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🖖... No, Not "The Vulcans"🖖, I said, "The Balkans". 

So, here I am on the other side of the Adriatic Sea, East of the Italian peninsula. Exploring the Balkans. At first it was only going to be Albania, then I added Macedonia, then just keep going north and circle back around to Italy.

This marks the end of my travels through the Balkans, south to north: Albania, Macedonia, Croatia, and Slovenia.        The journey continues in Northern Italy.

Country #4: Slovenia

February 20, 2024 - Tuesday 

I spend one day in Zagreb then decided to head back to Italy. To get to Italy you have to cross Slovenia. The bus I took went through the capitol city of Ljubljana. I was only on the ground for 20-minutes. Passport control in and out of the country on that 4-hour trip was surprisingly easy. I really enjoyed the scenery. Deer in the meadows. The first town in Italy was Trieste and I was there to change from riding a bus to getting on a train. 

Fields of rolling green hills in Slovenia, forests, deer. 

A typical farm in Slovenia. 

Train Station in Trieste, Italy. Blue skies again.

The park/square outside the Trieste train station

Country #3: Croatia

February 19, 2024 - Monday 

After a morning coffee here in Zagreb, Croatia it was time to go out and get a pastry. I am impressed in what was available and especially enjoyed what I walked away with. From there it was off to town on a trolly to see what I could. 

One of the trams in Zagreb at night.

Like ants, these blue electric trolleys shuttle hundreds of people around each hour, all day and much of the night. Tracks along booth sides of each street. 

Always a lot of people waiting/riding/going places. 

The skyline, mostly modern but the sun staying away. 

An old car, a steeple, and typical buildings along a street. 

Flags and coats of arms on a church roof? Something flying around the steeple on both pics above. 

Isolated in the square stands this church of an unknown god.

Votive candles for two friends. The lady at the far right had 30-candles and focused on her mission of offering a calling for help for each request that was being lit. 

Two candles for two of my friends.

This structure is called the stone arch, in front is an alter. To the left is a set of benches with people praying and in front of them the votive candles are lit for devotion. In the far right corner is where nuns in brown robes have a small store where they have various sized candles. 

The glow of a hidden sun.

On a cold day, the town square has only a few pedestrians. The outdoor cafes are almost abandoned but inside indoor ones are active with people chatting and enjoying coffee and pastries. I am quite impressedwith the pastries here. Very good and in a much different style that what I saw through Italy. 

Que carga manita. Even though I am no longer in Italy, everyone in the Balkans has been selling Pizza. It does not look like a pizza you would recognize. 

A skeleton outdoor market on this cold day. The tall two tall things are scaffolding of new construction.

A church on one side of the market.

A huge basilica  type type of church being give a facelift. 

February 18, 2024 - Sunday - A travel day by plane from Skopje, Macedonia to Zagreb, Croatia

I arrived in Zagreb at dusk. Flying in the farms and farmland seems large and modern. Arriving into the city all I can see is either new buildings or many building under reconstruction and remodel. A city being rebuild. Yet, when I walked through streets everything was closed being Sunday evening.

The taxi drivers, like in the rest of the world, let the buyer beware. I should have taken an Uber. Here is the first place that has Uber since I started my trip. 

Country #2: "North" Macedonia

Macedonia is much cleaner than Albania. I rode in to Macedonia on a bus, along a river, through and over mountains and canyons. The mountains and farmlands in the valleys were Beautiful even with no leaves on the trees. 

February 17, 2024 - Saturday - Skopje - The Capitol of Macedonia

Today I took a bus from Skopje up to "Matka Kanyon". There is a Dam that forms this miles long lake in a narrow canyon. The tour I was on took a full-hour round trip, including walking into the cave near the upper end of the lake/reservoir and the return to the starting point. Since I didn't see any electric power lines and generators, I am guessing that the reservoir is for domestic water for the areas around Skopje.

I got my morning coffee fix here. Twice the price of in town. 

A view back to town and to the Dam.

We will be going up that canyon. 

One of the boat launch piers.

Various boats for cruises. Also smaller canoes and kayaks for riding the water in a warmer season.

Glass-like water surface. Pure, clean. 

Mouth of the cave.

The boat captain starting the generator for lights. Stone Gabians on the left wall. 

Stairs to get back out of the cave.

Almost stalagmites. 

A water pool inside the cave inside the rock cliffs.

One of the smaller caves inside the cave. There is water in those dark holes. 

A narrow section of the canyon.

The mouth of the canyon as you get closer to the cave. In the shadow of the cliff, it is cold on the boat at 9:00am.

Difficult to translate what I see directly but the stillness of the water between the wake of the boat and the canyon wall leaves a visual illusion that your brain struggles to understand. What is solid and what is reflection. 

You can see the reflection of the rock wall on the water. 

The water is so clear. 

End of the ride, walking down the trail back to find a ride to town. I ended up having to pay a taxi 1,000 denar. It is Sunday and the buses stop running. So, rather than walk 15km...
The dam infrastructure is barely visible in the background.

This is an example of what I had for lunch after the canyon trip. 

