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Welcome to my travel log! You will find here a lot more than in the travel reports, stripped from political correctness. Enjoy! 
Jun 28, 2010 06:00 PM South-West Balkans - the cost
So, the budget got definitely exceeded. By a large margin, by 29% actually. But mainly for good reasons. The main unfavourable difference was £127 in food expenses, which started to pile up already on Corfu, and then I went a little irresponsible in Tirana, Albania and invited three Albanians for £55 dinner while we watched Germany v Brazil football match, but it did include plenty of drinks, too. The overall drinks budget was also exceeded by £21, as I partied a lot with them later, and had spent a few quid more on Corfu as well. The second largest overspent was the flight was Tirana to Prishtina in Kosovo, but it was a very enjoyable flight indeed, and it should have been included in the budget in the first place. Well, perhaps. Reportedly, the road between the two capitals had been improved, so instead of 12 hours, it is now taking about 5 hours. The travelling time vs cost is a major consideration. Airport at both ends are about half an hour from the city centres, and one has to be at the airport an hour before hand. The flight takes 45 minutes, so in total, the flight takes 2 hours and three quarters and costs €90 one way, whilst the coach takes twice as long and costs €20 one way.
And the taxis cost 70% more, or £49 more than in the budget. The main excess was contributed by taxis in and out of Kruja in Albania (€30), an unplanned €25 taxi ride in Prishtina, a £15 lazy taxi ride on Corfu, and an emergency €15 taxi ride to the airport in Thessaloniki.
The main savings were hotel costs, entry fees to museums, rides on coaches and the train trip between Skopje and Thessaloniki.
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Jun 27, 2010 06:00 PM Thessaloniki (GR) - no time to explore...
Weather check: Thessaloniki - overcast, 27C
The original plan of getting up early and see some of Thessaloniki's great sights before the flight to London did not work out. I am not sure what it was. The bed was comfortable, and since I did not have a city map, I was not quite sure how far things were, and how much time I would really need. The key decision was to take a public bus to the airport (#78, €0.60), which was running every 20-30 minutes. I would need to take the 09:30am bus, to be at the airport at least an hour before the flight, which was departing at 11:50am. Theoretically, the 09:50am bus would also do, but that would be too tight, considering that traffic in large Greek cities could be ridiculous. All this left only about two hours of morning blind sightseeing, if I could get up at 07:00am. I did not.
The flipping #78bus did not come at all. Not at 09:30 and not at 09:50! So, I grabbed a taxi, which cost reasonably €15.
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Jun 26, 2010 06:00 PM Ohrid (MK) to Skopje (MK) to Thessaloniki (GR) - a long day
Weather check: Ohrid - sunny, 25C; Skopje - cloudy, 25C; Thessaloninki - 28C
Having rolled off the bed at 07:30am was relatively easy, but with a conscience that it was going to be last day of the holiday. It was a lovely, sunny, and warm morning. I took a stroll along the lake to the main square for a classic cappuccino. Then, I stopped at the water's edge at the Gigolo bar for another cappuccino - it was still 09:45am, so it was allowed. And although the first cappu I had was a very real one, served in a proper cappuccino glass, with properly frothed milk and cinammon, the second one was not. It was served in a thick coffee cup, with foam-milk and chocolate sauce on top. Anyway, it was good, too. And the gentle breeze from the lake seemed to be telling me 'oh, don't go yet, stay another day, stay a week!'. It was a very good idea to delay my departure from 07:30am to 10:45am. But I would have stayed another day easily, if I could. And I will come back one day. Delaying today's departure was not a big deal. I was still going to get about 3 hours in Skopje to have a look around.
At the coach station in Ohrid, I found that a taxi ride from Ohrid to Skopje would cost €100, and that many people took this option if they could share the ride. For four people travelling, €25 a piece did not look like a bad deal at all. I was offered a place in one of the taxis (they were looking for one more person), and I probably would have taken the offer, had I not already had a coach ticket, which I had bought a day before.
