt to resolve the matter before giving up and telling everyone to sort it out themselves, at least that was my interpretation. It did eventually die down and the seats were filled. The train departed at 8.10pm

The train, empty

The toilet party

The area in between the carriages where the toilets were quickly became a smoking area despite the no smoking signs. The automated sliding door kept opening due to the sensor and so the whole place stank of smoke. By 9pm, this area was starting to fill up and people were drinking and chain-smoking in there. This was about 15ft from my seat. By 10pm after some rushing back and forth, a wireless speaker emerged, and the space then effectively became a temporary bar/nightclub where an increasing number of people were joining. The music was terrible. Some sort of high tempo, local ballads. By midnight, the music was blaring, there was dancing and the singing had started the volume was getting much louder. The door sheltered us from a lot of the sound, but every time it opened, which was often we got a fresh blast of stale smoke, music, singing and shouting. Between me and the door were two families with several very young children. The parents seemed to put up with it pretty much although one of the dads tried in vain to get them to keep the door shut. The children occasionally woke and burst into tears. One child who must have not been more than one was quite sick and had a rough time.

In the four hours whilst this was going on we made two stops for the Montenegro and Serbia border agents to board the train which took about an hour each. This didn’t deter the revellers who partied on. When the stern looking squad of Serbian Border police finally reached me on the second stop and checked my passport I heard one of them say ‘UK!….Brexit’ and then laughed.

The Drunkard

Somewhere in the middle of all this, a couple of hours into the journey, a young chap appeared in the carriage, heavily intoxicated swigging from what looked like a medicine bottle. You have to imagine how an Orang Utan walks when it’s on two feet. This is how I would describe his attempt at getting down the aisle. In fact, it would be more accurate to say that he fell down the carriage, although in truth he never actually hit the ground. This caused much amusement to everyone including the children.

He was closely examining the luggage in the overhead storage compartments as he stumbled along. I think he’d either lost his bag, or more likely was lost himself and didn’t know where to return to. He then started shouting and starting loud arguments with anyone he could. He disappeared and then returned wearing glasses but this sadly did not help him in his task. He continued to roam up and down the train for a good few hours, with intermittent outbursts, occasionally being berated by the conductors. I don’t know if he ever found what he was looking for.

Rave

By 1am, there was a full on rave taking place at the end of the carriage and it showed no sign of letting up. The train guard had a couple of hours before told them to stop but when they didn’t he just opted to make friends with them. I can say I wasn’t feeling great about my prospects of any sleep at this point but I somehow managed to eventually drift off around 2.30am. My sleep was regularly interrupted by pains in my neck and back due the angle I had to sit at and a fear of falling asleep onto the large Balkan man beside me which I did do once.

Wild West

At 4.20am the man to my side woke me to leave his seat and it looked like he was leaving the train which he eventually did. This was an uplifting moment as I could now move to the window seat and attempt some proper sleep and the party had ceased. I did this until about 10 minutes later all hell broke loose.

The man in front of me suddenly leapt from his seat toward a young lady who had been drinking heavily with the revellers earlier. He grabbed her and was yelling. I can’t be sure, but from what I saw I think she was trying to take a blanket that had been placed over the young children who were asleep under it. Understandably he was not best pleased about this. She gave back as good as she got however. People were jumping out of the their seats and shouting at the top of their voices and holding each other back. It was mayhem. I had no idea what was being said but it wasn’t pleasantries which were being exchanged. The guards turned up and threatened for the police to be involved. I had to laugh at this point.

Things eventually settled down and I even got a little sleep before the train rolled into the station at 7am, only one hour late. It’s hard to know if the seating area on the sleeper train is always like this or whether I had rather rotten spot of bad luck. It certainly wasn’t a boring journey.

The train arrived at Topcider station which is an old station several miles out of the main city. You basically hop straight off the train and walk across the tracks to get out. Once out, I Immediately paid massively over the odds to get a taxi to take me straight to my hostel. I was quite happy to be ripped off in this instance.

Montenegro

Henry1 Comment

One of the most beautiful countries I’ve visited so far in terms of what I saw of the Landscape. I spent some time driving through the countryside on buses. I didn’t spend that long here though as I’m trying to make a push for Turkey and then Georgia where I plan to spend some time in the outdoors. No hugely entertaining stories but a summary.

Kotor

The Montenegro coast was stunning and Kotor far exceeded any expectations I had. Following the testing bus ride to get there I used my time for a bit of trip admin to catch up on the blog, sort photos and catch up with people.

I walked around the old town which is a walled fortress on the waterfront and also went for a hike up to the old city walls (love a good city wall). They’re quite high up in the cliffs and you can pay €8 to walk up them or do as I did and take a zig path up the near mountainside and the climb up a wooden ladder and through a window into the walls to get in for free.

I didn’t take any photos of the old town because it was too busy with tourists.

Having had such hot weather, running just hasn’t been possible but I managed my first little jog in a while by going along the waterfront of the bay in the evening. Great views but still very hot and sticky at 28°C! My Skye hand iPhone shot la don’t do it justice.

Podgorica

I pronounced this a different way each time I said it. I visited Montenegro’s capital for the convenience of taking a train. I’d heard it wasn’t all that exciting and it wasn’t. Just a small city with some shops and not much else to speak of.

I stayed at a hostel not far the train and bus stations. My instructions from the Hostel owner Miro were to go to the platform, turn left, and follow the tracks! Not something That coke naturally to a health and safety conscious Brit. I just has to stand out of the way if a train came.

Miro turned out to be a bit of a legend. A very dry, straight talking Montenegrin who did his very best to make you feel at home. Most anecdotes seemed to revolve around him telling us that Montenegrins are ‘very lazy’. He was also the social engineer and came around and coordinated everyone for a beer in the evening. I’d panned to go to Cetinje (Montenegro’s historical capital) the next day on my own on his suggestion. When I came down in the morning, he’d already gathered together Luke, a Parisian who hated Paris and Emma from Tasmania who was also taking a career break like me and basically thrust us together and told us we were off to Cetinje which turned out to be great. He then took us across the railway tracks for breakfast. Legend.

Once there we took a taxi up to Lovcen a peak at 1600m or so with what we were told was the world’s highest Mausoleum (unverified). Great views were had. The fresh mountain air felt good also.

This gentleman was posing for someone else but I shamelessly snuck a photo. I cannot say with any certainty but I assume this is a traditional Montenegrin outfit. He may also have just been off to a fancy dress party.

Cetinje wasn’t big but we also explored the city and checked out the ‘unusual’ former French embassy and a Monastery.

The embassy, now part of the national library I think

Part of the monastery