Balkans

2014-05-19

Photos & Audio Recording

Before I put this blog to rest, I wanted to post some links to a few photo albums and the audio recording of the last concert in Bosnia. I came back with just under 4,000 photos. It took several full days to go through all of them, and they ended up in a couple albums on Facebook. If you’re interested, you can check out Part I and Part II.

I also uploaded a recording of the last concert in Bosnia to SoundCloud. It’s not the best quality (it was taken on an iPhone in the middle of the audience), but it is certainly better than nothing!

2014-05-13

Last Day

Our last full day in The Balkans was an early one. We left by about 8am to head down to the old city where we took a cable car to the top of the mountain overlooking Dubrovnik. The view at the top was pretty awesome. There was also a small military structure at the top of the hill which has since been turned into a museum. The museum outlined the military attacks that caused major destruction to the city back in 1991.

2014-05-13

Dubrovnik

Saturday morning we had a relatively early breakfast at the hotel before departing for Dubrovnik. The ride was relatively uneventful aside from traveling on a large “taxi” boat that transported our bus and us all over to the other side of a body of water.

Upon arriving in Dubrovnik, we were dropped off at the old city where we had some time for lunch before taking a guided tour of the city walls. Actually the guided tour was optional, so a few of us decided to bag the tour and explore the walls ourselves. The thought was that we wouldn’t really remember most of thee information presented on the tour anyways and we wanted some freedom to explore at our own pace. I heard the tour went well, but either way, the views along the city walls were incredible. The combination of the blaring sun and extensive walking really tired us out.

2014-05-12

Beach

Friday we had free time until about 4pm. It was a much needed breather from the busy itinerary we have had to go through thus far. After a leisurely morning at the hotel which involved (relatively) sleeping in and eating breakfast, a few of us went on a run down the the old city. We had traveled the path last night, but it was definitely different during the day. Luckily it wasn’t too hot yet in the morning.

2014-05-11

Budva

Thursday was another relatively long day of traveling on the bus. We had some breakfast at the hotel in Tirana before making our way to Montenegro. Although before we arrived, we made what was supposed to be a quick stop for lunch in Shkoder, Albania. We ended up all going to to a San Francisco restaurant — and you can imagine what happens when fifty some people arrive at the same restaurant. Either way, the food alright and we finished up in a half hour or so.

2014-05-09

Boat and Tirana

I would say most of the people on the trip are borderline addicted to their phone — myself excluded. But it is what it is; that’s just our culture nowadays. Still, I think there’s a bit of a problem when the first thing someone does when they get to a hotel is search for WiFi. I had this conversation with some people a few days ago, and we agreed to not use our phones for a day. Anyways, I bring all this up because I didn’t blog yesterday, so I’m behind by like a day or so. Bear with me as I bring you up to date.

2014-05-07

Ohrid Lake

Monday was definitely the highlight of the trip so far, so I was a little concerned as to how the rest of the trip was going to compare. But Tuesday was really great as well.

The hotel is about three miles or so away from the city center, so after breakfast at the hotel, our tour bus dropped us off near the city center, and we had free time for most of the day until about 4pm. The city of Ohrid is incredible — mostly because it is surrounded by a lake, but also because the city itself I so scenic.

2014-05-07

Matka Canyon

Today was the best day by far. Partly because of the club on Sunday night which I forgot to mention in the last post. But since that experience didn’t technically begin until Monday morning (apparently people don’t start partying until late here), I suppose we can group that in with today’s events.

At any rate, after a few hours of sleep and breakfast at the hotel, we were on our way to the Matka Canyon, one of the seven natural wonders of the world. The experience was awesome, and unfortunately we only had under an hour to explore. I definitely could have stayed there for an entire day — on a trail that was at least a couple hours long from what I understand. But either way, it was still awesome, and I’m hoping that I got some good pictures (I certainly took a lot).

2014-05-06

Exploring Skopje

After a breakfast in the hotel (not as good as the buffet in Sofia, but still pretty good), we drove into the city center for a two hour walking tour. I’m not going to go into details of the tour — partly because I don’t remember anything — but I did take a bunch of pictures throughout the tour that you can check out when I get back.

Skopje is in the middle of a 2014 cultural/historical/architectural renovation period that is funded by the Macedonian government from what I understand. The process involves restoring historical buildings, installing new statues and overall — instilling a greater sense of cultural pride. I think one of the main reasons for embarking on this project is to bring in more tourists to a country/city in which tourism is not as prevalent as other areas in Europe.

2014-05-04

Customs, Currency and Skopje

We left earlier than originally planned Saturday morning on our way to Skopje, Macedonia. The bus ride was going to be several hours, and given that we were going to have to pass through customs, we wanted to get a head start. I slept through most of the ride, so I’m actually not sure exactly how long the whole process took us, but it seemed like a pretty smooth ride.