Epic Cross Balkans Road Trip!

Update- we are now in Albania doing debrief! This is a time of reflection from our time in Romania and from training in Albania before doing ministry in the mountains of Albania! We are currently at the beach in Durres together as a squad before breaking off into teams in a few days to different places in the mountains. Thank you again for your prayers and please lift us up as we figure out various logistical tasks with our month in Albania.

So here is the tale of the epic road trip to get to Durres, Albania. After a night of rest, we woke up at 4 am, tired yet in good spirits. A white bus awaited us in Bucharest, and we said our goodbyes to the Romanian ministry host who was with us for the first month. About an hour later, we got to the Danube River and crossed it on a huge bridge to a border crossing with Bulgaria.

We got out our passports and gave them to the border control agents. Then, we sat there and waited. The sun rose and daybreak ensued. A little while later, we got our passports and were welcomed into Bulgaria. Woo-hoo! Soon after, we passed by the city of Ruse before stopping for food.

The Bulgarian countryside was dotted with massive cornfields and farms. Super rural indeed! At the stop, the playground was a blast- along with playing tic tac toe and sliding down the slide. My inner child was summoned! All of us used the restroom before continuing on our drive across Bulgaria.

A couple hours later, we got on the A2 Motorway that we took to get to the Bulgarian capitol of Sofia. And wow- this highway was awesome. It was more like a skyway. We were above the valleys and high up in the mountains as we went through lots of tunnels and big bridges. We were greeted by spectacular views with almost every turn, and this was a scenic drive that I will not soon forget! Sofia is this huge city with multiple mountain ranges surrounding it.

We stopped again at a gas station where I got some yogurt to try to re-start my stomach (still recovering then from that bad case of food poisoning). After some more time on the motorway, we went up the mountains and arrived at the North Macedonia border.

Getting into North Macedonia was the biggest challenge of the trip. We were stopped on the Bulgarian side and were checked. After a fairly lengthy wait, we were cleared to proceed to the North Macedonian border. They had us get out of the bus, present our Covid Tests/ vaccine cards one by one while stamping our passports one at a time. Slowly, the squad walked into North Macedonia- often one person at a time. A dog hanging out at the border greatly lightened the atmosphere and made our day! He was super cute and we enjoyed playing with him as the border processing continued.

At last, we all made it into North Macedonia! Going through the mountains was fun, and the bus avoided patches of road that were missing- which caused us to swerve back and forth. Passing through North Macedonian road work on a huge bus can be a lot of fun. We stopped at another gas station where I played on the playground once again. Good times- with lots of mountains as well!

We pressed on and drove around the capitol of Skopje. A lot of mosques dotted the landscape- which means that Islam is prevalent in this country. The mountains got bigger, and the motorway gave way to a curvy two lane road again. The mountains were awesome, and they jutted out of the landscape. At one point, huge colossal mountains protruded from across the valley as the sun set. The scene blew us away, and we stopped at another gas station (and got pickles there).

It got dark, and we made it to the Albanian border. After some waiting, we all made it into Albania without any significant issues. Even though it was dark, I was awed and humbled by this country. In fact, I am very excited to do ministry in the mountains soon. Upon entering the country, we were at the top of a huge mountain range with views of the night lights of buildings far below. Our road then zigzagged down the mountain side to a town before zigzagging through a canyon to arrive at the city of Elbasan. Our Squad did a worship session on the bus where we praised the Lord and prayed over our time in Albania.

We got on another motorway, which whisked us to Albania’s capitol of Tirana before taking us towards Durres. I was tired at this point- but we were almost there! 18 hours after leaving Bucharest early in the morning, we made it to our hotel on the outskirts of Durres at 10 pm Albanian time. Whew- what a day! Our Squad mentor, Ari, greeted us before we went into our hotel and crashed for the night.

Praise the Lord that we made it to Albania safely- and thank you for following along on this crazy adventure! The next day, we got up and began to explore the beach together. Day broke in Albania, and we began to see this country in the day time for the first time. Please pray for us as we continue our time in Albania and minister here over the next month.

Here are the major cities/ towns that we went through on our trip. Photos are available from the bus ride on Facebook. I invite you to lift up each place in prayer- and for the Lord to continue building His church in Eastern Europe!

START- Bucharest, Romania
Giorgiu, Romania
Ruse, Bulgaria
Pleven, Bulgaria
Lukovit, Bulgaria
Sofia, Bulgaria
Kyustendil, Bulgaria
Kumanovo, North Macedonia
Skopje, North Macedonia
Tetovo, North Macedonia
Gostivar, North Macedonia
Struga, North Macedonia
Elbasan, Albania
Tirana, Albania
END- Durres, Albania

“How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!'” Isaiah 52:7