In a world of magnets and miracles

On the fortification above Kotor

Man, time is running. Today is the second October, and it’s less than a week until I’m to be in Burgas. Why am I only in Tirana? Well there are two reasons. Firstly Montenegro was so amazingly beautiful that I just had to spend some time there. Secondly Wombosi has started to show Land-Rover skills…

View from the road to mt. Lovcen

So if you’re thinking about a short holyday- Say, you have only 4 or 5 days to spend, but really would like to get abroad, here is where you’re going. Montenegro has it all. You have plenty of beaches, and perfect water temperature. Kotor is a lovely city, and does not stand back from any of the Croatian old cities I visited. The ride to and through mt. Lovcen NP is one of the greatest I have ever had, and the monument on the top would be a nice place to sleep under the open sky. In the evening you’d have the sunset, and in the morning you just turn your head 180 degrees without moving, and you’d see the sunrise. So what makes me say Montenegro is perfect for the short holiday? Mainly, these things (historic towns, Beaches and mountains) lie only some kilometers from each other. For proper Europeans you don’t have to think about money. Montenegro has the Euro, so you can easily compare prices without being Einstein. And lastly, the tourist rush has not come here quite yet (if you avoid July and August, says my guidebook). I had a magnificent time in Montenegro. I had blue skies and around 25 degrees. I did the bay of Kotor, with Kotor itself being the highlight, mt.Lovcen NP, 2 hours of beach-time at Sveti Stefan, and fixing an alternator, and all of this in only two days.

The monasteries of Perast (bey of Kotor)

Good helpers, Djoko and Toni

Now comes Wombosi. First it was the alternator. I wrote earlier that it made creepy noises, and knew that the bearing was broken, but didn’t do anything about it. On the ride up from Sveti-Stefan I had one of many picture breaks, and the car didn’t start. This wasn’t a problem since I was standing at a hill, and could let it roll backwards, but I understood the problem quickly. A little bit later I saw a police-officer, stopped and asked for the nearest garage, and he told me to go to a place called start, some 17 km. away. I got there and found Start. The garage didn’t exist anymore, but there still was a shop selling car-parts (for german cars) with the name Start, so I pulled over and stopped. Runner of the shop was Toni, who had lived 31 years in Düsseldorf and spoke excellent German. He was very helpful, and first he called an electrician, to verify the problem. The electrician came, measures the battery. It was flat. Then we started the car (with cable) and he measured the alternator, and confirmed that this was the source of the problem. Afterwards Toni called his friend, the mechanic Djoko. We took out the alternator, and were happy to find out that the converter was not broken. Some wire was burned off, the bearing had to be changed, and everything had become loose because I had waited so long with doing anything. Djoko went with the alternator to fix it “African style”, while Tony took me to the local pizzeria. At 9.30 pm the alternator was in place again, and worked (and still does) well.

The church at Teth

The next morning I went early, and headed for Teth (Albania). When I got there I found out that Wombosi suffered from serious oil-loss. I turned the whole (small) village of Teth upside-down, to get some oil, and a bolt, and after two hours, I considered the car ready for the trip to Tirana. Tomorrow I will go to a proper Land-Rover garage to get the problem checked. Oil is still leaking (and I am refilling), so we’ll see what it is tomorrow.

Teth was good, but the road was very poor. This morning I was in Kruja, and If you want to buy souvenirs, that’s the place to go=).

I bought a hat in Zadar! 

Today I should have been in Berat, but since I have to wait for tomorrow with checking the car (today is Sunday), I’ll do Berat tomorrow, if everything goes smoothly with Wombosi. I drop Gjirokaster, and head strait to lake Ohrid on Tuesday. Albania is really Eastern Europe. The traffic is crazy, and the roads at times very bad, but the people are nice, and the weather too. I guess you’ll hear from me again in Burgas.

P.S: I’m not very pleased with this post, but I’m very tired, so bear over with me this time=)