Two hours before checkout. Enough time to have one last
coffee and pack up. This is the end of my Balkan tour. I explored five
countries and over ten cities, opting for a guided tour this time, as a change,
and this gave me the chance to compare traveling with a tour and solo. As you
can imagine, solo travel beats traveling with a tour. However, there
are certain benefits of traveling with a group and an experienced tour guide
when it comes to the Balkans.
First of all, group travel allows you to cover more
countries in a limited time. Originally, I planned this trip for just Albania
with my sister. Then decided to extend our journey to Bosnia and Herzegovina
and Montenegro since we’re going to that part of the world anyway. But ended up
seeing Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Albania, Montenegro, and Macedonia. There
was no way I could’ve seen this many countries in such a short time and
actually understood where we are and what is the history behind them.
Also with the tour, we managed to visit some significant
places between cities, a luxury often missed when relying on public transportation.
When you’re traveling by bus or train, you kind of end up being stuck in the
city centre area or using a taxi for a bit further destination. But it
certainly does not give you the flexibility of traveling with a car. The
Balkans, in my opinion, are best explored either by renting a car or with a
tour, given its rich history. Of course, if you’re planning a beach holiday and
intend to stay in one location for a few days, then come by yourself. But our itinerary
focused on a cultural tour, allowing us only to explore the historically
important places.
There are a few downsides to traveling with a bunch of
people. It often involves a balance of rushing and waiting, leaving limited
time for in-depth exploration. For example, during my trip, I woke up at 6:45
sharp every day. And while we were seeing all those beautiful places, we had
only enough time to listen to the history behind them, walk around a bit, and
take a couple of photos. Then on to the next one. There’s no way you could
spend hours in one place you loved. Of course, you do have your ‘free time’
where you can explore more. But it's not enough for, for instance, visiting a
museum. You usually spend that time shopping, eating, and toilet breaks. Overall,
I didn’t really like having one to two free hours to spend in each city.
Serbia
Going through the country by country, I think my least favourite
has been Belgrad/Serbia. The reason why I didn’t like Serbia too much, apart from the sightseeing, was mainly because the
people there were somehow not very warm. Or let's say, a bit different than
what I’m used to. And I am not even comparing them to Turkish hospitality,
believe me. From the shop owners to the folks on the street, I hardly have seen
a smile. I think the only thing I liked about Serbia was the fro-yo (lol),
which was the first ever fro-yo I tried and the shop was quite good.
Bosnia- Herzegovina
Then Bosnia. Now, Bosnia is profoundly beautiful on its own.
But learning about their history definitely added depth to that experience. I
had the chance to listen to the war, what they’ve been through, and the
Srebrenica genocide from one of the war veterans. I've visited the ‘Tunnel of Hope’
they have engraved, in order to receive some aid from others. I saw amateur
video recordings from those days. They were hard to watch, but I am so glad
I’ve watched them. Visiting a country, and knowing the pain the people have
been through definitely is more meaningful than just wandering around the
streets and taking photos of pretty buildings.
I loved both Sarajevo and Mostar. No further words are needed-
they’re beautiful. Mostar was a bit more touristy, though. If a place prices
out things in euros rather than their national currency, you can tell that it
aims to attract tourists and is probably a few times more expensive. Bosnia
coffee, Bosnia kebap ‘cevapi’, and their pastry ‘burek’ are a must-try. Loved
the kebap and burek but didn’t like the coffee that much. To me, it resembles Turkish
coffee with a slight twist, but stronger.
But in general, I really enjoyed the food in the Balkans. A, it is halal, mostly. And B, perhaps the familiarity of the cuisines makes them particularly tasty to me. And the people were absolutely delightful. I usually try to talk to locals a bit to get a sense of culture, and I particularly enjoyed talking to people in Bosnia.
Montenegro
Then Montenegro. Here we visited Kotor and Budva. My
absolute favourite was Kotor. The Adriatic Sea view was so stunning that made
me definitely want to come back for some beach holiday one day. In both cities,
we did a lot of sightseeing and visited cute little shops. I drank one of the
best oat lattes here. In the Balkans, they usually make espresso, which tastes fine. But once you order different kinds of coffees, like cappuccino or latte,
the quality significantly decreases somehow. Maybe it's because of the milk, I
don’t know.
