27th August - Road to Montenegro

Ah, getting up and leaving is getting a little harder to do each time, compounded I suspect by the lack of sleep. So I packed up my worldly goods, Beti and I wandered into town, to pick up some homemade raki that I had asked one of Beti's Albania friends for. So, he presented me with 1.5L, free of charge! This would prove to be a social lubricant for the next two countries (I conservatively estimate the alcohol content at 60%. A conservative estimate, remember). So, whilst walking out of Lezhë I had a quick espresso and then assessed my hitching options. Frankly, they didn't look too good. So I paid for transport, dammit, the princely sum of $2 to be crammed into a minibus and driven over what qualifies as a 'road' in Albania, to Shkodër. Unfortunately for me, I had forgotten to print a map. So, after getting lost, find a net cafe, and getting lost again, I found myself in what appeared to by the centre. I judged this by the large amount of taxi drivers heckling me for 'cheap' €20 rides. I was wondering how the hell i was going to get to Budva, my target for the day. Still a border crossing away. Somehow, I remember exactly, I bumped into 2 Czech guys (brothers) and then bumped into them again 10min later, only this time they had managed to secure a ride with some guy to Ulcinj, in Montenegro. I asked if I could come along too, and for the grand sum of €3 I quickly become sandwiched between the 2 brothers in the back seat. Turns out the drivers command of English was much like that of his car, poor at best. So, as he could speak a little German, i got the main job of translator, as task to which I was ill matched, but as our German was equally bad, we seemed to understand each fine. So we get to the checkpoint, which was quite new, only being open for a year or something (as Montenegro only declared independence in 2006). This is evident in that it is the same building, just different windows, for Albania and then Montenegro. I wish this was more commonplace, would have saved me quite a few kilometres walking. While we were waiting, I somehow got talking to a 60 year old guy who had been living in Sydney for the last 40 years. Was an interesting chat. So, I then got dropped off in Ulcinj and wandered to the outskirts. Where I stayed for a good 2 hours, in a great spot. I did eventually get a lift to Bar. I could smell the most delicious aroma of freshly baked bread and without even thinking, started to look around the car (I hadn't eaten in 9 hours). He noticed and mentioned that I should take some bread, which I promptly did. He said it he was on Ramadan and as it was still daylight, I surmised he wasn't going to eat it just yet. The scenery along the coast of Montenegro is simply stunning. It is a series of tight bays, with the mountains rising directly out of the water. So, I was then dropped at a bus stop, from which i tried unsuccessfully to hitch from for over an hour. Darkness was falling, so I hopped on a bus to Budva. I arrived at Budva at 8.30 with these instructions:

"Find Caffe Jef and Caffe Greco, 2 outdoor bar/cafes well known to the locals inside Stari Grad (means Old City). The entrance is through 2 big plain white painted wooden doors set in a stone wall next to the cosmetics shop Bingo - which has no identifying marks... Go through the doors and up the stairs to the large vine-covered patio that can be seen when standing outside of Caffe's Jef and Greco. Go through the open door on the and up the blue stairs. We are the door at the top"

These directions were duly followed and I found myself in the Europe that I had dreamt of. A stone balcony, with over hanging grapes, ripe and Delicious. I knocked on their door and meet my couch surfing host 'T' and her boyfriend Zeljko. I felt at home immediately. I whipped out the raki in short order and finished the evening drinking rakia with T, sitting in the the edge of the balcony, dangling our bare feet and watching the people dancing the night away below us...

Check out the plates (you will need to click on the picture to get full size), only in Albania can you get away with that!

Is the implication in this photo that, after a visit, your vagina will be able to played like a violin?