We had planned to head to Greece after we visited Croatia, but the logistics were a bit challenging and time consuming - either two ferries via Italy, or an arduous land journey through Albania. Instead we decided to hang around in the Balkans for a while before flying to London. Montenegro borders Croatia to the South, and was formerly part of Serbia & Montenegro until a referendum last year. Apparently Slovadan Melosovic is a bit of a barrier to joining the EU, so they separated.

We stayed in Budva which is a beach town just around the corner from an awesome fjord. The bus trip from Dubrovnik was pretty spectacular, particularily when we were driving around the edge of the Fjord. There are huge mountains rising up from the water, and a number of cute little towns dotted around the shore.

The majority of our time here was spent by the water, mainly at a bar on some rocks by the water with sunlounges and umbrellas. There are some decent beaches here, with pebbles small enough to pass as sand in many parts of the world and their fair share of beer-bellied old men in budgie smugglers to keep the entertainment factor up.

There was a BBQ at the hostel, and meat was nice and cheap so we got a big juicy steak from a butcher. The guy wanted to slice it thin for us but we wouldn't have a bar of that. I cooked the meaty morsel on the BBQ, and Zilla made some potato salad to go with. Felt a little like home. There were also a heap of fast food places by the waterfront, grilling various meats for us to whack in a bun with salad. Cheap and tasty.

We met some great people at the hostel (the only one in Montenegro) and went on a day trip with a couple of Irish chicks (Claire and Anita) and a Scottish bloke (Kevin) to Perast and Kotor. Both are towns on the Fjord. Perast is a little village with a couple of man-made islands off the shore. We got a taxi boat over to one of these to explore the church which had a very maritime theme. Every time a local sailor or fisherman survived a storm or sickness, they give a small silver plaque to the church depicting their encounter. There were a couple of thousnad of these stuck up on the walls along with some great paintings by local artists of yesteryear.
Kotor is a much bigger town which features a walled old city and a fort waaaay up on the mountain that we decided we should climb up to for some reason. There were over 1350 steps to the top - making for a very tough walk in the scorching heat. Once we got to the top the view down the fjord was well worth the effort, and we were rewarded with a nice cool breeze to top it off!

We're headed to Sarajevo in Bosnia & Herzgoneva on a stupid overnight bus tonight. We'll be sharing this adventure with Karin and Lou (a couple of Swedish girls from the hostel). I think Sarajevo will be great, but my mood when we arrive won't be.

Goodbye from Montenegro,

Paul.