Your Tax Dollars At Work

You know ... Europeans have a general dislike of all things American these days - not the people, but that America doesn't listen to them and doesn't engage in giving them money hand over fist to "do good". In response, I'd like to present one of the places we came across in Montenegro, in the town of Risan. Risan is just around the bay from Kotor, and just as beautifully situated, on top of having something to do, courtesy of the US government.

USAID helped build this structure, which protects the remains of a Roman villa, including some nearly intact floor mosaics. The mosaics are being restored to their former glory, also with US tax dollars. Did I mention this is one of the very few places you can get into in Montenegro for free, no matter your nationality? Not only that, a local will explain the mosaics and the layout of the villa to you on a guided tour.

Here is our guide and one of the mosaics, in the floor chamber of the bedroom. I have to say, the villa was in much better shape than what I saw in Normandy last year. There are a lot of aid programs in Montenegro, both US and EU funded. In Kosovo and Croatia too.

Behind Again

The new set came out on this yesterday while I was gone, so... I'm behind. I only got one full square and part of another done on part five. I plan on working on it tomorrow until I get part five done. Maybe tonight, too, if I recover enough from our trip.

Lots to See, Nothing to Do

We left Budva just after noon on Saturday the 25th and took the scenic route to Kotor; boy, was it scenic - right down to the two way one lane road edged on one side by the bay and on the other by walls. This first shot is from that road. It shows Kotor from a distance and it just strikes you as yet another old town by the water. Very pretty with the mountain behind it, but there are a lot like that in Montenegro.

It seems like most other towns of any size, that is, until you get close up and see these massive town defense walls rising to the summit of the mountain. I'm still stunned that people put walls all over that mammoth hillside. Definitely worth the view, but...

if you don't sail and you don't hike, what do you do in a place like Kotor? We went because we'd heard it was -the- place in Montenegro for anglophones to go, as Budva is for Russians. They must have meant anglophone fitness freaks. Truly, the only things to do in Kotor are sail and hike. No beach. It takes about half an hour to explore the old fortress.

So, we came, we looked at the magnificent fortifications from the bottom, and we drove on.

Of Gold and Time

There's some gold up to the corner and it's coming along slowly, but getting there. After Sunday I'll have a lot less time looking at the beach and traveling, which translates into a bit more stitching time. This will be especially true on Monday as I help the contractors repair the freezer ... again.

Working Toward the Center

The plaques are coming along on this; the light pink and light blue for the flower outlines in the dense ones are done. It seems the middle plaques, with the least stitching to do, are the ones falling behind. I've done some work since this picture was taken, but not much. For some reason, I haven't really stitched this week.

Budva by Day

After resting, we spent the morning walking Budva (again). Parts of it reminded me of the Jersey shore, with a boardwalk/carnival feel. That was the area behind the beach farthest from Stari Grad, which you can see in the first picture here. This is one of the churches; there were two - one Roman Catholic, one Orthodox. The whole old town is made up of the same stone. Touring every street of it takes about ten minutes. There are some fairly nice restaurants inside.

And here is part of what the crowds were about - one of the cigarette boats being taken out of the water to be transported back to the starting line. While we were there, they were still doing time trials. Noisy to hear and exciting to see.

This is a shot of some of what's normally in the harbor. Boats range from dinghys to yachts. And, as usual for around here, the sky is a lovely blue and the water is a great bluish green. The water in the boatyard wasn't as clean as what we've been seeing in Croatia, though. If you want to see more pictures of Budva, follow the link in my previous "Night in Budva" post. There's an excellent panorama there.

Head's Done

Well, it is except for the beads I put on last. I'm almost to the halfway point on this - just need to finish up the flag and the torch to get the top half done. I think it's turning out pretty well so far, and now that I've stitched on it in Kosovo, they can say when it's raffled that it was partially stitched in a war zone.