Two Sore Thumbs

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Geo: 42.2864, 18.84

A lazy, lazy day ... Stari Grad for the morning and early afternoon. Wonderfully touristy, it's still a great spot to have a coffee, drink, meal, wandering, whatever you like. Funky little cafes abound on the inside of the walls, and charming little ones overlooking the water - take your pick. My choice this morning was a beach-front cafe for a cappuccino - not only did it offer a gorgeous view, but free Wi-Fi to boot! As a result, I stayed much longer than intended. I still can't get over how early it gets hot here - barely 10 AM, I was already breaking into a pretty good sweat, and the beaches were fairly busy with sunbathers and swimmers. I took advantage of the free Wi-Fi to quickly email Tri, and let him know that he should've come to Montenegro too, because at that very moment, he was missing out on some very nice scenery stretched out on Stari Grad beach 😊



Stari Grad is very compact and relatively devoid of sights, but it's one of those places you could spend just a few minutes or several hours, depending on your mood. For me today, it was the latter - as I said, a lazy, lazy day along the Adriatic. I really didn't want to leave that beautiful little seaside cafe, but I had more important things to do - such as taming a growling stomach! Cafe Picasso was the choice for lunch, and was selected more for the location than the menu - a cute little covered terrace, on overlooking an even cuter little Montenegrin square.



Budva's beaches and boardwalk are incredibly cheesy, plastic, tacky, touristy, and over the top - not usually the type of place I would like, but so far I am loving it!!! I've become Euro Trash! Lately I've been feeling like I've been out of my head, and perhaps the way to get back into my head is to see places and do things I wouldn't normally do. Perhaps that's why it's been so good for me here in Montenegro, so far. Does that make any sense?

Funny - new guy at the hostel named Chami - Sri Lankan, but born in Zambia, raised in New Zealand, worked in Brisbane and most recently, worked in London. Anyway - we headed back to Stari Grad in the evening for a bite to eat and a drink and while walking, he said to me "You know ... I don't think they get a lot of my kind here. People keep staring at me."

I almost burst out laughing, telling him that just minutes before he said that, I was thinking that he probably got more unwanted attention than me! Apparently, some girl even approached him in the street and asked if she could take a picture with him. Personally, I would actually welcome that experience, if it was one of the lovely Montenegrin females, or one of the equally lovely female tourists from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and Serbia that frequent this town. In that case, take all the photos you like! Even Boudoir-style, if you must!

Dinner was at Konoba Stari Grad, a cafe with a lovely terrace right on Stari Grad beach, immediately next to the cafe where I had a cappuccino earlier this morning. The moonlight, a gentle sea breeze, waves gently lapping at the shore ... it seemed an oddly romantic spot to have dinner with my newly-found Asian-sideshow oddity brother, who is even more unusual than I am in this part of the world. We stick out like two sore thumbs, and probably attract twice the attention that either of us would individually.



After strolling around Stari Grad, we decided to grab a drink at one of the bars facing the harbour, since a few of those had live music. After briefly witnessing a sax player blow the roof off one place last night (well, since it's an open air bar that wasn't possible, but if there was a roof it definitely would've been blown to pieces), I was excited to catch him tonight. The sounds of sweet, sweet sax were getting louder and louder as we approached but as we grabbed a seat, the sax player was nowhere to be found - tonight, it was only pre-recorded music 😞 No matter, a little top 40 to round out the night was still alright.

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Photos

i
Breakfast - crappy jam-filled pastry. I took a different route to Stari Grad today, and so missed out on the killer burek stand.

a
Slovenska Plaza - touted by the guidebook as having a unique Yugoslavian/Mediterranean mix of architecture, it was a tad disappointing.

k
Boardwalk during the morning - dead, no tourists were out yet as the vendors were still setting up. This is the little strip of tacky bars that blast bad techno all night.

l
Palacinke - the word for pancake. The 'C' with the accent above it is pronounced "ch". Should I be offended by the pronunciation, since I'm Chinese?

m
Over-foamed cappuccino on Stari Grad beach - at least the view of the sea was good. The view of the women on the beach was GREAT :)

b
Bar we went to last night - the whole little square was packed with people.

d
Stari Grad - not much to see, but the old town itself is a beautiful sight.

n
Kids playing football!

e
View from Cafe Picasso.

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Cafe Picasso.

p
Cafe Picasso offers a large selection of freshly-squeezed fruit juices - I ordered a kiwi/peach/strawberry/grape concoction. A little blah, its consistency was more like a smoothie, and therefore wasn't all that refreshing. Slane palacinke - this variation was stuffed with canned mushrooms (I'll never understand why restaurants use them), minced meat, and tomato sauce, kinda like cannelloni. A crispy fried exterior covered in melted cheese, and what the menu called tartar sauce (not sure about that one). The slices of tomatoes were probably the yummiest part of the dish. The pancake was good too, and quite filling, but not all that satisfying - seemed like eating a bunch of empty calories.
Something I've noticed about Montenegrin restaurants - they bring you a receipt every time you order something. They brought me one for the juice, one for the palacinke, and one for this espresso with milk.

q
A little espresso with milk to finish up the meal.

o
Modern Art Museum - the best piece on display was the A/C. Budva is friggin' hot!!!

r
Konoba Stari Grad - the grilled calamari was good, but not enough to fill me up. Nicely cooked. The potatoes were better last night.

s
Palacinke - Nutella and coconut! The pancake is merely a vessel ... just give me a bowl of Nutella and coconut, microwaved to melt it, and a spoon to eat it with, and I'd be ecstatic.