Skhodër, Albania

Today was our American-style luxury Balkan rush - from Podgorica, possibly the only flat bit of Montenegro, to Skopje in North Macedonia via Albania and Kosovo. Dizzying borders, flags, languages, religions, historical animosities and anomalies - a regional stew of nationalism, brotherhood, Great Powers meddling, suffering, corruption, hope, warm people and huge mountains. Our Montenegrin driver, Milo, has a Croat passport, international dreams and interesting tidbits: despite leaving rump Yugoslavia, spats with big brother Serbia and EU ambitions, cultural affinity wins out - when Montenegro plays football against Serbia, many of the 600 000 Montenegrins root for Belgrade...Albania is somewhere utterly foreign, non Slav, for and of itself on the other side of the lake and the mountains...Baca lagi