The coach arrived at the coach/train station (all in one) at 14:15, just in accordance with my predictions, 3.5 hours after departing Ohrid, including the 20 minutes 'cigarette' break in the mountains. Skopje was not the prettiest of European capitals, which I had seen to date. And the train station... well, it isdifficult to be diplomatic about it! It was awful! Really shitty. It was basically just an underbridge dirty grey structure with three holes for ticket desks. Incredibly, the ladies in their forties and fifties spoke English. I bought my train ticket to Thessaloniki (denar or euro cash only, but a cash machine linked to Visa, Europay Mastercard and Maestro system was right there), and ejected myself from there as soon as possible.
I took a stroll along the river towards the fortress and the older part of the city and stumbled upon a string of some twenty or so bars, cafes, lounges, pubs and restaurants, right next to another with open-air seats, armchairs and sofas by the river bank, along 13 November pedestrianised street. As I had about two hours to kill, it seemed like a good place to park, recharge batteries and refill the tank. I selected the Dion Bar & Restaurant, where menu was reasonable (dishes from 100 denars) and service was relaxed, if not a little too slow.
Then, for the first half of the England v Germany World Cup match, I moved to the Irish Pub St Patrick. I downed a pint of laško dark ale, watching England's goal being wrongly disallowed! Had I known that my train was going to be late, I would have stayed to watch at least a part of the second half!!
The train was one hour late! Lingering around Skopje station, if you can call it that, was not fun at all. I had to make a liquid adjustment, so I gathered all the courage to visit the toilets. Wow, I have not seen public lavatory like that for a very, very, very ling time. Thankfully, I only needed to do number one. The cabins for the number two business had just hole in the floor, and there was excrement all over. From all four cabins, only two had door handles to close the premise, and none had a locking mechanism. The urinals, brrrr..., were extremely odouriferous to put it lightly, and looked like they were on their very last legs. The floor was sticky and wet and even the tiles on the wall were filthy. Only one, out of three washbasins (used to be white about a centry ago) was operational, ie had a tap attached. Remarkably there was water in the tap, and, as if from a different parallel universe, a piece of soap rested on a shelf. I actually thought that it was not there at all, and the fetor simply made me hallucinate.
Over an hour of unplanned spare time means that one switches to thinking and analysing things. I started to wonder whether the train would be very busy, and I might need to stand for the entire 4 hour-long journey. My handwritten ticket had a number 2 crossed over in the box stating class of travel, and inserted number 1 instead. I thought it was potentially a good sign. I started talking to one of the travellers, who looked like a tourist (actually, he looked like a Viking), trying to find out if he knew about the crowds on the trains. He said that he was on a train teavelling from Belgrade to Skopje and he had an entire carriage for himself! When the train arrived, it was arriving from Belgrade by the way, it was much shorter than the previously mentioned train, but it was not busy at all. Together with the Viking and myself, there were eventually only four other people in the carriage. On a €13 ticket, this ride was most definitely beyond any economical justification. Uh, I have to add that there was no first class carriage on this train! It was a very old rolling stock. It did not look clean, but the faux-leather reclining seats were comfortable. Windows were über-dirty that it was unpleasant to watch the world go by. And that was a pity, as the scenery was not shabby.
It must have been, hmmm..., about 20 years since my last international border crossing on a train, when the train stopped and immigration and customs checks took place at both sides. So, the Macedonia/Greece crossing was going to be exciting. But it was not much to write about after all. The only interesting bit was that just before the frontier, the carriage lights went off, and the checks had be carried in the dark. The Macedonian immigration officer, with absolutely no sense of humour whatsoever had no torch, and complained to the train manager. The Greeks had little torches, and asked no questions. Actually, apart from the Macedonian customs officer asking whether I had anything to declare (I wanted to declare that this train was an hour late, and I hated to be unpunctual), no questions were asked at either side of the border. The carriage lights mysteriously came back about 15 minutes inside Greece.
Because I was late, and it was 23:30 when I reached my hotel in Thessaloniki, I skipped the night visiting of the city. I bought a couple of small beers, 1.5 litres of water and 0.5 litre of coke and chilled in my room watching football highlights, and learning that England was trashed 4:1 by Germany. The Greek TV was focusing on the England's goal which was not recognised. They actually made a joke by redrawing the German goal line, which effectively looked like a big 'V'. I could imagine how fuming the people must have been in England! Well, good on Mirosław Klose and Łukasz Podolski of Germany (sic!), who scored the first two goals.
