Arriving in Budva felt great.. we could pay by euro.. we had been in an air-conditioned taxi for a while.. and the sun was going down.

We had been talking to the personnel at Hippo Hostel earlier via skype and they told us that they had a free double room, we kind of booked it but not fully as we didnt know if we would manage to get to Budva. Anyway, we somehow thought that it had a private bathroom and were really looking forward to the shower as we hadnt had any in Tirana. (They dont guarantee 24hour water supply in Tirana.. when we were there there was no water at all in the tap.. whoah) After a while of searching for the hostel a dude knew the place and a taxi got us to the other side of Budva and we found Hippo Hostel. On the way there we saw heaps of signs that there were rooms to hire in private houses.. we kept that in mind as the room in the hostel was very expensive, 20euro per person and night.. in a hostel? Nah.. But we went there anyway, and got to see the room that proved to be a small room with only a doublebed in it and not even enough room to get our backpacks in.. We went like: “but, wasnt there supposed to be a private bathroom included?” And the owner went “if youre looking for an ensuite youre not looking for a hostel”. ..What now? We left.

Paying 18euro per person and night, right across the street..
A private apartment with a beautiful balcony and view, airconditioning, bathroom, heaps of space and a really helpful lady downstairs. Thank you rude hippo hostel owner for changing our mind! And for people going to Budva.. just walk around, the private and really nice apartments are everywhere and the people will probably try to hunt you down in the busstation!

We stayed for two nights, hanging out in the beach, walking around Budva by night.. it was beautiful.. the beach was really nice, and what a place to party!! We never went out because we were really tired from all the travelling.. but I would really recommend the city to crazy kids that want to party.. it was wicked! Outdoor clubs playing loud serbian music and people everywhere, on the floor, on the tables.. and strippers.. and food.. and girls in nonexistent clothes and heels taking them to the clouds in all the different colours of the rainbow, anything you would need for a crazy night. haha

That was that, Budva.. party!
And money.. three story yachts.. maseratis.. goldchains.. and russians. Mafia!

I kind of died of tiredness, Olli was the worlds sweetest and got us bustickets while I packed the bags and relaxed on the balcony.. And then we went.. to Dubrovnik.

Now this was like 5 days ago. Im a bit late with the writing.. and we were actually in Dubrovnik today because we only passed through it that day.. but however, Ill get there.. this post is over. Budva was really nice.

Ta-taa
Carolinka

(and right.. I dont know why.. but my mind has somehow stayed in Macedonia cause I keep writing that instead of Montenegro.. Budva is in Montenegro.. nowhere else.. Montenegro, Montenegro, Crna Gora.. I like!)

From Ohrid in Macedonia a very nice busdriver drove us all the way to the border although he should have stopped a 20minute drive earlier.. then we crossed the border by foot and got to walk our way into Albania. The sign that welcomed us to the country had gunholes in it. The heat was crazy.

We took a taxi to the nearest town called Pogradec and jumped on a albanian eurotechno-playing minivan that took us the three hour bumpy ride over beautiful mountains to the capital of Albania. We stayed alive thanks to litres of water and our homemade sandwiches that we had made earlier. And cookies, of course.

In Tirana the first thing we did was calling Stavri Cifligu that is the cousin of a friend of ours in Sweden. We had been told that he was in couchsurfing and that we could spend the night at his place.. what we didnt know was that Stavri was a Tirana and travelling expert that would prove to be the best guide and host we could have ever wished for! We went to Stavris home and met his utterly nice mother, then we went out and took a walk by ourselves the way we do it best, just like that.. walking around.. watching people.. and taking pictures.

Later on we met up with Stavri and his girlfriend and they showed us around the city, we had a nice talk and then they took us out into the Tirana nightlife and introduced us to their friends. The people in Tirana are really nice and they all know Italian from tv! haha..

The next day the heat was out of this world.. we met Stavris brother in the morning, had breakfeast and got out although we would have rather stayed at home hiding behind the fan.. we took our bags into town, left them at the tourist office, took a quick walk around central Tirana and then tried to manage our way out of Albania the best way.. it wasnt really as easy as we had thought, but we made it somehow.. jumping into a minivan to Shkoder, where we met a really nice girl that showed us to the place where we could find a taxi.. and thats the way we went.. by taxi.. an E-class Mercedes, 4hours, crossing the border.. to Budva, Montenegro.

The overall experience? Albania is really nice, the people are even nicer.. we wished we would have time to visit the beaches in the south that everybody kept mentioning.. and Stavri, the perfect guide.. thank you very much for making our Albania experience great!

Did I mention the homemade wine, prosciutto, cheese, bread and sausages? Priceless…!!!

So were here, in Crveni Grm aka CG in Hercegovina right on the border with Croatia.

Its the 12th day of our trip and we have passed through Hungary, Serbia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro and Croatia. Now were officially in Bosnia i Hercegovina even though its a minute from the border and the people in this village mostly consider themselves croatian. Yesterday we were supposed to spend some time in Dubrovnik but we were too tired and got on the bus to come here directly instead, to Ollis family.

Things are sweet, I am doing my best to communicate with all of the relatives and remember the names.. haha thank god polish is close to croatian, otherwise I would have been totally lost..

Today were probably going to Medugorije, and then we have the Croatian Islands, Dubrovnik, Sarajevo, Makarska and other places to visit.. all of it is close by so its perfect.. but first this.. the lovely countryside, puppies, kids, sun and heaps of relaxation.

Pictures are on their way.. I promise!

Until then, another picture from Ohrid: