To Montenegro by car from Ukraine. PART III. Way Home. Results
Day 15 (July 10): Shushan - Belgrade (Serbia)
After renting a house and saying goodbye to the owners, we set off. In Podgorica we had a shopping trip in SuperVoli, we had to buy various hotels at home, after which we went north towards the border with Serbia. Pointing out the Google Navigator address of our next home on the outskirts of Belgrade, I did not pay much attention to which border crossing we will go, I thought that because of the same as we went here. But the navigator thought differently ...Yes, completely unnoticed, and without waiting for the Djurdjevic Bridge, we reached the checkpoint Dorogo. There were not many cars, the queue was moving fast, soon it was our turn. I suspected that there would be no customs control, but the order of crossing the border at this place still surprised me.
Without getting out of the car, I pushed my passport out the window of the border guard. He counted the number of passports, counted us, looked at the date of arrival in the passports, closed the passports and wrote "+5" on a new A4 sheet. Then he put his pen on top a few more times and gave me my passports. We were not given any signs of leaving the country, no one asked for receipts for the payment of tourist tax. We went on. However, we did not see a Serbian post in front of us, and the road began to meander through the canyon along the river. It is not clear where we are going, whether it is already in Serbia or not - it is not clear, we just went with everyone. It lasted more than half an hour, during which time we managed to drive 23 kilometers. We have already believed that there will be no Serbian post, that there is such a common Montenegrin-Serbian conditional post, but we resisted in a huge queue. It really was the Serbian post of Gostun. There were at least 100 cars on sale.
Here we realized that it was a long time… But the queue was moving very fast, the staff of the post controlled the flow, distributed the cars in different booths and in 20-25 minutes I was already giving my passports to the border guard. Not really understanding, because we had a huge queue, he scanned our passports, put stamps on the entrance, and we went on. Most likely, Montenegrins placed border controls at this checkpoint on Serbs, and then asked them about who and when left Montenegro (entering Serbia).
Next, with a pre-loaded map in Google Navigator, without the Internet, we got to our place to spend the night on the outskirts of Belgrade. This was the housing I had to cancel on the way to Montenegro due to the obvious restrictions of Serbia.
The status of "super hostess", exceptionally positive reviews on Airbnb and the cheapest price of 34 euros during our entire trip outside of Ukraine made this option ideal for our stay. The house was found without any problems, the hostess welcomed us warmly, settled us, showed us everything, gave small gifts to the child in the form of branded chocolate and us in the form of souvenir bottles of brandy.
During the day we drove 540 kilometers.
Day 16 (July 11): Belgrade (Serbia) - Cluj-Napoca (Romania)
Since the car was parked right under the house, I was able to connect to Wi-Fi with a radio and download a Google map to get to the border with Romania, and then we will have the Romanian Internet.
After eating and gathering, we moved on. Right next to the house we stopped at a supermarket, and buying coffee recommended by the hostess (do not buy coffee in Serbia, there is no good), Czech beer Kozel, chocolate and other products, we went on.
As we crossed the border, we had another incident: I didn't understand which border crossing we were going through, I trusted the Google navigator ...not enough - here I see the border on the navigator ...I had doubts whether there is a border crossing here at all, whether it works and whether they allow foreigners on it, or whether it is purely for locals. We left the village, a border crossing appeared on the horizon. He showed no signs of life, approaching closer, we saw that there was no one on it at all, no employees, no cars, no signal lights ...When we reached the gate of the border crossing, a border guard ran out of one door and saw my confusion, began to wave to me to drive up to him.
Here it became clear that the post still works, but immediately the fear crept in that since we are alone here and the staff is bored here, we can be checked especially carefully. But during our tenure, no one else came to us, the border guard opened the passports, reviewed them, inquired about the Russian kinship of all present (apparently, he was bored), put us marks on leaving Serbia, and we went on.
At first I suspected that we would not be cared for by customs when leaving Serbia, but I was sure that the inspection would be accurate at the entrance to Romania, and given that we will be alone there, my fears only intensified . after all, we have prosciutto with us, and the import of meat and dairy products into the EU is prohibited. Prosciutto was securely hidden in the car and without complete removal of all things it was difficult to find. We passed the neutral lane, entered the Romanian post.
