Jackpot Backwater –> Tirana

Boomboomboom. Here it comes. The biggest surprise so far. Tirana with a capital T. Never imagined that Albania, a country that has topped Europe's lowest GDP surveys constantly, would be one of the must-return places of the trip.

We got in Tirana in early morning, after a bumpy, sweaty, overnight bus journey through the rocky landscapes of southwestern Balkans. Once again, the border crossing took an hour of idling; stamping passports seem to be a real brainteaser for the border guards. 6 am we reached our hostel, Freddy's, with huge IKEA bags in the eyes. We were received by this well-humored short Albanian in his fifties, & we had a hilarious conversation regarding our reservation in Gerlishano, a mixture of German, English & Italiano (several Balkan countries including Albania have been under Italian & German ruling, so the heritage lingers on in form of a new language). It's gonna be the 21st century Latin, I'm telling you. Anyway, even if we had booked Freddy's only for the upcoming night, we were already grated the key to our three-bed dorm, and had a well-deserved dream-filled REM sleep.

Before going any further, here's a back cover intro to Albania & Tirana. The three-and-half-million Albanian country has had a tumultuous, topsy-turvy history full of bloody clashes. A little longer ago it was against the Ottoman's & more recently against the Serbs. The red line is always the same. Fight fight fight. Get conquered. Fight fight fight. Gain independence. After a few years of self-reign, fight fight fight. Get conquered. Fight fight fight. And so it goes, basically, for a whole century. This proves one thing: Albanians are a tenacious crowd, proud of what they are & make their own way. This is how they feel about international military coalitions.



The three-quarters-of-a-million capital Tirana is one appealing sight. This colorful, lively city has a few set of faces. Perhaps it's the one capital in the Balkan's where you can notice most visibly the barriere between haves, & have-nots. Skyscraper-like investment bank buildings mix with rigged rugged semi-detached houses. Trendy bar-and-cafe-minded Blloku-district buzzes with the well-dressed nouvelle bourgeoisie hanging out in bars or zipping between boutiques. Where their money comes from is a different story. But hey, no-one's perfect. The grand central avenues have alluring relics of its Ottoman, Italian & communistic past, always guarded by bored-looking chain-smoking guards with fast-looking AK's. And remember: the easiest way to get killed in Europe is to cross a road in Tirana. No need for that hangman's noose, these need-for-speed maniacs can't drive shit. It's always a plus if you can wine & dine for a few coins; Tirana is no exception. However, the 136 leke rate for a euro might come costly weather you enter a newly opened trend-hip-melange bar of Blloku area. There's everything for everyone. Tirana is daring & dirty; the jackpot backwater.




















Freddy's hostel (Bardhok Biba) was once again a win-win choice. The manager, Alfred Salku, is one well-humored, big-hearted guy. The whole hostel reflects the all-smiles man; really no complaints whatsoever concerning the place. 12 euros for a three-bed dorm, laundry service, wifi; the guy even offered us breakfast even if it isn't normally included for dorm-bunkers. “To my best visitors, always breakfast!”. Ever go to Tirana to cross a road, we strongly recommend this place as your last stay.

Before heading out to the action-packed streets of Tirana, we decided to have a local bite. Exited Freddy's, turned just around the corner & found this local joint. On one table there was a band of retired grey/no-haired men dashing cards with an entourage of beers & whiskey, & on the other one a middle-aged guy who was alone in a corner-table smoking & watching a cartoon from TV. This had to be a good place. There was no menu, so once again we had to explain to the manager in our by now fluent Gerlishano, we wanted some local meat-filled dish. He got it, and one of us made the mistake to say “grösse für mich, big man!”. Now all the farts were laughing their asses off, and we thought it was all about the joke. Well, didn't take long until they arrived with my steak, which was pretty good especially accompanied with local Tirana beer. Now to the other guy's surprise, he got a bean soup with one little pathetic-looking meat peace. So “grösse” ended up meaning bean soup in Albanian. Yummy yummy. Just like in Albania if you nod, it means no & if you shake your head it means yes. Pretty chaotic at first, I can tell you.





