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Promotional Content • Saturday 28 January 2023 All around the mountain


Named after the dusky massif that rises sheer off the Adriatic, Montenegro — literally, ‘black mountain’ — is, in fact, a place of thick green forests, ice-blue lakes and white-capped peaks, where a wealth of stories and sights are waiting to be unearthed. Words: Sarah Barrell


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Montenegro Get to know the pocket- sized destination that packs a punch Page 4


Isle of Man How to plan a history-filled weekend on the enchanting Celtic island Page 6


Ski holidays Te Italian winter resort that’s also a foodie paradise Page 8


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Lake Biograd in Biogradska Gora National Park PHOTOGRAPH: JORDAN BANKS Y


ou’ll not encounter the Murlan if clouds have gathered in the sky. He chooses only fair


weather to strike. And you won’t feel his breath on your neck until he’s upon you. Of the 15 different winds said to bluster over Lake Skadar, the Murlan is the one you need to watch out for. Te Danik, a gentle spring-summer easterly, blows only in daylight hours; the night-time Nocnik exhales across the lakeshore from various directions, blessing vineyards and wheat fields with fertility — or so local legends go. Te fearsome Murlan, however, rises into the sunshine over Lake Skadar and sends sudden, seismic waves that claim boats for the deep. “And it almost always comes in the afternoon,” says my guide Sara Jovicevic. “We’d better hurry.” It’s mid-morning as our little boat


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pushes out through head-high reeds. Ahead, Skadar is almost without a ripple. Confident of Murlan-free conditions, captain Ivan Georgijev has laid out a picnic of priganice (fried, yeasted dough balls) made by his mum. Tey’re served with local honey, feta-like prljo cheese and brown-burgundy olives plucked from the shores of the lake around Murici village. Like many boat companies working Skadar’s island-studded shores, Ivan’s is family affair. Skadar is home to over half of Europe’s bird species, a vital wintering ground for migrators. It’s also the nesting site of the threatened Dalmatian pelican, whose 10ft wingspan is one the largest of any bird on Earth. We spot one of these rare birds, giant wings a-shuffle, bobbing about


in the shadow of an Ottoman fortress. Other than the medieval monasteries crowning several of Skadar’s islets, it’s a rare sign of human intervention. “Skadar really is our natural treasure,” says Sara as we glide through floating meadows of white- flowering waterlilies. Te largest of Montenegro’s five national parks, Skadar’s biodiversity includes some 800 species of algae and 48 species of fish, 18 of which are found here alone. She explains this to me: following


the breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s, Montenegro declared itself the world’s first country committed to nature preservation, a promise ratified in its new constitution. Seen from the craggy mountains above the shore, Skadar’s expanse is a startling stretch of turquoise that extends into Albania, where it becomes known as Shkodra. Up here, I find the fortress of Besac, an Ottoman lookout lately


functioning as a stylish restaurant of the same name, whose regional history museum only adds to its cool cultural clout. I eat smoked carp and fresh trout from the lake, served on plates painted by local sculptor Shimmpo. I also eat bleak, an endemic sardine-like fish. Skadar, it seems, is ripe ground


for creation, not least as the crucible for the country’s best wines. Besac’s local menu includes punchy vranac and žižak, two of the deep reds most associated with Montenegro — in some cases from vineyards where wine is still made in clay amphorae in a tradition dating back to 300 BC. Several of Montenegro’s grape


varieties aren’t found anywhere else in the world, and many families still make wine in rudimentary cellars. But viticulture is far from rustic in the case of Plantaže, Montenegro’s biggest wine producer. Te road


from Skadar to Montengro’s capital, Podgorica, is flanked by some 11.5 million Plantaže vines spread across more than 5,600 acres, making this tiny country proud owner of the continent’s largest single-complex vineyard.


Into the north Ivan ‘the terrible’ is searching for orchids. “Just wild garlic here,” he shrugs. “Or ‘bear’s garlic’, as we also call it. Te bears eat it in spring to clear toxins built up during hibernation.” Te mild-mannered botanist guide, nicknamed ironically after the tempestuous Russian Tsar, looks wistfully around Biogradska Gora National Park. “We have over 160 orchid species, but you need to come in early June. It’s a carpet of wildflowers then.” Montenegro’s smallest national park is a powerhouse of biodiversity, from the tiniest orchid to towering ash, beech and elm — trees that once celebrated their tri-centennial and crown the canopy of what is one of Europe’s last remaining primeval forests. I follow Ivan along trails dwarfed


A vendor on the road to Durmitor National Park PHOTOGRAPH: JORDAN BANKS


by forested peaks, clouds strewn in their foothills and the snow-capped summits engaged in an apparent bid to escape the Earth’s atmosphere. We’re circling Biograd, one of the park’s glacial lakes, exploring its marshy fringes on decked pathways curtained with sweetfern. “You can chew that for energy. It’s mountain fuel,” says Ivan. “Imagine hiking up there,” he points to precipice heavy with spring snow, “and bringing all you’d need to survive for the summer — including a herd of cows.” Montenegro’s north is terrain best


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