Hotel Coral Budva

... up into the mountain (very scary!!) and what Podgorica and the surrounding area looks like from the Mountains. We also stopped for pictures of some of the monuments that have been erected (most of them before the war). And we definitely enjoyed the cooler air which was probably 10 - 15 degrees lower then that of the city.

After the mountains in the North, Pete decided to drive back through the city to see Lake Skadar. Lake Skadar is split in half with Montenegro ...

... I made my way to the table with about five ethnic Albanian men hanging about selling cigarettes and asked them in English if they could exchange money for me; they did. They were definitely organized crime. They took my wet cash, examined the bills, one man walked into an apartment building with my cash while I merely waited. He didn't rob me and returned with my Euros. Surprisingly, I found everyone in both Serbia and Montenegro very honorable in their business dealings; even ...

... two plastic bottles on the ground to catch the upper bus. If bottles could talk, I am sure they were chuckling when I begrudgingly came back to them, initially thinking I could outwit them and grab another bus. Returned to Bay of Kotor. Very scenic. If it wasn't for the most comfortable hostel, Happy Hippo in the next town, I would have definitely stayed in Kotor for a few days. I was satisfied to visit it on two different days ...

... that swimming around Lokrum Island in Dubrovnik is coming up and I'm totally not ready for it but want to do it. When I returned from Sveti Stefan I walked down to the seaside promenade but was not prepared for what I saw. It was as if all 650,000 Montenegrans and most of Serbia was on the promenade. There are lots of rides for the kids, places to eat, nightclubs, shops, etc. I was trying my best to figure out how to describe the event and crowd for you and decided that it was ...

... coming up by the time I was descending. By that time there was no respite from the heat, as practically the whole pathway was bright and sunlit. There were a lot of gasping, unhappy faces on their way up. Glad I started early! Once down, I headed straight for a fountain in town, washed out my soaked sweat-cloth and then made my way to the bus station. Time to get off the humid, sun-drenched coast! The modern capital of Montenegro is a hot, dusty, largely concrete ...

... were full of worry. I stalled for time, "As I recall, you wanted to jump too." He looked out over the sea. "Yeah, I did, but...ya know, it just doesn't seem natural, does it? It isn't right. Why should this be some sort of way in which we judge if you're a man or not?" "You've done it before, haven't you? It can't be so hard." I countered trying to get him to jump before me. "Come on you *******!" Daniel yelled from down at the bottom of the cliff ...

... hustled into anything: if it's legit you'll be allowed to take your time." Nevertheless, we were urgently waved onto the bus by the young woman with cracked yellow teeth and told it was was the "only to Dubrovnik" that day. Fair enough, but when we ended in Budva instead and were told again that another bus was the "only to Dubrovnik" that day, I was not about to get snookered and we firmly stepped off to the side to plan our next move. The first part of our new ...

... LJ, "That's helpful." We took our seats outside, and after struggling to get menus, we placed our order with the aforementioned woman, who was clearly the boss at this establishment. All of the other staff, as well as the patrons, were under her control. When we ordered, we explained that we'd like the mussels to start, and then the other dishes afterward. Her English was poor, which is fine. Even though there are a ton of English speaking tourists here, I don't expect everyone to ...

So we made it to Montenegro. It was so easy! We didn't need a visa, a tourist card, proof of Euros, or proof of prepaid accommodation. We just bought bus tickets in Dubrovnik, Croatia, got on a bus, then got off the bus, and walked across the border. The border guards asked us where we were going, what our purpose for visiting Montenegro was, and wished us a pleasant day. Then we got onto another bus and a few hours later, we were in Budva. I never imagined ...

... dancing with our words, trying to say how we felt, without stepping too ******* big toes that we couldn't quite see underneath their very different 'skirt of experience' if you will... People took a mild interest in us because there were so few tourists. Most people were friendly, but I felt a bit of tension in the air around us. We had to remember that most of these folks are 'trapped' inside their own country and can't help but look upon foreign travelers with a bit of ...