So we met a guy. All good stories start with meeting a guy; it's never a girl. He was from Chicago, born-and-raised (as he righteously stated), 33-year-old teacher bunking in our dorm. He's one of those latter-generation guys you just click with instantly. After a day strolling around Tirana, we got together for a beer at Blloku. Shared great stories with varying topics around global politics, religion, jew history & short skirts. Really intriguing stuff..the bar wasn't bad either. Hailed as one of Tirana's coolest bars, Radio, on Ismael Qemail 27, met all expectations. The joint was coveted in old radion station logos, Guernica paintings & typewriters. It was the perfect place to chill & chat, beer at 300 leke.





From there we headed to the real contender of Tirana nightlife, Folie. Free entry, although beer at a salty 400 leke. The place was jam-packed with Albanian crowd, and our foreign faces attracted much-pleased gazes from Albanian girls & a few V-neck guys. We ended up partying with this group of twenty-something girls, and one of them even turned out to be queen bee, Miss Albania. The DJ was even kind enough to play some requested epic anthems in between the mainstream music.





Even met this guy called Leonardo from “Iiiiitalyyy” who was studying in Tirana because after three failed attempts into Roma med-school, was feeling “a bit not-smiles”. So we asked how's Tirana working for him: “Albanian women..they do not...give the pussy” With that Fabio-accent, he just sounded devastated. We too had to face cold facts: we had an all-male-threesome in our dorm. No pics. So it goes.

Skopje - The Dark Horse

In a half-empty bus grooving DJ Koze, heading to Tirana, Albania. 40H ago we were still tucked in our hostel in Kosovo, so much seems to have happened since then. Voilà.

Woke up into early, foggy Pristina and left the hostel 6am to catch the once-a-day 7am train to Skopje. The cab driver left us by this little pink house, that turned out to be the Pristina main railway station. The place was of the size of Berlin Hauptbahnhof's toilet facilities, with two sets of rail tracks. The station was closed when we got there, until this red-capped blue-collar officer with an aura of the size of the whole station emerged from nowhere first to greet us & later to sell us the 4€ tickets to Skopje. He was a truly pleasant acquaintance. We hopped on the three wagon train, and we soon found out a surprising fact. Judging by the signs “nödbroms” & “kasta ej ut föremål, som kan vålla brand eller annan skada”, the train once upon a time (somewhere in the nineties I guess) belonged to Sweden. Indeed those confortable, stirring benches made our rear ends tickle.






The trip (once again) was supposed to be of four hours. However, the one-and-a-half-hour wait on the Macedonian border delayed our arrival at Hostel Hostel, our hostel of choice in Skopje. What a good call that turned out to be. The second we set our feet in the front yard of Hostel Hostel, on Ognjan Prica 18, we knew this place had good karma.

There had been some problems with our booking. We had booked the place the night before from hostelbookers.com, and somehow Hostel Hostel had received info of us staying two nights, instead of one. On some other places this might have been a problem, especially because we hadn't managed to print the reservation. But here, no worries. The owner even offered us breakfast that was still on the kitchen table; it was 12:30pm! All-morning-on breakfast, flexible check-out, clean premises, wi-fi, internet, laundry, helpful & friendly staff & cheap (9€ for a dorm), what else can you ask? On top of that, there was a daily 7pm local light dinner offered, sweet. The atmosphere was of a healthy hippie-commune, with the open kitchen & the cosy, sofa-filled front yard setting the pace. Staff had no uniforms, no timetables. Hostel Hostel is hands down the most pleasant hostel I've ever been to. As the name suggest, it really has twice a hostel in it. Ever go nuts & reach Skopje, you know the place to go. The only minus I can come up with was the smelly, snoring, over-weight Romanian role-player who bunked in our dorm, but that was just tough luck..





Skopje is one nice-looking town, full of intriguing history, lively people & some funny-looking guys. Situated between two mountains, with Vardar river flowing through the city, the setting is pretty epic. Add pedestrian boulevards, historical statues, ample squares, a 6th century castle, a 5th century stone bridge, the Old Town, cosy cafes, huge bazaars, cheap kebab-stalls, crazy drivers & red busses, and you get an idea of Skopje. The prevailing Western idea of all capitals in the Balkan's being rubbish, is total rubbish. With the Old Town's little streets (full of jewelry stores, seriously, on this one street in particular there was nothing else than “gold” shining through the windows), the Macedonia Avenue's hub & Kale Fortress's imperial character give the city a face of it's own. That's one fancy face, I'll tell you.










