Drinking Water Pollution Plagues Towns in Albania
Balkan Travellers
Studies by the Albanian Instutute for Public Health, quoted by the Koha Jonë newspaper, found that the drinking water in the towns of Milot, Kelcyre, Peshkopi and Lezha, just to the north of the capital Tirana, was contaminated. The outdated water-supply network was stated as the most likely reason for the pollution.
The situation, according to the institute’s representatives, was similar in other small towns as well. While many smaller towns this year had a problem with contaminated water, the media stated, larger settlements were starting to deal with the issue.
For the first time, the institute’s study found all samples from the water in Tirana to be unpolluted. It is expected that the capital will have a clean water supply throughout the summer months, when the danger of bacterial contamination is generally higher.
As BalkanTravellers.com reported in March, growing solid and wastewater treatment issues also endanger the water along Albania’s Adriatic and Ionian Sea coastline, though initiatives to address the problem are underway.
Epicure
Balkans
Balkan Culinary Wars III: Other People’s Meatballs
Ćevapčići from Leskovac, köfte from İzmir or Bulgarian kebapche? Greek keftedes too, please!
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Curiosity Chest
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Controversial Church Relocated in Bosnia and Herzegovina
12 June 2009 | A Muslim-Orthodox rift in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) has come to a peaceful, but controversial, end after an Islamic community paid to move an Orthodox church from the site of a mosque destroyed in the BiH conflict.
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Useful Reads
Balkans
Through Another Europe (2009) | Edited by Andrew Hammond
When Henry Blount journeyed through Bosnia in the 1630s, two things struck him: the purity of the water and the great height of the Bosnians, which, he noted, “made me suppose them the offspring of those old Germans noted by Tacitus and Caesar for their huge size.”
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Music
Serbia
Serbia: A Sizzling Summer of Music in Belgrade
4 May 2009 | The announcement that legends of rock U2 will be playing Zagreb this summer caused mass excitement; the Balkans now seem definitively on ‘the map’ of the biggest popular artists. As the weather warms up and the thoughts of all turn to enjoyment, cultural correspondent Milica Vuković from Balkanalysis.com, one of the leading independent news and analysis groups on the Balkans today, presents a rundown of the biggest musical events in Belgrade and details on how to find tickets to them.
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Photogalleries
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A Perfect Shot
In Homo Urbanus Europeanus, exhibited May 9-24 in front of the National Theatre in Sofia, Jean-Marc Caracci presents his photographs of people in the urban environment of European capitals.
RED&WHITE SOFIA. On the 1st of March Bulgarians say goodbye to the winter. They buy each other red&white threads to carry around until they see a stork and spring can begin. Photography by Lode Desmet
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
Travel News
1 July 2009 | Albanian writer Ismail Kadare was recently awarded Spain's Prince of Asturias literature prize, in recognition of the social commitment in his work.
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