Balkan Tour: eight countries in one month, part two

From Bar you cross the whole country, passing through tunnels carved into the mountain, the capital Podgorica, formerly Titograd, Lake Skadar which reaches into Albania, mountain streams, gorges and pretty little villages until you reach the pass that marks the border with Kosovo, which I find still blanketed in snow covering the beautiful pine forests.

KOSOVO is a brand-new country that declared independence in 2008, which Serbia does not recognise. The country is entirely under construction and rebuilding after the severe damage suffered in the civil war. KFOR soldiers still stay here, the NATO force that oversees the few remaining Serb villages and the Orthodox monasteries that were not completely destroyed by the Kosovar Muslims.

PEJA or PEC is the first city you come to, with high mountains to the north and the fine church of the historic Patriarchate, recently restored, an interesting bazaar, a not very wide river and some squares under renovation.

More interesting is the large and beautiful PRIZREN in the south, resembling Sarajevo, with its river, its bridges, its old town with narrow streets and cobbled squares, its mosques, its cafés and bars that overlook the river and face the fortress above, reached by climbing a winding lane past destroyed houses and an ancient half-ruined Orthodox church cordoned off with barriers.

The capital of Kosovo is PRISHTINA, a large city that boasts brand-new, futuristic buildings with modern and ambitious architecture, but also the old bazaar, some ancient mosques, a national museum left empty because its 1,500 works are still in Belgrade, where they were moved for protection and from where they never returned except for the single statue that was given back, which now stands alone in the big rooms together with photos of the missing works and appeals to tourists to put pressure on the Serbian government for their return.

From Prishtina you reach in a few hours by coach the beautiful capital of MACEDONIA, SKOPJE, which was destroyed by a violent earthquake in 1963 and rebuilt according to the plans of a Japanese architect that gave it an elegant and relaxing look with its parks and gardens along the Vardar river, its closed but imposing fortress, the fine bridge that divides the modern city from the old Carsija, that is the Ottoman town with its mosques, its bars, its fine historical and ethnographic museum, the art galleries inside the hamam and other ancient buildings.

Beyond the bridge, watched over by the statues of Cyril and Methodius, the spreaders of the Cyrillic alphabet, the beautiful Makedonska square and the pedestrian Makedonia street with its elegant bars, the statues of young ladies, a shoemaker, a bull, Chaplin and of the local woman, Mother Teresa next to her rebuilt house.

At the end, the railway station with the clock stopped at the hour of the earthquake and a fine exhibition on the 1960s with period memorabilia, furniture and various objects that took me back 50 years to the time of my happy childhood.

On the corner is the headquarters of the communist party with Tito's nostalgics who give me badges, a calendar with a photo of Tito and his wife Jovanka, and tell me about the good old days when Yugoslavia was a united and happy country that many miss, except the Serbs.

After a lovely evening spent with some Italian lads I met along the river and their friends who host us for a cheerful party with local wine and grappa, I take yet another coach to OHRID, the beautiful historic town on the lake of the same name, one of the oldest and as much as 300 metres deep, next to another lake, the younger and shallow Lake Prespa, which is separated from Lake Ohrid by the mountain and national park of Galicica.

I spend the Easter weekend in the lovely tourist town, strolling along the lake and getting lost in the lanes of the old town to visit its old churches, the fine national museum, and climbing the lanes that lead to the fortress to come across a fine Greek theatre and two beautiful, spectacular old churches: Saint Sophia with its mosaics and fine paintings, the spectacular Plaošnik with its panorama and rich archaeological area, and finally the panoramic and much-photographed Sveti Jovan or Kaneo, the little church at the very edge on a hill reflected in the waters of the lake below, with Mount Galicica and its park opposite.

Now it is the turn of an elegant city, BITOLA, with a spectacular square with two mosques, an old clock tower, the monument to Philip II of Macedon, the father of Alexander the Great, and a fine fountain. Beyond the river the old Ottoman town, on this side a fine pedestrian street with plenty of bars, and at the end a big park that reaches as far as the archaeological site of Heraclea, the ancient Greek city on the Via Egnatia.

From Bitola I reach by taxi FLORINA, the first Greek city I visit, in a couple of hours while waiting for the coach that will take me to KALAMBAKA, the little town at the foot of the majestic METEORA, six monasteries out of the original 20, perched on the tops of these imposing rocky mountains for protection against the Turkish invaders. I visit the first monastery after walking a lovely path just outside the town and arrive just in time to see the fantastic view and notice on the other side the large monastery I intend to visit the following day.

Unfortunately the weather is bad: black clouds and cold, so I decide to leave, taking advantage of the 7.15 train to THESSALONIKI, the great port and second Greek city, a million inhabitants and lots to see: two imposing archaeological areas, the Forum and the ruins of the palace of the Roman emperor Galerius in the centre, a fine red-brick arch with white marble bas-reliefs showing scenes of war, a mosque and many Orthodox churches of all shapes and sizes, some two metres below street level. Above all the fine cathedral dedicated to the patron Saint Demetrius and then the beautiful Saint Sophia. Up high the ancient walls, imposing, reaching the old town with a fortress citadel, the Eptapyrgion with ten towers from which you enjoy a view over the city.

I walk the fine seaside promenade and come across the old tower and the fine bronze statue of Alexander the Great on horseback, before heading back to the centre, to the beautiful Aristotelous square with white buildings and Greek columns, home of the great Greek university named after the famous philosopher, who sits in his statue with a scroll in hand watching the tourists and locals seated in the elegant bars around, the nearby market and the lanes of the old port town with its pubs, restaurants and night spots.

Still by coach I reach the CHALKIDIKI peninsula for the last week of my holiday. I arrive in the capital Polygyros and then choose the first finger or leg peninsula: Kassandra, and I stop in lovely KALLITHEA, a pleasant little town with a fine beach below where I stay in a hotel-taverna. I take advantage of the fine weather to relax on the beach and have a good swim in the cool, clear waters of the Aegean. Then by bus and hitchhiking I reach the simple little towns of Kassandria, Kalandra and Posidi.

I skip the second peninsula, SITHONIA, greener and more relaxing, with plenty of campsites, and reach OURANOUPOLI, the lovely little town that is the starting base for the third peninsula, Agion Oros or, more famously, Mount Athos, a community of 2,000 monks and its twenty ancient monasteries, some a thousand years old, that are almost an autonomous republic, closed to women after the Madonna, passing through and travelling to the island of Cyprus to visit Lazarus, had stopped there and, admiring the landscape, had prayed for that blessed land that the Greeks, and in general all Orthodox an