Montenegro, baby why don't we go... After several days of doing a lot of nothing (well in my opinion having the sole objective for the day be to get a hamburger and some steak shish kebabs for the nightly barbeque is almost nothing) I decided to make a trip to Kotor. The town is a walled medieval city with a really cool wall that runs up to a fort at the top of a mountain overlooking a fjord. Even with overcast weather it was still spectacular.
The buses run between Budva and Herci Nova with a stop at Kotor every hour or so. From the dingy station in Kotor, I walked about half a klick to the Stare Grad entrance. The first thing I come across is a 50 person Japanese tour group. There is something funny about seeing a 60 year old guy in a rice field hat with a 1000 dollar camera, in front of a 700 year old bell tower.
I started walking toward the back of the town toward the mountain. In between two old apartment buildings, there was a trail leading up. A few minutes later I made it to the top of the church (still a ways from the top of the mountain). Magnificent view!
It started to drizzle so I headed back. On the way out I stopped in a church. It was lit naturally and it was completely empty. The altar had a beautiful sculpture. Behind it, the black Madonna and child style that was made famous along Adriatic coast.Back in Budva, I hit up our butcher and vegetable stand for some bacon wrapped chicken on a skewer and some delicious steak shish kebabs. Buttered carrots, tomatoes and potatoes wrapped in foil and coated with seasoning. A meal for a king all for the price of a supersized Big Mac meal back home. It was a damn good life :)
It was the last night in Budva. Had I been in Europe longer, I am not sure when I would have left the Hippo Hostel. The guests (and owners) were awesome, the town was pretty relaxing, the prices were affordable, and on the off chance you want to go site seeing, you have several UNESCO world heritage sites within daytrip range. Nice!
The next morning I said goodbye to everyone and headed off toward the bus station by way of the post office. I was going to send a postcard to my Spanish host family. It was closed. Oh right! Sunday. So I held on to it and walked toward the bus station. The walk took a little longer than I thought, and I missed my bus to Dubrovnik. I wasn't too worried. They come all the time.When I got to the window the guy tells me there are no more buses to Dubrovnik until the next day. I told him that wouldn't work since I had to Split from Croatia early the next morning. So, I kept prodding and asked if I could get to Herci Novi. A town right on the Montenegrin/Croatian border. Yup! Sweet. From there there were surely buses to Dubrovnik.
Not on a Sunday there isn't. Similar reaction there. So I walk up to an English speaking driver from Bosnia. 100 Euros to Dubrovnik. I only had 70 and was not going to go to an ATM, so I asked how much to the border. 40-50. Okay. Can we agree on 40? Is there a town close by on the otherside of the border?
Yes, just a short walk.
Okay.
We talked a bit about life in Montenegro, Bosnia etc. Meanwhile I noticed his meter was running a bit slower than the pace needed for forty euros. As we approached the "green zone" (the area between Croatia and Montenegro) he flipped off the meter which was crossing 20 euros. It was Christmas Eve in Sarajevo. I didn't mind getting ripped off to the tune of 20 euros, I did however, mind him lying to me about the town on the other side of Croatia.
He parked, I paid and walked off. The Croatian border guards looked at me like I was crazy. My long hair and beard was probably not helping. They said there was a small town a 5km over the border. Wow, not exactly a short walk. That is about an hour with a 40lb backpack and the sun was setting.
About 20 minutes into my pedestrian paseo I see a car pass me. A few minutes later I see a car coming the other way. The driver yells "Are you going to Dubrovnik?"
"Yes!"
"Want a ride?"
"YES! Thank you!"
Turns out it was an American guy and his Spanish wife on vacation in Dubrovnik. They rented a car to head into Montenegro for the day. Beautiful! My 2nd time hitchhiking and I do it inadvertently! They drop me off literally at the bus station and wish me well...they wouldn't even accept some kuna for the gas.There were three more buses to Split but they didn't leave for a while so I thought I would eat some food and burn off some of the extra kuna I had (thinking I was returning earlier from Montenegro, I got 100 dollars worth when I arrived). Turns out nothing was open. Why? The Eurocup 2008. Croatia had the first game against Austria. Europe was watching, and Croatia was riveted. By the time I reached the old town (which is a sizable walk from the bus station), I was ready to get some food.
At the back of the town there was a tourist information stand and they advised me to get back to the bus station and take the next bus. Apparently sometimes if there isn't anyone waiting for the bus, they just cancel a route. Plus with the soccer game, many businesses were closing early. Suddenly I had this deja vu nervousness. I stopped off for a pizza and kept checking my cell phone for the time.
15 minutes for the worst case bus ride + 15 minutes to the bus stop + 15 minutes for a worst case delay between buses = 45 minutes. I was at that right then so I boogied out. Along the way, the old town erupts, Croatian flags everywhere! They had beaten Austria 1-0. Hey great good for them.
While waiting outside I see cars come to a halt. Horns honking, soccer balls bouncing off the old walls, chants screams. No one could move. Seriously. I couldn't believe it. If the last bus of the night is canceled, I am not going to be able to make the next to last. The lane begins to back up when some genius decides to let loose a smoke bomb. Oh man oh man oh man. It looked like this...
Fortunately all buses were running so I caught the late bus to Split. It was relatively empty and on the first stop this wacko comes on and sits right behind a guy with his seat reclined...and asks him to sit up. He was mentally unstable and I knew I would be getting off the bus with this guy two cities down...oh great.
I got a little geography lesson on the way up the coast. Bosnia divides Croatia. I was wondering about why we passed through customs but didn't think much of it. The gas price getting cut by a factor of five confused me though.
We finally rolled in to Split around 3a. The bus station was filled with people from our bus, a few other backpackers, a couple of homeless etc. Pretty much a normal night at a mass transit terminal. I tried to sleep and ended up walking outside several times throughout the night to check out the floodlit Diocletian palace and bell tower. I need to return to Croatia.I ended up meeting an American woman who immigrated from Croatia so we shot the breeze until morning. She was headed back to Gatwick in order to fly to DC. She had three hours between arrival in LGW and take off for DCA. That sounded a bit ambitious to me. You have to go through customs, pick up your bag, exit to the main terminal, get your boarding pass, recheck your bag, go through security etc. That isn't THAT much time for an airport as large as Gatwick.
Murphy's law through the book at her. Our Easyjet flight was delayed 90 minutes. Oof.
When I got off the plane the line for non EU, Brits, and Swiss was fairly long, and ironically the "other" catch all was pretty short. Woohoo for American citizenship once again!
I'll pick it up there next time...
--Joey
