John Edward Cooper’s Notes

DAY 7 - OSTROG MONASTERY & LAKE SKADAR


Ostrog Monastery

This morning we drive to the miraculous Ostrog Monastery, set into a sheer elevation of the Ostroška Greda rock, some 900 metres above the verdant Zeta Valley.

Lake Skadar is our destination for the afternoon: Home to half of Europe’s population of endangered Dalmatian pelicans, we will take a boat trip.

This evening, we enjoy our final dinner in the hotel.[i]

[i] This was the itinerary that tour manager Andrew had posted:

Day 7 - 08.30 Depart for Ostrog Monastery and Skadar Lake
We head for the remarkable Ostrog Monastery this morning, seeing some of Montenegro’s central region en route. After, we will head for Virpazar, for a boat trip on Lake Skadar. Bear in mind that it may be more breezy out on the lake than it is on terra firma. Return to hotel at 5.30pm approx. Dinner is included this evening.

Janet woke me, 6.44am. Showered,…[etc.]. I had just cornflakes at breakfast; I couldn’t face anything else. Janet recalled, “There are three waitresses in the restaurant: I think they are sisters who are from the village near the monastery we’ll be visiting later. We have this running ‘thing’: they say I look just like their good friend Jela ([John] is ‘Dačo’,[ii] Jela’s husband). They call us Jela and Dačo. They are lovely. The ‘main’ sister was elsewhere this morning, so I gave one of the others a note of our names. I hope we see them tomorrow so we can give them a hug before leaving.”

[ii] Pet-form of Daniel.

Back up in the room, I wrote the postcard to Chris.




Wednesday 13 September 2023 08:02:02
Postcard to Chris

I’ve already mentioned the many, many house martins to be seen, flying around in the environs of the hotel. This morning, two landed in the corner of a recess under the roof of our balcony, i.e. a recess in the underside of the balcony of the room above ours. Brown stains in that corner suggested that a house martins’ nest had previously been there, removed, I assume, by the hotel staff; and black blobs suggested the makings of another one. But wasn’t this the season when house martins would be migrating?


Wednesday 13 September 2023 08:11:54
House martins under the balcony roof

Before our 8.30am departure, I nipped down the path, just by where the coach was waiting, the short distance to the post office that we’d previously noticed as being there, and posted the postcard in the yellow box. (It’s round the corner from the building shown in photos “18:59:48” and “19:00:16” taken on Friday 8 September 2023, out of shot to the right.) “It was already hot and sunny,” Janet wrote.


Our starting point and places visited today, as plotted by Google Maps “Directions”
(Click on image to enlarge.)


Wednesday 13 September 2023 09:27:18
Views from the coach


Wednesday 13 September 2023 09:32:24
Views from the coach

I made some notes as Andrew spoke en route: about arrangements for tomorrow—

Manchester group
Leave 9am

—and when he was giving some of the history of the region, the break-up of the former Yugoslavia after Tito died; all I wrote about that was:

Tito d.
May 1980

At a village that I later found out to be called Bogetići, we had a comfort and refreshment stop—


Wednesday 13 September 2023 10:34:02
A stop for refreshments at Bogetići


Wednesday 13 September 2023 10:46:38
A stop for refreshments at Bogetići


Wednesday 13 September 2023 10:49:36
Bogetići

—before transferring to a small convoy of minibuses for the trip up the narrow road with many zigzags to the monastery.


Wednesday 13 September 2023 10:52:56
Boarding a minibus at Bogetići


Wednesday 13 September 2023 10:59:14
Aboard the minibus


Wednesday 13 September 2023 11:02:38
Views from the minibus


Wednesday 13 September 2023 11:07:26
Views from the minibus


Wednesday 13 September 2023 11:07:32
Views from the minibus


Wednesday 13 September 2023 11:10:40
Views from the minibus

“I was beginning to struggle,” Janet wrote. “I’d grazed both elbows and my knee when I fell last night: also, both hands. I must have pulled a muscle or something at the back of my left leg because I was limping. It was painful.” About the monastery, she wrote, “It was very impressive. I was surprised by how hot it was up there. It was very busy and took ages for us to reach the places of interest. I did not go in the room where St. Basil’s bones are as I knew I’d have claustrophobia. I also gave the bell tower a miss ([John] went) as steps were a real challenge today.”


