Mountains of Montenegro

Dear Family and Friends,

We left Albania and crossed the border into Montenegro on day three.  We traveled through the mountains.  

Here is a picture from the bus window.  

Our first stop was the Moraca Monastery that sits in a valley of the beautiful rock mountains.  This is a medieval Serbian Orthodox monastery. It was founded in 1252 and the church behind the stone wall was completed that same year. 

We were given a tour inside the church but were not allowed to take pictures.  That is very unfortunate because the icons painted inside were magnificent.

Bells hanging in small building on the grounds.

This building is behind the church.  It is a working monastery until this day.  This is where the monks live and work.

They keep bees nearby.  I really loved the colorful bee hives.  I found that bright colored hives is typical in the Balkan countries.

After a visit we were back on the road.  I snapped this photo of a hay stack as we rapidly passed it.  Not a good picture because of the movement, but I was fascinated to see hay that was still stacked this way.

We drove through and stopped at Durmitor National Park.  This area was formed by glaciers and the canyons were deep.  Below is a picture of a bridge that crosses the canyon.

And here are a couple of happy tourists.  

We continued driving until we were out of the mountains and at the Adriatic coast.  On the next post I will share pictures of the town of Kotor, a medieval walled city.

Love,
Nancy