Montenegro - travels in Black Mountain country
Crna Gora is the Serbo-Croat for Black Mountain, but it is by its Italian translation that most people know Montenegro. In terms of breadth and width Montenegro is tiny, around 150km in both directions, making it a fifth of the size of Ireland. But in terms of height it is a towering nation, with wave after wave of mountain ranges rolling out into its hinterland. Montenegro was the last of the former federal republics that once made up Yugoslavia to break away from Serbia just over a decade ago, a much less painless and non-violent process compared to its neighbours in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo. While for now most visitors stick to its impossibly picturesque coasts and around the Bay of Kotor where the mountains plunge to the sea, there is a sense that this is an eco-tourist paradise on the verge of discovery. The coastal towns and villages show clear Italian influences, with cobbled streets, piazzas, Venetian-style palaces and small Catholic Churches. But alongside these are onion-do