Skopje!

Last year we had the opportunity to visit beautiful Skopje as part of our Balkan tour that later on continued to Albania and Montenegro. I feel that Skopje was surprisingly perfect for our needs at the time. It was early August 2018 when we started our travel from Wroclaw to Skopje. The most cheapest way was to take a bus to Budapest and fly to Skopje from there. After arriving to Skopje we were already in love with the city. The first afternoon we spend having lunch and coffee in the restaurants next to the river tasting local foods, wondering in the city and taking pictures of all possible statutes. In the central square the old meets modern technology in interesting and beautiful way. Skopje has to offer many different sides as we were spending the evening in the old town bazaar and Skopje Fortress listening to mosque near by.

Even though Skopje is a capital city, nature is still close. The second day, we decided to have a trip to Matka Canyon. We took a bus from the main station as a two way ticket. The bus was very full of tourists and locals and there was no air conditioning with the temperature over 35 degrees. We were already tired when the bus finally got to its destination. From the bus stop, it was still quite a walk to the actual canyon. At the canyon there are boat trips offered but we wanted to have a hike and ended up going further than any of the boat tours. The views were awesome! The nature and the canyon were so beautiful. We did not quite realize for how much we were actually walking and we started to get tired. We had plenty of water when we started but in the end we had almost nothing. Finally when we got back to the point where the canyon starts and the boat tours are offered we decided that we are too tired to get back to the bus stop and decided to take a taxi back to the city. Wonderful day! After the trip we had cevapi dinner in the old bazaar followed by some rakija and ice cream for dessert.

The next day was our last in Skopje. We decided to have breakfast with the locals and headed to the city for some burek with local youghurt. This day was all about relaxing and taking it easy, wondering the streets of the old bazaar and stopping for some tea at least few times. Skopje surprised me, I really fell in love with this city!

To see and feel Skopje even better, we created a video about our amazing trip:

-Camilla

5 reasons why I fell in love with Sarajevo!

This years holiday brought us to beautiful Sarajevo, the capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina. I had never before visited Bosnia and Herzegovina, but I must say I fell in love with the whole country. The picture perfect views started already before crossing the boarder from Serbia, the boarder river between these two countries in the mountains was amazing. The trip from the boarder to Sarajevo took a long time as the bus was driving small mountain roads, it was a perfect opportunity to see the countryside of Bosnia and Herzegovina as it differs a lot from the capital. Here are 5 reasons why I fell in love with Sarajevo!

1. Diversity
It has been said that Sarajevo is like European Jerusalem because of the city's diverse ethnic and religious makeup. By diversity I also mean many different kind of places to visit and see as a tourist. First walking in the old town bazaar, visiting mosque and ending up to Franz Ferdinand museum.

The Sebilj is a pseudo-Ottoman-style wooden fountain (sebil) in the centre of Baščaršija square in Sarajevo built by Mehmed Pasha Kukavica in 1753.

2. Bosnian coffee
We both fell in love with Bosnian coffee! We found a nice small coffee shop just next to the  Gazi Husrev-beg mosque. We were citing outside in the sun enjoying the coffee and seeing how the locals were spending their time, how the owner of the coffee shop was running orders to the mosque yard and the nearby inhabitants. We found a Bosnian coffee set to take home as a souvenir, now I'm able to have the great taste at home, only the atmosphere is missing.

Bosnian coffee

3. History
Sarajevo's history is diverse and bloody. From Ottoman city to assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria starting the first World War to the  longest siege of a capital city in the history of modern warfare, during the Bosnian War as part of the breakup of Yugoslavia. The history of Sarajevo and of Bosnia and Herzegovina is visible in the city by the architecture, the city is a mosaic of different times. Gallery 11/07/95 was breath taking experience, I truly recommend visiting and taking the audio guide!

Gallery 11/07/95

4. Food
Wondering on the old town bazaar area and having so many possible places you would like to eat in. Cevapi is my new love! I think that in the end I had already eaten so much that it was enough for the rest of the week. Cevapi is meat formed into finger size sausages served with somun bread, oninon and kaymak.  All prices in the Bosnia and Herzegovina were very low, one cevapi costed around 5 euros for a portion. 

First night eating cevapi

5. Atmosphere
I enjoyed the atmosphere cause I felt I am not in hurry to go anywhere, I was able to sit down, enjoy the coffee, cevapi and relax. The coffee shops and restaurants were full of locals enjoying their life. The locals were staying up late drinking coffee and smoking shisha, nobody was in the hurry to bed. 

-Camilla