Traveling by bus in the Balkans has been pretty easy and comfortable so far. Crossing the borders takes a little longer then in a car but even that hasn’t been bad. From Albania we caught a bus to Pristina, the capital of Kosovo. As soon as we got there we were glad we hadn’t planned on staying. The city looked old, run down and didn’t seem to have much to offer so we jumped on another bus heading an hour northwest to the town of Peja. As soon as we got off the bus we had lunch and looked for a room. After checking in we went exploring. It didn’t take long to realize we just didn’t like the vibe of the town. People seemed to stare at us a lot, well more like gawk. If you have read my blogs you know I always say, “It all depends where you get off the bus”. And here in Kosovo it is so true. Had we stayed in Pristina we probably would have run away after 1 night. And here in Peja we felt the same after the first night. We just weren’t enjoying the vibe. However, the next morning we decided to get outside the city center and head to the country. Peja is known for it’s mountains and lakes, offering hiking, climbing and all kinds of outdoor adventures. We had planned to go to their famous Rugova Canyon for a day of hiking but found out it was a little further from town then we thought. We ended up contacting a hiking company but all the tours had left for the day. The travel gods continued to bless our trip though. The head guide had returned from a morning trip and said he would take us up a mountain in the canyon for some great views. What we didn’t realize until we got there was that he was spiderman and had planned to scale the rocks up the side of the mountain using the Via Ferrata route. In Italian it translates to the iron trail. Straight up. The equipment looked legit and he really seemed to know his stuff so after he assured us we would get to the top safe we decided to jump out of our comfort zone once again and give it a shot. The climb was an adrenaline filled unreal experience. Our guide actually built all the climbs in the canyon as well as all the bridges and ziplines in the area. After the climb he asked if we wanted to see some waterfalls from a unique view. Of course we agreed. His unique view ended up being from a swinging cable bridge that can only be accessed by search and rescue members, a group he leads. A bridge he built. He had a set of keys that got us through some barbwire gates and then he allowed us to walk onto the bridge to see the falls from above a river (60meters/198feet high).  It was so fun looking down at the tourist along the river like we were VIP’s. On the walk back we passed a souvenir shop and had no plan to buy anything but when the vendor saw who we were with he insisted on giving us 2 free gifts. Scaling the side straight up  450 meters was a bucket list item we never knew we had. There is a longer higher and more challenging route that we plan to return and conquer someday. He suggested September when the leaves are changing colors! Cost for this amazing trip was only $20 each.