John Edward Cooper’s Notes

DAY 6 - FREE DAY IN BUDVA


Budva

Today you have a free day. Why not meander along the marina or explore the narrow-cobbled lanes in the Old Town of Budva? Your Tour Manager will be able to advise you of the possibilities to enjoy your day.[i]

[i] This was the itinerary that tour manager Andrew had posted:

Day 6 - Free day
A day for further exploration and activities of your own choosing - or Just chilling out. Maybe a boat trip, a visit to the beach, or perhaps just relaxing at the hotel. You decide! Andrew will also make some suggestions. Dinner is at your own arrangements this evening.

Janet’s journal had recorded disturbances to sleep by the one termed “bastard”, and lack of sleep through other causes, but today she wrote: “Thank goodness: at least eight hours! Felt refreshed. I needed that — and will need that, as we’re out until 11pm tonight and tomorrow night. [I got] up, 7am. Breakfast.”
 She woke me up, ca.7.20am. I showered, …[etc.].
 “We went to Aroma (I had to do it!),” Janet’s journal continued, “and I showed [John] the Munchmallows and bought a packet! I will keep the receipt, which clearly states: ‘Munchmallows’! We returned to the hotel, then got the 9.10am bus to Budva. It was already hot and sunny. Fab!”






“Munchmallow” packet from the “Aroma” supermarket; receipt printed, “08:48:34”; cf. yesterday, final footnote.

Here is the map of Budva old city (or stari grad in Montenegrin) that we had with us, that Andrew Dick issued:


Riviera Travel map of Budva
(Click on image to enlarge.)

It wasn’t of very much help to us, though, because many of the numerals were in black on a black background and so were almost or completely invisible and certainly not legible. After we got home and scanned the map, I added the missing numerals in white, with the help of the following map which I found on the internet.


Map of Budva, copied from the website of Adria Line DMC travel agency, Budva
(Click on image to enlarge.)


Tuesday 12 September 2023 09:10:20
Boarding the “Mediteran Express” coach from Petrovac to Budva




Tickets for the journey from Petrovac to Budva

“We went to the Hemingway Hotel for drinks. [John] had a freshly squeezed orange juice and I had a Coke Zero.” The Hemingway Bar was busy, and the table at which we’d sat on the first visit was occupied; so we sat under a shelter, diagonally opposite the establishment’s corner entrance. The men we’d met on that first visit, who’d been at the table next to the entrance, weren’t there this time; we’d sat at the table next to theirs.


Bill from the “Hemingway” bar, printed “10:04:14”


Tuesday 12 September 2023 10:08:32
Refreshments at the “Hemingway” bar, Budva


Tuesday 12 September 2023 10:14:24
At the “Hemingway” bar, Budva




Tuesday 12 September 2023 10:14:24 (detail)
The “Hemingway” bar, Budva, showing where we sat on our first visit

Janet continued: “Then we went to [the] Stari Grad and had a good look around. I went in a couple a small churches.[ii] The place jarred with me:[iii] the juxtaposition of modern (uPVC doors, air con. machines, etc.) and old. I’ve never had that feeling before in any of the previous Historic Quarters (many) we’ve been in. Nevertheless, still impressive.”

[ii] I visited two churches too. I’d taken several photos in the first, before I noticed a “no photos” sign. The second also had a “no photos” sign; and although I sneaked one picture, the sign pissed me off and I left to await Janet outside. If I can’t have the means to remember a visit, there’s no point making that visit.
[iii] I’ve already just stated what jarred with me.

