Wednesday, November 28
Yesterday we heard a loud rumbling sound and it felt like the entire room shook. We figured that the washing machine was not properly secured and it just slammed into the wall when it started the spin cycle. This morning we did some Googling and found out that a magnitude 4.7 earthquake hit the area. Apparently earthquakes are pretty common in this region. The last big one was in 1979 and it leveled most of the old city and effected many buildings in the other districts. There’s no sign of the damage. Everything has been rebuilt and repaired. It does make you think.
We rescheduled the free tour for today and met up with our guide just outside of the old city at 10:00 am. She started the tour by giving us an in depth lecture about the history of the town. It took over 30 minutes.
Founded around 500 BC Budva is one of the oldest settlements on the Adriatic. Legend has it when Cadmus, the ruler of Thebes, was exiled he was humiliated by being driven out of town riding a bull. Eventually he settled in Budva and began the first settlement there. The name Budva derives from the word for bull.
The Romans conquered the city in the second century. When Rome fell the area became part of the Byzantine Empire. In the 14th century the Ottomans dominated the area but didn’t occupy Budva. Instead they exacted tribute to help fund their ongoing European conquests. Eventually Budva came under the control of the Venetians and in 1797 became part of the Habsburg Empire. After World War I it became part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and after World War II was part of Communist Yugoslavia. After siding with Serbia for most of the Balkan wars of the 1990s Montenegro became an independent country in 2006. Subsequently Montenegro became a member of NATO and has applied for membership in the European Union. Today Budva is the most popular tourist designation in the country.
(Ballerina Overlooking the Old City)
With the history lesson out of the way we proceeded to walk through the old town. Our guide explained that because of the recent, extensive modifications to the old city Budva would never qualify as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Our path took us through the main thoroughfare and eventually we came to an uncongested area near the sea. There we saw an old, abandoned monastery that had been used as an upscale restaurant until the owners passed away. Nearby was an Orthodox church named The Church of the Holy Trinity which we entered.
Our guide explained some of the differences between Catholicism and the Eastern Orthodox religions. We’ve been touring Eastern Europe for almost a year and have seen many Orthodox churches and thought we had a good understanding of their practices but we’d never heard this before. She explained the Orthodox religion forbids images of god and the saints and so icons are always painted with a flaw to reinforce the idea that these pictures are simply representations rather that likenesses. We’d often noticed that the perspective on icons was “off” but thought it was simply the style. We were told that this is the most common type of flaw that you will see.
(The Old City)
Most of the rest of the tour was simply identifying buildings and giving some local color. The tour ended at a large plastic bell which was near a large metal anchor. Both of these items had been used as props in a movie that was filmed there (we couldn’t find out the name of that movie) and had been left there at the request of the city. They are now iconic symbols of the old town.
After the tour we went back into the old city to have lunch at a place that our host had recommended named The Pasta Bar. It was a small place with just a few high tables with bar stools. The menu consisted of a few different types of dried pastas and several different homemade sauces. We opted for the fussily bolognese and fussily carbonara. We each got a huge bowlful and they were both delicious. Deborah could only eat half of hers so we took it home. Total cost: €12.50 / $14.00.
(Pasta for Lunch)
Before heading home we stopped at the supermarket for a few things. It was still early in the afternoon when we got home but Deborah was still not fully recovered so we decided not to do too much.
Big news: we finally finished all of the oranges we bought on our way to Dubrovnik. It took us about two weeks to eat 22 pounds of oranges. At least we got our vitamin C.
Distance walked: 4.4 miles
Thursday, November 29
We had intended to visit the nearby town of Kotor today which is just 30 minutes away by bus. We’d actually passed through Kotor on our way to Budva and had seen the old city walls.
Deborah had a pretty bad night. She has developed a bad cough and by morning was only interested in staying in. She suggested that I go by myself but I declined.
After lunch I did go out for a walk and explored the rest of the shoreline promenade to the north. It was a beautifully sunny day and there were lots of families eating in the seaside restaurants and sunning themselves on the waterfront benches. I brought the camera and added a few photos to our collection which now numbers in excess of 14,000. What would we ever do without digital storage?
(Beautiful Budva)
Distance walked: 4.8 miles