If It's Good Enough for Beyonce

Driving through Montenegro was nothing short of beautiful. Twisty turny roads along a stunning coastline with blue blue waters made for amazing views. The only downside was some abrupt stops on roads that weren’t wide enough for our big tour bus and another vehicle—people and objects flew from seats a few times!

We had a photo stop with a view of St. Stephen’s Island, home to a gorgeous hotel complex for the mega-rich. Supposedly Beyonce and Jay-Z have stayed there, and they named their baby daughter for a blue flower in Montenegro. This prompted us to crank the Beyonce tunes for the remainder of the drive.  And by the way, that’s MontenEGGro, not MontenEEgro as I was incorrectly saying.

Stunning Montenegran coastline and St. Stephen's Island

The Balkan Trek Busabout Crew!

We rolled into Budva, Montengro’s number one beach destination. I wasted no time in grabbing a Montenegran beer to try while some people opted for spiking their slushies with the little bottles of vodka that were available everywhere. We had a great wander along the famous beach and then explored the walled old town. It was charming with little streets, high walls, and interesting shops.

I wasted no time in sampling a local beer on the beach!

Walking along the beach and marina in Budva

Walled old town in Budva

We opted for lunch on the beach as a few people wanted seafood. I ordered a chicken Caesar salad which turned out to be a nightmare. The first time it came, the chicken was either uncooked or had those yucky broken blood vessels in it. I sent it back and just said not to worry about it as my appetite was gone at this point. I decided to focus on my carafe of local red wine which was lovely. Well, I give them an A for effort at this restaurant as they brought me another salad. This time they’d added some balsamic vinegar to the lettuce (like WTF?) and another batch of chicken. Still undercooked and yucky. A nice calico cat benefited though and she really seemed to enjoy the chicken! Gelato on the beach was enough sustenance to keep me going for our next stop—the magical town of Kotor, Montenegro, located on the Bay of Kotor.

 Some of the group decided to climb up the town walls for beautiful views, but I opted to explore the walled old town and update my blog. I had a wonderful couple of hours roaming around the beautiful old city, discovering interesting shops, bars, restaurants, and churches down narrow little alleys. A glass of local wine gave me time to upload one post, but the pokey internet stopped me from getting my second one done.

The old walled city of Kotor was magical!

 

There are cute cats everywhere and they look well-fed and happy

 

 Our next stop was our hostel in a nearby village. We were booked in at Montenegro’s oldest hostel, which truly made me feel like I was staying at REAL hostel. It had three levels with a rooftop and dorm-style bunk bed rooms. All of us agreed that it felt like we were at summer camp. We all gathered on the rooftop where Ivan, the hostel owner, welcomed us with shots of raki (an extremely potent local spirit that his friend makes). After supper, we decided it was time to get this party started, and the three Canadians bullied a few of our fellow travellers into playing Sociables (my favourite drinking/card game). We passed a fun few hours and learned lots about each other, sampling some Macedonian and Montenegran red wines. It was great—we could bring our own drinks into the hostel or purchase them from the bar on an honor system. Canadian J really dominated the honour system bar tab!

Common area of the hostel in Montenegro

Nicely done Canadian J!

The next morning was yoga with the Busabout girls. So for the third class of my yoga teaching career, I did the standing and chakra sequences on a rooftop in Montenegro as the sun was coming up. I have to say that I’m racking up some pretty amazing class locations very early in my career! International A says that I should start calling myself the Nomadic Yogi and it definitely has a ring to it!

We loaded up the bus and hit the road again, taking a ferry then driving about 90 minutes to Dubrovnik, Croatia. I have wanted to visit this beautiful walled city for years, and it did not disappoint. International A and I walked all the way around the walls for a couple of hours, meeting up with a few of the girls from our tour group. We climbed to the top of the tower and stopped for lots of pictures of red tile rooves, sparkling blue sea water, and charming buildings. Next we explored some of the little alleys off the main street in the walled city, stopping for lunch. I hadn’t eaten much the day before with the chicken Caesar salad debacle and a meal at the hostel that I didn’t really like, so I was excited for soup and bruschetta and my first Croatian beer.

