From Albania, we crossed over into the small Balkan country of North Macedonia, with a population of only 2 million. No questions, no PCR test & barely a passing glance at our passports. We continue to thank God that there are still some places like this left in the world!

The beautiful town of Ohrid

   North Macedonia is a landlocked country, but what it lacks in sea & beaches is more than compensated for by scenic Lake Ohrid, some stunning national parks, various ancient monasteries & plenty of incredible mountain scenery. We spent 2 months hiking & exploring all around.

   From Skopje, the capital of North Macedonia, we took the bus to Kosovo, an even smaller landlocked country with only 1.86 million people. Again, no problems with the border crossing.

St Jovan Bigorski monastery, Macedonia

   Beginning in the late 80’s, Yugoslavia gradually separated –unfortunately not very peacefully –into 7 different countries, with Kosovo being the last to obtain its independence in 2014. Not everyone is happy with this & so there continues to be a background UN military presence, & it is common to see military helicopters making their rounds. Less expected was to find some Serbian monasteries surrounded by high walls & barbed wire, with UN soldiers forbidding us to enter without a passport!

historic town of Prizren, Kosovo

   On our first day in Pristina, Kosovo’s capital, we were surprised to enter a supermarket & find people looking at us rather strangely! Out of habit, we had put on our masks but after looking all around, we quickly realized that nobody else in the whole department store was wearing one! As we took off our masks, we couldn’t help but feel a little emotional: it felt like we had time-travelled back to the pre-Covid world of 2019 with not a single mask in sight & where everything was ‘normal’– what a wonderful feeling!

wild flowers everywhere!

   We would rate Kosovo as one of the friendliest countries we have ever been to. Hitch hiking was surprisingly easy, & because tourists are quite few & far between, we found people to be very welcoming.

   For us, it’s a real privilege to visit such unspoilt paradises, completely off the beaten track but filled to the brim with beautiful mountains, valleys, gorges, lakes, historic villages & an abundance of hiking trails.

plenty of summits to climb…

   While we continue to wait for Fiji to re-open its doors to foreign visitors, we keep living our nomadic lifestyle & are thankful for such an amazing voyage of discovery in the Balkans.