Montenegro

It seems like whenever we're in Europe for the last few months we've been in the Balkans. I guess I left a lot of these countries until the end of our project, and while the food is similar, there is a uniqueness to each country. 

Montenegro carves out it's own space in 5,000 square miles along the Adriatic Sea, sandwiched between Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Albania. 

While Montenegro is tied for the 3rd newest country, along with Serbia (they officially split into their own countries on June 3rd, 2006- bested only by Kosovo and South Sudan), Montenegro has a long and storied history of Adriatic pirates, Venetian plunderers, Ottoman pashas, and Yugoslav technocrats. 

Montenegrin's have been referred to as a 'race of heroes' and 'born warriors'.  They are a country built on resistance and resilience, who prides themselves on 'humanity and bravery'. 

These days it is known as the 'pearl of the Mediterranean'. 

Old stone architecture and monasteries can be found all over Montenegro. There's the famous Ostrog Monastery carved into the cliffs in the 17th century, and still visited by a million tourists every year.

For our landmark we went with a village that dates back to the 15th century. Located on the coast, and attached to the mainland only by a narrow isthmus, is a one time fishing village with cobbled lanes, red-tiled roofs, flowery courtyards, and pink sand beaches. 

But today, Sveti Stefan, as it is known, doubles as a luxury resort with 50 rooms, cottages and suites.  

Montenegro's tourism industry suffered from Yugoslavia's civil war in the 1990's, but in recent years people have been rediscovering this little gem of a country. 

It really does have it all: historic monuments, old walled towns, dramatic coastlines, and the high, rugged mountains. 

Montenegro's native name is 'Crna Gora', meaning 'Black Mountain', describing the high, rugged country perfectly. 

The dramatic landscape includes the Tara River Canyon, Europe's deepest river canyon. In some places it's nearly 4,300 feet deep. Hidden along the canyon's cliffs are large caves, running for over 50 miles. 

Also, was anyone else aware that there is a Mimosa flower? I've always just known it as a drink. The yellow flower has its own festival in Herceg Novi, Montenegro.  The Mimosa Festival is held every February for the start of spring, and is marked with parades, feasts and masked balls. 

Other fun botanical facts for you: 

Montenegro is home to beautiful and plentiful pomegranate trees. 

It's also home to a 2,000 year old olive tree. Olive trees are so ingrained in the culture there, couples plant them on their wedding day, honoring a tradition that goes back to King Nikola in the late 19th century. 

The boys made their Montenegro post cards. 

Calib's featured a big black rock, a la Crna Gora. 

Peyton's featured a church that was made on an island that was created out of sailors leaving rocks to honor the Virgin Mary. Eventually a church was built on the island. 

Hayden's featured the rugged coastline, but he included one tree- because Montenegro was once entirely covered by the only rain forest in Europe. 

I took our dinner pictures separately for Montenegro, because I thought it might look nicer before I plated it all up. 

For Montenegro dinner we had Njeguski Fruit Salad, which is cantaloupe, cubed sharp cheese, prosciutto, red onion, sunflower seeds, parsley, olive oil and apple cider vinegar. 

We also had Shopska salad , which I know we've had before- but I can't quite find it. I know it was somewhere in the Adriatic Sea area. It's basically just a quick chopped salad with feta, dressed with olive oil and red wine vinegar. 

We also had Kijukusa, or  Hashbrown Potato Pie. 

And finally our main dish, ground beef phyllo pie (full disclosure, phyllo dough is expensive. But I had a coupon that made crescent rolls just 50 cents a tube. So, we substituted for the sake of economics.) 

This dinner all plated up, earned three-ish spoons up. 

Asa and I really liked the Njeguski fruit salad. Calib thought it was SUPER gross, and wouldn't even eat it all. Peyton refused to try it, because he didn't understand why in the world ANYONE would ruin cantaloupe in that manner, and Hayden claimed to like it, but only ate about half. 

The Shopska salad was a hit with four out of the five (Peyton also refuses to get behind feta cheese). 

And the hashbrowns were hit or miss. But everyone enjoyed the meat pie. 

Montenegro got colored in a light blue color along the Adriatic Sea, just to the west of dark red Serbia, south of bright orange Bosnia and Herzegovina, and north of purple Albania.   (and oh my goodness, when you click on that Albania link,  you'll see a totally not-colored in Europe. It was country number TWO!) 

Next Up: Tajikistan