European
Mountains, Montenegro |
Velji Grad (497m), July 13 2012 |
To the main Velji Grad page (route descriptions and maps) |
Velji Grad
After having completed our main two goals in Montenegro - hiking Bobotov Kuk (2523m)and Zla Kolata (2534m), Anne and me sat course for Budva and some relaxing days before returning to Norway. On July 12, we left Hotel Kula Damjanova in Plav after a mighty fine morning. This hotel had been our base-camp while hiking Zla Kolata. Now, we were on our way back to Budva and our other hotel. Yes, it's quite a luxury to have a room in one hotel while we're driving around the country and sleeping over in other hotels...
A nice morning in Plav
On July 13, we wanted to combine hiking and snorkeling and drove towards Sutomore to hike Velji Grad - a low coastal peak that we had noticed the day before, but didn't know the name of - our the route to. There was supposed to be a mountain road, but where was it? We thought we had found the trailhead, but after a short hike it was clear that we were heading in the wrong direction. We found a young man who could speak English - AND knew where the mountain road was. Eventually, we found it and headed out 09:07am. The mountain road was only 2,2km, but the hiking distance was 2,7km since we parked further away. We reached the summit point 09:53am and got a nice overview of the coastline. After a short stay, we headed back down. This was our 6th day in Montenegro and the 6th day of gorgeous weather - and heat. Too much heat, actually. It wouldn't be so hard to return to rainy Norway after this stay.
After the hike, we drove down to the nearest bay and enjoyed snorkeling. The plan was to try out my new GoPro Hero, but it only worked for a couple of minutes. Very disappointing, and I still haven't found out what was wrong. The battery was supposed to be fully charged. But this didn't outweigh the fun of being in the water!
Back in Budva, we rented a taxi boat and took a tour in the waters between Budva and the island St. Nikola. Very nice. And the captain of the boat had been to Karmøy in Norway!
Our stay was coming towards an end. We would fly back to Norway the next day, and it was time to reflect on our stay. We both loved the country. It was easy to travel around and we didn't encounter any major language barriers. The mountains were fantastic and accessible - although there are indeed mountains that call for greater mountaineers than us! Well, it's a unfair to mention just the mountains. The nature around the whole country was beautiful! The tourists seemed mainly to be from Russia and Ukraine. At least, we didn't see any deadly drunk Scandinavian kids, which was a big upside. I was still not sure how safe I was supposed to feel as a tourist outside the city limits, and my latent paranoia isn't helping... But all in all, we would like to go back and I guess that's what matters the most...
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The pictures were taken with a Canon EOS 60D + Canon EF-S
18-200mm 3.5-5.6 IS
and GoPro Hero
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Plav, July 12 2012
To the coastline, July 12 2012
Velji Grad, July 13 2012
Snorkeling outside Sutmore, July 13 2012
Sightseeing outside Budva, July 13 2012
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