Sofia, Bulgaria

Well, it turns out that Sofia, Bulgaria was the leg of the trip where we were set free to find our way to Zagreb, Croatia.  After a few minutes of deep breathing to remind ourselves that we are capable because we just navigated four other countries essentially on our own, we settled into the idea.  The great news about this journey is that we are able to team up again and we’re heading out with the Trip Tellers (the Texas duo).  

We are not allowed to fly, so we sat down as a team ready to book our train tickets.  First wrong assumption.  The train system is not the same in the Balkans.  It also turns out that it’s not as easy to rent a car through 5 countries.  Without a car for the entire trip, we came up with multiple scenarios, including one that was going to have us drive out and back (4.5 hours each way) to North Macedonia (yes, it’s a country!) and then catch a bus the next morning to Belgrade.  For Shannon and Donna, who dread just one 4 hour road trip, this wasn’t at the top of her list for the next several days, but, it’s a competition, so you do what you have to do!  Our plan continued to shift and take shape and ultimately we will use two different rental cars to get to Zagreb. 

Sofia, Bulgaria was a bit of a whirlwind, but a continuation of what we had seen in the last few countries. Beautiful historical buildings, new modern growth and Russian era (not so attractive) housing.  One of our scavenges was to find the mineral water and refill our water bottle.  We had to empty and refill 2 water bottles.  It was confusingly hot, and it turns out we had an audience.  A woman was perplexed as to why we were pouring out this magical mineral water and made it very clear that we should be drinking it.

After the opera (Shannon’s first ever) we navigated our way to a traditional Bulgarian restaurant.  We were greeted by a gruff woman who seemed less than thrilled with the presence of 6 boisterous Americans.  As part of the scavenge we had to try Rakiya (a regional spirit) and that was the start to the evening.  Shannon may have spit out the drink, which tasted like fire water, while Donna definitely spit out the intestine soup before having to try again.  Taste test fail in Bulgaria.  By the end of the night, the waitress seemed to warm up to us, at least a little bit.

Before we left town we zipped around trying to find statues to commensurate the Russian occupation.  A highlight was a bell tower built in 1984 to recognize the children of the world.  Bells representative of each country around the world were unique shapes, sizes and designs surrounded the tower.  Japan was a fan favorite.

On the road again we drove for 4.5 hours to North Macedonia.  Again, a country we had to google.  It turns out it was named North Macedonia after a trademark dispute with Greece.  Who knew. 

We hit the Rilski Monastery, which was through the woods, around the water, and up the hill  but it was worth the scenic drive.  It had a bit of a Disney feel with it’s “Monastery bread” and doughnuts, but scenic in the woods and covered in frescos.  

Next up was another monastery Sveit Jovan Bigorski Monastery after a quick stop in Skopje.  This monastery was worth the 2+ hour drive.  It was nestled into the side of the mountain, views galore and intense monks walking about.  We timed our arrival as a mass was just beginning in a pitch black, candle lit chapel ceremony.  It would not have been appropriate to take pictures of this moment, but we sure wanted to share it.  It was quite unique..a monk walked 3 circles around the church banging a stick to beckon the parishioners from town.  

We were invited to spend the night and have breakfast for free.  While it did not align with our timeline and we were worried about freezing, we have some regrets about not staying.  

We pushed through to Nis, Serbia to hit a few scavenges and get a few (literally) hours of sleep in a last minute hotel that may have looked a little better online than in person.  We had the luxury of sharing a bathroom with Trip Tellers and breakfast was served in the smoking lounge.  But, as the name, Goodnight Hotel indicates, we did get a moderately good night of sleep after a crazy busy day. 

Nis has a fortress, a few sculptures and a concentration camp, which was moving and educational. Shannon also took in a few minutes to squeeze in a run along the river and found a few dog friends.

