Month Two – Recap

Month two on the road. This was a great month due to some very interesting countries, a quick visit to some old favourites to surprise my cousins, and the best meal of my life. Read on…

Places Visited

London:

I finished July by grabbing a super cheap easyjet flight from Sofia to London. My cousins were arriving August first for their first family trip to Europe. Arriving home, or in a foreign country, and leaving the arrival gate to see no one holding a sign or waving or waiting for you is the single most depressing thing about solo travel. Add jet lag to the mix, and a flight delay, well, let’s just say I was there with a sign and my camera rolling.

It was a total surprise for them and it was nice for me to back in a city I’m quite familiar with.

Because of my budget-travel ways, there are several tourist activities in London that I’ve never done. Being that they were first-time visitors, I made peace with the expense and bought a London Pass, enabling me to thoroughly enjoy The Shard, St Paul’s cathedral, the Tower of London, buckingham palace, and more.

Add that to certain…. magical… experiences for their 11-year-old twins, and of course, cursed child tickets…well, it was a pretty wonderful place to start the month.

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Paris

It is nearly impossible for me to choose a favourite city. I adore many, many cities, for equally as many reasons. But Paris will always have my heart. I rented an apartment for a month back in 2013 in Montmartre and since then, it has held this place in my heart. Whenever I have the chance to get back to the city, or even think about returning, I tear up a bit.

I didn’t have a long time in Paris this trip, but it was nice to be back and to meander through the streets again.

While it was hard to leave my cousins, and Paris, it was then time to move on and back to the Balkans, this time, thanks to a super cheap Wizzair flight.

The Republic of North Macedonia

Skopje:

Skopje has a strange reputation. The old grandeur of the city has been almost completely eradicated in favour of ‘new buildings ignoring their Ottoman Empire past’.

It is a city of monuments and statues, and you cannot walk a block without seeing some sort of statue, moment, or memorial (and often, more than one).

Most people say that the best part of Skopje is to leave Skopje (🤷🏻‍♀️) but it was a great place to spend a few quiet days and an easy introduction to Macedonia.

Check out the free walking tours to get a sample of their history, name changes, and modern day living.

Ohrid

Ohrid is Macedonia’s Lake Louise. The tiny, brightly-coloured town is smashed between bare, desert-like hills. And then you enter the town and it’s green, well-taken care of, bustling with tourists and locals, and more expensive than any of its neighbouring countries.

Make sure to take a boat tour on the lake. Mornings are usually calmer, but evenings can turn into a cheap sunset cruise. Most locals have a boat and there are dozens that are eager to take you on a spin for about 5€/person.

The old town is great to explore, and there are some beautiful, though slightly rocky beaches, just a short walk down the boardwalk.

Kosovo

The somewhat-disputed territory of Kosovo was a bit of a mystery. Despite some concerns I’d heard about getting around, and getting out, I opted to spend a few nights in the country, instead of as a super expensive day tour from Skopje.

Prizren

I really fell in love with Prizren. It had a very different feel to the city, with loud calls to prayer from many mosques, and a bustling, yet still old-feeling old town.

While I was there, there was a film festival going on. Never really having been to a film festival, and seeing as how the films were just two euros to see, I maximized my time there by seeing five films over two days.

Many of the films had humanitarian themes, following children in refuge camps, or boys living in Afghanistan, or a film about the first female Imam and female-run mosque in Europe.

It was a great start to my time in Kosovo.

Pristina

I just had one night in the capital, but it was definitely enough. I was so glad that I’d started my time in Kosovo in the lovely Prizren. There isn’t much information available on traveling through Kosovo, but this was the one solid piece of advice I’d read consistently.

That being said, if you do go to Pristina, thé one thing you must do is eat at Renaissance. Check out my full experience on this post here, but let’s suffice it to say that I would go back to Pristina for the sole reason to eat here again and again and do nothing else in the country.

Albania

Tirana

It was so ridiculously hot during my time in Albania and it definitely made touring more difficult. The daily temperature shot up to 43°c by 8am and stayed there until the late evening. I still managed to go to a great free walking tour and see the sights.

