Whoa. Sorry about accidentally maintaining radio silence yesterday... life got away from us! Oops!
Didja have fun in Tonga on Wednesday? What's that you say? Not enough accordion for ya? Well have we got the remedy for that! Let's head over to Montenegro!
this map has the rail lines on it!
Reportedly the tallest people in the world, Montenegrin men are 6'1" on average, and women are 5'7". Must be tough to fit everyone in. Even the map gets a little cramped! Cartographers have apparently always hated Montenegro because they can't fit all the letters in it's small space on the map. Pinky's read in three places (one being a US government website) that the river Bojana is the only river in the world that flows in both directions, but we're dubious of this claim, as A) it seems impossible, and B) all the other articles about the river make no such claim. And, you'd figure that would be something to boast about. So, why aren't they shouting from the rooftops? Whatever. We're over it.
what? living here is possible? bring it on!
Montenegro translates to "Black Mountain", which is fun since we've all spent so much time in Black Mountain, NC. I wonder if they have a sister city established. We like it when cities do that. Perhaps they could shack up with Zhabljak, the highest town in the Balkans and a tourist destination. Montenegro itself has become one of the fastest growing tourist hot spots in the world!
now, those are some BLACK mountains!
Montenegro has a history of being swallowed by empires. It started with the Romans, then the Byzantines, followed by the Serbians, then the Ottomans, then became part of the Venetian Republic towards the end of that state's lifespan, then the Austrians took over. Montenegro had a run of independence in the mid-late 1800's, establishing a monarchy. It then joined the Kingdom of Yugoslavia after WWI where it apparently had a lot of say in the government; it was then annexed by Mussolini during WWII, and then joined the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia after the war, firmly under the USSR's thumb. They had a union with Serbia for a while, but referendums never really let it come to full fruition, and Montenegrin independence was firmly established a few years ago. Will it last? Who knows?
Djurdjevi Stupovi Monastery, Berane, Montenegro
Let's tune in to Radio Berane broadcasting from Berane (Беране) situated in the mountains of eastern Montenegro. Seems like there's some kind of speech going on right now, but hopefully they'll return to the fun stuff soon. Enjoy!
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