No Kosovo - Straight on to Serbia

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We were reviewing our departure plans for Kosovo and quite by accident stumbled upon a link to an article on Lonely Planet about a traveler getting detained while traveling from Kosovo to Serbia.  Since that is in our plans for a week from now, I did a bit more research.

Even though Kosovo is not a operate country, following the war in the 90s, and accepted by currently 116 countries, Serbia itself still considers Kosovo to be part of their territory.  If you enter Kosovo at a border crossing other than through Serbia, you get a Kosovo entry visa, not a Serbian...makes since of course.  However, if you then travel from Kosovo into Serbia, you will be stopped at that border and detained...because you did not "legally enter" Serbia.  I know, sounds almost ridiculous...but it is true.  After a few more hours of research, I was able to find a huge number of current posts, all telling the same tale.

So for the nest several hours, I contacted our Kosovo host and worked out a reasonable last minute cancellation.  We did not want to stick the fellow with a full week cancellation, even though he allows last minute full refunds.  We ended up giving him four days of income for his trouble.  We made of course a new friend.

Next I had to cancel our bus tickets into and out of Kosovo.  Luckily, the bus portal gave us a refund less a small 10|% service fee.  Then I was able to get four advance nights with our Belgrade Airbnb.  Her calendar was open and that made it possible.  And then I was able to move up our new bus schedule to Sarajevo and get and extra three nights added to our existing reservation.

With housing and transfer refunds done, I went to work on getting to Belgrade from Macedonia.  Since bus service was not an option...there are no buses that go directly into Serbia from Skopje.  We finally had to settle on an air option.  We were able to book a flight from Skopje to Belgrade with a seven hour layover in Istanbul.  

So, in the end, with the pending refund from our last Turkish Air issue, we are still a few dollars ahead.

We departed at 6AM, flew to Istanbul, hung out in the airport for seven hours, and then flew to Belgrade.  Upon arrival we had yet another immigration moment, as secret service agents were at the gate checking all passports for Kosovo entry stamps before letting us move on to the formal immigration counters.  The stories were accurate.  A few folks were taken away into custody for having Kosovo entries in their passports.  Ugh...why can'\t the world get past all of this political gamester-ship?

No. 40 - Macedonia - A Week in Skopje

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We left Tirana in route to Skopje in a 15-passenger minibus for the 9 hour drive. There were only five on board so we got to spread out...and got maybe a combined two hours of sleep. The route took us up and into the snowy border mountains. We had to get out at the border for a customs inspection. They thoroughly checked everyone's bags EXCEPT ours. We arrived in Skopje 2 1/2 hours early at 1:30 AM and had to wait in the bus station with homeless folks sleeping next to us on benches and the floor--the bus station is heated and also not patrolled by the police--no worries--but we DID NOT sleep...LOL. 

Our host met up promptly at 4AM as promised and ten minutes later we were unlocking the door to our REALLY LOVELY new home. After getting organized we climbed into the Temperpedic King bed and fell asleep. After three hours we were having breakfast, talking about going out to shop for groceries after another nap...and then coming back home and taking another nap before dinner.

For the next six days we took daily walks, joined a Free Walking Tour of the Historic City Center, and relaxes.  Having such a well-equipped apartment certainly made that easier.  We even took in a new movie at the local Cineplex.

The city has undergone a huge rebuilding and modernization program over the past 10 years.  These are restaurants built to look like ships.  They are owned by the city and leased out to private entrepreneurs.

 The memorial arch built by the French in the early 1800s.

 Statue of Alexander the Great...new...in the center of the city square.

 Plaque marking the original birthplace of Mother Teresa.  Today is it an outline on the pavement of the city square.

 The city has over 250 statues.  This one reminded me of one in Helsinki.

 The church were Mother Teresa was baptized was lost in the 1963 earthquake.  They built this memorial on site using much of the original building blocks.  It houses a small museum and a really nice chapel in her memory.

 The is the new Marriott, just completed last month, and designed to look like the other French revival buildings.

The Stone Bridge...one of the notable symbols of the city, and built by the Ottomans in the 1400s.

 Our guide, Zoran, awarded "best local guide" by the country five years running.  We were joined by a married couple from Slovakia...both ladies were lovely.

 All of these impressive buildings are NEW and completed in 2013.  They are a combination of cultural and civic buildings and part of the city's revival.

 Another fountain dedicated to Alexander the Great.

 A fountain dedicated to the Jewish holocaust of Macedonia.

 These two buildings, side by side used to be identical.  The city has undertaken a huge project to convert the exteriors to match the French Revival style.  Inside they are the same.  Replacing the old Soviet styled block housing is going to take some time.

Turkish bathhouse from the 15th century now an art gallery.

 Old Town with its many shops and street vendors.  We wandered for several hours.

 We visited the fortress that overlooks the city and here is where out tour ended.  We said goodbye to the ladies and Zoran and enjoyed more time walking the walls.  The intense air pollution was overwhelming.  What looks like fog is really smog and Skopje is listed as one of the worst in Europe for air quality...especially in the winter when many people still use wood and oil to heat their homes and apartment buildings.

 This building is actually a water tower.  There are small city offices that surround a huge central tank.

 We loved this lion guarding the royal family at one of the fountains.

 One of the many bridges adorned with statues of leaders, artists, philosophers, scientists, etc.  This bridge has forty of them.

 We took a day to visit the history museum.  The highlights were the many historical paintings done by a contemporary classical school.

 And a copy of the original tomb of Alexander the Great as described in scrolls.  No one knows where he is actually buried...some think in Egypt.  However, since he was born and started his reign in Macedonia...he is there patron hero...and the proudly claim him on almost every corner.

 The most interesting part of the new museum in one of those new classical buildings was the ceiling.  It is suspended wooden slats and it was the entire second floor.

 The was figures were a bit creepy.  Many were in standing in shadows and under stairwells peering out.

 An original Roman mosaic floor found in a newly discovered villa.

 Great collection of Neolythic finds...some dating back to the 12th millennium BC.

 On another day we visited the Mother Teresa memorial.  Reading the letters she wrote to leaders of the world was especially moving.

 The memorial chapel.

 On our last full day we opted to take a very long walk acorss the city...all six miles of it...to see a movie at a shopping mall.  The walk took a while, was refreshing in the cool air, and the movie was fine.  Along the way we passed two restaurants side by side.  Their signs say it all.