During my trip, I have done a lot of walking tours, guided tours, etc. I have made every effort to learn about the place I was visiting.
Here in Herceg Novi, there was none of that. I woke up sort of late, enjoying having the shower and bathroom to myself (the lady who owns the place went to work) and went to a cafe and had my oranges from the grocery store and a cappuccino. Then I walked to the top of a fortress and went to the top. I didn't bother learning about the history-I just admired the view. It was a beautiful bright, hot, sunny day here-probably quite similar to home at this time.
After that, I walked along the beachfront promenade to the other side of the bay, where there are some tall high-rise buildings. I walked past many beachfront restaurants, dives, stores. One pizzeria was playing "Tonight I'm Lovin You", by Enrique Iglesias-but this was the r-rated version, as "lovin" was replaced by "f.....n". I haven't heard this version, and I just stood by the bar listening-a waitress came over to me nonplussed, and wondering what I was looking at/listening to.
I continued walking. I watched people sunbathing on the stones (the bay was beautiful-but the beaches we're made of stones instead of sand). I walked to the end, to the high rise buildings-although some we're relatively new, others we're ugly communist style block buildings. I had some pasta for lunch (around $7 with mineral water).
In the afternoon, I walked back to the room, and took a nap. Then I took a walk along the beach in the other direction. The sun was going down, and it was quite beautiful out. There we're a lot of stray cats along the promenade. Here I stopped for a big dinner, at a hotel restaurant along the promenade-I saw a buffet for $17.00(that's right-about 50% then my room for the night)-more then I wanted to spend, but it looked good with lots of fish, fancy cheeses, etc The waiters kept encouraging me to eat more-more tomato soup, more rice with mushroom sauce. I think they we're disappointed when all I ate for desert was fresh fruit. I walked back through the old town, stopping to watch some female musicians sing songs in Serbic.
Afterward, I went back to the room-I noticed the owner wasn't as friendly as she was the night before. I couldn't figure out why. When I came in the day before-she allowed me to use the kitchen-the only thing I did there was fill up my water bottle in the sink. I thought I kept the bathroom relatively clean. The only thing I could figure out was maybe she was hitting on me. The night before she was wearing a relatively low-cut nightgown, and plied me with the homemade vodka. Now she was wearing a full-body slip, and she sort of rushed me to my room and to sleep after I got in (she did give me a beer though-not one indigenous to her culture but Becks-she was cleaning out her refrigerator-that was the only reason she gave it to me I think).
