NEXT STOP: MONTENEGRO

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NEXT STOP: BUDVA, MONTENEGRO

Part of the adventure is getting there: I traveled by bus from Croatia to Budva, Montenegro. This is how most locals go from one small country to the next. The buses are very nice and I had the option of relaxing in a cushy seat and chatting with a neighbor if I wanted, or I could rest, or sleep. And the best part is I didn’t have to pay a hundred dollars for an extra bag. By bus, I paid less than a euro a bag.

I arrived at the bus station in Dubrovnik with six minutes to spare, by the clock. I scurried to buy two chocolate croissants for the trip. No need for the haste, however, as it took twenty minutes to load the luggage under the bus. While I was waiting I met a lovely woman from Senegal. I commented on her unusual earrings. “I make them myself. I just sold my last pair,” she said laughing. She now lives in England and travels a lot. She left her assigned seat on the bus to sit across from me for part of the journey so we could share travel tales. My seat partner was another young woman with an Italian passport, but she was from Colombia, a place I have yet to experience. I also visited with a sweet woman from Croatia who later encouraged me to go to a psychological “healing” seminar to deal with the loss of my son, Anthony. He died more than twenty years ago. I tried to be polite, but I was not receptive to her idea.

We made two stops for border control, which was disruptive and time consuming, but interesting. We exited the bus, took out our luggage, maneuvered it to a window and presented our passport. Our luggage was examined and returned. We proceeded to a parking lot and waited while our bus was searched inside and out, and even under the carriage. We boarded the bus and went across a no-man’s area and then did it all again. We arrived in Budva at 3:30 p.m. A young bus station employee directed me to the exit and a restaurant. The waitress stowed my luggage in an armoire and suggested I order Balkan food. I had a cabbage stew with thick chunks of bacon, a familiar chopped salad (cucumber, tomatoes and spices in vinaigrette) and a basket of two kinds of homemade bread. Comfort food after a long day.

I picked up my luggage and asked a young man where I could find a taxi. He looked at the address for my hotel and he said, “No need. It is very close.” So when a taxi pulled over I told him my destination was very close and showed him the address. He agreed, so I said, “no need to bother you, then.” He pulled over anyway and loaded my luggage. The street was just across from the station, but it went up, and up, and up. Thank goodness I was sitting in a taxi and not dragging all my luggage up the steep cobblestone street. Vido, the taxi driver, was a good talker. He had two young children and was amazed that I had managed seven. He kept shaking his head; he was agog at the idea. It was fun to chat with him. As we pulled up to the hotel Vido said, “This is a five star hotel.” It was very nice, with a shared patio and stairs that ran down three or four hills, to the shopping center. I asked to extend my stay, because I was intrigued with the idea of taking those stairs, but the owner said he was fully booked the next day so I had to find another establishment. First I took a nap. Then, “poof”! There was no internet. I woke up in the middle of the night and I could get on line, but I was too tired to look for lodging. The next morning, again, there was no internet. I was alarmed and frustrated. I really needed a hotel; I was worried that the manager would tell me to leave. Near tears, I told him I had no hotel. He told me not to worry and led me to a gazebo, with internet. Then he rushed off, returning with a cup of tea for me. He was so nice. He told me to take all the time I needed.

At last I had an address for an Airbnb and called the taxi driver, Vido, from the day before. He was unavailable but sent his son, who dropped me off at the new hotel, Gufo Apartments, and said, “No charge”. Finally I convinced him I should pay so he asked for two Euro. That made me think that transportation was really cheap in Montenegro, but finally I realized it was only his father’s kindness. It makes me smile now that I understand.

Somehow I got off on the wrong foot at my new place. The manager offered me a rafting trip, and I asked the price. I already planned to go diving, but if it had been a deal I might have booked it. The price was too expensive for something I wasn’t excited about. When I said, “No, thank you” the manager got all huffy and stormed off. Later I went back down to the desk to have someone open the bottled water from my room. I was surprised when the manager told me his wife wanted to meet me. So I waited while he called her, and soon she arrived with their six year old son, Timean, and a cute little Pomeranian. We made a date to meet for tea at 6 pm.

It was not yet noon, so I had a snack, then asked the desk about a taxi. It was too expensive for daily transportation to the dive shop outside of town so I went to the tobacco shop around the corner and asked about buses. The bus stop was right across the street so I bought a round trip ticket.

It was a scenic route to the resort where the dive shop was located. The road was high on a hillside overlooking the coast and the sea sparkled in the sunlight. I met the dive master who introduced me to the owner of the shop, and I booked a couple of dive days. The dive master would pick me up at 9 a.m. (transportation solved). As we were talking I felt my wrap-around skirt sliding. I talk to myself, so of course I said, out loud, “My skirt is coming off.” I grabbed it and tied it really securely…the guys thought it was pretty funny. Boy, my face was red.

I was on the wrong side of the street when the next bus came. Luckily a young woman saw my dilemma and raced across the road to stop the bus. Thank goodness the driver stopped, because for some reason he wasn’t picking up passengers for the drive back to town. I was his only fare, and he dropped me off right at the mall next to my hotel. I grabbed a few groceries and went to my room to freshen up before meeting Arianna for tea. At the last minute I decided to take my computer, thinking she might be interested in photos of my home and family. She and Timean were waiting for me when I came down. We went to the restaurant next door and had a light snack and chatted. After hometown and family photos I chose some dive photos to share with the six year old, octopuses, sharks and sea lions. Of course Timean was fascinated. Now he wants to be a diver.

Afterward, I went shopping at the tent market and bought a beautiful skirt (which I left in the next hotel – I was distraught for the rest of the trip). I took some fries back to the apartment as well as a sandwich for the dive boat the next day. I spent the rest of the evening setting up my dive gear and camera for my first day of diving in Montenegro.

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Photos

VIEW FROM MY BALCONY
Beautiful at night. Bustling during the day.

RESTAURANT DESK
Need to check with my son about how this is done. I like it. He tells me he thinks they are cookies wrapped in banana leaf. Very clever...What do you think? (I thought they were plants.)

GUFO APARTMENTS - Airbnb
This was a brand new building right down town.

CLEAN AND CLOSE TO EVERYTHING
Everything was brand new. Next door to several restaurants and the open market. On the bus line.

SCRAMBLED EGGS?
Feta cheese on top. Scrambled eggs on top of veggies and roll. Not so much. The orange juice in the Mediterranean was always fresh.

THE MARKET
Many wonderful shops. I really wanted to buy here, but too bulky and heavy to carry.

Comments

[starship VT]

Next Stop: Montenegro
A very enjoyable read! We had similar encounters on border crossings on a tour beginning in Albania and ending in Slovenia -- definitely time consuming but I thought interesting too. So nice that you have warm memories of the kind people you met along the way. Accidentally leaving behind that new skirt was a real shame!