After one night in Nikšić, Montenegro’s second city, it was time to continue our journey by coach to Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina. We had booked the tickets the previous day and were surprised that we could pay by card, so we were fully prepared.
The bus timetable for anyone interested, and also for future historians attempting to establish why we thought this journey was a sensible idea.
There were several reasonably substantial coaches waiting at the station, so I naturally wondered which lovely and apparently roadworthy vehicle would be ours.
It transpired that it was none of them. Instead, we were allocated a dilapidated and impressively rickety minibus in which my seat belt did not work. I feared that any sharp braking might send me flying towards the driver, so I remained on high alert throughout the journey. The seat in front collapsed backwards at one point and, from my excellent vantage point, I could see the brake warning light flashing whenever the driver applied the brakes. It was reassuring to know that at least one part of the vehicle was still attempting to communicate.
I have some decent photographs of landscapes taken through coach windows coming up later in the trip, but there are rather fewer from this journey. I was occupied with remaining in my seat and monitoring the vehicle’s various cries for help. This is the village of Miločani, where the landscape began to open into increasingly dramatic valleys.
We then approached Plužine, surrounded by mountains beside the extraordinary blue waters of Piva Lake. By this point, the scenery had become spectacular enough to distract me temporarily from the mechanical condition of our transport.
We crossed the bridge over Piva Lake, an artificial reservoir created during the 1970s following the construction of the enormous Mratinje Dam. The views were spectacular and remain among my strongest memories of Montenegro, with blue water cutting through a landscape of mountains and deep valleys. Jonathan was still listening to podcasts, unaware of my solid work as the safety officer on board.
I didn’t want to photograph the border in any detail, but here we are at the Montenegrin checkpoint. The process was relatively quick, with the border officers asking to see each of us briefly before we waited beside the road and then returned to the minibus. It was all efficient and straightforward, although I was slightly surprised that the vehicle was permitted to leave the country. Well, unless they thought it was a good way of getting rid of it.
Anyway, the next post is the second half of the journey and the actual getting to Sarajevo. No spoilers, but I’m pleased to announce that we arrived safely.