Budva

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View of the coastline

Boats parked at Budva

Budva is one of the the main tourist towns on the Montenegrin coast and apparently the playground of Russians and Serbians who flock to the place in droves.  Interestingly we noticed when searching for accommodation that quite a few of the apartments are owned by Poms who must also visit in large numbers.

As usual in these places the old town is the main attraction so we jumped on Shank's pony and made our way there.

More boats

There was a massive storm a couple of days earlier and unfortunately the beaches we passed were covered in seaweed and thousands of plastic bottles.  

The amount of litter in these places is fairly depressing actually.  To me it makes no sense at all to come to a place because of it's beauty and then leave every imaginable crap on the ground to just wash into the ocean.  

On the way into the old town we passed a row of boats that showed us how the other half lived.  At $2 to $3 million a boat (I'm guessing) we walked past about $50 million dollars worth.

Citadel in Budva old town

The old town was like many of the old towns we'd seen before with tiny streets and little boutique shops everywhere and a bit uninspiring.  Seeing all the beaches trashed on the way in probably skewed our perceptions a little.

As the kids were a bit ratty and we were going out for dinner that night we decided to go home for a party nap so we walked back home.  By that time there were quite a few people out with rakes and garbage bags cleaning up the beaches which cheered us up a bit.

Dinner with John and Leonie

After a rest we jumped in the car and drove to see John and Leonie, the Skipper and his wife that we met in Zabljak the other day, at Porto Montenegro for dinner.

If there were $50 million worth of boats in front of the old town of Budva there must have been $100's of millions at Porto Montenegro and according to John what we saw that night paled in comparison to what was on display in high summer.

Had a brilliant meal at quite a flash restaurant in the marina on the waterfront for a total cost of €105.  One of the best meals we've had in Europe.  Swapped stories with John and Leonie and heard all about their exploits on the high seas which was very interesting.

Stray observations:  Long hair on ladies in the Balkans is practically mandatory. 

The blokes with their boats parked in the Broadwater at the Gold Coast are amateurs compared to these fellas.