February 15, 2024 - Friday - Skopje 

BTW - Macedonia, through dozens of civilizations, has existed since about 7,000 BCE. 

An ancient stone bridge crossing the Vardas river connects Macedonia Square on the right bank and the Old Skopje Bazaar on the left bank of the river. Originally a Roman bridge it was replaced during the Byzantine period, 600 AD. (TMI: The Byzantine Empire was a medieval Eastern Roman Empire that lasted from the 5th to the 15th century.)

Alexander the Great. A soldier from age 20. He died in Egypt at age 33 having conquered most of the Roman Empire by then. 

Phillip II, Alexander's father on top. At the base of the fountain, Olympias (his mother), Alexander, and Phillip (his father).

Alexander's father, Phillip II - his back side.

A horse's big behind.There is some significance about a horse standing
on two legs in a sculpture. Victorious in Battle. On the mountain in the background, there is a cross. From the base of the mountain there is a cablecar/teleferico that runs 4km to the top. 

The most dedicated dog on this tour.
The current Macedonian flag in the background on a windless day. 

Nope, not Calcutta, but this is the city where Mother Teresa was born. Here house is gone but this is a memorial to her in a more touristic place than the house site. Where the house was there is a plaque marking the site.  

Alexander the Great

La Teresa

More sculptures on the edge of the Varda River that runs through Skopje.

More guys, more important dogs.

A black dog following the walking tour.
A bunch of important guys.

February 14, 2024 - Thursday evening after a bus trip from Gevgeljia

A short 2-1/2 hours by bus from Gevgeljia to Skopje. Lots of vineyards and open fields on rolling hills. I arrived into the city of Statues, everywhere. Skopje, Macedonia.

This is the first tourist friendly sign I have seen in a long while.

The night lights highlight this sidewalk sculpture of a shoe shine guy.

Out my hotel window you see the main "plaza" with the long shadows of the early morning sunshine. In the far background there is a castle to explore.

February 14, 2024 - Wednesday - A brief few hours in Gevgeljia

As I moved farther east and south into Macedonia the landscape changes to one of Vinyards and wineries. I went as far south Gevgeljia, 1km from the border with Greece. 

Getting to Gevgeljia included getting off one bus at dusk and waiting by this sign in the dark for 30-minutes for my next mini-bus to stop for me.

Outwardly benign, this pic hosts a stork nest. It sits on top of the power pole. Storks migrate from Africa for a few months each year.

Maquinaria: This firewood processing machine is a symbol of recycling, repurposing, ingenuity, and creativity. 

February 14, 2024 - Wednesday - Travel day to Gevgeljia

A 4-hour bus ride from Albania into Macedonia.

February 13, 2024 - Tuesday - Lake Ohrid

A short bus ride the 14km to Ohrid on the lake. There are a few things to see, both from shore and from the water. This town is very touristic. 

The lake shoreline in the town of Ohrid. Lake Ohrid is a huge lake. 9-1/2 miles wide. It is about 930-feet deep. Not quite un cualquier charquito.   

The Eastern Orthodox church on the rocks on the left is called S. Jovan or St John at Kaneo next to the village of Ohrid.

St John at Kaneo (church)- Closer up
Also named St John the Theologian

The backside of the rocky point where the church is. Lovely clouds, amazing lake.

The water in this lake is nice. I had a trout from here for supper. Well done. 
I still liked the one from Lake Titicaca in Peru better though. 

A nice sunny day but cold. 

Some guy in a park. 

Another example of architecture. Arches, columns, rocks, bricks. 

Have I mentioned this lake is Huge? 

Looking down upon St. Jovan from on high. An old fashioned Kodak Moment.

Two stone masons chiseling out rock for a new project. These guys do amazing things with rock.

An semi-excavated amphitheater (without gladiators)

The Ohrid lakefront with more locals having coffee and tea. 

 

Changing gears here, I got to play in the dirt. Short story - On the local bus back from Ohrid to Struga, I sat next to this lady. She heard me speak english and asked where I was from. Turns out, she speaks something like 5-languages, and she is a tour guide. This morning she had been in Ohrid trying to sell guided tours. I told her I was tired of city tours and wanted to get in touch with "real people". So, we talked each other into getting together in the afternoon and going to play in the dirt. 

We were going to get a taxi but found a local bus going our way so we went to a small village where she knew several people, including the bus driver. We got directions to different farms to talk to people about what they did. She turned out to be a perfect interpreter and a great guide to boot. 

A recently plowed field, black rich soil with a lot of humus, ready for discing and planting.

One of the farms, corn stored in the cribs on the right, hay in the barn loft.

Grafted and pruned apple trees under drip irrigation. 

My Guide: Veska Mandovska - 66-years young.
MD, (really a doctor), tour specialist,
Smiling face, showing off her neighboring farming village.

Without my shadow in the pic, Veska showing off an apple orchard from the roadside.

More apple trees, pruned, maybe 1,000 trees per acre when grown this way. 

Hasta Charcos.
Open fields everywhere.

Barns - a lot of corn on the cob in the right one and hay in the loft.