The situation is the same - no one is in office: no employees, no cars. As soon as they arrived at the post, the alarm went off. I already thought that I did not go there and because of this they hacked it, but as I understood, they have such an alarm clock, immediately after the signal from the door that opened, a couple of employees ran out and ran up to me. He explained to the border guard that we were going home to Ukraine from Montenegro, he put marks on the passports, asked to open the trunk, looked formally and allowed to go on. The border was crossed, the prosciutto was preserved! The border crossing was called "Srpska Crna - Zimbolija". One Google knows why we were taken there…
After passing through Timisoara, we soon reached the house of Andrew and John, already familiar to us, where we lived on the way to Montenegro.
During the day we drove 495 kilometers.
Day 17 (July 12): Cluj-Napoca (Romania) - Vinnytsia
Gathering the morning before, learning from Andrew, where the largest Auchan is located in the city, we set off. Wandering through a huge empty mall, we had a hard time finding Auchan. If we compare Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, it seems to us that Romania has the cheapest prices, especially for EU products. We liked their Romanian chocolate and yellow cheese, they also wanted to buy more Czech beer, but in Montenegro I did not find it at all, and in Serbia I found only in one supermarket. We had stocked wines and brandies from Montenegro with a small overrun of Ukrainian customs regulations, so the purchase of beer only aggravated the situation. But, based on the principle of "burning house - burning barn", I bought 2 more packages of Czech beer, 1 package of Romanian and a little Belgian… Well, other products that we already loved.
When paying at the checkout, a surprise awaited us - payment in this Auchan hypermarket was different from what we are used to. First, the cashier, as usual, punched us all the goods at the checkout and immediately gave us a check. At first we didn't know what to do with him, but she showed us the counters, similar to our self-service checkouts, we had to come here, scan the check and pay for the purchase. I paid with a smartphone, but if I paid in cash, I would not understand how to do it and who will give the deposit. Well, fine, paid. Then we approach the exit, but it is closed and the metal sash does not open automatically. Tried to open manually - did not allow. Then I looked closely and saw the barcode sensor, handed there a receipt for payment and then the sash opened. It is not clear how to reach visitors without purchases…
The road to the border flew by quickly and closer to 16:00 we were already at the Romanian post.
There was only border control, customs did not check anything. We approached our border, it turned out that the booth was not working in our queue, we had to go to the next one. When the customs officer heard that my family of five and I were leaving the sea with a child, he lost some interest in us and refused to go out to inspect our car, wishing us a happy journey. Wine, brandy and beer have been preserved!
After crossing the border, we set out to find accommodation for the night. We didn't book in advance because we didn't understand how fast we would cross the border and which city in Ukraine we would have time to reach before dark. Since the border was crossed in less than 1.5 hours, we decided to go to Vinnytsia. They didn't invent anything for a long time, they called the realtor, from whom they had already rented an apartment on the way to Romania in 2019, and agreed with him. The apartment cost 19 euros.
During the day I drove 660 kilometers.
Eighteenth Day (July 13): Vinnytsia - Poltava - Kharkiv
The journey was coming to an end, the last leap remained. Getting up earlier and handing over the apartment, we set off. Then the route Berdychiv - Zhytomyr - Kyiv was already well known to us, and soon we reached Poltava. After dropping off the senior part of our group in Poltava and staying there for a while, we went home to Kharkiv
During the day (to Poltava) we drove 630 kilometers.
It's time to take stock
General impressions of the countries
Romania. We came to it for the second time, it was already common, we felt very comfortable in Romania, I want to go again, I really liked the country. Of these three countries, our housing was the most expensive, and their products are probably the cheapest and most delicious, especially their milk and chocolate.
Roads of excellent quality, the only downside - in the north of the country they have all the roads through the villages and the speed of movement through them is quite slow.
Serbia.
This country is a little upset, it is much more than in Montenegro and here in Ukraine, the "scoop" is blowing, there was a feeling that we are back in the past. Roads at the level of Ukrainian: there are old patchwork patches, and there are new, however, paid, highways. Well, the police in the bushes - this is something we have long forgotten… But the people we met there, treated us well, everything was great.
