Last spring, I was pleasantly surprised and delighted with the opening of hiking trails within the "Orahovštica Trail" project. On several occasions, following the markings and the map, we visited several locations. Fortunately, there are a lot of them, so it is not possible to visit them easily and quickly, and those you have already passed, you can freely visit in other periods of the year when many things will look different. Of what I had left "for some other occasion", I was most attracted to the tour to the Zaboj viewpoint.
In the middle of December, thinking about where we could escape, we remembered Zaboj. We already knew the starting point. We turned from Virpazar towards Rijeka Crnojevića and reached the village of Komarno. The path to Komarštik (Komaraštik) starts from the center of the village, while the path to Zaboj goes a few hundred meters ahead next to the concrete fence behind which are located two luxury houses.
There is no sign for Zaboj on the road itself, but it is placed a little later after the turn (which is a bit confusing for those who are not sure where the trail starts). However, we did not even reach this signpost that day.
The houses, which are in a concrete fence, are guarded by 5-6 dogs, of which only one is on a leash. While we were trying to park, they were barking so bloodthirsty and trying to reach us that I gave up on the plan for the day. "Maybe it doesn't turn here after all," I tried to comfort myself. Even though we didn't go where we planned, we didn't let the dogs ruin our trip. There are always plans B, C... Since it was raining a lot those days, we decided to go to Poseljan, one of our favorite places on the shore of Lake Skadar, for the umpteenth time. We have been there many times but we never get bored. We even managed to find a path that we hadn't spotted before, upstream from the falls. Water, as we assumed, was abundant. A little sun was missing.
We didn't stay long because I remembered that, also following the "Orahovštica Trail", I found out about the village of Radomir, so we decided to drive to it because "who knows when the opportunity will arise again..." This time we headed towards it with upper side, across Rijeka Crnojevića. On my way to Rijeka Crnojevića, I stopped to take a photo of the so-called "New Bridge", built 50 years after the famous Danilov Bridge, the symbol of this small town on the shores of Lake Skadar. There was more water than ever, which we saw best when we crossed to the other side and climbed well above the town. The Crnojevića River was under water. Deep below us, the river that springs near the Obod cave was foaming.
To get to Radomir, you have to go through Gradjane. And that's where the legendary meeting took place with the biggest fan of Jasna's travels, Mr. Peña, who, when he realized who I was, hugged me so hard that Duško thought it was my friend from elementary school whom I hadn't seen for decades. He did not allow us to continue without stopping at his place. In his tavern, dishes are prepared in the old-fashioned way, under the sach. It was interesting to me, but we didn't have time to wait for lunch, despite friendly persuasion. When we stopped in Građani, I walked through the village. It is located at 350 meters above sea level, 22 km from Cetinje, and 15 km from Virpazar. There are many interesting old houses, built in accordance with the traditions of this region. I promised that I would come again to see in detail all the interesting things about the citizens and the surrounding area.
It got cloudy and just before it started raining, and we still haven't reached Radomir, if we haven't reached Zaboj. We said goodbye to the company and continued our journey. Although it seemed to me that the distance between these two villages was greater, it turned out to be only one and a half kilometers. But when we reached Radomir, we were greeted by a ramp. They said: "You are free! It's because of the cattle.” The village with an unusual name, which, I admit, I had never even heard of until last year, is small, squat and isolated. It is unusual in that only Vojvodina lived and still live in it, and it is famous for the percentage of soldiers in the Second World War. A lot of them perished and the monument that the locals erected back in 1948 to their martyred relatives is one of the first, if not the first, dedicated to war victims in the territory of the SFRY. There were 22 names and only one surname on the list. A unique case, perhaps in the world. The monument was damaged in an earthquake, but was partially repaired in 1981. It was extensively renovated in 2019. Every village in our country has an interesting history, only there are fewer and fewer people who talk and even fewer who are interested in hearing it.
I haven't forgotten about the Zaboj viewpoint. It was supposed to be 5 weeks before we headed there again. In the meantime, our friend Sanja and her company had already arrived there. The Instagram photos were great. My only hesitation was: "How did you do with those dogs?" He says, “Nothing. We frowned at them a little and that's it." We didn't do that either, but stoically and to the maximum extent, even though it wasn't easy. As soon as we reached the marker from the beginning of the story, we completely forgot about them. The trail can be circular, but we went and returned the same way. As soon as we got a little higher on the left side, we had a view of Poseljane, Čukovići and the increasingly popular "cafe with a view" - Macal's hill.
