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12 days
Daily Tour
20 people
Cultural Holidays
Balkan Tour begins with a 2-day visit to Albania.
There we will visit Tirana, the colorful capital of Albania. History, art, tradition, and nightlife all in one place.
Tirana is the new big thing in the Balkans, the city is one of the most colorful capitals in Europe. Also, one of the fastest developing cities in Europe. But, that’s not all, Tirana has won the prize of the European Youth Capital 2022. Its beauty goes beyond the prizes, Tirana is a city of historical occupations and events.
Lushnjas Congress declared Tirana as the capital of Albania in 1920, before that it was a small city with no whatsoever importance. Tirana has some of the most beautiful sites just in the heart of it.
In the middle of Tirana is located the Scanderbeg Square, a place of outstanding beauty, in 2018 the square won the prize for the best Urban Public Area.
Next, the BunkArt Museum. Opened in 2014 inside the former Dictator’s Atomic Shelter it showcases artifacts, pictures, and installations about the daily life in Albania during the communist period. Next, we travel for lunch to the best agrotourism farm of Marikaj where we will sample a variety of dishes typical to central Albania. After lunch, we travel to Berat, the UNESCO Town where we will take a guided walk of Mangalem and Gorica quarters. These quarters give that distinctive ottoman look to the city for which it was enlisted in the UNESCO heritage list.
This day will take you exploring the hidden corners of this 2400-year-old city. There is a lot to learn and experience in this UNESCO town. Take a walking tour of Mangalem and Gorica quarters. Enjoy the local delicacies in a food tour and amp up your skills with our cooking classes. Berat is one of the oldest towns in the region, founded back in the 5th century BC.
It’s an excellent destination to visit and is as well known as the White City. The three major quarters of the old city merge together to form an impressive architectural landscape. Berat day tours will take you to Mangalemi, Gorica, and the Castle which is the oldest part of the city.
This morning we start with the castle of Berat which dates back from the 4th century BC. The imposing castle has been a dwelling place from antiquity being inhabited even nowadays. After the visit, we head to the city of Ohrid in Macedonia.
The Balkan Tour takes you on a guided tour of Ohrid old town. Ohrid is as well enlisted in the UNESCO Heritage List since 1979. Some of the sites we will visit are Tsar Samuel Castle, Ohrid Amphitheatre, St. Caneo Church, and St. Sophia Church. Our next stop after lunch will be Saint Naum monastery, a venerated place for the Macedonians.
Next, the Balkan Tour goes to Skopje the capital of Macedonia today. It will take about 3.30 min to reach Skopje. There we will begin our guided tour. The guided walk will take us through Skopje Old Town where we will visit the Old Bazaar and Mustafa Pasha Mosque. Next, we continue through the Stone Bridge to the Macedonian Square and Mother Theresa memorial house. Our tour ends at the old train station where the clock still shows the moment when the earthquake devastated the city in 1963.
We travel to Kosovo today passing through the small towns of Štrpce, and the ski resort of Prevalla as we drive down to the city of Prizren. Prizren is an ethnically mixed city where the Serbs, Albanian and Turkish communities now live peacefully with one another. As we visit the city the Ottoman culture still is visible through the town’s architectural and local living.
Next, we travel to Decani to visit the Serbian Orthodox Monastery enlisted in the UNESCO list. Visoki Dečani is one of the largest medieval churches in the Balkan beautifully preserved nowadays. It stores many frescos dating to the 14th century.
Next is Višegrad, Bosnia, and Herzegovina. Višegrad was made known through the Nobel Prize Winner Ivo Andric and his masterpiece “The Bridge over Drina River”.
In Višegrad, we will visit the Ivo Andric House and Andrictown or the Stone Town dedicated to Ivo Andric. Another site we will visit is the Bridge over the Drina river which dates back to 1571. After these visits, we travel toward Sarajevo the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Our guide will take us through the old part of Sarajevo and first will take us to the famous site where the assassination of Franz Ferdinand happened in 1914. Next, we will visit Baščaršija and the bazaar where we have the possibility to buy interesting local crafts. After the visit to Sarajevo Old Town, we drive to the Tunnel of Hope where we will learn about the siege of Sarajevo.
There we will watch a visual presentation of the attack that happened to the city by the Yugoslavian Army and the clever ways the citizens of Sarajevo had to invent in order to withstand the siege.
On the way to Mostar, we visit Jablanica, a symbol of World War II for the ex-Yugoslavian partizans. Next, we travel to Blagaj for lunch. First, we visit the Dervish House and the sources of the river Buna. After lunch, we head to Mostar where we visit the Catholic church, Old bridge, and old town.
This tour in Balkan takes you to Dubrovnik, Croatia, and before crossing the border we take a break in the small town of Počitelj. The city used to be a very important military fort and watch post during the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian periods. Today the town holds annual events such as the Painting Colony where painters from different countries showcase their work.
After lunch in Dubrovnik, we will take a guided tour through the main pedestrian street of the old town called Stradun. Our guide will walk us through the main monuments and explain their history. After the guided walk we will take some free time in the old town and enjoy a relaxed afternoon.
We start the day visiting Kotor the UNESCO town. In Kotor, we will enjoy a 1 hour guided tour of the old town. After the guided tour we will spend some more time in this fascinating city to explore it at our own pace. Next, we continue for lunch passing through Budva and Sveti Stefan.
The Balkan Tour ends in the airport of Podgorica.
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