Montenegro. You can't help but fall in love with this country ...Beautiful nature, incredible mountains, sea with clear water ...I don't want to leave here ...Being in Montenegro and not traveling around the country is a crime, even if you arrived by plane - rent a car and travel around the country, Montenegro is VERY beautiful! ! ! !!
Many rental companies provide a service "car to the airport", ie you choose a car in advance, order, then arrive, leave the airport, and you are already waiting for your chosen car. When you leave, you also hand it in at the airport.
You do not pay for the transfer, you do not spend time looking for a car while already in Montenegro - it's very convenient. If you want to come to Montenegro just to lie on the beach - then go to Egypt or Turkey for all inclusive, then Montenegro is not your option! You have to travel through Montenegro! ! ! ! !
Accommodation is not very expensive if you do not rent in mega-popular tourist places. In 2020, we planned a train to Croatia, we even managed to book accommodation, but there it is much more expensive, and the sea there is the same. But then due to quarantine the trip had to be canceled.
The products are a bit more expensive than in our country and in Romania, especially "painful" for us was the price of butter (about 2 euros per 125 g), ie twice as expensive as ours, but in general it is quite normal. I have heard many myths that Montenegro is an expensive country, do not believe it, it is not. Some "sadness" was a little upset, but it was much less felt here than in Serbia.
I was also surprised by the large number of abandoned and dilapidated objects, including nearby popular places.
Roads are great everywhere, especially in the south, but sometimes very narrow, especially on some serpentines.
Small business is quite developed: many small shops, cafes, bakeries. We often bought different buns in mini-bakeries.
Fuel prices, road payments, parking
At the time of the trip, our gas cost about 0.
55 euros / liter, in Romania about 0.58 euros / liter, in Serbia at all gas stations we saw the same price (apparently it is fixed) - 82.4 dinars / liter, which is about 0.7 euros / liter, and in Montenegro we refueled at 0.63-0.65 euros / liter.
To travel through Romania you need to buy a vignette, we bought for 30 days for 7 euros.
There are no vignettes in Serbia and Montenegro, but there are toll roads in Serbia (our site cost us 4 euros), and in Montenegro there is a toll tunnel (2.5 euros one way).
In Romania and Serbia, paid parking was not used, while in Montenegro, beaches were paid mostly at 1 euro per hour, 2 euros per hour was only near Sveti Stefan.
Standard of living
It seemed to us that Serbia looked the poorest of these countries, and Montenegro and Romania were somewhere on the same level, although Romania is probably still a little higher.
Traffic
In Romania, the traffic is well organized, everyone is trying to follow the rules, personally I tried to follow the speed limit, well, the maximum speed was unpunished + 10 km / h.
In Serbia, too, tried to follow the rules, quite a lot of radars "self-control", which simply show your speed and, based on what is allowed in this area, or burn in different colors, or draw different smiles. Three times they were ambushed by police in the bushes, but since everyone is flashing their headlights, the cops have little chance.
In Montenegro, especially in its southern part, there are a lot of cameras, almost no policemen on the roads, so they drove several times and stood at the same big crossroads every night in the middle of the crossroads. For locals, such a concept as traffic rules simply does not exist.
They drive at the speed they want and the way they want, while trying not to cross the continuous. It is not clear whether the cameras work. The turn signal is used only on the left and only when turning to the left.
If you see a car with Montenegrin license plates, which includes turn signals everywhere, especially at roundabouts, it is a rented car and there is no Montenegrin behind the wheel. In the end, I stopped turning on the turn signals when entering the roundabout and when leaving it, then Serbia and Romania forgot to turn them on.
Montenegrin traffic rules have several significant differences from our rules:
They argue this rule by saying that a drunk front passenger can interfere with the driver's ability to drive safely. The permissible level of alcohol in the blood of both the driver and the front passenger - 0.3 ppm.
According to Montenegrin rules, if the arrow to the right is not lit, and the main green traffic light is lit, you can go in all directions, including the right.
