Haven't been posting for a while, Montenegro has been too much fun. We got to the pearl of the Adriatic Sea by three different means. First, we took the three-euro bus (buses part daily from 8am-7pm every hour, just next to the Tirana bus station) to northern Skodra, the connector-city between Albania & Montenegro. We met in the bus three Germans going in the same direction, so we decided to cross the border with four guys in a taxi's backseat. The cab cost actually less than a bus, so with 4 euros we got ourselves a transport to border city Ulcinj in southern Montenegro. From Ulcinj we took the 4pm bus to Budva (six euros), our first destination in Montenegro.
After a day spent commuting to probably the destination we've been most anxious to dig in, it felt soothingly rewarding looking at these five-star views while walking to our Hippo Hostel. The place was awesome. Large green garden, BBQ, spacious patio-area, healthy all-you-can-eat breakfast, fully equipped kitchen, walking distance location & friendly staff. Those are all great qualities, but the one that makes Hippo a baller is it's so much fun. The other guests & the staff just socialize so much more than in any other place I've been. Great people all over the world: Australia, France, Czech Republic, Spain, Sweden, Italy & even Chile. On the evening, everyone would just gather around the patio & chat & drink or do whatever felt good. There were even these Aussies from the hostel on the wrong side of the road, that came to the patio complaining their place, asking if they could join our party! And everybody was eating this huge, straight-out-of-mamas-recipe pasta bolognese this Italian guy cooked, fantastic. Good times in eight-bed dorms for 16 euros a day. Strongly recommended.
Lucky us, there was this electronic music festival going on in Top Hill Budva, this big outdoors complex up a hill with stunner views. I couldn't believe the names performing on that Friday. Detroit techno legends Kevin Saunderson, Carl Craig & Kenny Larkin; that is a hell of a trio. The ten euro technofest wouldn't start until 1am, so we went to the next-door 7-Eleven look-a-like, bought 2-litre beers for 2€, chatted & made jokes with the hostel posse back at home base. Some three Ozzies joined us & were set for some powerful music. What a way to enter Montenegro. The music was unbelievable; each of them delivering beats that back in the day meant the birth of a whole new culture, a way of life. Pioneer Saunderson's sharpshooter mixing, godfather Craig's genius good-vibe, get-on-the-good-foot grooves, & boogeyman Larkin's sinister, bass-laden beats took good care of us. The gaudy light-show and the views to illuminated downtown Budva sealed the deal. Woke up 4pm, with last night's bass ringing in the ears. There's a video we took of Carl Craig entering the stage with Strings of Life, beautiful.
Kevin Saunderson heating up the party
Carl Craig in the zone
And we thought it was all about the music..
Montenegro is one fast developing country. Compared to other countries in the Balkan's, it's Montenegro along with Croatia & Slovenia that enjoy the highest living standards. Wouldn't be no surprise seing the rising nation under the EU-flag in the next years. Even though inlands capital Podgorica is the political, economical & administrative centre of the booming nation, all eyes are on the stunning coast. Mountainous, rugged land combined with beautiful peninsulas featuring crystal-clear, light-blue water. If you're coming from south & working you're way towards the north, just pick a window seat on the left side of the bus & enjoy the view. Forget southern France, this is the 21st century Riviera.
No wonder Montenegro's coast is enjoying a big tourism boost, Budva setting up the pace. The fifteen-thousand people coast city is the metropolis of Montenegro tourism, with its 21km coastline divided into 17 beaches. Besides the beaches & the vibrant nightlife (outdoors beach-clubs open until 1am, then everybody moves into indoors clubs open until early morning), Budva is full of history. The Old Town dating back to 7th century lies on a small peninsula being the city's treasure chest of historical heritage. The tale goes that the Old Town along with Budva was discovered by a Greek sailor of the name of Boutoua. The narrow streets, churches, doors, balconies & other noticeable details are mostly of Venetian origin. Even the earthquake of 1979 didn't affect the Old Town's character, remaining one of the main activities in Budva besides getting wet. Just in front of the old town is the swanky harbor, full of ships from simple fishing boats to million-dollar yachts. Oil tycoon Roman Abramovic & white-haired formula casanova Bernie Ecclestone have frequented the harbor with their monstrous white wonders. Especially in recent years, Montenegro's coast in general has received high doses of media attention with the rich & famous visiting the place. The resort-town of Sveti Stefan near Budva is one of the must-go playgrounds in the Adriatic Sea for fat-wallet foreigners. The only problem in Budva is the clone-like package tourists from Russia, Serbia & Ukraine, that add a Jersey Shore twist into this holiday paradise. For the finest sand you'll have to take a bus from the city centre, though. Budva is pricey for Eastern Europe, but once again just use common sense. Instead of stopping by to the inflated nearby lilliput-store, do one trip to the big cheap supermarket & get everything. 1 litre of vodka? 3,70€. Instead of tourist booby-trap restaurants, just get from the beach boulevard a gyro (sort of döner) or a two-euro giant delicious hamburger; the strip is full of fast food joints. I really believe that in a couple of years the place will reach its peak, the place has still a lot of potential.
