Five things I learnt from travelling around Former Yugoslavia
How I Learnt To Stop Worrying And Love Globtour Međugorje.
This summer, I travelled across former Yugoslavia, visiting all six former Yugoslav republics and one new one in 19 days.
This was always, consciously, supposed to be a trip of breadth not depth. I studied my Master’s degree in Central, East European, Russian and Eurasian studies at the University of Glasgow, in which I studied a module on the history of Yugoslavia.
What fascinated me about Yugoslavia, and still fascinates me about Yugoslavia, is difficult to place. It could be how much of a mark the Socialist Federal Republic left upon itself in such a short period of time. It could be how much has changed so quickly since. However, I think what most interested me is how diverse the country was. How many diverse cultures, influences, ethnicities, religions, cuisines, languages and dialects existed within a population that would number only a little over 23.5 million by the time of its collapse.
I was particularly interested by a PhD thesis by Anita Buhin, who (amongst other things) detailed the three cultural identities facing the fledgling socialist state after the Second World War: the Central European, the Balkan or the Mediterranean. I was interested to see how, if at all, Yugoslavia’s successors might fit into these categories.
So it was with this attitude that I set off, to try and expose myself to as much of former Yugoslavia as I could on a budget of something close to £600, and here are five things I learnt whilst doing so:
1. Be prepared to travel on some of the worst buses you’ve ever seen
Former Yugoslavia is massive, roughly an equivalent size to Romania. However, its geography is incredibly varied. From the open grassy plains of Serbia, to the rolling arid hills of the Croatian coast, to the fjords of Montenegro and the labyrinthine mountain passes of Bosnia. This region has it all, but it also dominates the way that you can travel across it.
Train connections are not common. In fact during our trip, we did not travel on a single train. This was often due to economic factors or due to a limited availability with timings, however it was mostly because inter-city connections often just didn’t exist. We couldn’t get a train from Dubrovnik and Kotor, because neither Dubrovnik nor Kotor had a train station.
Thus, the lack of straightforward train routes left us navigating the country on a series of buses: from the reliable Flixbuses of Slovenia and Serbia, to the more colourful regional services. So, if you wish to travel from city to city, be prepared to travel on some of the worst buses you’ve ever seen, and be happy about it.
My travelling companion with the bus that would later dump us in an Albanian layby
Flixbuses (which would become something of a luxury with their air conditioning, free wifi and a guaranteed direct route to your destination) are your best bet in Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia. For the other republics, expect to have to use third party, regional bus providers. Handily, many of these companies (such as Globtour Međugorje, or Jadran Ekspres Kotor) can be booked via the Flixbus website (often at a small premium over the booking independently). However, in some cases we had to book independent bus providers, such as for getting to and from Kosovo.
Initially, our experiences on some of the local buses left something to be desired. The western Balkans get hot during the summer, so sitting on a 35℃ bus for 7 hours without air conditioning took some getting used to. In some cases, there were merely little holes in the ceiling above your heads to allow air to pass through, where once there were fans. From time to time there wouldn’t be seatbelts.
My experience taught me that it is customary for Bosnian bus drivers to drive whilst on the phone, only lowering the phone from their heads to take a drag of their cigarette - all this whilst casually doing 90 kph on some of the steepest mountain passes you’ve ever seen. Bus driving in Bosnia seems to run on its own brand of incalculable talent and bravado.
It was also my experience that whilst you have paid for a ticket to a destination, it doesn’t mean you can expect them to take the most direct route, or even that the bus you first boarded will be the one you arrive on. Routinely, bus drivers will take detours or stop at the side of the road to buy fruit, pick up lunch orders or visit friends. This can often be a blessing for the hungry and needy on the bus, giving you a much needed opportunity to grab some lunch yourself or go to the toilet. However, it can be a particularly frustrating experience if you have another connection to make at your destination.
Oftentimes your bus will stop in a layby or more likely a petrol station, and you will be told (exclusively in Serbo-Croatian) to depart with your luggage and wait for the next bus. And then they will drive off.
Our trip between Podgorica and Pristina (ordinarily a four hour trip across the border), decided to take an unannounced detour via Albania, adding an additional four hours to the journey. We had no intention of seeing Albania on this trip, and although I have only driven through it, I can safely say I’ve seen enough of the country now to count it as a visit in its own right.