Bank Cards
Throughout the trip, my uncle faced the same problem - he could not pay with his bank cards, which have only a magnetic stripe. Vendors constantly tried to either attach these cards contactlessly or shove them into the terminal, thinking there was a chip.
When we explained to them that there was no PayPass or chip in these cards, they didn't understand how to pay with this card, and some even refused to accept it. I had to pay with a smartphone with NFC. Some, more layered sellers of old tempering, understood how to use such a card, and it was possible to pay for it, but when paying in addition to the PIN code, the terminal still required to enter the last 4 digits of the card, see for security.
In one supermarket we came across a cash register, where the terminal is already deprived of the ability to accept cards with a magnetic stripe, there is simply no required slot. So before you travel, change your outdated magnetic stripe cards to chip cards and PayPass, or if you have an NFC smartphone, add your cards there.
What they brought with them
In Montenegro, we really liked their local wine, dry wine Plantaze Crnogorski Vranac, drank a lot of it there and brought home a lot.
Montenegrin beer "Niksicko" is terrible, do not buy it. The bulk of the beer sold there is either Montenegrin or Serbian, it is also not very much. Found in one place Italian - did not like. Czech and Belgian could not be found at all. They brought a bottle of brandy with them, but haven't tasted it yet.
Of course they ask where to go without him ...Before I could not imagine that I would ever buy a whole leg.
I have not seen Montenegrin prosciutto here, and Spanish ham is three times more expensive.
They also brought Spanish olives and Spanish olive oil. Bought what was on sale, everything was delicious, I liked it.
Czech, Belgian and Romanian beers were bought in Romania. Romanian beer was pretty good. I saw a lot of Australian beer, but did not become brothers. Does it really make sense to carry beer across the hemisphere? ? ?
They also bought a lot of yogurts on the way, they are excellent, Romanian chocolate with a very high percentage of cocoa, and of course, the cheese was yellow.
From the negative
The most negative thing we've seen there is mountains of rubbish… Garbage is just everywhere. I remember seeing him a lot two years ago when traveling to Romania, this time we saw him a lot in Serbia and even more so in Montenegro. In addition, in Montenegro, garbage is mostly dumped not by tourists but by locals.
It happens that you come to the observation deck, stand, admire the view of nature, and then look down and see that several trucks of construction debris mixed with plastic and other waste fell from the cliff.
And in the private sector they have very few garbage cans, locals just pile garbage at intersections, and these mountains of garbage lie under the scorching sun, they are carried away by the wind, birds, animals… Yes, garbage is taken out often, maybe even daily, but it's not solves problems. I don't know why you can't organize garbage cans…
Together
In total, in 18 days from Poltava to Poltava we drove 5825 km. During this time, 667 liters of gas were consumed, ie the real average consumption was 11.45 liters / 100 km, which is perfectly normal for such a car with 5 people in the cabin, fully loaded trunk and constantly working climate control. At the same time, the conditional consumption of gasoline on the on-board computer showed me 8.9 l / 100 km.
Drawing conclusions from the last trip, this time we made fewer mistakes, and felt much more confident, the car is now more comfortable, I almost never got tired of driving it.
When planning the trip, he took a lot of time to quarantine restrictions, and in fact we have never been asked for anything. The most we did was wear a mask indoors (in shops, at gas stations).
In just 18 days, we spent on the "common room":
Housing - 747 euros;
Insurance (cars, health) - 87 euros;
Transport (gas, parking, toll roads) - 450 euros;
Tourist tax - 43 euros;
Communication - 15 euros;
Products (shops, market) - 108 euros;
Cafe, restaurant - 106 euros;
Entrance tickets - 26 euros.
That is a total of about 1600 euros. Plus there were personal out-of-pocket expenses and many bought with them (shoes, food, alcohol, prosciutto, souvenirs).
In general, I really liked the trip, but not enough, you need to go to Montenegro for longer, preferably for a month. Due to the fact that we were in a new place every day, we did not have time to get bored, there was no fatigue, we did not want to go home at all.
Not everyone looked, you must go there again, there is still a lot to see, but not enough time.
