Budva

Day 458 (September 29, 2019) - Budva, Montenegro

It took us absolutely forever to get to Budva, but it was entirely worth the effort. The trip involved a 12-hour train ride, an overnight stop in the town of Bar, and us waiting at a bus station for two hours before finally catching the hour-long bus ride from Bar to Budva.

Passing through the Serbian city of Užice on the train.

Belgrade has a main train station close to downtown that we had to visit to buy tickets, but our Montenegro-bound train left from a station further away called Topčider, which was no more than a tiny little building next to some train tracks. The distance from Belgrade to Bar is quite far, and this was no high-speed train. This was the old school type of train that rocked and creaked. The windows were scratched and hazy, but the seats were spacious and as comfortable as you could hope for on a train. We had a whole tote bag filled with food and snacks that got us through the day. But we sat on that train forever.

Rolling hills as we passed through Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Belgrade to Bar train ride is claimed to be among the most beautiful you can take in Europe, and it was, but it would have been better had we taken it in the other direction. The train made its way through Serbia, briefly crossed over into Bosnia and Herzegovina, and then returned to Serbia before crossing the border into Montenegro. Once in Montenegro, the train cut through a rugged range of mountains as it made its way downhill to the Mediterranean. These were no hills. These were serious mountains with steep cliffs and raging rivers down below. The train tracks were only barely holding onto the side of the mountain as it passes in and out of a continue stream of tunnels all the way downhill. I have no idea how they managed to lay those tracks, especially considering how old they were. Despite starting this whole trip at dawn, it was dusk by the time we got to the Montenegrin mountains. The sun had set and there was only a small amount of ambient light remaining to really see and appreciate the scenery. It was dark shortly after and we still had a few hours before arriving at Bar. It was so late when we arrived that we didn’t even bother to find dinner. We just had a few more snacks and called it a night.

My photos out the hazy windows of the moving train don't do the Montenegrin mountains justice, but you can get an impression.

The next morning, we got up and walked over to the bus station. I had read that the buses from Bar to Budva ran very regularly so we just showed up at the bus station to buy our tickets. Naturally, we must have just missed a bus and the next one wasn’t for two hours. So we were waiting at the bus station for a while. But it gave us a chance to really appreciate our surroundings. It felt like we had travelled half-way across the world with such a long train ride the night before, but I couldn’t believe the difference in what we were seeing. Belgrade felt cold, gray, and dreary. But it wasn’t like that here. It was gorgeous out at that bus station. There were palm trees, a warm breeze, beautiful gray mountain peaks off in the distance and a huge blue sky. Even this bus station felt like paradise by comparison.

Only a few more low quality shots out of moving vehicles... but this was on the bus ride from Bar to Budva.

We looked at staying on this tiny island just 15 minutes outside Budva, but it was a fortune, as you might imagine.

Once our bus arrived it followed its route along the highway, which tracked a steep ocean-side cliff. We wound up and down along the shore with stunning views of the sea and the sun at every turn. It was gorgeous. It reminded me of some of the pictures I’ve seen from parts of California. I had no idea Montenegro was going to be so stunningly beautiful.

Our arrival in Budva. Now this was traveling!

One of Budva's stretches of beach.

We grabbed lunch after arriving in Budva and then went for a long walk. We walked past the beaches, past docks and a row of luxury yachts, and through the old walled city. The largest road in Old Town was no wider than an alley.  There were all sorts of little shops and restaurants tucked into small doorways and hidden inside little courtyards. It was touristy but still quaint. We also followed a path leading away from town at the base of one of the cliffs that led out to an isolated beach. The water was crystal clear, although it had a slight chill to it, so more people were sun bathing than swimming. And the backdrop for all of this were the green and gray mountains just slightly inland from the ocean. The change of scenery from Belgrade to Budva was energizing. It felt like we were seeing the world in color after spending the last week stuck in black and white. We wanted to soak it all in and enjoy the favorable weather.

Docks of luxury yachts parked just outside Old Town. 

A small beach reached by a cliff-side walkway.

The one strange thing with our visit was that we arrived at the very tail end of the summer season. We were literally the only people in our huge hotel. Once we left, they were going to close for the season. It did, however, allow us to have some unique interactions with the hotel owners. The hot water went out one day and Travis ended up giving them a hand with their huge hotel-sized hot water heater. He even managed to get it working again and we were able to take hot showers later in the day.

Walking through Budva's Old Town.

We spent the whole weekend walking on the beaches and around town. We wanted to be outside as much as possible. I was even worried about getting sun burned, which is something that had not crossed my mind for a while. Most of the restaurants in the downtown area were a bit pricey for us, but we found some cheaper ones on the outskirts. We of course managed to get some more cevapi, the grilled sausages that seem so ubiquitous in the region. But our most interesting meal was most definitely our fish lunch one day. Being on the coast, the seafood is a natural draw. But rather than going to a restaurant, we went to a fish market where they would grill for free whatever you bought from them. While our order of a whole fish and giant prawns were cooking on the grill, we stopped at a market across the street to pick up wine, bread, and some hummus to have as an appetizer. We sat on their patio and enjoyed our meal. Unfortunately, they didn’t have any utensils, so we just had to go for it with our hands. At least I had a bunch of napkins in my bag.  

The view from our hotel room.

Grilled fish and some groceries for lunch.

Although our time in Budva was up, we were going to continue hugging the Mediterranean coast for a few more weeks. I was glad for that because I wasn't ready to say goodbye to the sun and palm trees quite yet.