The only downside being railing is that every day can't possibly be Friday, because then we'd see the best in every single backwater. It was Tuesday, we were in pleasant jazz cafe along Macedonia Avenue sipping espresso & asking for tips to go out. “Not much tonight, Friday's big”. An answer we've gotten used to since we got out of 24/7 party-mecca Berlin. Never mind, we started the night by heading to the Old Town on the other side of Vardar to this kebab diner we saw earlier full of locals having late lunch. 10 delicious kebab sticks about the size of Napoleon's (with naan-like bread, onion & jalopenos) cost 115 denars, with the exchange rate for one euro giving 61 denars. Fearing dehydration, had a local beer called Skopka, not bad. Headed back over the illuminated Stone Bridge back to Macedonia Avenue, and that's when we saw one of the most memorable sights of the trip. Looking high up towards the top of mount Vodno, there was an illuminated gigantic golden cross, that seemed to float in the middle of dark night sky. It was kind of a scary sight. Good PR for Justice, though. Right there we decided to trek Mount Vodno right to the top to check out the cross.



We were planning the hike at T-Club, a good-vibe bar frequented by locals, accompanied with the cheapest (2€) & most disgusting GT's ever. Suddenly, this girl just drops two invitations for a party at Papaya club, & vanishes. Even though the streets were full of strolling people (for a Tuesday night), we hadn't a plan A at all, so Papaya club served as our B-plan. Got there 00:30am, nobody. We scanned the club, only finding two girls behind the bar and one grey-haired ex-surfer-looking guy, heading towards us. He was the owner, persuading us to stay with the argument “it's still early, people will come, crazy time soon”. Yeah..whatever.. we thought, could be fun talking to the guy. We even helped the owner put some candles all over the place, not that it mattered..soon his entourage got in & started an intriguing conversation about music. We discussed every rock band from Velvet Underground to Echo & the Bunnymen, why Rolling Stones is better than Beatles & how's music changing in 20 years. The club owner, who later turned out to be a real tycoon owning five clubs in Skopje, went wild: latino music will conquer the clubs all around the world. Watch out dubstep, Pedro is coming. We had a fun time talking to these youngish old farts, they were the kind of guys you want to have as your uncles. Good times.



So the next morning, after check-out (left our stuff in Hostel Hostel), we did the first sweat-sport related activity in our trip. We climbed all the way up to Vodno mountain, just southwest to the capital Skopje. Because the trail only started at 500m (the mountain was 1066m), we took a cab to that medium point, and trekked the remaining. The obese cab driver (his belly literally leaned in the steering wheel) drove the whole journey up all on second gear; poor ramshackle Ford. The trek was awesome: these narrow, rocky trails in the middle of deep forest leading us step after step higher towards our goal. On the top, there was this gigantic cross I mentioned before, the Millenium Cross. This 66 meter high ornament has been since it's construction in 2002 the biggest Christian cross in the world. Now they're even constructing a panorama elevator, along with a restaurant & a bar into the cross. It's really some sight, as well as whole Skopje from that height. Pics:





After that kind of physical strain, it was time for the long planned eight-euro-challenge. A few years ago, we wondered with a few friends what was the biggest amount of food/calories you could buy from a restaurant with a Finish lunch coupon of the value of 8€. In a few minutes, everybody came up with McDonalds. The menu? Seven cheeseburgers & a small milkshake (at the time a small soda was 1,20, versus the 1€ milkshake). Since Berlin, we've had in mind doing it somewhere in the Balkans, to see how much cheaper it gets. So once again, we were in the middle of this calorie-fueled lard-smelling feast of obesity, and we were happy again. Even with our rail-shrunken stomachs, it wasn't a challenge at all. Yummy yummy. The cost? 7€, so not much difference between Macedonian & Finish Donalds, even though rest of the prices are really low. We should've made the challenge in Belgrade, where it would've cost us a mere 3,6€, with two cheeseburgers for 90 cents. With our tummies full of shit, walked with our newest Skopje-acquaintance to the station, and hopped in the 7pm night bus to Tirana, Albania. So it goes.

From rainy Belgrade to post-conflinct Kosovo

We left in the morning murky Belgrade. It's one of the first cities on this trip, that really arouse my appetite; I'm still convinced this place has a whole lot more to offer. You see, Belgrade is a contemporary city in spirit, currently undergoing restoration of its former pride. Falling between East and West, it is a place where the Orient and Europe meet. It's the perfect mix for those who're bored with those chocolate box Old Towns of Europe. With the euros of a week spent in Paris, you'll live comfortably in Belgrade & club for three. The trick is all about timing. On our last, sunday night, we spoke to hot-spot Bordel Bar's bartender. The best time to come is in Autumn, when the underground parties are fully on. Or the winter is fine too, if you pack a jacket or two. Like we already stated, clubbing in Belgrade in the summer means 100% mainstream, with the ug-clubs shutting down their doors. The explanation: the parties are so rough & dirty that these poor 6'4'' music-aficcionado Serbs need the summer to charge their batteries, makes sense huh?