Albania was the one country that was actually not a part of Yugoslavia, but they had their own significant struggles due to a restrictive communist government.

Montenegro

Bar (Stari Bar)

The farther south you venture in Montenegro, the less touristy it becomes. Kotor and Budva attract most of the tourists, with few coming the extra hour further to Bar, but fewer tourists led to great experiences exploring the old town, and walking through the old fortress. Thanks to preservation efforts, both old town and the fort are being repaired and the history is incredible to see there.

Budva

Considerably more touristy than Bar, Budva’s old town was quite unique. Almost car-free and surrounded by a well-preserved city wall, it’s like a cheaper, less touristy, Dubrovnik

Serbia

Belgrade

Another city I very much hope to get back to, and my first ‘four-night stops’ this month; which meant lots of time to explore the city and the old town. It also meant that I changed hostels for my last night, spending one night on a floating hostel on the Danube (highly recommend this!). It was so peaceful and relaxing after the busy-ness of the old town.

Novi Sad

I wasn’t sure what to expect with Novi Sad. Really, it was just a stop in between Belgrade and Zagreb so that I could take the train between the two cities. (In case you didn’t know, I sort’ve love trains 😉). I stayed outside the old town in a hotel with a beautiful pool, and, happily enough, a grand piano in the lobby. While I ventured into the old town once, I mostly just relaxed, swam in the pool, read a bunch, and did laundry. Very exciting!

Bosnia-Herzegovina

Sarajevo

Another great four-night stay, mostly because of all the amazing things to do in town! Not surprisingly, another city that I’ll definitely plan to head back to.

In Belgrade, I really wanted to see the bombed buildings. In a semi-dark-tourism frame of mind, and also, because of the cities efforts to remember the past, but move forward, they have been turned into monuments, but they are also slowly being removed and tidied up, mostly to make room for modern buildings, etc. I wanted to see these monuments to the war before they were taken down. Also, being rather fortunate and living in Canada, I’ve never seen a bombed building and it seemed to be quite the unique building.

I definitely didn’t have to worry about making efforts to see the one in Belgrade, because Bosnia-Herzegovina is full of them. At least probably one on each block, and sometimes rows and rows and neighbourhoods of them, frozen in time, and a constant reminder to the locals of how very near the war still is to their past.

While they’re everywhere, nature and graffiti are slowly taking over, making them look both out of place, but also a part of the city itself.

I took several free walking tours and it was amazing to hear first-hand stories of the war, and of the years since.

I also got to explore the Tunnel of Sarajevo, used during the siege of the city.

Budgeting

This month was overall a bit more expensive than last month. I spent 2030.77$ , coming out almost 500$ over budget. However, I’m choosing to blame Cursed Child, and London-expensiveness, and say, with absolute certainty, money well spent! 😉

Accomodation: 955.54$ (mostly hostels. I have to say here; half of my accommodation budget went to four nights in London and one in Paris. If you’re seeking ways to explore England and France on a budget, minimize your time in the big centres and maximize your time while there)

Long Distance Travel: 138.62$. Long distance transport in the Balkan regions is pleasantly cheap – yay busses!

Food (restaurant): 140.02$

Food (grocery store): 147.96$

Local Transport: (bus, metro, Uber) 72.91$

Entertainment: 558.51$ (London magic….)

Miscellaneous: (laundry, walking tour tips, etc) 17.21$

Favourites

Favourite Meal: Renaissance in Pristina. I’ve got a post upcoming about that one. It was one of, if not, the best meal of my life.

Favourite Tourist Experience: A tie between magically awesome experiences in London, and going to my first film festival in Prizren, Kosovo.

What I Read:

This month, in anticipation of my visit to Sarajevo, I read The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway. I got more into the book after my time in the city, due to the numerous walking tours and more historical information I received from these.

It’s definitely an incredible story about the power of music in terrible times. Highly recommend!

And that concludes month two on the road!