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  • Balkans - Bulgaria to Bosnia

    Three more days until departure woohoo

    August 1, 2018 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

    17 days wandering through the balkans. Plan is to venture through Bulgaria, Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania, Montenegro, Croatia and Bosnia. Flying into Sofia, and back home from Sarajevo.

  • Balkans - Bulgaria to Bosnia
    Day 1

    Sofia at last

    August 5, 2018 in Bulgaria ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    Just a quick note for mom that we got in ok. Super tired but only have one night here so gonna go explore the city. Will add more to this entry tomorrow. SP

    Sophia doesn't really have an old town but it does have a number of impressive cathedrals and ruins. When they were putting in a new metro station in 2010 they unearthed a roman city from 5 BC called Serdica. Which is right by where our hotel was. Ruins we're a bit underwhelming but pretty crazy how far back civilization here goes.

    There's a fantastic pedestrian street in the center that must have 100+ restaurants and very lively. We headed back to our hotel on Sunday night at 11:30 and it was still packed everywhere. And judging by how little was open Monday morning, I get the impression people don't work very early. My kind of town.

    We had an awesome meal at an authentic Bulgarian styled restaurant down in a cellar decorated with ale barrels and kerosene chandeliers. The traditional music was interesting but I don't think it will be making an appearance on my playlist.. ever.

    Cyrillic has been challenging to say the least. It's a completely different alphabet with some crossover with Greek. I'm starting to get the hang of it somewhat but Kristin is totally lost haha. Check out the image I'm attaching from the train board schedule. Can you figure out which one is our train to Plovdiv? SP    Read more

  • Balkans - Bulgaria to Bosnia
    Day 2

    2000 years of Plovdiv

    August 6, 2018 in Bulgaria ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    According to my lonely planet book, Plovdiv is the longest, continuously inhabited city in Europe.

    To get there, we had the option of a two hour bus or three hour train. We chose train since there won't be many of them on this trip. Which was a bit of a mistake because it turned into 3.5 hour milkrun of riding in an old ricketty, sauna-on-wheels. I would have paid $20 for a glass of cold water.

    On first arrival, we didn't really understand the town's charm, but it became much clearer with every hour that passed. We visited the ancient roman theatre built 2000 years ago, and then found ourselves wandering aimlessly through the pretty maze of cobblestone streets, littered with cute cafes, restaurants and wine bars.

    Spent some time at a craft beer pub where they also make their own beer, katka i mishka (cat and mouse) and then hit up a tiny wine bar to sample the local wineries. I didn't realize how big Bulgaria was into wine making. And then found ourselves at an upscale restaurant where two mains and a nice bottle of red came to $50CAD.

    The food has been fantastic so far. There's tons of pizza and pasta places, but if you look a bit harder for more traditional fare, it's so worth the effort.

    The people in Sofia were bizarrely miserable. No one ever smiled in our interactions and seemed annoyed with the effort required to breathe. But Plovdiv redeemed bulgarians for us as just about everyone there were friendly, chatty and helpful. I'm glad we didn't limit our Bulgarian venture to just Sofia. SP    Read more

  • Balkans - Bulgaria to Bosnia
    Day 3

    Skopje - Bizarre and Bazaars

    August 7, 2018 in North Macedonia ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

    All aboard the yellow limousine! Yes you read that correctly. Unfortunately we misread the bus schedule, so we didn’t leave Plovdiv early enough to backtrack to Sofia, and then catch another bus to Skopje as originally planned. However, have no fear, when in doubt just call the taxi man! That’s exactly what we did, so we ended up taking a 4 hour taxi ride to Skopje, yes 4 hours!!! But let me tell you, it was 100% worth it.

    As soon as you enter the Macedonia Square, towering warrior statues and other supersize monuments/fountains can be found no matter which direction you look in. It’s really rather entertaining, as absurd as they may seem you can’t help but wear a permanent smile on your face. Not to mention, how small they make a person feel (and in case you haven’t already noticed Sean and I are not tall people) so you can imagine how minuscule we felt.

    The Turkish old town was magical. You can’t help but be drawn into the narrow streets, it’s a shopper’s paradise. Ladies fashion boutiques, jewellery stores and other artisan goods are just some of the offerings here, but you can also find traditional coffee and pastry shops, mosques and...craft beer, but of course. What could possibly make a couple of beer nerds happier?! I have to admit, the feta cheese that has frequented our meals might be a close second, mmmm feta!

    I’m also happy to report that the people in Skopje are much brighter, which leads me to believe that Ohrid will be kind to us too. I spent some time studying the Cyrillic alphabet on the train yesterday, and it’s really paying off! To my surprise, I’ve been able to piece together words here and there along the way, so I’m hoping to pick up the momentum as our journey continues. KK    Read more

  • Balkans - Bulgaria to Bosnia
    Day 4

    Not horrid, its Ohrid!

    August 8, 2018 in North Macedonia ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    After a mountainous 3 hour bus ride from Skopje, we arrived in the beautiful lakeside town of Ohrid. The lake is huge and feels more like a sea/ocean.

