We wake up on Thursday in Budva and decide to head back to the Stari Grad and see it by day. But before we make it inside the walls of the old city we are distracted by the Adriatic Sea. I think I may have mentioned earlier how it smelled but I'll say it again...it was fresh and cool and it didn't smell like Bulgaria at all. We hung out on the beach for a few minutes then walked along a path away from the Stari Grad and around some rocks. We end up on a little beach. Since it's still early March we're about the only people there. Kim and I took off our shoes and put our feet in the freezing cold water and got our pants soaked as a reward. Then we headed back to the Stari Grad, walked around and enjoyed the atmosphere and citrus trees. We ate lunch at a cafe by the water and then headed back to the bus station to catch the next bus to Kotor, Montenegro.
Beach and Budva Stari Grad
A church in the Stari Grad
More Budva Stari Grad
On our walk around the cliff to the beach we ran into this flexible lady (the statue, not me) overlooking the water.
Kim and I in the Adriatic
It was a very short bus ride. Kotor is inland a little ways but is nestled between a bay and old mountains. The Stari Grad is very similar to Budva's but bigger and rising above the white walls are the ruins of an old castle/fortress built up in the mountain. We nicknamed this place Minas Tirith from the Lord of the Rings because that's what it reminded us of. We get to Kotor around 2pm and begin the search for the hostel I have directions for. We ask people who have never heard of it but point us down one street, where we don't find it, and ask another person who points us back the way we came. It went on like this for about an hour when we decide to go to a travel agency and find another room. Oh, I almost forgot about Nikola. While we're searching, a man crosses the street and asks if he can help us. He speaks very good English but I'm a little suspicious. He's not from Kotor; he's from Dubrovnik, about 2 hours away. He tells us we're travelling for a week and we've been studying for 2 months in Bulgaria. Now I'm a little freaked out because how could he know this. Then he starts describing three Americans who had stayed with him the other night and they turned out to be our friends from school who had told him about us. He rents out rooms for travelers and gave us his card.
The old Castle/Fortress in Kotor
Kotor bay and the mountains behind
Kotor Stari Grad
We then go to the travel agency and a helpful lady finds us a room to rent for the night. It's aways from the old city but it's relatively cheap and the owner picks us up and drives us. Compared to the other places we've stayed this apartment is a palace. It's brand new with a full service kitchen, pullout couch bed, patio overlooking the water, and a flat-screen tv (which I haven't seen anywhere else while I've been here). We have a long trek back to the Stari Grad where we walk around for awhile and eat dinner at a nice little pub. We had pasta and split some grilled calamari. We stopped by a market and got some stuff for breakfast and then walked back to our delightful apartment.
Kim in our awesome apartment complete with kitchen.
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