Photographer Sarah Duff goes on an off-the-grid trip in Montenegro and discovers welcoming family farms and startling landscapes.
By: Sarah Duff
Montenegro packs a lot of punch for its tiny size. This Balkan country is blessed with a strikingly beautiful coastline, dotted with Venetian-influenced villages.
It is home to the largest lake in Southern Europe, one of the largest virgin forests left on the continent, and dramatic mountains crisscrossed with endless hiking trails.
On my road trip around the country I not only explored these photogenic landscapes, but I also stayed with families on their small farms, where I had an intimate experience of local life: sleeping in mountain cabins and old stone houses, eating real farm-to-table food and cheese, and learning Montenegrin phrases and family histories over glasses of homemade wine and moreish cherry rakija (brandy).
The Essentials
Stay: Book farm stays with families in Montenegro through Meanderbug meanderbug.com
Getting Around: The official currency of Montenegro is the euro. Credit cards are widely accepted throughout the country.
When To Go: Avoid the crowds and go just after summer from August to September when the weather is still warm. Some hotels close between late October and early April.
Getting There
SAA flies daily to Rome. From there take a connecting flight to Montenegro.
Photographs by SARAH DUFF