Author: bristolianbackpacker

Falling in Love With Montenegro

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We arrived in Ulcinj in mid-afternoon when the sun was shining and the wind was blowing. We headed down to the beach, where in the summer it’s packed with holiday-makers, mainly Albanian and Serbian, although also well known for German sun-seekers too. On this cool February afternoon, the resort is like a ghost town: shops and restaurants with shutters pulled down, holiday apartments with broken windows, empty beaches apart from a few odd people walking their dog or taking a stroll. I picture it in the summer: the hustle bustle of people looking for a good spot of sand, ice …

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Kosovo: Politics and Partying

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Kosovo:  Europe’s newest country (although still not recognised as a country by Serbia – they still count it as part of Serbia, making border crossings somewhat complicated depending where you are coming from). Border crossings aside, we arrived and found ourselves at a very lively hostel, the busiest one we’ve stayed at so far on our travels through low season. We headed out for food, it was very cheap with big portions, although the price of beer was a bit more than we’ve had in other places. One thing that you will notice about Kosovo is their love of NATO, …

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Serbia: Belgrade and Beyond

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Like a lot of the other countries we’d visited, I didn’t know much about Serbia, or its history (in fact, I didn’t know much about any of the former Yugoslavia countries and how they all came to be independent), so I wasn’t sure what to expect when arriving in Belgrade. Belgrade It’s a capital city with a buzz, that’s for sure. The nightlife is excellent– although we never went ‘clubbing’ as such, we had a few nights bar-hopping until about 3am and drinking the local beer with some local people which was a lot of fun. As mentioned in my …

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Sunny Saturday in Belgrade

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Inside the Kalemegdan Citadel in Belgrade lies a park full of history, stunning views, and a sense of tranquility away from the buzz of the city. We happen to be here on a Saturday when the sun is shining and winter is beginning to leave the city, early spring is making its mark. It’s the weekend of the Serbian National Holiday known as Statehood Day; remembering the country’s revolution against the Ottoman Empire and gaining independence. Historic Richness is mixed with nature as the sunlight casts itself over war paraphernalia and the Military Museum. Outside the citadel, the town is …

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Snowy Macedonia

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We arrived in Macedonia’s capital of Skopje at 5am after getting a night bus from Tirana. The journey was smooth and we passed through some amazing snowy mountains. However, as with many long coach journeys, I often find it difficult to sleep. Therefore, arriving at 5am, Mitch and I were both a bit tired and simply wanted to crawl into a bed. Although we knew we’d be arriving early, we hadn’t arranged early check in at our apartment/guesthouse. So instead we thought we’d wonder around the city. Even though it was 2 degrees, it looked pretty damn beautiful at that …

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Adventures Around Albania

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When telling my friends that I was going to Albania, there were primarily two reasons that they knew the country. Firstly, when I was 18, before heading off to University, we embarked on a summer holiday to Corfu; from there we could see this other land across the sea which we found out was Albania, a strange place we knew little about but liked to call it ‘Albaniaaaaaaa’ after a few drinks. The second reason people seem to know about the country is ‘Taken’, where Liam Neeson’s daughter is kidnapped by some Albanian men. Although after catching some of this …

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