Tuesday 12 September 2023 10:24:16
Approaching the Old Town, Budva: the Gradenigo Tower and the Iron Gate


Tuesday 12 September 2023 10:25:14
Approaching the Old Town, Budva: the Gradenigo Tower


Tuesday 12 September 2023 10:25:46
Visit to the Old Town, Budva: entering the Iron Gate


Tuesday 12 September 2023 10:29:38
Visit to the Old Town, Budva


Tuesday 12 September 2023 10:32:16
Visit to the Old Town, Budva


Tuesday 12 September 2023 10:34:44
Visit to the Old Town, Budva


Tuesday 12 September 2023 10:36:08
Visit to the Old Town, Budva: Roman altar


Tuesday 12 September 2023 10:36:36
Visit to the Old Town, Budva: Roman altar


Tuesday 12 September 2023 10:37:10
Visit to the Old Town, Budva: Roman altar


Tuesday 12 September 2023 10:40:18
Visit to the Old Town, Budva


Tuesday 12 September 2023 10:43:06
Visit to the Old Town, Budva: Church of St. John the Baptist


Tuesday 12 September 2023 10:43:10
Visit to the Old Town, Budva: Church of St. John the Baptist


Tuesday 12 September 2023 10:44:50
Visit to the Old Town, Budva


Tuesday 12 September 2023 10:45:00
Visit to the Old Town, Budva: Church of St. John the Baptist


Tuesday 12 September 2023 10:45:30
Visit to the Old Town, Budva: Church of St. John the Baptist


Tuesday 12 September 2023 10:46:16
Visit to the Old Town, Budva: Church of St. John the Baptist


Tuesday 12 September 2023 10:46:32
Visit to the Old Town, Budva: Church of St. John the Baptist


Tuesday 12 September 2023 10:47:28
Visit to the Old Town, Budva: Church of St. John the Baptist


Tuesday 12 September 2023 10:48:16
Visit to the Old Town, Budva: Church of St. John the Baptist


Tuesday 12 September 2023 10:49:52
Visit to the Old Town, Budva: Church of St. John the Baptist


Tuesday 12 September 2023 10:50:16
Visit to the Old Town, Budva: Church of St. John the Baptist


Tuesday 12 September 2023 10:50:56
Visit to the Old Town, Budva: Church of St. John the Baptist


Tuesday 12 September 2023 10:51:18
Visit to the Old Town, Budva: Church of St. John the Baptist


Tuesday 12 September 2023 10:52:08
Visit to the Old Town, Budva: Church of St. John the Baptist, “Our Lady of Budva” icon


Tuesday 12 September 2023 10:57:46
Visit to the Old Town, Budva: Church of the Holy Trinity


Tuesday 12 September 2023 11:00:34
Visit to the Old Town, Budva: Church of the Holy Trinity


Tuesday 12 September 2023 11:01:12
Visit to the Old Town, Budva: Church of the Holy Trinity


Tuesday 12 September 2023 11:01:56
Visit to the Old Town, Budva: Church of the Holy Trinity


Tuesday 12 September 2023 11:07:02
Visit to the Old Town, Budva: (left:) Church of St. Sava the Sanctified; (right:) Church of Santa Maria in Punta


Tuesday 12 September 2023 11:07:42
Visit to the Old Town, Budva: the Citadel

“We had drinks — Coke Zero and a beer —” Janet wrote, “and I was greatly impressed by several original recesses of statues, etc., and brickwork inside the Restoran. I asked if they were real and was told ‘yes’. They were from the original building. The whole town was destroyed in the 1979 earthquake and subsequently rebuilt. Crikey!”


Bill from the “Sky Light” bar, printed “11:15:10”


Tuesday 12 September 2023 11:16:42
Visit to the Old Town, Budva: refreshments at café/bar Sky Light, Trg Bazilike 88, Budva


Tuesday 12 September 2023 11:46:38
Visit to the Old Town, Budva: steps up to the Citadel Gate


Tuesday 12 September 2023 11:48:18
Visit to the Old Town, Budva: view east from the Citadel Gate


Tuesday 12 September 2023 11:48:26
Visit to the Old Town, Budva: view west from the Citadel Gate


Tuesday 12 September 2023 11:50:38
Visit to the Old Town, Budva: view north from the Citadel Gate, tower of the Church of St. John the Baptist


Tuesday 12 September 2023 11:53:58
Visit to the Old Town, Budva: leaving by the Main (“di Terra Ferma”) Gate


Tuesday 12 September 2023 11:54:34
Visit to the Old Town, Budva: leaving by the Main (“di Terra Ferma”) Gate

“We got the 12.10pm bus back to Petrovac.”




