Letters from the Balkans #02: In Praise of Slowness

At one point during the last decade, somewhere between the last breaths of the dotcom era and the, by now, almost outdated hipster movement, a wave passed through Western people’s kitchens, travel plans, and favourite lifestyle magazines, that left everyone with a serious longing for “going back to the roots.” Among the many permutations of this wave – most notably, probably, the socialization of urban gardening and the middle class’s rediscovery of rural modes of living – was a short-lived yet powerful call for slowing down, programmatically encapsulated in Carl Honoré’s In Praise of Slowness.

As Mathew and I travel through the Balkans, slowness is one of the dominant themes of our journeys. Not all slowness, however, is for the good. Our patience, for example, was put to the test by two six-hour drives on Albanian gravel roads. What sounds like an adventure were in reality two spine-shaking crawls than can best be compared to mountain bike rides in a dry riverbed.

Breathtakingly beautiful, less rocky, but still time-consuming was the over two hour bus ride from the Bay of Kotor to Podgorica, followed by another 6,5 hours on a bus from Montenegro’s capital to Sarajevo. The distance between the two capital cities is only 250 km, but given the layout, condition, and elevation covered by the road, a music player (with Leonard Cohen’s “Closing Time” on it), a hefty book (such as Rebecca West’s utterly enjoyable Black Lambs and Grey Falcons, and a blog to write come in handy. For good or ill, traveling in the Balkans means traveling with patience.

Photo 1: Our cab driver explaining the Balkan wars during a break from our ride from the Albanian border town of Shkoder to the Bay of Kotor in Montenegro
Photo 2: Podgorica’s bus terminal is the starting point for several international destinations, among others Bremen in Germany (departure: 0:30am, arrival: 6:30pm).
Photo 3: The outer limits of UNESCO World Heritage listed Durmitor National Park between Podgorica and Sarajevo