After we had officially left Kosovo with a few obstacles, we drive ten kilometers through the most idyllic Black Forest, which I would not have expected here in the Balkans. We pass through picturesque villages and dense fir forests that look like home. We drive for kilometers and wonder if we have already entered Montenegro without realizing it.

At some point we no longer expect that there will actually be a border post. But the Montenegrins also want to control who comes into their country, even if they leave plenty of room for a neutral zone.

The border guards are also in a good mood and have fun with us when they asked a whopping 50 euros per person instead of 15 – for the “insurance” of entry of the car – they laugh a lot at our confusion as I did research beforehand and the real one price in mind. The border guard clears up his joke and lets us in.

The rural idyll of villages, dark coniferous forests and cow meadows continue. Even the air smells like it does in my home country, the Black Forest. The roads and cars are in the best condition and I could assume I really got to the Black Forest via a space-time portal if there weren’t minarets towering up between the tiled roofs everywhere – every Pegida follower’s nightmare come true!

Montenegro shares its religions peacefully. We also see numerous old churches and monasteries along our way, which are in no way inferior to the orthodox churches in Albania in their archaic grandeur. Ancient frescoes take you back in time and take you back to the early Middle Ages, between the times of belonging to the Byzantine and later Ottoman Empires.

Traffic is heavy on the roads, but most drive harmlessly. Our goal is a small place called Plav on the lake of the same name, Plavsko jezero. There I booked a room for us in a small guesthouse over the Internet. The price for a nice accommodation is extremely cheap. In addition to us, there is only one extended Serbian family who share the bathroom and the space for the car in front of the house with us.

At sunset on the lake, we feel transported from the Black Forest further into alpine Austria, as steep mountains rise up on the banks of the water. The lake was is shallow and we can see the world beneath the surface of the lake full of underwater plants and fish playing in it like in a giant aquarium.

Colorful wooden boats are tied to a long jetty that extends into the lake, gently bobbing in the ripples of the orange-gold water.

On the following day we will enter Albania againVermosh takes your breath away.