There was a lot of desire we had to make this trip. We do not exaggerate if we say that for years we got into the head, and that is the idea of tour the Interrail Balkans seduces anyone!
We grew up with the conflicts of this geographical area, being small we saw in the news wars that we did not understand and that, even today after knowing more about this area, we still do not understand. Lety watched the "fighters" pass at full speed and breaking the sound barrier over the skies of his people, fighters that, far from putting some sanity, stirred the conflict even more.
“Nothing new,” the oldest of the place would think… nothing new for a territory struck by years and years of disputes, of war conflicts, of religious disagreements, of poverty and thirst.
Today there are still sunrises and sunsets, dinner is still being prepared and served on tables with knitted tablecloths, children continue to go to school and life circulates without stopping, as one of the trains with which we traveled the heart of the Balkans. But in the memories the years of pain and suffering have not been erased, neither on the facades of the communist buildings, nor on the cemeteries in whose tombs certain years are repeated, regardless of whether the deceased's last name ends in Ov or in IM.
Land of bullets, of mines, of tears, of helplessness, of a rough character, with broad shoulders and tanned hands. Land of half smiles, friendly dogs, broken shoes and thick coats. Land of nostalgia, of wanting and not wanting to remember, of good people and heinous acts. Land of shame, of gray skies, but also red and blue ... and heat. Of steaming tea and coffee, very sweet sweets, rich food, hospitality and truth.
... Land of half moons, crosses and stars ...
Have been almost two months we have taken to travel much of the Balkan Peninsula. The trip this time was not a crazy dive, without covering our nose and closing our eyes, as we might have done on other occasions. We introduced ourselves little by little, step by step, until we were completely covered by this wonderful culture.
It all started in a car, or rather, in a station: that of Gorizia. There we met Elisa through BlaBlaCar, and in her car we crossed the first border, that of Slovenia, to discover a hugely beautiful country, with a lot of charm, but from which we saw too little to have a clear idea. We will be back.
The trip continued in a bus on the way to Zagreb, pure heart, from where we started the tour of Croatia, surprise after surprise, with our rented car “Bugabante”.
At this point the water already covered us to the waist. It is usually the most difficult part of the trip, once the pelendengues The thing is going much faster. That happened to us at our next destination: Bosnia. Total reality bathroom! We enjoy it and feel it, embrace it and long for it.
And in Serbia we met another part, "the other part", which ended up tearing down the wall of our thoughts and entered the soul directly.
In a train at the Belgrade station we made our bed to snuggle and sleep with a jerk, and thus cross the border with Montenegro, our next destination, the biggest surprise of the trip. Not its capital, from which we did not get too much out of it (we doubt that there is much more juice in that city), but of the incredible coast.
From relaxation we go to authentic madness ... or rather to authentic madness, in Albania. We will return, so we are ...
And from madness, back to relax, in this case it was the waters of a lake, that of Ohrid, in Macedonia, that helped. We arrive at Skopje station, the half-done city, in a half-undone train, crossing the heart of this indecipherable country.
Our next leap was Bulgaria, a great country, which we could discover through its capital, Sofia. Here, on a gray and rainy day we ran into the woman who had almost nothing and yet seemed to have it all. His smile betrayed her.
The trip was coming to an end, the Balkans had given us a very intense time. At this point we decided to head north and give a good account of three of the most visited cities in central Europe: Budapest, Prague and Bratislava before putting the end to our interrail in the Balkans.