Wednesday 13 September 2023 11:28:06
Ostrog Monastery: entrance


Wednesday 13 September 2023 11:28:38
Ostrog Monastery: entrance


Wednesday 13 September 2023 11:28:58
Ostrog Monastery: lower church


Wednesday 13 September 2023 11:29:58
Ostrog Monastery: lower church


Wednesday 13 September 2023 11:31:10
Ostrog Monastery: upper church


Wednesday 13 September 2023 11:35:02
Ostrog Monastery: waiting to visit the upper church


Wednesday 13 September 2023 11:36:54
Ostrog Monastery: waiting to visit the upper church


Wednesday 13 September 2023 11:37:36
Ostrog Monastery: waiting to visit the upper church


Wednesday 13 September 2023 11:42:54
Ostrog Monastery


Wednesday 13 September 2023 11:44:32
Ostrog Monastery: waiting to visit the upper church


Wednesday 13 September 2023 11:47:18
Ostrog Monastery: waiting to visit the upper church, specifically relics in this room

I think that one of the two rooms which I visited that contained relics housed those of St. Basil of Ostrog. I can’t remember what the interiors of these rooms looked like because what always pisses me off in these places occurred: photography was not allowed. In one of the rooms there was an unmarked and hazardous step down, but when one of the party warned those following her of it, the black-costumed hypocrite keeping order in the room shushed her. Damn him!


Wednesday 13 September 2023 11:50:24
Ostrog Monastery: upper church


Wednesday 13 September 2023 11:50:52
Ostrog Monastery: upper church


Wednesday 13 September 2023 11:52:46
Ostrog Monastery: upper church


Wednesday 13 September 2023 11:53:10
Ostrog Monastery: upper church


Wednesday 13 September 2023 11:53:14
Ostrog Monastery: upper church


Wednesday 13 September 2023 11:53:20
Ostrog Monastery: upper church


Wednesday 13 September 2023 11:53:38
Ostrog Monastery: upper church


Wednesday 13 September 2023 11:54:04
Ostrog Monastery: view of the Bjelopavlići plain


Wednesday 13 September 2023 11:55:32
Ostrog Monastery: upper church, more relics


Wednesday 13 September 2023 11:56:14
Ostrog Monastery: upper church


Wednesday 13 September 2023 11:59:48
Ostrog Monastery: upper church

Janet hadn’t been with me for most of this visit, and when I went through the entrance/exit arch, for several minutes I could see neither her nor anyone else I recognised, which caused me anxiety and doubt.


Wednesday 13 September 2023 12:23:28
Convoy of minibuses

Back at Bogetići, we transferred back to the coach and continued our tour.


Wednesday 13 September 2023 12:55:22
Back at Bogetići, about to board the coach

The parking place on the outskirts of Virpazar seemed quite a long walk from the village. Before we would board a boat there for a cruise on Lake Skadar, there’d be free time; so before we arrived, Andrew gave instructions, which I scribbled down:

Gather by Pelican [sic], 3pm
Pelican round to the
right English pub

On arrival, we: went down from the parking place to a river, the Orahovštica, a left tributary of the Crmnica (the significance of this latter will become plain soon);—


Wednesday 13 September 2023 14:10:52
Proceeding from the parking place into Virpazar village


Wednesday 13 September 2023 14:11:24
Proceeding from the parking place into Virpazar village

—turned left along its bank, under a bridge carrying the main road and the Bar–Beograd railway;—


Wednesday 13 September 2023 14:12:46
Proceeding from the parking place into Virpazar village

—went up its bank and then back across it over a bridge;—


Wednesday 13 September 2023 14:13:14
Proceeding from the parking place into Virpazar village


Wednesday 13 September 2023 14:14:08
Proceeding from the parking place into Virpazar village

—and after a short way along the main street parted company at the main square Trg Ustanka. On the near right corner of this was the hotel Andrew had referred to, the “Pelikan” [sic], and next door but one to it was an establishment called “Virski Pub”, which perhaps was the “English[-style] pub” that Andrew had referred to. To this, Janet and I repaired. “We went for a drink,” Janet wrote. “Neither of us had any appetite; I’d struggled to eat my breakfast. I had to force it down.”