Belgrade is the capital of second-hand Europe. That's it. A place to visit, explore & thank you come again! We'll definitely do that. This is the Berlin of Eastern Europe.

Some pics








Alcatraz is one of the most notorious badass fan gangs football club Partizan Belgrade has to offer, tags all over the place


Once again a tag that's seen in every street corner. 1389, the year of the Battle of Kosovo, when the Serbs tried to fight off the invading Ottoman Empire. Huge casualties in this bloody medieval battle for both sides, the Ottos winning. The Battle of Kosovo is particularly important to Serbian concepts of history, tradition, and national identity; maybe that's one of the reasons they felt so revolted against Kosovo's independence & haven't yet recognized it as an independent country..

Introduction to Kosovo



Kosovo is the world's youngest independent state, declaring independence from Serbia in February 17th, 2008. Since then, the recognition of the newly state has stirred emotions in countries worldwide. F.ex. Spain (for their own minorities, the Basks & the Catalans) & Russia (for close ties with Serbia) haven't recognized the Republic of Kosovo. The EU have recently called for all remaining states (including Spain, Slovakia, Greece, Cyprus, Romania) to recognize Kosovo, in order to speed the countries EU membership. Not that it's going to happen in a flash. There's still internal economic & political problems to overcome. However, in this area of Kosovo, that has suffered so much from conflict & war throughout history, the capital Pristina & it's people look hopeful with full hearts & clear minds.



Our bus trip to two-million-people Kosovo started at noon. We were supposed to reach Pristina, the capital, at 17:30. Wishful thinking; we got there almost one-and-half hours later due to traffic congestions & roadworks. Even our crazy bearded driver tried his best with fast lane driving in curves with no visibility, but thankfully we got to Pristina with just a few sudden full-pedal brakes, when these wacky drivers tried to come from the right with priority..the scenery was mountainous, with hills mounting on both sides of the curvy up-and-down road. In fact the road was so curvy that 50% of the curves were signaled with those red triangle attention signs. There was everything: rivers, stream, creeks, mountain, rocks, flora & fauna mixed up with orange-tiled houses sparsely spread all over the mountains, reminded me of the countryside in Portugal & Spain. We even saw rudimentary improvised football pitches next to fancy Serbian wine-yards. Then, somewhere half-way off Pristine on a pissing/smoking break, I could've figure blindfolded where we were. The fresh, oxygen-filled scent of forest mixed with the stench of petrol points you geographically to the Balkan countryside, no question about that. The bus rode all the way up to the Kosovo border comfortably, until the "men at work" signs started showing up. First time since my own military service that I've seen a military armored car live, after the Kosovo border.



The difference between the Serbian landscape to the Kosovo scape is that the latter is still in deep development. Houses are being constructed, roads built & businesses started. Everybody seemed occupied with something, even the smallest kids selling grilled corn on the streets. It reminded me of Africa. And just like our Southern continent, Kosovo will be one to shine for the future. We reached Pristina bus station, and had a hostel in mind. Instead of doing the Western thing of taking a cab, we walked some fifteen minutes to the bus #4 stop, rode it for 60 cents (they use euros in Kosovo, by the way), and walked the remaining kilometer exploring the city at the same time. The city center actually doesn't differ that much from other Eastern-European capitals, it's just that everything seems just a bit more messier. But how could it be in a city that's been capital for only two years? We got ourselves this nice cheap hostel, Velania Guesthouse, for 10€ (double private). It's in a nice embassy neighborhood, with good connections to the center. Tomorrow morning heading to Skopje with the 7:10 am train. PIcs from Pristina. This is a place still in development, with one of the most friendly people I've ever seen. You can't wish them any less than great success, knowing the region's tumultuous history. And those who worry about safety: it's all cool. An interesting, opening experience. So it goes.


Serbia-Kosovo border, about 20 police/army cars parked down the road





The National Library of Pristina


A view to the tidier side of Pristina