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:
- Možeš (pronounced MO-jzesh: This became our phrase of the trip, and the rest of the Gate 1 group also started to pick up on it and join in using it, too. It translates to “you can”, and we even use it today to signal an affirmative response to whether something should be done. We learned this from both Nida and Dragan when they were communicating about directions while on the bus. It started in the content of Dragan asking “should I keep going straight?” to which Nida would respond “možeš”, but then it took on a life of it’s own with us. A lasting memory of the Balkans to be sure, and somewhat evocative of the youthful spirit we felt there.
- Dogs and Cats: Dogs are very well behaved in the Balkans, and don’t jump or sniff – they basically just mind their own business and ignore people, which was such a welcomed change from the wild, spoiled dogs in the US. Throughout the Balkans, we also saw cats everywhere, outdoors and in the countryside roaming, but also more than average in the cities, especially in Plovdiv. Towns and cities seemed to care for the stray cats, and many shop owners liked having them around because they helped keep the rodent and insect population down.
- Serbia smoking and regional perception: Serbia is not a good country for non-smokers. “Non-smoking sections” (note they don’t have “smoking sections”, since it’s assumed the entire restaurant allows smoking, with non-smoking being the anomaly) are not partitioned or separated at all, leading to the inability to ever escape cigarette smoke while eating or indoors. Also, often throughout history, Serbia appeared as the aggressor regionally in violent conflict due to their national culture primacy, with many of the surrounding countries not feeling particularly friendly towards them. Serbia is often thought of as the regional bully (especially to those practicing religions other than Serbian Orthodoxy), although it was thought of a little better by the North Macedonians (deeper cultural ties) than say the Kosovars and Albanians.
- Air conditioning in hotels: AC control panels are purely for cosmetic purposes in most of the hotel rooms we stayed in, in particular in Belgrade and Tirana (the two hottest cities). This is often the case outside of the US, though. We love our AC and found this region challenging from a temperature perspective in late August & early September. Ice was similarly hard to come by and not immediately offered, which is why we often preferred cocktails and beer. Gate 1 was great about providing cold water on the buses though, which helped a lot.
- Serbia – Denver connection: We loved wearing our Denver Nuggets Nikola Jokić jersey’s around Belgrade because they were instantly recognized and was a great way to strike up conversation with the locals, who were so proud of Jokić, and also loved basketball (and really all sport). As we were writing this blog, the 2024 Paris Olympics were going on and we got to see the US team play Serbia in basketball (US took gold and Serbia with Nikola Jokić took bronze), which brought some of these memories back around. It was always a non sequitur to us how much the Serbian liked athletics, but also how much smoking and drinking they enjoyed.
- Bathroom lights: Bathroom lights seem to mostly be automatic in public places and go off after about 5 seconds, leading the poor soul on the toilet to sit in the dark, awkwardly waving hands around until the light re-engages (it often doesn’t). This happened to both of us enough times that it entered in to our normal discussion, and also became a topic with other Gate 1 travelers.
- Plastic water bottle caps: Probably due to cheap manufacturing, plastic water bottle caps don’t come off easily. It’s strange and very close to an acceptable solution. These caps flummoxed us time after time throughout the Balkans, and many hanging chad jokes ensued.
- Gas stations: We had a very pleasant experience on the highways throughout the Balkans, in part because the gas stations / rest stops were all really nice and had great restrooms. They also often included mini markets, cafes, and restaurants. Balkan roadside gas stations are wonderful and not to be missed! If in Albania, you can often see the famed nuclear bunkers in the hillsides surrounding them as well.
- Albanian bunkers: Thanks to Albania’s Communist dictator Enver Hoxha’s paranoia and isolationism, nuclear fallout bunkers (millions of them) can be found throughout Albania. They are especially a site to see in the countryside, which can make for jarring and unexpected photos.
- 1990s/2000s NATO leaders are worshipped: Throughout the southern Balkans we saw more deference and honoring of modern US presidents than what we even see back home, due to America’s outsized role as peacemaker in the Balkans and Kosovo War. We saw a Clinton statue in Pristina, Kosovo, a George W. Bush statue near Kruje, Albania, as well as many roads and restaurants named after both Clinton and Bush. We also caught a glimpse of a Madeline Albright statue in Pristina. Of course, in Servia, we saw Fuck NATO graffiti as well, which underlined the differences in regional sentiment.
- Lions: From Greek to Roman to Ottoman to Communist, all these civilizations loved their lions. There were lion statues everywhere in the Balkans. We actually didn’t realize African lions roamed throughout this part of the world.
- Shopska salads: These fresh Bulgarian chopped salads are regional, everywhere, and delicious! The staples include the famed Bulgarian tomato, accompanied by cucumbers, white Bulgarian feta cheese, and often other chopped vegetables as well. The 3 main ingredients are colored white, green, and red, and represent the Bulgarian flag. It differs from a Greek salad in that Bulgaria didn’t have olives natively (but we did see olives show up from time to time in them since today we live in a global economy). We had a very nice Shopska salad in Plovdiv for lunch, and then many times over even outside of Bulgaria, such as the elevated one (Israeli inspired) we had in Sofia.
- Best bartender: Hands down, our best bartender was the bartender at the InterContinental Athénée Palace Bucharest hotel, in the Churchill bar (the staff at this hotel in particular were the most welcoming and accommodating across our whole trip). This younger gentlemen was not only a gifted conversationalist (speaking multiple languages and even practicing Spanish on one of the guests), but made the best Old Fashioned we had ever tasted – the secret was Old Fashioned bitters, which we later bought upon returning home. He also told us the origin story of why the bitters bottles have oversized paper. We found the Romanians in general to be very cultured and worldly, with Bucharest being called the Paris of the East.
