Cetinje

Yesterday it was finally nice enough for Layne and I to do a little sightseeing again. We were going to visit Monastery Ostrog, but a few of our teammates suggested that maybe we could all go together next weekend. This was actually good because from all we read online, there is no direct bus to the monastery and most people rely on locals (via hitchhiking) to get to the base of the monastery. However, we are thinking that with such a large group of girls, we may be able to convince our bus driver, Mirko, to drive us up in the team bus! Anyways, that still left us with the dilemma of what to do Sunday. Most of the things we want to see in Montenegro require the weather to be better and warm enough to swim or go to the sea. After minor research, we came across this town called Cetinje which is at the base of Mt. Lovcen. At the top of Mt. Lovcen, there is a popular mausoleum with views that supposedly allow you to see all of Montenegro! This sounded really cool and something that would not require warm weather.

Since we decided on our plan pretty late Saturday night, we could not call the bus station to find out what time a bus would be heading to Cetinje. The next best thing was to have one of our friends call in the morning and just be ready to go by 9:15 am. (This is much earlier than I have been getting up lately, so it was a little difficult!) Turns out that no buses go directly from Bar to Cetinje until the summer. This meant we had to catch a 9:45 am bus to Budva (about an hour from Bar) and from there, get a bus to Cetinje. We thought this might be the case, so we were not surprised. When we boarded the bus, we were the ONLY ones on the bus. And the driver drove sooo slow (of course, he had to slow down numerous times to light up a new cigarette). We finally made it to Budva and looked on the screen for what time the next bus to Cetinje would depart. When we looked at the bus times on the screen, it said that it was presently 9:45 and that the bus did not leave until 10:55. Although we did not want to wait for an hour, it was the only option, so we booked our ticket and decided to get some water from a grocery for the walk up the hill and some snacks. That wasted hardly anytime, so we went back to the bus station to find out what time the last bus was back to Bar. We needed to make sure that we left Cetinje early enough to catch the last bus. The lady spoke really good English, and after she told us the last bus left at 8:10, she said, "You missed the bus to Cetinje." Layne and I looked at each other and were confused. Turns out the clock on the monitor was an hour early. (If you think about it, we were not very smart because we supposedly left Bar at 9:45 and arrived in Budva at 9:45. Duh!) This is when we learned LESSON #1 of the day: Always check your own clock!

Luckily, the next bus to Cetinje was leaving in a few minutes, and she gave us a new ticket for that trip. After climbing up in the mountains and both of our ears popping numerous times, we made it to Cetinje. From a distance, I was able to spot the mausoleum at the top of Mt. Lovcen and it looked pretty far away. At the bus station, there was a map of Cetinje with all the popular spots. It said the mausoleum was less than 1 km away, which we were surprised, but excited that it was so close. We decided to tackle this first because we were not sure how long it would take. As we are climbing up these winding and steep hills, something is not sitting right with me. Like I mentioned earlier, it seemed like the mausoleum was much further away. Either way, we continued to climb. The weather in Cetinje was very different than Bar. There was lots of snow on the ground and was pretty cold. However, among all the snow were these pretty purple flowers:

When we finally reached the top, it was obvious that we were at the wrong mausoleum! From the one we were on, there was a perfect view of the one we wanted to be on! As I thought, it was pretty far away.

 This is what we saw after climbing up the steep walk ways! Not what we were expecting!!! Then we looked to our left and saw this...

 It's hard to see, but the 'real' mausoleum is on top of that mountain. (Far away right!?!?!)

Layne and I were a little upset, but needed a picture with the intended mausoleum. And while we were up here, we figured that we should at least get some pictures. 

So I got one overlooking the town of Cetinje! 

While we were up here, there were several other groups walking around. We decided to ask one of the couples how we would go about getting to the mausoleum that we really wanted to go to. The man actually spoke English and told us that it was about 21 km (15 miles) to the mausoleum and that it was CLOSED! This was the main reason we came to the town, so we were extra bummed! We knew there were not a lot of things to do in Cetinje, and we did not want to go home, so we wasted time by taking "jumping" pictures. From the many, many we took, this was the ONLY one that worked:

 Pretty good right?!?!?

We decided to head back down and see a few of the other sites the Internet mentioned. We saw a monastery, church, some statues, and another church.

