11 MONTENEGRO, DRIVING THROUGH ALBANIA AND ARRIVING IN GREECE
Having suffered in the heat whilst stuck in border-crossing traffic for over two hours to enter Montenegro, we finally made it in. Upon entering, we realised that as Montenegro is not an EU member, the conditions of our phone contracts did not apply, and instead, extortionate chargers were offered if we did want to use any data or texts. The issue was that we had not done much research before arriving in Montenegro, and weren’t quite sure where we were going and more specifically, how we were to get there. Google Maps has been our rock throughout the trip, so we had a sudden Gen-Z panic discovering we actually needed to plan ahead using WIFI. I know, how ridiculous.
We therefore decided to stay at a campsite in the bay of Kotor on our first night in order to do some planning. Unfortunately I did not get a picture of the campsite, but we were right on the seafront (which, in the bay felt more like a lake-front) with the most amazing view of the mountains. We went for some pizzas at a nearby restaurant and relaxed, attempting to use the temperamental campsite WIFI to plan the next few days.
Whilst in Montenegro, we did what seemed to be the route of every other tourist because the traffic throughout the country was slow and frequently standstill. Forget motorways, duel-carriageways don’t even exist in Montenegro. I think social media platforms like Tik-Tok have really boosted the tourism industry in countries like Montenegro, which, don’t get me wrong, is brilliant. But I simply don’t think it’s got the infrastructure to support the significant amount of people now visiting. However, I also believe that by implementing things like motorways, giant carparks, hotels, it’s charm would dwindle which is also not what you want. So all I’ve really done here is point out a problem and not offered any solution; a hobby of mine according to Cam.
Anyway… we visited the medieval city of Kotor which was surrounded by mountains and sea, making it a really beautiful setting for it’s walled old-town. Amongst the abundance of narrow streets, there were small market shops and lots of live music, including one of the best jazz clarinettist I’d ever heard.
We also went to and camped at some incredible beaches in Montenegro; my favourite being Jaz beach, which was clean, had clear waters and an amazing view and whilst I know this is selfish, I think it’s a shame that Jaz beach is also the favourite beach of thousands of others because it was slightly too busy for my liking. Another impressive beach was just in front of another fortified town called Sveti Stefan (or sweaty Steffan as Cam and I liked to call it) and thankfully all the tourists did not take away from how beautiful the view was:
Following a lovely time in northern Montenegro, we headed down the coast as we were planning to cross Albania the following day to reach Greece. The journey to south Montenegro took us through some interesting places, and we witnessed quite an obvious decline in attractiveness the closer we got to Albania’s border - I think this is simply a result of fewer tourists and therefore perhaps less money in the area. We drove south of Uljinc, and camped on a beach not too dissimilar from Crosby beach (so pretty bad considering the beaches we had been to previously). We wanted to visit Uljinc but without Google Maps and having spent quite some time trying to find a carpark, we lost patience and just drove through. We slept awfully at the beach, mainly because it was incredibly hot and stuffy, but also because we didn’t feel 100% safe.
The following day, we did the big drive through Albania. Now, some people may be wondering (probably not): why didn’t we stop in Albania? Well, unlike Montenegro which isn’t an EU member but is included on the list of countries covered by my insurance, Albania is not. In fact, it is really quite difficult to find any insurance to drive through Albania. I think it could possibly be something to do with the fact they are by far the worst drivers of any country we have been to so far (without sounding too harsh). To be fair, I will acknowledge that they haven’t been dealt the best hand in terms of road layouts and obstacles. At one point, there were speed-bumps on a slip-road to join a duel carriageway, preventing us from generating any speed before joining. Bert’s 0-60mph was tested quite frequently as a result. Anyway, having bought day insurance for a hefty €50 from a tiny cabin at the border with Montenegro, we completed the drive in around 7 hours and despite a bit of standstill traffic around Tirana, it was a straightforward journey from top to bottom. Whilst I know no country should be judged based on the view from motorways/duel carriageways, from what we saw during our country-long drive, Albania appeared to need a bit of TLC, though there’s no doubt it will probably have some very nice areas that I hope to return to in the future.
Once in Greece, we headed straight to Cam’s uncle and auntie’s (Dale and Alecca) house on the outskirts of Ioannina, a city an hour south of the Albanian border. We were greeted with a very kind welcome and were spoiled with spaghetti bolognaise, a feta salad and wine (as well as intense political discussion about Welsh and Scottish independence). Dale has an impressive garden, with a vegetable patch growing aubergines, tomatoes, peppers, chillies and courgettes, as well as a small vineyard. We also fell in love with their dogs, Scott and Naru.
Over the next couple of days, we explored the beautiful centre of Ioannina where I tried my first authentic Greek gyros, and relaxed at Dale and Alecca’s, usually giving Scott and Naru too much attention. We also met Cam’s cousin Van and his fiancé, Sotiria who were both lovely!
We left Ioannina on Friday afternoon and headed to the coast for a few days. Our first destination was just north of Preveza to visit a beach/campsite where Cam has spent many happy summers. It was really nice to revisit the lovely area with him. In the evening, we set up camp on a beach spot we found on Park4night. At around 10pm, whilst we were watching a new Black Mirror episode, I notice blue flashing lights outside the van followed by a loud siren and a knock on the window. My immediate thought: we’re going to get handed a fine that I really can’t afford. After scrambling to look more presentable, we open the door to a man in a helmet kindly informing us that we were not allowed to camp on this particular beach due to an increased risk of forest fires, but that we can sleep a few miles up the road. He was very helpful and we subsequently followed his advice and headed up to another spot which was equally nice and right on the seafront.
In the morning, we went for a swim and spent the day driving around the east and south coast of the island of Lefkada - accessible via a swing bridge. We stopped off at Kamari beach which aside from the 3 km dirt road we took to get there, was a dream. The water was crystal clear and it was pretty quiet; a rarity on such a touristy island. We then visited the lovely town of Vasiliki where, without sharing too much information, I ran into some bowel problems which left us tied to a café for an hour. Thankfully the problem soon settled down - I felt a great deal better and even had an appetite, so we continued our island road trip to the Taverna Oasis to have souvlaki and another gyros! The food, especially the tzatziki was so good. And the view - even better.
Following our meal, we headed to possibly my new favourite camp spot of the trip (though I do say this every week) overlooking a beach called Paralia Gialos where we certainly had the most perfect sunset sitting on the beach. In fact, it was such a nice beach, we spent near-enough the whole following day lounging around taking frequent dips into the turquoise sea. Having reached a point where we were quite frankly, starving, we left Paralia Gialos to do a shop at Lidl where a touch of heatstroke hit us like a ton of bricks. We recovered by cooking lamb koftas with the sunset on Tsoukalades beach, situated on the north side of Lefkada - ending the week quite nicely.
SUMMARY
I now see why everyone bangs on about Greece. Having not even spent a full week here, I am already in love with the people, the food and especially the beaches. Even the air is cooler in the night, which is a real relief after suffering so badly in Croatia and Montenegro. I am slightly regretting perhaps not allowing for more time in Greece, but everything is easier in hindsight and it means that I have so much to look forward to when I return in the future! Join us next week where we continue our Greek journey! Once again, I appreciate the support and see you next week :)
