Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
A LOAD OF ANCIENT BULL (& SNAKES)
The founding of Budva is celebrated in the sort of mythical soap opera that the ancient Greeks loved so much.
Cadmus was the son of Agenor, King of Phoenicia (present-day Lebanon, Syria, Israel and Palestine) and the
brother of the beautiful Europa, who the great god Zeus took quite a shine to. Europa must have really liked live-
stock as Zeus turned himself into a bull in order to seduce her. Hiding amongst her father's flocks, he waited un-
til Europa spotted him, caressed his powerful flanks and jumped on his back. He then raced off with her to Crete,
thankfully turning himself back into his godly form before having his way with her (when it comes to Zeus,
there was a very fine line between seduction and rape). Europa went on to become the first Queen of Crete and
to give her name to an entire continent.
Cadmus was sent to search for his sister, promising not to return without her. He never did find her and ended
up founding the Greek city of Thebes, stocking it with brave men that he grew out of the teeth of a sacred water
dragon that he had slain (as you do). He then married Harmonia in the sort of A-list shindig that today's gossip
magazines would pay a fortune for, with several immortals as guests.
However, killing a sacred water dragon is very bad luck, so Cadmus and Harmonia hitched up their oxen in
order to make a fresh start someplace else. Far to the northwest they founded a new city (with no assistance from
dragon teeth), naming it Bouthoe (later Budva) after the Greek word for oxen.
The miserable luck didn't lift and Cadmus was heard complaining that if the gods were so fond of scaly crit-
ters then he bloody well wished he was one. The gods, never missing an opportunity for a spot of black humour,
obliged - promptly turning him into a snake. Harmonia, perhaps with more qualms about cross-species lovin'
than her sister-in-law, begged to be allowed to join him and they both slithered off to live happily every after... or
something like that.
Rest of Budva
HOSTEL, APARTMENTS
€
Saki Hostel & Apartmani
( 067-368 065;
www.saki-apartmani.com
; IV Proleterska bb; dm €10, apt per person €25; )
Not
quite a hostel and not quite an apartment hotel, this friendly family-run block on the out-
skirts of town offers elements of both. Individual beds are rented, hostel-style, in a ram-
bling set of rooms. Private apartments have large balconies, but beds have been crammed
in where kitchens might otherwise be. Grape and kiwifruit vines shade the pleasant com-
munal terrace.
Sun Hostel
( 069-769 212;
www.sunhostels.com
; Ferona bb; dm/d €10/30; )
Less a hostel and more cheap
shared rooms in an apartment block (sleeping 55 people in 24 rooms), this is cleaner and
newer than most of Budva's hostels but perhaps a little less sociable.
HOSTEL
€
