Balkan five capital road trip

For the objective of visiting all countries in Europe, we set out to finish off Eastern Europe countries. With start in Sarajevo we planned a round trip by car visiting Pristina, Skopje, Sofia and Belgrade. Additionally, a stop in Visegrad for a walk on the famous bridge across Drina river.

Earlier this year, we did a motorcycle trip to the Carpathian Mountains. On that trip we covered 7000 km in 15 days and we did not have time for further exploration of the Balkan Mountains. So, I needed another trip to cover the remaining countries on our bucket list: Kosovo, North Macedonia and Bulgaria. Driving my own motorcycle into Kosovo was not allowed with the green card issued by my insurance company, so the strategy for a visit would be trough a rented vehicle.

I was lucky to find frequent flyer tickets with SAS to Sarajevo so I used that as a starting point. Checking with the usual rental companies, it was not trivial to find one that allowed us to cross into neighbouring countries. We ended up using EUROPCAR that charged us 146€ as a cross border fee. Talking to the local office in Sarajevo, I got the impression that there was another fee of 50€ to be paid on site for entering Kosovo.

My girlfriend and I spend a couple of days in the beautiful city of Sarajevo to start with. This city has been on my to-do list for years, and not only for their hosting of the 1984 Winter Olympics, but for its role in the start of World War I. First on the things to do was of course a visit to the Latin Bridge, where Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated. A walk in the old bazar was a natural next, and we had excellent traditional food: kebab meat in pita bread served with sour cream and chopped onions. The modern part of town gave access to some modern malls and buildsing. Still, the city shows clear signs of the war and the 1425-day sige from 1992 to 1996.

Latin Bridge in Sarajevo.

To host winter olympics, there must of course be snow. The city is surrounded by hills. Still I was surprised to find that the elevation of the city is around 620 meters above sea level. We had a nice walk up to the Yellow Fortress to get an excellent view of the city.

View from Yellow Fortress, Sarajevo.

The next morning I did a run further from Yellow Fortress to the White Fortress that gave further great views towards East. The heat was bearable early in the morning, but the 200 elevation meters would have been challenging later in the day.

First leg was the drive to Visegrad. Ever since I read the 1961 Nobel Prize winning "The bridge on the Drina" I knew I had to visit this bridge. It was build to ensure the connection to the area from the Ottoman empire and was funded for this reason. The nature in the area is amazing, and driving along the driver a great experience.

Visegrad Bridge.

With our final destination for the day being Pristina, we still had 300 km to drive. There were no highways in this area so we decided to go for the shortest route and once in Serbia, avoiding to cross into Montenegro. The roads and landscape was enjoyable, and the highest point of the trip was (1410 mas) was passed. We crossed the border into Kosovo at Lake Ibar, a minor crossing with no queue. After passport control we were taken aside for further inquiries. We were explained that the Green Card issued by Europcar was not valid in Kosovo and we needed another insurance for the car. All fine and as expected. We asked about payment, but even though we got a signed docment for 13€ they charged us nothing for.

Pristina is a young capital; Kosovo declared its dependence in 2008 but not all countries recognize this. It is about the size of Trondheim with slightly more than 200k inhabitants. The Ottoman heritage is clearly visible, entangled with Yugoslav architechture. I was shoked by the design of the National Library. There was also a modern part of town. We stayed in the fantastic Courtyard by Marriott, a 10-minute walk from the city center.

The city was very much alive on a Friday night. There were a lot of people in the streets and restaurants were busy. We got a recommendation for a restaurant for local food in the reception of our hotel and was not disappointed.

Left: local food, Top: Mother Theresa cathedral,
Bottom: Newborn monument which is repainted every year.

The roads in and out of Pristina were highways so with the distance to Skopje only being 100 km, we had time for some distractions. From looking at the map we found a cave shortly outside of Pristina. Gadime gave is a 500 meter walk with beautiful displays of stalagmites (UP), stalagtites (DOWN) and aragonite crystals. On a +30 degrees centigrade day, walking in a 13 degree cave was refreshing.

Gadime Cave.

The reason for visiting the next country is simple: Alexander the great was King of Macedonia. Macedonia was a former Yugoslav republic until they declared independence in 1991. Due to a name dispute with Greece, they were called Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia until 2019, when they changed their name to North Macedonia. Now, since Alexander was born in Pella in northern Greece, the statues bear names like "Warrior on a horse".

When we entered the Marriott hotel on the main square, we were overwhelmed by the neoclassical buildings. They were revived by decision of the government for the Skopje 2014 project started in 2010. Walking away from the main square you quickly see the transition to the socialistic Yugoslav architecture, with quite a few buildings restored after the 1963 earthquake.

Most of the Ottoman heritage can be found in the Old Bazaar. Here we spent most of our time in breweries, restaurants and shops.

Top Left and Center: Skopje main square with unnamed warrior (Alexander The Great) and bridge across river. Top Right: Archeological Museum, Bottom Left: City view from Fortress, Bottom Center: Mustafa Pasha Mosque, Bottom Right: Skopje Fortress.

Next day we had a plesant 300 km drive to Sofia, capital of Bulgaria on fairly fast roads. Bulgaria was the only country on this trip where you need a vignette for driving on the roads. This was clearly marked while there, but we bought the vignett online the night before to avoid getting into trouble (I was fined in Hungary on Motorcycle in May).

Our hotel was a few kilometers out in the new part of town so we took a taxi directly to the biggest attraction: The mighty Alexander Nevsky cathedral. Now, I normally don't pay much attention to churches but this Greek Orthodox colossus was so impressive that I had to take a look inside.

Sofia is a old city dating back to 7 century BC. It was an important Roman city that later was part of the Ottoman empire for 500 years. It was declared capital of Bulgaria in 1879 after the liberation from the Ottoman empire. The city is at an elevation of 550 meters and adjacent to the Vitosha mountain (2290 meters).

We walked to the center and followed the very long Vitosha Boulevard to the National Palace of Culture. This long boulevard was packed with people in the evening. We found excellent local food in a reastaurant. Again local bread and slow cooked meat was on the menu.  A creamy goat cheese served with tomato was also served as a starter. But more importantly for me: this was the first place on the trip where I found an Untappd venue. Crafter bar served excellent local and international craft beer.

Top Left: Alexander Nevsky cathedral, Top Right: St. Nicholas cathedral, Bottom Right: National Palace of Culture and Bottom Right: Vitosha Boulevard.

Our drive to Belgrade the next day was more than 400 km. However, with highways all the way the drove took less than five our. My plan was to arrive in Belgrade early to have time to show Sissel this gorgeous capital.

Our hotel was the fantastic Radisson Old Mill. Only drawback was the 2.2 km walk from downtown. Belgrade has everything, and we should have had more than a day. We did some shopping in Knesa Mihaila before moving on to the magnifient white fortress. After a quick re-visit (I was there in May) to Axiom Brewery pub we had a walk in the artistic distric.

Belgrade white fortress.

The last leg of the trip was the 300 km drive back to Sarajevo. The roads were good, and especially the drive along Drina river for a while was enjoyable. Crossing the mountain ranges took us to around 1300 meters and we have a nice lunch in more comfortable temperatures.

Driving along Drina river.

The last night we spent in Sarjavo in a hotel near the airport. The hotel looked good on the outside -- it was at a time the only five star hotel in Sarajevo -- but not so nice inside.

All in all, a very nice almost 1500 km drive around Balkan.