If you love train travel, then you must arrive in Montenegro from Serbia on the rather famous Belgrade to Bar train. This is the train line that Tito commissioned in 1976. His trademark blue carriages were used to conduct meetings with officials from the Yugoslavian countries as well as heads of state from foreign countries. For special events today, Serbian Rail will attach a blue carriage or two so people can thunder along in Tito style.
Two trains operate on this route; a day train and a night train. We took the day train which departed at 9am from Topcider station and offered comfortable second class carriages.
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It’s the landscape that seals the deal for this train trip. There is a visual overload of mountains, valleys, gorges and villages as the train climbs to a height of 1032 metres and passes through 254 tunnels and over 435 bridges. One tunnel is 6 kms long and a very small part of the track dips into Bosnia. It’s a remarkable feat of engineering across the mountains and for 21 euros, it makes good economic sense to ride this train.
After 9 quite comfortable hours, we alighted at Podgorica, capital of Montenegro, a couple of hours before Bar.
The scenery from the train was superb.
We stayed one night in Podgorica (should have stayed longer) and next morning we were on a bus bound for Kotor. Medieval Kotor is a walled town and entry is through the gates. It’s a very pleasant mix of churches, accommodation, cafes, shops and wine bars that feed off cobbled alleys.
Outside the Old Town are beaches and long walks around the bays that lead to beautiful villages.
Perast is a beautiful village that is connected to Kotor by a local bus. With just one main street and a number of churches and palazzos, it’s quite grand. Here, we spent the day having a slow lunch and swimming before making our way back to Kotor. The feature photo at the top of this blog is Perast.
The climb to Kotor Fortress is popular despite 1320 steps. Surprisingly, it’s doable because the steps are in good condition. The walk there and back should take 2 hours. I dragged the chain and took 3 hours – no need to hasten the experience when the views at every step are stunning.
We are leaving Montenegro tomorrow and heading to Croatia to visit Dubrovnik and Korcula Island. From there we’ll venture into Bosnia and then return to Croatia.
Go and See 