BUDVA

Budva is a coastal town in Montenegro. It has around 10,000 inhabitants, and is a centre of Budva municipality. The coastal area around Budva, called Budvanska rivijera, is the centre of Montenegro's tourism, and is well known for its sandy beaches, diverse nightlife, and beautiful examples of Mediterranean architecture.

Budva is 2,500 years old, that makes it one of the oldest settlements on the coast of the Adriatic sea.

History

The Old town in 1615.There is vast archeological evidence that places Budva among the oldest urban settlements of the Adriatic coast, while numerous written testimonies provide historical facts dating back to the 5th century BC A legend tells that Budva was founded by Cadmus the Phoenician, a hero exiled out of Thebes, Greece, finding a shelter in this place for himself and his wife Harmonia.

Two other civilizations also left innumerable traces: the Greek and the Roman. Upon the fall of the Roman empire and its division into east and west, the defensive barrier which separated the two powers happened to run across this area, subsequently making a lasting impact on the history and culture of this town. In the Middle Ages, Budva was reigned by a succession of Doclean kings, Serbian and Zetan aristocrats.

Old town by night
The Venetians ruled this town nearly 400 years, from 1420 to 1797. Budva, called Budua in those centuries, was part of the Albania Veneta and was fortified by powerful venetian walls against the Ottoman conquests. Most of the population spoke the venetian language until the beginning of the nineteenth century, according to the historian Luigi Paulucci in his book "Le Bocche di Cattaro nel 1810" (The Bay of Kotor in 1810).

In the very turbulent years to come, Budva saw a change of several of its supreme rulers – Austria, France and Russia. A union of Boka Kotorska (and Budva) with Montenegro took place for a brief period (1813 – 1814), but from 1814 until 1918 Budva remained under Austrian Empire. After WWI, in 1918 Budva came under the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and was later annexed to the Kingdom of Italy in 1941.

World War II claimed many lives from the people of this area in the fight against fascist conquerors. Budva was finally liberated from Nazi rule on November 22, 1944 and after belonging again to Yugoslavia, now is part of the newly independent Montenegro.

A catastrophic earthquake struck Budva on April 15, 1979. Much of old town was devastated, but today there is little evidence of the catastrophe – almost all the buildings were restored to their original form.

Population
Budva is the administrative centre of Budva municipality, which includes the neighbouring towns of Bečići and Petrovac, and has a population of 22,909 (2007. census). Budva itself has 14,458.

Budva Old town
Budva mountain viewPopulation of Budva:

March 3, 1981 - 4,684
March 3, 1991 - 7,178
November 1, 2007 - 14,458
Ethnic groups (1991 census):

Old Town
The Old Town in Budva has many different tales and stories of its origin. Scholars and Historians believe it to be originally an island, which later joined the shore to form a sand isthmus. The Old Town, along with the city of Budva was said to have been discovered by a Greek sailor by the name of Boutoua. Eventually the Roman Empire took over the whole Montenegrin coast influencing it greatly.

Sveti Stefan, near BudvaMuch of the architecture in the Old Town is of Venetian origin. Doors, hinges, windows, balconies and many other small but noticeable things seem to hold the Roman style of the Republic of Venice. There are also three main churches in the old town. The first is St. Ivan's which was built in the 7th century AD, second St. Mary's of Punta dating from 840 and the third, The Holy Trinity, which was built in 1804. The venetian walls of the Old town are a famous tourist attraction.

The venetian walls of Budua (Budva) in a 1900 postcardThe Old Town is also famous for the earthquakes it suffered in 1979, where the whole town had to be rebuilt; it took 8 years (until 1987) for it to be completely finished.

Tourism
See also: Budva Riviera (region)
Budva is a capital of Montenegrin tourism. With over 330,000 guests in 2007 summer season, it is by far most popular tourist destination in Montenegro.

Either because of 11,310 m of sandy beaches in and around Budva, or for its vast cultural heritage and beautiful architecture, Budva is attracting more and more foreign tourists every year. Coupled with vibrant nightlife, it makes Budva the most attractive tourist destination in Montenegro.

Budva is popular among youth for its nightlife. Crowds move from open-air clubs that are lined along the main promenade to closed nightclubs around 01:00am, and the nightclubs are usually crowded until morning. Budva also boasts some of the highest prices of drinks and food in the region.

Budva's most famous beach is Mogren. Nestled in-between several large cliffs it is accessed by a 500m pathway from Budva's Old town. Other beaches within official city limits include Ričardova glava (Richard's Head), Pizana, Slovenska (Slav Beach), Guvance. Many other beaches are located just outside of Budva in smaller adjacent towns and villages such as Bečići, Jaz, Trsteno, Maestral, Miločer, Sveti Stefan, Pržno and Kamenovo.

Outside the old town, Budva does not hold many historical sights. Instead, much of the city consists of new age Meditteranean-style buildings, or private lowrise dwellings. During the turbulent 1990s, Budva grew and expanded without any form of urban planning, which resulted in parts of town featuring narrow streets and numerous cul-de-sacs. This is the reason of major traffic jams during the summer season.

In the near vicinity of the town of Budva there are exclusive resorts such as town-hotel Sveti Stefan and Miločer, places frequented by various celebrities as well as local businessmen and politicians.

There are a few notable drawbacks in development of tourism in Budva. The biggest is inadequate infrastructure of the town. The most quoted problem in Budva, as in all of Montenegrin coast, is shortage of tap water. Scarse watersheds around Budva became completely inadequate for growing town in the early 2000s, so taps in Budva become dry during daytime for most of the summer months. Recently, as number of tourists at peak times reach 100,000 in Budva, electricity shortages also became a commonplace.

