On July 26, 2009, after attending Church, Mom and I headed north to the Czech Republic. How this trip got started is a long story. But I'll tell you the short version anyway.  Three to four months ago I got an invitation from the Young Single Adults of the Czech Republic to bring as many YSAs from Albania to the annual Eastern European YSA Conference as possible. It was to be held in Seç, Czech Republic which is located about a 2 hours drive west of Prague. I checked into travel costs and determined it would be too expensive for the YSAs to attend, but I did mention the Conference to our mission president John Neil. He got permission from the Area Presidency to use the mission van. Which would allow Mom and I along with 6 YSAs from Albania to make the trip. There were still huge problems involving visas. I must have made 6 trips to the Czech Republic Embassy in Tirana. They were very nice, but needed a lot of verifiable information from the YSAs. We had to get letters from Universities, employers and banks. It took over a month to get the European Union visas, but we still needed Croatian visas for all 6 of the Albanians. We got the Croatian visas just two days before we were to leave. The van also had to be registered and properly insured before it could leave Albania. Going to the "DMV" in Albania is an experience I would wish on no friend. With some small and large miracles we were able to get 6 young Albanian Saints and one blue VW van to make the trip. The above picture is of the group just before we left. Up front, Sonja, flag and Mirgen. On back row Harbi, me, Mom, Marsela, Mira and Edi. 

As we left Albania, we had one more small and 

very narrow bridge to cross over before we 

headed north into Montenegro.

  
The roads leading out of Albania and through 

Montenegro are very narrow, but when you hit the coast, the views are breathtaking.

The most expensive and exclusive resort in Montenegro is located on its own island. Called 

Sveti Stefan, it was originally a 15th century 

fishing village. In the late 1950's the Yugoslavian 

communists evicted the last residents and turned 

the whole island into a hotel/town. Its been 

fortunately renovated as late as last year. 

It would take days to travel the entire dalmation coastline of Croatia and Montenegro in a car. We drove it for a day and used one ferry crossing while still in Montenegro to save us some time. Notice the gorgeous coastline in background.

Dubrovnik, Croatia is one of the jewels of the world. We had just enough time to drive slowly through the city before continuing north. This is certainly one place I would like to visit again.