Herceg Novi - Montenegro
Trip Start
Oct 30, 2007
1
56
165
Trip End
Nov 20, 2009
Loading Map
Herceg-Novi,
Serbia and Montenegro
Sunday, June 15, 2008
We overheard an Aussie accent on the next table (pretty freaky in itself - we hadn't met an Australian for a long time). Turned out Therese was a property developer who had lived in Montenegro for the past 3 years, and she was with Jovica, her Serbian boyfriend and a lawyer, and an associate of theirs, Trevor. Really nice guys. Anyway, we got chatting and Therese goes "look, we've got the boat parked up on the jetty, do you wanna come for a couple of drinks and do some kneeboarding?" So we trawled off to the van, got changed, grabbed the vodka and had a great afternoon on the water (which incidentally is so so calm, even (I) Brad didn't stack it that many times on the board). "Well, we're heading back to my apartment in Herceg Novi overlooking the water, why don't you leave the van and come back to ours for the night?" Great idea! What a night, the boat ran out of fuel on the way in and we had to get the harbourmaster and his crew to tow us back in - which we paid them for in beers...................what a crack up.
So anyway, next morning Therese and Jovica said : "Well ,seems silly for you to go back today, why don't we go out for lunch in the boat?" Suffice to say, they were kind enough to kidnap us for a week (hey, we were willing partners!) and we had such a good time with them.
Authentic Serbian lamb
We had to wrestle with ourselves to leave or we would never have gone anywhere else - they were happy for us to hang out with them even longer. We had to flip a coin after a few days (and as Therese pointed out, if you're really down to flipping a coin, it's really a given you should stay!). Well, she was right, really! So nice to have such flexibility with our plans to be able to do stuff like this, and it was so generous of them. We spent the other days wandering around town, laying on the beach and watching the Euro Cup with them in the local sports bar. Was great to hang out with such likeminded people with a similar sense of humour. It was also interesting to hear firsthand knowledge about the history of the region and the aftermath of the war - really opened our eyes. Definitely one of the real highlights of the trip. We saw so much stuff we would never have seen. Pulling up in the boat at a lovely local fish restaurant and staying til sunset, going up into the hills and having the best lamb we have ever had in our lives (cooked by a Serbian guy who uses his own lambs, cooked in a massive metal pan hanging over a wood fire, preceded by his home made prosciutto, homemade cheese, and homemade olives and wine, all overlooking the sea and mountains). Doesn't get any better!
So, anyway, back to the buying land/ property thing. Montenegro looks to be a favourite for us to invest in. There's been the first wave of entrepreneurial investment and a fair few people have made a lot of money over the past 2 years, but the place looks highly likely to take off in a much much bigger way (very soon). The inlet is just ideal for boat cruising, weather (in summer) is just perfect, and there's plenty of 'other stuff' to do. So we're thinking about what we need to do to if we want to get the most out of it. Hmmmm......
