5th- Julye

Busabout tour.

Woke up early due to open curtains... Need to remember to shut them before I go to sleep. Average breakfast and then on the bus to the capital Tirana. It is an interesting country to drive around in.... The buildings are all in different states of construction. The roads are time gravel then sealed then under construction. Driving altogether presents itself with many challenges.... The roads are very narrow so passing is like playing chicken to see who backs up first and moves to the side. They drive fast and take all corners wide. Traffic rules are seen more as guidelines that aren't followed very well. We arrived in the city and drive to the main square. We hopped off the bus and walk to the pyramid. It is this building constructed a few decades ago during communists time and is in a almost a ruin. Covered in graffiti and rubbish it was an inserting thing to see. Overall there is a lot of rubbish and graffiti everyone, including the beach yesterday.

We kept on walking past the government buildings which were painted a bright yellow and red. Then looked at the side street were a Christian church is built next to a mosque. Very tolerant society and they just let their neighbor be and not tell him what to do. In the distance you could see the tallest building if Albania.... An office tower that was built on poor soil so is moving at a very quick rate and will be torn down in the near future as it becomes to unsafe. The opera hour had a large communist style mosaque out the front. Quick stop at the tourists shops before back on the bus. Drive for a few hours north till we reached the boarder crossing with Montenegro. Another quick bribe if the Albanian customs and we passed through quickly. Entered into Montenegro. It was beautiful countryside with large mountains and the road quality is almost instantly improved. Still narrow and at times that makes for nail biting driving. We drive past the st Stephens island monastery just outside of town of budva. We arrived mid afternoon and walked along the beach to the old town. This was again another Venetian fortress. We visited the church and wound our way along the cobblestone streets. It was nice to walk around but looks very similar to the others I have already visited. It was a really hot day so didn't spend long looking around before heading to the beach. It was great to go swimming after another longish day on the bus. The water was a little cool and maybe slightly algae or dirty as you couldn't really see the bottom. Back on shore I found cider... I haven't had a cider in weeks and when it is hot so refreshing. Was great to lay on the beach and enjoy a cool cider. Headed back to the hostel for dinner and then out for drinks. Tried a place at one end of the beach but had changed from the previous visit and was now a slow jazz bar so headed to the other end to fun outdoor courtyard bar. Didn't have much of a dance floor. Closed close to midnight or 1 so headed to a club that we had seen early in the day in the old town. Was a weird cave like club as it was inside the old city walls I think, no windows and almost no lighting. Walked home along the beach it was piekny.