Before 2025, our last trip to the Balkan Peninsula was in 2018. Robin and I journeyed from Rome to the Amalfi coast, then flew to Palermo to circumnavigate Sicily. Then we drove to the southern Italian port of Brindisi for the ferry to Corfu and rendezvous with travel companions Kate and Aaron. After a day revisiting the island we took another ferry to the port city of Sarande on the southern coast of Albania. We typically like to stay off-the-beaten-path and therefore drove north about an hour and a half to the small hamlet of Himare and our AirBnB.
Looking back to Sarande on drive north
Guided to our apartment we all thought we made a terrible mistake. We dragged our roller boards uphill over stone rubble and between the remnants of what was once a castle or fort thinking it impossible there could be a habitable place tucked in here. And yet, we came to a door and entered our lovely apartment overlooking the hillside where goatherds grazed their animals and we looked to the sea.
Looking up to our unit on left and the ruins above we walked through
Looking down from our unit to goats grazing and sea beyond
Albania was originally home of the Illyrians; an ancient and important collection of tribes in the western Balkan peninsula extending well into today's existing neighbors.
Ancient extent of the Illyrian tribes
They co-existed with their Greek and Thracian neighbors until conquered by the Romans and then absorbed by invading Slavs who crossed the Danube. In the eighth century they disappeared from history. Slavic migration to the Balkans
After the great schism of the eleventh century, which split western Roman Catholic from Eastern Orthodox, Albania was on the dividing line and split north and south religiously. After the fall of Constantinople the Ottoman Empire continued to expand well into Europe. The Christian occupants were continually marginalized and heavily taxed. Many converted to Islam to survive financially. Thus is the way of religion.
Early in the twentieth century, prior to WWI, Albania declared their independence from the Ottoman Empire, the "sick man of Europe", and began a series of Republics. During WWII they were invaded by both the Italians and the Germans. However, before the end of the war a communist group led by Enver Hoxha liberated Albania from the Germans. While the northern Balkan countries were unified under Tito into Yugoslavia, Albania retained their independence. However, Hoxha was a Marxist/Leninist authoritarian leader. During his reign he tried to build alliances economically; first with Yugoslavia, then retreated when Tito wanted to incorporate Albania, then with the Soviet Union but disagreed with their policies, and finally with China but didn't want to be dependent. Albania became the first constitutionally atheist state. The authorities began public executions of both christians and muslims, taking their religious property and demanding renouncement of their faiths.
During the cold war Hoxha became paranoid of being invaded by the west and built defensive pill-boxes up and down the coast to repel an invasion that never came.
Mushroom pill boxes along the coast of Albania
After the fall of the Soviet Union the then President of Albania supported a corrupt Ponzi scheme to fund his cronies. Many citizens sold their houses and invested any savings into the account. It all collapsed in the mid 90s. The leadership was forced to resign and a UN peacekeeping force entered to prevent a civil war. After the communist party fell, Albania moved in fits and starts towards westernization and NATO membership.
Today the country is on the road to being a tourist destination. Our daughter Teigan and friend went to Albania a couple years ago. They are young and have different interests than us and went to a popular resort town along the coast that did not exist only six years before. Jared Kushner is planning a mega resort just north of Himare in a remote beautiful nature area. Another paradise lost.
From Himare we drove continually north through Butrint, a Greek then Roman City, and Berat with its "thousand windows" town remnant of the Ottoman period, both UNESCO sites.
Greek ruins in Butrint with bull relief carved on lintel
Bust of Slavic leader
Robin and Bill on overlook in Berat
Ottoman era of "a thousand windows" in Berat
From southern Albania we continued north to Durres on the coast, the beginning of the Via Egnatia which traversed the Balkans to connect Via Appia from Rome to Constantinople. We will encounter this important Roman highway on our most recent trip.
Sun setting over the Adriatic and Italy in Durres
We ended our trip in northern Albania to hike the Accursed Mountains at the southern end of the Dinaric Alps. They are aptly named. Fortunately, our driver had a four wheel vehicle as none of us had been on a more rugged road. We explored the mountains for three days in a high alpine lodge.
Dinaric Alps
Other visitors crossing stream at waterfall
Aaron, guide, Kate and Robin at mountain lodging
From the northern border town of Shkodra we departed our friends. They traveled to Montenegro while we flew to Belgrade, Serbia. We arrived in Belgrade and settled into our AirBnB near the city center.
Entry corridor from our AirBnB to the main street
Although at times gritty, Belgrade is one of several beautiful cities along the Danube river which flows from the Black Forest in Germany through Vienna, Austria; Bratislava, Slovakia; Budapest, Hungary; Belgrade, Serbia, and near Bucharest in Romania before ending in the Black Sea.
Route of Danube from Germany to Black Sea
Belgrade seems caught between two eras and often seemed on both the right and wrong side of history. It's a beautiful city with grand pedestrian promenades, Orthodox Cathedrals and a wonderful Danube river waterfront.
Kneza Mihailove Pedestrian Street, Belgrade.
Dining in the historic district of Skadarska Street - Restaurant Row
St Marks Cathedral and Tasmajdan Park, Belgrade
Kalemegdan Park and Belgrade Fort on Danube
Iconostasis (Altar) of Orthodox church, Belgrade
Their economy was also struggling after years under Soviet control and then isolation after the 90s Balkan wars. At the time of our visit they were still struggling with their neighbors.
