For our honeymoon, we went to the Western Balkans (Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro, and Albania), and this year’s Spring Break was around our 15th anniversary, so we started off planning a full repeat of that trip to reminisce and see how much had changed. However, our love of visiting new countries won out and we decided to visit the remaining Balkan countries we hadn’t been to yet. Emily had been so several of these countries already, so we decided to add on some Eastern European countries to close other gaps for her country count. It ended up being our most ambitious itinerary yet, but we all survived and had a blast!
We started in Belgrade, Serbia. There weren’t a lot of the “normal” attractions so we decided to take a tour to get our bearings and see sights further than usual. We landed on a private tour of the NATO bombings in 1999. It was fascinating! A lot of the buildings bombed had been left as-is and the scars of war still felt very real. We could only recall learning about NATO being involved in the conflicts in Bosnia, which was totally separate and years earlier than these. It was a somber start to the trip but we’re very glad we did it. We learned about a lot of Yugoslavian history, and also spent some time touring the west part of town known as Zemun. It has a very different vibe than central Belgrade. There, we went to Tower Gardos, walked along the riverside promenade, and had some unique ice cream at Poslastičarnica Sa Stavom. At the end of the tour we requested a photo stop at the iconic Western City Gate of Belgrade. We spent the rest of the day wandering around the Belgrade Fortress, stopping at The Victor Monument, the Zindan Gate, and the Ružica Church (with chandeliers made out of bullets from WWI). We tried to visit the Nikola Tesla Museum but it closed early due to pro-government counter-protests (counter to student-led protests that started with a partial train station collapse and have been going on for months).
The next day, we had arranged for what’s called a “transfer tour”, which ends in a different city. We knew we wanted to visit Kosovo and weren’t certain what we’d run into if we tried to go on our own since it’s not recognized by Serbia as an independent country. Having a Serbian tour guide with us eased our concerns. The tour left Belgrade and traveled through The Valley of Kings, which has a series of old churches with amazingly preserved frescos, which are UNESCO-protected. There were some visitors but we were mostly on our own, so it had an extra sense of adventure and exploration. We ended the night in Novi Pazar, near the “administrative line” (not border) separating Kosovo.
In Novi Pazar, we had surprisingly good pizza at Relax Caffe, walked around town, and through a city park with castle ruins. The next morning, we visited two more nearby churches, and then continued onto Kosovo. The administrative line / border crossing went just fine, and just then I realized that it was the first land crossing with a checkpoint that the girls had been through. Driving through Kosovo was an interesting experience. There were towns still flying Serbian flags and others flying Albanian flags. You could feel the tension in the air and it was clear that the dust has not settled since they declared independence in 2008.
We got into the capital Priština and hit the ground running. We visited the Newborn Monument, the Bill Clinton Statue, the National Library, and Mother Theresa Square. We stopped for a great lunch at Pishat, and continued onto the Skanderbeg Statue and The Great Mosque. After a quick break at the hotel, we went back out for a delicious dinner at Liburnia.
The next morning we took a bus to Skopje, North Macedonia and walked into town. Our hotel was on a boat in the middle of the city’s river! The kids were so excited, and it was great to sleep with the sound of running water all around us. It also had a restaurant where the family had drinks in the afternoon while I was working from the room. We spent most of the day wandering around the Old Bazaar on the north side of the river and doing some shopping. On the south side of the river, across the famous Stone Bridge, it was much more modern and nearly every building was lined with statues around their rooftops — it was almost comical the number of statues around the city. They have a arc similar to Paris called Macedonia Triumph Gate so we stopped for some photos on the way to the Mother Theresa Memorial House. At night we went back out to the main square and had dinner to end the night.
After breakfast, we were back on a bus, this time to Sofia, Bulgaria. I have to be honest — the Sofia bus station was the sketchiest place on the whole trip. The walk into town to our hotel was a little rough too, but the hotel itself was amazing. We had the penthouse suite with two floors and a rooftop. The whole building was covered in large rusted iron panels that you could move. Quite the experience! We had lunch at a “French taco” place (basically burritos with french fries), and they were so messy that you got rubber gloves to use while you ate. We wandered around a large boulevard for a bit and ultimately ended up at a restaurant a friend recommended names Cosmos. It was spectacular!
