The Great Balkans Road Trip: Skopje and Pristina (Day 6)

We’re almost at the halfway point of The Great Balkans Road Trip. We’ve been to Romania and Bulgaria. Today it’s North Macedonia and Kosovo. Then we’re back on the road to Serbia before ending up back in Romania. If you’re joining the trip late, you can catch up on the story so far here.

Dear reader, you’re in for a treat today, as was the best day of the whole trip.

Breakfast at the Hotel Solun

This was the best breakfast we’d enjoyed so far – which wouldn’t be matched until our five star hotel on the final day.

I couldn’t eat all of this but I gave it my best shot. I don’t know what the item on the bottom of the plate was but it looked too exciting not to try. The bread top left was presented at the buffet with the egg already sitting on top. And I couldn’t resist the kidney beans, which I’d seen quite a lot on my travels so far.

There was loads more exciting stuff at the breakfast buffet and you’ll get to see that on Day 7 as we’re here for two nights (which, it turned out, would not be long enough).

This morning we were heading out on foot for a walking tour of Skopje, the capital city of North Macedonia. Our guide was one of the very best: engaging and clearly passionate about her subject which was, in this case, her country and her city. Here are some things I learned.

Some facts about North Macedonia

• The flag depicts the sun against a backdrop of blood. North Macedonians joke that it looks like a fan because they’re cooler than their neighbours.
• For more than two decades, the country was referred to internationally as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) while it fought a long diplomatic battle with Greece over the right to use its name.

Some facts about Skopje

• 80% of Skopje was destroyed by an earthquake in 1963. The reconstruction plan was led by Kenzo Tange, a Japanese architect
• The clock on the old railway station stopped at 5.17am – the time of the earthquake – and still shows that time today.
• Macedonia Street was previously named King Alexander Street, Lenin Street and Marshal Tito Street.
• They like a statue here and the vast majority depict men. But clay models of women have been found, indicating that they were important historically.
• Skopje is surrounded by seven mountains like Rome.
• Each bridge over the River Vardar has its own story. Stone Bridge (below), Art Bridge, Eye Bridge, Freedom Bridge – all have distinct histories or political symbolism.

We were not long into our walking tour when we were reunited with our friend from last night.

You will recall from Day 5 that this dog had escorted us safely back to our hotel last night.

Today she decided to join us on our walking tour: walking when we walked and stopping when we stopped to listen to the stories from our guide.

‘She’s sniffing you lot,’ observed a member of our group, referring to me and my pub buddies.

‘Yes – we met her last night. She’s our friend.’

As we paused halfway across the Stone Bridge, another dog appeared, greeted its friend and duly joined our group. Our guide explained that sometimes these dogs would increase in number and form a pack to protect the group.

I was pleased she’d forewarned us that this might happen because, lo and behold, as we approached the bazaar, we soon had half a dozen dogs with us. If a man resembling even the slightest threat came anywhere near us – for example holding a stick or approaching rapidly on a bike – the pack were straight over there, barking profusely, protecting us from any potential threat of harm.

Whilst this was probably quite scary for the men in question (and certain members of our group who weren’t keen on dogs), this was the highlight of the whole holiday for me. These dogs instinctively adopted us, trusted us and protected us – even though we’d never set foot in this country before. It was such a beautiful experience. And it epitomised the love and warmth of this special city in this special country.

Have you ever had a street dog adopt you on your travels?

Anyway, lets take a look at Skopje, shall we?

As we continued up into the bazaar, I learned a new word. It wasn’t a Macedonian word because my local language learning was still pretty much zero (but come on, we were visiting five countries in 13 days so my opportunities to acclimatise were limited). The word was ‘puthery’. It’s a Staffordshire word for close or muggy. Here’s my trusty pal Copilot with the etymology:

The joy of these group holidays is that I not only learn about the places I’m visiting, but also about my own country. I love learning and these holidays are brimming with it.

What is the Memorial House of Mother Teresa like?

Fun fact: Mother Teresa was born in Skopje. As such, we were treated to a visit to a museum built in her honour. I love a museum and there weren’t enough of them on this holiday. That said, I was part of a group of 32 people, so small museums with a built-in rent-a-crowd were not ideal conditions for me.

You can take a look around for yourself if you like. There’s a great interactive 3D walkthrough on the homepage of the website for the Memorial House of Mother Teresa here.

Time for Brunch

We had an action-packed day today so we had to squeeze in our food where we could. Our free time today came towards the end of the morning. I wasn’t hungry after that fabulous breakfast – but I wasn’t sure when we’d get an opportunity to eat next. With it being a puthery day, it had to be ice cream.