Wednesday 13 September 2023 14:15:40
Virski Pub, Virpazar


Wednesday 13 September 2023 14:17:02
Virski Pub, Virpazar


Wednesday 13 September 2023 14:19:28
Refreshments at Virski Pub, Virpazar


Wednesday 13 September 2023 14:21:28
Refreshments at Virski Pub, Virpazar


Wednesday 13 September 2023 14:45:34
Virski Pub, Virpazar


Wednesday 13 September 2023 14:46:34
Virski Pub, Virpazar

At 3 o’clock, we reconvened and continued along the main street, crossing the bridge over the Crmnica river and turning left. Along there was an information board, and steps down to a quay, where we boarded a boat. “More steps, ramps, slopes, etc.,” Janet commented.
 It was just over a mile from there that the river gave way to the open water of Lake Skadar.


Wednesday 13 September 2023 15:03:44
Virpazar: proceeding to the quay on the Crmnica river


Wednesday 13 September 2023 15:04:44
Virpazar: looking south up the Crmnica river


Wednesday 13 September 2023 15:05:22
Virpazar: looking north-east down the Crmnica river


Wednesday 13 September 2023 15:09:16
Virpazar: map of the region


Wednesday 13 September 2023 15:09:26
Virpazar: map of the region
(Click on the image to enlarge.)


Wednesday 13 September 2023 15:12:12
Virpazar: proceeding to the quay on the Crmnica river


Wednesday 13 September 2023 15:12:46
Lake Skadar boat trip: boarding the boat


Wednesday 13 September 2023 15:15:30
Lake Skadar boat trip


Wednesday 13 September 2023 15:16:46
Lake Skadar boat trip: Crmnica river


Wednesday 13 September 2023 15:16:58
Lake Skadar boat trip: Crmnica river


Wednesday 13 September 2023 15:19:38
Lake Skadar boat trip: Crmnica river


Wednesday 13 September 2023 15:20:04
Lake Skadar boat trip: Crmnica river


Wednesday 13 September 2023 15:24:28
Lake Skadar boat trip


Wednesday 13 September 2023 15:26:42
Lake Skadar boat trip


Wednesday 13 September 2023 15:27:12
Lake Skadar boat trip


Wednesday 13 September 2023 15:28:00
Lake Skadar boat trip


Wednesday 13 September 2023 15:28:12
Lake Skadar boat trip


Wednesday 13 September 2023 15:33:20
Lake Skadar boat trip: bridge carrying the M-2 road, along which we’d come, and the Bar–Beograd railway


Wednesday 13 September 2023 15:35:18
Lake Skadar boat trip: bridge carrying the M-2 road, along which we’d come, and the Bar–Beograd railway

“I needed the loo,” Janet wrote, “and that was another challenge: quite comical really.” It was at the stern end of the boat (we were near the bow), and up some stairs.


Wednesday 13 September 2023 16:02:30
Lake Skadar boat trip


Wednesday 13 September 2023 16:02:38
Lake Skadar boat trip: bridge carrying the M-2 road, along which we’d come, and the Bar–Beograd railway

Before the trip ended there were doughnuts and a glass of rakija each. I was telling someone that pomace brandy — be it “grappa”, “rakija”, etc. — was my “poison of choice”. He asked my opinion of what we were given; it was neither better nor worse, but just exactly as I was expecting it to be. I had mine and Janet’s — and perhaps someone else’s, for Andrew expressed concern at the quantity I was imbibing, and Janet reassured him that it was nothing extraordinary. I think he must have perceived it as super-strong; but as far as I could tell, it was just the standard 40% a.b.v.


Wednesday 13 September 2023 16:13:32
Lake Skadar boat trip: cormorants


Wednesday 13 September 2023 16:19:36
Lake Skadar boat trip


Wednesday 13 September 2023 16:21:24
Lake Skadar boat trip


Wednesday 13 September 2023 16:24:58
Lake Skadar boat trip: approaching the quay on the Crmnica river at Virpazar


Wednesday 13 September 2023 16:25:10
Lake Skadar boat trip: approaching the quay on the Crmnica river at Virpazar


Wednesday 13 September 2023 16:25:44
Lake Skadar boat trip: approaching the quay on the Crmnica river at Virpazar


Wednesday 13 September 2023 16:29:58
Virpazar: proceeding across the bridge over the Crmnica river to the parking place


Wednesday 13 September 2023 16:32:06
Proceeding through Virpazar village to the parking place


Wednesday 13 September 2023 16:35:44
Proceeding from Virpazar village to the parking place


Wednesday 13 September 2023 16:36:02
Proceeding from Virpazar village to the parking place


Wednesday 13 September 2023 16:37:26
Proceeding from Virpazar village to the parking place


Wednesday 13 September 2023 16:37:48
Proceeding from Virpazar village to the parking place


Wednesday 13 September 2023 16:38:38
Rejoining the coach at the Virpazar parking place


Wednesday 13 September 2023 16:39:08
Nearby cattle

After we boarded the coach, Andrew addressed us who’d be flying from Tivat airport to Manchester tomorrow.

