It's the first time on this entire trip that I took a bus that was fully packed! Must be the New Year's and everyone is heading out of Belgrade for celebrations.
As usual, I hardly slept on the bus. I did contemplate taking a train with a sleeper cart instead, but it was too much hassle thinking of all the steps involved - the train station in Belgrade was quite a distance away, and it requires a transfer to a bus at Podgorica, and it's said to encounter delays.
It's a good thing that I was allowed to check in early at the Accomodation Apartment Popović. It is located a little distance away from the centre of town, and oh my gosh, the number of stairs to climb!
The owners were really friendly though they don't speak much English. I had chosen out of the city centre since I will be having a car for most part of the journey and needed a place where I can easily park.
The old town is about 15 mins walk away, and the first few order of business was to get a mobile Sim card (€5 for 7 days of 400GB data), and lunch. Found this really nice restaurant by the water, although the menu was somewhat limiting.
It's nice to be out by the coast again, and most importantly at a temperature that is warm enough for me to move about without a jacket during the day. Day time temperature is about 16-18°C, and falls down to 6°C at night.
There's a very pleasant laid back atmosphere in this town, that I thoroughly enjoy. I could see myself staying here for a longer time.
There are numerous beaches around, and I saw a few people swimming. I felt the water and it was on the much cooler side, and would be an extremely refreshing dip if I was to go in.
There's also a fortress, which when I walked in, reminded me of Dubrovnik or Croatia.
A walk along the ridges brought me to patterned cliffs, with extremely clear waters. There's also a "door in the cave" at the extreme end.
I caught the last sunset of the year along one of the beaches but due to the lack of sleep from the previous night, I found myself nodding off a few times.
As much as I wanted to see how NYE celebration is done in the city centre, I struggled to stay awake and decided to stay in instead. In any case, I read online that NYE celebrations were cancelled this year in Budva, and I didn't want to make a wasted trip to the city centre.
As the clock struck 12, fireworks went off across different part of the city, which I managed to see from my place. It seemed fireworks are commercially made available easily for the public as I saw some fireworks being released from apartment units. It was pretty amazing!
Happy New Year, and hoping 2022 will be a much better year. Still finding it surreal that I am currently in the Balkans!
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