Attention bird lovers...

After the Bay of Kotor, we continue to the beaches of Montenegro. I expected pebble beaches, but not such a mass of concrete bunkers along the coast. One block follows the next. And construction continues at full speed. Apparently, there are plans for another hundred thousand guests in the near future.

And everyone wants to go to the sea. People lie close together, either comfortably on the not-so-cheap rental sunbeds or uncomfortably, even more crowded, but for free on the pebbles. The water is quite fresh for the first toe dip, but then provides the necessary cooling in the hot temperatures.

At the southern tip of Montenegro, there is even a sandy beach. It's logical that even more tourists are staying here. The campsites with creative names like 'Miami Beach' or 'Florida Beach' offer direct access to the beach and are geared towards an international audience in terms of language and gastronomy.

Then we continue to Lake Skadar, which, with its almost 370 km², is the largest lake in Southern Europe beside Lake Garda, and of which I had never heard before. One-third of it is in Albania, the majority in Montenegro. The small town of Virpazar, from where you take the obligatory boat tour into the national park of the lake, is cute and has a slightly Venetian feel due to the many boats. Contrary to the recommendation, we did not do our tour in the morning but at noon. Even though we may not have been able to admire all the natural wonders, the boat trip was simply breathtaking. Water, water lilies (which would have shown themselves with open blossoms in the morning), birds as far as the eye can see. I've never quite understood the fascination of ornithologists with birds. Now I have a little idea of how beautiful it must be to observe nature in the early morning hours and in complete peace, with only the chirping of birds. Larger birds spreading their wings to dry, others diving into the water, others swimming and curiously observing the activity. Let me tell you, there's a lot going on!

The next stop is Podgorica, the capital of Montenegro. Without having read much about it beforehand, I had the notion of a large, worth-visiting city. Other travelers had already told me beforehand that you don't need much time there to see the beautiful things. Well, they were right. The main attraction is a clock tower that is rather small and where children have water balloon fights in the evenings when the temperature is still well above 20 degrees even at nine o'clock. There is also a beautiful park with a monument (in honor of war victims), a huge shopping center that will soon have siblings, and the Millennium Bridge, which stands as a symbol of the country's economic upswing but is honestly not that special. However, there is a beautiful street where inviting restaurants and nice bars line up, so you can have a great time. If you had the desire for culture, you could have visited a series of museums and exhibitions.