A Few Notes on Tivat

 

Tivat is just as pretty as I remember.  When I visited it last in 2024 it was during a rainy autumn for a couple of weeks.  Now it’s spring and heading into summer and the entire city is in bloom.  Flowers everywhere, (mostly) sunny days, and the weather is still pretty mild because of the lovely mountains.  This is the view from my balcony.

As beautiful as it is here, I have to say that I do miss some things about Albania.  Montenegro still doesn’t carry my pills but I did buy enough to last while I was in Tirana.    Shopping options are greatly limited unless you can afford Fendi and Balenciaga.  Food is cheap, but I miss the beauty supply store for my haircare (not as many products in Tivat).  I really miss the lack of commercials on YouTube in Tirana.  It is beyond annoying to see so many A.I. generated ads promoting A.I.  It’s just an ouroboros of irritation and despair. 

And then there was the earthquake.

About a week and a half into my stay, I was sitting on the couch, working, when the entire apartment began to tremble.  I initially thought someone was driving by while playing their music too loudly.  Nope.  The very earth was shaking.  It only lasted a few seconds but still ...

I don’t like when the earth moves.  Makes me nervous.

Despite those issues, this is still a nice place.  I’d booked the apartment for a month, then extended it for another two weeks as it was available.  When I let the host know, she asked me if I needed anything.  I requested a new set of sheets whenever she had a minute.

She messaged me the next day saying she’d see me in an hour if traffic wasn’t too bad.  An hour? Tivat is a tiny town in a tiny country.  There is nowhere in the city that will take you an hour to get to, I don’t care how bad traffic is.

I told her not to go to the trouble, that I could just wash the sheets myself.  She said she had other business as well so she would see me.  Okay.

When she arrived, she quickly handed me the bag of linens.  Then she had handed me another bag while holding up her phone.  She doesn’t speak English so she had already typed out a note for me.  She owns a farm and the second bag was full of a huge bunch of gorgeous spring onions, some loose greens, and a dozen eggs. 

Nice!  Jadranka is vying to be one of my favorite hosts.  I’m a sucker for free food.

I’ve seen reports that a carton of eggs in the States has reached up to $20.  I can’t tell you how happy I was to get some free ones. 

Huh.  A white egg.  I remember those.  I think I prefer brown eggs now.  With the occasional feather on them.  Does that mean I’m European now?

I thanked her for the food but knew she couldn’t understand me (yet another time when I really wish I spoke a local language).  I made sure to send her a note through Airbnb.

In the first few days of June, I continued to enjoy the city when I started to notice something peculiar.  The place was suddenly crawling with cops.

I noticed the cop car blocking off my street when I went to the store one day and just brushed it off.  Venturing further into the city the next day in search of food (more on that later) I realized that the whole city was overrun by the boys in black.

It was eerily quiet on my walk to the café and it really struck me.  Cities aren’t loud – cars are loud.  That’s a sentiment borrowed from my favorite urban development YouTuber, Not Just Bikes.  Boy, was he right.  The only thing I heard on my walk was the chirping of birds and the occasional human voice.  Funny how your senses sharpen when they’re not being overloaded with noise pollution.

I walked to the local Ma Cherie, the only one I know of in the city though I’m very familiar with the chain as they are all over Tirana.  I chose this place because I kept seeing ads for Japanese pancakes.  I’d watched videos on how difficult it was to make them and finally decided to give them a try. 

While I waited for 25 minutes (Japanese pancakes are tricky even for people who know what they’re doing), I had an excellent view of a gaggle of cops on the nearby intersection.  They kept pedestrians off the main road to the bay while allowing black cars to travel along the route.  A very loud helicopter kept circling the area as I whipped out my phone to find out what was going on.  Turns out there’s a big summit being held in the city, hence the amped-up security on this sunny Friday morning.  Huh.

The pancakes were delicious.  A mix of mildly sweet pastry coupled with eggy goodness and savory bacon (and sour cream because the Montenegrins serve it with everything.  Good thing I love sour cream.)  And oh so jiggly!  I highly recommend.