Day 20: From Trebinje (Bosnia) to Kotor (Montenegro) (65 km, 750 vm)

I started my cycle today at 5:45. It was bit chilly outside but I didn’t put a wind breaker on since I knew that I had to climb quite soon. Shortly after I got out of Trebinje I turned left towards Montenegro. From there it was a 650 metre climb. Parts of it were very steep but since it was quite fresh outside it didn’t feel to bad. Another good thing about this road was that there was hardly any traffic. After a longer flat stretch and another very steep climb I got to the Bosnian border control. The two police woman and the man that checked my passport were probably the most friendly boarder control I have ever met. I chatted with them for a while about my trip before I went on.

From the Bosnian border control it was another good kilometre uphill towards the Montenegro control. Once I got there I finally got my picture with a nice and big country sign. This point marked a very special stage in my trip as I had never been to Montenegro before hence leaving known territory. I was a bit nerveous as well. I heard stories about reckless drivers but my concerns were ill-founded. The cars weren’t going to fast and mostly passed me with quite some distance. So all good.

After a rapid downhill of about 300 metres all of a sudden I got a stunning view of the bay of Kotor which is also referred to as the southernmost fjord in Europe. Here the Adriatic sea reaches into the mainland and stretches out with two long arms parallel to the sea. The moutaintains around it seem unbelievably high thus creating a very dramatic and beautiful scenery. I took quite some picture with and without my bike, rested a bit and enjoyed the view before I decended to Herceg Novi.

I was surprised how touristic this whole area is. All along the bay there are apartments and hotels. This area is mainly popular with eastern European contries and Russian tourists but you meet the occational German here as well. I cycled along the bay for a few kilometres and then at a narrow part of the bay before it opens up into the two long fjord arms took the ferry across to the other side. Even though I wanted to cycle for a bit longer – it was not even 11 yet – I decided to stay around Kotor at the end of the Fjord. This place was just too beautiful to just cycle by. Also cycling on would have meant an acent of about 1200 metres. I’ll keep that for tomorrow morning.

I found a nice little place right shortly before the town of Kotor and right at little beach where I had a swim followed by an early afternoon nap.

So tomorrow I will most likely cycle towards lake Skadar, the biggest lake on the Balkan peninsula. Tomorrow will also mean lots of climbing. I better get some more carbs in me.