{"id":4837,"date":"2013-05-07T09:00:32","date_gmt":"2013-05-07T13:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theprofessionalhobo.com\/?p=4837"},"modified":"2024-06-19T07:24:44","modified_gmt":"2024-06-19T11:24:44","slug":"a-week-in-the-life-of-hardie-in-the-balkans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theprofessionalhobo.com\/a-week-in-the-life-of-hardie-in-the-balkans\/","title":{"rendered":"A Week-In-The-Life of Hardie Karges in the Balkans"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Hardie Karges is a writer, folk-art dealer, traveler, carpenter, and video-maker. He has been to 145 countries (and counting) and lived in several of them. He speaks three languages fluently<\/a> and others to lesser degrees. Please enjoy this week-in-the-life of Hardie Karges, trekking through the Balkans!<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This post was originally published in 2013. It has since been updated for accuracy of links and content. <\/em>

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Day One<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I wake up early to catch the bus from Tirana, Albania to Tetovo, Macedonia. That\u2019s the only bus that goes east toward Bulgaria. I\u2019m trying to visit every country in the Balkans, in the process of visiting every country in the world. Going north toward Montenegro is no better. Most roads in Albania lead to Greece, but that\u2019s where I just came from. The bus leaves from \u201cthe large muddy patch\u201d (per guidebook description) in front of the train station, something as Balkan as byreks. <\/i> The bus doesn\u2019t look like much, but I suppose it\u2019ll make it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s another backpacker, too, hair down his back, but he doesn\u2019t seem anxious to talk to me, \u201cmore backpacker than thou\u201d I guess. He\u2019s talking to the bus drivers, probably not realizing they don\u2019t understand a word of his English. The bus finally shoves off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Casinos line the streets, typical in former Communist countries. Washington didn\u2019t win the war; Las Vegas did. The petrol stations are named \u2018Castrati\u2019. The chaotic streets gradually become chaotic countryside, broken bruised and beaten, and dotted by bunkers, not yet having received the coat of paint that the capital has, a splash here, a stripe there, and a mosaic in between, anything to forget the lost decades of Communist rule and the psychological misgivings that can ensue.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"A<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Somehow Nature always survives regardless of men\u2019s mistakes. Still Albania seems a bit more broken than most, with neither plan nor order. By the time we approach the border we\u2019re high into the hills, past 19th<\/sup> century-style mining operations and failed industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By this time I\u2019ve broken the ice with my fellow backpacker. Turns out he\u2019s Croatian and a really nice guy, hardly the arrogant a**hole I\u2019d imagined. I feel foolish, but not as much as I would have if we\u2019d traveled the whole way unspeaking. He\u2019s on his way to India via Istanbul and speaks good English, having practiced much in the tourist industry of Dubrovnik. His name is Mladen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upon reaching the border itself traffic is so clogged that we change buses to avoid long lines; big mistake. As we continue on the other side it\u2019s soon snowing. Even Mladen looks at me and goes, \u201cWOW!\u201d And I\u2019m thinking, \u2018Don\u2019t you freak out or I\u2019ll really freak. You\u2019re a local!\u2019 But I don\u2019t say anything. It\u2019s been a long hard winter for Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We make it through the snow okay, but that\u2019s not good enough. The old bus pops a gasket or something and soon is wheezing like an old woman climbing six flights of stairs. We pull over and the driver puts on his greasy mechanic\u2019s apron like, \u201cI\u2019ll show the bus who\u2019s boss!\u201d Yeah, right. This old bag of nuts and bolts ain\u2019t goin\u2019 nowhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So we wait and wait and wait for the company to send a van to pick us up. Mladen\u2019s going to miss his bus to Istanbul, but that\u2019s good for me, since he\u2019ll continue on to Sofia, like me, instead. At this point his presence and command of All Things Slavic are very reassuring to me, particularly since we\u2019ve become quite friendly. I realize at this point how vulnerable and insecure I am, hardly the master traveler and linguist I may come off as sometimes, to myself if not others, whether intentionally or otherwise. Down deep I\u2019m a scared little child.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My only advantage is that I\u2019ve been here before, lived my whole life here in fact, trembling before the vagaries of circumstance and creating new gods to save me. Bottom line: I hate that sinking feeling when you\u2019re stuck out of luck and there\u2019s nowhere to pass the buck. I know it well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bus driver finally flags down an empty van and pays the van driver to take us on into town. Hey, we could\u2019ve done that an hour ago. That\u2019s what we would\u2019ve done ten years ago without cell phones and the miracles they bring. So by the time we finally limp into the station at Tetova, Macedonia, it\u2019s dark and cold and lonely. I\u2019m really glad Mladen is here. Maybe he\u2019s glad, too, but I don\u2019t ask. Guys don\u2019t do that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Problem is, the bus to Sofia leaves from Skopje, and that\u2019s still an hour and another bus ride away, something I didn\u2019t like in the original plan, and am now regretting. If you want to traipse the Balkans, bring a friend. You might need it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We persevere on to Skopje, where there\u2019s a bus to Sofia at midnight. So we buy tickets and have time to kill; things are looking up. It\u2019ll be Sofia by morning, an up-and-coming tourist destination, there and Bulgaria in general. But now we\u2019ve got three hours to kill, so we trade stories and talk trash and eat more byreks\u2014<\/i>oily pies\u2014which Mladen explains to me are \u2018real Balkan food\u2019, as if I didn\u2019t already know after living on them in Tirana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At least there\u2019s a real bus station in Skopje. That\u2019s refreshing. But our midnight bus is late and I\u2019m freezing outside waiting for it. I mean FREEZING! I\u2019ve been cold for a month, but this is ridiculous!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our bus finally shows up and we pile on quickly. Macedonia passes under our wheels, almost an entire country traversed in darkness. At least the border crossing to Bulgaria is civilized; they collect the passports then bring them back all stamped up and ready to go.