Albania
Then Albania. Albania was one of the cities I really wanted
to see. It was the main reason I wanted to travel to the Balkans. But since
we’ve only visited Tiran, the capital, and our free time was only an hour, I
didn’t really enjoy it. Because there was not much to see in Tiran, at least in
the central area. And I was not alone in thinking that. The espresso and Trilice were top notch though, I will definitely miss them.
A funny thing happened in Tiran. We were walking in
one of the main streets and my sister saw a street interviewer. They were
looking for someone to interview. Of course, I had to walk towards them.
The woman was holding a microphone while the man was using the camera. When
they saw me, the woman started to talk in Albanian but then changed to English
when she realised, I was just a tourist. She was holding a 50 euro banknote and
asked if I shaved my hair for that money. I said of course not, at least for
that amount, lol. She then asked me to tell 5 countries that start with the
letter ‘F’. I said France, Finlandia, and Fiji. The last one was with a little
help but I couldn’t find more. Later I found out, that there are only 3
countries that start with the letter ‘F’. Then the guy asked me how many
seconds in one hour. Dudeeeee. The woman was so disappointed when I earned that
50 bucks for such an easy question. But I walked away with a happy smile
thinking about what kind of comments my video will receive when they put it on
TikTok, lol.
Macedonia
Our last stop was Macedonia. Here, we visited Bitola, Skopje and Ohrid. Macedonia was also one of the faves in the Balkans. Ohrid Lake was an absolute beauty. I was very tired at this point and mildly sick but still managed to enjoy it. Since this was our last stop and we finished the bits with the tour guide earlier than usual, we had loads of free time in this country. And I did a lot of walking by myself in Skopje, which was the highlight of the trip for me. I also had the chance to visit the most beautiful mosque I've ever seen in my life, ‘Alaca Cami’, which is also known as ‘Colorful Mosque’ in English. The painting outside and inside was all organic and was the most magnificent pattern I’ve ever come across. It was also a bit different than traditional mosques, which might be the reason I absolutely loved it.
Also, some nice coincidences happened in Ohrid. I run into two different friends of mine from the UK. One of them was a Turkish friend from London, and I literally just bumped into him on the street, and we talked a bit. The other was an Italian friend from Swansea. He was a friend with whom I took one class and we stayed in touch but it's been many years since we talked the last time so I didn’t call his name in case it wasn’t actually him. Later when I texted, I found out it was him. And I promised him if I ever see him in another country, I'll say hi. Crazy small world.
Last words
I loved the Balkans in general, or at least the parts I've visited,
very much, and I would definitely want to come again, not for a whole tour but to
relax in a specific city. It is not only rich in history and culture; but also
boasts stunning nature. Everywhere you look, it is either green or blue.
Especially, with fall coming, as you travel from one country to another, you can
witness the beautiful colors of autumn on trees, and magnificent mountains-
sometimes foggy and scattered houses in the forest. The weather was also quite
warm and sunny until the last couple of days.
There are so many Turks living in the Balkans, especially in
certain parts of the cities, I didn’t feel like I was in a foreign country. In
fact, some neighborhoods are predominantly Turkish. The call to prayer, Adhan,
Turkish shops and cafes, Turkish tables around… And on the street, you don’t
hear anything but Turkish.
Communication was pretty easy. Most people speak English if
not Turkish. Currency conversion is not a problem, as long as you have some
euros, you are fine. It was also pretty safe, so no problem traveling solo. You
just have to figure out how to best use public transport etc, as some people
said it might not be very punctual or reliable.
As much as I like traveling with others, I enjoy my own
company more when it comes to exploring new places. This way, I can travel more
consciously. I like to discover the streets by myself, embracing the getting
lost and finding my way. I like to travel at my own pace. With others,
sometimes, you lose track and don’t even pay attention to which city you’re in
as you just follow the crowd.
Again, I believe, that taking a guided tour of the Balkans,
which has a very rich culture, was a wise decision, as learning its history was
an important part of this trip. Also, our tour guide, Turkan, was absolutely
amazing in enhancing the experience and making it more fun for us. I would’ve
loved history more if I had her as a teacher in school. However, I still don’t
think I would do another guided tour in the future.
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