Random Thoughts and Summing Up

Buses

• Sometimes a bus, sometimes a minivan. Each bus has stickers on the back window showing which amenities are on the bus - television, movies, bathrooms, WiFi, etc. - none of those things are ever on the bus.
• Buses in Albania and Kosovo have a conductor in addition to the driver.  The conductor's job is to collect the fare, to let the driver know when to pull off the highway to pick up passengers and to make sure every one gets off at the correct stop - every conductor we had took his job very seriously.  In Kosovo, the conductor had the additional responsibility of passing out delicious hard candy.
• Sometimes there is only one bus station in a city (usually next to the train station) and sometimes there are several stations in one city - buses from the north station go north, buses from the south station go south, etc. Sometimes the bus stations are very nice with plenty of places to eat (Ruse, Bulgaria) and sometimes there are no bathrooms or ticket agents (Sibiu, Romania). Sometimes there are no stations - you are told to stand in front of a hotel and wait until someone calls out the name of the city you are traveling to. Sometimes the name of a bus station is helpful - south bus station - and sometimes the names are not helpful - Station Q7 in Sibiu and Stations Alpha and Beta in Cluj-Napoca.
• Border crossings can be very long, especially if your bus has to go into a shed (complete with a German Shepard on a leash that is way too long) so the guards can check underneath the bus and inspect everyone's luggage. To make things even more difficult, there usually are no bathrooms available at border crossings.
• It is good practice to ask the drivers if they are going to stop for a bathroom break before you board the bus.

7:30 am disco-themed minivan to Romania

Bus Station Q7, Sibiu, Romania

Hotels

• I am not a fan of pensions. I would much rather stay in a hotel or hostel with a reception desk. Pensions usually don't have breakfast and you have to set up a time to meet the owner to get your key. Then you are pretty much on your own; it is hard to meet other travelers. There are some exceptions - we stayed in a wonderful apartment in Lake Ohrid. The owners lived in the building and were available to answer questions and fix the WiFi.
• I love staying in restored hotels, especially when the rooms have not been overly modernized (its OK if the bathroom has been overly modernized).

Jovanovic Guest House

Great Ideas (all from Romania)

Book vending machine

Egg vending machine

Some sort of machine that disinfects bathroom door handles

Favorites

• Places - I absolutely loved Albania and I am making plans to return to Shkodra to take the boat ride we missed due to the weather. I would also like to see more of southern Macedonia. I am looking forward to my third visit to Bulgaria and Romania.
• Hotels - Jovanovic Guest House, Tradita G&T (also has my favorite restaurant), Hotel Evmolpia, Gurko Hotel 
• Food - burek, now and forever

Victims of Communism Memorial - Bunk'Art 2, Tirana, Albania

Biggest Disappointments

• Plum dumplings in Brasov.  I was looking forward to having these again but they were horrible.
• The Holocaust Museum in Skopje and the Holocaust Museum, Jewish Museum and Great Synagogue in Bucharest were all closed for various reasons.
• When we crossed a border, all the passports were collected by the bus driver who took them to the border agent.  When we were cleared, the driver would choose one passenger to return the passports to the other passengers.  Despite my best efforts to look like a responsible bus rider, I was never picked. 

What I Learned

• If you are in a city with a US Embassy or consulate, you can get a new passport in 24 hours or less.
• People in Albania are really nice. We got a free taxi ride in Berat and the city bus in Tirana made an unscheduled stop for us so we wouldn't have to find our way to a museum. 
• Most people in Kosovo love Americans. A store owner in Pristina refused to let me pay for a couple of apples when he found out I was from the USA.
• My new favorite adjective/noun combination is "lobby bar."
• Never go hiking without hiking poles.

Romania Part 2

During the last week of the trip I revisited Sibiu, Sighisoara, Brasov, Bucharest, and Csíkszentsimon, the village where I volunteered as a teacher in 2015. It was sunny and around 72 degrees every day so we did some hiking and really enjoyed each city. Sibiu, Sighisoara and Brasov are great towns to just walk around and explore; there are not many must-see sights, just charming streets, great shops, and amazing food.

Sibiu is beautiful and we stayed in yet another 14th Century guest house. Unfortunately the interior had been renovated with vinyl flooring, generic furniture and an almost unworkable lock - the location was great, however.

