Sunday 29th August

 

29/08/04. Day 57. (- not easy as Heather thought!)

Well yes, seems like a long time ago as we have got a bit behind with the old diary writing, so I'll probably be a very brief account of our day in Budva. We managed to annoy our fellow backpackers by hogging the bathroom all morning due to showers, baths (yes my second!) and hand washing. We finally headed about 3 steps down the road to the bakery/cafe where I had the nicest jam croissant ever. The morning was spent searching for a tourist office - we walked down the main street into town, observing the many fish extravagant along the way I passed the quay observing the not-so-swimming - as - Croatian boats observing a hill which Brian was not impressed by (because it had a cross on it). We wandered into the old town, which we are big chair and we excitedly during a stretch of the city walls just to get some perspective. After asking for direction twice we eventually found the tourist info. It was shut (of course). So we ended up running (not really) all the way back to the train station to ask too we could get to Albania. It was all a bit uncround and there might be a bus. Shut off. But we knew our first stop was to reach Ulcinj, the place where2 people recently drowned (So the nice lady in the travel agents helpfully informed us). So, with our escape route planned we returned to the old town to admire it properly. I didn't think it was captivating at all. In fact I found it quaint - as nice as Ravny and Dubrovnik but without the tourists so even nicer. (We stopped on the way to revisit the pancake stall and I had a whopping cherry jam + coconut one for £1. Bargain). The old town is full of houses and restaurant with huge vines stretching across the terraces so that when we did the full walk of the walls late we could hear chatter and laughter but all we could see was a sea of green leaves. Very cozy. So, in short, I totally liked the town. We spent the afternoon on Mogren beach (got charged a euro for the privilege though) which was advertised as being sandy but once again the Brumpls did not live up to it's far mightier stature. Still, there was a lovely view of the Montenegran mountains and again, the very familiar adriatic coast. The beach was busy but not crowded and we both fell asleep. I also managed an up-to-the-knees 'swim' in order to wake ourselves up a bit we went to a beach-cafe with palm leaved umbrellas and views of the sea and sampled the very cheap beer. After being harassed by a lottosale/perfume seller as after realising nobody else was dinning, dated we retreated to our new home. Dinner took a lot longer to find than we have presumed used to - we wanted fish, but realised it was too expensive and opted for Italian. And so a two course (pancakes were my yummy) mealplus half bottle of wine came to a grand total of around £7. A very nice night, good service and the end of our day in Budva.

Heather has forgotten the most important thing about today. One of the tables near ours at dinner was a mother and daughter (the mother we had already taken a disliking to after she insisted on ruining our otherwise lovely meal (I had stuffed pancakes) by smoking and, when they left, the daughter waited a discreet and evidently well-practiced few seconds, before swiftly pocketing the tip and following her mother with the sweetest, most innocent look possible! We were most impressed!