Dalmatian Coast September 25, 2018

Molly’s Breakfast

Leaving the Hotel Budva, we travelled west and north along a portion of one of the same highways were o yesterday. Through Kotor (pronounced “co-tour” on our way to the postcard picture waterfront village of Perast. At Kotor we noticed that the Silver Sea that had been docked was gone and there was a massive Norwegian ship using its tenders to take its passengers ashore.

The beach where Madonna did a concert

Arriving at Perast we taken aback by its beauty. Creeping along congested streets through a mixture of ancient and modern buildings we eventually arrived at the water front. Being on the first bus of the day to arrive there was a bonus as we were able to walk right onto a waiting boat for the 10 minute trip to a small artificial island. This island took sailors over 125 years to build. What as built on the island is the incredible Lady of the Rocks Catholic Church. Our Lady of the Rocks is Mary, the mother of Jesus.

Lady of the Rocks

The sailors had been inspired to build this dedication to Mary and Jesus after finding an icon of Madonna and Child on a rock at this location. As thanks for safe journeys, sailors donated thousands of silver sheets, called plates, to decorate the interior. The art work within the church rivals anything we have ever seen anywhere, portions of which took 25 years to complete. The island itself was built in the shape of a ship. To this day there is a major event in which hundreds of people drop rocks in there every year.

The ceiling in the church

When it was time to leave, it took a fair amount of time for our driver to extricate us from the streets that had now become over crowded with busses and vehicles, all jockeying to park, or leave, or people trying to get in or out of vehicles, people walking to the water transport, people walking from the water transport, and of course the amazing art work, paintings and lace work being peddled by the locals. Read more:  Lady of the Rocks

From there we continued to work our way towards the Bosnia & Herzegovina boarder. Everywhere we looked there were reminders of a different economic time when there were dozens of industries and factories. Sadly during the period of high inflation none of the companies were able to survive. To this day not one factory has reopened. The inflation was so bad that at one point the government printed a bill that had a 5 followed by 11 zeros. (500,000,000,000). This bill had a value of around 2 deutschmarks. Since there newly acquired freedom, foreign investors have stepped up and put hundreds and even billions into projects in Montenegro. The first foreign investor and now Montenegrin hero Peter Munk. His investments triggered enough interest that now China, the UK, Greece, Italy and Russia are all investing in major mega projects ranging from water front development to roads and infrastructure. The city of Budva has become so tourist oriented that over 50% over the buildings in the city are dedicated to tourism. A few decades ago there were very few hotels, that number is now over 150 hotels alone.

Crossing the border

By 1200hours we were at what we thought was the border. All the passports handed in and we waited. Our guide eventually returned with passports in hand. As she approached the bus we were sure that we were on our way. We were, just not very far. About 2 kilometers down the road we had to stop a second time and go through the entire process again. Over an hour after the first stop we were finally back on the road to Sarajevo.

Notice the different speed limits. They LIKE morotcycles

Again, although the distance are not great, travel is a slow process here. A lunch break, 2 potty and leg stretch breaks, we finally arrive at the hotel in Sarajevo at 2015hrs. Just shy of 12 hours from the time we left Budva this morning.

Supper, shower, blog, relax and good night to all.

Hotel Budva to Hotel Europe