The Balkans: an overview

Sorry for the delay, folks. I've been back a week already, but I spent it all sick with the flu, and I had tons of pics to sort through, as well! Here is a rundown of the experience.

The trip overall was great. All my concerns about safety were unfounded. The only semi-threatening thing we had to watch out for was racism in Macedonia towards Serbs, left-over from old wars. But even that, it was more of a general sense of being looked down upon when we used Serbian words. It never came to physical violence. Well, unless you count the incident in Ohrid where the clerk of a mini market made a disgusted face and forcefully threw the receipt in our direction when she thought we were serbians... but as soon as she realized we were Italians, she was all smiles!

Let's see, the itinerary was roughly like this:

Sun 10 arrived in Belgrade, Serbia
Mon 11 drove south all day, into Macedonia. Arrived in Ohrid
Tue 12 explored Ohrid
Wed 13 day trip to Sveti Naum, south, at the border with Albania
Thu 14 drove north to Skopje, explored the city
Fri 15 drove north back to Serbia, to Vrnjacka Banja, stopping at Nis and Sveti George on the way there
Sat 16 day trip to Studenica
Sun 17 drive back to Belgrade, stopping by Golubac and Smederevo on the way there
Mon 18-Sat 23 Belgrade

The trip revolved mostly around city centers, churches and monasteries. The latter are everywhere! It's very interesting to see all the different religions co-exist in these countries. Due to the various conquests in their history, the population is now a tollerant mix of orthodox, catholic, muslim, and jewish faiths. Most cities, especially further south, have both minarets and steeples dotting the city's skyline. We didn't enter any mosque, ignorant as we all were of their customs and not wanting to offend anyone, but I have come to learn a bit about and appreciate the orthodox church's architecture.

An important note on the trip was the economical power we had. It was like japanese people coming to visit the west. Serbia still has its own currency, and the cost of living is much lower than Italy. We often dined at expensive restaurants, the best in town, the most picturesque... and paid only a third of what we would have spent in a just-good restaurant in Italy! To give you an idea, the most expensive meal we had cost us 15EUR each. And this was a huge, delicious, home-made-style meal at a gorgeous restaurant, drinks included! The only truly expensive parts were the car rental for the first week (gas prices are high even here, no escaping that) and the hotel in Belgrade.

Hotels in Belgrade... now, *that* is a sore spot. There are no true budget accommodations, and the hotels we found were falling apart! In the first, we paid 52EUR for one night, one room with four dorm-style beds, and a bathroom whose door handle fell off, the curtain was help up by a tube and wire, and the towels they gave us were floor mats. Pretty run down, overall. No bugs, that's true. And TV with satellite service. This was the Royal Hotel, where we stayed the first night.

The second week, we had 6 nights at the Slavja. We were in a mini-apartment. Maybe 20 years ago this was a deluxe accommodation. Today, it is a run-down, hot-water-not-quite-working, clogged-sinks, old place.

The people were the highlight of the journey. Starting with the two wonderful hosts we had, friends from a previous trip, who went out of their way to cook us dinner and take us out, and the new friends we made on the bus. In Serbia, not many speak English, tourism is still mostly from Eastern Europe itself, but we found several occasions where people went out of their way to help us out. At the bus station, we were trying to ask for directions to someone who wasn't able to communicate in English. So he left his post, and went around until he found someone else that did speak English, and explained to them what we needed, and made sure we understood! Looking for a frizer (a barber) we walked into a ladies' salon, and the one girl that spoke English walked us over to the other side of the street, and explained to a barber exactly what we needed...

While still sore from their troubled past, and with many political issues up in the air, like the Kosovo situation, the Balkans seemed to me a great spot. I'd recommend anyone to travel there, especially before the European Union takes over and the cost of living becomes insanely high.

But I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. Here are the Balkans

Right now I'm in Genova, almost all better, just coughing a little. I'm headed to Emilia Romagna this Tuesday, and will spend a week in that region, visiting two different friends. One is a woman I met in New York, and it's kinda cool to see her here. The other is another childhood friend, in 15 years I only saw her once! I'm meeting her 3-years-old child, can't wait.

Blogging time might be a bit limited again, but I 'hope you're all still tuned!