    After checking into our waterfront accommodations ($35cad), we found a lakeside restaurant to grab a quick bite to eat and sample some Macedonian wine, then ventured off to see the sights. Ohrid has a fantastic old town with narrow cobblestone streets to wander through that lead you to quaint authentic Macedonian restaurants and eventually to tiny pebble beaches backed by rock cliffs.

    Exploring a bit further along and eventually above the water you stumble upon picturesque orthodox churches perched atop high cliff walls that drop to the water below. Climbing even higher leads to a huge stone fortress with amazing views of the town, mountains and lake. An ancient amphitheatre completes the loop as you follow the cobblestone roads back into the old town.

    We enjoyed some more Macedonian wine at a restaurant in a pretty cobblestone lane and eventually found a stunning waterside establishment for dinner. Finished our night at a jazz club and left around midnight as we had a very early bus ride to catch.

    It's hard to think of a more perfect place. Mountains that drop to the azure waters, a gorgeous cobbled street old town, waterfront establishments, and ancient fortifications. A bit sad to leave after such a perfect day and place. Fantastic last day in Macedonia. SP    Read more

  • Balkans - Bulgaria to Bosnia
    Day 5

    Praying in Picturesque Prizren

    August 9, 2018 in Kosovo ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    After a total of 6.5 hours on two different buses, we finally rolled into Prizren shortly after 330pm. Coincidentally, we happened to arrive just in time for Kosovo’s annual arts festival known as ‘Dokufest,’ which apparently attracts documentary makers from all over the world. Fortunately, we were able to book last minute accommodations in spite of the increased number of visitors.

    After settling into Prizren’s old town, we made the small trek up to the fortress wall, from where you could easily view 7+ minarets/mosques all lined up in linear fashion.

    I have to make special mention of the outpouring of kindness/hospitality we received here. From a local restaurant owner that personally walked Sean to the bank to make sure he found his way, to a passerby that so eagerly shared all of the attractions Prizren had to offer, the care that everyone showed to us is definitely what made Prizren such a charming location.

    With this in mind, it’s no surprise that we made our first friends here. The streets were flooded by people visiting the many bars and cafes, so we decided to pop our heads into a bar called Te Kinezi (named after the Chinese restaurant that was there before it). It was here where we met Edmond, Etnik and the rest of the staff. After spending several hours sitting at the bar, chatting and getting to know each other, they invited us to an outdoor DJ event that was part of the local festival, and we danced the night away until the wee hours of the morning. KK    Read more

  • Balkans - Bulgaria to Bosnia
    Day 6

    All Shkodered out

    August 10, 2018 in Albania ⋅ 🌙 26 °C

    Plan was to take a 9am bus from prizren to gkakova and then catch a furgon (mini bus) to bajram curri in Albania and then another furgon to fierze for a 1pm ferry through the long, narrow canyon of lake komani. Supposed to be one of the best boat rides on the planet (Google komani ferry).

    Anyways that whole plan went up in smoke when we woke up at 10:15 and arrived at bus station around 11. No way would we make those connections. Asked a taxi driver how much to bajram curri and he offered 60 euros. Giddyup. After a brief stop at the taxi drivers house so could put his garbage at the side of the road, we were on our way. I'm not making that up haha.

    Did our best to sleep off the pounding headaches we earned from the prior night, until reaching the Albanian border. Arrived in bajram curri which is in the thick of the striking Albanian alps, and found a new taxi to get us to fierze. Who knew we had just hired a retired racecar driver. We barrelled down winding tight mountain roads at over 100km/h leaving fingernail imprints in the car upholstery.

    Got to ferry landing and we had just missed it and no more ferries until the next morning. And we were in the middle of nowhere. Still frazzled from the white knuckle taxi ride and the effects of night prior, anxiety levels weren't so great heh.

    Smelling opportunity, an Albanian offered to charter us a small motorboat for 100 euros. Putting our money together, we had about 110-115 euros. And we still needed transportation from the other end of lake komani to shkoder plus we hadn't eaten anything and this was a three hour boat ride. Got his price down to 90 euros, bought two bags of chips and were on our way.

    Impossible to describe, and pics don't do it justice. One of the most beautiful rides ever. Huge mountains dropping straight down to waters edge as we winded slowly through the narrow water passages. About half way we noticed a storm coming over the mountain range but fortunately never hit us.

    We were a bit concerned that in missing ferry, there wouldn't be any transportation at landing to get us to shkoder but fortunately there were furgons there waiting to go. 16 euros for our ride plus a few more for water leaving us with 2-3 euros in our pockets.

    Shkoder wasn't anything special. We knew today it was all about the journey and not the destination. Nevertheless we found a nice area of restaurants for a good meal. Hotel was a bit of a disaster though. We had choice of private bathroom and no a/c or shared bathroom with a/c. Tried the former but it was too hot and shower didn't work. Then switched to latter but bathroom was on top floor and toilet didn't flush. Eventually arranged so we had both rooms at our disposal to cover all our needs. It was a very fitting end to the kind of day we had. And perhaps a summary of sorts to the organized chaos that is Albania :) -SP    Read more

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