Skopje is the capital of Macedonia and was the last stop on my Balkans trip in July that included Kosovo, Montenegro and Albania. I really just added it in because it was cheaper to fly out of than Pristina, Kosovo, and going there would mean visiting a fourth new country on the trip. I can’t …
Skopje: One of the Weirdest Cities I’ve Ever Visited Read More »
As I piled my things into a taxi outside of my hotel in Peja, Kosovo, I thought of nothing but how much I as dreading the two hour bus ride to Prizren. Even though I had been looking forward to visiting Prizren since I first read about it in my Kosovo guidebook, I had just …
The sun was setting behind distant mountains when I landed in Pristina, the capital of Kosovo. After a weekend in London for Wimbledon, I was kicking off my big summer adventure: two weeks in Kosovo, Montenegro, Albania and Macedonia. Four new countries for me in an area of Europe I have wanted to visit for …
I awoke with the sun in the shepherd’s hut in the mountain village of Doberdol, unsure if I had really slept at all. I spent the night tossing and turning and getting up to use the outhouse due to some, uh, digestive issues that had started two days earlier in Valbona. Now, I tried to …
Day 8: Hiking to the Triangle Border and Back to Kosovo Read More »
This may be too much information, but I will forever remember the hike to Doberdol as the time I spent all day trying not to poop. You may recall I started to feel sick after arriving in Valbona on day six of my Peaks of the Balkans trek. I got the chills, felt super fatigued …
Day 7: Hiking to the Shepherd’s Village of Doberdol Read More »
After a not-so-restful day off in Theth, Albania, I was ready to move on to the village of Valbona. I begged Mentor (my guide) to start early to avoid as much of the heat as possible (it was in the 90s nearly every day), so we departed our Theth guesthouse just after 7:00 a.m. instead …
Day five of my Peaks of the Balkans trek was supposed to be a rest day, but I may forever remember it as the day I lost my patience. Or the day I started to get sick. Definitely not a rest day. Mentor (my guide) had told me to be at the guesthouse down the …
I awoke with the sun on the fourth day of the Peaks of the Balkans hike. Exhausted from the previous day, I lay in bed in my Plav hotel room until just after 6 a.m., but then dragged myself up to go check out the nearby lake before meeting my guide, Mentor, for breakfast. Plav …
As we drove from the village of Drelaj toward Leqinat, the starting point for the third day of the Peaks of the Balkans trek, my heart sunk a bit. We were rolling over rough dirt roads, climbing higher and higher into the mountains and I couldn’t help but feel like I was cheating. The Belgian …
It didn’t take long for things to get tougher on the Peaks of the Balkans trek! I woke up around 6:30 a.m. on the second day, with breakfast scheduled for 7:30 a.m. and a departure time of 8:00 a.m. Given how hot it was on the first day, I wanted to get an early start …
