Montenegro: Rugged and wild

June 9, 2024June 9, 2024 / mikeosbornphoto / 2 Comments

Do you find it difficult to relax on a sunbed for an entire week?

When I stayed in the charming Montenegrin town of Perast, I was eager to travel instead of taking it easy.

So I booked a day trip with 360 Monte to visit the north of Montenegro and see some stunning landscapes. CONTINUE READING BELOW

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I was picked up early in the morning to join a small multi-national group also keen to see the north of Montenegro, a contrast to the sunshine resorts of Kotor Bay and the Adriatic coast.

The first delight was climbing high above Perast for stunning views of the water below and soaring mountains bathed in beautiful morning light.

A view over Kotor Bay in Montenegro as dusk settles.

A view of Kotor Bay at the end of the day

The journey north was at times slow and on winding, lofty roads. Here are the highlights of north Montenegro that I saw:

Ostrog Monastery – A religious compound cradled in the mountains, dedicated to Saint Basil who is buried there. It’s a place of Orthodox devotion where his relics are kept in a tiny chapel. This was like entering another world far removed from my own.

Black Lake – Its waters are blue and fringed by pine forests and mountains in Durmitor National Park. A really impressive slice of nature.

Tara Canyon – The dazzlingly blue waters of the Tara River pass through this deep gorge. For engineering lovers there’s the vast Tara Bridge to cross. I decided against riding a zip wire over the gorge.

Salt Lake – An artificial body of water dotted with little islands near the city of Niksic. The lake looks steely blue if the skies are clear.

This was a long day on the road and there was one last treat on the way back to Perast – another view across Kotor Bay as a golden dusk was bedding in.

For a small country, Montenegro has more than its fair share of natural beauty, well worth seeing if you can tear yourself away from your sun lounger.

Cape Verde: Santo Antão

April 9, 2023April 19, 2023 / mikeosbornphoto / 4 Comments

I returned to international travel after a three-year hiatus with a trip to the Cape Verde islands.

My first stop was Santiago, seat of the country’s capital Praia. I then hopped to volcanic Fogo before moving north to São Vicente and the colourful city of Mindelo.

Lastly was a ferry crossing to Santo Antão, an island of rugged mountains and Cape Verde’s greenest valleys. Did I save the best until last? READ MORE BELOW

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Without an airport, Santo Antão feels less connected to Cape Verde’s other islands.

It’s more sparsely populated and a land where towering peaks and the Atlantic Ocean crashing against its craggy coastline prevail.

Colourful little villages cling to the mountainsides, including unmissable Fontainhas which has even been feted by National Geographic magazine.

But there’s a flipside to Santo Antão’s dramatic cragginess. The Paul Valley is the greenest place in Cape Verde, with its own abundant water source supporting crops and lush vegetation. It’s a memorable place to hike, dotted with rustic homesteads.

Life can be hard here, but to the outsider it appears peaceful, simple and idyllic.

It would be fair to say that like many other visitors to Santo Antão, I was bowled over by its beauty and relative remoteness, unique to the Cape Verde islands I spent time in. It has to be on your itinerary – but please don’t go all at the same time!

I stayed at Pedracin Village with rooms built in the style of Santo Antão cottages (mine is pictured above!) Surrounded by mountains on all sides, this was a quiet place to marvel at the landscape and experience the island’s very relaxed vibe.

A good tour guide can make your visit. This is Samuel Rocha, from Santo Antão and a proud Cape Verdean. He showed me the unique character of his island and did it with enthusiasm and good humour. Samuel was my hike buddy on a trail around the beautiful Paul Valley, which was quite strenuous but a truly memorable experience.

I booked my Cape Verde trip with island specialists Archipelago Choice, a small company based in Cumbria, UK. It was a bespoke tour for one based on their Highlights of Cape Verde holiday. Vista Verde Tours took care of my transport and excursions while I was on the islands. I flew from Manchester to Cape Verde via Lisbon with TAP Air Portugal.

The magic of Iceland

July 28, 2019July 30, 2019 / mikeosbornphoto / 21 Comments

Spectacular, awe-inspiring, amazing. Just a few of the superlatives that are given to Iceland and its magical landscapes.

This relatively small volcanic island close to the Arctic is packed with snow-capped mountains, glaciers, waterfalls, spurting geysers and a fantastic coastline scattered with glacial chunks and black sand.

I was lucky enough to visit some of these wonders on a tour of the country’s south in May and was even treated to a blanket of snow. If you enjoy landscape photography, Iceland is up there with the best of them.

But a note of caution. It’s now a popular destination and is organised to cope with many visitors. Some attractions are very busy and you may have to go further to experience real wilderness. Even so it’s hard to deny this country’s awesomeness.

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Chile’s deep south

May 19, 2019April 16, 2024 / mikeosbornphoto / 2 Comments

Chile may be a slender nation, but it’s full of wild, varied and majestic landscapes. It takes a few hours to fly from the arid lands of the Atacama Desert in the north to Patagonia, towards the tip of South America.

You instantly feel the chill, rasping winds and even summer snow as you climb higher on epic treks. Torres del Paine is a territory full of rugged mountains, glacial lakes and craggy moraines.

The nearby town of Puerto Natales has a frontier feel to it, with its own otherworldly views and sunsets that last an age.

It’s easy to be overwhelmed with landscape photo opportunities here in a country of boundless contrasts – but this is one beguiling place.