What Kate and Kris Did

What Kate and Kris Did British couple teaching English abroad, in Kyiv, Ukraine. We blog about starting out as an English teacher, travel and living abroad.

We're a couple of English teachers from the UK working and travelling around the world. Our blog is a mixture of travel stories and advice for teaching English abroad, with a slant towards wildlife watching, music and beer.

We ate a LOT in Berat.....It was Kate's birthday, so we treated ourselves to nice dinners, but also there was a great ra...
10/11/2025

We ate a LOT in Berat.....

It was Kate's birthday, so we treated ourselves to nice dinners, but also there was a great range of food - some of it special to Berat. 😋

It was rude not to try it! Plus, it's really good value 💲

We also got a big breakfast on the balcony of our guesthouse room each morning, served by the friendly helpers, who didn't speak much English but it didn't matter.

We went to Berat for the weekend to celebrate Kate's birthdayBerat is famous for the Ottoman architecture...the white ho...
05/11/2025

We went to Berat for the weekend to celebrate Kate's birthday

Berat is famous for the Ottoman architecture...the white houses with rows of windows looking at each other from two sides of the river, with the old castle at the top.

It's less than 2 hours by bus from Durres, where we are staying at the moment.

We spent a lovely weekend wandering the cobbled streets, climbing up to the castle to admire the stunning views, eating the local food and drinking in little cafes and bars.

You can see why a million tourists visited Berat last year!

Our next stop is Durres, a city on the coast of Albania 🇦🇱You may remember that we were in Sarande, in the south of Alba...
26/10/2025

Our next stop is Durres, a city on the coast of Albania 🇦🇱

You may remember that we were in Sarande, in the south of Albania, at the start of the year.

Now we are back, but closer to the capital, Tirana. Durres has a city area, a big port and then a long wide beach that curves around the coast.

It's one of the oldest cities in Albania and dates back to the 7th century. The city has random bits of old fortress and an amphitheatre just dotted around.

We've rented an apartment about three blocks back from the beach, with a distant view of the sea.

We have three months to explore, so stay tuned for more

The last couple of weeks in Bansko have been spent going for walks through the stunning scenery, in the Pirin National P...
10/09/2025

The last couple of weeks in Bansko have been spent going for walks through the stunning scenery, in the Pirin National Park and to nearby dams.

One Sunday we took the 'gondola' (cable car) part the way up Vihren Mountain......which is full of ski slopes for the winter....but also stunning views over forests and mountains.⛰️

It's an oddly slow cable car. The journey up takes around 30 minutes and as you can see from the photos, it doesn't go particularly high above the ground. 🚠

We assumed the top of the cable car would give us a panoramic view of the valley and mountains but actually it drops down into a dip between peaks - perhaps as a shelter from the wind in winter.

Of course, it still had a bar for a beer before the 30 minute journey back down again. 🍻

Our time here has gone so quickly! We have just over two more weeks to enjoy this place 😍

Here we are in Bansko, for the next few weeks. In the winter, it's a ski resort. In the summer, people come for hiking, ...
20/08/2025

Here we are in Bansko, for the next few weeks. In the winter, it's a ski resort. In the summer, people come for hiking, mountain biking and to work online.

Accommodation is cheap and the weather is sunny 🌞 As we are around 1000m above sea level, it's cooler than the cities and beach resorts around Europe right now

We'll let you admire the views.

Wine tasting in Ohrid, North Macedonia
31/07/2025

Wine tasting in Ohrid, North Macedonia

As you would expect, during our 10 weeks in North Macedonia, we tried many of the beers 🍻 Just for research purposes, of...
30/07/2025

As you would expect, during our 10 weeks in North Macedonia, we tried many of the beers 🍻

Just for research purposes, of course 😜

The main two beers are Skopsko and Zlatan Dab - both lagers. Our preference was Skopsko

There was also Krali Marco and Macedonia lagers in some places. Macedonia was not our favorite as it's quite bland.

Local beers tended to be lagers, although Zlatan Dab has an amber.

We tried a few craft beers on our trip to Skopje for a long weekend - Pivograd, Donkey and Temov. Temov is made in the Old Town Brewery and was the first craft brewery in the country.

In Ohrid, the craft beer we found was largely Bak, because it is brewed in nearby Bitola.

As a rating, Macadonian beers were better than Albania , but so far Bulgarian is our first choice.

Luckily we are off to Bulgaria again next


29/07/2025

The Bay of Bones is a replica of the traditional stilt villages that used to live on the lake many years ago.

Archeologists found remnants of the old stilts in the lake alongside various bones and tools that ancient people used to use

It's a stop on most Lake Ohrid boat trips.

Life Update It's been a long time since we posted here....we are more active on Instagram, but we know you don't all use...
28/07/2025

Life Update

It's been a long time since we posted here....we are more active on Instagram, but we know you don't all use that.....so we will share some recent news

We spent April to June in Ohrid, North Macedonia 🇲🇰 a town next to a big lake bordering Albania and surrounded by mountains 🏔️. It was beautiful and relaxing.

We explored the capital city, Skopje, the neighbouring lake town of Struga, went wine tasting, walked in the hills and chilled out by the lake.

During the week we taught online from our rental apartment, and a cat came to visit us most days. 🐱.

We will share some other photos and reels for those of you not on Instagram.

Next we are going back to Bulgaria 🇧🇬for two months, to Bansko in the mountains.

18/03/2025

Arriving in Gjirocaster old town, we were entertained by the Albanian air force band

And yes, that's a guy playing guitar with his teeth.....

Address

Kyiv

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when What Kate and Kris Did posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to What Kate and Kris Did:

Shortcuts

Share