Balkan Tour Part 2

So sorry peeps. My excuse is no excuse so I shall not elaborate. Hahahaha.

Anyways, since I do not travel much these days, the late posting will be sort of fillers for the rest of the year.

To continue  where I last wrote, there cities that we went to in this trip and each city was beautifully memorable. It would have been even more if we had a brighter weather but then again it has its charm. 

Montenegro in the country borders to Albania in the south, and Bosnia & Herzegovina to the north.  We stopped over at two old cities namely Budva and Kotor guided by a lovely and enthusiastic lady. I really enjoyed the old city with the rustic buidling. Its known for its well-preserved medieval walled city. Budva is actually one of the oldest settlements on the Adriatic coast. Kotor has also one of the best preserved medieval old town and is a UNESCO world heritage site.  I have posted the photos in the last post but I shall include them again. 

BUDVA

KOTOR

From Kotor we travelled to another town near the Adriatic Sea in the country of Croatia. The city of Dubrovnik has also joined the UNESCO list of Wprld Heritage site. It rained during our tour but it didn't dampen our excitement to walk around the old square. I simply loved the ambiance of the city.

DUBROVNIC

After two nights in Dubrovnic we made our way too the last but certainly not the least, country in this trip. Bosnia and Herzegovina. We went to few historic towns in this country and the first one being a little town in Pocitelj where we had lunch in a lovely rustic restaurant sitting by the Buna River Spring. (see top right hand corner of the photos below). And immediate after we proceeded to Mostar, the fifth largest city and known for the Bosnia and Herzegovina's most recognisable landmark with the Old Bridge. The Bridge was built by the Ottomans in the 16th century and considered one of the most exemplary pieces of Islamic architecture in the Balkans. We also had time to walk around the cobbled little village and even stopped by one of  the oldest mosque, Mehmet Koski Pasha Mosque. 

POCITELJ AND MOSTAR

We made our way the day after to the largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Sarajevo is rich in history of religious and cultural diversity. Its the fastest growing city after undergoing post-war construction. We visited the Tunnel Museum and the town square. The following day we stopped over at two towns where we stopped by at the Etno Village and Plava Voda Spring in Travnik and visited a malaysian sponsored mosque in Jajce. We then spent the night in the loveliest hotel in Bihaj. Not only the room was superb but the view from the balcony was amazing. See the photo on the top right hand below an dyou onow what I mean! 

SARAJEVO, TRAVNIK, JAJCE, BIHAJ

Finally we made our way to the last city Zagreb, Croatia. On our way we spent a day in Pittvice National Park. Due to the altitude the park was covered in snow. I was told that its a lovely place to be in the spring and summer but I do enjoy the view and feel of the crisp cold weather and beautiful scenary painted with snow. We didn't feel the cold since we had to walk quite a bit and mostly uphill and anyways the surrounding was surreal to me that we forget about the cold. Btw, the park is not only the oldest and largest parks in Croatia but it is also added tot he UNESCO World Heritage site. 

PITTVICE NATIONAL PARK

After the adventure in the park as well as a long but wonderful journey on the bus we spent our last night in the city of Zagreb. We spent the last day of our trip with a short tour of the capital city of Croatia namely the town square and the market place. And after lunch and prayer at the city mosque we made our way to the airport. 

ZAGREB

Phew! Quite a journey eh? It was one of the longest trip I have been but it has been totally worth the time (and money) spent. As mentioned before not only all the place that we visited were beautiful and full of history but the journeys between the cities were very picturesque and breath taking. Believe me. 

Travel date: 6-19 November 2017

Balkan Tour Part 1

It's long past the new year of 2018 and yet I have not done with the last update of my travel for 2017. I had the pleasure of visiting the Balkan countries or some of the Balkan countries and it was such a wonderful trip and a fitting end to wrap up the year.

The Balkans is a region that includes countries on the Balkan Peninsula in the southeast of Europe, including most of the former Yugoslavia. A tour to the Balkans has become popular because not only the cities that we visited  offers beautiful sight and historical architecture and background but the bus journeys between the cities or countries were made really pleasant with amazingly beautiful and picturesque view and scenary. 

The first city we visited was Athen. I guess what comes to mind with the mention of this city is of course the Acropolis. Am I right or am I right? 😀

So, of course those are the places that we went, the old ruin from the era of the Bronze Age way back in the 4th century BC. To be exact we went to the tourist sites such as the Acropolis, Parthenon, Erectheum and Temple of Zeus. We also had time to visit the Greek ancient market and shop for souvenirs at Syntagma Square

After two nights in Athens we made our way to another Greek city Kalampaka (pronounced as Kalabaka; the "mp" is like a "b". It was funny how we had a little argument on how it's to be pronounced and spelled. Tee hee...)

Anyways, it's a quaint little village known as the Kastaki Village, famous for the meteora which features one of the biggest if not the biggest Greek Orthodox Church built on top of one of the meteora hill. It was not a long climb to the top and the incredible view was worth the while. A walk around the village at the end of day brought the visit even more memorable. 

    

We left Greece the next day and made our way northbound to the city of Ohrid in Macedonia famous for the beautiful Lake Ohrid, the deepest and oldest lake in Europe. We went on a boat around the lake after a short tour of the little town. Its such a quaint little town but with some seriously fascinating architecture. With a beautiful lake and all if I have a wish to be granted, I would definitely choose this place as a place I would retire.  Even the dogs were friendly! (We had one quietly followed us around as if looking after us. At least I like to believe so. 😊) 

Anyways, you may not capture my feeling with the photos below but I hope you get the picture! No pun intended. 😉

After a night's rest in Ohrid we left for another country for a short stop for lunch, prayer and a brief city tour of Tirana, the capital city of Albania. Albania is a small muslim country bordered by Montenegro in the north, Macedonia to the east, Greece to the south and the Adriatic Sea to the west. Its a small city with the main attraction centered at the Skanderbeg square. The famous Skenderbeg Monument stood proudly to reflect on history of the Ottoman era. The clock tower, national library, City Hall, National Historical Museum and a few Ministry offices can be found around the square. In one corner stood an 18 century mosque with Ottoman archicture. Et'hem Bey Mosque is a significant building to depict the Muslim country of Albania. 

If I recall correctly, Balkan trip is the longest tour that I ever participated in. I keep wondering whether to break the updates into 3 postings. Or remain in 2 postings as I usually have done.There are several more places and more interesting stories to tell. As I am writing this I am recalling those places and the happy faces that I met. So we shall see.

Maybe I should stop here for now and continue later. But meanwhile as a teaser the next country that we went to is Montenegro, covering two cities and shown around by a pretty and enthusiastic guide.

So stay tune....! 

   BUDVA MONTENEGRO 

    KOTOR MONTENEGRO 

Travel date : 6 - 19 Nov 2017