Return to Kosovo

Sounds like a good name for an action movie staring fit and fabulous people doing daring things.

But instead it is just a title to a blog entry about a couple of lushes and their big long drive across Europe.

After a hiatus back in Oz catching up with family and friends and sort of trying to get fit and fabulous, I returned to Kosovo by way of a mega road trip from France, through Italy, along the Dalmatian coast and across northern Albania.

We had bought a car in France and needed to get it back to Gjilan, you see.

So!  it all began very early on a Monday morning in St Amand after spending a week or so back with Romain's family, spending quality time with the frenchies and nourishing our post-post-adolescent pimples with plenty of easter chocolate.

One of us has had 5 hours sleep and is about to drive 2300 km, the other is going to kick back as a passenger, enjoying the sights and delights.  Guess who's who?!

We set off, hooning down through France until we reached the Mt Blanc tunnel, which connects France and Italy.

11 kms and 50 euros later, we emerged on the other side to a very frosty reception from Italy.

We said 'pffft' to the north, and continued across Italy until we reached Venice.

Ah Venice.  You big, soggy, wondrous waterworld.

It is a truly beguiling place.  At times I found it hard to believe that it was a real city, and not just some crazy Italian theme park, purpose-built for the tourists.  And there sure were a lot of them.  Including us.

Although I felt slightly more 'authentic' than the rest of the bum-bag toting hordes because Romain could actually speak Italian.  AND we didn't have bum bags, or a guide book, or a map, which meant we spent a lot of time wandering around a bit aimlessly.  But I reckon you're allowed to do that in a place like Venice.

So we spent a good couple of days gorging ourselves on good Italian food and soaking up the culture.

Romain enjoying a lip-smackingly good serve of squid ink linguine

and then talking me through the finer points of modern art at the  Peggy Guggenheim Museum

The Basilica in the Piazza San Marco

Piazza San Marco

Even the pesky pigeons are obsessed with beauty - perching themselves fetchingly on green oxidised, pink-glassed lamp posts to best accentuate their pink and green iridescent plumes.  What show offs!

How could anyone think this is a practical way to live?  Gorgeous, yes.  But hardly very practical. 

Blind Venetian

Gondola

And then it was time to say 'ciao Venezia!' and hit the road again.

We scooted through Slovenia

Pee break in Slovenia

cut across the Istrian Peninsula and skidded to a halt in Split, Croatia.

Split is the largest city on the Dalmatian coast and maybe the oldest.  The ancient Greeks kicked things off maybe around the 6th century BC, and from then on it was shuffled between the various empires.

Nowadays it is a pleasant little tourist destination with great seafood and a fabulous fruit and vegetable market.  And lots of old crumbly and important buildings.

Buying figs at the market is a very serious business.

Squid ink pasta,  anyone?

We actually did see a dalmatian dog on the dalmatian coast, but not this one.

The one we saw was curled up under a table between his owner's legs, and I thought it might be a bit inappropriate if I started snapping away under someone's table.  So I let it go.

But I would not let go of my mission to eat a banana split in Split.  I kept scouring the menus outside restaurants and cafes to see if they served them.  But they were nowhere to be found.  I was astounded. Flabbergasted.  Flummoxed.  To the point that I devised a semi-serious business model for a banana split stand on the waterfront in Split which I would operate during tourist season each year and make myself a small fortune.  Every tourist would be in for it!  Particularly because Europeans, who form the largest proportion of tourists (with Aussies and Kiwis not too far behind according to the waiters we spoke to) call them banana splits too.

It would be genius.  And Romain could dress up as the Banana.

Me cracking the sads because after 2 days of searching, I still can't find a banana split.

And then, on the final evening the restaurant we went to had banana splits on the menu!  Yipeeee!!!  So despite the fact that we had both just eaten our own body weight in grilled calamari, we ordered one anyway.  We were way too full to enjoy it.  But we ate it to prove a point to all the other banana splitless restaurants in Split.

Ha!  showed them.

So then we split the bill, Romain did the splits, I split a few infinitives and we split from Split.

We hooned down the coast, pausing only for a few ridiculous photos

Me posing like a long-footed fool in Croatia

An uneventful stop in Bosnia & Herzegovina

Finally stopping in Dubrovnik.

This is another place that feels to me as though it has been purpose-built for tourists.  An amazing fortress city, jutting out into the azure waters of the mediterranean, surrounded by gorgeous beaches and with cafes selling delicious ice cream and fresh seafood on every corner.

What a scam!

We found a super place to stay on Airbnb.   The owner's name was Boris.  A burly old Croat who was very hospitable and gave us some good tips on places to eat.

View from our terrace where we ate brekky

After a long hot walk around the fortress walls

We found the most absolutely perfect place for a drink.  Through a secret door and tucked into the outside of the fortress wall, nothing but some tables, umbrellas, a fridge with cold drinks and the most spectacular, spectacular view.

lovely!

ahh. it's a tough life.

This little bloke was enjoying the view too.

In fact, Dubrovnik is riddled with well-fed, healthy looking cats.

At night time, the city took on a very pleasing golden glow.

We had one final look around the city the next morning, discovering some more hidden peep-holes and corners

Placid squares

And pleasant vistas

before jumping back in the car and making our way across another border, this time to Montenegro.

We stopped in Kotor for a night - another fortress city, so another fortress wall climb.  This one was more than a 3000-step round trip.

Nice views from the top though.

The city of Kotor was also very lovely and well worth protecting with a big intimidating wall.

After kicking back in Kotor for 24 hours, it was back on the road, to do battle with some pretty ugly Montenegrin traffic

And a wayward GPS that wanted to take us along some pretty obscure tracks - like this one

And then somehow we missed the main highway connecting Albania to Kosovo (we blamed our rat-bag GPS), and instead ended up on one of the longest and windiest roads ever through the remote mountainous region of Northern Albania.

This was our view for about 5 hours.

Or at least it was my view.  Romain's view was intently fixed on the road in front of us, as it hairpinned and dog-legged its way through the mountains, threatening to spew us out into the crevasse below at any turn.

We wended our way through landscapes of breathtaking beauty and villages of screaming poverty.

Like this unfortunately named township.

Until we finally reached the Kosovo border and sped merrily through the verdant Kosovar plains towards Gjilan, which comparatively seemed like a highly cosmopolitan metropolis, bursting with wealth, culture and hope.

So after 10 days, 8 countries and 2300 kms, we could finally stop for a while.

But!  not for long......