We're so happy ın Montenegro. Lız and Steve dancıng the blues away.

Wow, what a difference crossing the Adriatic can make.
Steve's mother warned him about 'those Montenegrans', 'they can be a bit funny' she said. We found Montenegro a beautiful place with lovely welcoming people who are fiercley proud of their newly separated country.
Leaving the ferry from Italy at Bar, we rode through the first mountain range and stopped after only a short ride at Virpazar, a little walled town surounded by water with an overlooking castle. We met some really nice people there who were very interested in our trip (some thought we were mad, how did they know that??) and they were very happy that we were visiting their lovely new country.
The next day we had a longer ride through a gorge where the road was cleft into the sheer cliffs (photos of this will be uploaded soon on Snapfish). The road had plenty of tunnels that had no lights, snaking bends and water that would have taken many years to filter through the rock sprinkling down on us as we gingerly rode through them. The scenery along this road was absolutely breathtaking and awe inspiring, a very humbling experience for us both. We found ourselves at what can only be described as the worlds best kept secret, Kolasin, a snow resort high in valleys of several majestic snowcapped mountains. The snow was still on the mountain tops, but it was too late to see the snow in the valley. We stayed at a lovely resort and spa of a standard that would put the likes of Falls Creek well to shame. The service was second to none, and even the General Manager took time out to chat to us. he was very envious of our travels, and thrilled that we were staying at his resort.
The next part of the journey took us to Serbia and the politeness and friendliness continued.
We stopped at Uzice which is a very industrial town, and stayed at a hotel that is a relic of the old Russian era, full of chrome and not very well looked after. We slept in our sleeping bags that night - that should give you some indication of the hotel! It was a three star - my a**e!
Next was Nis, our last stop in Serbia, a lovely place packed with history. We visited the tower of skulls there, a gruesome warning to Serbs by a rather nasty Turkish General. The story is that the Serbs lead by a local Duke stormed the Turkish trenches, and realising that the situation was hopeless, the Duke fired his flintlock pistol into the Turkish powder magazine blowing it, himself, several thousand of his troops and even more Turks to kingdom come. Although quite an impact, it didn't quell the Turkish might, and the General paid for the heads of the dead serbs, skinned them, stuffed the skins and sent them to Constantinople and built a tower out of the skulls to warn the Serbs not to try it again. Only 58 skulls remain as relatives claimed most of the skulls after the Ottoman occupation. The hotel we stayed at arranged a booking at a local restaurant serving tradition Serbian food. It was delicious and the waiter spoke good English - thank goodness as our Serbian is non-existent. We were also given some mementos for 'Women's Day'. They made us feel very welcome and the food certainly filled us up.
Into Bulgaria with little fuss (here's a hint, don't attempt any humour with border guards, they just don't get it), and on to a little town in the hills called Koprivshtica, an historic litte town where some of the impressive homes have been turned into museums. We shall be off tomorrow to Plovdiv, then working our way to the Black Sea coast, then South to Turkey (I'll keep my jokes to myself this time).
Oh, and by the way, the ATM machines work with our cards in Bulgaria YAY!!!!!!
Thanks for all the messages guys, it's nice to know you are reading our bloggs. We will take time to e-mail you all as soon as we can, probably in Turkey as we will be staying there for a bit.