Saturday, 11 February 2012

Featured Destination


Macedonia
The Balkans for Armchair Travellers. The Best Books on the Region in English

While recently travellers are more and more obsessed with literary trips - popular, following The DaVinci Code, or more sophisticated, remaking Byron's journey around Europe, - the Balkans stood away from this trend.
Full Story


Epicure


Macedonia
Restaurant “Yugoslavia” to Open in Macedonia’s Capital

October 2009 | In the latest move marked by nostalgia for the socialist past, a new restaurant named “Yugoslavia” will soon open its doors in Skopje. Full Story


News


Albania
ЕU May Reinstate Visas for Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia

23 October 2010 | Officials from Sweden, Germany and Belgium expressed worries with the growing number of asylum-seekers from the Balkans and may lobby in the EU to reconsider the removal the visa-free travel for citizens of Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia, Full Story

Macedonia
Macedonia: Ohrid Festival Wraps Up
Balkans
Albania, Kosovo and Macedonia Mark Mother Teresa’s Centenary


Routes Less Travelled


Macedonia
Among Prilep's Thunder and Lightning

Treskavec, Macedonia’s most inaccessible monastery, stands in the eye of the hurricane.

“I’ll drive only as far as I can!,” the driver waves his finger around and angrily scratches his three-day stubble. The taxi is a beaten up Zastava, like most cabs in Prilep. This makes sense, considering that, on the Balkans, taxies are the default transportation means for any occasion – from the crossing of borders to conquering alpine heights. We’ve been advised to take a cab in order to get to Macedonia’s most remote and difficult-to-access monastery: Treskavec. Full Story

Macedonia
Tito, Teto and Some Troubled Tourism Await You in Tetovo, Macedonia
Balkans
The 12 Balkan Contenders for the New 7 Wonders


Curiosity Chest


Macedonia
Recycled Life: Bottle Collectors in Skopje, Macedonia

Like quicksand, poverty is hard to escape - the harder you fight, the worse it can get. In Skopje, some work hard scouring the city for "treasures." They are bottle collectors, spending the day in search of recyclable plastic which they can sell for a subsistence income.
Full Story




Hidden Sofia


Bulgaria
From Soviet Saviours to American Superheroes and Back: Sofia Keeps Pace with the Times

21 June 2011 | Just four days after an anonymous graffiti artist transformed the Soviet Red Army monument in the centre of Sofia, turning it into a congregation of various comic-book characters Full Story

Bulgaria
Sklada: The Space that Stores and Showcases Contemporary Design
Bulgaria
Before and After: A Tango Milonga in the Midst of Sofia

Hidden Bulgaria


Bulgaria
Go Green in Bulgaria: 23 Eco-Hotels and Guest Houses to Choose From

Bulgaria's countryside is a pristine treasure. Poor and underdeveloped, many regions, with hills and valleys, mountains and gorges, have remained untouched for decades.
Full Story

Bulgaria
Julian Perry's Walks in Bulgaria's National Parks
Bulgaria
From Sofia to the Village of Lakatnik in an Old Locomotive






Balkan Coasts & Mountains


Macedonia: Nearly 50 Years Later, Lake Ohrid Overflows Again

Macedonia

As spring arrived and temperatures rose, increasing the water level of Lake Ohrid, many Ohrid residents recalled the dangerous water levels of the lake 50 years ago. In 1963, Ohrid Lake spilled over and flooded the old road between Ohrid and Struga. Full Story

This July, Splash Around in Four Lakes and a Dam Throughout the Balkans



Balkan Towns


An Incomparable Inertia: Skopje to Saloniki by Rail

Macedonia

Unless you take the other one, in the dead of night, the train arrives in late afternoon and by that time you just want to sit down and sleep against the window. But usually the press of people, all pushing and clamouring to board (grandmothers with glass jars and double-wrapped boxes can be surprisingly fierce) forestalls this luxury.

Meanwhile, the cleverer young guys have already jumped down into the gravel and skipped across the worn steel rails, ripping open the opposite door like a ripe orange and bounding up the narrow stair first. Full Story

The Macedonian Town of Ohrid, Where Time Stopped