The beaches of Montenegro - road trip days 5 - 9

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The rule was no Christmas music unless the temperature fell below 8°. Leaving the farm, we achieved this, and I tortured everyone and delighted myself with three (or maybe four) Christmas songs. The cold temperatures in conjunction with our lack of cold-weather/hiking/hanging out on the farm-clothes made all of us anxious for the coast of Montenegro with beaches, sun and warmth. We were on our way through Podgorica, the capital of Montenegro, with the destination of Budva, a super touristy beach resort town. None of us gravitate toward hanging out in super touristy beach resort towns but we were on the cusp of tourist season, so Budva was serenely empty. We happily settled into our villa near old town, checked out the beach and had salad for dinner to offset some of the pounds of cheese we just ate for the past three days. But by dessert I was ready for some of Milijanka's cheese, and Uno wasn't the same without Petr's excitement and telling him putting a blue 3 on a green reverse doesn't fall within the standard Uno rules.

After breakfast on the terrace, we headed off for a morning swim. The water was colder than I prefer, but Bob the fish was swimming instantly. I warmed up on shore with Allison while we discussed this summer's beach attire trends. According to the beach we were on, pasties and a thong is in for summer 2015, a classy trend we will not be getting on board with. I did manage to swim for a bit, despite the slightly chilly water, by telling myself if the girl in the pasties can do it, surely I can.

The following day we walked down to the marina, admired the luxury yachts, discussed how easily we could have climbed aboard, but we instead hired a tiny boat to take us over to the island of Sveti Nikola. We arrived to the island to find it prepping for the masses of tourists soon to arrive. Fresh paint going on, beach chairs being delivered, ice cream vendors setting up stalls. We made the quick walk over to the other side of the small island to find the most picturesque beach with no one on it. We quickly scurried over the (broken) fence and set up for the afternoon where we happily swam, sunned ourselves, swam more and played bocce. If there was a mai tai vendor, life would have been complete, but other than that, nothing could have made that beach trip more enjoyable. The Adriatic Sea is my new favorite swimming location.

As a break from the beach, we headed through the old capital of Cetinje and onto Lovcen National Park which was an amazingly beautiful drive over peaks and into valleys dotted with farms and roadside stalls selling honey, rakija and kaijmak. The drive down the other side was even more entertaining with the 25 hairpin turns, some of which overlook the bay of Kotor.

This was our last stop in Montenegro. It's now one of my favorite countries. It's beyond beautiful. The food is amazing. The hospitality we experienced was remarkable. Adding "live in Montenegro for a while" to the life plans list.

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