 The monastery.

 The church.

 Another church with a statue in front.

At this point it was only 2 or so, and we decided to ask a few more people about the mausoleum being closed because we were a little skeptical. Also, we wanted to be 100% because it was the entire reason we came to Cetinje. We found a few English-speaking people and some said it was open and some said it was closed. They all told us how to get there, so we started walking in that direction. Now we were even more confused about what to do because of the mixed answers. After walking for what seemed forever, we ran across another couple and asked them about it. The man said that it would take 3 hours to walk there and that he thought it was open, but didn't know what time it closed. He said there were no buses to the mausoleum and that we would have to take a taxi. Now it was getting closer to 3, and we couldn't find a taxi driver to find out how much it would cost. Since it was so far away, we assumed it would be a lot and decided to finally abandon the plan and go back to Budva. Throughout this process, I learned LESSON #2: Do as thorough research as possible on destinations (although this is hard in Montenegro). I wish the sites we visited would have said something about Cetinje and Mt. Lovcen being so far apart and difficult to get to instead of grouping them together like the were close!

 This is the closest we came to Lovcen! :(

A couple of our friends were in Budva to watch their cousin play, so we decided to meet up with them in Budva, watch the match, and drive back to Bar with them. Unlike most bus stations, there is not an actual station in Cetinje. You just wait for a bus to come and hop on. We were told that buses go from Cetinje to Budva every 30 minutes or so which meant we would not have to wait long. Finally a bus came by and Layne was sure it was headed to Podgorica and not Budva. I suggested maybe we ask someone to just make sure and it turns out it was going to Budva! We kinda had to run after the bus to catch it, but we got on! Here is LESSON #3 of the day: Ask where the bus is going! 

We made it back to Budva with about 2 hours before the game, so we went to a cafe and did some shopping at this silly store. The match was not a high level, but entertaining nonetheless.  We finally made it back to Bar around 9 pm, made breakfast for dinner, and went to sleep! Despite not getting to our desired destination, we still learned 3 important lessons yesterday and had fun!

After successfully making my apartment video, we decided to chronicle the trip with video. Please read the post (I know it's long!) before viewing the video. Enjoy!

Match vs. Rudar

Well... Galeb is back to their winning ways! We beat Rudar tonight 3-0. According Google translate, Rudar means miner in English. I did not know this, but had to look it up since I have been telling everyone the unique team names here. In two weeks, we will play Rudar again for the semi-finals of the Cup. The winner of the Cup does not really win anything and how your team finishes has no bearing on who is crowned the "Champions" at the end of the season. (I am actually not even really sure why they have the Cup to be honest.) Anyways, since we play them first, there is a great likelihood that we will be in the finals of the Cup-which is good, I guess! Next weekend, we play a team from Podgorica (the capital) that is in 4th place. Hopefully we can stay in the W column again!

The Big Move!

I have received several comments and emails from people I will not name (Aunt Toni, Dad...) that I am not keeping up with my blog enough. However, not a lot has happened since Layne's birthday. The only thing to report about our game on Saturday is that we lost 3-0 and that I have put it to the back of my mind. The weather has been pretty terrible these past few days with strong winds and light rain. This has kept us in the apartment most of the day while just getting out for dinner at Palma and practice.

Although not a lot has happened over the past week and a half, one monumental change occurred: I moved into my own flat on Tuesday! It is more like a long-term hotel than an apartment complex, but it will work well for the little more than a month I have left here. There is a person manning the front area 24 hours a day so it is very safe. It is located really close to the centar (spelled correctly here!) of Bar and about a 5 minute walk to Layne's flat and both the gyms. Layne and I spent the last few days getting some necessities for the apartment: a frying pan, a sharp knife, a bowl, a couple air fresheners and of course food! The apartment is basically comprised of 5 rooms. Instead of posting pictures of the place, I thought it would be fun to give you an actual tour and take advantage of the video capabilities on my camera. I hope you enjoy my witty commentary and Layne's video skills. Sorry for a few moments of laughter, but it makes the video more humorous if you ask me :)

Side note: It said that this video was going to take 500 minutes to upload with the wifi at my apartment, but in the end I took it to Layne's ethernet connection and let it work while we were at practice. Overall, I'd say a pretty good video for our first go-round. Maybe future videos to come!

