Montenegro day 10: Rain, rain and more rain

Tuesday, 11th October 2022

We woke up to rain. Forecast was: rain, rain and more rain. At least we had brilliant weather in the mountains.

We stayed in until 11am, when it stopped raining, and then went exploring the Old Town (Stari Grad).

Budva Marina

The Old Town (Stari Grad) in Budva is quite small, with marbled streets and Venetian walls. Much of it was destroyed by an earthquake in 1979 and it was completely rebuilt.

Typical window shutters

A trip to the Tourism Office taught us that tourist maps are either in Montenegrin or Russian. English is not to be expected.

One of the seven gates of the Old Town: Pizana Gate (Vrata od Pizana).

One of the towers of the Old Town, depicting the Venetian lion: Gradenigo Tower (Kula Gradenigo), 15th century.

The eastern and southern part of the walls back onto the sea directly.

Citadel (Citadela) is a medieval castle and has a library, a restaurant and great views onto the sea and the city. It is open for visits 9am-5pm and it costs €3.50.

Church of the Holy Trinity (Crkva Sveto Trojstvo)

Orthodox church, built in 1804. It has, as usual in Orthodox churches, colourful wall paints and the altar is behind screens (photography is prohibited inside).

It looks like there has been movement in the building structure.

Church of St. John (Crkva Sveti Ivan)

Catholic church built on the remains of a church which dates from the 7th century and the current appearance dates from the 15th century. The belfry was added in 1867 and it's the highest building in the Old Town, clearly seen in all pictures. 

As opposed to the Orthodox church, this one has no wall paintings, it has a colourful mosaic behind the altar and a baptismal font (photography is prohibited inside).

The Museum of Budva (Muzej grada Budve)

The museum has several objects from the Illyrians, Greek, Roman, Venetian and Slavic people who have settled in Budva throughout the centuries. The museum is open Mon-Fri 8am-8pm & Sat-Sun 10am-5pm and it costs €3.

The boys didn't find the museum interesting but it was raining outside so the alternative wasn't any better. I did find some items interesting, like the ones below.

A Greek necklace from the 4th-3rd centuries BC - the finer details of the gold.

Roman glass vessels in the shape of little amphorae, 1st-3rd centuries - the colours.

Roman glass urns, 1st-2nd centuries - the detail of the handles.

Roman stone and glass urn for the burial of cremated remains, 1st-2nd centuries - double urn.

Traditional Montenegrin dress:

Roman Necropolis (Antička nekropola) from the 1st-2nd century, on top of older necropolis from Illyrian (5th century BC) and Greek (4th-1st century BC) periods. The majority lies now underneath Hotel Avala.

Around 1pm it started raining again so we decided it was a good time for lunch. Last night we looked at Hotel Mogren's restaurant and thought it looked very posh and therefore out of budget. Today, raining, and the hotel sporting indoor seating with wide windows looking onto the Old Town's walls, it looked like a good choice. We were surprised to find it is actually affordable.

We had a delightful light lunch of pizza + sandwich + tortilla wrap + 2 drinks + hot chocolate for €26.

Extra thick hot chocolate. Spoon needed to have it, almost like a dessert, the Spanish way. Yummy!

Manuel has been looking forward to have his usual Coca-Cola Zero. Alas, we don't seem to be able to find it in Montenegro. The waiter gave him an option of a local drink which is sugar-free and quite pleasant.

And it kept raining so we went home for a few hours.

Before sunset it stopped raining so we went out again.

Ricardova Glava Beach is backed by the Old Town walls (Ričardova Glava Plaža).

Budva's bronze Ballerina

Sculpture of Yugoslav gymnast Olga Kalivoda, who came to Budva on holiday in 1962 and trained on the beach. Gradimir Aleksic saw her and asked her father if he could take a photo and then made the sculpture based on the photo.

There is a walkway by the sea from the Old Town to Mogren Beach (Mogren Plaža). Details of the layers of limestone can be seen on the cliffs along the way.

Mogren beach

Žabljak had a few stray dogs, Budva is the home of many, many stray cats. They are all big and look well-fed which is clear to see why. Someone leaves food for them!

We walked from Mogren Beach to the pier, the halfway point of the bay, and then back via the beach promenade.

The Bay of Budva beach is called Slovenska Beach (Slovenska Plaža). It has a promenade dotted with hotels, restaurants and bars and is more than 1.5km long. It has a mix of white sand and pebbles, more pebbles than sand, and clear blue water. This is the most modern part of Budva and it looks just like any other coastal resort.

Hunger wasn't much. We found a bakery called Good Food and had a snack for dinner. We tried some local delicatessen and discovered that what looks like chocolate are actually poppy seeds.

Burek (filo-type pastry with savoury contents)

Pita krompir (filo-type pastry with savoury contents)

Štrudla orah (cake dough filled with poppy seeds)

Pužić (poppy seed swirl)