Retiring to Montenegro
Reply With QuoteEverything looked fine until I noticed that we had not yet received a water bill. An official of the water company had taken off my lawyer the connection fee, fitted a meter and had the pipes connected. Anyway, I asked the water company (Vodovod) to issue a bill. They denied all knowledge of me, accused me of having stolen their water, threatened me with a fine in the amount of 3 million liters of water and announced, that they would turn off the supply unless I paid this fine within 24 hours of it being issued. They also charged me for 650,000 liters of water, which I could not possibly have consumed, even if I had all taps fully open 24 hours a day. I reacted by instructing my lawyer to apply for an injunction, to sue the water company for a refund of the over-charge and to institute criminal proceedings against the official who embezzled the connection fee. That was the last I heard from Vodovod, and my lawyer shrugged her shoulders and commented:- 'it's Montenegro' .
For my wife and me, this house was for a number of reasons really only a temporary measure to get us out of the rental trap. Hence we sold it last December to 3 Russian Families, who bought 1 story each. The sale was handled by one of Montenegro's leading estate agents, who also provided the sales/ purchase contracts in 3 languages, i.e. Serbian, Russian and English. The payment of the purchase price as well as the vacation of the premises was supposed to be a phased operation proceeding in parallel with the construction of my new house, which should suit our requirements better. It turned out, that the 3 versions of the contract differed from each other substantially, to the effect that all 4 parties ignored them altogether and proceeded with the transaction paperless as gentlemen.
On our arrival in Montenegro on Jan. 12th 2005, we dreamt of a house by the sea and we looked forward to having dinners with the sound of the waves in the background. We had to change our minds on that subject. A Montenegrin beach in winter looks like a brothel at daytime . The restaurants on Jaz beach, for instance, closed last year on Sept 15th (we were swimming well into October), and after the first Yugo (strong South-east wind) the beach has been covered in flotsam consisting of drift wood, plastic bottles, shoes and even a dead sheep. The dustbin along the access road has not been emptied for 5 months and the surroundings have presented a real health hazard. A clean-up operation is not expected until the first tourists trickle in for the next summer season . In summer, on the other hand, you are deafened by the music emanating from the cafes and by inebriated holidaymakers who want a good time.
Strong swell may travel 30 ft or more up a shallow beach and produce spray 20 ft high when it hits a rock. As a result, nearby houses suffer erosion and dampness problems. Most important, vendors of seaside property are talking monopoly money and the asking prices have risen sharply since my reconnaissance in 2004.
As a matter of interest, a high percentage of the advertised houses or plots are not really for sale and their owners will only part with them to buyers who pay well over the odds.
I used to contend, that swimming in a pool was like running a marathon on a balcony. I had to change my mind on this subject as well. My new house will be on a hill with sea view, and I shall swim in the sea only before mid July and after the end of August. In the spell in between, I shall use my pool, because there are 450 000 Europeans fighting over a few hundred beaches and in order to get into the water, bathers have to slalom past sun worshippers and wade through a barrage of cigarette ends and ash, which together with its stench clings to feet and footwear. There seems to be a bias in favour of the marginal-cost mass-tourists and the associated big hotels, who get privileged access to beaches, and against the expat retirees, who spend big bucks in Montenegro, and do so also out of season, thereby alleviating the ghost town syndrome.
There are 2 more matters that I missed during my reconnaissance in 2004:- animal welfare and litter . With regards to animals, my wife put out the word, that she would fund the castration of 2 pets per month. In 2 years, her offer has only been taken up for 2 animals, whilst there are cats and dogs breeding happily everywhere. Some individuals solve the animal proliferation problem by, e. g., tying live kittens into plastic bags and throwing them into a dustbin . I was told that in the prevailing religions any interference with God's work (e. g. procreation) is seriously frowned upon. In spite of official denials, there is also intensive farming and I received reports of cruelty at animal markets. There are also unconfirmed accounts of dancing bears, caged tigers and wolves as well as of a zoo run on Victorian lines with disregard of modern ideas of animal care.
With regards to the other matter – litter -- the Montenegrins dump everything everywhere and stinking refuse detracts very much from the 'wild beauty' of the land.
A few months ago, Montenegro became an independent state. This may be an opportunity to throw many of the old concepts overboard and to learn from other countries' mistakes who paid a high price for factory farming, failure to operate neutering programmes for stray pet animals (particularly in an area, where rabies is never far away) and similar acts or omissions. Thus, Montenegro could eventually become the ecological state that it purports to be.
Ernst Stogmuller runs www.place-in-the-sun.biz an expat-to-expat free source of information.
©Ernst Stogmuller
Necu generalizovati pa pricati o cistim Englezima, ali ko je bio i video...
Originally Posted by shrek
Naravno to sam shvatio kao deo kulture, ne kao necivilizovanost. Bilo je još mnogo zanimljivosti u tom velikom gradu Napulju.
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