With a Motorbike in Balkan

 

Travelling with a motorbike requires a little more organization, as you need to find an accommodation with a parking space. Besides that, there were a few a little older people who also wanted a more organized trip. This is why I made a plan for the whole trip, introduced it to them and then we finally went on the road. We have kept with our plan on the road since we had some booked accommodations. We didn’t have any problem on the road, except for one flat tire.  

Most of the times we didn’t travel on the main roads and we kept away from the motorways. This is why we were travelling to Osijek through Varaždin. Osijek surprised us with a beautiful city centre and its position – it is right next to the River Drava, where we stayed a little longer. The fourth biggest city in Croatia is also called “The city on river Drava”, because it is connected to its coast in the whole length. There’s a pathway right on the coast and a bridge over it that is called The Bridge of Youth, lovers put locks on this bridge and lock their love. After seeing this interesting city, we drove towards Belgrade, and in a few hours we were there. We saw this Yugoslavian city in the evening. This too, had its charm. Because everyone already saw this city, which is one of the oldest in Europe, we only strolled through the city centre and the castle. The city is attractive for tourists because of its rich history. There are over 50 museums. But Belgrade isn’t known only for its history, but also for the cuisine, which doesn’t disappoint. You can’t really say know to čevapčiči in a lepinja bread with kaymak. Great food goes well with great parties on so called rafts on the river Danube. 

 

I also insisted that we travel to Kosovo. The country doesn’t really have much tourists because of the unrests. Only few decide to visit this poor country. Kosovo is an independent country after many years of fighting for it. You can see the poor with some wealth here and there. And “there” is usually in its capital city Priština. After crossing the border between Serbia and Kosovo, we were faced with a lot of neglected areas with lots of trash and bad roads. What we had to do when crossing the border is pay the insurance, which cost us 20 € per a motorbike. We did that in Mitrovica, where you can see a lot of protest remainders. A lot of dirt and sand waited us on the road, which we could drive past. Our next stop was the capital of Kosovo, Priština. The city surprised us with its modern look and its orderliness. And with a lot higher prices than anywhere in the country. Complete opposite to the rest of the country. You can find more information about this country in my article for the online newspaper Globetrotter. 

 

Before we even started travelling, we decided that our main goal is Lake Ohrid. But we also stayed in Skopje for a while. We couldn’t get enough of the many statues in the city centre. You can see statues anywhere you look. The city left good impact on us, the people were kind and the prices were low. Our main destination was Lake Ohrid. It is a huge lake that reminds of the sea. Some even call it Balkan Pearl because of its beauty. We stayed right next to the lake in the city Ohrid, which lies on the northeast coast of the lake and is one of the most beautiful Macedonian cities. The lake lies on the Albanian border, 695 metres above the sea. It is 31 kilometres long and 15 kilometres wide. It specialty is also its depth, the deepest point is 288 metres deep. The water is so clean that you can see even 20 metres deep. There are 17 different species of fish in the lake. The most known and the most tasty is Ohrid Trout. We had to try it ourselves and we can say that it’s very tasty. 

 

Travelling to Albania was, despite bad roads in Kosovo, great. But in Albania, we soon realized what a bad road really means. Holes were around half a metre big and on the road, there were waggons with horses or donkeys. And then there were locals, who don’t really know and traffic rules. Three main destinations in Albania were Tirana, Berat and Durres. Tirana surprised us by being organized and the biggest traffic jams in the centre. Berat, the historic town that we also call the city of thousand windows was also beautiful. We expected the city by the coast, Durres a little bit differently. We expected a little bit more organized city, according to the touristic advertising. But we got a sandy beach in a very bad state. On one side, Albania gave us a feeling that we went back to the past and on the other hand, we can see the rich buildings being built and the expensive cars. 

 

Beautiful coast, charming cities, dark forests, high mountains and excellent food. All this surprised us in Montenegro. As a nature lover I also included Durmitor. This is definitely the most beautiful part of Montenegro for the nature lovers. The road from Podgorica to Durmitor lead us through beautiful forests, mountain paths and valleys. Because we were there in the end of May, there was also a lot of snow. The roads were cleaned and this meant that we were driving in the snow tunnels. It is a really special experience, being surrounded by snow walls, that were up to 2 metres high. The area of Durmitor National Park really left a mark on us. Untouched nature, nice roads, cleanliness, kind locals, a view on the mountains and the gorge of river Tara. It is a place that we simply have to go back. 

 

On our way home, we crossed south Bosnia and Dubrovnik. We only drove through Bosnia, as this was the closest road to Dubrovnik, which was also one of the destinations to visit. It’s really worth it to visit this historic coastal city. We travel back home and visited Zadar and then went on the motorway because it started raining.. We booked a few accommodations before we left and some we booked on our trip. Because of the low price, tidiness and kind staff, I recommend these accommodations: Hostel in Berat in Albania, hostel in Tivat in Montenegro, hostel in Belgrade, hostel in Dubrovnik in Croatia.