Featured Destination
Kosovo
The Medieval Serbian Monasteries in Kosovo
If there were anything understandable about the Serbs' despair at losing Kosovo, it would be their grief over the medieval monasteries that now remain outside the country's borders. For with their splendour, the Orthodox sites in Gračanica, Dečani and Peć are arguably the most exquisite part of the nation's remarkable heritage from that époque.
The dynasty of Nemanjići ruled over a Serb, predominantly Christian kingdom from the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries. In the ever shaken by conflicts Balkans, it miraculously managed to create enough space for creativity. Several distinctive fine arts and architectural styles developed one after the other in a spur which almost matched the Italian Renaissance in inventive energy, although not in spirit. Full Story
Epicure
Macedonia
Macedonian Wine to Comply with EU Standards
Macedonia has started to make and analyse wine in line with European standards.
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Routes Less Travelled
Kosovo
Clay Faces and Hope for the Future Illuminate Kosovo
Izeir Mustafa’s studio is 35 kilometres north of Priština. We park in one of the grounds of a large industrial zone. As his assistant leads us through the grey, run-down grounds between the industrial halls, the sun begins to set.
When we get inside, the hall where Izeir Mustafa works is already semi-dark. But in the middle of it, radiant as the sun, Bill Clinton meets us; In full-length, smiling, shiny, the spotlight’s beam cast upon him.
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The Serbian Convent of Gračanica: Heavens Made of Stone
Kosovo
The Serbian Patriarchate of Peć: Wild, Barbaric Colours against the Dark Prokletije Mountains
Urban Browser
Albania
Gjirokastër: Albania’s Town of the Stones
The city of Gjirokastër in the southern part of Albania has several claims to fame. Besides being the birthplace of two of the most important Albanians – communist dictator Enver Hoxha and world-renowned writer Ismail Kadare, the city also brings together different elements of the country’s mixed history, representing its Byzantine, Ottoman and Communist pasts. Full Story
Turkey
Ani Fades Away in the No Man's Land between Turkey and Armenia
Bulgaria
Plovdiv: A Felicitous Stop on the Orient Express Route
Curiosity Chest
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Want an "Obama" Suit? Go to Bosnia
A Bosnian clothes-making company has started selling a new line of suits for men named “Obama,” after the newly elected US President.
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Bulgaria 3/7/14
Bulgaria
Treasure-Hunting in Bulgaria’s Eastern Rodopi Mountains: Ancient Sites and Whimsical Rocks
While Bulgaria’s seaside and mountain resorts continue to attract the bulk of both domestic and international tourists, more unconventional destinations around the country are also starting to become popular with travellers. Among their advantages are the smaller or nonexistent tourist crowds, as well as the alternative tourism opportunities they provide.
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Bulgaria in 5 days: Shumen, South of Nowhere
Bulgaria
Bulgaria in 3 Days: Sofia and Mount Vitosha
Hidden Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Along Suleiman the Magnificent's Bridge in Svilengrad, South-Eastern Bulgaria
The Ottoman bridge over the Maritsa River is not only a predecessor (and maybe even a prototype) of the famous bridge on the Drina, but it is also superior to it in terms of scale and splendour. The legend about its origins is as dramatic as that of the Drina Bridge, although it did not win the Nobel Prize like Ivo Andrić’s novel that recounted it Full Story
Bulgaria
Genghis Khan’s Descendents Swap Central Asia’s Altay for Bulgaria’s Balkan Mountain
Bulgaria
Kabiyuk, The Horse "Factory" Bulgaria Inherited from the Ottoman Empire
Balkan Coasts
Balchik, on Bulgaria’s Black Sea, where Romanian Queen Marie Left Her Heart. In a Jar
Bulgaria
It was in 1940. In a glass jar in a chapel in Balchik on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast rested the heart of Queen Marie of Romania. It was her last wish before she died. She had loved Balchik.