The other significant problem is traffic and parking in and around Budva. As most of the beaches are located around Budva, tourists returning from beaches in the afternoon usually jam the roads along the coast, so the trip from Sveti Stefan to Budva, some 10 km, takes around an hour.

Car parking is also a major problem. Increasing number of tourists are coming to Budva with their own car, so there is overwhelming demand for parking space around the town center. Sometimes one has to wait in line to get a space on a parking lot up to an hour.

Hotels are usually spared from these problems, as they have privileges when it comes to water and electricity supply.

Transport
Budva is connected to inland Montenegro by two-laned motorways. There are two ways to reach Budva from Podgorica - either through Cetinje, or through newly built Sozina tunnel. Either way, Podgorica is around 60 km away, and is main road junction in Montenegro.

Budva is connected to the rest of coastal towns of Montenegro by Adriatic Motorway, which extends from Ulcinj on the far south to the Herceg-Novi, and on to the Croatia.

Tivat Airport is 20 km away. There are regular flights to Belgrade and Zurich, and dozens of charter planes land daily on Tivat airport during the summer season.

Podgorica Airport is 65 km away, and it has regular flights to major European destinations throughout the year.

Climate
Budva has a typical Mediterranean climate, with warm summers and mild winters, and 230 sunny days in a year. Budva comes among the warmest Mediterranean towns with an average temperature of 8°C in January and 27,9°C in July. The average summertime temperature is 23,1°C and 9,3°C in the winter. The temperature of the sea reaches up to 24,7°C in the summer months, while it keeps between 18°C and 19°C in the autumn. Temperature in Budva canoften reach about 45 degrees in summer,whilst in Podgorica the biggest temperature this summer was in July and it was about 47 degrees!!

Trivia
Budva is called Montenegrin Kuwait, because of the immense number of millionaires, compared to its small population. Following a real estate boom in 2000s, many of the native families sold their properties in and around Budva to foreign buyers, mostly Russians, Irish, and Britons. Once barren and undeveloped fields of steep hillsides are being sold for hundreds euros per square meter. This resulted in once poor fisherman's village to became town with most millionaires per capita in Europe [1], about 200 for the population of 10 000. Many of the newly rich re-invested their money in real-estate, buying flats in central Podgorica and Belgrade, which further raised the prices of living space in Podgorica.
Budva is the smallest town to host a concert of The Rolling Stones. They held a concert on July 9th, 2007, at Jaz beach, as a part of their A Bigger Bang Tour. The show saw an attendance of some 35,000 spectators, three times the population of Budva town itself.

Sister cities
Novi Sad, Serbia
Banská Bystrica, Slovakia
Ohrid, Republic of Macedonia

 

 

BUDVA

Budua [Bùdua] (in montenegrino: Budva) è una cittadina costiera del Montenegro di circa 11.000 abitanti, nonché capoluogo della municipalità omonima.

Budua è situata in una zona ad alta densità turistica, denominata Budvanska rivijera. Rinomata per le spiagge sabbiose, il gradevole clima mediterraneo e la vita notturna, Budua è anche una graziosa cittadina ricca di memorie della sua lunga storia.

Storia
La città venne menzionata per la prima volta nel V secolo a.C. come insediamento illirico, anche se probabilmente era già una colonia greca fin dal X secolo a.C. Budua fu poi conquistata dai Romani e nel medioevo fu soggetta, con alterne vicende, a varie dominazioni. In seguito divenne sede vescovile col nome di Butua. A partire dal 1442 la città fu dominio della Repubblica di Venezia e parte della cosiddetta Albania veneta.

Nell'agosto 1571 la città fu presa dal corsaro Occhiali per viltà del podestà Agostino Pasqualigo. Ritornata sotto il governo della Serenissima, la città venne potentemente fortificata, così che poté sempre opporre una valida resistenza ai numerosi tentativi turchi di impossessarsene (tra gli altri, nel 1686, nonostante le devastazioni del terremoto del 1667). Dal 1442 al 1797 Budua fu residenza di un Podestà veneziano, dapprima dipendente dal Conte e capitano di Scutari e, dopo la caduta di questa città in mano agli Ottomani, dal Rettore e provveditore di Cattaro. La città era retta da un governo di tipo aristocratico, con un maggior consiglio composto di soli nobili, dal quale si eleggevano i tre giudici che assistevano il Podestà nelle cause civili, il più anziano dei quali ne faceva le veci in caso di assenza. Allo stesso consiglio spettava nominare poi gli altri ufficiali del comune: i due Procuratori, i quattro Deputati alla Sanità e i due Signori di notte.

Vista dalla cittadella di BuduaCon la caduta della Repubblica di Venezia, Budua fu occupata dagli Austriaci con il resto della Dalmazia, in seguito conobbe un'effimera appartenenza al Montenegro dal 1813 al 1814, ma dopo il Congresso di Vienna la città passò all'Impero Austriaco, sotto il quale rimase fino al 1918, quando fu inglobata nel Regno di Jugoslavia. La maggior parte della sua popolazione parlava il veneto fino all'inizio del XIX secolo, secondo lo storico Luigi Paulucci nel suo libro "Le Bocche di Cattaro nel 1810". Durante la seconda guerra mondiale la città fu occupata dagli italiani prima e dai tedeschi poi; nel secondo dopoguerra Budua è entrata a far parte della repubblica federata jugoslava del Montenegro, di cui ha seguito le sorti fino alla recente indipendenza.

Budua fu gravemente danneggiata da un terremoto nel 1979.

A Budua nacque Ramiro Bujas, allievo di Vittorio Benussi, che importò in Croazia la psicologia.