Riding in Style to Ulcinj, Montenegro

OCTOBER 4, 2012

There is one infallible source of solid travel information for those looking to get off the beaten path.  That source is shop rats at your local bike shop (LBS).  From the U.P. of Michigan to Marin County California they have always steered me in the right direction.  Sure, not giving up their best kept trail secrets, but still better intel than the tourist info center.  Unfortunately, the LBS scene here was a little sparse. 

Fortunately for me, there was a rider back in Prishtina who swore to me it was is life’s goal to get to Thithe National Park in Northern Albania.  I didn’t have that kind of time.  I needed it to happen this week.

One proposed route seem to be a four leg trip that included multiple means of transport including a ferry that may or may not even be running this time of year.  Instead of banking on that, I pulled up the pic of the bus schedule I took from the wall in Peje a couple days prior.  The strategy was simple.  Google everyone of the cities until I found one remotely close to Shkoder, Albania which was the most plausible point of departure to Thithe.  That city was Ulcinj, Montenegro.

 

From the start, my experience in getting to Montenegro was tops.  Five minutes in to the bus ride, the guy walking around to take payment realized I was an American and moved me to the front seat of the bus.  Pretty sure the other riders wanted to kill me. 

The bus ride that would follow was one of the highlights of the trip.  This bus was a large one and my seat was front row to the 8 foot by 6 foot windows for a wild five hour ride thorough the mountains of Montenegro.  Between the windows and my elevated position, there were times when I was looking straight down 1000 foot drops as the nose of the bus swung around impossible corners.

 

Arriving in Ulcinj, the manager-type person of the tiny station there heard I was an American and went out of his way to introduce himself, ask how my ride was, and wish me luck on my travels in Montenegro.  No sales pitch.  No scam.  No pushiness.  Just and handshake and well wishes.  My experience with the transportation to the country would prove to be representative of the time spent in it.