There was really only one reason why I came to Bitola and that was to see Heraclea Lyncestis, the ancient city founded by the Macedon king Philip II. It just happens to be on the outskirts of Bitola, so that’s why I stayed the night. When I said in an earlier post that Stobi was the only archeology site mentioned in the guidebooks, I forgot about this place, there are two. Heraclea Lyncestis is a pretty small site, but holy…
Well, another anxious border crossing turned out to be no big deal. All I needed was my passport, no test results were asked for. I got stamped out of Kosovo and then into North Macedonia and thirty minutes later I arrived in Skopje. Done and done! Aside from knowing there was an ancient kingdom named Macedonia, I really knew nothing about this country, but they have quite a history! The heyday was in the fourth century BC with king Philip…
Greetings and salutations from planet earth’s newest country, Kosovo. As it turned out, my stress about this border crossing was unwarranted. Back in Nis, I turned in my rental car at noon and then was looking forward to finding a place to keep cool in the 100 degree temps because my bus didn’t leave until 6pm. But, the owner of the hotel I stayed at said he didn’t have any reservations for that night and I could use the room…
Greetings from the southeastern corner of Serbia! Nis is Serbia’s third largest city and is the birthplace of three Roman emperors, the most famous of which is Constantine the Great. In fact, the ruins of his 4th century palace are just at the east end of town. The site is completely closed to tourists, but there it is. For me, Nis is my final stop in Serbia and a good base for more exploration. It’s also considerably less hectic than…
I left Donji Milanovac fairly early and drove through the beautiful Serbian countryside south. It seems that most of the big highways in Serbia are toll roads, so I’ve been sticking more to the back roads and passing through lots of smaller one road towns. Now that I’m out of the big cities I see a lot more Yugos on the roads and parked around. I thought briefly about stopping to take a pic of each one, but I wouldn’t…
It was a fairly long travel day leaving Novi Sad. First, a mile and a half walk to the bus station followed by an hour or so bus ride back to Belgrade. Then a half mile walk to a bus stop where I rolled the dice and took a free ride across town (shhh!). And then I did something I always swore I wouldn’t do, I rented a car. Most of the places I want to go visit these next…
Just a quick one hour bus ride northwest of Belgrade is lovely Novi Sad, the capitol of Vojvodina, the autonomous province in the northern part of Serbia. It has all the beautiful architecture and cobblestone streets, but without the loud hustle and bustle of Belgrade. I arrived in the early afternoon, checked into my hotel and started exploring. Shortly after setting off it started raining, a lot! I was pretty soaked by the time I stopped for dinner, but at…
Holy crap… I’m at it again! I can’t believe it’s been a year and a half since my last international trip! What is a wanderer with cabin fever to do while waiting for the rest of the planet to come to their senses? This wanderer just said “whatever” and now, holy crap… I’m in the Balkans! At the time of planning, two of the countries I’m visiting on this trip were only two out of the six in the world…
Ok, so this post is way overdue, but here goes. My nomadic, traveling job recently took me to Santa Fe, New Mexico. For those who have never been, New Mexico is a very underrated state. While the neighbors, Colorado, Arizona, and Utah are getting all the attention, the so called “Land of Enchantment” remains relatively quiet and largely ignored. Much of my time there was spent avoiding the snow and winter temperatures, but I was able to spend the warmer…
Lebanon is a pretty small country, and for that reason it’s easier just to base yourself in Beirut, which is right in the middle, and do day trips from there, so that’s exactly what I did. After exploring the city itself and some of the interior I spent the rest of my time exploring some of the historic towns along the coast, a coastline of which every inch is developed and inhabited. There’s really no clear division from one town…