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Montenegro looks incomplete - I feel like the population is made up of DIY handymen, and the countryside is a backyard of half started renovations and unfinished outdoor entertaining decks. There is construction everywhere, from within the towns, to along the highways! And if there´s not actual construction taking place, there are construction materials littered throughout Montenegro´s dazzling scenery. When you cross the border in Montenegro, you know that you´re entering real Europe, not the Europe you see along the Croatian coastline that has been prettied up for all the tourists. Montenegro is a bit grittier and grungy, and at the same time to interesting and, almost, exotic! While the principality of Montenegro has been around since the middle ages and throughout history has been part of various incarnations of Yugoslavia, Montenegro only declared itself as an independent country in June 2006 - making it the newest country in the world! So I suppose we can allow for a bit of construction... How would you be - first you live in in the Ottoman Empire, then in Serbia, then in Yugoslavia, and then suddenly you´re now known as Montenegro! That would be such a pain for the postal system...
Budva is my base for my Montenegro travels, a small seaside town that is becoming a very popular tourist destination, especially among Russians (dah, Darlingk!). On Thursday morning I took a bus to nearby Kotor, which my cousin Tamara has told me I must visit (she works on luxury yachts, and told me it is her favourite place so far). The bus I took was old and slow, evidenced by the amount of cars that were fully utilising the passing lanes throughout the course of our half hour trip. The seat I chose for the trip was a whiner, a real cry baby. It squeaked and creaked the entire way to Kotor, as if loudly protesting the ample weight that had decided to place itself upon its cushion. It made me feel quite self conscious really - I felt like people would be turning around to see who the big fat heifer is that´s torturing the seat behind them. How embarrassing. For some strange reason the only time it stopped crying out in agony was when we were passing through a long tunnel - perhaps my seat was a little afraid of the dark, and was therefore grateful for my company.
They played John Farhnam on the bus... the things you hear...
Outside the bus window I saw an old man sitting up on his garage roof, just chilling, watching the world (or more correctly the traffic) go by. I thought that was quite strange, until I saw what appeared to be a set of freshly cemented stairs leading up to the roof (which I think he was turning into an entertaining area... yet again more construction!). Perhaps he cemented himself into a corner?! Bad planning!
Kotor´s old town is a UNESCO World Heritage site, joining the ranks of many other old towns along the Adriatic coast (for example, Dubrovnik and Split). However, unlike Dubrovnik, Kotor´s old town seems to be less discovered, and I actually felt like I could dance The Macerana in the streets without whacking elbows with the person standing next to me. It was a beautiful maze of twisting alleys and sunny squares, with lots of al fresco cafes and restaurants lining the streets.
After wandering around the old town for about an hour, I stopped at a coffee shop to be quite European and grab a ´kaffe´ and read my book. After about 20 minutes I was approached by a little girl of about six years old, the cutest little thing, wearing a bright red jumper, and her hair pulled back into pigtails. She came up to me so close that I thought she was going to jump up and sit on my lap. She looked up at me with her big brown eyes, and started talking to me in Serbian, with her tiny hand outstretched. At first I though she was just inquisitive, maybe she thought I looked different, or she was interested in my book. But she was actually begging, her little hand outstretched with the hope that she might soon find some coins in it, or even some food. I didn´t know what to do. I felt so bad that such a small child had to do this every day instead of being in school, but at the same time I didn´t want to give her any money which may encourage her to keep doing it (or encourage her parents to keep sending her out). So I just kept telling her ´No´ and shaking my head sadly. In the end she just walked away, and I saw what appeared to be her mother call her over and they started pestering other tourists. Shame.
My absolute favourite thing that I have seen so far on my trip is the fortifications on the mountains behind Kotor. Unbelievable. The view from the top is just (with the risk of sounding cheesy) is breathtaking. They are basically these networks of stone walls, ruins, towers and churches that creep up the side of the mountain behind Kotor, and have protected the city against attacks for thousands of years. There are supposedly 1,500 steps up to the top - but as there are so many different routes and I ran up and down a few of them, I figure I walked a lot further than that! I spent about three hours in total going up and down the ruins, stopping every now and then to gawk at the scenery (or just pretending to do that while I catch my breath!). Once I had gotten to the top I found a nice tuft of grass and sat up there reading my book and eating (that´s right!) a pastry from the bakery. Bliss.
On my way down a retiree couple said ´dober dan´ to me, which means ´Hi, how are you´. I replied, dober dan, and the man looked at me questioningly and said, Serbian? I laughed and said, no, Australian. And he replied with an English accent, you guys are great at cricket! We stood around talking for about twenty minutes, discussing travel, the monarchy (ha!), etc. I thought it was quite amusing that they thought I was Serbian - my quest to blend in and not look like a tourist must be working!
I could have spent all afternoon wandering around those ruins...
Montenegro isn´t really a pretty, charming place. Sure, it´s old towns are beautiful, and its mountain scenery is spectacular, but the towns themselves and the roads are really dirty and grungy. While they´re not the most picture worthy things, I´ve taken photos of them just so you can see what the real Montenegro looks like.
I thought I would make an entire photo album for Kotor and the fortifications, so I´ll leave this blog for now and continue on with Budva later!
Talk to you soon!
Love Hayley x
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