 

 

International A filling her cup with Europe's best water

 Interesting facts about Dubrovnik:

-the walled city has some of the oldest and best maintained walls and battlements in Europe

-Game of Thrones is often filmed here and there is tons of merchandise and a variety of tours associated with the books and TV show

-during the Yugoslavian conflict in the 1990s, the Serbian dictator actually fired on the ancient walled city (like who does that?). Some of the red rooves are brighter than others, and that’s because they were replaced within the last 20-25 years.

-people from Dubrovnik strongly associate their identity with their city, rather than Croatia

-Dubrovnik has the cleanest drinking water in Europe, and there is an underground spring that feeds the fountain in the centre of town, within the walls. This allowed the city to withstand months of siege, in addition to the mandatory months of extra supplies always on hand.

After an amazing three hours in Dubrovnik, we got back on the bus and travelled through Bosnia to get to the rest of Croatia. In the settlement of the Yugoslavian war when the countries established their borders, Bosnia got 50 km of coastline out of the deal. So we got to have a quick stop in Bosnia on our way to Split. I think everyone fell asleep on the bus and didn’t wake up till we were on the outskirts of the city. I was completely disoriented when I woke up and couldn’t figure out where my backpack was. Turns out I was looking on the wrong side of the bus. Wow.

We got settled into our hostel, Fiesta Siesta….sister hostel to Snooze and Booze. I didn’t have high expectations for these accommodations, but they proved to be okay…in a two star kind of way. I shared a room with 5 other girls. I don’t mind sharing with people, but the hardest part for me is finding a spot to open my backpack and spread out my stuff so I can find everything. I had my first hostel shower (wearing flip flops) and of course when I went to do my makeup the bathroom light was burned out AGAIN! I still managed to get ready, and all of us girls got more dressed up than usual for our last night together.
Jen took us a on a walking tour of Diocletian’s Palace, the retirement home of a Roman emperor. It was built in 200-300 AD and is remarkably preserved. They have cleaned the stones but haven’t made any repairs. There are shops and restaurants throughout the complex and it’s really charming. I rubbed Gregory of Minch’s toe and made a wish. Supposedly your wish will be granted as long as it isn’t materialistic. We had a yummy meal out on the waterfront, then hit up Charlie's Backpacker Bar near our hostel. It was all about the World Cup rugby of course and was crazy busy, so everyone spilled out into the little street for an outdoor party. I spent the night visiting with my Busabout crew, saying goodbyes to everyone, and meeting my Croatia guide Naomi.

It was an excellent four days touring the Balkans with a great crew of people and a fantastic tour guide. I highly recommend Busabout for anyone wanting to see a lot of country with minimal effort on your part! Excited for the next adventure... sailing the Adriatic Sea and visiting a bunch of islands! I'll keep you posted!

Busing About the Balkans!

Busabout and bus tours are great. I can’t believe that I’ve never done a bus tour before! And Busabout is an inexpensive and fun tour company that delivers a lot of value for your dollar…or Euro…or lev. First of all, the bus is large and very comfortable. Since there is only 12 people (including the driver and tour guide) on a 48 passenger bus, we have tons of room to spread out. Note: I don’t think this always happens. Sometimes there are way more people. There’s good music playing all the time, and Anjellko our driver even flashes the interior bus lights and makes the bus dance to the music. Our tour guide Jen delivers just the right amount of information and historical details to make it interesting and relevant without boring us. Plus there are fun activities on the bus too! Yesterday English L and I won the trivia contest which earns us free cocktails in Split when we arrive. And each of us had to make a playlist to play on the bus: first song about us, second song describing our guilty pleasure, third song about love, fourth song a party song, and a wildcard for the fifth song.

