Anyone been to Tirana, Pristina, Podgorica?

zagfles

If you're country ticking then make sure you visit the Republic of Užupis in Vilnius. I saw the president when I was there, he was tabby and asleep on a pile of books in a shop window

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20181014-uupis-a-tiny-republic-of-free-spirits

CKhalvashi

zagfles said:

If you're country ticking then make sure you visit the Republic of Užupis in Vilnius. I saw the president when I was there, he was tabby and asleep on a pile of books in a shop window

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20181014-uupis-a-tiny-republic-of-free-spirits

We tend to stay here when in Vilnius.

Also remember the district that Chernobyl movie was shot in (I'll find the centre on request). When we were there a few years ago (I think late 2019) it was possible to see where the street names had been temporarily changed. As someone whose country is also a victim of illegal Soviet occupation, the districts were built to similar standards to the 'real' Chernobyl (actually the town of Pripyat), which I've also visited. We were only there as we have friends living in the area but did get a tour.

Vilnius is a really interesting city actually.

TheShape

Thought I'd add to this thread as I visited Montenegro last October.

Stayed in Becici near Budva.  Thought it was rather nice.  Visited Kotor which was very nice with some amazing views over the bay and spent the last day before our flight in Podgorica.  There didn't seem to be a huge amount to do in Podgorica but we certainly had a nice day wandering around to a few sites.

Ballard

I’m on my last day in Montenegro.

Podgorica isn’t a great city. There are a few bars in the vicinity of independence square and I would highly recommend Masala Art if you like Indian food. By and large the architecture isn’t anything to write home about. 

Half an hour by bus away is Virpazar which is the starting point for boat trips around Skadar Lake which is beautiful. The company we used (Kingfisher) charged $15 plus €5 entrance fee for 3 hours. You’d need to look up bus times or there’s a railway station half a mile or so away (along a busy road without footpath). Trains are about one every two hours. Taxis probably wouldn’t be that expensive but you’d have to hope to find one to take you back. 

Kotor is a lovely walled city with a mountain to walk up which affords lovely views. Unfortunately the heavens opened and we were wet through by the time we got back. 

Tivat is a swanky place for the rich but it’s worth a visit for a relaxed vibe. 

Until today the weather has been appalling with heavy rain pretty much every day. 

zagfles

Ballard said:

I’m on my last day in Montenegro.

Podgorica isn’t a great city. There are a few bars in the vicinity of independence square and I would highly recommend Masala Art if you like Indian food. By and large the architecture isn’t anything to write home about. 

Half an hour by bus away is Virpazar which is the starting point for boat trips around Skadar Lake which is beautiful. The company we used (Kingfisher) charged $15 plus €5 entrance fee for 3 hours. You’d need to look up bus times or there’s a railway station half a mile or so away (along a busy road without footpath). Trains are about one every two hours. Taxis probably wouldn’t be that expensive but you’d have to hope to find one to take you back. 

Kotor is a lovely walled city with a mountain to walk up which affords lovely views. Unfortunately the heavens opened and we were wet through by the time we got back. 

Tivat is a swanky place for the rich but it’s worth a visit for a relaxed vibe. 

Until today the weather has been appalling with heavy rain pretty much every day. 

Agreed on the Skadar lake trip, but build a bit of contingency in with the buses, the bus we planned to get from Virpazar was full and they don't allow standing, and it was the last bus, luckily there was a train back. Another bus elsewhere was cancelled last minute.

Kotor is best seen early morning or late evening after the cruise ships have gone, there can be up to 6 ships in every day! It was 2 or 3 when we were there and the old city was pretty heaving. I think you can do the walk up to the top free if you set off before 8am, otherwise it's something like 8 EUR.

tightauldgit

Leg 1 of the trip completed - back from Vilnius yesterday. Really impressed by the city actually. Of the three Baltic capitals probably my favourite although they were all good. Vilnius seemed much greener than the others though and a really pretty city overall. Seemed to be a bit of money sloshing around as well judging by the cars I saw parked around the old town. Much hotter than I expected during the time I was there. I did pop into Uzupis as well. 