A special thanks to Layne for her creative input (sitting in the chair after looking at the wonderful view amongst other things) and skill with the video camera! 

Happy Birthday Layne!

Today was Layne's birthday! She woke up at 6 am to have a Skype call with her whole family because it was the only time they could all get together! Of course, I was able to sleep through this, and we both woke up around 12. We planned on going for birthday burek with Linly at 1:00, so we hung around until it was time to go. It was Linly's first time eating burek, and I think she really liked it (but then again, how could you not?). The man at the 'restaurant' was kind enough to take a picture of all of us with Layne's burek and birthday candles.

 A very Montenegrin birthday 'cake'

 All three of us with the burek cake

 Finally a picture of burek: the best thing in Montenegro! :)

 View of meat inside the burek. To be eaten with soured milk, a.k.a yogurt. SOOO GOOD!

After burek, we made a quick stop at the fruit market which was right next door to see if they had any jars of honey. Every morning, we usually eat yogurt, fruit and granola. However, granola is really expensive over here! We decided to make our own granola and wanted to see how much the honey was at the market. It was 8E for a large jar of honey, so we decided to wait on buying the honey. When I told Rose, the vendor that Layne always goes to, that it was Layne's birthday, she gave her 2 apples and an orange as a present! It was very sweet of her. 

Layne and her fruit presents!

Unfortunately, it was not a very nice day and rained for most of the afternoon. This ruined our idea of maybe going to a cafe on the beach or anything that involved walking and being outside. So we spent our time in the apartment making hummus and wasting time on the computer, and Layne talked to a few of her friends and family on Skype. At 5:30 I was told to meet some of my teammates at this corner in town to pick out a present for Layne from the team. We ended up going to a jewelry store where they picked out a heart pendant and chain. From there, we went to a flower store and got an arrangement with three red roses and a long curvy stick of bamboo. Finally, we went to the market where the girls picked out a box of chocolates. They gave Layne all her presents in the locker room before training. Here is Layne with her presents from the team:

The flowers, candy, and heart necklace

After practice, we headed over to Soho to grab a drink and eat the cake that I made Layne. She was also able to open the gifts that I got her. They were all silly, little gifts. Check out the pictures from Soho:

 Happy 23rd Birthday Layne!!!

 Layne blowing out the candles

 Layne with her beautiful cake!

 With the presents I gave her: Gingerbread cookies, Kinder Surprise, 3 bootleg DVDs, an awesome yellow headband, an air freshener for the bathroom that sometimes smells, and a thing of Kleenex for the restrooms (Not pictured: A bag of Smokis)

Overall, I think Layne had a nice birthday despite the horrible weather! HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAYNE!!!!

Game #3

Tonight we played the team that was in 2nd place in our league. If you have read any of my previous game posts, you know that I like to share the team names of each of our opponents. We played Buducnos, which translates to "future". This was somewhat unusual in that their team was mostly comprised of girls closer to my age. (Many of the teams that we play have younger girls, like high school students, on their team.) They were a much better team than the previous two teams.

Anyway...we lost in five games. It was a really close game until the fifth deciding set. Unfortunately, our team did not play very well overall, and we were not able to pull out a win tonight.  However, we are still tied for first with the team that we lost to tonight.  The environment was more exciting in that the people came out to support us and provided lots of cheering and yelling. Next weekend, we play the team that is sitting in third and are really good. Hopefully, I will have a better outcome to report next time!

Long Overdue: Pictures of Bar

I have been in Bar for almost a month now and have yet to post pictures taken in town! Now the time comes. I present the wonderful city of Bar:

Welcome to Montenegro!!! Montenegro translates to "Black Mountain" and separated from Serbia in 2006. Bar is a major seaport of Montenegro.

 View of Bar from sea.

 View of Bar from inland.

 Port (Luka) in Bar. There are many sailboats in the port, as well as a ferry that takes people back and forth from Bari, Italy.

 Another view of Luka Bar.

I had to take this picture because it makes me laugh: People load their cars up with children cars and bring them out to the port for others to rent. You will see lots of children driving up and down the streets near the port and beach. 

 A playground on the beach. Bar does not have sandy beaches, just lots of rocks!