- Ajvar: A regional delicacy that we first learned about in Romania, that kept showing up throughout our trip. We ended up buying several jars to bring home from an Ohrid grocery store. Ajvar is a dip or even condiment made from red bell peppers, roasted eggplant, garlic, oil, and vinegar. It goes great with bread, but also with vegetables, on sandwiches, with meat. It’s pretty much the versatile shmear of the Balkans.
- Best sweets: The Bulgarian Communist treats that Nida passed around on the bus were are favorite throughout the trip. They were a perfect, light balance of milk chocolate, hazelnut, and orange, and were also a popular Bulgarian export to other countries within the Yugoslav block during Communist times. The box is very recognizable (Bulgarian Black Sea scene) as well and brings back a lot of nostalgia for some of the older folks who were alive during the Tito regime. We enjoyed these treats again at the The Red Flat in Sofia. Later, back in the US, we found an importer who sold them and we ordered a bundle as Christmas gifts for friends and family. They were a crowd pleaser.
- Mr. Lapa Lapa: While in Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria, we found a local boutique while sold the Mr. Lapa Lapa calendar, a souvenir we brought back for friends at home. It depicted delightful and whimsical cartoons featuring the Lapa Lapa cat family (Paw Paw in Bulgarian) in various human scenes, festivities, and revelries, with other animals like mice and other friends. We showed it to several Bulgarians later on, such as at our Sofia hotel, as well as our guide, and they all got a kick out of it too (some of them had never even seen it before). In particular we liked the outfits and the head gear, including on the mice!
- Stupidest mis-pronunciation (on our parts): saying “Hvala” wrong (as ha-VA-la with middle emphasis) since our last trip. It is more like “Fala” or “huala”.
- English variations: The word “sparkle” instead of a “spark”, in particular when Egmont explained how the Romanian revolution started in Revolution Square with a “sparkle” of an inkling of a figment of the people spontaneously wanting change.
- Nostalgia: People prefer the historical time period representing when they were young. Nostalgia for Tito and more his version of communism, if they had to have communism. We learned this from Egmont, above with the flag. This was very memorable for us because it describes a lot of human behavior of the older folks in the US as well.
- Favorite flag: North Macedonia had the most unique flag that was both colorful as well as contrasting with every background it was waving in front of. The sun was also a good callback to Greek and Roman times.
- “Fashion”: Note the use of quotes. Especially in Serbia, we saw a lot of what we considered tacky, “glam” dressing, especially with women. Lots of tight pleather and plastic, bright colors, sparkles, and big earrings. This was often accompanied by high ponytails, high heels, and cigarettes. It was like the 1980s and 1990s stuck around even after Communism didn’t. The men tended to like to wear fancy sneakers and branded t shirts with designer jeans, with gold necklaces, and designer sunglasses. We thought this all to be fake fancy and a little much.
- Historical tax system: In Ottoman times in particular, citizens paid property taxes only on the size of the ground floor of homes. So they got wider as they went up.
- T-Mobile glitch: thought we were in Monaco when we travelled to Kosovo. It was nice to be able to add another country to our list unexpectedly!
- Casinos: Casinos were prevalent throughout all the countries. In Serbia it seemed like there was a casino on every block. They also seemed to feature prominently in North Macedonia (similar culture to Serbia, but less smoking!). Perhaps there were slightly less in Albania, but that observation could also be recency bias since we were there last.
- Euro Cup 2024: Albania played Poland for Euro Cup qualifiers on the first night we got in to Tirana, the city was swollen with football hooligans enjoying the revelry.
- Falamindarit (fa-la-men-deret): We learned this from Nida, and it can be a toast or just “thank you” in Albanian. Literally translated to “We salute your honor.” We found its length and meaning fascinating, and it nicely flows off the tongue. In Albanian, gëzuar is also used as sheers. We learned several other “cheers” as well – noroc (good luck) or sănătate (good health) in Romanian, nazdrave in Bulgarian, na zdravje in Macedonian, and živjeli in Serbian. Other than the Albanian and Romanian variations, the rest were related to the Russian (na zdorovie).
- Favorite hat: Our favorite hat was the Albanian plisi or qeleshe, which we saw made (teased wool and soap processing) in Kruje, another mountain community. Kruje was important to the Albanian resistance and nationalist reawakening movement, and a stronghold for the national hero, Gjergj K. Skanderbeg. The hats are beloved to all Albanians because of the ties to the nationalist movements but also back to their ancient Illyrian culture and origins. Brendan finally found a hat that looked good on him.
- Favorite places: For us, Brasov was our absolute favorite place because of the mountains and the regional charm (Transylvania). We also saw the best wildlife during our Brasov and Sinaia visits, including foxes (on the grounds of Peles Castle). From an expat living perspective, Sofia, Bulgaria had all the modern amenities, great international flavor and cuisine (and the best speakeasy by far from the trip!), coupled with the regional history and charm. North Macedonia (Ohrid and Skopje) also get honorable mentions for being unexpectedly beautiful, the surprise of the trip. Skopje was just bordering on big enough to be livable, but still not quite.
These are the random memories that have stuck with us from our Southern Balkans adventure. Some silly, some profound, but all uniquely ours!