The Mountains of Montenegro. Rudolf Abraham

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      Caryatid at the mausoleum of Petar II Petrović Njegoš, on Jezerski vrh (Route 3)

      Stari grad, Kotor

      Kotor’s old town is a beautiful example of a walled medieval city (and along with a large part of Boka Kotorska a UNESCO World Heritage Site), and should not be missed.

      Stari Bar

      Beautifully preserved walled medieval town on the lower slopes of Rumija.

      Stećci

      There are good examples of stećci (a distinctive type of medieval tombstone) at Pljevlja and in the Durmitor region, for example near Vražje jezero, and at Bare Žugića and Šćepan polje.

      A SELECTION OF MONTENEGRIN FESTIVALS

      In Montenegro ‘National Day’ is celebrated on the 13th of July. Remember that in the Orthodox Church, Christmas falls on the 7th of January.

Food and drink

      Grilled meats feature prominently on the Montenegrin or Serbian menu, most grandly in the combination commonly known as the roštilj (‘grill’), and eating out in Montenegro will be a trying experience for vegetarians. Vegetarians or those fed up with mixed grills should ask: ‘Da li imate nešto bez mesa?’ (‘Do you have something without meat?’). For non-vegetarians, ćevapčići and šopska salata make a delicious and cheap meal which is served throughout the country.

      Fish is also generally in good supply. Fresh fruit and vegetables are available on local markets, along with local cheeses and dried meats.

      Rakija, a potent local spirit, comes in a number of guises, including travarica (made with herbs) and loza (made from grapes); and sampling a good domaća (‘homemade’) is an integral part of travelling in the region. The best Montenegrin wine comes from Crmnica, the region northwest of Lake Skadar; the best local beer is the eponymous Nikšić Pivo. Fruit juice is widely available.

      See Appendix D for useful phrases when ordering food and drink and translating menus.

      Be aware that Montenegro is notorious for some appallingly bad service. Even my Montenegrin and Serbian friends agree on this and are used to the same treatment themselves – so don’t take any such experiences to heart or let them ruin your visit!

Language

      The official language of Montenegro is Montenegrin (crnogorski). It was given this name in 2007, following independence from Serbia – before this it was called Serbian (srpski), as it is still known by many. Montenegrin/Serbian is a south Slavonic language, very similar to Croatian and Bosnian. (When these countries were all part of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, language was standardized, and given the name Serbo-Croat.) Many Turkish words entered the Serbian language during the region’s centuries of Ottoman rule Serbian is a phonetic language – that is, every letter in a word is pronounced, and the pronunciation of any given letter is always the same. In this respect it is far more consistent than many more familiar European languages, including English and French.

      Serbian is written in the Cyrillic script, similar to Russian but with some important exceptions. However, the Latin script (as used for Croatian) is also in common use in Montenegro (there are newspapers and magazines published in both), which generally makes reading menus, signs and timetables much easier. Still, you will almost certainly encounter Cyrillic at some point during your visit, so should ultimately familiarize yourself with both scripts (see Appendix D).