The road to the heat

The last months I was very lazy to write something in the blog although there would be many things to tell.
But as I promised to several gentle people I met the last month I start with my small trip through the southern Balkans.

For the first relaxed stage Adriana Evans - Suddenly fits perfectly.

After last years magnificent short trip to the Herzegovina and Sarajevo I wanted to see more of the Balkans and as my plans never fit in the past I decided to plan absolutely nothing! So a few days before the start I simply went to a travel agency specialized to train travels and said they should find a cheap train to Serbia. It took almost an hour but then I got a ticket for only 78 € to Belgrade (including high speed trains and a bed in a night train). I started in Munich with the Railjet to Budapest. (I can absolutely recommend this train.)

The Lenbachhaus in Munich.

The Budapest Keleti railway station is one of my favorite station buildings. Another favorite is Milano Centrale and maybe... schhh.

Despite the train arrived there at 10 PM it was incredibly hot - 35 °C and one could smell the arriving lightning. In the train we had more than 40 °C but as one could open every window it was in fact no problem and the lightning followed the train for a while but never reached it - until Belgrade. But the rain stopped soon and the temperature was then only 30 °C. This was the "coldest" day of the whole trip.

Welcome to Београд. The first look of the city might be a bit disappointing but I never judge a book by the cover.

Po! Po! Po!

Po!

My legs are still hurting a lot but this climb was worth it! From the Maja e Rosit you can look over a large part of the Balkan mountains. The peak is by the way also the border between Albania and Montenegro. We needed 11 hours for the more this 3000 m altitude trip starting from the magnificent Valbonë valley. This way many, many thanks to Fulvio for his motivation despite he had to suffer more with his blisters!

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The whole journey started in Београд, then I went to Podgorica, Cetinje, Kotor, Herceg Novi, Shkodër, from there via the most marvelous boat trip I have ever made along the Komani lake to Valbonë then to Gjakovë and now to Tiranë. I will report more when I am back home because it is hard to find an Internet store and I need the time there to find the information I need for traveling.