Local Commercial street, Belgrade
Urchin playing for coin
Several public banners protesting NATO and Albania
Like other Balkan countries it was originally settled by various tribes, invaded and assimilated by slavic peoples from the east, conquered by the muslim Ottomans, and made fits and starts at independence from them in the nineteenth century. By the start of WWI they were an independent nation, incorporating Montenegro and Kosovo, with a very powerful neighbor. Austria/Hungary Empire controlled Serbia's other neighbors; today's Slovenia, Croatia, and Bosnia Herzegovina, while Albania to the southwest was independent. When a Serbian nationalist assassinated Austria's crown price in Sarajevo, Austria delivered unacceptable terms to Serbia and when they were ignored, Austria declared war on the country. The political dominos of alliances fell. As Otto von Bismarck famously remarked: "the next European war would come out of some damed foolish thing in the Balkans."
After WWI Serbia was the power center of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY). When that country disolved after the fall of the Soviet union, Serbia initially maintained control of Montenegro, which declared independence in 2006. Kosovo, sandwiched between Serbia and Albania, declared independence in 2008. However, Serbia, almost alone, does not recognize them as a separate state. This continues to foment conflict between Serbia and Albania.
Due to the NATO bombing of Serbia in 1999 to stop the ethnic cleansing of Kosovar Albanias under Serbian forces lead by Slobodan Milosevic, which Serbs view as illegal aggression rather than humanitarian. In the end the leader was arrested for war crimes, but before a judgement could be issued he died of a heart attack.
After visiting Belgrade we took a bus north, passing fields of sun-flowers, to Novi Sad, close to the Austrian Border.
Fields of sunflowers with Novi Sad in distance.
Protest poster of before and after NATO bombing of bridge in Novi Sad
Novi Sad town square with Austrian Baroque city hall
We returned to Belgrade and hired a tour guide/driver for several days to take us east to the Danube, the border with Romania, and drove south along the river to Nis, before returning north to Belgrade.
Map of Serbia with Belgrade center top third, Danube winding on right and Nis at right bottom third
Our first stop was a medieval fourteenth century fortress and town. The site was originally settled, as most of the Balkans, by the Romans. Over the centuries it was occupied by Serbian Kings, Hungarians, Timisoarans (Romanians), Hungarians, Ottomans, Austrians and others. Life in Europe's middles ages was "nasty, brutish and short".
Golubac Fortress on the Danube
Further down the Danube we reached the Iron Gates, a narrow gorge separating the Carpathians mountain in Romania from the Balkan mountains in Serbia. Along this stretch of the river is the archeological site of Lepenski Vir, a human settlement from about 10,000 years BCE. It is Europe's first planned and continuously occupied (meaning not nomadic, rather than existing today) settlement along the migration route from the middle east to Europe. It was a shift from hunter gathers to neolithic farmers.
Enclosed archeological site with enhancement of settlement foundations
Reconstruction of triangular housing
Illustration of humans revering the sturgeon from the river.
Fish mouthed sculptures from the site.
Although it was a very rainy day, it made the Iron Gates even more mysterious and ancient looking. It reminded me of the river passage in The Lord of the Rings first movie.
Romania on the left and Serbia on the right.
The local communities along the Danube Iron Gates still maintain their local traditions and costumes.
After leaving the Iron Gates on the Danube we spent the night in Negotin. The next morning we toured the Bukovo Monastery. The Orthodox religion split from the Rome (Latin) religion in 1054 for several reasons including theological, the universal jurisdiction of the Pope, liturgical differences, and the celibacy of priests. Today many monasteries produce commercial wine. Both lack of celibacy and enjoying fruit of the vine seems much more relatable to parishioners.
We enjoyed sampling wine with a very jovial priest
Our guide arranged for us to have lunch at this couples homestay.
We arrived in Nis (pronounced Neesh) in time for dinner. Across from our hotel was a small, very local corner restaurant. It so happened it was the birthday for an 18 year old boy. Part of the tradition seemed to be to invite family and friends to a restaurant to celebrate coming of age. In this case the teenager's coming of age was to perform for the guests. They set up an electronic synthesizer and microphone to display his talents. We couldn't understand a thing he sang, but thoroughly enjoyed listening and watching his joy at his debut performance.
Restaurant across the street from the hotel
The young man singing and performing with the electronic synthesizer
There were no tourists, only local friends and family wishing him happy birthday.
Nis is the third largest city in Serbia and, like much of the country, has a tumultuous history. A couple key sites are the Red Cross Concentration camp, Nis Fortress and the Skull Tower. The Skull tower is from an early nineteenth century rebellion by the Serbs against the Ottoman empire. Despite being outnumbered they resisted fiercely. Eventually, the Ottoman's overwhelmed and slaughtered them. The muslims skinned their heads and sent the skulls to the Sultan who commanded they be built into a tower to remind the locals not to resist authority.
Partial reconstruction of Skull Tower.
After returning to Belgrade we up-graded our habitation for our last night to the Moscow hotel (Mockba) in the city center. A delightful step into past elegance. The next day before our flight we visited the small suburban town of Zemun. Any return trip we'd like to spend more time in this charming river side village.
Elegant Mockba Hotel
Zemun with Belgrade in the distance
Like many places from the Baltics to the Balkans in eastern Europe, Serbia has a complicated past that is still visible in the cities, country side, and the people. However, that is what makes it fascinating to visit where history is still alive. While Slovenia feels Austrian, Croatia Italian, and Albania nature, Serbia feels slavic and Russian.
Next Post: Balkans, Part four - Who am I - Where am I from. Finally, our 2025 trip.
