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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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