Macedonia, Skopje- The City of Statues

I know you are probably thinking the same thing I was when Skopje came up on my fare finder last year. Where the heck is Skopje? I can assure you before moving to Europe I was unaware this little gem of a city existed or even the country for a matter of fact. Macedonia or FYROM as it’s usually referred to is tucked between Bulgaria, Serbia, Kosovo, Albania and Greece. It is a perfect starting point if you plan to see the Balkan’s as most of the car rental places allow you to cross borders without an issue.

 

I  was only in the country for a mere 36 hours. I know, not nearly enough time to soak it in a enjoy everything it had to offer, but the city of Skopje fit the bill. I stayed at Bushi Resort and Spa right at the edge of the Old Bazaar. This hotel was a steal and a great find with the spa being inclusive of the stay. The driver from the hotel collected me on arrival and whisked me into the city. While the city has nearly a million people, the city felt quiet and quaint.

 

I headed down into Old Town, which was just a short minute walk from the hotel. From here I found a square full of statues of leaders, conquers and musicians. The city is not as old as it looks as many of the buildings have been built recently due to the economic stimulus in the country and many buildings have been destroyed in earthquakes.  On the way into Old Town you can stop in to the Holocaust Museum and the National Theater. One of the most amazing and very unique things I found in Skopje is that they have built an area surrounding the House of Opera and Ballet with music playing from famous composers. I sat for about 20 minutes just enjoying the sounds of the music and peacefulness within this large city.

 

If you book in advance you can visit the home of Mother Teresa. It was closed the two days I was in town so I had to miss it on this trip. In order to get into the rest of Old Town you walk over the famous Stone Bridge. The river is being renovated right now so the views were not very good as there are backhoes, diggers and mounds of dirt along the river. They have built to ships along the river with restaurants and rooms on board. They looked really cool if you were staying with kids. Now the amount of statues that existed in this city was crazy. Everywhere you turned a statue was just around the corner. They were down the river, on the bridge, in the squares and intersections. They really provided uniqueness to the city. Looking through the building in Old Town is was so surprising to see many were just built as late as 2012, but the architecture is in line with Roman period.

 

I strolled back up to the hotel through Kale Fortress on top of the hill. It was a great viewpoint down into the Old Town. Since the hotel was very close to the Old Bazaar I had a look at some of the goods they had to offer. It seems many people come here to go wedding dress shopping as there was a lot of wedding dress boutiques located in the bazaar. One of the shops allowed me to have a look as some of the handmade lace gowns and they were just stunning.

After a ton of walking I went back to the resort to find an amazing spa right in the hotel. I was not expecting much due to it being in a hotel, but I was surprised by the hotels spa, which included a salt room, sauna, Turkish bath, Jacuzzi, heated loungers and large pool. 

Happy Traveling, 

Katrina

Croatia- The Dalmatian Coast

After the quick stop over in Dubrovnik on earlier trip I decided a trip back to Croatia was in order. To see more about that trip click here.

When looking at flights from the UK I began to get flustered as the cost was high going to Croatia. I am bit of a budget snob and lets face it I have a lot to see and the cost of the flight plays a major factor of when and where we will go. I noticed there was an airport closer to Serbia in the town of Osijek and there were quite a few low cost flights from there. We checked into rental cars for the airport and it really fit the bill. We rented with a small company called Uni Rent. It was a No frills car and spacious for the ride down to Plitvice.  We stayed about 6 miles from the actual National Park of Plitvce at Hotel Rubcic as this was the main attraction for us on this trip.

Plitvice National Park

The first day we headed down to the National Park before the park opened in hopes to beat the tour buses that are due around 10am in the morning. There are many entrances into Plitvice, but we chose the main one with the walkover bridge across the road. On arrival we bought a ticket that included the use of the transport and boat to the rest of the park. I would recommend this as the park is massive and after a long day of trekking walking back 4 miles doesn’t sound appealing. We headed right for the larger waterfalls and down many stairs, walkways and trail. It was a lot of walking and with the rain that had came the past few days many of the areas were flooded pretty badly. Heading to where you catch the boat was about a 2 mile walk from the start. The line to get on the boat was at least shorter than the bathroom, so Adam stayed in line, got some snacks and me and Aislyn held down the fort. It took about 45 minutes to catch a boat onward.