However, this is all part of the experience. Eventually you will become accustomed to this style of travel and the relative tameness of a Flixbus will do nothing for you. It was on our crossing between Dubrovnik to Kotor (a mere 90km journey) that I caught a photograph of the milometer
To the moon and back
1,900,000 km is roughly three trips to the moon and back, and it was then that I Learnt To Stop Worrying And Love Globtour Međugorje.
Pro-tips: take a book, charge your headphones and always carry some cash on you for surprise luggage fees.
2. Rent a car and leave the cities.
To truly experience the sheer beauty and diversity of the former Yugoslav lands, a car offers unparalleled freedom.
If the previous chapter has all but cancelled out the prospect of catching a bus for you, then consider renting a car or even bringing your own. Former Yugoslavia is astonishing, and incredibly diverse. One of the strangest feelings I had was the true recognition that once this was all one country.
Slovenia, for obvious reasons, has all the beauty of southern Austria and northern Italy. The remarkably flat glacial valleys weaving between thick seams of wooded mountain peaks and alpine lakes rivalling that of western Scotland. You can travel here from the humble Slovenian seaside to the imposing Triglavski national park in less than two hours.
The Austrian border in the distance from Bled
In Croatia, one is never quite sure where the country ends. Arid rolling hills slope steeply to the seashore, only for that vast cerulean plane to be interrupted with a seemingly endless cacophony of jagged islands and peninsulas.
Bosnia and Herzegovina is breathtakingly dense with mountains and forest. I’d be shocked if you could ever see more than 5 kilometres in any direction. Venturing into the interior of this country rewards you with breathtakingly cyan lakes and rivers, and incredibly hospitable people selling fruit, and homemade ajvar & honey (you will stop at these).
Bosnia’s Lake Jablanica from our bus
Montenegro is perhaps (tied with the north west coast of Scotland) the most overwhelmingly alluring place I have ever visited. Fjords cut deep into the land, littered with mediaeval villages by the coast, overlooked by sentinel churches and fortresses. For a country named Black Mountain, with a capital city called Under the hill, some of the most rewarding vistas of your journey will be found in this small country.
The Bay of Kotor
Kosovo flattens out almost as soon as you cross its borders, but this doesn’t make it any less appealing. Picturesque villages lined along this country’s motorways invite you to visit, and the equal number of more unsightly villages still provide you with a warm welcome and a unique Kosovan culture that will be unfamiliar to the rest of your trip.
North Macedonia is vast and sparsely populated. The mountains return in this country, but are kept distant by the flats that host the country’s cities and motorways. The country boasts an impressive range of lakes and national parks, and is physically more accessible than Bosnia or Montenegro.
Serbia, the largest of the seven republics, is endowed with a varied (though less dramatic) geographical palette, offering virtually everything except from great lakes and coastal views. Depending on the season, the further you go north (particularly in Vojvodina) the more you will be treated to the seemingly endless vibrancy of sunflower and rapeseed crops.
Having a car gives of course many benefits. Besides circumventing the bus experience, this land is unbelievably beautiful. Believe me, it is not enough to just see a glimpse of these incredible sites of natural beauty as you drive past on the bus, only able to stop whenever the bus driver fancies a roadside watermelon or to buy some cigarettes.
In our experience, taking a day trip out of the city consistently taught us more about the culture or condition of a country than being in the capital did. In a bar in Pristina, the capital of Kosovo, we were fortunate to have met two girls from London who were planning to rent a car out to a city called Ferizaj, to see the newly unleashed Tony Blair statue. If we hadn’t done this, the only statue we would have seen would have been the Bill Clinton one in Pristina. The (fairly modern Dacia) car our friends rented (with only a driving licence and no additional details needed!) cost us £20 plus fuel for the day.
If I were to do this trip again, as I hope to, I would do it entirely by car
3. You’ll survive as a vegetarian, but as a vegan you might starve.
One of my many flaws is my vegetarianism. It was once an ethical thing but now I’m just stubborn. Whether it’s Bosnian Ćevapi or North Macedonian Pastrmalija, it feels as if almost all of the delicacies from this region were meat based.
However, under no circumstances in my experience was it impossible to find a vegetarian meal at a restaurant, a café or a delicatessen. In fact I was still able to enjoy a wide variety of local and regional vegetarian delicacies, such as Zagreb’s štrukli, Kosovan ajvar, or the seemingly endless regional variations on Burek, Börek or Бурек.
Dedicated vegetarian restaurants are becoming more and more common in this region. My advice is to do a little research every day before leaving to explore, earmarking two or three potential options and rolling with it. If you are (as fortunately I was not) the only vegetarian in your party, don’t be afraid to just ask if a dish could be modified to be vegetarian. From my experience, servers here are generally very helpful and appreciate the directness.