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Jun 25, 2010 06:00 PM Ohrid (MK) - relaxing and with sights!
Today was a good day. Walking up and down the hills visiting the UNESCO-inscribed sites around Ohrid, taking a boat ride on the lake, dining on roast chicken, drinking Macedonian wine and beer at lakefront cafes and bars, basking in the sun. And resisting calls for all day long excursions from touts with boats and vehicles, as I wanted a relaxing day. Yet, one of the propositions sounded not that bad at all. The guy dressed like a captain from a cartoon, Gjorgj, said that he could take me to the mountains to see real life Macedonian villages, a place, where an ancient washing machine was built using whirling rapids, and a cloister where just a single nun lives, who likes to chat with visitors (she apparently speaks English) over coffee and cake that she bakes. But I resisted!
I got up early to take the advantage of favourable light of the morning sun. I went up to see the large fortress overlooking the town, the lake and the mountains around. The views were truly fabulous! Then, I descended to a remarkable basilica surrounded by excavation on a spectacular scale unvailing foundations of s larger cathedral just 30 yards away, and many other foundations and cellars with arched ceilings. Then, farther down, I went to see the dramatically located little church of St Jovan. What a great liitle temple perched on a rock sticking out of a cliff!
There were apparently 365 churches in greater Ohrid. One per each day of the year, according to a young boy, who took me on a lake ride. I have seen many, but not all.
In the evening, weather collapsed a little. Strong winds brought dark, heavy clouds. But there was no rain. Only few drops fell around 6pm. I was hoping for a nice sunset again, to take some nice shots, but for no avail. Well, as I am sure that soon Wizzair, Ryanair and easyJet will discover Ohrid, which has an international airport. I will then drop by for a weekend again. I might visit that nun then, and maybe even Pogradec also at the lake but in Albania, only 35 kilometres away.
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Jun 24, 2010 06:00 PM Prishtina (KO) to Skopje & Ohrid (MK) - two coaches
In the morning, I took a short walk in the centre of Prishtina, took some more pictures and made my way to the coach station. I had been told that one buys a ticket on the coach, but that was not accurate. I had to buy a ticket from the ticket office inside the terminal building, just opposite the information desk. My coach (only slightly dated Man, with comfortable, reclining seats and air-conditioning departed on time, at 11:30am. It was not very busy, there were a few seats empty and I had two seats all for myself. On the way, I spotted a few yellow signs depicting armoured vehicles and tanks with speed limit indication for them. Now, that was something I did not expect to see, but I guess there were still UN and NATO forces' bases around. So, these must have been for them. Actually, I saw a few columns of military vehicles, including one flying the Greek flag. Also, each entry and exit from a tunnel, and on bridges, there was police present.
The scenery was interesting. New houses were being built, and the mountains in the west had snow on them! Another thing I was suprised to see. I thought it was too southerly for that.
The Kosovo-Macedonia border crossing was straighforward. The coach driver took everyone's name and passport number on a sheet of paper. First, an immigration officer of Kosovo came on the coach, and collected the passports. After about ten minutes, the driver came back with the stamped passport. Then, exactly the same happened at the Macedonian side, but took about 5 minutes. While the Kosovars put a stamp in my passport, the Macedonians did not.
I arrived in Skopje at 13:40, about ten minutes late. But the coach station was well organised and it was easy to figure out coaches' departures. Next coach to Ohrid was leaving at 14:00, enough time to relax, draw some denars from an ATM (I only took 500) and get a ticket. It cost 520, so I had to pay by card, otherwise I would have to queue again. Seats in the coach were numbered and one had to sit where indicated in their ticket. I had lousy middle seat at the very end of the coach. It was shaky there and hot, as there was no air-con vent overhead that seat - the only seat on the entire vehicle not to have one! Anyway, at least I was on the road according to the original plan.
