Budva on the foam of the sea

How does Montenegrin build highway?
He builds 1 kilometer of the road and puts a sign: ,,Etc”

Montenegrin yells: Woman, give me some antibiotics!!
,,Why? Snake biten you?”
,,No, but I can see her coming!”

Those are just some of the jokes Balkan people love to make about Montenegrins. Maybe you haven’t heard, but in process of making jokes we like to point out their laziness. It’s same like joking about people from Zagorje (part of Croatia above Zagreb) and the fact they drink too much. Or Dalmatian people, they say they’re lazy too.
I guess every nation has some jokes about itself; it’s same like making jokes about Chuck Norris or blondes. And the fact is that you somehow ”believe” in those things; when you go to Montenegro, you expect to see Montenegrin who’s trying to lose weight by watching excercises on TV or you’ll see them having 10 famous Montenegrin rules written on their doorstep or something like that (First one says: Man is born tired so he needs to relax a lot during his lifetime). But situation is a bit different in reality.
It’s true that we are Balkan people so we like to waste our days (but only in our spare time, when we work we really work! At least I think so 🙂 ) and we are pretty much relaxed nation. But when you come to Montenegro you won’t find people lying around and testing their limits of laziness.

As a matter of fact, I was pretty much surprised: Shops have same working time as Croatia, they even work some extra hours! And during Sundays, Croatian shops work till 1pm or don’t work at all. Montenegrian do till 10 pm!

During my visit, I’ve noticed that Budva is a pretty lovely town. I was there in winter time ( around New Year’s Eve), but I could sence that (dead) smell of summer. There are many beach bars, closed summer shops with souvenirs, coffe shops – so many objects in their ‘winter sleep’. They were just collecting dust and waiting for summer, just like we did. But, you know how it works with things like Fridays, vacations and summer – you just have to be patient. 🙂

Weather was great so we could sit in some bars near the beach and drink our coffe or just walk around the Old city. There’s even some small tower with wall around it, but I have to say that smell is awful when you get there. When we went up to take a look from that tower, we could see garbage and sense smell of urin. It was really disgusting, I think they should take care of it cause it’s in center of that Old town, so many tourists may come there.

We had some unusual situation with cabs: we took a cab from point A to point B. It costed 1 euro. We were surprised cause it was that cheap (in Zagreb you can get, for example, free start with Cammeo taxi – 2 kilometers for 2 euros), but we didn’t complain. But when we wanted to come back from B to A, driver charged us 5,5 euros. ,,How come?” We asked. He said something about holiday season and higher prices during it. We didn’t want to say anything, but later we found out what was the problem: there are big differences in prices in private or city cabs. So, take one advice – find out which sort is cheaper before you come into taxi. And ask a driver how much will it cost before you even enter a cab.

One more interesting story – we found some great restoraunt so we wanted to come back tomorrow and celebrate New Year’s Eve there. I asked waiter can we make a reservation and he said: ,,Okay, just take a picture of me and my friend.”
I was quite surprised but I did it, and when we came there tomorrow he asked me to show him a picture as a sign of reservation. Then we got the table. 🙂

All in all, Montenegro was great experience. You can come there during the summer cause I’ve heard it’s amazing, but still don’t forget about prices; many Russian builders have their beaches and bars there. So it’s not unusual if guards ask you to pay for your spot on the beach. But still, I think it’s definitely worth of trying! And, of course, let us know how it was! 🙂

By: Ana Bustruc

 

Glamor & glitter of the French Riviera

As a 17-year-old I went to the French Riviera, a famous Mediterranean glamorous beauty for my graduation trip. A five days long journey we started one warm evening in Varaždin and after 14 hours of  bus ride we settled at hotel Azur in Nice. Hotel’s exterior was modest and at first glance it didn’t delight us, but the interior was nicely decorated, with everything you need in double or triple rooms. But the hotel wasn’t located in attractive nor idyllic area – a poor neighborhood in which quarrel and fight are common. The hotel was only 10 minutes from the tram station that leads to the center of Nice. Trams are modern there, unlike ours in Zagreb, but also more expensive and with frequent and strict control, so we only once took the tram, just to try it , and it was nicer to walk half an hour to the beautiful turquoise coast.

The weather was great – warm and sunny, so we were able to swim in the beautiful Mediterranean Sea. Promenade de Anglais walkway stretches about 6 kilometers along the coast , where during the summer nights there is a little dance floor where young people dance in the rhythm of music. The other option for having fun and dancing was going to the night clubs which are very expensive, so just for entering the night club you could pay around 15 euros, not to mention the prices of drinks – for example, juice-vodka could cost you 25 euros, which was not acceptable for high school budget.

However, since we were on school trip, we had to learn something while we were there. So we visited Matisse Museum in Nice and of course Monaco and Monte Carlo. Monaco, the city-state, which I remembered for Monaco’s princess and  American actress, the beautiful Grace Kelly, who lost her life when she was a 52 year old, in a car accident when driving to Monte Carlo. In  Monaco I enjoyed Jardin Exotico de Monaco, a wonderful botanical garden from which you can see the luxurious Monte Carlo, Principality of Monaco known for its casinos, the Monaco Grand Prix, World Championship in boxing and unavoidable fashion and luxury contents.

Cannes, famous for its film festival (Le Festival International du Film de Cannes), held in May in Palais des Festivals, and beautiful sandy beaches – La Croisette, was our next stop. I was particularly impressed with Walk of Fame, where many movie stars and other famous but significant people left their palm prints. But enjoying the view of the beautiful blue sea and walking on warm sandy beaches was priceless.

Last stop of our graduation trip to the Côte d’Azur was the most fragrant place, not only in the Côte d’Azur, but in the whole France – Grasse. The center of the French perfume industry, one of the best in the world. We had the opportunity to visit a “demonstration” factory in which friendly staff has guided us through the entire process of production of perfume.

Au revoir.

By: Ema Vuković