Our night in the Albanian kitchen converted to bedroom for four went fairly well and we were excited for the day’s adventure, which had been billed as a trek across an “idyllic meadow.”  Our guide, who had some unusual turns of phrase in English, explained we would pass several  “summer cottages.”  Being from Florida, I naturally assumed that meant the Albanian and Montenegron version of a beach house. But as you’ll see, such was not the case.

We started off about 9, first through the dark and gloomy woods we had trudged through before, encountering a steep uphill slog at the outset.  Then came what I can only call the Land of Berries — tiny wild strawberries, sweeter than store bought, blueberries on the cusp of ripeness. Later we tried a “dude,” a berry from a tree, similar to a blackberry.

We emerged from the berry bushes into the meadows which indeed lived up to their billing — an absolutely idyllic land of long grasses.   A rolling valley, dotted with the so-called summer cottages.  Not vacation homes at all, but small stone dwellings where farmers stayed in the summer to make cheese and yoghurt to bring to town to sell in the winter.  Each little house had a “cold” room, and the occupants took up the rest of the space, sometimes with livestock as well.

It felt as though I was gliding through the grasses, a steady warm wind at my back propelling me forward.  A farmer couple called over to us to offer free raki — there’s a strong host tradition in this area — and several partook despite the relatively early hour of 10 a.m.  Just beyond, and up another hill, we came upon another small dwelling, this time guarded by two mother pigs and their dozen or so very curious piglets.  They were absolutely the cleanest pigs I have ever seen.

This is the Christian part of Albania, and large crosses stood on top of several peaks, seemingly in the middle of nowhere.

Eventually it was back into the woods, followed by the descent.  We’d been warned it was long – and it was – about 1300 m. of altitude loss.  The trail down was nothing but loose rock, reminiscent of what we hiked coming down parts of Stok Kangri.  (See The Descent- Death March on Stok Kangri, India .) It was so hot and sunny that the glare on the rocks reflected back up on our faces. But persevere we did, and finally emerged into an almost alley at the edge of a small village, through some fields, under a grape arbor, and into an “end of trail” café set up by someone on their porch.

After some celebratory beers – this was the last full day of trekking – we piled into our van for the ride back through the gorge. I wasn’t by the window but those who were described it as hair-raising. I hadn’t realized before how high up and remote we had been.  After some hours, we crossed the border back into Montenegro. Unlike our on-foot crossings in the mountains – where not even a natural feature separated one country from the other – this one required quite a wait.

Our next stop was Lake Skadar. Having just been in the isolated beauty of deepest Albania, it was a shock to be in a place packed with hundreds of local tourists.  We made our way to the tiny town center where we stayed at the Pelican Hotel, named for a very rare sort of pelican that nests at the lake and that we didn’t see.  The smallness of the rooms was more than compensated for by the fact each had their own bathroom.  That night we ate fabulous local trout at the hotel restaurant, which was decorated with hats of all types.

After dinner some of us ventured out.  After narrowly avoiding a fight about to break out between some of the more rowdy tourists we ended up in a “handmade souvenir shop.”  The proprietress, who told us she didn’t like all the Chinese-made items being sold in Skadar, had turned her back room into a one woman factory where she made molds, baked her ceramic wares in a kiln, and even melted glass from old bottles to decorate them with.

The following morning instead of our own two feet we used a boat.  Lake Skadar is huge, 500 km or so wide, and is almost Florida-like, with a carpet of lily pads and fields of what looks like bamboo.  But the looming mountains on either side made it clear Florida it wasn’t.  Flocks of birds skimmed low on the water, and we stopped for a quick swim….some of us, A and N in particular, swam more than others!

Back in town it was a scramble to get back in the van, which was illegally parked. This resulted in the loss of daughter S’s backpack, hiking poles, and hiking boots, all of which fortunately caught up with us over the next couple of days, thanks to another tour group following along behind us.

We knew this was to be a busy day.  We drove to Cintje, the original capitol of Montenegro.  Unfortunately none of us found it overwhelmingly exciting, and we also parked right by yet another beer fest and music festival which was doing a very loud sound check. I felt like we’d been following the festival circuit.  There were some nice old Colonial buildings and we ended up at a good place for lunch with the unlikely name of “Scottish Academie” neither of whose food nor décor seemed to have anything to do with that part of the world. I had what must have been my tenth Greek salad.

From there we drove to the national park of Lovcen. The main activity there is to walk up several hundred steps (which by now felt like nothing) to the mausoleum of Peter II Petrovic Njegos – the 19th century unifying ruler of  Montenegro.   It turns out J must have been a descendant – or so he looked when he donned the costume available at the top!

We finished the day with a fairly easy 3 hour hike descending from the mausoleum through the dappled forest to arrive in Njegusi village.  It was mostly leafy trails with a few stony parts thrown in to keep us on our toes.  We eventually made it the cute little village, which turned out to be home to Montenegron prosciutto, cheese, and wine, all of in which we partook liberally. We stayed in little cottages that housed three people each.  The terrible mattresses (don’t ask) were made up for by the view out the window, waking up to the sound of farm animals, and the cheese!

Next up – our trek ends with stay in Kotor Bay.