Budva, Montenegro

Hi:

Well, here we are in a small resort town called Budva, in Montenegro, about an hour or two below Croatia.  The surf is pounding, the sun is hot and people are lying about the beach, which is quite rocky.

Montenegro is very different.  The people are Serbian, but broke away in 2005 and formed there own small country of under one million people.  It is fairly backward, in my opinion.  Lots of bad haircuts, strange clothing and rough accommodation.  We aren't that fond of the food either, but this always helps with weight loss.  The people are very friendly and so we are enjoying ourselves, but the country has a long way to go.  For example, children run around nude on the beach; not just little kids but boys and girls  of ten or older - even some girls well into puberty. 

The Russians are here in force.  They have bought much of the better condominiums and apparently a 1,000 square foot apartment goes for around 350,000 Euros.  We were surprized when a Canadian grandmother walking her six-month-old Canadian grandchild described this to us.  Then we started looking at the cars - with Russian licence plates, Bentleys, full sized Mercedes and BMW's and Lamborghinni - I don't know how to spell this - to be sure.  We ate at one Russian-owned restaurant and the tough bleached-blonde owner is a man I'd not like to cross paths with.  Oh well, - always interesting. 

The scenery, on the other hand, is spectacular - huge mountains which fall almost straight down to the sea and leave only a tiny ribbon of land for beaches, homes etc. 

Off to Sarejevo tomorrow - we'll watch out for land-mines!

Mahara