2022 in Montenegro (Kotor and Budva)

October 6, 2022 : the Balkan sightseeing trip brought me to the crossing between Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro (Montenegrin: Crna Gora):

"background"

Montenegro:

• split from Serbia in 2006
  • the last of the Balkan lands to become its own land
    • ...with a good-enough "yes" from all United Nations lands
• the name Montenegro is Latin for "black mountain" (or "mountain black")
  • the Montenegrin name for Montenegro is Crna Gora ("black mountain")
• the Montenegrin language has only slight splits from Serbo-Croatian
  • some might call it just a "dialect" of Serbian
    • a carton of milk in Serbia would say "mleko"
    • in Montenegro it became "mlijeko" (a softer sounding milk!)
• Montenegro is not yet in the "European Union" but trades with the euro
• Some know Montenegro for its "laziness"
  • while all the other Balkan lands went on their own in the early 1990s, Montenegro slept through it until the mid-2000s
  • while in Budva for an evening, that "laziness" showed its trueness!

"into Montenegro"

coming in from Trebinje (in Bosnia and Herzegovina):

• crossed into Dolovi on the Montenegrin side
• snaked through some mountainous terrain for a couple of hours
• stopped at a spot high above a dale from which we saw the tall "black bergs" of Montenegro
• went on towards Kotor, a well-known hub for sightseeing ships

Kotor

Kotor was a bulwark town that one could go in through the Sea Gate (Montenegrin: vrata mora):

• its small swath of land lended well to sightseers
• streets had only crowds on foot with no four-wheelers sliding around
• cats roamed the town to help drive away the mice

I ate the midday meal at Bokun, for some hearty Montenegrin sandwiches!

Budva

the sightseeing trip drove another half a bell to the town of Budva:

• the "Cyrillic alphabet" made a "comeback" here, as Russians would come here to have holidays before 2022

the guesthouse (which shall stay nameless) did not leave me happy:

• an two-floor "motel" with an overly vast maze-like layout
• no lifts (heard the owner say "nema lift" in gruff Yugoslavian)
• rooms were hard to find (no markers to show us where to go)
• "phones" and "wi-fi" did not work
  • calling the "management" meant going back through the maze-like layout to the "main office"!

the "Montenegrin restaurant" in Budva sounded awfully clueless as well:

• the staff took forever to bring the food (an hour?)
• still, the Montenegrin njeguški steak and Vranac wine were much-needed after the maze of the "Montenegrin motel" (a wonder indeed to have found my way back to my room!)

Kotor = good with less laziness, but Budva = bad with so much laziness!