The only photograph I took inside of a restaurant in 19 days
That being said, eating at a restaurant in this region would just sometimes mean biting the bullet and having to order yet another margherita pizza, another pasta pomodoro or more crispy potatoes. Even then, even in search of more “basic” vegetarian options, I am proud to say that I have in fact eaten at North Macedonia’s #1 pizza restaurant (top 50 in Europe)!
If you are vegan however, I see no other path for you other than having to plan your entire trip around the seemingly limited supply of vegan restaurants that exist in this region. Do not get me wrong, they do exist. But they exist mainly in capital cities. And even then we found it difficult to find vegan options the further southeast we travelled, struggling in Montenegro, Kosovo and North Macedonia. We did however find a fantastic vegan burger place in Sarajevo called EAT ME.
My main concern as it became time to leave this region, was where am I to get a Burek every single morning in the UK?
4. Drink the coffee.
The best coffee I’ve ever had in my life wasn’t in Rome, it wasn’t in Vienna nor was it in Berlin. The best coffee I’ve ever had was in Sarajevo, the second best in Kotor, and the third best in Split.
I’m not much of a coffee fanatic. I try to drink at least one cup most days because a couple of years ago I read a single article that claimed it is good for your cognitive health, but on this trip I was regularly having two or sometimes three cups of coffee a day purely for the taste.
Whether it’s a product of the historical legacy of the Ottoman Empire in this region, or the approach the people there clearly take towards enjoying quality food and drink, the result is carefully prepared and often beautifully presented coffee.
My main suggestion would be to try Bosnian Coffee, or Bosanska Kafa. Coffee was brought to this region by the Ottomans in the 16th century, so they’ve had plenty of time to perfect it. It is a very rich, unfiltered, and thick coffee brewed and poured in these ornately decorated metal pots. It is similar to what you might expect from Turkish Coffee, only the coffee itself is darker and it is ground finer. Bosanska Kafa is drank out of a little dish which resembles an egg cup or a shot glass, poured over your sugar cube (I often drink coffee with a bit of sugar so it feels like a little treat) to create a deliciously sweet and distinct taste.
A majority of Bosnia and Herzegovina's population and nearly 85% of Sarajevo’s population identify as muslim, and whilst many Bosnian muslims are renowned for still consuming alcohol, coffeehouse culture appears to fill the same social role that a local pub does in my native England. So the coffeehouses are cosy, they are friendly, they often have music playing for the benefit of the guests, and it is not unusual to spend hours in there. So try it.
5. Don’t go to 10 cities in 21 days.
My trip to this region was deliberately a sprint, not a marathon. I saw it as more of a reconnaissance, a good use of three weeks to get a taste of this vast land, so as to be able to make an observed comparison between every destination. However every city left me leaving more, and I quickly knew that I would one day return to all of them (even the Croatian tourist cities which quite frankly I loathed), either to immerse myself more, or to give them a second chance. As you can perhaps tell from this short review, much of my memory of this trip is situated around long and stuffy bus trips.
I averaged about two nights in every city I visited, which allowed little time to get to know a city, let alone to explore the country beyond. But I do feel as though I got a sense of the similarities and differences between each different country, as each one had a remarkably different impact on me. When I return to this region, I am desperate to see more of Montenegro out of season, I would love to return to Belgrade with some actual spending cash (I was down to pennies at that point), and I could see myself moving to Ljubljana.
So take your time, and dedicate yourself to experiencing these countries, beyond just the city centres or the coastal resort towns. Spend one more day there than you might otherwise feel comfortable doing. Get romantically involved with someone from your hostel. Make friends with bartenders and tour guides, and ask them what they would recommend seeing outside of the city, or where the local people hang out. And if you’re staying in hostels, always ask the receptionist, who at the very least will be able to provide you with a good place to start.
The people here, particularly outside of the big coastal tourist towns (such as Split, Dubrovnik and Kotor, who understandably might be sick of tourists) are generally incredibly friendly and welcoming. The majority of people we met in bars and restaurants spoke English, or at least enthusiastically gave it their best shot.
One recommendation I might have, especially if you intend to spend a longer period of time in the region, is to try to learn how to read and pronounce Romanised Slavic script. It will be enormously helpful when asking for directions, ordering food or communicating with locals. Oh and go during the Euros, like we did.