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Friday, 21 November 2008

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

Turkey
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
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
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







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