Lake Skadar by car from Podgorica, viewpoint and cruise

From Pavlova strana, you can see the Rijeka Crnojevica curve around a wooded hill before opening out towards Lake Skadar. The viewpoint's height lets you take in the whole bend and the flat stretches of water between the slopes. This view often appears in photographs of the area, but its shape is easiest to understand when you follow both arms of the river around the hill with your eyes.

Nearby, open water alternates with vegetation along the banks. Water lilies and reeds change the appearance of the river's edges through the year, so a photograph from another season may show a very different balance of water and greenery. The view from above gives you a broader picture of the wetland landscape you will later see from the boat.

The beginnings of Rijeka Crnojevica are linked to Ivan Crnojevic, who built a fortress and monastery at Obod. Its position on a navigable river later gave the town another role, as a trading centre connected to Lake Skadar. The old houses by the water are reminders of the people and goods that once arrived here.

Prince Danilo built Danilo's Bridge in 1853 in memory of his father, Stanko Petrovic. The Mostina house, which he also built, survives beside it. The bridge linked the town with Rijecki Grad and formed part of the old caravan route towards Virpazar. Walking across it makes the stone arches and the bridge's relationship to the narrow riverbank clearer than they are from the approach by car.

King Nikola had his winter palace, Ljeskovac, here and built the New Bridge. The town's buildings thus retain its connection with the ruling family. Visits inside these buildings are not promised as part of this route.

Lake Skadar is shared by Montenegro and Albania, and its Montenegrin part has been protected as a national park since 1983. The lake's surface area changes with the water level, so the boundary between water, meadows and wetland vegetation also shifts through the year. In the north, shallow water, reeds and floodplain forests provide habitats for many bird species. The Montenegrin part of the lake has been on the Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance since 1995.

The cruise alternates between broader views across the lake and passages through aquatic vegetation. White and yellow water lilies, water chestnut and reeds are part of the park's plant life. These beds provide shelter and food for animals, making the journey through this part of the lake interesting even when no fortress or village is in view. From the boat, you can observe where the plants give way to the navigable channel and how birds use their edges.

The Dalmatian pelican is one of Lake Skadar's characteristic species. Cormorants, herons and other waterbirds also inhabit the lake. A standard sightseeing cruise does not guarantee a pelican sighting or access to a nesting site. Watching the life along the water is interesting in itself, without approaching protected colonies.

Lesendro is a fortress near Vranjina, restored in 1832 during the rule of Petar II Petrovic Njegos. From here, a Montenegrin garrison protected the approach to Rijeka Crnojevica, while the Ottomans captured the fortress in 1843 and later extended it. The walls you see from the boat therefore bear witness to the struggle for control of the lake and the routes towards the river town you visited earlier. On this tour, you view them from the water, without landing.