We're coming back!

>> Kosovo - Albania - Montenegro - Bosnia and Herzegovina <<

In the past few weeks, we continued exploring the Balkans! We drove through Kosovo from Macedonia and visited Prizren. A beautiful city full of life. Many young people are out and about, enjoying the sun or the mild evening breeze in cool cafes. Only the road layout and traffic regulations were somewhat strange. We avoided the especially deep open sewer openings...fortunately, some mistakes are only made once in a lifetime! When a well-built expressway suddenly ended in a residential area without any warning, we were a little surprised, but at least it explained why someone had been driving towards us on our side of the road earlier. We would have liked to see more of Kosovo, but unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate for the first time on our trip. The clouds hung low and it rained quite heavily. But what we saw, we found especially beautiful!

With the weather still very rainy, we headed north to Albania again. There, we took the ferry across Lake Komani to the mountain village of Valbone to hike the famous Valbone Pass. In Valbone, we ended up in a simple guesthouse with incredibly hospitable hosts. The family spends the summer in a small house in the mountains, which they share with hikers and other travelers during this time. This helps them earn some money and cope with the deportation from Germany. Besides a warm bed, for which the family moves into tents in their garden, we also enjoyed delicious Albanian cuisine.

Back from the mountains, we went straight to the airport in Podgorica, Montenegro, as we were expecting a visit from Henni’s sister, Eva :) We tested the spatial capacities of Knut for one week - our conclusion is very positive! However, we spent all nights at campsites, otherwise it would have been a bit too crowded. But we always found very nice campsites, so we could explore the Montenegrin coast and then the mountains. Eva's departure marked the beginning of our journey back home, and full of excitement, we set off towards Germany through Bosnia and Herzegovina!

We were absolutely amazed by the nature of Bosnia. If our anticipation of going home hadn't been so strong, we would have liked to explore more. But we will definitely make up for that!

And now we're back :) Not yet in Germany (almost), but in the EU, and we could feel the difference when crossing the border. Everything is so clean and organized, there are no more dogs and cats roaming the streets on their own but still somehow free. No wooden stalls selling fresh fruits and vegetables along the streets. Instead, there's Lidl, Aldi, and other supermarkets where we can get everything and of course, we're a little excited about some familiar products. At the same time, we wonder if there's more plastic and packaging in the supermarkets than food...

Our feelings are mixed, the anticipation of going home to everyday life, friends, family, and all the normal things is immense and yet this orderliness feels a little boring compared to the exciting travel life where there was always so much new to discover!

But with 16 visited countries and around 17,000 kilometers driven, it now feels exactly right to come home! Knut held up amazingly well with an incident, three repairs, and luckily no accidents!

We're grateful for this amazing time and full of ideas and inspiration!

We're looking forward to seeing you!!!

Lucas and Henni

PS: By the way, we're currently in Slovenia and will return to Germany tomorrow via Austria. We will go on a final tour through Germany and soon arrive in Dresden/Berlin!