The coastal resort was Romanian territory at that time. But in 1940 Bulgaria regained its possession with the help of Nazi Germany. The Bulgarians promised the Romanians “that the Queen’s heart, if you choose to leave it there instead of transporting it to a suitable place inside Romania, will be surrounded by all attributes of attention and respect.” Full Story
Gökçeada, Turkey: The Island and its Treasures
Armenian History Floats on the Waters of Lake Van in Turkey
Balkan Mountains
Roman Ruins and a Rural Paradise in Bulgaria’s Western Rodopi Mountains
Bulgaria
In the spot where the majestic Pirin and Rodopi Mountains come together, around 50 kilometres south of the major ski-resort of Bansko, lays perhaps the best destination for rural tourism in Bulgaria. The mineral water springs of the village of Ognyanovo and the spectacular architecture of the villages of Leshten and Kovachevitsa, situated on the rolling western-most hills of the Rodopi Mountains, were known only to Bulgarian village life afficionados until a few years ago. Recently, however, they have started to open up and attract
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Meteora, the Second Sky Over Greece
Bulgaria: Strandzha's Mysteries
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Photogalleries
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A Perfect Shot
BULGARIA D'OR: The Bulgarian countryside, patinated with the noble golden dust of the autumn. Photographs by Lode Desmet
360 degrees Bulgaria, an exhibition by photographer Alexandar Ivanov, is on display at the Sea Garden in Varna until August 28. It will be shown at Plovdiv’s Central Square from Sept 5.
The exhibition Photographs of a Trip Through Bulgaria by Hungarian photographer András Balla can be seen in Sofia's Hungarian Cultural Institute, at Aksakov 16 Street, until August 22
Instant Spring in Sofia | Photographs by Lode Desmet
Off-the-season Beauty of Bulgaria's Black Sea Coast | Photographs by Adelina Iliev
Bulgaria's Northern Black Sea Coast
Photographs by Albena Shkodrova
excellent smugs
Annoyances in the Balkans
Kosovo
The Balkans: Natural Born Historians
The obsession with history is so commonplace on the Balkans that local people do not even notice it. For outsiders, however, it quickly becomes a part of the experience of being precisely in the Balkans and nowhere else. Raymond Detrez, a Belgian scholar of Bulgarian and Balkan Studies, describes this sometimes entertaining and other times annoying, and even dangerous, social phenomenon. Full Story
Insiders' Advice
If the relentless homophobia is already that bad, what's the attitude in general towards HIV/AIDS, given the rather worrying HIV-prevalence in Eastern Europe and Russia?
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Is it easy to drive in the Balkans? Depends. If you are looking for adrenalin, this is a cheap way to get it. Expats say the best tactics is not to get annoyed.
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How to pick the right time to go? Winter is beautiful in the high mountains, the problem is, it can be so cold! Then again, who cares how cold it is - the locals have a cheap cure: heavy red wine. Sometimes warmed up.
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You can't trust local maps. Nor some international travel guides. One of them, for instance, says, that Neretva River in Bosnia and Herzegovina flows FROM the Adriatic towards the inland of the Balkans, never reaching the sea. OK, how about the Neretva delta and channel in Croatia?
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The Big Book of Travelling
United States
The Rise of Burlesque in New York: Tassels and the City
Burlesque – the more audacious relative of commedia dell'arte, is in revival. A reality in “upside down style”, this creative, witty and softer version of striptease is back on stage, following an absence of nearly 80 years. In New York, Anjeza Bojku scoped out several burlesqee venues for BalkanTravellers.com. Full Story
Thailand
A Short Guide to the Peculiarities of Thai Food
Travel News
5 November 2008 | The Eastern Neighbours film festival will show over 30 films from the Balkans region in the Louis Hartlooper Complex in the Dutch city of Utrecht between November 6 and 9.
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Blog
Adrien and Martin Joly : From Gravina to Atella Adrien and Martin Joly : From Bari to Gravina Adrien and Martin Joly : Goodbye Montenegro