Lots of cabbage at the Sibiu Market

Sibiu

Sighisoara, also known the cutest town in the world, requires a lot of climbing to get anywhere.  I think the best way to describe the city is "atmospheric" (Lonely Planet calls it "fairytale-like"). In addition to wandering around (uphill) and visiting the sites, we hiked up to the Breite Ancient Oak Forest. I wimped out on going all the way to the top so I am not sure we saw any actual ancient oaks. Sighisoara also has my favorite gift shop and cafe.

Sighisoara watchtower

Atmospheric Sighisoara street

Breite Forest - halfway up

We took our last bus ride to Brasov. While Susie did the Transylvania castle tour, I took the train up to Miercurea Ciuc and had a wonderful meal with one of the teachers at the village school and her family. I spent the next day visiting the school, helping in a couple of classrooms and walking around the village trying to take pictures through the fog. I also got to meet Ivan, a very cute baby. After a mad scramble across the railroad tracks, I caught the train back to Brasov -- beautiful scenery both ways.

Wooden gate in the village

Brasov was as fun as I remembered and it was nice to be in a real hotel after spending so many days in guesthouses. Our last hike involved taking the telecabina (cable car) up Mt. Tampa and then walking back down on the "serpentine path" which took forever. The views and scenery made it all worthwhile.

Black Church

View from the top of Mt. Tampa.

Halfway down Mt. Tampa

Our last stop was Bucharest, a city I didn't love on my last visit, probably because the weather was awful and I hated my hotel and its location. This time we stayed in a great place in Old Town. It was warm enough to sit outside and eat and we had two full days to walk around. We visited a wonderful gift shop at the Museum of the Romanian Peasant, tried to visit a Jewish cemetery (it was closed), went to one last outdoor market, and hung out in a beautiful park. On our last day we were able to see the Choral Temple which has been recently restored and is absolutely beautiful. The Jewish Museum, Holocaust Museum, and Great Synagogue were all closed for a special event -- my second visit to Bucharest and I still have not been able visit them because they were also closed last time. We visited the surprisingly wonderful Kitsch Museum and spent time sampling craft beer and wine.

Fabrica de Bere Buna (Romanian Craft Brew Bar)

What I Learned:

• That white cheese on the breakfast platter could actually be lard.  It is used as a substitute for butter and it tastes awful. Fortunately, I didn't swallow it.
• I could live in Bucharest, Brasov, or Miercurea Ciuc.
• There is a lot of great beer and wine in Romania and we brought back a couple of nice bottles of wine.
• I once again proved I could live on gogosi (doughnuts with fruit or cheese) and covrigi (pretzels).
• Romania is a beautiful country and there are a lot more places I need to visit.

Chisignu Park - there is a place for me on that bench

Romania - Part One

Our last two weeks were spent in Romania and after a very early bus to Ruse, Bulgaria and a very long layover at the Ruse bus station, we arrived in Bucharest.  After an evening wandering around Old Town and we caught the train the next day for Suceava in northern Romania.  We spent three days touring Bucovina and Maramures  - this was the only part of the trip that was a structured tour. Andre was our wonderful guide/driver and because we stayed at one of the tour company's apartments, he picked us up at the train station (getting from train or bus stations to hotels is not always easy so this was a real treat).

Bucovina is famous for its painted monasteries, each distinguished by a representative color. We visited four and they were incredible. The frescoes were painted to teach bible stories to the illiterate peasants and Andre was a wonderful guide - by the time we left, we could interpret the frescoes all by ourselves.

Sucevita Monastery - representative color is green

Voronet Monastery - detail from the Last Judgement

Voronet Monastery - look carefully and you will see 
a soul leaving the body. Representative color is blue.

Moldovita Monastery - look carefully and
 you will see Moses receiving the Ten
 Commandments. I am in the picture too. 
Representative color is yellow.

We had a wonderful two days in Maramures which is known for its wooden churches and according to Lonely Planet, this part of Romania is the home of the last peasant culture in Europe. We arrived towards the end of the peak fall color season and the scenery was amazing.

