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Published: August 21st 2009
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Ostrag Monastery & Budva days 9-11 (July 6 - July 8)
Leaving Sarajevo we took a bus to our next destination, Ostrag Monastery. The road from Sarajevo through the nearby mountains was very narrow with some lovely sheer drops, but this of course meant great views. Especially initially we were on a narrow country road with not much passing room for the oncoming traffic. You can see why this area is spoken of in the same breath as Switzerland.
We were met at the roadside stop by a local mini-bus for the rest of our journey. If we thought the previous roads were narrow then this last part had us all holding our breath. The road snaked up the side of a mountain, with loose edges that one more than one occasion we had to move to in order to let oncoming traffic pass. A few times reversing had to occur to a slightly wider point to allow overtaking. We were all amazed when a full size bus arrived behind us, and wondered how they could make the journey safely.
We were staying in rooms in the lower part of the local monastery. No showers or hot water,
lights out by 10pm but a very peaceful place. As it was so hot our leader arranged for us to be driven to the top part of the monastery. The monastery was set into the cliff space, and the small chapel held the body of the local saint (a priest who was dug up 3 years after his death with apparently no decomposition).
We walked back down on some rough steps which was lovely to be amongst the tress. We had dinner at the local restaurant and then it was an early night.
We had hoped that we could take a private bus to the next destination but it was unavailable, so we waited on the roadside hoping that the passing bus would stop to pick us up. Fortunately it did and it was not too crowded as the day was already heating up. We picked up a lot more passengers at the next major town, and things really started to heat up on the bus. As we came into Budva, there were clouds clinging to the top to the mountain range we were crossing, which I’m sure pushed the humidity to 100%.
Budva is a resort
town. It has a beautiful bay and a beach (one of those rocky ones) lined with deck chairs for hire. I didn’t want to be sitting out in the sun (even with an umbrella) so stayed to do some housekeeping (laundry, journal) and watched a Romanian movie I’d downloaded. Our rooms were a lot of steps but had a nice view of the town if not the water itself. We met for a late dinner overlooking the water. I believe that Budva is the pizza capital of Montenegro. It seems to be the main fare at all the restaurants.
The next day I headed out early to the old town area, stopping for a coffee at the mariner. After wandering through the narrow alleyways of the old town I made my way back to the apartment to keep out of the sun. In the afternoon I found a local café that had wireless and air-conditioning to while away the hours in. By the time I got back the others were heading out, a little too soon for me so I left later and found a nice café opposite the beach to sit and of course have more pizza.
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tezzakezza
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Wow...i want to go there...i love the Monastery set into the mountain side, and the Budva Old Town Your bus ride at the beginning sounds hair-raising, glad to be hearing about it retrospectively, knowing you survived the trip!!! Sounds so stinking hot too, you poor thing!! X K