Concentration Camp

After whipping through Nis, we headed to Belgrade, Serbia where we hit the obligatory church, market, food taste testing and museum.  We shook things up a bit and attended a professional soccer game.  The tickets were $5 each and the stadium was mostly empty, minus the very spirited supporter group.  We had a great time, but quickly left to avoid the many police with riot gear waiting for…something to happen.  

One of the largest churches in the world

We were out the door to Serajevo at 5:20am and the apple map took us down a scenic, windy, sometimes dirt road that dead ended at either a gated house or a dirt mountain to climb.  Needless to say, we turned around and added 38 minutes to our drive.  One note, the team we are traveling with (Charles and Anne) decided they should be named Team Backtrack.  Here’s a picture of spot where Charles asked a very annoyed farmer how to get off the “goat road” as they are known and back to civilization.  Charles also thinks he saw a very large feline that was not a house cat.

We finally met our guide and went to the “Tunnel of Hope”, which is a tunnel created during the Serbian invasion of Sarajevo, Bosnia to get the citizens out of the city and bring supplies in.  The city of Sarajevo is energetic and charming but still has a number of bullet riddled buildings and buildings that were shelled.  Most of us remembered Sarajevo as a war zone, and it has come a long way from the 1992-1994 conflict. 

We spent the afternoon in one of our new favorite places, Mostar Bosnia.  Best to describe it with a picture.  A lot of points rode on our getting a photo at sunset from the Minaret in Mostar.  As the ticket seller was putting his backpack on and heading out, we begged him to let us in and he kindly obliged.    

We headed back to Sarajevo, exhausted, but determined not to leave anything off the table so we went out to see the watchtower, eat (another) Bosnian delight and go to the very spot that Franz Ferdinand was assassinated, starting WWI.  Even the other tourists had gone home by this time so we had the Old City to ourselves with the occasional insomniac. 

In the morning we headed out to a cafe scavenge.  We had to lean on our new found skill of parking wherever we could find a spot . . .such as the sidewalk.  Other new learned behaviors are 1.  One must bring toilet paper with them as it is unlikely that your bathroom will have it 2.  Don’t assume that just because the menu doesn’t list meat in the dish, that it’s not in there. You must ask. 3.  If you walk through a security scanner, it beeps and turns red, don’t worry, no one will do anything at all about it.  

We hit a few more church, mosque and eating scavenges before heading to the Croatian border.  We got here at 2:20 pm.  Here I sit at 5:20, writing this blog and praying that we don’t miss our 9:00 pm meet up. If we don’t make it we will lose all of our hard won points and may not be able to get to our next leg.  If we don’t get there before the group leave we will be responsible for getting to the next leg.   BIG breath.    

While we breathe, let’s talk about snacks.  Snacks are the only way to get through road trips, , especially 26 hours on the road.  I’m not sure the other passengers in the car feel as strongly about this as Shannon, but we were definitely not concerned about being stranded and hungry.  And, since we went through 5 countries in 3 days, there were plenty of new tasty treats to try.  The biggest fail was the chocolate covered banana flavored marshmallow.  We also went through a 100 bags of chips, including our new favorite–paprika.  Since we were determined to earn as many points as possible, many of our meals were these snacks.  Very healthy choices.  

It took us 5.5 hours in a car line to cross the border into Croatia and we didn’t cry. That’s a win! And, happy birthday to our travel partner Anne! What a way to spend the big day!

Border line into Croatia

We made it…barely. The challenge was making up the 3 mandatory challenges after our 5.5 hour unexpected delay. While we may not have accomplished all we set out to do on this adventure leg in the Balkans, we worked pretty darn hard and couldn’t predict the line, so we are proud for giving it our all, regardless of the outcome in the race!

Overall Impression:

Whirlwind trip, so it was difficult to really get a feel for the unique characteristics of each country as they are running together right now. 

Chocolate bomb- delicious

Most of the food is pretty bland. 

We LOVED the greenery, rivers and mountains of the Balkans.  Sarajevo was stunning, particularly Mostar, and our team would like to come back to visit for a longer stint.

Next up–Istanbul!!