Five Countries; Two Days

In order to utilise what little time we have in the Balkans and see the places I had designated we continued from Prizren early that morning. A 4am start saw us at the fortress above the city a little before 5am. This fortress is pretty much undeveloped with only a small amount of restoration work having been done. The city took on a completely different feel in the early morning light, the red roof tops almost glowing, stretching out over much of the vast plain beneath me.

 

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One the way down I went into a mostly ruined church with only the bit surrounding the altar still intact. Some artwork remains relatively unaffected by the elements, showing biblical scenes in a style that seemed quite different from the Eastern Orthodox style I would have expected. At the bottom we had a coffee in the city as locals just begun to start their day. For the time I was there I felt like I got a reasonable insight into what Kosovo is really like. 

By 8am we were on the road again, quickly ascending into the mountains in the southern part of the country which gave way to hay harvesting valleys. By 9:15 we were clearing Macedonian customs. By the now the day was hot and hazy, dust filling the air. I had read that Kosovo is an incredibly dusty country but this is far from the case when compared to the rural dust bowl surrounding the Macedonian capital, Skopje.

Dan wanted to watch the European Championships and meet up with a few friends on the outskirts of the city so after finding the slalom course I set off on my own to head into the Macedonian capiatal, one of the most interesting driving experiences I've had so far. Aggressive merging is needed to get anywhere but more often than not you're either sitting at red lights or stuck behind trucks on narrow roads. On the way in it took 30mins to cover the 10km distance the city, miniscule compared to the 55mins on the way back where I waited at a single traffic light for 15mins.

I found parking for a reasonable price on the southern side of the river and headed in to explore the city on foot. The first thing I noticed was the huge statues, everywhere I looked, depicting various important figures and encouraging nationalism in the local population. The city centre is grand. Everything from the statues to the columns of the neoclassical buildings around the twin squares is built on a large scale. The city spans the banks of the Vardar river, linking two impressive main squares with a historic bridge. 

 

I wandered around, trying not to miss any detail in this architectural incredible city. After crossing the river I sat down to have a meal in one of the squares. From the service I knew straight away that I'd sat down at a top notch restaurant, despite it looking almost cafe like. Being Macedonia, this didn't matter. A large glass of wine and a sizeable bowl of gourmet carbonara with fresh mushrooms on top set me back all of about eight Australian dollars. 

I enjoyed the city for a half hour more after finishing my meal before heading back to the car and driving to pick up Dan. It wasn't late but I'd already been up ten hours, aggravating my impatience at Macedonian driving. There's nothing worse than having to let taxis in that cruise to the front of the queue down the opposite side of the road.  

By two thirty we were headed out of the city, confused by how signs would direct you onto certain roads then give you no indication whatsoever of if you were heading in the right direction. As the roads deviated we ascertained, with the help of location services that we were in fact heading for Sofia, the Bulgarian capital and one of the Balkan's biggest cities.

The currencies you accumulate going through five countries in two days- in Bulgaria fifteen notes were added to this stash

A good autobahn got us most of the way to the border from where it degraded into narrow roads through the mountains. I hadn't expected anything more. We were constantly stuck behind big trucks and the terrain made overtaking a task requiring immense patience. Again in typical Balkans style the distance took much longer to cover than Google Maps suggested, some five plus hours. Only on the outskirts of Sofia did the road improve and advertise speed limits of 120.

Sofia's main streets offered the usual big city experience of cobblestones with tram tracks, teaming up to minimise your grip on the road as best as possible. Soon, despite having an address and location services we were stumped once again about the location of our accommodation. But here I opened the door literally to be greeted by a Bulgarian asking “Can I help you?” in perfect English. He gave directions and it turned out to be an easily missed, small door a mere 200m away.

Perhaps Bulgarian Communism's interpretation of  social classes?

We checked in and were disappointed to find out we'd missed the complementary nighty beer and pasta. We headed out into the city to check out a few of its monuments and find some food. At Balkans prices it's not at all hard to find a place that pleases. Five Euro, or around $7:50 AUD is plenty to buy a reasonable meal and a drink, even in the centre of Sofia. Like Skopje, the buildings absolutely tower over the streets around them, built in the classical style. Sofia has few overly impressive attractions compared to Skopje but its centre definitely still holds a lot of appeal, official buildings taking up whole blocks with their unbroken walls of high columns. 

We got to the mammoth Orthodox church in the middle of the road and admired it before heading back to the accommodation. A better look at this and the statues in the nearby square would have to wait for tomorrow. I was particularly curious about the statue of Ivan the Terrible and the quote underneath. What piece of his writing was so admirable to Bulgarian officials?

Did I mention they love their statues?

The next day we relaxed in the hostel lounge on the WiFi before leaving at a leisurely time of 2pm or so for a walk around the city. Relaxation was overdue, this being our fifth country in two days with 4am starts on two consecutive mornings. By 5pm we were back in the car, headed east for the central city of Veliko Tarnovo. The drive to this city is completely unexciting. We camped midway by a wheat field and were treated to having a herd of sheep and a group of gypsies pass through our campsite in the morning. The gypsies were off to raid free food from the surrounding orchards and invited us to do the same.

We arrived in Veliko Tarnovo at about 11am, a beautiful city built around a steep, serpentine river valley. We explored the city very little really, only walking around one section of the spread out old town and getting a meal in the cool out of the heat. I regret a little not paying to explore Tsarevets, the iconic castle high above the river on the outskirts of the city. We weren't here for Veliko Tarnovo itself, but rather the monument hidden in the hills that had been lingering in the back of my mind since we first entered the Balkans. 

The cost of Bulgarian real estate....