The last city on my whirlwind Balkans and Eastern Europe trip fell on Podgorica, Montenegro. This somewhat unknown and obscure capital city shot out at me when I realised a cheap Ryanair flight from Podgorica to Stansted came up at a nice €20 Euros! So my final night in the Balkans I wanted a place…
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I had been to Scotland around 20 times in my life – but mostly to Glasgow, Irvine or Stranraer. Growing up in Northern Ireland made that an easy option as a child and teenager – I usually went by ferry from Larne or Belfast. However I had never once been to Edinburgh until I turned…
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When you hear about places like Northern Macedonia and Kosovo you might think that obscurity is the name of the game and that backpacking through this region is a test for your stamina. However, this particular border crossing is a fast and easy one and something I’d definitely recommend now having been in the former Yugoslavia…
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After my trip to Macedonia, I decided to head north into Kosovo and as it’s only a 2 hour bus ride across the border from Skopje, it made sense that I should head to the capital city – Pristina. I wasn’t even sure if there was a backpackers scene in Pristina yet and it turns…
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Sofia in Bulgaria was next on my hit list and I needed a hostel for a couple of nights. It was the name that shot out at me “10 coins hostel” I thought? Must be a story in that! One e-mail later and I’m messaging Nick the owner while I backpacked through Veliko Tarnovo and…
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If you haven’t yet heard of Kotor, please put it on your travel list. Kotor is a gorgeous seaside town in Montenegro which boasts a cobbled streeted Old Town, a harbour (Bay of Kotor), lots of funky bars, cafes and restaurants and a huge fortress with views you’ll never forget. I wanted to stay in…
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After a few days in Skopje, I headed to the southern part of Northern Macedonia to see what is widely regarded as the best tourist spot in the country, Lake Ohrid. I’ll report some other time on my impressions of the lake and town, first up – I found a fantastic place to stay –…
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Kosovo is one of the world’s newest countries. Born back in 2008 when they were granted their long desired freedom from Serbia after some horrendous acts of ethnic cleansing. It’s a country that is essentially part of Albania, though for political reasons and to appease the Serbs, the name of the country is the Republic…
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Another of my Eastern European world borders series now as I write about my trip from Romania to Bulgaria. Having loved my time in Bucharest, I decided to head south and check out the medieval city of Veliko Tarnovo in Bulgaria. Having used train to cross from Romania to Moldova (and back the same way)…
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I was completely buzzing during my stay in Skopje, Northern Macedonia. I really have to say – Skopje is a very under-rated city and so magnificent that it jumped up to be my second favourite city in all of Europe – second only to Belfast in Northern Ireland of course. I had arrived in Northern…
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