NORTH MONTENEGRO
05/14/2026
We did a really long day tour to see the northern part of Montenegro. The country is so small that we saw about 60% of the entire country in this one day!
They did a good job of breaking the morning part of the journey up with a couple view point/photo stops and a really nice stop for breakfast.
Our first big stop was in Durmitor National Park at the Black Lake, which is a glacial lake at the base of Mount Durmitor, named for the black pine forest surrounding the lake. Now, don’t get me wrong, we like a pretty lake as much as anyone, but our expectations are pretty high at this point, so while we thought the lake was nice, we didn’t think it was worth the 3 hour drive! Particularly after having just seen Lake Ohrid in Macedonia and Bovilla Lake in Albania, both of which were really much more impressive. It’s entirely possible that we have simply seen too much stuff at this point and tend to compare every site with some other site we have already seen (that was better). This park would probably be a lot better for someone driving there on their own with time to do some real hiking and exploring. And we did admittedly like the snow covered mountains and patches of snow on the ground – that part was different.
After the lake we headed to the Tara River Canyon, also in Durmitor National Park. It is the deepest canyon in Europe and the second deepest in the world (after the Grand Canyon). Crossing the canyon is the Đurđevića Tara Bridge which is famous for its concrete arch architecture and strategic role in World War II. It was also featured as a Windows Spotlight lock screen image for a long time and frequently appears in the random rotating lineup of global landmarks used by Microsoft for Windows lock screens.
I hate to say it, but again, we were kind of unimpressed. In all fairness though, the bridge was covered in scaffolding and undergoing maintenance… so not very pretty. And the weather had clouded up so the views and pictures weren’t spectacular. But mostly, it didn’t come close to comparing to the Grand Canyon… and since it is second deepest only to the Grand Canyon, we thought it would be more similar. We talked to some people who had rafted in the Tara River below and said it was incredible… that would probably have made us appreciate it more!
The last photo is the Windows version… definitely more impressive than ours!
Our final stop of the day was the 17th century Ostrog Monastery which is perched on the side of a cliff. It is one of the most visited Orthodox shrines in Europe, attracting Christians, Catholics, and Muslims alike who make pilgrimages here to pray for healing and peace.
Supposedly the undecayed remains of Saint Basil of Ostrog are housed in the Monastery. According to traditional accounts (myths? fairy tales?), several years after his burial, St. Basil appeared in the dreams of an abbot. So what did the abbot do… he opened the grave, of course! They supposedly found the body completely intact and giving off the fragrance of basil. In Orthodox tradition, a body that does not undergo natural decay and emits a sweet smell is considered a sign of divine favor, prompting his glorification as a wonder worker (which is even better than a run of the mill saint!)
And to really make the story good, they say that St. Basil rises from his sarcophagus at night to walk the mountain paths around the Monastery. Therefore, they have to change his little socks regularly because they get dirty and torn. The cloths and blankets covering him are also changed and refreshed periodically by the monks in solemn ceremonies.
In spite of my suspicion of religion and some of the more outlandish stories, we really liked this place a lot! The building itself was absolutely incredible, and the visit into the little cave church where St Basil is allegedly housed was fascinating and admittedly pretty moving. There were all kinds of rules around going inside (attire, silence, how to properly walk in, backing out, no photos etc.), and it was heavily guarded by two kind of spooky looking monks. We walked up to St. Basil to take a peek and gave a little bow (as instructed) and were on our way. Apparently you could touch (or kiss) some little relics around him. We had no interest in that.
What did we see? Honestly nothing. I guess we assumed that “undecayed” remains of a man would looks a bit like, well, a man. What we saw was something about 3 feet long completely covered in blankies. There would be literally no way to know what was under the blankie, and unless he died as a toddler, I’m pretty sure some decay has occurred based on his height!
From a purely scientific standpoint, there has been no formal testing of the remains because the church doesn’t allow it. Therefore, the authenticity rests entirely on religious tradition and the word of the church! Hmmm?
The very last photo isn’t very good, but it was intended to give some perspective of where this thing is located. If you look closely in the center of the picture you will see a tiny white blob… that is the monastery!
All in all, it was a decent day tour, but we probably would have preferred just a tour to the monastery which was about half the distance.
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