Towards mountains

The Black Lake

One of the few places we knew in Montenegro before going there was Durmitor, a big mountainous national park in northwestern Montenegro. The pictures we saw and the stories we read made it at least my number one place to visit in the country, and in the end Durmitor became the place that we'd always remember first when thinking about Montenegro.

The bus trip from Herceg Novi to Žabljak took about five hours and offered beautiful sceneries almost all the way. Žabljak is the closest town to the national park, and you can get pretty much anything you need from there, including hiking gear and food. At an altitude of 1456 meters Žabljak is also the highest town in the Balkans. There would have been some hotels available in the town, but of course we wanted to use our tent instead. The weather was perfect when we arrived, and it didn't take too long for us to find a nice camping site with a great view to the mountains nearby.

The tooth-shaped mountain

During our first day we didn't do much except for visiting the beautiful Black Lake right next to Žabljak, but already on our second day we headed for the mountains and especially for an ice cave some hours away from the lake. The climb wasn't anything more than a strenous walk, but it offered great views to the mountains around. The green hills, trees and mountains all around Durmitor are something really unique and something everyone should see at least once in their lifetime. Just before reaching the ice cave there was a short section where we had to use our hands to get up, but it wasn't anything too difficult or dangerous.

The cave itself lies under a big mountain that resembles a huge tooth at least in my opinion :). The entrance to the cave was steeper than I had expected, and I had to kick footholds in the tough snow on the way down. Inna thought that it was better to admire the icy stalacmites from above and didn't come down at all :). The cave system wasn't anything too big, but it was great to visit it anyway, and it's always hilarious to find ice and snow in the middle of the summer.

Climbing back up from the cave felt a lot safer than going down, and after a short rest near the entrance we started descending back to the Black Lake and to our camp. It was already getting dark before we reached the lake and I've never seen Inna hiking as fast as she did that day (She doesn't appreciate dark woods that much :). She even offered to carry my backpack because I was a bit slow because of a knee problem of mine! Motivation is a miraculous thing!