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Day Two<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"Streets<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

When the bus finally pulls into Sofia the sun is rising. Mladen and I say our goodbyes and I go for a cup of espresso. It costs less than the 3-in-1 Nescafe. It\u2019s good, too. Things are looking up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I kill time waiting to go to my hostel. My directions use McDonalds as a landmark, but there are more than one, so I fumble around the early morning streets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Modern Sofia never sleeps. The Bukowski Bar next to the entrance of the hostel I\u2019ve booked is still going strong from the night before as mid-morning creeps up. The hostel is full, but they\u2019ve got another around the corner that shares an entrance with an Irish pub, apparently presided over by a real live Irish person, or at least a Brit. That\u2019s who the patrons are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m hungry. So after starving myself in Albania, too lazy to deal with currency exchange, I gorge in Sofia, plenty of foreign exchange since the transport companies won\u2019t take Euros, and I had to cash a wad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next stop is Belgrade, but regional transportation is all flakey. The bus requires a transfer in Nis. The train won\u2019t sell tickets until the hour before the voyage (?). It seems like I\u2019m spending all my time in Sofia at the bus station. At least the food is good.

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Day Three<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I decide to take the bus. By the time I get to Belgrade it\u2019s mid-afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By now I\u2019ve gotten wise and booked a hostel close to the bus station. The only problem is the staff\u2019s constant cigarette smoking, but other than that it\u2019s way cool except for the loss of privacy in a dorm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s all men, too, from Germany, Australia, and one who I later find out is Mexican, from Guadalajara. He came in on the train I forewent. The G8 of international travel is now expanding to G30. I consider that proof of justice in the world. He even speaks good English. I\u2019ll feel hurt if he rebuffs my Spanish, of course, but go for it anyway, Psycholinguistics 101.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But we\u2019re cool, talking about things Latino into the night, fueled by the jug of decent Serbian beer being offered. I decide I like hostels; they give a safe haven and source of information to travelers and interaction with others where such is almost impossible with locals.

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Day Four<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Belgrade is pretty uninspiring, but not so bad. It could use a coat of paint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They say nightlife is the big attraction, but that doesn\u2019t much work for me any more. So I walk a lot, scouring the market for things not to buy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This seems like a good place to drink, but I\u2019ve already done that, so I get caught up on Internet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next stop is Pristina, Kosovo. Show me a former war zone and I\u2019ll show you a travel bargain.

