Traditional Wedding in Montenegro

I was thrilled when my one my best friend asked me to go to her wedding in Montenegro. Emir Kusturica's landscapes popped up in my head, "Black cat, white cat" scenes of people dancing, drinking… and gun shooting happened to be true! Well kind of…

In Montenegro, before the wedding ceremony, the tradition wants you to prove that you are a real man by showing off your hunting skill.

Unluckily for my friend, her boyfriend love animals. So the big man, followed by his brother-in-law, ended up with a hunting rifle in a field. After a long day they finally show up at night with a poor little dead bird as a catch. They were both pale as snow and we had a big laugh looking at these modern alpha male!

The next day we left them for a short trip to Kotor. Impression of the town: soulless, pretty and very touristy.

We had the chance to meet our Kotor guesthouse managers, who was generous enough offer to cook traditional dinner for us. The Serbian or Yougoslavian cuisine is influenced by peasantry, lots of delicious meat, cold cuts, soup, feta cheese and various kind of bread. To digest all these good stuff, our host made us drink their homemade Rakija (fruit liquor). Delicious! trust me I'm an alcoholic.

The next day we decided to cure the little headache on a beach. Time to leave tourist track and go meet our best friend and her family at Skadar lake.

On the way to Skadar lake. Take the Serpentine road for beautiful viewpoint.

Here we are! I wish I could take a 360 picture to do justice to this landscape.

You can enjoy a boat ride on the lake. You probably need to ask the restaurant to help you book the guy and negotiate the price according to the number of people.

We gather at the only restaurant by the lake, her sister invited an accordion player according to the tradition. The musician would play during the dinner, almost like a live jukebox, family or friends will give him cash and choose the next song. I got fascinated by the fact that everyone knew the lyrics, it was part of their culture, you will feel proud and almost part of the family while singing with them. Starting to be in the mood for the wedding!

Finally the wedding day. The orthodox ceremony was celebrated in the Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ.

The wedding settings was quite impressive: pool, live band, singer, fireworks and free flow rakija.

But the most important is that we had such a good time with our best friend dancing, singing and drinking…I really felt like in a Kusturica movie!

Thank you so much. Next time Durmitor national park and white water rafting I promise!

Peace.

*culled from www.curiousbanana.com