Less Feeling, More Doing!

I've blogged a lot about how I feel about traveling and whatnot but haven't done a great job detailing where I've been and what I've seen. So let me rectify that now!

London

I had about a twelve hour stopover in London on my way to Istanbul. Fortunately, I lived in London back in 2004, so I knew a few places I wanted to hit. I hopped on the Heathrow Express to Paddington Station and caught the tube down to my old neck of the woods, Covent Garden. I meandered down the streets I lived and worked on and had a pleasant reminisce about my time in London. I then caught the tube down to the South Bank and walked along the Thames until I came to the Tate Modern, which is one of my favorite museums in the world. They didn't have anything major going on in the turbine space, but I still enjoyed the exhibits, as I always do. Finllay, it was off to Kensington to window shop and have a meal at Wagamama before hopping the Express back to Heathrow.

Istanbul

My flight got into Istanbul super late, so I didn't get to my hostel until after midnight. They unfortunately didn't have a record of my reservation (sigh), but managed to find a bed for me for the next four nights.

Over the next three days, I wandered the European side of the city, visiting most of the major sights: The Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, the cisterns, the Grand Bazar, the Istanbul Modern and Dolmabahce Palace. I skipped Topkapi Palace, because I remembered it really well from visiting in high school. I also took a two hour cruise on the Bosphorus, which was lovely, giving really great views of both the European and Asian sides of Istanbul. I ate heaps of kebab, drank a fair amount of Efes and generally had a really good time.

Tirana

I decided the best way to maximize my time was to fly to Tirana, Albania, and then travel back across the Balkans to Istanbul. Fortunately I was able to find a pretty cheap flight at the last minute, so on the 22nd, I took off for Albania. Tirana is a fairly quiet town with, honestly, not that much going on. I stayed three nights, but two definitely would have sufficed. I saw all of the major sights in town, which included the National Art Museum, the National History Museum (both of which were dead empty when I was there), Skenderbeg Square, the Blloku neighborhood and the Old Bazaar. I also did a day trip out to Kruja, the home to Skenderbeg, Albania's national hero for fighting against the Ottomans back in the 15th century. The town was nice, but I mistimed it and went on a Monday, when the main Skenderbeg Museum was closed. Whoops!

Berat

On several people's recommendation, I headed down to Berat, a UNESCO World Heritage City, much of which is preserved from Ottoman times. It's a small, easily walkable city with a cool fortress and castle overlooking the town. Unfortunately, the Albanians haven't quite yet picked up on the need to not litter all over their old sites. The piles of garbage everywhere took away from some of the charm of the town. But it was still pretty good. And I stayed at a great hostel with some great folks (Berat Backpackers), which totally made up for it.

Ohrid

After a night in Berat, I took a bus to Ohrid, Macedonia, home to the oldest lake in Europe. And a beautiful lake it is! Ohrid is definitely a tourist town for Macedonia, but it's still really nice and retains a lot of its old world charm. The town is built on lakeside hills and boasts a great fortress and some fantastic churches on a cliff overlooking the lake. I spent a full afternoon hiking around the sites and enjoyed most the fortress and its views of the city and the lake.

Skopje

I spent two nights in Ohrid and then headed to Skopje, Macedonia's capital. Most of the travelers I met said that Skopje had little to offer, so I came here with my expectations low. And while it doesn't have as much going on as many of the other neighboring capital cities, I found Skopje quite charming. The city is divided in two by the Vardar river, with the older parts of the city north of the river and the newer parts south. Most of the charm is certainly currently found in the older sections of the city, with narrow streets and shops piled one on top of the other. The newer section of the city is still trying to figure out its identity, and *tons* of it is currently under construction. But that's forgivable, as the city's only been a national capital for 19 years. The main square has lovely European architecture and heaps of cafes and bars along the way. I think this is going to be a city to be reckoned with in the next decade. In the meantime, it's still worth a visit.

Pristina

Today I took a day trip across the border to Pristina, the capital of the world's newest country (depending on who you ask), Kosovo. The city honestly didn't have all that much to offer, but the day trip was worth it just for getting a new country in the books. There's a ton of UN workers downtown, and there's a nice little pedestrian area. It was interesting enough to see, but an afternoon definitely sufficed.

And on...

I'm back in Skopje tonight and waiting for an overnight bus to Sofia. Overnight buses are kind of the bane of my existence, but it saves me a hostel night. All right...I'm off.