Day 231 – 239: Skopje (NMK) to Peja (Kosovo) - Bike Bimble

May 22, 2025 to May 29, 2025

Day 231 – 239: Skopje (NMK) to Peja (Kosovo)

The countries are all packed together around here. With half a day ride from Skopje, we crossed into Serbia. From there we were 2 hours ride to Kosovo and barely 50km from Bulgaria. We’ve both never been to Bulgaria – we had to fly over it on a previous cycling trip when we ran out of time having spent too much roaming around in Romania. We’d duck in now except Bulgaria has recently joined the Schengen zone and we need to count our days in Schengen if we’re going to be able to get across to the far west of Europe without running into visa difficulties. There’s plenty of potential in Serbia, but our map shows more mountains in Montenegro, so we took a sharp turn to the west and headed for Kosovo. Unfortunately, this meant we only saw Serbia for about 24 hours. We met only nice people in Serbia – and we may be able to head back into Serbia from Kosovo – depending on the movement of the forecast storm in the next few days. It could be Montenegro or Serbia, not sure yet.

Another country...even though some out there don't think so..

We’ve had two half days of riding since the new chains went on, but the bikes need some more replacements, most urgently rear tyres (one has a sidewall that is only just holding together), and we need a new tent. It’s amazing how much time shopping can take – even internet shopping. It’s even slower when you are using a dodgy café Wi-Fi connection and just the phone. But we are super lucky that Cath has found a postal address in Croatia that we can send a few things to. Fingers crossed the parts arrive in time and we don’t mess up our planed time in Schengen.

Or first day in Kosovo wasn’t great (it rained all morning and the 12°C felt like ice), so we let it beat us – 10km to the nearest town and straight into an apartment. But it got (a lot) better. The interior of the country is reasonably flat – not the greatest for touring (hills are more fun), but the outskirts have plenty of hills. Near Peja (far west) are the Accursed Mountains and the borders with Montenegro and Albania. They’re pretty impressive!

Calm before the storm. Clear, warm...even had wifi in the tent!...and then the next day...rain!

We’ve bumped into lots of lovely people here in Kosovo. Maybe it’s because there are not all that many tourists about. The recent war (1998-1999) is commemorated all over the country (especially where we’ve been in the south and west) and we guess it is still remembered in the rest of Europe as not the safest place for a holiday. Plenty of other options nearby (Serbia, Montenegro, Albania…). If it’s any guide we’ve been given more supplies here on the side of the road that elsewhere (bananas, apple juice, water, coffee) and lots and lots of friendly waves and “hello’s”.

Another stealth camp...took a while to find after being knocked back by a lady when we asked to camp near her house and finding nothing but rubbish, bog and crops by the river.

We’ve also had to break out the handful of German phrases we know – lots assume we must be German (on bikes, we could look German-ish and riding around – not a bad assumption) or they’ve worked in Germany and the options are Albanian (we are completely mute in Albanian) or Deutsche. Makes for a short conversation. A few know some Italian. That’s more fun - we throw Spanish and Italian words at each other until we get bored. I guess we’re going to have to learn some German one day…

The yoghurt here is rubbish (that’s not fair, but we still have memories of Greece), but they have ayran (bit salty drinking yoghurt) and ripper bakeries. Some very yummy bread and sweet pastries and priced aptly for cyclists (i.e. cheap). The Ottoman influence extends to Baklava and other sickly-sweet things as well - one of us likes these a lot! We need to ride more so we can eat everything. The other food is great too, but a good baking culture is hard to ride past.

There’s a wet weather front coming through the whole region. We can’t work out a direction that would let us out ride it, so we’re going to stay put for a few days in Peja. There are more bakeries than days left to try them all, so we think we’ll be ok.

Something tells us the Kosovans like the Albanians

Burek. Pastry and meat (or cheese, or cheese and spinach, sometimes potato). With a cup of Ayran, salty yoghurt. Notice there is only one cup. Someone doesn't like it.

Today's ride: 329 km (204 miles)
Total: 11,618 km (7,215 miles)

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Doug GillottThere may be a residual memory in Kosovo of the fairly large number, I think about 2000, that came to Australia and were hosted as temporary refugees in around 2001.
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2 days ago

Stephen GrayTo Doug GillottI don't know enough of the history. One guy we met in Novi Pazar (Serbia) told us that about 2000 people, just from that town, ended up in Aus.

There are lots of reminders of the war in Kosovo - in every small town, between small towns. Graves, memorials, flags. I'm sure those that were alive (and old enough to remember) 25 years ago haven't yet forgotten...
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2 days ago