Over coffee and ice cream, we got onto the subject of belts. I was pleased that I was still on the last notch of my belt after almost a week of three meals a day (and sometimes three courses). That said, before the holiday, I was at the point of needing an extra hole on my belt, so perhaps I was technically rounder than when I’d arrived, but that’s by the by. Anyway, one of my companions said he was wearing a ratchet belt, which sounds ideal for holidays and removes any awareness of what hole you’re on. Who knew that was a thing?

I knew it was important (nay vital) to take advantage of the toilet here, before boarding the bus for another long journey. And this was a belter of a #LooReview. This was a one-toilet kind of place and came with an advance warning from one of my companions that the top step was very steep. And this coming from a person of normal height. How on earth would I manage?

Thank goodness for the handrail, or I’d still be down there…

On the Road to Kosovo

After brunch, it was time to get back on the bus and head to our fourth country of the tour: Kosovo. We’d packed a lot in this morning – but that was only one-third of what was to be the best day of the trip so far. You can tell from all the photos I’m taking that I’m in full-on absorb-everything mode. I’m very excited to share today with you. How would Pristina compare with Skopje? It would turn out there were a lot of similarities in all the good ways.

Does your passport get stamped in the Balkans?

On the bus between countries and cities, the group discussed passport stamps. It seemed that was a thing of interest amongst travellers. This was not something I had ever even considered. Yes, I’m ticking countries now (more of that tomorrow, when we enter yet another one), but I’d never before considered a passport as an object containing a collection of stamps confirming where I’d been. Does this constitute a stamp collection? I used to collect stamps as a kid. But I suppose they do tell a story. Some of my companions had been put out that their passport hadn’t been stamped as we entered every country. Others were concerned that they might not have enough pages left for their Five Stans trip with Just You, for which they needed two blank pages for each of the five countries they would be visiting, so they could be stamped in and out.

Looking at my passport after this trip, I can see that it was stamped only:

• Exiting Bulgaria before entering North Macedonia
• Exiting Serbia before entering Romania (the worst border crossing of the lot, to come on Day 9)

That being the case, it’s probably best I don’t get too attached to passport stamps, as it clearly wouldn’t satisfy my desire for completeness of collections. Also I can see the Serbian stamp is on the same page as my Istanbul stamps and that’s just messy. I’m definitely better off for not getting engaged in this stamp collection malarkey. This blog will serve as my record of the holiday, thank you very much.

What is Kosovo like? What is Pristina like?

We arrived in Pristina later than scheduled owing to delays at the border. This meant that (a) our tour of Pristina was conducted in turbo mode and (b) hanger was beginning to strike. I was therefore not as relaxed as I would have liked; however that is not to say that this was not enough time to fall in love with Kosovo. Unlike North Macedonia – which I fell in love with instantly – my affection for Kosovo would be more of a slow burn, growing more after I left the country and entered Serbia. But more of that over the next few days. Meanwhile let me tell you about where we are.

Some facts about Kosovo

• The flag depicts six stars representing the major ethnic groups (Albanians, Serbs, Bosniaks, Turks, Roma, Gorani) and a gold silhouette of Kosovo (for the gold mines) against a blue background (the EU flag).
• The majority of the population is Albanian.
• Serbs in Kosovo often receive salaries and support from Serbian state institutions, which encourages them to remain in the region.
• We could not enter Serbia from Kosovo, as Serbia does not recognise Kosovo as a separate country, so we had to cross into Serbia from North Macedonia (we’ll do this tomorrow).
• Spain doesn’t recognise Kosovo, as this could open the door for Catalonia’s independence.
• Boycotts of Serbian products appear periodically and many shops label origins clearly so customers can choose.

Some facts about Pristina

• When the elevator was installed in the shopping centre, people went in just to ride in it.
• The five stars from the Grand Hotel are now spread across the city, inspired by a story written by a little girl.
• Dua Lipa’s family is from Pristina and she spent part of her childhood here.

Now lets take a look around. This is a whistle-stop tour because we are running short on time.

As we gathered around the statue above, we experienced another magical walking tour moment akin to the dogs looking after us in Skopje. The statue depicts a man demonstrating against the Serbian regime in 1990, choosing to sit cross-legged amidst all the chaos surrounding him. As our guide was explaining this, he was interrupted by a man who was standing nearby with two companions. He said he had a photograph of the man demonstrating at the time. He found the photo on his phone and handed it to our guide so he could show us. This was a kind and unprompted gesture that added to the experience for us.

Next, we moved on to some newspaper stands, where a stallholder was demonstrating a local musical instrument and began playing for us. It turned out that the man who had just shown us the photo on his phone was a renowned player of said instrument, so over he came to give us an impromptu performance. What a superstar this man was.

If you would like to hear what this instrument (a çifteli) sounds like, tune in here:

Heroinat is made from 20,000 metal pins, each one carrying the face of a woman. Together, they represent the 20,000 women raped during the war.