Tickets for the journey from Budva to Petrovac


Tuesday 12 September 2023 12:14:48
On the “Mediteran Express” coach from Budva to Petrovac: heavy traffic in Budva

“[We] returned to the hotel, then set off for lunch ‘down the prom’. I found a quiet, comfortable and clean Restoran, which was a calming blue and white. I was very impressed by the pristinely clean (and huge!) ‘Ladies’, which I left in the state I found it. I told the owner how impressed I was by the cleanliness. [That] went down very well. I doubt anyone has ever said that before: am I really the only one who ever does that?! Anyway, [John] had chicken sesame sticks with chips, a beer, and a rakija. I had a small mixed salad, bread, a Coke Zero, and a super strong, hot, flavoursome (proper: not decaff.) americano. A travesty, really, to put artificial sweetener in, but—!”


Tuesday 12 September 2023 13:38:10
Lunch at Konoba SM, Petrovac


Tuesday 12 September 2023 13:49:54
Lunch at Konoba SM, Petrovac


Tuesday 12 September 2023 13:57:42
Konoba SM, Petrovac


Tuesday 12 September 2023 13:57:48
Konoba SM, Petrovac


Tuesday 12 September 2023 14:08:18
Konoba SM, Petrovac


Tuesday 12 September 2023 14:16:06
Lunch at Konoba SM, Petrovac


Tuesday 12 September 2023 14:25:30
Konoba SM, Petrovac


Bill from Konoba SM


Tuesday 12 September 2023 14:38:24
Konoba SM, Petrovac

“Then we left to sort out a boat trip to the island opposite our hotel room: the one with the church on the top,” Janet wrote. After writing that, she remembered: “Seated outside on the prom, were a couple off our tour, and we spoke briefly about what we’d done. We said we’d just eaten and they asked if it was good. I replied [that] the best recommendation I can give any restaurant is that the toilets are pristinely clean. That’s all you need to know!”


Tuesday 12 September 2023 14:40:20
Petrovac: views eastwards towards the Castle


Tuesday 12 September 2023 14:40:36
Petrovac: views eastwards towards the Castle

“Then we left to sort out a boat trip to the island opposite our hotel room: the one with the church on the top. We were told it would cost €10 each for the island, caves, etc. I wondered what the catch was. Would we be taken to the island, let off, and then told it would cost us €50 to get back?![iv] Two other couples boarded the boat: Alexander and his wife, from Canada (although we both thought they sounded, maybe, Dutch!); and a young family with a small child. The mother offered around a punnet of delicious black grapes she had, and we all helped each other getting on and off the boat, etc. Special. I love stuff like this. We looked around caves — wonderful — then set off to the ‘Church Island’. As we’d hoped, we disembarked and climbed up to the tiny church at the top. Very precarious! — with amazing views. [In the church itself] we’d forgotten to, in my case, put my hat on, and, in [John’s], to remove it, until we were almost ready to go. I ‘apologised’. [John] wrote our names and where we were from in the Visitors’ Book. We left €3. We reboarded the boat and were shown around more caves. Marvellous. Then we returned to the marina. The whole trip lasted around an hour. So cheap — and no catch!”

[iv] Indeed, after depositing us on Sveta Neđelja, the boat moved back out to sea (“15:08:16”, “15:10:18”, below); but that was perhaps just to leave space for other visitors to land.

