Kyustendil to Sofia, Bulgaria

We spent last night at a very nice hotel, Hotel Ring, in Kyustendil, Bulgaria. For breakfast this morning we went out to find coffee and pastry. It was a beautiful morning and many stalls were setting up for the continuation of the Spring festival that we visited yesterday.

Breakfast

About eleven we checked out and walked to the bus station where we caught a bus to Bulgaria’s capital, Sofia. In Sofia we took a taxi to our hotel.

Getting on the bus

Both of us are fighting colds. It is very frustrating! We napped and rested most of the afternoon. We did make a trip to the grocery store for water and snacks.

Checking out with our groceries
On our way back from the grocery store
Our hotel
Snacks in our room

Skopje, Macedonia to Kyustendil, Bulgaria

Today we caught an 8:30 am bus out of Notth Macedonia into Bulgaria. Bulgaria is a new country for each of us

The border crossing

In Kyustendil we walked to our hotel. There is a spring festival going on so after a bit of a rest we went out to check it all out.

Spring fair
Roast pig
Have your picture taken with a really big snake!

There was lots of great looking food. We chose some and had dinner.

Food cooking
Dinner

Pristina, Kosovo to Skopje, North Macedonia

We can’t get from Pristina directly into Bulgaria so today we took a bus from Pristina back to Skopje. Tomorrow we will take a bus from Skopje to our first stop in Bulgaria.

The taxi to the bus station took us by the Bill Clinton statue again
The drive was only a couple of hours long. It was very pretty.

In Skopje we walked to our hotel.

Walking to the hotel

We recently got an email saying they had canceled our flight home from Barcelona to San Francisco. After spending a lot of time on the phone Duke finally got a new flight two days earlier. He spent much of the afternoon changing hotel and travel reservations

For dinner we went to a great restaurant, (Pelister) near our hotel.

We started with a salad of potatoes, cucumbers, feta and pomegranate seeds.
Main dishes

Pristina, Kosovo day 2

Today we explored Pristina. Just down the street from our hotel are the Newborn sign and Madelne Albright Square.

The newborn sign
Madeleine Albright statue

Gjergj Kastrioti was an Albanian Feudal Lord who led a rebellion against the Ottoman Empire and united the Albanian principalities.

Kastrioti statue

We walked by this mosque during the noon prayers.

Ibrahim Lutfiu Mosque

On our way back to the hotel we stopped for coffee at a cafe. One of the fun things about travel is that you are often surprised by what you order. We ordered cappuccino and what we got was an espresso with two inches of whipped cream and chocolate on top. It was good but a bit of a surprise.

Cappuccino

Our room has a sauna in the bathroom. We took advantage of it this afternoon.

Tonight we had dinner at Princesha Gresa Restaurant. It was wonderful. It was windy and cold walking the half a mile each way. But the food was great and absolutely worth it.

Dukes steak with spinach sauce
My weiner schnitzel

Prizren to Pristina, Kosovo

This morning we had breakfast then walked to the bus station and caught a bus to the capital of Kosovo, Pristina.

Walking to the bus station

Our bus to Pristina left about 11. The bus ride took us about two hours. In Pristina we took a taxi to our hotel. Along the way to the hotel the taxi driver pointed out the statue of Bill Clinton.

The view through the bus window
The Bill Clinton statue in Pristina.

In Pristina we used the pool and sauna at our hotel. For dinner we were going to walk about a half mile to a restaurant we had picked out but it was raining so we enjoyed pizza across the street from the hotel. I don’t think I’ve ever had sesame seeds on my pizza crust. But it was really good.

Pizza for dinner