B A L K A N S (part 6 – Kosovo)

I was *very* excited about going to Kosovo. I was excited to visit given its history, its location, its politics and its place on the international scene in recent years. I was also excited to be able to say i’ve been to the world’s newest country (newest generally recognised country) – until I remembered that South Sudan exists and was thoroughly disappointed. But regardless, given the few tourists (especially few from the UK) who visit, it would be an exciting new experience.

B A L K A N S (part 3 – Driving to Dubrovnik)

How can 265 kilometres take 5 and a half hours to drive? Easily, it turned out. The epic trek from Tirana in Dubrovnik through the entire country of Montenegro was certainly an experience. We decided to add Dubrovnik to our itinerary because a) Rich is a huge game of thrones fan and b) I had no say in the matter whatsoever. I suppose it would have been a shame to go so close to Dubrovnik and not actually visit – and also meant we got to visit another country – Croatia.

B A L K A N S (part 2 – Albania)

Leaving Ohrid behind, we headed toward the Macedonian/Albanian border about 45 minutes drive away. This was the first time I had ever driven across an international border, and we were expecting to be promptly interrogated and searched as we had to join the ‘other nationalities’ queue. Less than 10 minutes later however, we had new passport stamps and crossed over the border into country number 2.

Travel writing take 2 – Balkans

I started this blog after finding my travel notes from the Middle East, and wanted to write them up into prose so I don’t forget the things I’ve done. I found myself really enjoying this – actively taking the ephemeral scribblings of my trip and constructing them into a more logical narrative – so have decided to just keep on writing, this time about my most recent trip to the Balkans (Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Kosovo). Considerably more contemporary than my Middle East trip, what I’m going to write might actually be useful for anyone thinking of undertaking a slightly different but fantastically rewarding European adventure – so hopefully this manages to inspire someone to do something a little different to usual.