Shkoder to Lovcen Viewpoint and Cetinje: Private day trip

The views from Montengro's highest peak are breathtaking, and the Lookout restaurant is a great place to dine with a view. For those looking to go even higher, a 10 minute walk to the peak rewards visitors with the best views in the country and the chance to see the mausoleum of Njegoš. This resting spot was actually his last wish, to be peacefully placed at the top of the mountain in the chapel that he designed. After multiple exchanges in regime, territory, and power, his chapel was demolished, body removed, and later rebuilt and returned. Now, a mausoleum stands at the top of the mountain for Njegoš who was both a ruler and one of the most ambitious and esteemed poet-philosophers of the Serbian, Yugoslavian, Montenegrin histories.

Being an independent state on the borders of the Ottoman Empire put Montenegro in a politically strategic position, and as such, every major European power had an embassy in Cetinje. Because of this, the old town has a continental style a thousand miles away from any reference point. The town was taken by the Ottoman Empire several times, but the locals would always rebuild, as the Monastery of St. Peter can attest. Housed inside are relics of Saint Petar of Cetinje, one the illustrious patrons of Montenegrin history. In a country that’s 70% Russian Orthodox, this monastery represents the nation’s spiritual seat. When the communists moved the capital to Podgorica in 1946, the Cetinje was left with just 9,000 residents. Today, feels like a time capsule. The population has grown slightly, but the buildings and the streets don’t look too different.