River Rafting

One of the last adventures I took with Angel while she was here this summer was a river rafting excursion up in the northwest of Montenegro. (Actually, the rafting starts in the "no man's land" between Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina!) The drive up there, along the Tara River Canyon, was perhaps the highlight of the journey. The terrain around us was beautiful: towering verdant cliffs around the azure ribbon of river twining in the canyon below. It was also surprisingly cool and misty for the summer, which gave everything the edge of fantasy.








Although the river rafting istelf was not particularly exciting (no really big rapids to speak of) it was nevertheless an aesthetically rewarding experience. I didn't take my camera with me on the raft, but if you can imagine being in the bottom of the canyon looking up, observing the towering cliffs glide gently by as we rowed and drank beers in turns, you might be able to imagine the experience.







On the return trip we passed through roads taht went through labyrinths of tunnels carved directly into the cliffsides of the mountains around us. Afterwards, we stopped at a famous church set into the side of a mountain, a very popular pilgrimage destination in Montenegro.





All in all, though the whitewater rafting itself was not terribly exhilarating, the excursion itself was one to remember and a welcome break from the hedonistic beach life of the rest of the summer.