After getting on a rather dodgy-looking bus in Tirana, we managed to reach the center of Shkodër. Luckily, the hostel was nearby and we were greeted by the owners and showed around.
The hostel looked nice: very welcoming and friendly, especially because of the open area where all the travelers could rest or socialize.
The owners brought us to a nearby restaurant and we devoured the food.
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A long bus ride brought us to Greece and more precisely to Thessaloniki.
This city is one of those places that I often read about in history books at school when studying Ancient Greece. It always gives me a great feeling to finally be able to connect a historically important location to some actual images.
I can’t help but imagine how it could have been back then to live here, obviously failing to do so and falling back into idealized scenes, probably from a movie.
White Tower of Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki is not too big but there are quite a few places to visit and things to do.
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During our stay in Istanbul, we were hosted by a good friend of mine who also acted as our personal guide and activity planner.
One day, together with some new friends, we planned to go to spend a day at the island of Büyükada, barbecuing and chilling on the hills.
Sunset on the way home
In the morning, we headed to the ferry, got to Büyükada and fetched our beloved Çiğ köfte (both the vegetarian and the meat version) and bread from some locals. With our supplies in hand, we walked to the location: a hill overlooking the sea.
Our team of 5 managed, after a conspicuous amount of time, lit a rather decent fire for the barbecue. The time was mainly due to going through all the different strategies and techniques for making a fire which each of us could come up with.
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Approaching the entrance of the famous Sultan Ahmed Mosque, we were welcomed by a majestic structure (and I am someone who is not often captured by religious buildings) filled with both tourists and local worshipers.
The entrance for visitors is on the side of the building, where usually a long queue awaits anyone who wants to enter. That day was no different.
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Istanbul is a very lively and, at times, chaotic city, especially in summer.
It has a mix of new and old, which makes it very interesting to visit and walk around. In fact, the city of Istanbul, historically known as Byzantium and Constantinopolis, was created around 667 BC (the legends say) and has a very long past which has left traces scattered around the different parts of the city.
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The bus to Istanbul almost felt like being on an airplane: hostesses, a screen for each passenger, treats and snacks included. That one was definitely the best bus I have ever been on.
Once we arrived in Istanbul, we headed to the Asian side (Istanbul is in 2 continents: one part in Europe and another in Asia), where a good friend of mine was waiting for us.
After a short break, we directly went to the center. At the time, there was the ‘Asırlık Tatlar ve Sanatlar Çarşısı’, which in English translates to: ‘Centuries-Old Tastes and Arts Bazaar’.
Lollipop maker
It was a one-street market where people would show traditional arts and foods (as the name suggests).
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The sunny and warm city of Sofia was a very nice change of atmosphere, it felt much less like the other Balkan countries we visited both from the architecture and the food. I found it to be some sort of mid-way between the Crotian/Bosnian/Serbian dishes and the Greek/Turkish ones.
Marching band resting in the shade
Even its history is quite peculiar as Bulgaria, according to our guide, tried to stay out of World War II (even being occupied by the Germans, they succeeded in saving Bulgarian Jews from being sent to Nazi concentration camps) and was not part of Yugoslavia.
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In Serbia, as well as Bulgaria, the Cyrillic alphabet is used in their language; not knowing this, it was an interesting experience being surrounded by a totally unexpected and a somewhat new set of characters, right off the bus.
The Cyrillic letters (commonly and mistakenly referred to as just the Russian alphabet) have mostly a 1-to-1 relation to the Latin ones, making it a fun game to guess what it’s written on street signs given the context (once every character is translated, it’s not too complicated to guess the meaning of a word). The first sign I started translating was an obvious ‘тоалет’, right next to the toilet stalls, giving me a good base for guessing more words around the town.
Even with just a bit longer than a day in Belgrade, our Coushsurfing hosts (a very nice and active couple who traveled all around the world) managed to give us a glimpse of the local life: making us taste their homemade liquor, bringing us to a party (the guy played in a band) and showing us Belgrade from the Sava river on their boat.
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The arrival in Sarajevo turned out to be quite an adventure: in the middle of a rainstorm, in a cab with a very brave/wild/crazy driver who, after about 40 minutes of U-turns, unexpected change of lanes and getting out of the car to ask for directions, finally reached our destination. He was a nice guy and we did our best to communicate with some mix of English and Croatian, but perhaps not the best ride.
Here I got a massive, great watermelon. This started my ‘watermelon hunt’, which lasted throughout the whole trip.
I found the town of Sarajevo to have many faces: the more modern and high-end part of the town in the city center, with beautiful and new buildings unexpectedly appearing along the street, the historical old town, and the rest, where the buildings still retain metallic mementos of a war gone, not so long ago (read also: Sarajevo Roses.)
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Arriving in Mostar, I was rather surprised as I had not looked up much about the town. The part of the town around the old city is quite different, with many buildings in a state of abandonment and disrepair. Their empty shells showed me the consequences of war and made me understand how perhaps other less popular places in Bosnia ed Herzegovina look. In some parts of town, the contrast between tourist spots and war-torn buildings was very evident.
Gimnazija “Aleksa Šantić” in Mostar
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