4th part: Durmitor, Piva, Tara

After a hearty breakfast prepared for us at the camp, we were able to set off today under a bright blue sky. Before that, the camp manager (Miso) wanted to explain a tour to us that we absolutely had to do. However, he was so relaxed that he first let us have a coffee, made phone calls, gave instructions to his employees, etc... (typical Balkan style) and so we started an hour later than planned. Basically, it was almost exactly the tour that we wanted to do today, but in the opposite direction, and he also pointed out a great viewpoint and a place where we could have coffee along the way. By the way, we really enjoyed the Turkish coffee in the Balkans, even though I initially missed my espresso, but after a short adjustment period, I didn't want to miss it anymore.

We first drove on small winding roads through the Durmitor National Park to reach the Piva Lake through tunnels carved into the stone. There were beautiful views and a very enjoyable route with gravel and animals on the road.

We then drove back up this route to get back to the Durmitor loop. After a hearty soup and a coffee, we enjoyed the view into the Susice Gorge and then went down to the Tara River on unpaved roads. (The Tara Gorge is the second deepest canyon in the world)

The off-road route winds down the gorge for 14km, and then we drove back up the same route. At the entrance, there is a ranger who charges a €3 toll, which is definitely worth it. It was a varied route that was not always easy to drive down, but still a lot of fun. The descent seemed endless, while the ascent unfortunately felt much shorter.

Back at the camp, we treated ourselves to the meat platter today (there are two dishes to choose from, meat platter or fish platter :) ), which was very delicious, but consisted of more meat than one should eat in a month according to any nutrition or health organization :D 

It was also very nice that when new guests arrived and received a welcome schnapps, we were also provided with one, because it wouldn't be fair for us to be excluded. :) 

By looking at the signs, it becomes clear again and again that these are multi-ethnic states. It gets even funnier when you get near the Chinese worker villages, which are currently building a highway through Montenegro (thanks to Chinese investors). Then there are additional signs with Chinese characters.