Soquete y Charcos

My guide chatting with a local farmer. He was hauling barn sludge to fertilize his garden.
She is shorter than the tractor.

A nice man, 69-years old. Made his money in New Jersey and came home with his wife to build his house and farm. Cool tools, welders, torches, grinders, you name it baby. 

My new farmer friends in front of their shop.

This is the house they built with their American savings. He grafts his own trees. My kind of guy. 
It isn't how much money you make... It is what you do with it...

February 12, 2024 - Monday - Struga

Drita bus lines brought me through the border checkpoint without any issues. The bus was relatively small holding about 16-people. The driver let me off on the side of the road in Struga and I walked to my new hotel. No tourists here now, the off season, so rates for a very nice room are $60/night. 

I already locked up my ATM card by using the wrong PIN. With no new cash, I converted about $7 USD that I had in Albanian Lek to Macedonian Denar. I was hungry and stopped in for a Halal meal at an Islamic cafe. I told the owner's son (all the young people speak english), No Denar for Dinner. He asked how much I had so I showed him. He said, you have enough. My lunch cost me about $3.50. 

Walking around, here is what I saw: 

Struga, Macedonia: Łąkę Ohrid - there is snow in the mountains. The border crossing from Albania is about where that snow is up there. 

Several bridges cross the Black Drin (river) where water flows out of Lake Ohrid. It is odd to see water flowing north. 

North shore of Lake Ohrid looking east.

North shore of Lake Ohrid looking west. No tourists in the off-season.

View north from my hotel balcony

View looking south from my room. 

 

Country #1: Albania

This is Valentina. She was the breakfast coffee maker at the hotel I stayed in in Tirana, Albania. Her smile... Maybe happy to see me go to Macedonia this morning? 

This place has a lot of Communist history. Everyone I spoke to here seems to be glad to be done with it. They are very strong on Capitalism and Democracy, even though politics everywhere is the same, bad - bad - worse. I sense a dark grey shadow of their past but they are wonderfully kind and proud. 

February 11, 2024 - Sunday 

A rainy day didn't make me blue. I was able to join a guided walking tour around Tirana. After seeing all the sights, there is no need to stay here much longer. While the people are friendly and helpful, some of the history is quite ugly. Lots of others have ruled here, and WWI and WWII cleared out old buildings so it is a relatively new architecture. But one thing that is left is old war bunkers. I toured through one and it was not good to see. That aside, my group was two couples from España and the local guide was fluent in Spanish. The cost of living here is amazing. $5.00 for a new screen cover for my iPhone, installed. In a conversation with a traveler, he is renting a furnished apartment for $650 per month. 

After the morning walking tour for which I had to stop to buy an umbrella, I had a good lunch and found a hot prospect for a bus ride to another country in the morning. A 4-hour ride. Uh, maybe not like Gilligan's Island...

Building Highrise Tower at the center of town.
My tour started here. 

The center of Tirana where my tour group met outside the Opera House. The building under construction in the distant center is really an apartment complex, to-be. 

Horse monument, Tower of odd proportions. Pretty interesting shape and color.

Even workers are memorialized.

Lunch of Souvlaki made from chicken.  

A big horse

The bunker, vehicle, and mini-guard tower. They use these for a purpose called Bunk Art. 
Very creepy. 

A 4x4 outside the bunker.

Inside the bunker that creeped me out. 

Inside a Mosque, without shoes. 

Tower outside the mosque

Eastern Orthodox Church

Lit two votive candles for someone I know who likes them more than me.

Walking home from supper tonight, the open air market fruits and veggies were so much more brilliant after a rain with the lights. I picked up a handful of white grapes, cost me 20 Lek, about 20-cents. 

Supper tonight: (no pics) Fresh sardines in Olive oil w/ lemon juice, Greek salad with real Feta cheese, and grilled seafood. 

February 10, 2024 - Saturday 

Arriving on Saturday evening after 12-hours of travel, it is time to rest. Maybe find a tour for Sunday, decide if I want to stay more than two nights. The hotel guy at the front desk said he has a friend with an e-car and can give me a tour of much of Albania for not much money. 

I hear it is snowing in Central NM. Rain and fog in Rome and lots of turbulence on the approach into the fog in Tirana, Albania.

Here the population is 59% Muslim, pretty standard for this part of the world. After supper I stopped for a coffee before heading back to my room. I overheard some younger kids (mid 20's? ) speaking Spanish so I engaged them in conversation. There were working in Italy but came over to Albania for a few days of vacation. It turns out that they are from Ecuador.  

This is a common brand name of Petrol station.
A golden Goat head inside a warrior's helmet.
Kastrati means what you think it means? A private concern?
What that has to do with fuel I don't know yet but:
 

Kastrati is a historical Albanian tribe and region in northwestern Albania. Sometimes we make assumptions without gathering the facts. 

See the traffic light up ahead? Well, the whole pole changes color with the signal light.
If you miss that...
Very cool to see the poles down the street as they change from green to yellow to red, as far as you can see. 

Red Traffic Light

Green Traffic Light