Gjakova (Kosovo) - Skopje (Macedonia)

It’s 4am and the world is quiet bar the birds greeting the morning with their beautiful melodies. By 07:30 we are showered, packed and ready.

Breakfast

Some very different things for the first meal of the day, this morning: Fresh bread with a crispy crust, local cheese, a type of salami, cured meat, soft spreadable cheese, yogurt, some very spicy vegetables, and a tomato-ish relish.

Terzi Ottoman Bridge

Unlike the bridge we saw a few days ago, this one sits unassumingly, and apparently unloved, by the side of the main road, almost swallowed up by the surrounding vegetation.

Built in the 15th century as part of an important medieval route that connected Gjakova with Prizren, the bridge is said to have been restored in the early 1980s, but is now sadly neglected and unkempt. The Erenik River that once flowed underneath the arches, is now dried up (possibly rerouted?), and overgrown.

At 192.8 metres long, Terzi Bridge, also known as The Tailor’s Bridge, is supported by eleven arches, and it is now only suitable for use by pedestrians.

Prizren

On the way to the Macedonian border, we drive via Prizren, hoping to find somewhere to stop for a coffee. Big mistake. The in-car navigation system is not working, so Vladimir relies on the GPS on his phone. Big mistake number two. We drive through the town and stop to fill petrol just outside – when we start up again, the GPS is confused, and in cahoots with the road signs, it takes us back into town, then guides us around in circles, returning to the old town of Prizren again and again.

We recognise this from our last visit to Kosovo a few years ago

We cross the river, hoping the GPS will find us a different route. It does. Down a cobbled street finishing in a dead end. We take a side road up the hill, also a narrow, cobbled street, only to find that too is closed off with bollards. The road is not wide enough to turn the car around, so poor Vladimir has to reverse down the hill while trying to avoid the pavement cafés and oblivious pedestrians glued to their phones.

The third time around, we stop and ask someone for the way to the border and Skopje beyond. The first person has no idea, neither does the second person we ask. By asking the third person for the way to Prishtina (the capital of Kosovo, and the general direction we want to go), we finally get a definite answer, and we drive out of town. A sign for Skopje at one of the junctions, gets our hopes up. There are no more road signs after that, however, and we are soon back in Prizren again.

This row of buildings is beginning to look awfully familiar

A rather frustrated Vladimir hands David his phone to see if David can manage to make more sense of the map. I buy an add on from my phone supplier to see if my map and GPS is any different. I soon get a message that I can use my data here, followed a few minutes later by another message telling me that in order to use data, I need to buy an add-on.

I still can’t access the internet on my phone, despite buying the add-on and activating roaming. Could it be because my phone provider thinks I am in Monaco (despite sending me a "Welcome to North Macedonia" text - which is were we are trying to go, but not there yet)?

Meanwhile, we are still circling the now-familiar roads of Prizren.

After our fifth visit to this beautiful, but now rather tiresome town, Vladimir tries one last road out of town that we have not previously taken. There are no signs, but we are driving in the general direction of where we want to go, and Vladimir recognises a few landmarks from previously travelling this way. It's looking promising

The main reason for visiting Prizren was to stop for a coffee, and now, 2½ hours later, finding a café has become a priority. The first café we stop at, is closed. So is the second. The third offers take-away only, so we buy some iced coffee from the fridge.

Meanwhile, David is suffering from an unsparing cold with his nose mercilessly dripping every half a minute. Terrified that Vladimir should catch it and be unable to carry on driving, David wears a mask in the car.

Macedonian Border

The excitement on reaching the border is two-fold: 1. It means that we have managed to escape from Prizren, and 2. Macedonia is the last remaining country in Europe for us to visit. We now have a full house. BINGO!

Once part of Yugoslavia, the country took the name The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia upon independence in 1991. The Greeks were unhappy about the name, as they felt it implied territorial ambitions toward the northern Greek region also known as Macedonia. In 2018 the then Republic of Macedonia (it changed its name in 1994, dripping the reference to Yugoslavia) and Greece agreed on a new name - the Republic of North Macedonia - which came into force in February 2019.

Skopje

Our navigations problem continue as soon as we arrive in Skopje, the capital of Macedonia. As a result of some visiting dignitaries, the last stretch of the road leading to our hotel is closed. At this [pint, the Sat Nav on Vladimir’s phone has another nervous breakdown, and refuses to try and find a different route, instead taking us down many small side street, and ultimately back to the same closed-off road. Three times. Vladimir approaches a car stopped on one of the roads, and asks for help. This time we really strike gold – the man says “follow me”, and jumps in his car, leading the way around the various diversions. When we finally reach the hotel, we can just about see the police stopping the traffic at the closed road, just a couple of hundred metres or so from the hotel as the crow flies. With all the problems on the way, what should have been a three hour journey, took eight hours.

Hotel Bushi, Skopje

Nobody is more happy to get to the hotel than David, who by now is suffering with the worst head cold he has ever had. Getting to the room, however, adds another layer of frustration. The hotel is built on a steep hill, and the reception is on the lower level, whereas the car park is at the top of the hill. Oh, and the hotel is under refurbishment, which means that to get to the reception, we need to trail our luggage through the restaurant to a small lift that will only take oner person with one bag at a time. Once we reach ground floor, there is a fairly long corridor snaking its way past the bedrooms in order to reach the check-in area. From there, another snaking corridor leads off in the opposite direction, to another lift which takes us up again one floor. From there we just have another corridor down to the room.

Room Service

With David feeling so poorly, and me having developed the biggest mouth ulcer I have ever had from rough edges on my temporary filling, neither of us feel like going to the restaurant for dinner. There is an advert for room serve, but no menu in the room, and nothing to indicate any telephone numbers to call for the restaurant, kitchen, or even reception. After a visit to reception to explain, a waiter turns up with a menu (and the telephone number to ring in order to place an order).

David's Shorska Burger with veal and cheese

My Pasta Carbonara - despite being creamy, I struggle to eat it because of the enormous sore on my tongue (about the size of a fingernail)

We both collapse in bed out of sheer exhaustion.

Monday 5th May 2025

I wake with a jolt at 05:00 this morning. The hotel is right next to a mosque, and the first call to prayer today rings out, to be heard all over the city. Another one follows soon after. I can hear at least five different calls to prayer, and despite the window being closed, it sounds like the muezzin is in the room with me.

David is feeling no better this morning, and in addition to my poorly mouth, I have developed an upset tummy, as well as my knee being unhappy with the number of stairs I climbed on the first day, and the length of time spent in the car over the last few days, so we let Vladimir know that neither of us will be going anywhere today. We camp out in the room and feel sorry for ourselves.

More room service

Mid-afternoon we order room service again, at least this time we know the number to call. The waiter hangs around while we make up our minds.

I order a Bushi Burger, which is bunless, and served with a fried egg on top, boiled potatoes, a small floret of broccoli, a small sliver of carrot, and a dish of local cheese on the side.

David chooses a Pizza Diabolo, which he claims is nowhere near as spicy as the name implies.

This Balkan Adventure was organised by Undiscovered Destinations.