I said goodbye to Mt Korab and Radomire and finally made my way to Tirana. Usually, I explore the capital of a country first and then make my way around the rest. This is the first time I did the opposite and it feels a bit wierd honestly. Tirana is a huge city, but all the interesting stuff is in the very compact and busy center. It was easy to get around in on foot and turned out to be…
It wasn’t a very long drive to Gjirokaster, but actually being allowed into the city was quite a challenge. The roads are all cobblestoned and narrow and steep. I took the most logical route to my hotel, but got turned around by the police. So I tried another way up, but all the roads were pedestrian only, so no dice. Between the pedestrian only sections and a bunch of construction going on, I just parked down the hill in a…
My drive from Vlore to Sarande was about eighty miles of just unbelievably scenic coastline. Mountains stretching up on one side, the Adriatic Sea extending out on the other, punctuated by the occasional beach resort village, and zipping around the twisting road like an Albanian racecar driver grinning all the way. Fantastic! On the way I stopped at Himare to visit what was described as a castle, but was more of an ancient hilltop village. I walked a lot of…
It was a very long travel day from Durres, but only because I made so many detours. I like having a car and being able to cram my “day trips” into my travel days. I covered Bashtove and Apollonia in the last post, but I made one other stop on my way south before reaching Vlore, Byllis. Byllis was another Illyrian city built in the 3rd or 4th century BC. It also fell into Roman hands and later Byzantines. There’s…
After all the hiking and jaw dropping scenery in the Albanian Alps, the last couple of days have seemed kind of sedate. I left Shkoder early on a bus bound for the capital city, Tirana. The bus pulled in and the bus right next to us was leaving for my destination in ten minutes. I don’t think my feet even had a chance to touch the pavement in Tirana it was so fast. Anyway, I’m now in the port town…
I said goodbye to Macedonia early and hopped on a bus for one of the only fully open countries on earth, Albania. My bus took me as far as the capital, Tirana, then I immediately jumped on another bus to Shkoder. Tirana is where I’ll end my adventure, so we’ll get to that later. Shkoder is a really pleasant city in the northwest of the country and the jumping off point for one of the premier outdoor excursions in the…
My drive from Bitola to Ohrid, my last stop in Macedonia, took me along the shores of two of Europe’s biggest lakes and over a beautiful mountain ridge through another of Macedonia’s national parks. I first made my way around pretty Lake Prespa where I had intended to catch a boat to Golem Grad, an island in the lake with some Roman ruins on it. Unfortunately, they told me the weather was too windy for the boats and it was…
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…
Way down south in Kosovo is beautiful Prizren. I had originally planned to spend more time here using it as a base for day trips, but it turned out to be much easier venturing out from Peja, so I decided instead to just spend a full day exploring the city. I still didn’t want to miss seeing Prizrens famous fortress or it’s historic old town. After the short bus ride from Peja, I checked into my hostel right in the…