one sunday in belgrade

on our belgrade stopover the weather turned cool, so instead of swimming in the sava river we wandered about the fortress and paths of kalemegdan citadel, eating toffee apples and watching the locals dance. then we roller bladed our way around ada island!

love M&B.

jump toby jump!

rose was too scared!

love M&B.

mostar; bright side

the people of mostar have shown us a truly great time. we stayed at a family run hostel where we went on bata's famous mostar tour- the best tour in eastern europe (an actual awarded fact!) we had been hearing about this tour from other travelers since albania and it did not disappoint!

the twelve hour tour started with lunch of tasty bureks as we drove to our first stop- swimming and exploring caves at mostar's waterfalls. we visited a bosnian medival town where we visited the home of a local woman for homemade cordials and cakes! traveling bata's minivan (at double capacity!) with turbo-folk music pumping kept the car rides interesting!

we also enjoyed hanging out at the river with the locals in the evening and taking in the views of stari most at night time.

love M&B.

mostar

wandering through the streets of mostar the aftermath of the war is still incredibly visible; especially at the sniper tower (formerly a bank) and the buildings surrounding it. the war is also still visible socially; in the attitudes and actions of the people. the more we tried to form an understanding of the war, the more complex it became. this is a fascinating and beautiful country- we wish we had more time to dedicate to understanding it.

love M&B.

dubrovnik sleepover

on route to bosina and herzegovina, we had a sleepover at a lovely old ladies house in the old walled town of dubrovnik! it was a brief stop, but just long enough to take in the town and the views out to sea.

love M&B.

black mountain

our time in montenegro was divided between two cities, budva and kotor.

budva appears to be the preferred holiday spot for russian tourists- we felt quite outnumbered! budva has beautiful beaches and we spent a day here on a boat cruise visiting the bay of kotor and the many islands and towns surrounding it. we spent another day on the road visiting inland towns, as well as lovcen national park and skadar lake- though our favourite activity was impromptu wine tasting on the road side, we collected a great bottle of red for dinner!

kotor is a smaller, quieter town. the main attraction was the hike (1500 steps!) to the top of st john's fortress for a view over the town and sea.

love M&B.

stari grads and scenery

montenegro has provided us with countless old towns to visit and abundant scenery to take in. another beautiful balkans country...

love M&B.

balkans tour; first stop albania

after a challenging journey to reach albania (via greece!), we had the most fantastic week! we traveled north from saranda, visiting berat and ending in tirana.

in saranda we spent the majority of our time in the water, visiting the blue eye a (freezing!) natural spring, wandering the ruins of butrint and enjoying beach barbecues to close the evenings. in berat we crawled in and out of bunkers and took in the views from castlenuovo. in tirana, albania's capital, we enjoyed some more quiet days spent wandering the city and climbing the buildings!

albania is a distinctly unique country and culture (try shaking your head to say 'yes'!) hitchhiking is easier than using the bus system and potholes are often larger than the road itself! the albanian people are the friendliest we have met thus far, a large part of why our week was so great!

love M&B.