Montenegro is a small country located in the west-central Balkans. It became a sovereign state in 2006 when it opted for independence and broke away from Serbia, just three years after the Union of Serbia and Montenegro broke away from the former Yugoslavia.
Montenegro means “Black Mountain”. The country borders Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Serbia’s breakaway province of Kosovo, and Albania. About half of it is covered in thick forest.
We are spending a month in the small beach town of Budva, which has a population of 28,000. The city gets inundated by tourists in the summer, but luckily, it is still quiet in April.
We have a beautiful two-bedroom apartment overlooking the Adriatic Sea. It is not quite beach weather. The weather in Budva is erratic. Most days, we experience all four seasons. We will wake up to the sun and warmth, and by lunch, the clouds roll in and the wind picks up. It usually rains in the afternoon, and the temperature dips into the 50s at night.
We are reunited with our worldschooling family, which feels great! It is so much better traveling with friends.
It is a walkable city. Our friends are all within a 10-minute walk. Grocery stores are closed on Sundays. Restaurants and Convenience stores are open. Lucas has been running and doing calisthenics with our friend Kristian and some other teens. Henry enjoys play dates and movie nights with his friends Vivian and Dexter. Michael and I are enjoying being back with our friends.
We rented a car for the first two weeks of our stay. We took a day trip to a small mountain town called Cetinje, the old capital of Montenegro. We visited a money museum and enjoyed visiting the historic buildings.
We went to a fundraiser for homeless animals in Budva where our friends, Jake and Gabe, were invited to perform. Jake and Gabe have performed all over the world. They find open mics and other opportunities wherever they go, and they are only 16 and 17 years old. We are proud of them.
The kids complain less when we hike with friends. We hiked to Fort Mogren, an abandoned fort at the edge of town. While we were up there Michael got interviewed for the National television station. We were able to see the broadcast the following week at a bar in Kotor!
There is plenty in Budva to keep us busy.