The trail led us over a variety of terrain, sometimes through a clearing, sometimes through a sparse forest, over rocks, earth, stones... It was well marked and completely easy. We made slow progress. It didn't take us long to get to the finish line, so we tried not to rush.
It's the last Saturday of January, and it's a wonderful, clear, warm day. Heralds of spring everywhere, full of oysters. The previous three weekends we didn't manage to go to nature, so that's probably an additional reason why we were delighted with this trail.
When we got to the first clearing, we had a nice view of Skadar Lake, Vranjina. We thought we had reached our goal. Faster than we expected, but that's about it. However, the markings led us further down. We were descending quite a bit and somehow it didn't make sense to me that you go to the lookout point and descend. On the way down, we saw two interesting stone houses, quite dilapidated. At the time, we didn't even think that the viewpoint was right above them. The path went down so much that I thought that, despite the markings, we had missed somewhere, that this path leads to the shore of the lake, and not to some viewpoint. We almost didn't make it back until I remembered to call Sanja, who encouraged me that I was on the right track. Maybe 10 meters after that, the path turned left uphill, and soon we saw a small wooden signpost. It is good!
Then there was no longer any doubt that we were on the right path. Finally, for once we are lucky with not only a clear day but also clear air. We visited the Skadar Lake and climbed the viewpoints around it countless times. That's why it was easy for us to discover what we saw around us, and there was quite a lot of it. We saw Mala and Velika Bobija and the Prevlaka peninsula with the village of the same name opposite them. In the background we could see numerous mountains covered with everything, but what was closer to our eyes was more interesting. Right below us is a small bay with the fishing village of Relja, and to the right of it is Gusjenica Bay (until then unknown to me) with Vranjina in the background. In front of us is Žabljak Crnojevića, to the right behind it is the village of Ponari. Above it is the newly marked path "Balšin grad" which I plan to walk on. This view was framed by the snow covered Albanian mountains which added a lot to its beauty. All in all, everywhere I looked were well-known and beloved locations that I never get bored of. Because the lake is never the same. Otherwise, it will turn out that the Zaboj viewpoint is located directly below the peak of Komarštik (Komarashtik), only that it is incomparably easier to reach Zaboj, and the view is almost the same.
With a stronger lens, I managed to get a closer view of Prevlak, Lovćen, Vranjin with the Albanian shore of Lake Skadar in the background, as well as a passing boat. Photos are not representative, but illustrative.
The viewpoint exceeded our expectations. As I am a viewpoint, so is the path that leads to it. On our way back, we decided to peek into one of the stone houses below the viewpoint itself. And this hamlet is called Zaboj. Who knows who was named after what. Next to the house was a dressing room. Inside, old-fashioned metal beds with rustling and pillows filled with wood shavings, long-forgotten chains, a rusty sickle, a scythe, a lantern. All left behind and forgotten decades ago. We acted and felt as if we had entered a museum.
On the way back, we paid more attention to the facilities located near the trail. And this is part of the village of Komarno. Everything was there: stone houses of which only the walls remained, houses renovated thirty years ago that are now forgotten, once extremely luxurious houses that also have not been visited or lived in for a long time. It wasn't until a few houses later that we thought that maybe sometimes someone would come by. Too bad.
I had completely forgotten about the dogs from the beginning of the tour. When we approached the fence inside which they were placed, we heard thunderous barking, choral. I didn't really care, I admit, even though I really love dogs and they love me. I have never been in a similar situation. As we passed them the barking threatened to burst the eardrums, but we carried on regardless, holding fast to the words of a FB friend who participated in marking the trail: “Don't worry! They never jump the fence.” While Duško was turning the car, I stood on the side of the road because the passenger door was right next to the fence. Suddenly, the biggest dog jumped from the fence and headed towards me. Usain Bolt would be envious of the speed and dexterity with which I crawled into the car. I do not know. Maybe he was offended that we didn't respond to their barking with a greeting, or at least that we "frowned" at them. He might just keep barking. Fortunately, I didn't have a chance to see what would happen. When I recovered from the shock, I said out loud: "I cannot recommend this trail to anyone. At least until these dogs are brought under control.” I hope they will, because the path with the viewpoint at the end is highly recommended, especially for those who are just planning to get in shape for some bigger challenges.
Bonus video:
