Featured Destination
Turkey
Intimations of Byzantium: Hidden History of Turkey’s Caucasus and Eastern Anatolia
Forty-five minutes from Trabzon, on the temperate Black Sea coast of north-eastern Turkey, Sumela rose out of a cliff, surrounded by lush verdure. The best Byzantine monasteries always take effort to reach, and this one was no exception. Visiting Sumela reaffirmed that unique aesthetic genius of the Byzantines to seek, whenever possible, to harmonize their sacred sites with the contours of the natural world.
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Epicure
Balkans
Five Delicious Aubergine Recipes
The coming of fall in the Balkans brings with it more than a drop in temperatures and a change of scenery. This time of the year also means good news in the culinary department. Full Story
Routes Less Travelled
Turkey
Sumela in Eastern Turkey: A Monastery with a View
Ever since the time of Saint Anthony, monks have been willing to give up their brocade attire, leather couch or pear soufflé before they gave up a good view. A quick survey of the monasteries around the world proves this.
The windows of the oldest one, established by Saint Anthony in Egypt, frame landscapes of the Eastern Desert. In Europe, from the Iberian Peninsula to Halkidiki, God's servants enjoy stunning views. The Carmelite Convent is built on a strategically located hill with a 360-degree panorama over Lisbon. Full Story
Cappadocia: A Décor Authored by the Elements
Turkey
Ishak Pasha Lived by a Road. The Silk Road
Urban Browser
Turkey
Ani Fades Away in the No Man's Land between Turkey and Armenia
We pass by Ocakli, the last Turkish village before the border with Armenia. The mythical Armenian capital Ani, which at the end of the ninth century outshined Constantinople, Cairo, and Baghdad with its splendour, lies somewhere before us. Chronicles called it "City of 1,001 Churches" and a replica of Istanbul’s Saint Sophia used to stand in its centre.
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Turkey: Panta rhei, Ephesus rhei
Turkey
Turkey: Stroll Along Istanbul’s Theodosian Walls
Curiosity Chest
Balkans
The Mystic Muslim Sects of the Mevlevi, the Alevi and Alians in Turkey and Bulgaria
Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi, also known as Mevlana, was a Medieval Persian poet and philosopher and the spiritual founder of the whirling dervishes. He delivered his sermons and wrote his religious poetry in literary Persian, capturing the imagination of the intellectual elite amongst the peoples of Central Asia and Asia Minor.
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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
Gökçeada, Turkey: The Island and its Treasures
Turkey
Visiting new lands always brings excitement and a certain kind of solemnity. The row of cars, winding slowly towards the island’s interior, somehow highlights this important moment. I too am on Gökçeada (familiarly called “the Gökçe” by my friends); I too will spend a week here and then at least two months recounting tales about it. Full Story
Armenian History Floats on the Waters of Lake Van in Turkey
Turkey: All's Quiet Between Çanakkale and Babakale
Balkan Mountains
Ararat: The Mountain Where Noah’s Journey Ended
Turkey
Eastern Turkey, 10 kilometres from the Iranian border. The raven-strewn landscape is a barren yellowish red. On one side rises Ararat, the twin-topped dormant volcano that is rightly considered as one of the world’s most impressive sights. Its taller summit, Büyük Agri Dagi, or Great Ararat, is swathed in cloud. The smaller one, Küçük Agri Dagi, or Little Ararat, is visible through mist. The sun is searing through the thin air at this elevation. The thin monolithic cones rise some 3,000 metres above the green plateau at their foot where sheep and horses graze.
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Mount Nemrut, Turkey: Guarding the Gardens of Eden
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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
Balkans
Relentless Homophobia Rages in the Balkans
Be IN-tolerant! Be normal!, appeals a poster (pictured above) that recently flooded the streets of the Bulgarian capital, Sofia.
As the first gay pride parade in Bulgaria is about to take place, amid strong opposition by nationalistic organisations and a large part of society, the high levels of persistent homophobia in the country and the 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
18 November 2008 | Despite the financial crisis, demand for property is increasing in Turkey’s largest city, Istanbul, experts claim.
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Blog
Adrien and Martin Joly : From Gravina to Atella Adrien and Martin Joly : Goodbye Montenegro Adrien and Martin Joly : From Bari to Gravina
