Mount Lovcen
Trip Start
Aug 25, 2007
1
38
64
Trip End
Mar 25, 2008
Cetinje, Serbia and Montenegro
Monday, October 22, 2007
"Have you seen the wonder and the sign,
when the two lightenings crossed?
One flashed from Kom to Lovcen,
and the other from Skadar to Ostrog"
I am glad I have the opportunity to visit three of the four important corners of Montenegro. It had been a miserably rainy day but we were determined to sightsee despite the elements. After another dizzying ride to Cetinje, four of us shared a taxi to the top of Black Mountain. It is said to have given Montenegro its name. Well Black Mountain was white today, it was snowing. We climbed the 461 steps (I did with difficulty after yesterday's mountain ride). And visited the mausoleum of Njegos, the previous Montenegro ruler. Supposedly view were spectacular, stretching across the Adriatic coast to Italy. Today, I could barely make out the outline of my companions as we trudged along. Freezing but the flurry of snow coming down was surprising and nice (esp when we were back inside a mountaintop restaurant and feeling of our toes returned). We then went back into Cetinje town and visited the famous monastery. After making sure that we were all believers (some of us lied), the monks specially showed us their treasures in a locked bejewelled casket-a portion of the true cross and the mummified right hand of St John the Baptist. Not to sound blasphemous to Orthodox Christians but the hand reminded me of anatomy lab. It was stuck in median nerve palsy position and showed its age out of formaldehyde. Even I cringed.
