Not all who wander are lost
Arriving in Banjul felt surreal, like we’d been dropped into an entirely different world—which, in essence, we had: the heart of Senegambia, a region as historically entangled as it is culturally distinct. We could have easily spent several days on the beautiful beaches of Banjul, like many of fellow British guests at our hotel seemed…
You know that rare moment when the universe conspires to hand you exactly what you didn’t know you needed? That was our Istanbul stopover. We weren’t looking for a break—we were bracing for three weeks of cross-border travel in West Africa. But a new direct flight from Denver to Istanbul on Turkish Airlines, with onward…
Looking back a year after our adventure through Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Kosovo, and Albania, here is our roundup of (mostly) southern Balkans random memories: These are the random memories that have stuck with us from our Southern Balkans adventure. Some silly, some profound, but all uniquely ours!…
We set our to Kruje from Tirana on our last day of our Balkans Gate 1 trip, enjoying the fresh air of the mountains and the cradle of Albanian culture. The drive, which should have taken 45 minutes, ended up taking 2 hours due to typical morning rush hour, which didn’t let up until after…
Having visited Elbasan earlier in the day, we arrived in Tirana around 2PM after encountering heavy traffic. Our hotel, Hotel Boutique Kotani, was very central to Skanderbeg Square (another one!), located a few blocks from the national football stadium (Air Albania Stadium). The hotel itself needed some updates – the decor, central air, elevators and…
Leaving North Macedonia came with some definite reluctance, even though our time ahead in Albania was something we were looking forward to. Ohrid and Skopje ended up being some of the unexpected highlights of our Balkans trip so far, and came with a number of surprises and delights. The road to Tirana, Albania from Ohrid…
