Last night I stayed up the latest I’ve stayed up this entire trip.

By the time I went to bed, it was past 2am which, by traveling standards, is uber late.

Two things were to blame.

One, I was in my own little private room and I wanted to enjoy it as long as I could and, two, my favorite poker streamer Lex Veldhuis was running deep in a 10k buyin event and there was no way I was going to miss that.

So, yeah, I went to bed way too late, but, you know what, it didn’t matter.

Today I had plans but there was no time frame for them to happen.   I had all the time in the world.

Turns out I woke up at 9am anyway so I guess it’s an early start today after all…

The plan

My plan for today was to go to the nearby town of Radavac which is home to both the White Drin Waterfall and the Radovac Cave.

Thing is, though, they’re 10km away and there’s no public transport out there.

After ruling out a 3 hour walk, I was left with two choices – rent a bicycle or take a taxi.

I had made plans last night to rent the bike for the day from the hostel owner for 10€ ($15).

Yup, I was gonna ride a bike 10km there and 10km back.

This was going to be an adventure!   I haven’t rode a bike in well over 10 years but, you know the saying…

I went downstairs at 10am to start my day.   I grabbed the bike and I found a glaring problem.

The hostel owner is much taller than me.

I hopped on the bike and I could barely reach the pedals.   And the seat, oh my God, it was so uncomfortable.

I did try to ride the bike around for a bit to see if I could make it work.

In the 5 minutes I was out there on the bike, my water bottle fell out of my bag and emptied all the water and the chain fell off.

Oh, and did I mention it was ridiculously uncomfortable?

Yeah, this wasn’t going to work.

Plan B it is then.

Taxi it is…

Breakfast

But first, breakfast!

I walked into town and stopped by Flo’s, the restaurant I went to a couple times yesterday, just to get an omelet to start my day.

I sat down at the table and waited.

And waited…

A table next to me sat and the waiter came out and greeted them.

Fine, I’m sure he’ll say hi to me right after them…

And, he’s gone…

One thing I hate with a passion is being ignored so I just picked up and decided to walk further into town looking for somewhere else to eat.

Again, I was teased with countless cafés that were just serving drinks but no food.

Then I walked past a fast food place serving donairs.   Normally I just pass on by because I can’t have donairs with my gluten allergy but I noticed the guy on the patio eating a plate of donair meat and veggies.

Yes!

I went inside and pointed to the guy on the patio and said “I’ll have what he’s having”.

Not quite an omelet but I wasn’t complaining.   That plate of food filled my belly and I was ready to go see some nature!

White Drin Waterfall

Next to the restaurant was a taxi stand so I grabbed the first one I saw and for 10€ he agreed to drive me up to Radavac.

After he dropped me off he handed me his card and told me to call him for a ride back to Peja.

The ride was only 20 minutes long and I arrived in Radavac at 11:30am.

The places I’ve been in Kosovo that are supposedly touristy haven’t been crawling with people at all.   Now, I don’t know if it’s been because I’m going at a less busy time or if, in general, Kosovo doesn’t really have many tourists.

The park at Radavac containing the waterfall and cave was no exception as I might have seen a dozen people total as I walked through the park.

Hey, I’m not complaining.   Trying to move through groups of tourists is by far one of my least favorite things of traveling.

Anyway, on to the waterfall.

As you enter the park you immediately can hear the rushing of water and, sure enough, 10 minutes later you stumble upon the waterfall.

Again, just a nice peaceful thing to be doing.   Walking through the greenery listening to rushing water shaded from the sunny skies above.

Radovac Cave

Another 10 minutes more and I had walked over to where the Radovac Cave was.

I paid my 2.50€ ($4) entry fee and was told to wait for another group currently inside to leave.

A few minutes later they left and I was on my way in.

What I hadn’t anticipated was that it was a guided tour and the girl who sold me the ticket entered the cave with me.

Alright, a solo 1 on 1 tour with a pretty cave tour guide.

Life is pretty alright, ya know.

I’ve seen a few caves over my travels including a couple on this trip but this was the first time I’ve been in a cave with bats flying in it.

As my tour guide talked, I was just staring at the cave ceiling mesmerized by the bats.

I was listening to her though.   The cave is over 2 million years old and is a chilly 7°C.   There are also 6 different varieties of bats flying around in there.

She said she’s been doing the job for 4 years and you could tell as she seamlessly walked up and down the stairs through the cave as I was grabbing onto every handrail making sure not to slip.

After seeing the waterfall and the cave, I started to head out of the park.

The walk was so secluded that I was actually able to play my favorite tune this trip on speaker on the phone, no headphones needed.

Dancing in the moonlight, indeed!

At 1pm I was out of the park and I called up my taxi guy using WhatsApp.

I wasn’t sure if he understood that it was me and I was asking for a return ride back to Peja since his English was very, very limited.

I just crossed my fingers and hoped for the best.   It’d be at least 20 minutes until he arrived since he’d be coming from Peja.

In the meantime I was formulating plans B and C for getting back into town that included walking into the actual town of Radavac and finding another taxi or just plain hitchhiking.

It was all moot though as my taxi showed up and drove me back to where he picked me up and by 2:00 I was back in my room at the hostel.

McDonalds???

Yesterday I passed by a restaurant adorned in yellow and red called Meg Donald and knew that at some point I’d have to eat there.

I mean, come on, a blatant ripoff of the McDonald’s brand?   And even more astounding, their sign says they opened in 1987.

Gotta go, right?

Even crazier, when I got inside, not only does their menu board have a hamburger and cheeseburger but it literally has a Big Mac.

So blatant!

I love it!

Naturally, it was a Big Mac for me – without a bun of course, cause, ya know, that whole gluten allergy thing.

Their Big Mac was a little different from McDonald’s.   Yes it had two patties and pickles but there was also a fried egg in there.

Yummy!

Dinner

Truth is, my day was pretty much completed after returning from the park at 2pm.   The rest of the day was just hanging in my room at the hostel and making trips out for food.

So, it should come as no surprise that the next section of this blog is about more food.

I popped by a little restaurant with a grill just up the street from where I’m staying.

On the way there, I hit a spot on the sidewalk that was missing a brick and rolled my ankle.

I was right next to a café and a local guy at one of the tables immediately gestured for me to come sit down with him and rest to make sure I was okay.   He even grabbed me a bag with ice in it so I iced my ankle for a bit.

It felt pretty alright so after a few minutes I continued on my way to the restaurant.

With the gluten allergy, I’m not feeling confident ordering sausages so it was chicken for me tonight.

The grilled chicken was served with a nice little salad and a side of one of the best coleslaws I’ve ever had.

Seriously, I just wanted to order more coleslaw.

The meal cost a ridiculous low 2.60€ ($4) and for a brief moment I contemplated ordering another one just for the coleslaw alone.

After turning in for the night, my ankle was feeling a bit tender so I’m hoping it doesn’t impede me too much as I hit the final stretch of this trip.

Tomorrow I head to the capital city of Prishtina for 2 nights and then it’s a whirlwind through Vienna, Zurich, Lichtenstein, and Paris over 3 days to get home.

Time to put a bow on this trip…