I did walk from the airport to my hotel on arrival - took an hour and a bit and was a nice little walk in the sunshine. Just took a bolt back which cost 10Euro as it was 4am and couldn't be bothered trying to work out public transport at that time of the morning. 

Next up Tirana! 

CKhalvashi

tightauldgit said:

Leg 1 of the trip completed - back from Vilnius yesterday. Really impressed by the city actually. Of the three Baltic capitals probably my favourite although they were all good. Vilnius seemed much greener than the others though and a really pretty city overall. Seemed to be a bit of money sloshing around as well judging by the cars I saw parked around the old town. Much hotter than I expected during the time I was there. I did pop into Uzupis as well. 

I did walk from the airport to my hotel on arrival - took an hour and a bit and was a nice little walk in the sunshine. Just took a bolt back which cost 10Euro as it was 4am and couldn't be bothered trying to work out public transport at that time of the morning. 

Next up Tirana! 

Enjoy! €10 seems fair to me, I paid about €7 in the pandemic to the centre-ish quite late

Just to advise for Albania, make sure you have a small amount of Euro cash on you on arrival.

I'll speak to OH later to get details of the cheaper bank for withdrawals, but we did find a shop etc that accepted card payments, although the cash rate for Euro was a little better than the official rate (everyone used 120 lek/Euro in S20. Exchange office rates in an event seemed fair although the holiday was a little more than I'd have liked to spend (had to be done as a package to get on the Belavia flights) it was more than worth it.

tightauldgit

Leg 2 completed - Tirana was a lovely city, really enjoyed it when the sun was out. Got a bit rainy on Days 2/3 but never mind. I was quite surprised by just how nice Tirana was expected something a bit of a throwback but obviously a lot of money been spent on it in recent years. I'm left feeling that the only dump left in Europe is the one I live in! Didn't have much trouble spending on cards in shops/supermarkets/etc but the entrance to the House of Leaves was cash only as were the little souvenir shops etc. Not an issue as exchange places all over. I just basically spent a couple of days wandering around the centre and seeing what I could see 

Only downside was a 4+ hr delay on the way back thanks to Wizz Air (and a bottle of water and a salami sandwich is so far the only compensation offered). Annoyingly they kept the check in hours the same which meant I spent the best part of 8 hours in Tirana Airport (and there's very little there to entertain you). Tomorrows job is checking out how to claim for compo - I think I'm eligible at least although I don't know what the official reason for the delay was.  

tightauldgit

So just for completeness, the last leg of the trip was to Pristina which is nice enough but to be honest there wasn't really very much there of interest for me. It seemed like what I guess it is, a reasonably smallish regional city which has suddenly become an international capital city through circumstances. 

Not to say there's anything wrong with it, it's a nice enough town with a nice little centre and the people all seemed very welcoming so it's worth a visit but I'd say it's probably a place you would pass through between two other places or you maybe take a day/overnight trip from Albania or North Macedonia or wherever. 

There was no sign of any danger or disturbances while I was there and I don't think I saw a soldier or barely a police officer in my few days there. Absolutely felt safe wandering around even at night time,

Still that's another one ticked off the list of countries have to have to a think about what's next on the itinerary - I think the one I haven't done yet that I am quite keen to is Slovenia as I've heard it's lovely. I've still got the principalities to check off and then the ones that honestly seem a bit less appealing like Belarus, Moldova and Serbia. 

zagfles

tightauldgit said:

Still that's another one ticked off the list of countries have to have to a think about what's next on the itinerary - I think the one I haven't done yet that I am quite keen to is Slovenia as I've heard it's lovely. I've still got the principalities to check off and then the ones that honestly seem a bit less appealing like Belarus, Moldova and Serbia. 

Slovenia is lovely, we regret not having much time there as were only passing through on the way to Croatia, we drove in from Austria and the motorway was clogged so we took a detour via the Wurtzenpass and along the valley towards Lake Bled/Ljubljana which was a nice drive.

Probably the most interesting part of Moldova if you want to see what some describe as the "last outpost of the Soviet Union" is Transnistria/Pridnestrovia, which is an unrecognised but "de facto" separate country with it's own currency, laws, government etc (not a pretend one like Uzupis). But the FCDO are currently advising against all travel there for obvious reasons, as they are with Belarus.