So after the insane night with the techno wizards & Aussies, we relaxed & took some UV right into us on the nearby beach. Took a stroll in the historical Old Town full of classy cafes & esplanade restaurants. Once again, after a sunbathing-meets-culture day, we got in the hostel patio with everybody. These werewolf-hairy Czechs had 2 litres of methanol & a drinking game. Equals certain drunkenness if you're a Swedish engineering student. That was fun. We met this Pedro dude from Portugal (the Portuguese abroad are always Pedros) & some tea-sipping Essex chicks with whom we went out to the beach bars. Pretty much what we'd expected: the Serbian dance culture has rooted in Montenegro. No real dance floors, just people standing & leaning to high tables with their drinks & smokes. Always the clubs packed & music 20DB too high. The nightlife scene in Montenegro has still a few hurdles to overcome. Ended up 4am in our hostel sipping tea & smoking joints, that's how you roll in Essex.
Connections down the coast of Montenegro are frequent & low-cost. Waking up around eleven, got straight away into the breakfast table. A few doses of cornflakes with eggs, toasts & orange juice. The manager must have seen us devouring him into bankruptcy, and quickly came in and started to stash the bread & butter back to their places. We were thinking of heading next to Kotor, just an hour away from Budva, with four-euro bus connections leaving every twenty minutes until 8pm. We had heard about this cliff jump place in Budva that we wanted to check out before leaving, so we aimed for the 7pm ride. The Essex girls tagged along, and so we were heading towards Mogrel beach II, just past the Old Town.
Definitely worth visiting, we recommend the "hand of god"-pizza
The cliff jump spot was on this beautiful sunny place just on the far end of Budva. You had to walk through grottoes, these small picturesque caves that had knee-high water. After that you wobbled on top of rocks for 10 minutes just to get to the tip of the peninsula. Our all-back Italian receptionist back at Hippo's had told us about the place. It had two cliffs: the warm-up 8 meter & the haunting, majestic 18 meter cliff. We got into the cliffs with a single aim of jumping the 8 meter one. I've only jumped from a 7,5m platform in a swimming stadion, so once I'd jumped the 8 meter cliff it felt already like victory. We jumped for a while, and then rested for a bit in the sunny, postcard-material scenery. We got engaged chatting, but little by little the higher cliff started to intrigue me. I started the “what if..” in my head, and in a few minutes I was too deep in it. What started out as just “checking out” had now become an obsession. I couldn't leave Budva knowing that I came all the way up here & chickened out the bigger jump. The problem was that you had to climb your way to the jumping point, and once you went up it was more dangerous to climb down than to jump. There was no coming back. Oh yeah, I've forgot to mention. There was this incident back in 1964. This guy jumped from the higher cliff straight on top of a circling shark's head, pissing the shark off his mind. Next thing the shark is having a free meal, eating the poor fellow alive. Wrong time, wrong place. Like the story wasn't enough, they've even carved a memorial plate into the rock for his honor. It's really encouraging climbing the 18 meter cliff up, when suddenly on your left is a memorial plate stating some guy died jumping in. “This is a good idea” occurred to my mind.
This is what sealed the deal: One of the freckle-faces promised to buy ice-cream if I jumped. Come on, what wouldn't you do for free ice-cream? Anyway I and the other surprisingly ballsy Essex girl climbed it, right up to the jumping area. Looking from up there, it looked huge; too much. Like that wasn't enough, you had to jump into a certain square point in between the shallow, white rocks. The more time you stood up there on top of the breezy cliff, the less you felt like jumping. Then something happened that changed everything. These Serbian guys who where down by the smaller cliff started clapping & cheering; a standing ovation. So boosted by a sudden adrenaline rush, I just jumped. It was over in less than two seconds. The feeling must have been so awesome, that soon Robert was also climbing the cliff, and jumping. Some memorable, crazy-ass shit. It just reminded you once again that all the best things in life are for free. We did everything Budva had to offer, even had the free ice-cream. We were set to Kotor.