Tuesday 12 September 2023 14:49:08
Boat trip to Sveta Neđelja


Tuesday 12 September 2023 14:57:26
Boat trip to Sveta Neđelja


Tuesday 12 September 2023 14:59:18
Boat trip to Sveta Neđelja


Tuesday 12 September 2023 15:00:08
Boat trip to Sveta Neđelja


Tuesday 12 September 2023 15:00:30
Boat trip to Sveta Neđelja


Tuesday 12 September 2023 15:02:52
Boat trip to Sveta Neđelja


Tuesday 12 September 2023 15:05:20
Boat trip to Sveta Neđelja


Tuesday 12 September 2023 15:06:26
Boat trip to Sveta Neđelja


Tuesday 12 September 2023 15:07:22
Boat trip to Sveta Neđelja


Tuesday 12 September 2023 15:08:16
Boat trip to Sveta Neđelja


Tuesday 12 September 2023 15:08:20
Boat trip to Sveta Neđelja


Tuesday 12 September 2023 15:08:56
Boat trip to Sveta Neđelja


Tuesday 12 September 2023 15:09:08
Boat trip to Sveta Neđelja


Tuesday 12 September 2023 15:09:32
Boat trip to Sveta Neđelja


Tuesday 12 September 2023 15:10:18
Boat trip to Sveta Neđelja


Tuesday 12 September 2023 15:11:14
Boat trip to Sveta Neđelja


Tuesday 12 September 2023 15:12:14
Boat trip to Sveta Neđelja


Tuesday 12 September 2023 15:14:30
Boat trip to Sveta Neđelja: the other islet Katič


Tuesday 12 September 2023 15:14:58
Boat trip to Sveta Neđelja


Tuesday 12 September 2023 15:15:06
Boat trip to Sveta Neđelja


Tuesday 12 September 2023 15:15:14
Boat trip to Sveta Neđelja


Tuesday 12 September 2023 15:15:56
Boat trip to Sveta Neđelja


Tuesday 12 September 2023 15:16:28
Boat trip to Sveta Neđelja


Tuesday 12 September 2023 15:17:20
Boat trip to Sveta Neđelja


Tuesday 12 September 2023 15:18:40
Boat trip to Sveta Neđelja


Tuesday 12 September 2023 15:20:18
Boat trip to Sveta Neđelja


Tuesday 12 September 2023 15:23:54
Boat trip to Sveta Neđelja


Tuesday 12 September 2023 15:24:54
Boat trip to Sveta Neđelja


Tuesday 12 September 2023 15:33:18
Boat trip to Sveta Neđelja


Tuesday 12 September 2023 15:34:16
Boat trip to Sveta Neđelja


Tuesday 12 September 2023 15:34:22
Boat trip to Sveta Neđelja


Tuesday 12 September 2023 15:34:44
Boat trip to Sveta Neđelja


Tuesday 12 September 2023 15:36:28
Boat trip to Sveta Neđelja


Tuesday 12 September 2023 15:36:44
Boat trip to Sveta Neđelja


Tuesday 12 September 2023 15:36:50
Boat trip to Sveta Neđelja


Tuesday 12 September 2023 15:37:08
Boat trip to Sveta Neđelja


Tuesday 12 September 2023 15:38:16
Boat trip to Sveta Neđelja


Tuesday 12 September 2023 15:39:32
Boat trip to Sveta Neđelja


Tuesday 12 September 2023 15:41:56
Boat trip to Sveta Neđelja


Tuesday 12 September 2023 15:46:56
Boat trip to Sveta Neđelja: back ashore at Petrovac

“We went up Fort Castello, which turned out to be a war memorial for the First and Second World Wars. Another precarious climb with amazing views.”


Tuesday 12 September 2023 15:47:30
Visiting Petrovac Castle


Tuesday 12 September 2023 15:47:54
Visiting Petrovac Castle


Tuesday 12 September 2023 15:48:44
Visiting Petrovac Castle


Tuesday 12 September 2023 15:50:42
Visiting Petrovac Castle: war memorial


Tuesday 12 September 2023 15:51:04
Visiting Petrovac Castle: view westwards


Tuesday 12 September 2023 15:51:46
Visiting Petrovac Castle


Tuesday 12 September 2023 15:52:16
Visiting Petrovac Castle: war memorial


Tuesday 12 September 2023 15:52:24
Visiting Petrovac Castle: war memorial


Tuesday 12 September 2023 15:52:40
Visiting Petrovac Castle


Tuesday 12 September 2023 15:54:56
Visiting Petrovac Castle


Tuesday 12 September 2023 15:56:06
Returning along the Petrovac quay

“We went for drinks — Coke Zero and a beer — then had a slow walk back to the hotel.”


