Montenegro - my favourite of the Balkan countries

Now I know what is my favourite country in the Balkans: Montenegro! It's full of amazingly beautiful landscapes; it's so picturesque, so scenic. Mountains and canyons, the turquoise sea - magnificent scenery everywhere. Enjoy the following photos!

Sveti Stefan, an islet connected to the shore by a narrow isthmus and crammed full of terracotta-roofed dwellings, used to house a simple fishing community until it was turned into a luxury hotel. From the 1960s to the 1980s it was a big hit with the rich and famous. It is a beautiful place, but accommodation - even in the township onshore - is expensive, so I can't really recommend it to backpackers on a low budget. I enjoyed my swim around the island and ended up spending the night on a sun chair of a hotel for free.

My next stop was the stunning bay of Kotor surrounded by steep limestone mountains. I first visited the old town of Kotor (Unesco World Heritage listed) and then pedaled around the bay with a bicycle I rented from my hostel.

I decided to skip the capital, Podgorica, and went straight to Biogradska Gora National Park (easily accessible by hitchhiking!), where I rented a cabin for a night and strolled around the lake in one of Europe's last few remaining primeval forests.

My last stop in Montenegro was Durmitor National Park where I did a leisurely walk around the Black Lake and a strenuous 12-hour hike to the highest peak in the park, Bobotov Kuk, 2523 m. (What made the hike so hard was that I took a wrong path at the beginning and had to take some difficult and scary shortcuts to reach my destination.)

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p.s. I'm already back home. I just haven't had time to make this update earlier...

Albania: Bunkers like Mushrooms

I traveled to Albania to see these colorful houses in Tirana:

The buildings have been painted as the result of a project organised by the capital's mayor, an artist called Edi Rama. He wanted to make people happier by making their surroundings prettier. I think it works. What a good project, as he also managed to attract at least one tourist - me. Otherwise I wouldn't have gone to Albania, as it wasn't actually on my list.

But I also saw these, and several more, bunkers:

They are the result of Enver Hoxha's project to repel invasion, his concrete legacy, built from 1950 to 1985. These little mushrooms looked so funny on the beaches and hillsides. "Some are creatively painted, but most are just eyesores with no further use; that said, quite a few Albanians will admit to losing their virginity in the security of one, and the bunkers also seem to make handy public toilets", says my Lonely Planet guidebook.

Once again, I had a super nice CouchSurfing host. He took me to some of the most beautiful places in Albania. Actually, maybe he was testing how adventurous I am... First he took me to this dark and muddy cave at the end of which some bats live:

Then we descended a steep and difficult slope to find this amazing spot for swimming in a canyon:

We also had a short beach holiday: we drove to the South (Dhërmi and Drymades) and camped by the sea for a couple of days. Relaxing in the sun, swimming in the sea, exploring behind the rocks on the beach...