Here’s my playlist:

About Me: Canadian Girls by Dean Brody. I would have used Small Town by John Mellencamp but it wasn’t downloaded to my iPhone.
Guilty Pleasure: Drink in My Hand by Eric Church
Love Song: Dancing in My Head by Eric Turner/Avicii
Party Song: Party Like Charlie Sheen by Scuzz Twittly (Mom, Chantal, Brin, and Britta….Vegas memories!!)
Wildcard: Wagon Wheel by Old Crow Medicine Show

I also find riding on the bus really relaxing. We visit, read our books, eat snacks, sleep, and look at the amazing scenery. My tour is called the Balkan Trek, and here is where we’ve been so far.

First Stop: Parga, Greece

We arrived in Parga around 3 pm on our first day. It’s in northern Greece and this beautiful beach town attracts mainly Greeks with a handful of Brits and Italians. It has a lovely little beach, clear warm water, and some interesting rock formations along the harbour. We checked into our hotel, Hotel Gallini, and I shared a room with Canadian A and International A (she’s lived in too many places to assign her a country—born in Nepal, lived in New Zealand, and now from London). We grabbed gyros and beer and spent the afternoon on the beach, then Canadian A and I visited the little shops and picked up wine and A got some great fake Ray Bans. At 6:30 pm, the entire group met and Jen led us up a steep trail to an old fortress. We had drinks (Canadian A and I drank some fantastic Greek wine I’d had in Athens) and watched the sun go down. 

Waterfront in Parga with lots of cute shops and restaurants

Beautiful views of Parga from the old fortress

Drinks on the wall with the Busabout crew

Another amazing sunset

Next up was dinner at Baccho’s along the waterfront. This traditional Greek taverna had great food (I had moussaka), yummy red wine, and ouzo. But the most exciting part was the entertainment. The staff got everyone up dancing to traditional Greek music. And before I knew it, my waiter pulled out my chair and insisted I dance on my chair along with the other girls at my table. Well little did he know that this Kenton girl had tons of coffee table dancing experience. I busted out my chutney soca moves from Trinidad (thanks Danielle and Kimberly) and twisted that light bulb like nobody’s business (thank you red wine and ouzo). This earned me a round of applause from a large table of Brits!

Our tour guide Jen and Aussie S get into it! Opa!

Next we moved on to Spice Bar. Its claim to fame is 5 euro cocktails all night, every night. I decided to order a whisky sour. They didn’t have actual bourbon so they made it with Jack Daniels and free poured about 5 ounces into a cocktail shaker along with the lemon and simple syrup. It tasted great, but I just knew that if I drank 5 ounces of Jack on top of red wine and ouzo I would be one sick girl. In a surprising display of good judgment, I pushed the drink to the side and switched to water. I know, everyone is probably wondering if this is actually Devon writing this blog post, but I assure you it is. They say travel changes you! Point made. However, Canadian J has a real thing for shots and I felt it would be rude to refuse to participate in the three rounds of shots that came my way. So not completely reformed yet….

Canadian girls on tour!

 

We were up early to get on the bus for 8 am. I stocked up on fruit at a nearby fruit stand (good snacks for the bus) and grabbed a latte and we were off. It was an exciting morning as we said goodbye to Greece and crossed into Albania. I was very apprehensive about entering Albania as I’ve heard so many negative things and it’s been depicted really badly in movies and the media. With cries of “white slavery” and “kidnapping” echoing in my ears, we crossed the border with no problems and soon we were rolling along nicely paved roads enjoying beautiful mountain scenery.

Our first stop was an Albanian bunker. These were built by a paranoid Albanian dictator during the Cold War era. There are thousands of these concrete igloos all over Albania, and they can withstand tank fire. I’d read about them in my guide book and I was really eager to see one. We hiked up a hill to one where we learned about the history. In my excitement, I ran over to pose for a picture standing in the door way…then whack! Those door ways are MUCH MUCH lower than they look, and next thing I knew I’d cracked my head against the concrete and metal top of the door arch, knocking my sunglasses off. My immediate concern was for my Prada sunglasses, but they survived with some minor scratches to one of the legs. I did not fare as well—although I shook it off and said I was fine, I now have a bruised temple and seriously wounded dignity. Albanian bunker=1, Devon=0

I see why these bunkers withstand tank fire. Thank goodness my Pradas were okay.