Bill from “Lazaret”, printed “16:00:21”


Tuesday 12 September 2023 16:03:56
Refreshments from “Caffè Pizzeria Lazaret”, Petrovac

“As we approached ‘The Farmers’[v] (where was ‘Burger Boy’? — poor sod!) I finally decided to buy a black fig. In the end, because I only wanted one, the two ladies wouldn’t take any of the money we offered but, instead, gave [John] a green fig. Bless! Yum — they were delicious!”

[v] Cf. Friday 8 September 2023, “18:59:48” and “19:00:16”.

 So far in today’s write-up I’ve quoted almost exclusively from Janet’s comprehensive journal entry. But just at this point my notes become more detailed. We were back in the hotel room, ca.4.50pm. I lay down, 5.05pm. Janet packed one case (to 6.50pm). (She also mentions updating her journal in her version of this.) My only involvement in the packing was to help strap up the case with the multicoloured straps that we use. Then I helped her to wash her hair in that poorly designed sink with the mixer tap that gets in the way of bending down over the sink. Checked Gmail (19:07–19:08 CEST).… I’d started with diarrhoea, which was manageable while we were in the hotel room but troublesome when we were out. I visited the toilet twice at the restaurant, but the closet door was locked both times. Back to Janet’s journal now:
 “At ca.7.40pm we left for our pre-booked meal at Riva (couldn’t wait: it will be another wonderful experience I’m sure.[vi] Well worth staying out late: but I would have preferred to return to the hotel afterwards.… I called at the supermarket near Riva for some prepared fresh fruit for my ‘pudding’ then we went for our meal.[vii] First we were presented with an appetiser (amuse-bouche?) of artisan cream cheese and fish paste with home-made bread. [John] had a beer and I had a sparkling water. Then [John] had his bruschette, followed by lamb, traditionally prepared.[viii] I had a shrimp salad, which was yummy. I had a freshly squeezed orange, grape and lime drink. Fab. [John] ordered a rakija and I was given an artisan ‘cherry liqueur’, which he drank. Then he had to return to the hotel, as the restaurant toilet was engaged. Forever! He’d started with ‘the runs’ for the second time this holiday. (He drank his rakija first!) I paid the bill then sat on the prom to eat my fruit. Amazingly enough, I wasn’t in the least bit scared. I would have been in the UK.”

[vi] The change of tense from past to future suggests that Janet wrote this just before we left.
[vii] I usually document our restaurant visits photographically, but this evening I realised near the end that I’d forgotten to do so.
[viii] This was the same as I’d had on Saturday 9 September 2023, even though I found it to have rather too many fiddly little bones in it. On this occasion, I wanted the version using veal, but the waiter reported that they had no veal.

Bill from “Hotel Riva”, printed “21:24:32”

When Janet and I were about to leave Hotel Riva, I hurried back to the hotel. On the way, however, I had an “accident”. On my approach to the hotel (as I noted:) “the noisy, noisome, intrusive din was in progress.” I went up to the room, did my business, changed my underpants, returned, and found Janet.
 “I was worried,” Janet wrote, “but [John] finally reappeared: he had an accident before he reached the loo, but was sorted. Really, we just wanted to go to our room, but the bastardo was bleating. Hellfire, I fell down a bloody step: there was insufficient lighting on the prom. We were both upset. I grazed my knee and hand, and had a lump, but otherwise appeared OK. So we wandered about, and finally returned to our room at 11pm. Down the prom we’d heard a lone cricket trying to find a mate…”
 That last event was towards the east end of the bay. We were “back at [the] hotel a bit before 11pm,” I noted, adding: “The noisome bastard had finished.”
 When I started up the Samsung computer, I got—

Preparing to configure Windows. Don’t turn off your computer.

—before the “Welcome” screen appeared (23:05 CEST). Transferred 103 photos from the camera’s SD card to “Documents” on the computer (23:08–23:10), and copied those back to the SD card as a backup (23:12–23:13). Because of the earlier on-screen message, I thought that the computer was going to install updates, but there were no “Update…” options when I came to shut the computer down (23:14). I got ready for bed. I was in bed, 23:28. Janet was still showering.
 “Anyway,” she concluded, “we were in bed just before midnight. What a day! Wonderful, really. (Pity about the shitty hotel.) Again, lots of lovely memories.”

[Wednesday 13 September 2023]