25 August 2018 - American President, Donald Trump, has said recently that Montenegrin people “are very aggressive people”. Elaine Glusac, as somebody who knows the country very well, would definitely disagree with that statement. Elaine is regular author of texts for the column Travel in the New York times.
“Montenegro, a Primer” is the title of the text by american author, Elaine Glusac, who is proud of her Montenegrin roots. She shared her experience from the last family travel to the country of her ancestors in the text entitled “From Montenegro, a relaxed view”, which is going to be published on August, 26, in the printed version of New York times.
“When I planned this trip to the country of Montenegro last spring, I had to explain to my confused friends: ‘Imagine yourselves in Venice now, then from there, sail along the Adriatic coast, move toward the east and stop before you arrive to Albania’. But after Trump described Montenegro as a potential initiator of the World War III, and Montenegrin people as “very aggressive people”, the main question wasn’t “Where is it?”, but “What is there?,” explains Glusac.
Her text represents a collection of experiences, personal data about her origins and encounters with numerous hosts. For starters, she offers to the readers a brief insight into Montenegro of , “now and then”.
“You can’t imagine that such a small country has everything: national parks, mountains, beaches, nightlife, historical sites, orthodox monasteries… and everything fits so perfectly in to the boundaries of this country,” said Nina Batlak, representative of Super Luxury Travel, which creates tour travels to Montenegro.
Most tourists come to Montenegro because of the sea and the coast and it is a “more accessible Italy” in comparison to our neighbor from the other side of the Adriatic coast.
“Old towns, from Herceg Novi, at the very end of the Bay of Kotor, to Ulcinj which is close to the Albanian border, have created a 70 mile long coastline. Tourism is not big news here. During the ’70s of the last century, celebrities like Elizabeth Taylor and Sophia Loren, used to spend their leisure time in Sveti Stefan, an island converted into the luxurious resort managed by the brand “Aman” today and which is still attractive to celebrities.
She describes cultural diversities through her story about the trip to Ulcinj, through Old Bar and great number of mosques and monasteries. Then she describes in detail Cetinje, the Billiard, the Castle and key personalities of the Montenegrin history and dynasty Petrović- Njegoš: Peter II and King Nikola.
“From the islands at the coast all the way to the mountain valleys, you can see orthodox monasteries, dispersed across the entire country. They are covered in picturesque frescos of saints with big eyes, and which usually represent scenes from the Bible. However, the most impressive is the central part of Montenegro. Ostrog Monastery is shallowly carved into the cliff. From the main road, between Podgorica and Nikšić, you can reach Ostrog using narrow serpentines. Barefoot pilgrims were moving towards the tomb of Saint Vasilije in order to get and blessing from the priest,” writes Elaine.
The journey continued towards the north of the country and it was marked by “kačamak” and big meals.
According to Diana Poindexter, specialist for Balkans tours in Wilderness Travel, mountains in Montenegro are an unexplored part of Balkans for the majority of Americans. What was special for the author is the encounter with river Tara, and the rafting.
“This part of our trip could be described as Montenegro with a dose of business risk and honest hospitality. Our captain, Mr Leković, although reckless at first glance, safely led us through the cascades of the turbulent river,” writes the author.
“I might add, Montenegro is the country of curious and hospitable people, rather than aggressive,” says Glusac.
