Featured Destination
Balkans
Hidden Spots in Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Serbia and Turkey to Visit this October
As the hot, beach-perfect summer days are behind us and the winter with its enticing opportunities for playing in the snow is still far away, BalkanTravellers.com provides you with five places throughout the Balkans that warrant a visit during the autumn. Going to any of these off-the-beaten-track places is an awarding experience at any time of the year, but the traveller who ventures there during the off-season has them even more to himself than usual.
Full Story
Epicure
Turkey
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
Romania
Perishing or Jovially Surviving in Transylvania
Sorin-Alexandru Cristescu of the Romanian incogniterra.org writes about a melancholic journey through the crumbling castles of Transylvania, central Romania.
Cristescu’s two gloomy days north of Braşov are cheered up by the jovial Saxon community residing there. And, notably, this is a Dracula-free trip.
Full Story
Chiprovtsi: Stooping Women Guard the Bulgarian Renaissance's Few Traces
Turkey
Sumela in Eastern Turkey: A Monastery with a View
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.
Full Story
Plovdiv: A Felicitous Stop on the Orient Express Route
Serbia
The Book Craze that's Got a Hold on Belgrade
Curiosity Chest
Greece
Ancient Greece’s Elgin Marbles Stand at the Centre of a 200-Year Long Great Ado
During his term as British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire at the turn of the nineteenth century, Thomas Bruce, Seventh Earl of Elgin, already knew his actions were controversial and that he might go down in history as a “vandal.” But he most likely did not anticipate that, 200 years on, the heated international dispute he caused would continue to rage with full force.
Full Story
Bulgaria 3/7/14
Bulgaria
Bulgaria in 5 days: Shumen, South of Nowhere
Patriotic ruins, a Coca Cola-branded mosque, a “stud factory” and a capsule, containing a message for future generations: these are only part of modern Shumen’s surprising charms. Full Story
Bulgaria
Bulgaria in 3 Days: Sofia and Mount Vitosha
Hidden Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Genghis Khan’s Descendents Swap Central Asia’s Altay for Bulgaria’s Balkan Mountain
Picture this: In the foot of the Balkan Mountain, in Central Bulgaria, tourists gather for an authentic taste. But not of the quant villages scattered in the skirts of the mountain. Rather, for an authentic taste of Mongolia. Full Story
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
New Routes to Cruise in Europe – the Blue Danube All the Way to the East
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
Full Story
Treasure-Hunting in Bulgaria’s Eastern Rodopi Mountains: Ancient Sites and Whimsical Rocks
Meteora, the Second Sky Over Greece
-
Photogalleries
-
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?
Full Story
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.
Full Story
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.
Full Story
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?
Full Story
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
6 October 2008 | This season’s first snow and the strong wind over Mount Vitosha, near the Bulgarian capital Sofia, left dozens of tourists stuck in mountain chalets and in cars on Sunday, national media reported.
Full Story
Blog
Adrien and Martin Joly : Our Itinerary Adrien and Martin Joly : We start our journey today Christopher Deliso : Bitola Looks to the Future, as Cameras Roll
