Week 40: Zagori, Greece (posted by Megan)

We had a special week hiking into mountains and along the gorges of Zagori, Greece. Nana and Pops hosted our inn-to-inn adventures that took us to four idyllic villages: Kipoi, Monodendri, Vikos, and Megalo Papingo.

The week started out wet and cold. Some highlights included walking along Zagori's famous 18th century stone bridges and taking in the spectacular views of Vikos Gorge - according to their signs, it's the steepest gorge in the world!

On our third day of hiking, the weather became beautiful - spring had once again arrived, hopefully this time staying around. Our trail took us down into gorge and along the rocky riverbed. Wade and I debated whether or not we were prouder of the septuagenarian grandparents or the grandkids for handling the physical challenges without complaint. We were all grateful for the seven sets of hiking poles that Nana and Pops toted over from the US for us.

Each village was complete with cobblestone streets, old stone houses, and delicious local food. The tourist season is about to start, so we were lucky to get there before the onslaught of the crowds.

Best of all, though, was spending some quality time with grandparents. After six days of hiking, we said goodbye to Nana and Pops. They headed south to tour the rest of Greece, and we loaded into our massive van for a drive north, back into Albania.

Week 39: Albania with Nana & Pops (posted by Wade)

We had a fun week driving around Albania with Nana & Pops. The main themes for these past few days have been medieval castles, delicious food, and learning about Albania's totalitarian past.

After picking Nana & Pops up from the airport in Tirana, we familiarized ourselves with Albanian history by visiting the Bunk'art Museum. It is located in a 1980s downtown bunker and it tells the story of how Enver Hoxha's communist regime kept control over Albania for forty years. Later in the evening, we tried to dodge some Tirana rain showers with varying degrees of success.

Our next stop was Berat, which is a few hours south of Tirana. It's a lovely town with an obligatory hilltop castle. Pops made a friend at a local seafood restaurant. The new friend shared with Pops raki and stories about the collapse of communism. While in Berat, we continued our weeks-long admiration of Orthodox iconography at the icon museum, and we stumbled upon some modern iconography in the form of murals commemorating the war in Kosovo.

From Berat, we continued our journey south to Gjirokaster. Again, a lovely town with cobblestone streets, steep slopes, and a hilltop castle. This time, Pops and I made friends with the proprietor of a restaurant who insisted on teaching us some traditional Albanian folk dances.

This has been a classic Kota-family trip so far: lots of good walks, delicious food, and plenty of history.

Week 38: Ohrid, North Macedonia (posted by Eliza)

We arrived in Ohrid on Friday, March 20 from Bitola. It was less than a two hour drive. The first thing that struck me about Ohrid is that it is gloomy but beautiful. I mean it was very cloudy and cold on the day that we arrived, although it has a giant lake with snow-capped mountains in the distance.

We went on a long walks through the town and along the lake and saw some rocky beaches. We also spent the week thinking our brains out for our research projects. So there was lots of walking around and lots of studying. I did my presentation on basketball in the Balkans and Annie did her presentation on Balkans food.

Mom and Dad found a basketball court while they were exploring on top of the old fortress hill. It looks out over Lake Ohrid and it is very scenic. Later, Jane and I went with Dad and had a lot of fun playing basketball. Annie cooked yummy stuff for our dinner, specifically mushroom soup, stuffed zucchinis, and stewed apples. Mom helped a lot.

Some other highlights included exploring the medieval fortress and visiting Orthodox churches that are over 1,000 years old. The churches had very interesting frescos that told the story of Jesus. Some of the faces were rubbed out during the Ottoman era because in Islam you cannot worship false idols.

Overall, this week was pretty chill, but still very fun. I would recommend Ohrid because of the stunning views and the rich culture -- which is kind of what we say about every place.