Club Med to Build Resort on Albania’s Adriatic Coast
BalkanTravellers.com
The complex, containing 350 luxury villas and a capacity of 700 beds, is to be built in the Bay of Kakome, 220 kilometres south-west of the capital, Tirana. It is to span over 700,000 square metres and also include swimming pools and other sports facilities, stores and a cinema. Once completed, the complex will function six months out of the year.
The Albanian construction company Riviera will build the resort, estimated to cost 75 million euro, which will be operated by Club Med.
The start of the project comes following a decision that the land’s owners are to become stakeholders, after three years of negotiations.
When negotiations began in 2005, international media reported on the resort chain’s ironic connection to that very spot in Albania – 20 years previously border guards patrolling what was then communist Albania’s forbidden coast had shot dead Jean-Marie Masselin, a young Club Med manager who came ashore near Kakome Bay during a scuba-diving trip with his sailing boat.
Epicure
Croatia
The Truffle Rush
The Istria Peninsula in Northern Croatia is the Klondike of the culinary world. Every October, among the Motovun forests near the Livade village and along the banks of the Mirna River, there are swarming hoards of people and dogs – some sources claim as many as 15,000.
Full Story
Curiosity Chest
Croatia
Croatia Artists' "Broken Relationships" Exhibit to Be Displayed in Zagreb
The exhibition "The Museum of Broken Relationships," initiated by two Croatian artists and showcasing people's remnants of their past relationships, quickly became a global attraction. It is now looking for a permanent home in Zagreb. Full Story
Useful Reads
Greece
In Sfakia: Passing Time in the Wilds of Crete (2008) | By Peter Trudgill
Crete has long been acknowledged as one of the most singular and unique parts of Greece. Its people keep a fierce hold on their traditions, customs and history. Practically a country of its own, this vast island looms over all others in Greece. Nevertheless, as In Sfakia author Peter Trudgill aptly notes in his preface, “some parts of Crete are more special than others, and Sfakia, on the remote south coast, is certainly one of those.” Full Story
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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