 Another view of the beach, this time with the popular Pe Pe cafe where people sit, drink coffee and enjoy the views!

 Outside of our newer gym. Directly across from Layne's apartment.

 In the center of town: This is now a grocery store and shopping store, but Layne said they were once used for something during the war. Should investigate their exact use more!

 Other side of the center.

And last but not least, our restaurant: Palma! There are six tables in the restaurant, and it is not unusual if we are the only ones there! We order the same three things, but those three things taste pretty good. (Lots of shredded cabbage!)

And you thought you were old!

Layne and I decided to take a short break (3 days) after our trip to Kotor and Perast. As there is not a lot to do in Bar, we wanted to spread out our activities. I have been wanting to visit this olive tree (yes, it is just one tree) since I found out about it. Read this sign posted by the tree to learn more about it:

Yes, you read it correctly: This tree is more than 2,000 years old and possibly the oldest tree in Europe. (Olive trees have an average life expectancy of 500 years.) Of course I had to go see it since it was so close! It should have been a 45 minute walk from the apartment, but it took us a little longer due to a wrong turn. I looked it up on the map before we left and was confident in my navigation skills, but the map was deceptive. It looked like we should have taken the first turn after the post office. However, this was not the case, and there were no street signs to use. Luckily, we had Maja with us to ask several people how to get to the "stara maslinovo drvo". We only had to walk along the main road for a little bit more and then take the left turn. (And of course, there was actually a sign telling you where to turn!)

When we finally got to the tree, it was bigger than I expected. Unfortunately olives grow during the hot, summer months, so there were no olives actually on the tree. I would have totally eaten one! We stayed at the tree for probably 30 minutes, taking way more pictures than was necessary (Almost 30!). Here are some of my favorites:

 At the entrance

 Layne and I "in" the tree (Taken while the lady went to get change from the market because we don't think we were allowed in there)

 Senior Portrait

 Let's lay on the fence!

 Sporting the Euro smile

Sneaked back closer to the tree, but this time for a view of the other side

Overall, another successful trip! Not sure where were are going next, but we need to focus on our game Saturday before we plan anything more. I'll let you know how the game goes!

Second half of trip: Perast

Yesterday, after deciding to see Kotor and Perast in one day, we walked back to the bus station to buy our ticket to Perast. It was about 15 km away from Kotor, so the ticket only cost 2 euros. We had been told that Perast was a small, but pretty town and that there was a lot more to do in the warmer weather. However, we figured that if we were this close, we needed to go! 

The bus dropped us off on the main road that sat above Perast. This made me a little nervous because there was no bus station which meant catching a bus back would be a lot harder. Anyway, we walked down more stairs (at least this was down) until we arrived at the city "center".  As I mentioned earlier, the town was small and the center consisted of a church, clock tower, and some statues of famous men. The best part of the city center was that it sat directly on the bay. Perast is not a major tourist attraction which was nice because it was what I would consider a typical, small town in Montenegro.

 Clock Tower

When we google-searched Perast, we learned about these two islands that sat right off of Perast. On each island, there was a church.

 Two islands (while standing in Perast)

Layne loved these islands and made it her mission to figure out how to get out there by boat. She must have asked 5 or 6 people before one of them knew how to rent a boat. We thought it was kinda funny that no one knew how to get out there considering it was one of the main attractions of Perast. The man directed us to this hotel where the receptionist spoke really good English. She called one of the men who takes people out to the islands, and we were set. We went to the dock and waited for him. 

We went to the island (in the picture above) on the right first. On this island sits the Church of Our Lady of the Rock. The first church, a Serbian Orthodox Church, was built in 1452. In 1632, the current Roman Catholic church was built. Unfortunately it was in the process of some renovations so we were not able to go inside of the church. An interesting fact about this island is that it is the only man-made island in the Adriatic. Supposedly, two sailors found a rock with a picture of the Virgin Mary on it at the location of the present-day island and began sinking old and seized ships filled with rocks to form the island. To this day, at sunset on July 22, an event called fasinada takes place where locals take their boats out to the island and throw more rocks around the island to make it even larger.

 Church of Our Lady of the Rocks

We weren't able to get on the other island, but we passed super close to it. This is a natural island that holds the St. George Benedictine monastery which was built in the 12th century. The island is also home to an old graveyard in which some of the nobility of Perast are buried. 