But I arrived in Ohrid half an hour late! The coach took 3.5h because the driver stopped in the middle of the mountains at a petrol station / restaurant, for some strange reason. The coach station was in a remote part of town, which was not pretty at all. I could have got off in the centre, but I wanted to check the timetable for Sunday to go to Skopje. A few people at the station waited for visitors to offer them rooms. They came prepared with picrures and language skills. I did not opt for that, as I wanted full freedom of coming and going at any time of day and night. So, I dragged myself back to centre looking for a reasonable hotel. One that I tried, right at the lake, had no availability. But then, I found a villa converted to a hotel, claiming three stars. I got a room #33 on the third floor! It has been funny like I've getting '3' in my room numbers throughout this trip. A quick shower later and a lesson how to open the front door after curfew after that, and I was back at the lake looking to get some food. It was time, as I had not had anything to nibble after the so-so breakfast in Prishtina, Kosovo. The fastest food would be ready made junk food, which was totally out of question. So, it had to be pasta or pizza. I browsed through a number of menus from venues at the lake, and finally found a little pizzeria called Pizza Nemo. They did both pizzas and pastas, and also other dishes. I chose vegetarian large pizza (12", 230 denars (£3)), and washed it down with dark Laško ale (0.33l, 80 denars). It was good! And life was again beautiful. Then, it was time to hit the town, searching for a place to go out at night. But first, it was time for relax - a glass of Macedonian red wine at a pavement cafe overlooking the lake.
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Jun 23, 2010 06:00 PM Kruja (AL) - first touristy sight in Albania
Weather check: Tirana - cloudless, 30C; Kruja - mostly sunny, 25C
I got up later than usual, sleeping in a little after the night out in Tirana's trendy Blloku district (only about 200yarfs from the main square, over the river). But by 10:30am I was making my way to Kruja to see the castle before flying to Prishtina. As it was rather late, I opted for a taxi, which set me back 3,000 leke (€20). By noon, I was having fabulous pizza at the Kalaja Bar & Restaurant, attached to a hotel of the same name ('normal' rooms for €30) only 15 yards from the castle. Their open-air terrace-come-garden had views of the castle's main entrance, the mountains behind and the large valley and the sea in the front. Magnificent location! The mixed pizza on perfectly crisp dough, 12 inches across was 500 leke, and was worth every single lek. The young waiter, perhaps 12 years old, most definitely one of the owners' son, spoke reasonable English. I relaxed there for about 1,000 leke. In Kruja, there is not much anything else to see or do. The castle, heavily but handsomely restored, might be Albania's most significant stronghold. It is dedicated to the only national hero - Gjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeu, who united the Albanian nation under the common language. He was also one of the first European leaders, who successfully repelled the Ottomans. The castle is not big, but it is stunning from the architecture point of view. And its location is very dramatic. I could not believe that I could see the sea from there. There were a couple of museums in Kruja, but they did not seem gripping.
After lingering long enough in Kruja, I decided to descend from the hill. As I walked down from the castle's hill, I passed through a string of small houses-come-shops, where one could buy souvenirs. The best value items were rustic silver jewellery, hand embroiled table cloths, and wooden utensils. There was a lot of stuff but the single thing that I was actually looking for they did not have. Such a shame!
I kept thinking about a taxi to the airport. It was very hard to get one in Kruja. I thought of stepping into one of the hotels so they could call me one, but eventually I decided to keep walking downhill, hoping for a lucky strike. And, after about a quarter of an hour, a minibus stopped and gave me a lift. It was a young guy, who might have operated a furgon, but the windscreen did not have the typical hooks to place a destination sign. Perhaps he was only dropping off his family and occastional hitchhikers like me. In Italian (with a punch of a miracle) I managed to convince him to take me to the airport for €10. he was actually very happy when he heard the price. So, with no trouble at all I found myself at the Rinas Mother Tereza International Airport. Well ahead of time!
The terminal was very modern and looked spacious. It was very well air-conditioned. I was impressed with the efficiency of the system, given the shear size of the open space building. There were three souvenir shops. Not very inspiring, I have to say. A stylish cafe with wooden chairs, stools and tables, and funky little cushions and a row of seats with backrests. They did reasonable ice-cream (300 leke for three scoops) but slightly overpriced. At the arrivals section there was also a bar with a good selection of booze, but also overpriced. If one wanted to grab a beer before checking in, outside the terminal, at a small roundabout, some 200 yards away in the direction of Tirana (turn right from the departures hall), there were a couple of cafe-bars offering 0.33l bottles of Albanian lager for 100 leke! They also did food, and it must have been good and cheap, as flight crews frequented them!
