Sunday, April 16, 2023

Happy (Orthodox) Easter! Sun is out! It is a bit cloudy. I'm sure we'll be fine. Our plan is to lounge around until late morning, then take a cab to Budva (about 20 minutes away).

Shower in the hotel is very touchy and I don't think hot water here has proper safety controls/mixing. I alternatively cooked and froze myself this morning until I got things figured out.

Included in our room booking was free breakfast, which wasn't your typical muffin and coffee, but rather a full breakfast of any menu item.  I was a bit jealous of Paul's waffles,

But my eggs Benedict were pretty awesome.

After breakfast, we took a prearranged taxi ($30) down to Budva. Sometimes called the "Russian Riviera," Budva is a bit larger than Tivat, with more space to walk and a proper "old town," which we explored. 

The 4.50 euro charge (each) to get to the top of the citadel? All agree it should have been 1 euro, maybe 2. Still, the views from there were quite good.

We stopped for palicinka (crepes) at a place called the Green Cafe in the middle of Old Town.  The owner got such a thrill out of chatting with Yelena, she kept interrupting Paul in the middle of a story, and then followed us out of the restaurant and into the shop across the street, to continue her chat. Granted, it's Easter Sunday, so a slower day for business, but perhaps she was a bit TOO friendly.

Lots of cats everywhere.

and expensive boats.

we ended our Budva walking tour with a Guinness (impossible to find in Serbia) and a taxi ride back to Tivat.  This time, we didn't pre-arrange a ride, but rather just walked up to one on the street. MISTAKE. 

"How much to Tivat?"

"About 30 euros."

"Ok" I said, and we were off.  

Surprise, surprise, upon arrival at Tivat, the meter magically said 43 euros.

Me: "You said 30 euros!"

Him: "I said 'about' 30."

Me: "43 is not close to 30."

Him: "Sorry... fare is 43."

Me: "Tivat to Budva cost us 30."

Him: "Taxi leaving Budva costs more."

Me: "I don't have 43 anyway. I only have 40"

Him: "Ok. 40 is ok."

I only had the two 20s, and wasn't about to have the police intervene over getting 10 euros back, so I gave him the 40 and left.  

Lesson learned, only use prearranged taxis. On the other hand, we had to have some taxi-related misadventure for this to be a fully qualified trip. 

We wandered a bit for dinner. I wanted to try a place a couple blocks off the seashore, thinking it would be less tourist oriented and cheaper.  Unfortunately, because it's Orthodox Easter, nearly everything away from the hotel zone was closed. Most restaurants dark, others with just kitchen closed. So we returned to the hotel area and ate at "Cafe Roma," which is just next door to Hotel Astoria. I had rollovana piletina, which is chicken, stuffed with cheese, rolled in bacon.  Fabulous!  Gelato for dessert.

If the weather is good tomorrow, we  plan to take a boat taxi to Kotor, stopping at a couple water features along the way. We won't have to worry about regular taxi drivers until the airport return trip.