The end of lockdown is tantalizingly close, but we still can't travel,
so I thought I'd do another "memory lane" video, and I'm going to take you to my three top
Eastern European countries, fancy joining me welcome to RogVLOG.
Thanks for watching RogVLOG, if you enjoy these videos please hit the subscribe button for more
travel vlogs, marketing tips, and occasional rants, so let's go to Eastern Europe and my top
three favorite Eastern European cities, first up we're going to go to Skopje in North Macedonia,
I was staying at the Park Hotel, great location, recently refurbished, and very quirky,
wow look at this room, I love it and there's a obviously a great big bathroom,
lots and lots of really cool smelly stuff. bathrobe.
bloody hell walk-in completely clear glass shower room,
and the bed's sort of in the middle of the room, completely in the middle of the room,
there's a bright orange mini bar called Smeg, and best of all macarons,
once settled in it was time to get out and explore Skopje,
I really love the quirkiness of the Park Hote,l and it's situated right here on the side of the
river, and there's a pathway leading straight into the city, so that's where I'm heading now
there's a pretty consistent Alexander the Great theme running through all of this,
there are several famous bridges across the Vardar River, this is the Stone Bridge,
and this is known as the Art Bridge, a lot of these buildings look really old but actually
some of them have been built just in the last 20 years,
when Alexander saw the breadth of his domain he wept for there were no more worlds to conquer,
after the main square I checked out the Macedonian Philharmonic, this large concert venue,
followed by a quick bite to eat at the Bistro London,
Skopje is a great city and I had some incredible food in Skopje and the North Macedonians say that
food is their way of expressing love and appreciation, so I can't wait to get back there,
next we're going to go to Romania and the capital city of Bucharest,
two flawless flights this morning with KLM, so i'm here
in Bucharest and I'm just about to check into the hotel,
I'm staying at the Arc de Triomphe Hotel and it's lovely,
and it's the first hotel I've stayed in for ages where they give you a proper key,
the architecture here is fantastic, I'm just walking past the Parliament building,
but you know what I could really do with finding somewhere to get a coffee,
my goodness that coffee was strong, you know in the UK coffee is quite weak isn't it,
maybe that's how we like it, whereas abroad in Europe and Eastern Europe it's like rocket fuel,
well I guess this is the obligatory fountain shot,
now that's what I call ancients and modern,
I hadn't realized in Bucharest they've got an almost carbon copy
of the Arc de Triomphe and they've even copied that scary
car crash waiting to happen roundabout as well, it's why Bucharest is also known as little Paris,
and I'm chilling out in this beautiful park, not only is this city stunning when it comes
to architecture, but you can also find these little quiet places as well, so I'm gonna have
this beautiful bottle of Crusecco,
I can't wait to get this open, ah I love a good pop don't you,
lovely, cheers,
actually that's not bad at all, wow all that stunning architecture, another city I can't wait
to return to, and my top favorite Eastern European city is Tirana
in Albania, and I have to say the vibe in this city was just absolutely fantastic,
it has a real beat to it, exciting, lots of great restaurants, cafes,
bars and beautiful scenery, the whole city is surrounded by mountains, so join me in Tirana,
the AllWeb team had booked me into the Sky Hotel right in the centre of Tirana
and that's where I headed first to freshen up, before heading out to explore the city,
the room was modern, spacious and clean, and the bed was extra comfortable
,after settling in I decided to hit the streets and explore the city of Tirana,
this part of town is called the Block and it's chock-a-block full of cafes,
bars restaurants and nightclubs and all of them seem to be open 24/7,
I love it there's a bar or nightclub down every little looking cranny,
it's only 10 a.m in the morning and it's it's already about 30 degrees and I'm sweating buckets,
so I'm just going to go to the Grand Park where I believe the air's a little fresher,
oh it's definitely cooler in here, beautiful park,
but I don't think I've don't think I've cooled down enough yet,
at the bottom of the park there's a spectacular lake right here in the middle of the city, I
finally cooled down, beautiful cool breeze coming off that lake has finally worked its wonders,
in another part of the park I found these statues of former Albanian leaders,
back into the city to check out the University and the Museum of Archaeology
now this building behind me is known as the Pyramid and it was one of the remnants from the
communist era, now there is talk of them sprucing it up and turning it to some sort of memorial,
love this tree lined boulevard, that's one of the great things about exploring a new city, is
just following your nose and seeing what you can find down dark alleys and tree-lined boulevards,
Tirana's bar and cafe culture makes it a great city just for people watching,
this is the main square in Tirana, Skanderbeg Square is surrounded by Opera Houses,
banks, museums, and right in the distance you can
see the spectacular mountain range that surrounds the city,
this is a magnificent stunning open space
right in the heart of the city quite unlike any square I've ever seen in any city before,
I love this old school fairground roundabout,
or do you call them carousels, don't know but it looks beautiful here in the
square
well I've been walking for ages now and I'm in desperate need of some water
and some coffee, so I headed back to The Block, past the catholic church,
passed some gorgeous fountains and discovered an amazing restaurant for lunch,
and like I said before all the greatest places in Tirana seem to be down little alleyways,
the food was delicious, ah forget the coffee,
ah sometimes only beer will do, so there you have it my top three favorite cities
in Eastern Europe, Skopje in North Macedonia, Bucharest in Romania, and Tirana in albania,
if you enjoyed this episode of RogVLOG, please do subscribe to my YouTube channel
and consider giving this video a great big thumbs up, until the next one,
remember there's always something to see, so just get out there and find it!