Manchester people
from Tivat
Check Departures
[for] delays before going airside

That was because there were no food or drink outlets airside at Tivat airport. The next thing I scribbled in my notebook was this:

Péage before long
tunnel 5km

“Péage” was a throw-back to our holiday in Provence, where there were many, many such toll barriers.


Wednesday 13 September 2023 16:49:02
Toll barrier of the Sozina Tunnel


Wednesday 13 September 2023 16:55:20
View from the coach

Next in my notes:

Got back ca.5.15pm
but I didn’t make
it without accident

For I was still suffering somewhat from diarrhoea. I lay on the bed; and when Janet woke me up at 7.10pm it thought it was tomorrow morning.
 Janet wrote, “We… were back in our hotel at ca.5.15pm. It had been a good day — despite my struggles. Home tomorrow, thank goodness. Just one more night to go then we’ll be back in our little house, our safe and happy place. [John] had a kip. He still has the runs: hope he’s OK soon. I organised my bag, my stuff for showering, etc., later, money, and updated this. At 7.30pm we left the hotel. It was a bit cool, so we went back for our jackets. We had a leisurely stroll, then arrived at Riva at 8pm. ‘Our’ table was waiting. It was already dark. [John] ordered an Aperol Spritz and I had a sparkling water. We were again given an ‘amuse-bouche’. As last night, I sampled a bit of each and [John] polished them off. [John] had minestrone then a Riva burger with battered onion rings, and a glass of red wine. I had a fresh tuna salad of tuna, mango, lettuce and rocket. I decided to have the dressing of Dijon mustard and citrus. Glad I did. It seemed an odd combination, but it worked. Delicious. I also had some bread.”


Wednesday 13 September 2023 20:18:06
Dinner at Hotel Riva, Petrovac


Wednesday 13 September 2023 20:26:40
Dinner at Hotel Riva, Petrovac


Wednesday 13 September 2023 20:39:52
Dinner at Hotel Riva, Petrovac


Wednesday 13 September 2023 21:02:56
Dinner at Hotel Riva, Petrovac


Wednesday 13 September 2023 21:03:34
Hotel Riva, Petrovac

“[John] shot off to check if ‘The Bleating Bastardo’ was performing (it was just after 9pm). I was tired and wanted to go to bed, but I didn’t get my hopes up.[iii] In the meantime, I ordered a rakija for [John], and I was again given a complimentary ‘cherry liqueur’. Of course, ‘The Bleating Bastardo’ was there. Hellfire! [John] had the rakija and liqueur, then ordered a coffee. We paid the bill and left at ca.9.45pm.[iv] I thanked the waiter for making us so welcome and for making our meals there memorable.”

[iii] If he was supposed to have an evening off on Monday, but didn’t, we wondered whether he’d changed the evening he would have off, and whether it might be this evening.
[iv] On the evidence below, it was a bit later than that.

Wednesday 13 September 2023 21:18:28
Dinner at Hotel Riva, Petrovac


Wednesday 13 September 2023 21:49:08
Dinner at Hotel Riva, Petrovac


Bill from Hotel Riva, printed “21:54:17”

“We wandered around, then returned to the hotel for 11pm.”


Wednesday 13 September 2023 22:14:30
View back from the west side of the bay, Petrovac


Wednesday 13 September 2023 22:15:00
View back from the west side of the bay, Petrovac, towards Hotel Riva and beyond it Hotel Ami Budva Petrovac

We were, I noted, “back in [the] hotel just before 11pm, and added that there was “no bastard”. While Janet was showering, etc., I transferred 96 photos from the camera’s SD card to “Documents” on the Samsung computer (23:17–23:20), then copied these files back to the SD card as a backup (23:21–23:22).… …shut down the computer (23:44) and got ready for bed.

[Thursday 14 September 2023]