Once to the next part of the park you have the option to do the short crossing over to leave or go up the stairs through the waterfall walkway. We chose the waterfall walkway which lasted about another 2 hours. There are numerous little ferries that take you all over the park. There was another 4 to 5 miles of trail to the back park of the park, but at this point we thought we saw our fair share of waterfalls and nature. We did take our time to soak in the sites so 4-5 hours on the trail is what I would plan for if you are going. After a long day we grabbed dinner at a local café and headed back to the hotel to relax.

Split and Krka Falls

The next day we made our way down to Split and Krka Falls. I had read so many reviews saying Krka was not as great, but I am not quite sure what they were talking about as it was one of our favorite’s parts of our Croatia trip. The waterfalls are not as grand, but the trail through the forest along the falls was pretty incredible. There is actually a portion of this one you can swim in unlike Plitvice which you cannot swim in the national park from what I saw on the signage. We spent about 3 hours here eating fresh cherries, climbing waterfalls and soaking in the sun with some ice cream. This waterfall area was easier for the small kids as Plitivice should not be underestimated in size. After a morning of trekking we headed into the center of Split. There was a cruise in port this day so the city was crowded by midday making many of the sites unbearable to get into. We decided the better option was to head down to the promenade and walk along the coastline. We stopped in to see the Cathedral of Saint Domnius and Diocletian's Palace as they were easily accessible in the city center without much walking. Split was smaller than Dubrovnik, but I thought it really had a lot to offer. There were numerous boating excursions leaving the city about once per hour to the outer islands. If we would have had more time I think this is a good add-on to the trip. Here are some suggestions for Split excursions.

We headed back to our hotel and then an early morning drive back to Osijek. Osijek was about 4 hours in the car from Plitvice, but the cost of the flights, car and gas were still under what it would have cost for 2 people to even fly in to one of the other airports. So this is something to consider if you plan on going on a budget.

Good Tips:

Waterproof shoes for the waterfalls, while trekking shoes were nice I did bring flip flops to wear through the waterfalls as it was much easier to dry my feet.

Pack water and a little jacket, even in the spring it was really chilly down by the waterfalls.

Happy Traveling

Katrina

Balkans - 5 countries in 5 days - The adventure with a 9 year old

Montenegro, Bosnia, Albania, Croatia and Kosovo

As Spring Break approached I had to find a place that I could take my daughter. A full 7 days off from work and Europe in the back yard. We started by looking at photos on Pintrest to become inspired. We came across the Ostrog Monastery and the trip began to come together. I knew nothing about this country Montenegro, except it often some gorgeous scenery and was nestled between lakes, rivers and mountains. 

5 countries in 5 days

We flew into Podgorica, Montenegro, we rented car through Europcar as it was the only agency I found in Montenegro which offered an automatic and full coverage to all the neighboring countries. You will need the cars insurance paperwork close by as you will need it, your driver’s license and passports for the numerous border crossings. I suggest you invest in the extra 11 Euro a day in the excess as the driving there was quite hectic with locals passing on blind turns and making very close calls. We rented a Polo and it was the perfect size for the roads and parking spaces. Again, I did this alone with my 9-year-old daughter.

We used Kotor and Neum, Bosnia for our base to start to see the sites. We stayed in various apartment rentals with our favorite being Hotel Nancy in Kotor, which overlooked the bay from our balcony. The apartments were located next to local markets, eateries and just a few minutes walk down to the seaside. I bought a Garmin Nuvi 2597 as it was the best Sat Nav I could find that had all of Central and Eastern Europe. It literally had every road within each of the countries and I was super impressed that it navigated me around traffic and congestion during peak border crossing times. 

We landed midday and set straight off for the Ostrog Monastery .From the airport it took about 1 hour, the road there is a little crazy. There is a cliff either side and you must take it slow looking for oncoming traffic at all times. After the monastery we headed back to Kotor for some amazing dinner at the local pizza place right up the road. Nancy can make some recommendations if you have a cuisine in mind. 

