My journey to Montenegro, Albania, Vienna, and Bratislava

[John]

Flew home last night after a 12 day vacation in Europe. Flew to Vienna to see a friend of mine, spent a weekend in Bratislava, then flew south to Belgrade, Montenegro, and northern Albania.

Vienna is a nice city, but it's a bit sterile in my opinion. A few photos from the Hapsburg hunting palace called Schonbrun.




Then while walking in the park I noticed an odd looking squirrel with pointy ears. Went for a photo, and the damn this jumped on my leg. LOL



Took the train to Bratislava and the weather could not have been more perfect. We primarily lounged around the city, and took some time to enjoy Zlat├¢ Ba┼¥ant and Budějovick├¢ Budvar.







Mmmm... Krušovice... Perfect ad photo IMO.



Grabbed a flight on JAT airlines to Podgorica in Montenegro. This Russian turboprop plane was in an interesting ride, but I survived. I can't begin to tell you some of the terrain we flew over... still a lot of snow in the mountains.



Went to the old city of Cetinje, which was pretty disappointing. There is an extremely high unemployment rate, so all everybody does is drive around this small town and honk at each other.

Nice.


Next day I hitched a minibus (primary intercity transportation) to Kotor on the coast. Kotor sits in a fjord at the end of a "bay". It's an old walled city with a citidel that rises about 1500 ft. up the mountain and was the one of the only cities not to fall to the Turks in the area. You can really just spend the entire day wandering the area and there are so many picturesque vantages.









My next stop was Ulcinj, the last significant town on the way to Albania. This was a North African slave trading post between the 15th and 18th Centuries...



Some odd fishing huts...



And my trusty Albanian driver Nehail...



Now many people ask why on earth I would want to go to Albania. Well, because it's there and it just opened it's borders to Westerners...

A few cultural observations. Albania is dirt poor, and is extremely dirty. It is the polar opposite of everything I have ever learned in my knowledge of Eastern Europe. Nodding your head means "no", shaking it means "yes". Saying "jo", which in many Slavic languages means "yes", actually means "no". The Albanian language is based off the ancient Illyrian ancestors who populated the area in the 7th century and is completely unique on its own.

Around 3PM, Shkadar goes into "siesta" mode, shops close, and power is shut off in the city. Around 7PM, everybody comes back out and walks around for several hours, or if they're driving, honking their horns. And not once did I see somebody eat in a restaurant. All you saw was men sitting, drinking beer or coffee, and hooting at the passing women. Bizarre place.

This is Razafa, an old Illyrian fortification on the confluence of three rivers at the base of Lake Shkadar (biggest lake in the Balkans). It was eventually taken over by the Ottoman empire in the 15th century and was still used until WWI.



Crumbling Ottoman neighborhoods in Shkadar...




Fishing for dinner at the lake...



I took a day trip to another small city south of Shkadar called Lezha. A view from the castle...



Returned to Montenegro and stopped at Virpazar, a few small town at the top of Lake Shkadar. I stayed with a random family (again), and the mother continued to ask me if I liked her jailbait daughter (who was pretty cute). It was pretty obvious to me that she wanted to marry her off... LOL. Anyways, an early evening view across the lake into the Albanian Alps.



Flew into Belgrade and walked around for a few hours during my break. It was a lot cleaner than I expected, with an awesome military museum that showcased a lot of WWI and WWII artillery.



A few boulevard shots.





Last but not least, we went to a FK Austria Bundesleague game just for the fussball hooligan experience.



Me a bit buzzed and happy... Yes, it's been shaved off... LOL



That's all for now... I have lots more photos, but don't really feel like uploading anymore.

[.RJ]

Awesome John :thumbup:

Next time I want to go!

[Dragon]

Looks really cool John, not my personal choice for a vacation, but glad you enjoyed yourself.

Oh and before Feersty gets in here and starts asking. . . . pics???

I stayed with a random family (again), and the mother continued to ask me if I liked her jailbait daughter (who was pretty cute). It was pretty obvious to me that she wanted to marry her off... LOL.

[John]

Looks really cool John, not my personal choice for a vacation, but glad you enjoyed yourself.

Oh and before Feersty gets in here and starts asking. . . . pics???

Haha, I knew that was going to come up. The cute daughter is on the left, and her non-English speaking friend in the middle (also attractive), and another friend of hers on the right (not cute whatsoever).

[.RJ]

So which one did you hook up with?

[John]

Haha, neither. I do have SOME standards, and hooking up with <18 year olds (although they said they were 18) is not my thing...

[.RJ]

*whistles*

*walks away*

[Feersty]

Great pics, but resize next time, the quality of the images is definitely amazing as well. Any problems getting around and not knowing the language?

[Feersty]

Anymore people pics?

[HAULN-SS]

They showed up fine on my widescreen...btw, that plane is an ATR...not too many of them in the US still, but you occaisionally find one... Here's an exerpt from a CFR air worthiness directive..the last couple sentences are the interesting ones...


SUMMARY: This amendment adopts a new airworthiness directive (AD), applicable to all Aerospatiale Model ATR-42 and ATR-72 series airplanes, that requires revising the Airplane Flight Manual (AFM) to modify the limitation that prohibits positioning the power levers below the flight idle stop during flight, and to provide a statement of the consequences of positioning the power levers below the flight idle stop during flight. This amendment is prompted by incidents and accidents involving airplanes equipped with turboprop engines in which the ground propeller beta range was used improperly during flight. The actions specified by this AD are intended to prevent loss of airplane controllability, or engine overspeed and consequent loss of engine power caused by the power levers being positioned below the flight idle stop while the airplane is in flight.

[BLINGMW]

wow, sweet trip! 8) Thanks for sharing

Nice trigger finger on the squirrel pic BTW, I think I would have tossed the camera and started flailing around like a little girl :lol:

[Mike]

Great pics, but resize next time, the quality of the images is definitely amazing as well. Any problems getting around and not knowing the language?

increase your resolution next time.

awesome pics john, looks like an awesome trip.

[ScottyB]

i had to laugh when i saw that squirrel picture, that thing looks hilarious clinging to your leg, haha.

the scenery looks phenomenal. nice trip!

[Feersty]

Great pics, but resize next time, the quality of the images is definitely amazing as well. Any problems getting around and not knowing the language?

increase your resolution next time.

awesome pics john, looks like an awesome trip.

Damn had to go 1600x1200.