The last month feels like one big highlight of all my travels, but that would make a very long post. So instead I’ve picked some moments that I think capture the experiences I’ve had.
It is as close to “wedding crashing” as I’ll ever get – walking into a wedding ceremony in the Old Town in Bar, on the Montenegrin coast. Good thing everyone was having too much fun to notice I was there.
The Biogradska Gora National Park is stunning part of Montenegro and home to a rare patch of primeval forest, beautiful scenery and a dormouse called Bruno.
In a corner of western Serbia where the Bosnian border is a stone’s throw away, a little green train travels through the mountains. Never one to turn down a train or a trip through the mountains, I took a ride on Šargan Eight.
As it’s become more popular, CouchSurfing has changed – and not for the better. But my faith in the project was restored when I spent a week in Niš, met some wonderful people and explored the city through the eyes of the locals.
Before I landed in Belgrade, I knew nothing about Serbia that would be useful to a tourist, so my time here has been eye-opening, educational and a lot of fun. Here’s a snapshot of my first two weeks of my Balkans adventure.
Meet Nenad, my CouchSurfing host in Nis. He loves coffee, movies and, oh yeah, last year he travelled through Afghanistan and spent a night with the Taliban.
When I arrived in Belgrade I thought it was ugly. It was a rash judgement, but not entirely untrue. Much of the city is in various states of disrepair, but there’s beauty to be found here. If history had been different, perhaps my photos would be of gorgeous historical buildings instead of graffiti and bomb sites.
Nine times out of ten, when someone presents you an offer you can’t refuse, it is easily turned down. But then the tenth time, it’s an invite to the World Testicle Cooking Championship in Serbia. How do you say no to that?
With engines topping 8000 horsepower, these machines leave F1 cars for dead. It sounds country, but there is nothing backwards about tractor pulling. There’s a reason it’s called the world’s most powerful motorsport.