The airport had free wi-fi internet access!
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Jun 23, 2010 06:00 PM Prishtina (KO) - the first impression
Weather check: Prishtina: scattered clouds, 19C
Sadly, the capital of Kosovo had a lot, really a lot, to rebuilt. The wars and the struggle for independence had left many scars, which were scattered around the city. Few interesting buildings were left standing and the painful rebuilding process had been taking very long. There were a few interesting mosques in a varied state of disrepair or usage around the centre but not much else.
The people of Prishtina looked very young. Kosovo has in fact world's youngest population averaging just 25 years old! I sat down at one of the pavement cafes on Mother Theresa Boulevard and watched them walking back and forward, up and down the pedestrianised alley. They looked happy.
A toursist with a large camera like me was a sensation in Prishtina. A true sensation. The waiter at the cafe asked me to take his photograph. That was so strange. Last time someone asked me for a photo was in The Horn of Africa!
I really wished I had had more time for Kosovo to meet the people more and see the country properly. For there were a few sights on the UNESCO World Heritage List on the Kosovar territory.
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Jun 22, 2010 06:00 PM Shkoder (AL) - how disappointing!
Weather check: Tirana - in the morning, apart from thunder, snow and hail, it was everything (forecast inaccurate); Shkoder - light shower and constant.
I decided to fly to Prishtina from Tirana with a mysterious carrier called Belle Air, allegedly Italian. I went to a travel agent, who sold me a ticket for €90. This did dent my budget by some €70, since the coach to Prishtina would be €20 (three companies were operating, one of them called Drita). That idiot at the agent did not tell me that she could only accept cash. And only in euro! That really pissed me off, because she was so incompenent. I should have known better to leave that place and go somewhere else. She could not even read a passport correctly, and could not distinguish between 'surname' and 'given names'. Well, in the end, I had to run out looking for a bureau de change to exchange my pounds to euros. Actually, by doing it at a street exchange office, which kindly let me in after their closing time, I only lost about €1 on the triangular transaction, compared with the market spot rates at that very moment (courtesy of an iPhone application with real life currency exchange rates!). I found out later on that the trip to Kosovar capital would in fact take only 5 hours if travelled by the brand new and extremely expensive (relative to Albanian GDP) motorway. But, by taking a plane, I had more time in Albania to enjoy.
So, I was staying in Tirana an extra night with a possibility to do some side-trips. In the morning, I set on wheels rolling to Shkoder. My hotel was not far from the spot in town, from where furgons were departing north and east. I had to walk in the showers accompanied by sunshine (no rainbow anywhere, I'm afraid). I quickly found a furgon, although it was hidden in a little alley behind the first row of buildings surrounding the roundabout. Five passengers only sat inside, so it took time to fill up. About 35 minutes. En route to Shkoder, I had a chance to have a glance at the Rinas Mother Theresa Airport, as the road passed some 30 yards from the terminal building. This gave me a few ideas about tomorrow's travel arrangements.
In Shkoder, I got inside the town, contrary to travel literature, which claimed that the furgons would stop near the Rozafa Castle. So, I had to leg the three kilometres facing the shower, which would not stop. When I climbed the hill to the citadel, I was disappointed twice. First, by the sight itself. It was not as spectacular as I expected (exactly the same feeling I had about Shkoder town itself), and very badly ruined. It was large, I have to say, had some great significance to area in the 13th and 14th centuries, when it was built, and had spectacular views of Shkoder and the surroundings, the mountains and the lake in the border with Montenegro. The other disappointment was the restaurant on the top of the castle. It served no food, nothing to eat at all, when I got there at about 12:30pm, right in the middle of lunch time. So, I descended back to the main road leading to Tieana and Shkoder, to grab a bite to eat. I entered a small pizza delivery place, had three slices of pizza and Kosovar lager called Peja. Oddly, the lady added an extra zero to each item on my bill, so instead of 100 leke for each pizza slice, it was showing 1000 leke, all totalling 3,900 leke instead of 390 leke. I am not sure if she wanted to fool me or not, but I did not move a muscle on my face and paid 400 leke for my meal.
