From Sarajevo, we literally didn't have an exit plan because we couldn't make a decision on which direction to head. We thought about going south towards Mostar, Bosnia and Hercegovina (BiH), then Montenegro, then Albania, but we found out that Albania does not allow public transportation to cross its borders from some of the other Balkan states. It didn't sound like something we wanted to hassle with.
We considered taking a more off-the-beaten-path route, but again, cross-country transportation outside of major cities is sparse and lodging unreliable.
We really wanted to raft down the super-deep Tara Canyon river in Montenegro, then go east through Kosovo, then Serbia, but getting to and out of Tara Canyon sounded like it would take many extra days. Also, we're very glad we didn't do this route because Serbia would not have allowed entry had we gone through Kosovo first. It has to do with territorial disputes about Serbia's claim over Kosovo, and it's complicated, but Serbia considers going through Kosovo first, an illegal border crossing.
We considered taking a more off-the-beaten-path route, but again, cross-country transportation outside of major cities is sparse and lodging unreliable.
We really wanted to raft down the super-deep Tara Canyon river in Montenegro, then go east through Kosovo, then Serbia, but getting to and out of Tara Canyon sounded like it would take many extra days. Also, we're very glad we didn't do this route because Serbia would not have allowed entry had we gone through Kosovo first. It has to do with territorial disputes about Serbia's claim over Kosovo, and it's complicated, but Serbia considers going through Kosovo first, an illegal border crossing.
Basically, we've considered several different itineraries each time, but most are eliminated due to transportation or border crossing issues. The places we've been during the past 2 weeks represent the path of least resistance.
These Balkan states use their the borders to exert control over long-standing conflicts between each other, and affects how a person travels through these parts for sure. Call it naive, but until we got to the Balkans, we had no idea about any of the situations between these countries. It's a relatively small area, so we thought traveling would be as easy as going through Western Europe. Not so. Not only are there border considerations, the train travel is archaic at best, making for a very slow and long train ride. Buses are decent, but there aren't any nice highways and interstates. 2-lane mountain roads pocked full of holes, sharing the lane with tractors, sheep, and bicycles is the norm around here. So, bus rides usually take as long as trains.
Anyone planning to travel through the Balkans should study-up on the transportation situation and border crossings between countries. At least most of these countries do not require a visa so that's one less headache.
And, for the hardcore hitch hiking backpackers, don't stray too far from the roads around here because we've been told there are still plenty of land mines buried.
FROM SARAJEVO TO BELGRADE
From Sarajevo, we decided our next destination in the Balkans would be Belgrade, Serbia. We had the usual transportation options. A 9-hour bus ride or a 10-hour train ride, both for approximately $30/pp.
Until, Mike accidentally came across some information during his research about a minivan service from Sarajevo to Belgrade for ~$40/pp, with door front pick-up and drop-off, and takes only 5 hours. He emailed GEa Tours (based out of Belgrade), which told him he had to call them to make reservations. After they took our reservation over the phone, we were told that they would call us back later to confirm a pick-up time, and needed a call back number.
This call back number requirement posed a problem for us because we've been using Skype to make outbound calls, but cannot receive incoming calls. Unfortunately, our AT&T international plan has been marginal in receiving calls. We can't figure it out, but sometimes it works (as it did in Spain and Tangier), and sometimes calls will not come through. Our apartment in Sarajevo didn't have a phone either.
As it turns out, their calls never came through, so when we called them to confirm, this very-promising transportation deal nearly fell through because GEa Tours insisted we needed a reliable phone number or else the driver would not be able to find us and pick us up the next day. We suggested we could be at a certain place at any time, but they didn't want to hear it. Ugh! We almost gave up and resigned to taking the 10-hour train the next day, but after one more pleading with GEa Tours, they agreed to pick us up at 9:30 am from Hotel Europe lobby in Sarajevo.
There were 6 passengers in this minivan. It was a luxury to be dropped off at our hostel in Belgrade. With just a 15-minute bathroom break, this journey was cut in half to 5 hours and well worth the money, and we're glad it all worked out at the end. GEa Tours offer shuttle services to other cities to/from Belgrade as well. (FYI: they only take Euros).