The next morning we had bagel sandwiches at 718 Breakfast & Brunch and then took a Free Walking Tour of the city. It was very informative and we loved the concept of the tour (you just tip what you want at the end). We saw all the major sites, including Ancient Serdika and Saint George Rotunda Church, and ended up at the impressive Nevsky Cathedral. While the core downtown area was nice, Sofia is definitely “up and coming” with a lot of abandoned businesses. We stopped at an art museum on the way back to the hotel where we had drinks on the rooftop.
Sofia to Bucharest was a bit too far for a bus ride, so we decided to fly this time, however we weren’t sure about the local airlines, so we took Turkish Airlines to Istanbul and back into Romania. Bucharest felt like the opposite of Sofia. It was very lively and so much fun to walk around the bustling old town our entire first evening. Our second day started with coffee and then a fantastic 2 hour tour with Red Patrol Tours where we looked like celebrities in our retro Romanian-made Dacia carts. Bucharest has so much character and several distinct parts of the city that were each enjoyable. We spent the evening back in old town, visiting the Museum of Communism and eating/drinking traditional fare.
Next up was a train to the interior of Romania, starting with Brasov, near Dracula’s Bran Castle. Of course we had to drink Dracula’s beer at Dracula’s Restaurant immediately upon arrival. Brasov itself is such a cute city and could stand on its own without the Dracula tourists. We stayed in the Old Center, went to the Black Church, and of course Bran Castle a short bus ride away. The castle wasn’t as cheesy as expected, though they did have a couple “spooky” rooms in the middle of the self-guided tour.
Deeper into Romania, we took another train to Sighișoara, which I had only heard about a single time in an Instagram Reel and decided to add it to our itinerary! It’s a beautiful hilltop city with a really cool Clock Tower in the middle. There are lots of shops and other towers, along with an old wooden Covered Stairway that leads to a church even higher above the city. Definitely worth the climb for the experience and the views. We had a great dinner at our hotel, Boutique Hotel von Graf, and then walked the streets again at night when all the buildings were lit up. The following day, we finished off the rest of what the city had to offer — an escape room, a tourist train tour, and Edie and I went to Dracula’s House where there was a real person that sat up from a coffin and asked us in broken English for a tip… We spent the rest of the evening drinking out of large steins, as we tend to do.
Just as the girls had their first land crossing earlier this trip, they had another first on the way to Budapest, Hungary — an overnight train! The girls were so excited to have this experience. The parents on the other hand got a little deflated when we arrived and realized the configurations only had 2 lower beds (and we had 3 adults). Not wanting to risk it, I ended up sleeping sitting up in the corner of one of the lower beds. Not the most comfortable sleep, but we made it. The hotel picked us up from the airport at 6am and we were able to drop our bags before heading out for the day. We did another one of those Free Walking Tours to get our lay of the land. We saw and learned a lot. After the tour, we took the funicular up to Castle Hill to briefly walk around and see the views. Back towards the hotel we went to St. Stephen’s Basilica and saw the first king of Hungary’s mummified hand. We had dinner at a very cool area known as Gozsdu Court.
Last, but not least, we took a train to Bratislava, Slovakia. We took yet another Free Walking Tour which included a walk up to the castle that looms over the city. After that, we had a great lunch at Bratislava Flagship, where we also went the last time we were in Bratislava. We then took in the sights around Old Town and took lots of selfies with Michael’s Gate. For some reason there was a bunch of retro trains giving out free tours, so we hopped on one and enjoyed a relaxing afternoon. We had dinner and drinks at Sladovňa – House Of Beer to celebrate the end of an amazing trip. In the morning we had brunch at Urban House before taking our last train to Vienna to catch our flight home.