Making palinka (brandy)

Wooden church

Washing a rug in a river with a stick

We also visited

The Merry Cemetery - famous for colorful tombstones with
illustrated life stories of the deceased, Sapanta

Home of  Elie Wiesel, which has been
turned into a museum of
Jewish culture, Sighetu Marmatiei

Things I Learned:

• This dessert is really good

Chestnut puree from Cafe Bulgakov, Cluj-Napoca

• This dessert is really good

Papanasi- fried pastry with sweetened cheese and cherries

• This is an idea for my tombstone

Bulgaria

Bulgaria won my 2015 award for most surprisingly wonderful country and I couldn't wait to return. The first stop was Sophia and we immediately went to H&M to buy some warmer clothes. We visited the major attractions and went on the very interesting and very, very, very long Communist walking tour. The next day we took a trip to Rila Monastery, which was one of the highlights of my previous visit  - it was just as wonderful the second time. There was enough time before the bus ride to Plovdiv to visit the Museum of Communist Art - all of Sophia's statutes from the Communist era and a big red star have been relocated to a sculpture park in the suburbs and there is a small museum showing propaganda films.

Sophia Synagogue

Rila Monestary

Figure it Out

Plovdiv is the perfect place to just walk around and the weather was wonderful. We happened to be there on the first Thursday of the month which meant we could take advantage of "old people admitted to (almost) everything  free" day.  This allowed us to see the 3D (more like 2.5D) movie about Plovdiv's Roman stadium and walk around the inside of the Roman ampitheater. On our last morning we visited a church with beautiful Old Testament frescos.

Example of Bulgarian National Revival mansion

Sveta Marina Church frescos

Our final stop in Bulgaria was Veliko Tarnovo, one of Bulgaria's s oldest cities. Unfortunately, it rained all day and we had to hang out in our hotel. We were able to do some shopping and take short walks but we missed seeing the fortress. Luckily, we had a beautiful room at a wonderful hotel with a nice lobby for sitting and reading.

View from the Junior Suite, Hotel-Mehana Gurko

Things I Learned

• Sophia has really great food. We had three wonderful meals, including burgers (veggie for me) at this place.

• There is always a line at Alex's in Plovdiv. Awesome chicken shawarma - two locations!

• I want to move to Sophia or Plovdiv or maybe to a small village outside of Veliko Tarnovo.

• There are always new things to see and do in a place you have previously visited.

Macedonia and Kosovo

There is no direct route to Lake Ohrid, Macedonia from Tirana so we took a bus to a town just over the border and got a taxi to the lake - turned out to be easier than I thought. After our challenging hotel experience in Tirana it was nice to stay at a wonderful guest house complete with a terrace overlooking an 11th century church and the lake. The weather wasn't great so we skipped the boat ride and explored the town. Lots of interesting streets and churches to explore and a great dinner of freshly caught fish - a beautiful place to spend a couple of days.

Church of Sveti Jovan at Kaneo - everybody takes this picture

 View from Jovanovic Guesthouse

Then it was off to Skopje, which thanks to the Skopje 2014 project, has tons of over-the-top statues, plazas, fountains, newly constructed building facades, etc. It is difficult to explain or show in photographs. We had to do the very long but very fun walking tour in order to begin to understand it all.

The official name of this statue is "Warrior on a Horse"

"Father of Warrior on a Horse"

Kosovo was always on our itinerary but after reading this article  https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/18/travel/the-medieval-monasteries-of-kosovo.html
we decided to visit both monasteries and skip the day trip to Prizren. We were able to take a taxi to Gracanica and we took two buses (and walked a total of two miles) to get to Visoki Decani. Both monasteries lived up to expectations. The frescos were amazing (no pictures allowed inside) and the settings were spectacular.

Gracanica

Visoki Decani

Visoki Decani

We spent our last morning in Kosovo at the Jewish Cemetery and then caught a bus back to Skopje for one more night and one more delicious meal.

Things I Learned:

• It is pronounced "Sko-pee-a"
• The official name of Macedonia is  the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
• The unofficial names of "Warrior on a Horse" and "Father of Warrior on a Horse".
• I want to move to Peja, Kosovo.
• Another term for sequins is sparkling elements (I actually learned that in Albania.)
• Ajvar is really good.

Peppers for making ajvar