Hotel Blue Star Budva

Yesterday was a great day! I was watching the sunrise over the mountains this morning (listening to Muse and Dragonforce) and reflecting upon this. <br><br>Pete is still at work this week, so during the day (especially the hot ones like yesterday) Aunt Sue and I don't venture too far. But, luckily for us, Pete was able to get out a bit early and we were able to drive north for some cooler air. Some of the photos depict what the mountains look like, how narrow the roads ...

... girl speaking perfect English who told me to walk up the street about another half mile and when I see men selling the cigarettes outside on a bridge table, ask them to do the deed; I did. The girl asked me about America saying her greatest wish was to study in New York City one day. When I told her about my experience at the New School for Social Research, being dismissed for my anti NATO views on the Kosovo war she replied to me, "maybe she was wrong about wanting to study in ...

... medieval city packed with boutique shops is still a cheap stop in comparison, and catching the tiny, well-maintained streets and citadel fortress off-season makes it a lot more breath-taking. The latter can be toured without a guide for 2 euro which includes a complementary postcard.

... 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 ...

... to Budva, has also been sold to the same developer. I think that's horrendous when you sell one of the countries biggest tourist attractions to a private party but Montenegro has done this in several instances. The biggest challenge I have with the beaches here is walking on the large rocks and getting in and out of the water. It's never graceful but I usually just crab walk. I swam out and around this small island which was the longest swim of the trip for me. I keep ...

... 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 ...

... not this high. "Come on, I'll jump first." And with that, he ran past me and off the cliff. There was a splash and his bald head emerged with a giant grin. "Stuff like that let's you know you're alive." He shook water off his head and began the swim to the shore. "Watch out for sea urchins when you get to shore. They are a pain." Travis looked at me "Well, mate, you wanted to come out here to jump so go ahead." His Australian accent was thick and his ...

... cab that allowed us to avoid sleeping next to the shady guy who smelled like feet, we had a rest and woke up in Montenegro which, as it turns out, had been de facto separated from Serbia for many years to that point but just voted it in officially 4 months or so prior, and even were to shortly have their own UN representative. We got to Bar at 1pm, walked to the nearby bus station, and I broke one of my personal rules of travel, which is "never get hurried or ...

... 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 ...

... 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 ...