Our friend Marisa from the last Busabout trip had said "You must do the folk dancing night in Sofia" It was an optional extra but we are so glad we took her advice! After arriving at the lovely Hotel Robina, with a piano bar on the 17th floor (more about that later) we quickly got ready to go out on a casual city walking tour. We were amused to see a changing of the guard, a little similar to the one we saw in Athens, with strange steps and uniforms with lovel...

We tried to like Serbia. We really did. However we found the region to be one of conflicting reports and confusion. To Quote the Lonely Planet ¨Independant travellers to this misunderstood state will be surprised by Serbia¨ and ¨Serbs welcome you as an opportunity for cross-cultural engagement over a drink or five¨.  We wanted to give it a chance even though we had just learnt during our visit to Bosnia about the atrocities carried out by Bosnian Serbs duri...

Back in the 90's Australian media carried stories of the wars and atrocities committed between countries of the former Republic of Yugoslavia. We probably did not take a lot of notice – after all, these countries are a long way from Australia.Our trip to Bosnia and Hercegovina, (pretty long name for a country – so I’ll just say Bosnia in this blog) plunged us into a history lesson of the Balkans. It is almost more common to see buildings poc...

Stunning!We have climbed up to a viewpoint to take photos of Dubrovnik. "Stunning" is an overused superlative but it works for the first view of Dubrovnik. An irregular circle of orange roofed buildings surrounded by massive city walls, her charm is that of a gracious and dignified lady perched high above the shimmering, crystal clear waters of the Adriatic sea below. Just one thing mars the scene: cruise boats! Oh no, we are going to have to share Dubrovnik wit...

"Welcome to Hotel Kangaroo!"Yes, Budva, the tourist friendly beach side town of Montenegro has a Hotel Kangaroo, owned by some Montenegren who lived for awhile in Perth, Australia. After a long day of travel winding through Albanian then Montenegren mountains, with spectacular forest and ocean views, we arrived at our accommodation for the night.Montenegro, once part of the Yugoslav federation has had full independence since 2006, making it one of the newest cou...