Part 1: Finished

September 7, 2015

That’s it, Balkans! Pretty much one month after arriving in Budapest, I left from Thessaloniki today. It’s been a great trip with many interesting experiences, lots of great people and countless sights and places. If I were to do it again, I’d give myself more time though. Four weeks for 6-7 countries is too much of a rush. It is because of that, that I’m a little exhausted at the moment.

MK / GR

September 6, 2015

Two days in Skopje. Bit of a mixed experience but bottomline was good. Took the 6:00 bus to Thessaloniki today. Border took 30 minutes, cars would have taken a bit longer. In other news: I’ve been in touch with a Palestinian aid organisation and if things go as planned, I’ll spend October and November in Hebron, teaching conversational English to young Palestinians.

Albania to Kosovo - In Detail

September 4, 2015

The timeline to yesterday’s photo-story. 5:10 The alarm goes off. Not feeling fully rested but not totally destroyed either 6:10 A minibus (I’m starting to dread these) picks me and a fellow traveller up at the hostel. For the next fifteen minutes the driver makes his route through the city, picking up two or three more passengers. The city reminds me of Southeast Asia. It’s the way the buildings look, the small shops, the businesses using half the the sidewalk to display their merchandise or perform their trade.

Shkodër / Skadar to Pristina

September 4, 2015

Left at 6:00, arrived at 19:00 - quite a trip. More details once I have a little more time. [caption id=“attachment_3379” align=“aligncenter” width=“450”] Early Morning Minibus to Koman[/caption] [caption id=“attachment_3383” align=“aligncenter” width=“450”] At the Koman “Port”[/caption] [caption id=“attachment_3380” align=“aligncenter” width=“450”] On the Koman Lake Ferry[/caption] [caption id=“attachment_3381” align=“aligncenter” width=“450”] Arrival in “NoIdeaWhatItsCalled”[/caption] [caption id=“attachment_3382” align=“aligncenter” width=“450”] 25 People in a Minibus from Barjam Curri[/caption] [caption id=“attachment_3386” align=“aligncenter” width=“450”] Pristina Cafe the Morning after[/caption]

Albania

September 2, 2015

Having spent a little more time in Montenegro than initially anticipated, I had to check for alternative ways to get to Thessaloniki (flying out on the 7th). One option would have been a flight from Podgorica but that would have taken 5-6 hours with a stopover in Belgrade. Not too tempting. In Ulcinj I learned that a lot of people from Kosovo come to the city on vacation and because of that, regular bus connections are available.

Valdanos Adventure

September 1, 2015

5km north of Ulcinj a bay called Valdanos lures with a nice beach and 17,000 olive trees. Following its call, some of us took a taxi for the short ride out and had a look around. The beach is nice but “sadly”, after many months in Australia and Asia, it’s hard to impress me on that front. The view inland was more unique for me. Not far from the beach an uphill leading road was promising nice views over the area.

Holidays!

August 31, 2015

Muesli with sweet, ripe figs from the tree outside my room - that’s a nice start into the day! I’ve spent the days mostly with holiday activities. Eating good food, going for a swim in the ocean or chatting to other travellers. Yesterday some of us went for a small hike along the coastline in southerly direction. The first half hour was the worst, fighting through the touristy hordes. But once that was cleared and the noise had given way to the sound of the ocean and the pine trees, it was really nice.

More Montenegro

August 29, 2015

After some back-and-forth I’ve altered the travel route a little and am intending to travel down the coast instead of going back inland. Getting to Skopje from Podgorica would have required to cross back over the Dinaric Alps and would have meant either a gruelling 12h bus ride or a 300 Euro flight. Neither was overly appealing.

Instead I followed a recommendation from a fellow traveller at the hostel in Podgorica and took the bus down to Ulcinj, a Montenegrin town just north of the Albanian border.

The centre of town is extremely touristy and a 15 minute walk through there last night was more exhausting than a 2h mountain hike. The good thing is that the season is winding down and the local “beach bar”, a tucked away place with amazing views, had all but three patrons.

The hostel is situated

Kotor

August 27, 2015

“It’s incredible”, “I’m lost for words”, that’s the kind of descriptions other travellers gave of Kotor, a small town at the Adriatic coast. It does have a touristy reputation as well though. Cruise liners drop off their cargo for the day, flooding the old town with holidayers on a spending frenzy.

Regardless of that, I wanted to have a look and took the bus over there on Tuesday. It’s a 2.5 hour drive and most of it leads through mountainous terrain. Once the coast was reached, I got an idea of what people were talking about.

The town itself, specifically the old town, has a nice flair to it. Most of the buildings are kept in good shape, the area is clean and the towering mountains

Countryside, the lazy way

August 23, 2015

There is something pacifying about horses. They spend 15-20 hours a day just eating. The rest of the time they are standing around or have a short nap.

Having had the recent nice experience in Serbia, I organised a continuation not much later. Searching the internet for horseback riding in Montenegro brought up a good result, and a few emails later I had booked a few hours of riding for this Sunday afternoon.

This time I didn’t just want to ride around but also learn a bit about how best to “behave” on horseback. How to sit, how to move, that kind of stuff.

The “ranch” is a little outside of Podgorica and it took about 20-25 minutes by taxi to get there (8 Euro, cheap country this Montenegro). Soon after the city limits the landscape opened up to a breathtaking