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Day Five<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I get an early start for another day of travel. A long lonely road leads from Belgrade to Kosovo, like some silly clich\u00e9 being spoken for the umpteenth million time, but lending some credence to its claims of independence, regardless of the ethnicities involved. But first we go more than half way back to Nis before turning west, aggravating my \u2018no backtrack\u2019 sensibilities a bit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the de facto<\/i> border Serbia checks me out of the country, but I don\u2019t think I ever got checked in, just glanced at. I guess the UN doesn\u2019t do that; only real countries do. Kosovo has still got a ways to go.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Church<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Immediately the scenery changes, though. Instead of the well-defined countryside of Serbia, with its tilled soils and trash-strewn roads and streams, we\u2019re back into mixed town\/country hodge-podge like Albania. I guess it\u2019s part of the ethnic character of these ethnic Albanians. Is city planning hard-wired into the DNA?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I get into town after dark and get a taxi up into the hills overlooking town where \u2018the professor\u2019 runs his guesthouse\/hostel. He\u2019s a nice old man who studied engineering in the UK, doing graduate work some time back in the 70\u2019s. Hey, wait a minute\u2026 I graduated college in the 70\u2019s. Do I look that old? Anyway, he\u2019s got a nice enough place with real radiated heat in the rooms. We need it; it\u2019s cold.

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Day Six<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The first thing I see is snow coming down. Brrrrrr. <\/i>It finally stops so I take a long walk into town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kosovo is a joint project between the UN and EU, keeping the Serbians at bay, the EU presence in evidence everywhere. As such it\u2019s the largest preserve of second-language English speakers between Athens and Dubrovnik.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Picture<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

I\u2019m tired of being cold, so begin to consider other options. Transportation agents just assume I\u2019ll be returning, as if I were another UN operative, as if they\u2019d never seen a tourist buy a one-way ticket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The food here is good, thanks to the historic association with Islam and Ottoman Turkey. In addition to the ubiquitous kebaptores <\/i>and their meaty grill smells wafting over the streets, there are gulashes<\/i> and musakas <\/i>and other saucier dishes that are all quite good and reasonably priced, Islamic food not unlike what are known in Asia as \u2018curries\u2019.

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Day Seven<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"Streets<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Tonight I\u2019ll travel onward to Montenegro, so that gives me another day to kill in Pristina. No problem. I\u2019m enjoying playing secret agent in a UN-controlled state. At the bus station some guy puts the moves on a woman sitting next to me, and won\u2019t stop. It\u2019s like watching the Discovery Channel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally I go get on the bus, then so does he. We shove off, and soon come to the mountains. Not only do we climb the narrowest steepest mountain pass that I\u2019ve EVER been on, it just happens to be at the border between two countries, and it just happens to be snowing at the time. Yeow! This is nothing like the little dusting Mladen and I got back in Macedonia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is real! Snow banks are piled up on the side of the road, plows are operating steadily, and many passages are one-lane-only. Most of the other traffic are eighteen-wheelers! Okay God, here\u2019s the deal: just one more favor and we\u2019re even, okay? I promise! <\/i>We\u2019ll probably make it. We usually do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The irony is that I just spent a week to go the long way between two points that probably would\u2019ve taken less than a day if I\u2019d gone directly north from Tirana. I guess that\u2019s backpacking. I guess that\u2019s hyper-travel.

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardie Karges just embarked on his next major trip through South and Central Asia, covering 8-12 countries. He has published poetry, and writes blogs on travel and world music, in addition to his personal blog. <\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Hypertravel: 100 Countries in 2 Years (Backpacker’s Guide to the World and the Soul)<\/a>,” his first full-length book, was published in January 2012. His second book, “Backpackers and Flashpackers in Western Europe: 500 Hostels in 100 Cities in 25 Countries<\/a>“, is the first in a series of guides to hostels worldwide, was published in December of the same year. <\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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