During our guided walk around Pristina, I began to feel a bit woozy. This was the effect of the puthery weather, missing lunch and my low blood pressure. One of my companions kindly whipped out a cereal bar, providing me with the energy I needed to carry on. They really did have everything this group and it was lovely to be looked after by this wonderful community of people I had never met before this holiday.

Because of the hurried nature of this walking tour, the heat and the hanger, I didn’t feel I got to appreciate Kosovo as much as I would have liked; I wasn’t fully present. My companions spoke about how friendly the locals were, engaging us in conversation as we walked through their city. As we congregated outside a restaurant before boarding the bus back to Skopje, some of our group took seats outside at the front of the restaurant. My immediate thought was that they shouldn’t be taking up seats if we weren’t going to be eating there. But when the waiter came out, it wasn’t to tell them off – it was because he was curious. Where had we come from? What did we think of his city, his country? He volunteered information about how little he was earning and how he was struggling to survive and thinking of moving away.

I wish I’d had longer here to relax in the company of the locals and properly immerse myself in this city. But we were limited to a couple of hours before it was already time to leave.

Have you been to Kosovo? Do tell me your stories, as I’d love to learn more about first hand encounters.

Crossing the border to North Macedonia

We were soon back about our trusty bus and making our way out of Kosovo, across the border, back into North Macedonia and back to our hotel. We didn’t have much time before we were heading back out again for dinner. Yay dinner! I was starving!

What is Restaurant Dion like?

Restaurant Dion was a short walk from our Hotel Solun, in the direction of the main square. It was a treat to see the square lit up by night and I was delighted we had this opportunity.

This is a large restaurant and we were all seated at one long table for all 32 of us (plus our guide and driver, making 34). It was a bit fancy and spacious and I felt comfortable and looked after here. It was also here that we were presented with what was to be the most memorable and talked about dish of the whole trip.

I really ought to have included a coin for scale or taken this shot from a different angle to stress the mountainous quantity of tomatoes in this dish. Now I do like a tomato but this was, quite frankly, the most massive pile of tomatoes I had ever seen and it was impossible for me to finish. Sure, I was grateful for some speed food to assist with my SlimmingWorld plan, but this was taking speed food to extremes. That said, it was delicious, refreshing and healthy. There was just an awful lot of it! And that was just the starter!

Being part of such a large group – and not attaching myself to anyone in particular (despite having a small group of beer buddies for pub missions) – meant that my dinner companions differed with each meal. I did find that the people I sat with made a difference to my dining experience. Tonight’s company was certainly entertaining and I laughed a lot at the end of what was a brilliant day when we were grateful to be sitting down for a good meal.

Over dinner tonight, I learned that one of our party was infamous amongst the group for surreptitiously making himself packed lunches from breakfast items each morning. He had a lunchbox and everything. He’d then tuck into his sandwiches throughout the day. This was actually genius and we agreed he must have saved himself a fortune in lunches and service station snackage over the course of the week. If I’d had the foresight to do this myself today, I would have been much more comfortable and not hangry this afternoon. This is definitely something to consider for future trips.

As always, conversation turned to holidays we’d enjoyed, and I learned about the Lemon Festival in the South of France, which sounds and looks incredible.

On the subject of art, one of my pub buddies showed us this disturbing piece from his hotel room.

What a contrast today had been from Sofia! We had been warmly welcomed and genuinely fallen in love with two cities and two countries.

We took a slow stroll back to the hotel, enjoying Skopje by night. We would be leaving in the morning and we really wanted to stay; we hadn’t had nearly long enough here.

Back at the hotel, the garden terrace was rocking with what was apparently a party for a one year old. They really did love life here in Skopje.

Back in my room, preparing for bed, I heard a man coming up to his room next door singing his head off. I loved it here. Skopje was a city of pure joy. I smiled as I dropped off to sleep in yet another comfy bed.

Have you been to Skopje or Pristina? I’d love to hear your stories from your travels.

What did I learn today?

• The North Macedonia flag is a sun on a backdrop of blood.
• Skopje was destroyed by earthquakes.
• North Macedonian dogs are protective.
• Puthery is Staffs for muggy.
• Mother Teresa was born in Skopje.
• Ratchet belts are ideal if you want to ignore weight gain.
• Sometimes your passport is stamped, sometimes it’s not.
• The majority of Kosovars are Albanian.
• Serbia and Spain do not recognise Kosovo.
• Dua Lipa is from Kosovo.
• A çifteli is a traditional two-stringed instrument.
• I don’t like tomatoes quite that much.
• Making packed lunches from breakfast buffets is genius. Pack tupperware next time.
• Lemon Festival in France looks brilliant.

Is this part of a wider Balkans travel series?

Yes! If you want to start at the beginning you can find Day 1 here or navigate below or via the European Travel Diaries menu. The journey takes me from Romania, through Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Kosovo and Serbia, before heading back into Romania.