Day 8: Death March to Manastir Savina, and Massive Diving Disappointment

The kids slept in and were up by 8:30, we should let them sleep in more often since it’s the same time as when we have to force them to get up. Sounds were coming from what we think is the music conservatory next door. Piano, voice, flute, violin, it’s all quite nice. Much nicer then that very loud, very odd pop music that comes from the building on the opposite side in the afternoon. We heard selections from Grease, Michael Jackson, and others, yesterday and today, and they kept starting them over. We assume there is rehearsal for something. It sounds like there is currently a rehearsal for a concert coming from somewhere close by. I think it’s Baroque.

AB and I read some of the literature PI gave us on the area, as well as what we picked up from the TI. Rather then drive somewhere, and since we didn’t want to risk parking problems today, we stayed local. Read about the history of the city and the area, and have a much better grasp of the order of things historically. AB wanted to go to the Monestary in Savina, which had some interesting sounding places and P wanted to go to the beach, so we tried to combine the wishes. We walked along the waterfront armed with our TI map and passed various swimming/beach areas, giving P a full range of choices. Unfortunately there was no shade on the walk, and not having sandals, wearing long pants, and walking at a slow pace all contributed to my discomfort. That and a poorly designed map promising steps up in to the town that weren’t there, and a girl who just wanted to swim, created considerable stress. We made it to the area where we should have seen signs pointing up to the monastery, but there weren’t any. We finally cut up to Brace Grakalica, a road we were by now familiar with, and again there were no signs, and no obvious roads leading up to the monastery. Fortunately there were a couple gentlemen working on a house acroos the street. AB asked for help, and we were pointed in the right direction. Let me just say that under normal conditions the climb up to the monastery would have been pleasant, a little strenuous, but pleasant. In my present drenched condition, and in the company of a girl who had no interest in the climb, made it a little more difficult. It actually began to feel like a pilgrimage one would take where they would have to overcome a series of challenges to reach their reward. The monastery with its two churches/chapels was quite pleasant. Beautiful icons in both, and some very well preserved frescos. The graves surrounding the buildings were interesting as well. There was one more church listed on the map above the monastery, and that entailed more climbing, on much steeper stairs than anticipated. It really gave an idea of the verticality of the area. More massive sweating, cooled by the sea breeze at the top of the climb. Rather then going back down from where we came, we took the path that went parallel to the coast toward Stari Grad. Again the map promised stairs that weren’t there, and we ended up following the long winding road down to the water. P was very motivated at this point and walked ahead in an effort to spur us on.

AB and I sat under an umbrella at a café overlooking the beach while we watched the kids swim. They enjoyed themselves, and so did we. AB had an iced coffee with no ice that she said was delicious, I had a cappuccino with a mountain of foam so steep the sugar rolled off it when I tried to pour it into the coffee. The walk back was brief, as we had covered a considerable amount of ground returning from the pilgrimage. We promised P pizza, so we went up to the square to wifi while we ate. We were the only diners. P thought our waiter looked like he could be a movie star, though she denies this now. G confirmed the statement. A nice leisurely lunch, the kids split a Margarita pizza, again, and AB had the Greek salad. I ate whatever was left, and had a Tuborg on draft. Sorry Nik. G had o.j. that tasted like manderine oranges, he said it was delicious. AB and P had the usual, coca-cola. Going to have to work on that.

We went back to the apartment to rest up for the 5:00 dive. A brief nap, and then a walk over to Galerija Josip-Bepo Benkovic where we’ll be showing in August. Their current exhibition is Ljubomir Brajovic-Braja, who currently resides in Podgorica. I liked his landscapes. Really nice space, would love to be here to see the work when the show opens. Returned to the apartment to get our gear together for the dive and went down to the travel agency to meet at the arranged time. The only problem was there was no dive. We stood in front of the agency, watched the people working there lock it up, ignore us, and walk away. G ran the guy down, the one we originally spoke with, and he told G that we should have come by in the morning to arrange it. We were told to come by at 5:00p.m., we would be met by the dive instructor. The woman told us yesterday not to worry and plan our day accordingly. G cried for ten minutes, I was furious, I’ll be back in the morning to have a little talk. Black Mountain Travel Agency is on my list, if I had a list. Making the best of the situation, since we had our gear, G and I went snorkeling. Fins, booties, masks, and snorkels can make up for some of the pain. Saw a load of fish: Wrasse, Blinnys Tangs, Mullet, Gobys, Sea Urchins, Damselfish, etc. It gave us an opportunity to use our fins, and we swam around and through some large rocks, and hovered over massive schools of fish and coral. Take that Black Mountain Crappy Travel Agency. I got cold after about a half an hour, so we came back in. AB and P got to listen to a lot of good hip-hop/techno music while we were gone.

G had a double chicken sandwich at our favorite take out place, and AB and I split a sausage sandwich of some sort. Street meat, mmm. Ate it walking up the stairs again. Baths/showers for all. Evening stroll to see if the car was still there, further away then we remembered. Walked down to the water through a resort, nice pool area, three man band playing, trumpet, bass, and keyboard. Felt like we walked into a late Sixties hipster movie. Had cherry ice cream at Gradska Kafana with little bits of crunchy cherry chocolate candy. Tasted like Life Saver ice cream, but not nasty like you might think. G had the vanilla, AB had tea and ate P’s hot chocolate, with no slagroom. It was like a warm liquid pudding made with dark chocolate, oh so good. I ordered one too.

Tomorrow I’m going to ask the lame people at BMTA why they screwed us on the dive. Hoping to stop in Kotor to see the space we’ll be showing in later in the summer.