lukebuehler.com About the life of a pilgrim

Passing Through Montenegro

As I left Dubrovnik, I felt energized to move on into the hardest part of my trip down to Thessaloníki. Down here are no side roads or foot trails, so I had to walk along the main route, called route 8, towards Montenegro. I slept in a house along the street for the usual price in Croatia (100 Kuna) and hiked over the borer to Montenegro. Its always a bit special because the people look at me quite weired as I line up on behind the cars that pass over the border. From there I went to Herceg Novi, a beautiful little town on the entrance to the large bay that leads to the fjord of Kotor. Where the river bay almost meets I could pass over the channel with a car ferry and walk to Tivat where I spend the night in an apartment. On my map I saw that there was a monastery along my way and guessed I could sleep there. I had to travel along a intensely used road where the air was extremely polluted. I get so frustrated and angry at those cars and buses and hope I don't get any health damage. When I arrived at the monastery before sunset I was told that I could not sleep there. I was so sad and discouraged because I was looking forward the whole day to stay there, especially after a tour guide told me I could spent the night at that place. I got permission to sleep in the garden with my tent though, which was quite nice but storm clouds started showing up. After I cooked something I looked a little bit at the monastery and watched how the orthodox church does the liturgy called "liturgia". The night was stormy and a lot of rain. It's actually quite nice to sleep in the tent when its storming, because I can feel the elements but be warm an cozy in my sleeping bag. The next day was not much different, walking in rain along the main road, it was dull and is mostly a mental exercise to somehow get the 30 kilometers done. When I arrived in Bar it was already getting dark and I was quite frustrated because I couldn't find a place to sleep so I just walked up to two police guys to try my luck there. They where keen to help and one guy called a friend who arrived 10 minutes later with his car. He offered me to stay in his house for some bucks what I happily accepted. I stayed there for two nights because it was raining and I hoped it would get better after that. When it was time to move on the weather wasn't better but my mood was and so I went about to do do the last few kilometers to the border of Albania. Shortly before the border someone offered me ride to the fist city in Albania called Shkoder. I went with them realizing that it was going to be hard to stick to only walking because people don't understand what I'm doing and just want to take me with the car.

Its hard for me to walk right now. There were some things happening in my close relationships which set me back emotionally. The days are short now, so I have to find a place for the night before 5 o'clock and the weather isn't on my side anymore either. I think its a motivational low and the temptation is big to just take the buses and rides to the cities... more about that in my next post.