I recovered on the bus (I really needed some ice for that temple, but thank goodness I had bangs to hide the worst of the damage) as we made our way to Gjirokastra. This is a medieval Albanian village that is designated a Unesco world heritage sight. This charming town has white buildings and cobbled streets. We visited a money exchange as they don’t accept euros in Albania, and Jen advised us to exchange no more than 20 euros into Albanian lev. 20 euros netted me almost 3000 lev and the experience was like a scene from the movie Eurotrip. 3000 lev (worth approximately $30 Canadian) paid for the following:
-entrance fee to historical fortress and house in Gjirokastra
-pastry for lunch
-dinner in a nice restaurant (yummy pizza that would have fed two and glass of red)
-two big bottles of water, two Milka chocolate bars, a little bottle of wine, and a can of Albanian beer (to try later)
-taxi fare split four ways from downtown Tirana to our hotel
-a glass of wine in the hotel lounge
-a caramel latte
-a generous tip to the barista as I threw my lev around like a millionaire. They ran out and bought a new house with it…kidding!

Main street in Gjirokastra

And wait for it... the yoga pose I'm compelled to do everywhere. Stunning scenic view from the old fortress though!

Ottoman house from the 1700s

I have never visited anywhere as cheap as Albania. Gjirokastra was absolutely charming, and Tirana (capital city) is really modern and working hard to catch up with the rest of Europe. A few interesting facts about Albania:
-Albania’s communist dictator, Hoxha, closed the borders of Albania for 40 years. No one could leave or enter the country. The benefit to this was that Albania developed a really strong infrastructure and became self-sufficient. The down side? They fell completely behind the rest of the world and are now trying to play catch up.
-Albania had one of the most brutal communist regimes in history. The Albanian secret police interrogated 1/3 Albanians citizens, offering a reward of $1.50 Canadian to anyone who informed on those not following the strict communist rules. Since people were so desperately poor, friends and family members turned on each other to earn the money. Many people were transported to labour camps and interred for long periods of time. Some simply vanished.
-the Communist dictator banned religion. When the dictator died, his replacement still did not allow religion. 5000 students staged a huge protest, and the new leader had no choice but to allow Albanians freedom of religion. This was in the early 90s.
-Albanians were occupied by the Ottomans for hundreds of years. As a result there is a strong Muslim influence and many mosques.
-Albanian red wine is delicious and cheap! Excited to try my can of beer later!

 

-most people still grow their own vegetables and exchange them with their friends and family members. Farming methods are still really basic (we saw cards being pulled by donkeys), contrasting sharply with Hummers and Mercedes speeding down modern highways.
-Albanian gas/service stations are the nicest I have ever seen. They are bright and new, with lounges and bars in them! There’s nice furniture (couches, love seats, cool chairs) and some even have trampolines out back to jump on. I found it hilarious that they have bars in them when people are just there to fill up with gas…drinking and driving anyone?? Also you can get really good coffee at these service stations. They have proper espresso and milk frothing machines and I got a great latte for 200 lev.

 This is a service station. Can you believe it? Take note Canada!

Also my day began my favourite way with yoga! I taught a yoga class in the conference room of our Albanian hotel to some of the Busabout girls. They were really receptive to everything, and we did breathing exercises, joint mobility exercises, standing series, and some of the ab series, ending with savasana and mantra. And they cranked out wheel in their first class! 

Our hotel was really nice!

We’re now sitting at the Albania-Montenegro border, and the most pressing question is will they put stamps in our passports? When everyone on the bus is travel-obsessed, filling your passport with cool stamps is a real badge of honour and documents your journey. Sometimes if you ask nicely they’ll stamp your passport for you, but so often they don’t. Today’s adventures include beaching it at Budva, exploring the medieval town there, then Bay of Kotor!