As soon as we left Sarajevo, we entered a part of BiH called the Republic of Srpska, where primarily the Orthodox Bosnian Serbs live. As soon as we entered Srpska, the minarets from the mosques - so ubiquitous in the rest of BiH - disappeared from the landscape.
The Serbian border was a small outpost next to a few homes along a 2-lane country road. We got a few good stares and questions from the police, as it was probably unusual for an American and Japanese to be in a minivan with a bunch of Bosnians or Serbians.
BELGRADE TO SKOPJE, MACEDONIA
We then headed to Macedonia via train from Belgrade for yet another 10-hour ride (seems to be the theme). For tickets, we highly recommend going to the Wasteels booth and letting Mr. Popovic, who speaks English and 4 other languages well, help you. The train ride was long (11-hours) but uneventful. There were no reserved seats. We shared our compartment with 3 Germans traveling along the same areas we were. The border crossing into Macedonia occurred around the 9th hour and they let us in.
The train station in Skopje, Macedonia was totally unmarked. The only reason we knew we arrived was because it looked like a big station. It was a dark, concrete structure that was very empty, with shadows lurking around. Very scary looking, not to mention the bathrooms...This was our first 'welcome' to Macedonia. At that point, we knew we were no longer anywhere close to Europe. In fact, as soon as we walked out of the train station, we had flashbacks to South America. The area looked run down and sketchy, taxi drivers accosting us, and just generally third-world.
However, we don't want to scare anyone off from Macedonia. It's one of the poorer South European countries, and though they've been independent from Yugoslavia since 1991, they've been at war until just recently in 2001 over Albanian grievances, so it takes time to dig themselves out of all this mess. We think that in 5-10 years, Skopje will be just as alive and inviting as any other modern European city.
We were pleased to see that the bus station right next door was much nicer. It even had a casino attached! Although nothing was written in English, we were able to purchase our bus tickets to Ohrid for the next day from a nice Macedonian ticket agent who spoke good English. They were also very helpful in getting us on the correct bus the next day.
We only stayed overnight in Skopje to break up our trip to Ohrid Lake, so we didn't get to see much of this capital city of Macedonia, but our accommodations were great. For $67/double, Hotel Anja was situated right in the heart of the main cafe/restaurant scene by the river and next to the city square. Although housed in yet another communist-era concrete behemoth of a building with no character, the rooms were very clean, modern and comfortable. We particularly enjoyed the restaurant downstairs where they gave us our first beers for free on the house, and free breakfast in the morning.
Macedonia was the only country that peacefully negotiated independence from Yugoslavia; however, Serbia and Macedonia do not care for each other, as we quickly discovered by way of trying to exchange currency. We tried to be proactive and get some of our Serbian dinar exchanged to Macedonia denar while we were still in Belgrade. Every exchange place made a face and said nobody will exchange to this currency. At least we had the forethought to exchange our Serbian dinar to Euros (most places love to get their hands on Euros), because when we arrived in Macedonia, it was the same thing. They made faces and said absolutely they would not take Serbian money.
To emphasize the extent of the animosity between these countries, we were reading some reviews of the Museum of Macedonian Struggle in Skopje (which we didn't have time to visit). An Irish person wrote, "There is no end to the battle. These guys are worse than my compatriots in Ireland". 'Nuff said.
There's conflict along the Macedonian border with Greece also. Apparently, it is best not to utter "Macedonia" around the Greeks because it represents the ancient name for the northern part of Greece that the Macedonians 'stole' from them. Greece made them change their official name to the Former Yugoslavia Republic of Macedonia.
Rodney King's, "Why can't we all just get along?!", keeps flashing through my mind; but obviously, it's far more complex beyond comprehension.
This part of our trip has been the best living history lesson for us, and have really enjoyed learning a lot about the Balkans. We will pay attention to this part of the world with much more interest than we ever had in the past.
