Day 215 - Friday - 4/13/2012 - Bosnia Trip

 

Wanting to see as much countryside in the daylight as possible, we decided to set out at 6am!  We knew we had quite a drive ahead of us, but as you read you will see we were in for more than we realized!  We left Skopje by 6:30 in our rented Rio with our fearless driver Justin.

The first country we drove through was Kosovo.  We took a stop in the mountains for a photo.  Some of the mountaintops still had snow on them.  We drove through Prizren to catch the newly constructed Highway into Albania. This was our first experience (on this trip) with the difference of road sign presence in the region… you probably can guess from that statement that we missed the highway the first time by it. But the good news was we got to see this old bridge on the side of the road! It was an amazing bridge, you can see from the picture, that it was not a smooth road.

Kosovo mountains

Kosovo mountains

The amazing old bridge along the roadside in Kosovo

Our second border crossing was Kosovo to Albania…it was also our first of many animal road sightings!  Also at the border were several cows and calves. We don’t think that they were trying to cross it didn’t look like they brought their passports. The highway through Albania did prove to have a bit of a scene change. The mountains in Albania were more rocky than those in north west Macedonia and Kosovo.   One of our funniest moments during this trip happened in Albania. We had just come out of a long tunnel and and officer flagged us over to the side of the road.  He asked for identification. He spoke mostly Albanian, and my skills are not advanced enough yet to hold conversations about traffic and travel. Luckily Aryn speaks Albanian so she was able to communicate with the officer.  After asking her a few questions and looking at our passports, he asked Aryn if our driver Justin was trafficking us because according to him our passports didn’t look real, and Americans don’t take this road.  Aryn assured him that Justin was our friend and we were just traveling though.  As we drove away we got a good laugh about the whole incident, not because we thought the officer was incompetent, we appreciated his concern and question, more just that Justin would do something like that!  It gave us a good laugh!! For lunch we stopped in Shkoder, Albania.  We found a little place that was perfect for a lunch on the road.  When we ordered salads, the waiter quickly left and came back with vegetables… needless to say our salads were fresh!  Somewhere in Albania the nice new highway ended. When I say ended I mean it really was no more. It looks like they are working on constructing the rest of it, but for us that meant some pretty rough roads!  At times it was only dirt.  Also in Albania we saw our next farm animal on the road… a horse!

Our first animal encounter at the Kosvov-Albania border

Lunch time in Shkoder, Albania

Roads in Albania

More of the view in Albania

Church in a village

Cliff in Albania

Our next animal on the road - a horse

Crossing over into Montenegro was fairly uneventful. We went through a border crossing that is not traveled through by many so it was also fairly quick.  Skadar Lake is both in Albania and Montenegro. It is a beautiful lake surrounded by mountains.  We stopped here for a photo opportunity as well.  Along the narrow road over the mountains in Montenegro we saw our next farm animals, goats!  As we came over the mountain in Montenegro the beauty of the valley greeted us.  The grass was so green.  IN the afternoon we stopped for coffee in Pluzine National Park in the northern part of Montenegro, the gorge there was absolutely beautiful and the water was a beautiful shade of green/blue.  We continued on our journey.  In Albania the highway had been created by taking out the rock from the mountains to make a path, here in Montenegro there were more tunnels through the mountains.  Our crossing into Bosnia from Montenegro was probably the longest.  We were not sure at first if the border patrol just wanted us to wait, or if it was a computer related issue, but this was our longest border stop.  After assessing the situation more, we were fairly certain that this was just how this particular border worked. It is a very small crossing and not used by many, but cars coming into the border also were having to wait, so we decided that perhaps the computers were just a bit slower here. At any rate, we had crossed our final border for the day and were in Bosnia!

Skadar Lake on the Montenegro side

Stopping for a picture

GOATS!

Coming over the mountain in Montenegro

Pluzine, Montenegro

the tunnels in Montenegro

Our drive continued through very winding roads through mountains.  We had started our journey at 6am and it was now after 9pm… we were tired and a bit sore from sitting in the car all day, but as we drove into Sarajevo to find our hostel, I was filled with excitement for what the next day would bring.   We were in yet another country who has had independence for fewer years that I have been alive.  After over 15 hours of being in a car, we were at the hostel and ready for some sleep before our big day tomorrow!

Lesson: Traveling may bring unexpected experiences, however each brings new lessons and memories!