Tivat, Montenegro

Montenegro is this little country tucked away in (what seems to be) a crappy area of the world: The Balkans. Serbia, Albania, Boznia-Hertzegovenia, Croatia. Trick is, Montenegro is friggin' beautiful. It's located on the Asiatic Sea basically across from Italy, and has a similar climate. That is, it's nice there. The beaches are gorgeous, the people are friendly, it's relatively undiscovered and thus not plagued with over-tourism, and it's cheap. What's your problem? Go! Tivat sits on the coast tucked into a beautiful harbor. It's a small, picturesque nice slice of Montenegro. That's where I landed from Moscow.

Looking out on the harbor by the marina.

Down on the water in the city center. Restaurants, bars, cafes. The mood is mellow and relaxing. Fun fact: in the 2006 James Bond movie Casino Royale, the big high stakes poker match was set in Montenegro (remember?). But, turns out, they filmed it in Prague. The Montenegro chamber of commerce worked a deal with Hollywood to get them in the movie. That's actually why I chose it for the meetup spot to reunite with Anya. So it worked. For me.

This pretty much is the city of Tivat. It's quaint.

At the beach restaurant across the street from our flat. We rented a few kilometers outside of the city center. The place was capacious and cheap. The owner was a chipper guy and actually drove us into the city center once as we were standing around socializing and he offered.

This guy was in the city center near the harbor.

Check out the misty mountains in the background.

The dock. You can walk out and see all the yachts.

Hey man, that's just like, your opinion man.

Weird. Cool. Different.

And it's cheap. The is one lesson I learned from travels off the beaten path. Tivat is every bit the luxury palm trees vacation. Compared to going to the Carribean or Hawaii, it's pennies on the dollar. You just have to get the ticket that says "Montenegro" not "Hawaii," and sit on the plane a little longer. There is a slight issue with English speakers. You notice not in the tourist areas but in little markets and grocery stores in the city itself. Sometimes it's pointing only, because there's no comprehension of English. The language is actually Serbian, with a few token tweaks made to it essentially for political reasons, so that Montenegro can declare itself separate and independent. But, as anyone will admit, it's Serbian. I don't speak Serbian, to there's the issue. (I started to learn, but we were there for only a little over a month. Oh well.)

Our deck on top of the flat.

Ice cream sweatshirt!

A restaurant that serves fish.