Gated island

Today we are off to island that only the richest can visit!

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This post contains video.

Our hostel has been good enough, reasonable value, clean, but the so called Wi-Fi is non existent. It seems that only one person can be on it at any one time. This means a group clusters around reception and on the stairs, all with their smartphones, desperately pressing the connect buttons to no avail. We leave early-ish. We want to make best use of the day and our bus to Niksic leaves town at 14.00, but before that we have found a spot down the coast that looks like it may have good snorkelling prospects. Sveti Stefan is just fifteen minutes away.

We drag our bags to the bus station and leave them at left luggage. Strangely the bus station seems to have a mini zoo with ornamental birds, peacocks, rabbits

there is even a goat on the bridge, not sure if he is stuck.

And then we have some rather bored deer.

Not such a great environment for the animals, but then it probably keeps the children entertained while they wait for the bus.

Fifteen minutes along the coast, and this is what all the fuss is about. It is all very well calling it the ‘impossibly picturesque, but if you cannot go and have a look around unless you are part of some super wealthy, then what is the point. We are getting to seriously doubt the usefulness of our Lonely Planet ‘Europe on a shoestring’, surely this bit should be in their Europe on an exceeding large budget!

We will just have to be satisfied with a swim around the bay.

It is still quite early and there are just a few people on the beach. We find a nice shady spot amongst the rocks and head into the warm water. Just opposite us is a small unhabituated island.

Our objective to swim out to it. This is always longer than it appears as you gaze wistfully across, but with the snorkel and mask it is effortless.

We enjoy the crossing so much we decide to circumnavigate the island. The rocks drop off suddenly into the big blue.

Satisfied, we drag ourselves out of the water, dry off and head along the beach. Two deck chairs and a sunshade will set you back €15 per day, and that is for the back row, where all the minions are passing you, front row, where the sea is lapping at your precious toes, that will be double. €210 for a week of lounger and shade, you could buy three sets in Lidl for that!

And along at Sveti Stephan beach, which obviously has bouncers and it is pretty much deserted, it is compulsory to use the sunshade, otherwise the beach might look untidy.

You also get manicured hedges and lawns.

The causeway to the island, do not dare to take another step.

It is a bit busier now and quite a few have shelled out on the loungers, although the front row is pretty much deserted

There is a bit in between all this ordered beach furniture which is mayhem, packed with beach towels.

We choose to stay as it is close to the shower.

Just enough time for another quick dip and a surreptitious snorkel along the reefs of Sveti Stephan, hoping some watchtower doesn’t have its sights on us.

That is it for Sveti Stephan, not sure about the place, but love the name, Sveti Stephan. We wait for the local bus to take us back to Budva.

We swam around that, quite impressive eh.

And a very pretty bay.

Looks even more impressive on google maps.

Back at the bus station we grab our bags, find our bus and then we are off to deepest darkest Montenegro, we are off to Niksic.

More stunning scenery.

Before we drop back down into the capital. For once our guide is quite honest and has just a line. Whether it deserves a day is hard to believe, although our bus driver did seem to drive around it endlessly for forty-five minutes, some roads we went down three times, perhaps he was looking for additional custom.

Then we continued onwards.

We arrived in Niksic with an address an a taxi driver who did not seem to know his own town. This is not a big place. This is not a touristic place with hotels and hostels popping up all the time.

We spend half an hour driving around the suburbs until eventually he pulls over and says we were here, but we aren’t, the good thing is, whether this is luck or not, we are just one door away.

Our hostel is a bit basic, but it is clean and good value.

The owner likes his guitar and practices incessantly.

It is actually quite annoying but we don’t dare to say otherwise. These things you wouldn’t get in a hotel. But staying in places like these, it feels like we are guests, so we put up with it. SM

We settle in, abuse the internet and then go into town for a little supper.

Sexy!! SM

This is the real Montenegro, not some hyped up tourist bit of coast.

It seems to be wood collection time, large piles are scattered on every street corner.

Many are being loaded onto trailers presumably to be later sold. Where it all comes from, there are no trees around here!

Many of the buildings are quite austere, but not without their charm. This one cantilevers dramatically over the street.

It looks top heavy, almost as if it where about to topple over.

The main pedestrian street has a little life wandering up and down.

We do like these little electric vehicles the children can career around on. Some of them seem to go quite fast, and some of the kids have yet to learn steering, this could be interesting.

The owner has recommended several establishments where we can eat, plus one that a recent occupant has mentioned. His favourite turns out to be not much more than a cafe serving burgers and pizza, it is quickly rejected, we can do better than this.

It has been a tough day for the dogs in Niksic.

The next recommendation, by the traveller, looks more promising.

A little local place serving local food, we are the first to arrive, but others later join us, all locals, there are no tourists around here. The place can’t be too bad.

We peruse the menu over a glass of local white wine which is pretty good.

We start we some simple salads.

I have some lambs kidney.

and Susu has some trout, all very delicious.

We have just one problem, how to get back to our hostel. We know the vague direction, so we traipse into the darkness.

We get to somewhere that looks familiar, but just cannot find the place, we try a different street, this is definitely not right, but someone takes pity on us and shows us the way, yet again we were just one house out!

GDR