Sutomore

Almost any time you leave Bar to visit the other cities in Montenegro, you have to go through Sutomore. In Sutomore, there is an old monastery on top of a mountain called Haj-Nehaj. After learning about Hej-Nehaj, I have wanted to go. It looked like a really good work-out, plus would probably give you really good views of the sea and Sutomore.

Thursday was a great day to go Sutomore and tackle Haj-Nehaj. Layne and I boarded the train for a short ride to Sutomore, and began walking towards the mountain. As we were walking there, we were trying to figure out how to get up the mountain. Unlike the mountain in Kotor, there is no real path that we could see from the road. We finally reached the bottom and decided on the best side of the mountain to trek up. As we started the climb, I was thinking, "This is not something I would choose to do back in the states, but since I am here, I will do it!" It reminded me of something that my Uncle Ed would enjoy. The 'paths' were one person wide with overgrown thorn bushes surrounding them. We had to constantly stop and choose the next best route. After a little while of hiking, we got to a clearing and Layne screamed. What happened next was pretty funny in retrospect, but scared us enough to get out of there quickly. Watch this video to learn why we stopped the climb to Haj-Nehaj:

 This is as far as we got!

If Uncle Ed or any other courageous male had been with us, I think we would have continued. However, every little noise we heard scared the crap out of us. After our failure, we walked through Sutomore to another old monastery we saw from the train station. This one actually had a well-defined path and was not as high up as Haj-Nehaj. We took the sea-side way up to the monastery. It provided really pretty views of the water and the beach. When we finally reached the top, it was basically a larger Ratac Monastery. The stone work was pretty and we took a few pictures:

 At the top with the beach in Sutomore in the background

 Layne and I in the ruins

Sitting on top of the entrance to the monastery

We climbed down the mountain and realized we still had a lot of time until the next train left for Bar. Both of us were tired and hungry, so instead of walking along the beach, we decided to wait for the next bus. We had no idea what time that would be, but buses are often going to Bar, so we knew it wouldn't be too long. In the end, we had to wait for maybe 20 minutes. Once back in Bar, we watched a movie (actually I fell asleep), went to Palma, and had practice at 9 pm. At practice, we ran for 30 minutes and did Yoga with Verica. Our coaches wanted an easy practice since we don't play until Wednesday. Yoga was funny because all the girls were laughing and being silly, but Layne and I had experienced this type of Yoga from when we used to go. Although I am disappointed we didn't make it up to Haj-Nehaj, the threat of running into wild animals scared me more than my desire to get there! :)