The classic stick-style..
..& the post-modern ski-jumper moves
The twenty-seater bus ride offered some stunning views; the curvy road is just beside the seaside. Small get-away beaches with bars, yachts & boats bobbing against the buoys rooted in the Adriatic Sea. If the ride to Kotor was amazing, so was definitely the city itself. Kotor is located on northern Montenegro, just along one of it's most beautiful bays. Like all cities with shoreline, Kotor has typically been a city of traders & sailors, with mentions in history since the Ancient Roman times BC. Just like buddy Budva, it were the Venetian's who made the city what it is today; a UNESCO World Heritage Sight. The Old City, as well as the old Mediterranean port of Kotor surrounded by an impressive city wall are all Venetian oeuvre d'arts built between 12th & 14th centuries. In summertime high season, the 20 000 habitat Kotor quadruplicates it's population. Just like in Budva, Kotor was also jam-packed with gargantuan yachts, sitting just in front of the labyrinth-like Old Town.
We didn't have any accommodation booked upon arrival; all hostels were fully booked. It was already almost eight thirty, so we decided to find a hotel from the Old Town that could store our backpacks safe, & just pack along into a small, textile bag what you need to go out & sleep out. A travel-size sleeping bag, vodka, cigarettes, weed, a sweater, peanuts & two cases of tuna. Those are basically the ingredients we have been living by since we were the nine in Berlin. Now were down to two guys. Survival of the fittest. Anyway, found this hotel with a nice(-looking) receptionist that couldn't resist our puppy-eyed faces. So we left the bags in the hotel, and just took what we needed. We were only going to stay for one night anyway. Satisfied how everything had worked out, we got out of the Old Town in search of cheaper food. Walked five mins until this fast food stall came across. As I was pointing what I wanted in my giant two-euro hamburger, I saw a familiar face. Eating one burger too was our Aussie friend, T, from Budva. He had met these dudes all around UK, and they told us we could crash in their hostel's floor. So we went to their place for drinks, and had some fun times chatting with these new guys. There was even this English quy who was feeling a bit off, so he decided to snort some protein. In a quickie, he was swallowing 400mg ibumax. The following was done by a pro. Do not try this at home.
Do not touch
Hit the docks with a few beers & smoked a reefer while admiring all the illuminated white bellas. I really don't know why there's always a boat/yacht named Julia in every single port, Kotor had even two! Even though our calendar said it was Sunday, we decided to try out the nightlife in Kotor. There are a few bars, but they're expensive. There is one big club, Maximus, but it's expensive & half-empty on the week. We hanged in there for fifteen, bailed out & crashed the Briton's place. Floors aren't really that bad. Woke up rested & happy for the free night; good old Jew.
Bling bling bitch
Next destination: Mostar, Bosnia Herzegovina. We knew there was a bus leaving 14:45pm, & after hanging out the morning in Old Town's pleasant cafes sipping trademark presso's we made the 15 min hike up to the station. The bus would go to Mostar via Dubrovnik, where we were told wasn't necessary to change buses, just buy a new ticket from the driver for the Dubrovnik-Mostar leg (Kotor-Dubrovnik a salty 14€). Met T again at the station, he was heading to Dubro & off we went to Croatia. Some twists & turns occurred. Once we got to tourist-laden Dubrovnik, we took a bullet; a straight headshot. We had to change busses to Mostar & that bus was already sold out. No room for us then. Next one would only leave the following day. There was no other option than to spend the upcoming 24 hours in the white-socks-in-sandals capital of Croatia. I won't go into details on Dubrovnik, but I'll tell you this: it's overpacked, overpriced & overrated. I've been there eight years ago, & here's an example how things have developed. The UNESCO protected Stari Grad (Old Town) of Dubrovnik is surrounded by these tremendous, golden-brown walls. Back then for a euro you could walk around it freely. Now eight years later it costs 10€. Of course the city's beautiful, but it's not just worth it.
Being high season, Dubrovnik is all over-booked. We got lucky. Found this guesthouse owned by the this friendly fluently English-speaking Croatian, who got us a place in the common room, sleeping on top of a pillow bed for 9€, in a place where for a dorm you pay 35. Well Dubrovnik wasn't all that bad. We met these other cool Aussie guys. So along with the Budva Aussies (they're everywhere those Aussies!) we had a posse of seven, and among other things played this drinking game we invented we like to call “fuck the Aussie”. Remember: dope can save the reputation of even the shittiest places. Dubrovnik was okay. Next destination: Mostar, Bosnia Herzegovina. So it goes.
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