Budva Sea

The path to Budva’s best beach goes out through the gates of the medieval walled city and inches along rocky cliffs and through a cave before emerging at a rocky cove completely surrounded by overgrown cliffs. Tola and I decided to see if we could find a more difficult path to the beach and we succeeded spectacularly.

A crumbling Austro-Hungarian fortress sits atop the hill above the beach and from there we descended through the forest along a path that seemed to disappear a bit more with each step before finally ending at a sheer drop fifty meters above the water. Continuing on, we found we could get close to the beach, but not close enough. The only way down was by way of some tree roots and a fifteen-foot vertical descent. Not so bad, but Tola managed to get in contact with some itchy poison ivy along the way.

When I think of a nice beach I’m not imagining sand, waves and beach umbrellas, but rather rocks, clear water and cliffs. Budva has it all.

The beach ends in a cliff, the first part of which has an easily accessible outcrop a perfect jumping distance up. I tried this one out, but it’s more fun a short swim away where the cliff rises straight out of the water. Here one can be a rock climber without without fear of falling as there is nothing but deep water below. I jumped from some way up and landed in the middle of a large school of fish, which scattered in surprise.

Swimming a bit beyond this point brings one just out of sight of the old walled city. There’s a narrow crevice in the cliff here with passage through to the other side (it just involves swimming a bit through the dark and diving under a closed off section).

Suddenly, it feels very remote here. Budva is just around the corner, but this stretch of shore is nothing but steep cliffs up from the sea with green vegetation dangling off the edges.

I find exploring underwater to be a bit like hiking. They can both be a bit exhausting, but it’s very rewarding to discover an unique landscape.

I don’t think anyone else in my family really shares my enthusiasm for this. I brought the kids to the crevice expecting them to be blown away by how cool it is. They did a bit of exploring, but were eager to go back to a sandy beach without all the waves and rocks. So we returned to the beach directly next to the old town. This one is crowded with beachgoers and has a restaurant that serves beer.

While the kids enjoyed the waves on shore, I put on my mask and snorkel and completely circled around the walled city. The city is over 2500 years old and sections of the wall, I found, had collapsed into the water where they collected urchins. All around the city, fish swim around old blocks from the wall that appear to have been underwater a very long time.

Looking up at the turrets and battlements from the water below, it is apparent that Budva was built with defense in mind. Originally an Illyrian trading center, the city was conquered repeatedly over the past two thousand years, first by the Romans, then the Byzantines, Arabs and Venetians.

Today the old walled city is just a small part of Budva. Modern apartment buildings and luxury hotels fill in every bit of level space beyond. The old town, though, is the most atmospheric place to enjoy a beer after a few hours under water. It’s easy to get lost in the narrow lanes, but it’s hard to get too far without finding a nice bar serving cold beer.