Ada Bojana Ulcinj

Bar is a port town in Montenegro. It took us about 5 hours or so to get there by bus from Dubrovnik. The first thing we did was use the bathroom. Of course the station restrooms had holes in the floor for the toilets and little foot areas so you could squat down over the hole. I still don't understand how women are expected to pee that way. It’s so difficult- not to mention gross- at the same time. And, we had to pay for it ...

... its odd that that Ulcinj hasn't marketed its ugly side—its history of piracy and violence. Other places have had huge success at marketing their sordid pasts, like Salem, Massachusetts, the gore tours of London, and the Dracula's castle in Romania, etc. Even the name, Ulcinj, is a PERFECT for creating the ambiance if piracy. Yet everything online about this city is trying to white wash its past and trying to ...

... sandy beach. The fact that the sand is black and the beach covered in thousands of people all paying to lye in their identical sun beds under their identical umbrellas does taint it a bit, but it has been a fantastic couple of days relaxing and catching up on all the little odd bits and pieces. Before we left the area we stopped in at Bars ...

... wooden houses and old wooden rods supporting a large fishing net. We then walked over to the beach. I could see miles of black fine sand ahead of me, no tourist in sight. This would be completely taken over by swarms of sunbathers if this type of beach was in Santa Monica. There were also very interesting seashells and nautili on this beach. I picked them up like a 10-year-old child while the Frenchmen wrestled on the sand. Regressing in our own ways. On the way out, we were ...

... one person can possess the vocabulary that the author has but the writing was riveting and the story memorable. At Bar another bus was getting ready to leave for Ulcinj so I hopped on and had no wait time. Thankfully this bus was not full. This stretch of coast was easily the most scenic of the day. The coast was populated with small cliffs and the occasional sandy beach. Taking the bus the length of the Montenegran coast was a good idea since I could see the ...

... by an old woman and her goat herd. Bent over almost double I was put in mind of the rural life lived by my great grandmother. Four generations ago in cambridgeshirte, how very different would her life have been to that lived by the old woman I passed today? My great grandma would have had fewer plastic bags to contend with and less chance of being knocked over by an impatient tooting taxi driver in a knocked off Italian Merc of course, but otherwise...?

... the increasing flood of tourists and property-seekers common in other coastal resorts of Montenegro to eventually trickle down here. There are a number of new, pretty spic-and-span restaurants on the sea side of the old town - perfectly prime locations with views of the beach - but not a customer in sight. Really a bizarre situation. I managed to cut up the bottom of my right big toe pretty badly on the way down to the beach afterwards, so I didn't spend ...

... the Adriatic. Montenegro just recently gained independence from Serbia (although Travelpod doesn't seem to have caught on yet) and is part of the EU now. The Montenegrans seem to be extremely pleased. Although everyone in Montenegro seem much less friendly, the young men still look like they have not shaken the feeling of war, and we now have to start brushing our teeth with bottled water, there's something about Montenegro that ...

... agents, but all in all that was the easy part as I slept haphazardly until ten minutes before the train arrived. From there options were to wait almost three hours for another train to Bar (as you gain an hour crossing from Bulgaria to Serbia), or hop on the next bus direct to a little place called Budva. What the bus lacked in comfort and safety ...

... of walking on top of the ancient wall surrounding the city is a special treat. The views out to the sea, with forested islands in sight is so pleasurable. After our scheduled tour, we ate lunch under awnings along a narrow road, cool breeze comforted us. The host shared Grappa and other local wines with us. Fish platter, octupus salad and Croatian cheese were our selections ...