Escape from the City...

Montenegro is BEAUTIFUL! The mountains are looming and majestic at the same time, most covered with lush green encroaching on the sea: clear blue tranquil water. There are not very many tourists here, and in just a few days, we've managed (somewhat accidentally) to see much of the coast and now the capital city.

We took a bus from Dubrovnik to Kotor, circling aorund the bay of Kotor which looks more like a gigantic lake because the water is so peaceful and the shore is more of a gentle docking space than a beach. Our bus was stopped for an hour while they blew off a part of the cliff where they wanted to widen the road. We piled out of the bus and waited on the shore, the bus driver jovially faked pushing Sarah into the water!

We stayed in Kotor, an old walled city whose wall climbs up the cliff behind the town in an almost silly fortress, but we found the town really rocking on a Friday night. We stayed in this single lady's home who insisted on making us chai (tea) nearly every time we saw her, and when Sarah coughed she brought out a trove of vitamins. Needless to say, she spoke no English, and we no Serbian. The only real problem was that she didn't have any sinks that worked, nor a bathtub...so we haven't showered in 3 days...

We spend a day in Budva on the beach - also a fortress city but it is now very much a tourist town hosting a folk music festival starting this weekend. The beach was really refreshing though and we took advantage of at least some water to rinse off in.

On the bus back from Budva...oops...we went in the wrong direction and ended up 2 1/2 hours waiting to get back to Kotor. There was a wild lightning storm over the sea which was torrentially downpouring, which caused an accident, which caused us to wait again in the bus for about an hour (a budding trend...)

This morning we left bright and early to head to Podgroica, the capital city up in the mountains, to catch another bus. But upon arriving we found our next bus doesn't leave until 9pm tonight, so here we are passing another day in Montenegro. The people of this country - though we've had a bit of trouble communicating- are so warm and jolly, and the coast is amazingly beautiful!