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The Dervish House

The next morning we setoff to Mostar, Buna Blagaj, Ston island, Kravice Falls and then to Neum to our hotel.  In Mostar we were able to park with pay and display right on the main road near the Old Town. The pay machine took Euro and their currency. At Buna Blagaj,there is a car park on the top of the hill where you are able to park for 1 Euro the whole day and then walk 5 minutes down to the Dervish House. Bosnia is truly where I felt the people were super friendly and there were police everywhere so I felt pretty safe. The tourist information is right near the bridge in old town Mostar. I would suggest stopping in there first as it had detailed directions to Dervish house, sites highlights and more places to see. All the reviews I read about Bosnia talked about landmines. I would like to say we did not encounter any, but I did get a little risky and took a dirt path to one of the sites. I would not recommend this though.

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The following day we headed to Dubrovnik and on the way back to Kotor. We made a few stops along the way as there are numerous beach towns and sites just along the coast.  Dubrovnik was a gorgeous city, but arrive before 9am if you plan to find parking. It was super crowded on the Thursday morning and we ended up parking about 1.5 miles from old town and having to walk down the hill. There is pay and display parking throughout the city. It takes Euros and Kona at the machines we found. While the Euro is widely used it is not the official currency.

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Bullet hole filled building in Old Town, Mostar

Only Montenegro used the Euro officially at the time of our trip. If you get down to the port you can do a boat trip for about $10 per person around the neighboring islands and through the caves on the bay. It was totally worth every penny. Dubrovnik was the pricier of all the cities as it is a very heavy tourist spot for ships. There is a cable car, which you can take to the top to view the city, and it ran about $15 per person. We stopped in quite a few small towns on the way back down to Kotor as there is large parking areas along the route to capture photos of all the gorgeous bays.

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Dubrovnik

The next morning we had an early start off to Kosovo. We took the main road leaving Kotor to Bar and then into Albania. The wait to get into Albania even at 8am was about 45 minutes. Once to the border this is the only one where they asked a ton of questions and wanted to see all my paperwork. Once through the country you will follow the main road for about 45 minutes until you reach the dual carriageway towards Kosovo. The route there you will see numerous Spain settlements atop of hills and scenic lookouts.

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In route to Prizren

The route to Prizren was about 2 hours in total with good conditions even with fresh snow in the mountains. The border crossing for Kosovo was simple and took about 15 minutes. See below post about entering Kosovo from other neighboring countries. You will require additional insurance at the border if you are taking your own car. You will see numerous booths set up to pay. Once in Prizren, just follow signs to Old Town or Stari Gard. Parking was easy and the city had a few sites to enjoy. We had dinner and it was time to head back to Kotor.

Kukes

On the way back we took the turn off to Kukes and enjoyed the views of the lakes, mountains and blue skies. The color of the water is a blue like I have never seen before.  There were numerous waterfalls, churches and historic site seeing posted along the way through all the countries. If spotted a sign that said a site was ahead and it was less than 10k we usually took the turn off and explored it. The trip needed minimal planning as I used the sat nav and found all the locations prior to arriving so just started the day with plugging in saved places. I did a total of 2,000Km in 5 days and only had to fill the car twice and it was under 35 Euros each time. 

All in all, it was a great trip for me and my daughter. We were able to see once amazing sites and what felt like an area untouched by tourists. 

Things to know before you go

I used DK guide books  to help plan my trip. Note that if you plan Kosovo best bet is to enter from Albania and you cannot go into Serbia via Kosovo. To this day, Serbia considers Kosovo to be part of Serbia — and that causes implications for travelers. If you enter Kosovo via an international border, as I did from Macedonia, you can’t exit through a non-Kosovo Serbian border. If you do so, Serbia will declare that you entered Serbia illegally.

If you want to visit both Serbia and Kosovo, I recommend to do either of two things: 1) Arrive in Serbia, travel to Kosovo (there is no border crossing between Serbia and Kosovo), then return to Serbia and exit Serbia. 2) Arrive in Serbia, travel to Kosovo, and exit via Kosovo.

Though I can’t definitively confirm this, I’ve  heard rumblings that Serbia will not be happy if you arrive with a Kosovo stamp in your passport, so consider taking option 1 if you want to visit Serbia again on the same passport. All this info is featured in the following blog focusing on Kosovo: http://www.adventurouskate.com/kosovo-a-warm-welcome-from-a-newborn-country/

Happy Traveling, 

Katrina