Then, I was faced with a long walk back to the town centre for the transport back to the capital. It was still showering from the sky... Fortunately, after about 2 minutes of walking, I spotted a coach with Tirana written on a board. I flagged it like a taxi and it did in fact stop and took me! I was counting on this behaviour, following my travel experiences in Albania so far. But, of course, I was not sure if it was going to work. Still, I looked more foreign than anyone else walking the road, with shades on my nose and a large, heavy camera around my neck trying to push me down to the pavement.
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Jun 21, 2010 06:00 PM Berat (AL) - superb ruins of castle, citadel, and acropol
Weather check: Berat - sunny, white clouds on the horizon. 25C (morning)
The night was quiet. Berat did not have nightlife. Maybe people could not afford it. There were bars and pubs, but most of them closed by 10pm and all were shut by 10:30pm. It was a pity, because some of them were really atmospheric.
In the morning, I went up to the Berat castle, having promised myself that I had to do it due to a late supper the night before, which had to be shaken off, and that I would go up if weather was good. It was! The sun was already hot at 07:30am. The climb to the ruins, as this is what they seemed from the lower town, was tiring and very slippery. Good trekking footwear was essential! At the gate of the massive, massive citadel was Vasil, a local fiftysomething man. I asked him where I should get a ticket, but it was too early got the ticket office. He kind of attached himself to me without much asking, which I normally disapprove. But he said he lived nearby, in the citadel village (one of the 1,200 people, who lived there), and showed me the best places to take photographs. I took a few spectacular shots of the Osu Valley, the old churches, old citadel walls, ruined mosques, remains of the Acropol, and an incredible old cistern (now disused). I would have not find these spots without a map (I didn't have one), or an audio guide (too early for ticket office), or an official guide. So, I was rather happy listening to the guy's Itanglish, and following him. I gave him (I am sure he had expected that) a tip. It was 1000 leke (€6.70), enough for over ten beers. I could not believe the happiness in his eyes! I was hoping he was going to buy bread for his family rather than beers or raki (local booze).
Then, I took a stroll back to Berat lower town to take a few more shots of the riverside old town. And then, back to the hotel for breakfast.
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Jun 21, 2010 06:00 PM Berat to Tirana (AL) - a breakdown
The coach to Tirana (every 30 minutes, between 05:30am and 09:00pm) was a very old Mercedes. I could not wait until we left Berat, as the driver took his time, driving at a sluggish pace, and stopping for a chat with anyone he could recognise in the streets. I am not exaggerating. At 10 km/h I could run faster!
Now, there might have been a secret of choosing the right vintage coach. The older looking, the more susceptible to breaking down. There was obviously fun of taking an ancient looking Mercedes coach, but the risk to suddenly get stuck in the middle of Albsnia was significant with those. It happened to me! Fortunately, the Berat - Tirana route was served by coaches every half an hour, so getting stuck was a bit of short adventure. I was not surprised that the coach behind mine caught up in no time, and as the crew of my failed to repair the vehicle, I was able to hop on the other one. That happened just few kilometres before the so called motorway. It only resembled a motorway. It had two lanes in each direction, but there was no hard shoulder. People walked a side and a coach would stop at any point to pick them up, there were roundabouts right on it, pedestrians kept crossing it, hehe. Anyway, the newer Merc coach I switched to picked up a pace a little on it. So, at 13:30 hours, my progress towards the capital looked better. Mind you, I was supposed to reach Tirana at 14:00 hours.
I arrived at 15:30. The capital city of Albania, I am sorry to say, was ugly! Really unattractive. Furthermore, the somewhat interesting central square, the Skenderbeg Square, was being dug up for some work, which just made the things look much worse. So, it did not really matter that I was 90 minutes late.
I jumped off the coach and a rogue taxi driver summoned me to his car. I acted a little displeased that he didn't have an official taxi sign, but let him take me to my hotel. I selected Hotel Kruja, which awarded itself three stars. Well, it was not too bad. It was clean, rooms were light, had a minibar, large wardrobe, and the bathroom was modern and included a bidet. Compared with the other hotels I stayed on this trip until this moment, the €35 seemed a little too much. But the location was excellent, and I was staying one night only.
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