Travel · 1 October 2026 · Italy → North Macedonia

Trieste to Ohrid

A road trip down the Balkans in August 2026, across seven countries, on a Nikon and a few rolls of film.

The Black Lake, Durmitor. Colour film.

In August we drove from Trieste to Lake Ohrid: Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania and North Macedonia, mostly on small roads and mostly following water. The digital frames are from a Nikon D780; the rest are on colour and black-and-white film.

Trieste

We started where Italy runs out: an evening on the Canal Grande and in Piazza Unità, and the castle at Miramare on the first roll of film.

Canal Grande, Trieste. The first evening.

Piazza Unità d’Italia at golden hour; Miramare Castle, on colour film.

Sunset over the gulf.

Slovenia

Two days of cold, green water: the Soča valley, Lake Jasna below the Julian Alps, the Vintgar gorge, and a quick look at Bled.

Into the gorges: the Soča valley and Vintgar.

Lake Jasna, under the Julian Alps.

Šum waterfall at the end of Vintgar; Bled.

The Karst

Underground for a morning, where the Reka river disappears beneath the limestone.

Down into the Karst: the Reka underground, the collapse doline, the lit path along the river.

Plitvice

A full day on the boardwalks between the lakes. The water really is that colour: the same frames on film and on digital agree.

Plitvice, early morning.

Boardwalks, travertine, and water that colour.

Through the surface: digital on the left, film on the right.

Sunset on the way out of the park.

Sarajevo

Sarajevo got a roll of black-and-white film all to itself.

Baščaršija and the Sebilj fountain.

The old bazaar; the Latin Bridge over the Miljacka.

Friday prayer at the Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque.

Herzegovina

South towards the Neretva: the dervish house at Blagaj, the bridge at Mostar, and the falls at Kravica.

The tekke at Blagaj, at the spring of the Buna; the Stari Most in Mostar.

Kravica.

Sutjeska

The Valley of Heroes and its memorial, on the road towards Montenegro.

The memorial at Tjentište, in the Sutjeska valley.

Piva and Durmitor

Over the Piva canyon and up into Durmitor: the Black Lake, a wooden cabin, and walls of limestone turning orange at dusk.

Piva lake; the Black Lake under Međed.

Last light on the cliffs.

Northern Albania

Into the Accursed Mountains: stone villages, rivers you can see the bottom of, and a high pass on the way out.

Stone houses and the Accursed Mountains.

Clear water, self-portrait included.

Over the pass.

Ohrid

The last stop: Plaošnik above the lake, and an afternoon by the water.

Plaošnik, Ohrid.

And, one night, the Milky Way.