Last Updated on February 12, 2024 by Travelationship
August was hot and ahhhmazing. We spent part of it in the Balkans and the rest in Greece. We were happily surprised by how much we loved the Balkans. North Macedonia and Albania should be on your must-visit list. And now is the time to go before they blow up with tourists. If you are a road tripper, these areas are perfect for you. The countryside and cities are beautiful, less crowded, cheap, and easy to navigate.
It’s been a while since new places wowed us, and the Balkans and the Baltics (in July) impressed us. We want to return and see more!
Where We Went
The Stops
- Skopje, North Macedonia
- Pristina, Kosovo
- Ohrid, North Macedonia
- Tirana, Albania
- Thessaloniki, Greece
- Athens, Greece
What We Did
We started the month in Skopje, North Macedonia. Skopje was super quirky and lively. Much more than we anticipated. We especially loved the Old Bazaar, Bit Bazaar, and Green Bazaar, all located across the river from the old town area. And yes, there really are way too many statues everywhere. We had five days in Skopje, which may have been one day too many. Most people spend two to three days and feel that’s plenty, but we quite liked it. We especially liked seeking out the brutalist architectural buildings of the past. Looking for different architecture got us out of the touristy old town and into other neighborhoods.
On our bus ride from Sofia to Skopje, we met some other travelers – Annie and Damian from the US, who had been traveling for almost two years, and João from Portugal, who had been traveling for the summer. We all went in on hiring a driver to take us to Pristina, Kosovo. It was roughly an hour one way, and the border crossing took less than ten minutes. There wasn’t much to do in Pristina because it was a Sunday, and things were closed. We mostly wandered around and saw a couple of churches, a mosque, markets, and had some lunch. We all meant to see the Bill Clinton statue, but we got distracted by something and forgot.
Next Stop, the Lake!
Matt and I took a bus from Skopje to Ohrid, Macedonia, a popular and beautiful lake town on the border of Macedonia and Albania. We celebrated Matt’s birthday in Ohrid with a beach day and an Italian meal. We were also there during a very loud house, and techno music festival held a few blocks from our accommodations until 3 a.m. for two of our three nights. Despite the lack of sleep, we still rose early to hike the large hill and get some quiet town time.
The temperatures were hot, so our exploring was done early in the morning, and the afternoons were spent either at the beach or taking a siesta back in our room. Ohrid was lovely. It was all about the lake and lots and lots of churches. However, the beach area is all rocks and limited space. We would recommend going to one of the other towns on the lake because they seemed less crowded.
A Quick Visit to Albania
From Ohrid, we took a bus to Tirana. The drive was gorgeous. Albania’s countryside blew us away. We can see why Albania has become a new hotspot. We really want to return and go on a road trip to the Balkan countries. Regretfully, we only had time to visit Tirana. We enjoyed our time in Tirana and especially liked the uber-creepy Bunk Art 1 museum created from a real bunker.
We really wished we had been able to visit any of their coastlines. The Balkan countries should be on your must-visit list if they aren’t already! We also had some of the best pastries ever at a place called Reka. We had tiramisu, cookies, and some kind of blueberry, whipped frosting, almond piece of tastebud heaven. It was so deelish.
Greece, Here We Come
We flew from Tirana to Greece for our three-week Trustedhousitters sit in Thessaloniki. Non-touristy Greece was enjoyable. We had the pleasure to spend two days with our host. We absolutely loved her. Her flat and pets have felt like home. The home is on the top floor of a 7-story building with sea and city views. The enormous balcony wrapped around half of the building – utterly fantastic! We spent a lot of time on the balcony recharging and working. We both ended up getting sick while in Thessaloniki. Matt for a couple of days and me for a week. We used it to our advantage and tried to get some planning and organizing done. We booked a couple more sits, booked some flights and lodging, and researched a lot of info for upcoming locations.
The Great
Favorites
The Albania countryside has me dreaming of driving all the Balkan countries for an amazing road trip.
We were so lucky and arrived in Greece after the sweltering heatwave. It was still hot, but it was bearable most days.
Walking around Thessaloniki. It’s a very walkable city that comes alive after the sun goes down.
The Not So Great
The Least Favorites
The loudness and the lateness of the Ohrid music festival. We sound like some old crabs complaining about being too loud late at night. Lol!
The super effing rude taxi driver in Thessaloniki! He was such a jerk, mumbled and complained during our entire drive, drove like a maniac, and scammed us out of at least 5 euros.
We were missing people extra fierce in August. I think because we felt so at home in our housesit and had more downtime, we had time to notice we wished we could see some of our tribe more often.
The heat! We spent a lot of time indoors because it was hot, hot, hot in Thessaloniki. Our pets surely loved it, but at times, we felt like we were missing out on seeing more of the city. Which in reality makes no sense because we saw and did a lot.
The Oops
We didn’t plan enough time in Albania. We should have taken a day from Sophia and a day from Skopje and added it to our time in Albania. Had we done that, we would have only spent one day in Tirana and headed for one or two of their beaches.
I broke my readers and struggled to see my screen all month. I can’t seem to find a new pair that I like.
The Hilarities
We’ve mastered the art of the siesta but not the staying up late part. Europe stays up so late, and we old Americans must work on being night owls!
I reorganized my suitcase again and got rid of more stuff. Now I have so much space in my suitcase it is screaming at me to fill it more. No, not really. It’s about 5lbs/2.5kgs lighter and easily zippable. Yay!
What We Learned
Fast travel wears us out. We fast-tracked it through Bulgaria, Macedonia, and Albania, forcing us into recharge mode during our first week in Greece. We must continue creating slow travel plans and not force so much into a short period. It won’t always be feasible, but it should be most of the time.
What We Read
Me- nothing of importance
Matt listened to:
- Animal Farm by George Orwell
- Delta-v by Daniel Suarez
- Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
What We Watched
- Only Murders in the Building on Hulu. Love it!
- Painkiller on Netflix. Depressing, infuriating, disgusting. Sad but good.
- The Summer I Turned Pretty on Amazon. Meh.
- The Lake on Amazon. Not as good as Season 1.
- Heart of Stone on Netflix. Matt says it was fine. I fell asleep.
- We also watched Asteroid City on Paramount+, and neither of us would recommend it.
And lots of other shows that are not worth mentioning.
Up Next
We’ll start the month in Athens and Rhodes, Greece. Then, we will fly to the UK for a few weeks for a new sit.