Sveti Stefan

I had one more day in Budva before spending a couple of nights in Kotor. This was mainly because the hostel I wanted wasn't available that night, so I had to postpone my stay in Kotor by a day. Jack had now left, so I had the day to myself, and the main thing I wanted to tick off was Sveti Stefan. It was something I didn't think Jack would particularly enjoy, so it worked out pretty well that I could see it once he had left.

First, though, I had to get my stuff to the hostel for the night. Our current accommodation was already pretty high up the hill, but this hostel was somehow even higher and involved an incredibly steep climb. I should have gotten up earlier and tried to avoid the worst of the heat, but I was enjoying my sleep far too much. After battling my way up the hill and absolutely drenching myself in sweat, I dropped my bag off and headed towards the beach.

Although the walk to Sveti Stefan was long, there were plenty of little beaches to stop at along the way. I ended up doing a bit of beach hopping and got to see some of the coastline and areas around Budva that I otherwise probably wouldn't have visited. Unfortunately, the heat was absolutely overwhelming. By the end, I was seriously regretting my decision to walk and probably should have just caught public transport. The scenery was great but walking that far in that heat was brutal.

And then came the final destination: Sveti Stefan. Unfortunately, it was a bit of a disappointment.

I hadn't realised until I got there, but the entire island is essentially a private resort, meaning you can only access it if you're staying there. I hadn't looked into the price, but I'm willing to bet it was well outside my budget. I had been looking forward to exploring the island itself, so it was a bit disappointing to only be able to admire it from the outside. I managed to get some good photos, though, so it wasn't a complete waste.

After all that walking and barely eating anything, I was absolutely starving, so I found somewhere and demolished an enormous feed. Unfortunately, shortly after finishing my meal, I realised I had another problem: I was late to officially check into my hostel. I'd only dropped my bag off earlier and hadn't actually been allocated a room yet. Suddenly, I had to rush across Budva, so I grabbed a taxi and raced back to the hostel.

It was a suitably chaotic end to what had already been a long and exhausting day.Read more