Visit to Montenegro - part 1

It has been almost 3 ½ years since my last visit to Tuz, a suburb of Podgoriça, capital of Montenegro, and I made it my business this year, while in Tirana, to revisit the many relatives (on my paternal side) that live there. They have been resident of that region for over a century. My grandparents had 8 children and my father was one of the youngest one. Currently, I have at least 4 generations of cousins in the area. Typical of Albanian hospitality, they always expect me to stay over for a while, but my visits, so far, have always been quite brief because, when I cross the Atlantic, the projects I am involved in require my continuous presence in Albania instead.

The car trip northward is now facilitated by better roads. My first trip in 1993, from Tirana to the northern city of Shkoder, took 3 ½ hours, while that distance now can be covered in just a bit over an hour. From there it takes less than half hour to reach the border of ‘Hane e Hotit’ with the newly independent country of Montenegro.

In 1993 I was the only person in sight at the dilapidated crossing station that employed only one man, behind a meager desk. Now this border post consists of several buildings on both sides, furnished with computers, and many uniformed controllers, and visas are no longer necessary. Lots of construction is ongoing there now to allow for more space for the large vehicular traffic, which delayed us about 20 minutes. The line up of international trucks and cars on both sides was impressive and vehicles had to be channeled into one lane to go through each way.

On my previous trips the hired car (with driver) that brought me to the border was not allowed to cross over due to lack of proper insurance for Montenegro. Now, anyone that needs such an insurance can buy it on the spot at an appropriate office, just before entering the country.

During this trip I was hosted by Albanian friends, two couples that own modern, sturdy cars, quite appropriate for mountainous terrain. The one I was riding in was imported from the US and was equipped with all amenities, such as Bose stereo music equipment stacked with cd’s in several languages, temperature controlled seats, sun roof, and mapping directional system. Very comfortable indeed to travel this way, although the price of gasoline in Europe is way above what’s in the States. I calculated it, and it was confirmed, at $7.00 a gallon!


One of the couples I traveled with

As done in the past, again my cousins insisted in meeting me at the border, where I switched cars. While I visited my relatives in Tuz, my friends proceeded to Podgoriça, where they ate and did some shopping. A huge lunch for me was prepared at one my cousin’s home (he’s is phys-ed teacher at the local middle school) and some other relatives came visiting while we were eating. Other people also dropped in, including someone I know from Michigan and a well known local painter that now lives in Germany.


the cousins in whose home I had lunch: parents of 4 children, 3 already married (of which 2 living abroad), and 1 grandchild


the youngest daughter - Nora - recently married with her husband, who owns a bar in town

I interrupted the lively chit chat a few hours later, when I was picked up by another cousin, Edi, a young lawyer who got married last August, so that I could visit his family and meet his young and very pretty wife, Marina. These newly weds live under the same roof of his family, as per tradition. Inside their very comfortable home, the youngest child was busy using with his play friends one of the two computers there.


Edi and his bride are on the left

This branch of relatives own extensive agricultural land sites and a large farm, right where my grandfather once lived, along the river Zeme. On the other side of the river there are enormous extensions of vineyards that, I am told, belong to the state, as seen in the photographs below.



This used to be the border between the older Albanian territory and the Ottoman occupied lands on the far side of the river. Many are the stories that recount some historical incidents along this border.


lots of greenery and trees are now hiding the remnants of the stone house (in the center) that belonged to my paternal grandfather
the state vineyards are in the background, as far as the eye can see

Toward evening I was reunited with my friends, who came to spend some time with my cousins, before we continued our trip throughout Montenegro. This was the first day of a very lovely weekend, the rest of which I’ll cover in part 2 soon.