Tag Archives: Balkans
Balkans Tour 2017 – Timișoara, The Final Act
Reliving my 2017 tour of the Balkans……. Timișoara, Romania After eight late September days away from the UK we had arrived in the sixth and final country of our mini-tour of the region. Had we left the best to last? On balance, we probably had. Our spacious & modern apartment was set in a lovely […]
Sunday Photo – Hats For Sale, Sarande, Albania
The Albanian town of Sarande is just a 30-minute hope across the Ionian Sea from Corfu.
Balkans Tour 2017 – The Environs of Skopje
Continuing the recap of my 2017 Balkans tour….. Skopje, North Macedonia You may have gathered that I do not like the ‘new’ Skopje, the €500 million vanity project that looks like it was dreamed up by Liberace on acid. Thankfully we arrived armed with a couple of decent things to take in if, as was […]
Skopje Then & Now (2006 v 2017)
The ‘new’ Skopje is not my cup of tea. I first visited in 2006 and loved the vibe of the place. Authentic, a little run down but an earthy energy to the city. Fast-forward a decade and what I found was massively different, a horrendous beautification project akin to a woman having plastic surgery to […]
Balkans Tour 2017 – Tirana
Continuing my look back of my 2017 Balkans Tour – how did Tirana 2017 compare with Tirana 2007? We had just arrived by marathon bus journey from Sarande in Southern Albania and dilapidated taxi to our hotel from Tirana’s run down bus station…….. Tirana We found our hotel to be delightful and soon forgot our […]
Proud Pristina
A look back on my 2017 Balkan tour as featured in my book ‘Travelling By Train Across The Balkans‘, today featuring the capital of Kosovo. Pristina, Kosovo We had purposely booked a hotel close to the train station as we would be departing on the 07.10 next day. It had claimed to be just 200 […]
Friday Photo – Ottoman Bridge, Mostar, Bosnia & Herzegovina
I visited Mostar during a trip to the former Yugoslavia in October 2007. What a wonderful place, which has bounced back from a troubled past to become a thriving compact city once more. This is typified by its famous bridge over the River Neretva, which was completely destroyed in the ’90s conflict but has been built back […]
Friday Photo – Skanderbeg Square, Tirana, Albania
Gjergj Kastrioti, known as Skanderbeg, was an Albanian nobleman and military commander who led a rebellion in the mid 15th Century against the Ottoman Empire in what is today Albania, North Macedonia, Greece, Kosovo, Montenegro and Serbia. He is revered as a national hero having a museum dedicated to him, a multitude of statues and […]