 St. George Benedictine monastery

The views of Perast from the boat on the way back to town were beautiful. The sun was setting and it made for a perfect photo opportunity. I am really glad Layne asked so many people about getting to the islands because it was definitely worth it in the end!

 View of Perast from the boat

 Mountains surrounding Perast and the bay

When we were safely back on land, we went to the hotel to ask the lady about the best way to catch a bus back to Kotor. She said we could either go up to the main road to wait for a passing bus, or we could wait until 4:30 when one of those buses would come through Perast. Although 4:30 was still an hour away, we decided the best and safest bet of catching a bus was from the center because we knew it was coming. To kill the hour, we sat at a local restaurant that overlooked the bay and islands. Layne ordered a cappuccino and palcinke, and I ordered baclava. We were able to relax a little after all the walking and climbing from earlier in the day while we waited for the bus. Thankfully it came right on time, and we made it back to Kotor in time to catch an earlier bus to Bar. One great day; Two great towns!

SIDE NOTE 1: Mom asked about the buses in a previous post, and I thought you all may be curious as well. Actually, all four buses were different on this trip. I guess there are individual bus lines that run to and from the cities and the bus station just tells you when you can get everywhere. The first bus was small and similar to the bus we use for Galeb. The second bus was super nice like one of the buses that LSU would rent when on road trips. The third bus was similar to what a typical bus would be like in a city in America. The final bus was by far the worst, but it wasn't all that bad; just old and smaller. 

SIDE NOTE 2: I woke up this morning, and my calves were SO sore. I guess that's what 1,350 steps will do it you!

Kotor Day Trip

Just got back from our trip to Kotor! We had planned on spending Sunday in Kotor and Monday in Perast (a small town about 15 km away from Kotor). However, after we spent a few hours in Kotor, we realized that we could do both in one day and save the money we would have spent on the hotel. My next post will talk about our adventures in Perast.

We woke up early this morning to catch the 8 am bus to Kotor. The bus station is about a 20 minute walk away from the apartment, and we wanted to make sure we caught this bus because the next one did not leave until almost 10 am. Luckily, we were able to wake up to our alarms, not press snooze, and make it to the bus on time. After a short stop in Budva to drop off and pick up more passengers, we arrived in Kotor around 9:30 am. The Kotor bus station was right near one of the entrances to Old Town which was perfect because Layne had read online that some people have had difficulty finding the entrances in the past. Last night we had decided to climb up to the fortress first before it got hot (it was supposed to almost be 70 degrees today!) and before we were tired from walking around. We found the stairs leading to the fortress and started the hike up!

Picture of the mountain that we climbed

 The warning message at the bottom of the stairs to the fortress

 The typical stairs all the way up the mountain

On the mountain with Old Town in the background

 In one of the ruin buildings

 About half way up the hike

In front of the church that was supposed to be half way up the mountain (the second half was definitely more difficult and felt longer!)

 YYYAAAYYY! I made it to the top! (1,350 steps later according to the Internet)

 The Montenegro flag on the top of the mountain

Layne and I at the top

Plaque at the bottom of the stairs

Overall, the trip up the mountain was a lot of fun with some great views and picture opportunities. We were afraid that the climb was going to be very difficult from the descriptions we read, but it was actually not that bad. Some parts of the stairs were better kept then others, but I really did not get scared at any point. But, I have never been afraid of heights. Layne on the other hand was a little worried when the walls near the stairs was really short. There were surprisingly a lot of people on the stairs, but I think it was because it was such a nice day.

The bottom of the stairs dropped us off at one of the entrances to Old Town. There were a lot of people walking around Old Town especially around one of the churches. It was cool to see the Old Town from up high and then walk through the streets. Here are some pictures from Old Town:

 Street in Old Town

 Another street in Old Town

 Church in Old Town

 Clock Tower in Old Town

 One of the three entrances to Old Town

 Another church in Old Town

Before we boarded the bus to Perast, we stopped at a bakery and had some burek. It was different than the burek I had in Bar, but it was still really good. Overall, Kotor was a fun city to visit and get some exercise!

Check out my facebook page for more pictures from Kotor!