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Passports / Balkans / Europe Travel / Delays / → All Tags

And You Thought Your Passport Took Forever

Given all those new passport woes during 2007, we're sure plenty of you have sob stories about how long it took to get a new passport. But spare a thought for Maria Kostova in Macedonia who had to wait more than 20 years to finally get her right to travel.

Part of Maria's problem was she was born in 1898, and the Macedonian authorities had misplaced the birth records from the nineteenth century. So when she applied for a passport back in the 80s, they said she didn't officially exist and couldn't have one.

Recently, the Macedonians unearthed an old archive and told Maria they could now issue a passport. Whether or not a 110-year-old woman still plans to go abroad on vacation is a question the authorities haven't stopped to consider, and Maria simply said "It's a nice surprise." We're not gonna print what we'd say if we'd had to wait 20 years for a passport.

Related Stories:
· Woman, 109, Gets Passport [Ananova]
· HOWTO: Get A Passport Fast [Jaunted]

[Photo: lilit]

Tourist Attractions / Balkans / Food / → All Tags

Big Bosnian Cabbages

We know Australia loves making insanely oversized replicas of everyday objects in the hope of getting a few tourists to drive by (witness the ugly big koala and the giant slide rule as just a couple of hundreds of pretty dumb examples). But maybe it works, and the Bosnians are about to try it out for themselves.

If you travel through Bosnia, you'll learn that cabbages are important--they're healthy, nutritious and found in many kinds of local cuisine. Bosnians in the town of Bijeljina have decided to honor their favorite vegetable Australian-big-things style. Yep, they've got plans to build a giant cabbage monument. The big opening should take place during 2007--we'll be sure to bring you the first great glimpses of Bosnia's first giant cabbage. Hold the reprint on those guidebooks, because a monumental new tourist attraction is on its way!

[Photo: Richard-]

Related Stories:
· Homage to Cabbage [Edmonton Sun]
· Koalas--Cute When Small... [Jaunted]
· Australia's Geekiest Big Thing [Jaunted]

Cars / Balkans / Serbia / Crime / → All Tags

Serbian Snake Security

When a Serbian does something, they do it properly: whether it's using a string of taxis to propose marriage or finding a great way to protect their car.

But sometimes it backfires. In Belgrade a penny-pinching man decided leaving a 6-foot snake inside his Merc would be cheaper than buying a car alarm. This seemed to work well--at least, the car wasn't stolen--until the snake found its way out of the car into the engine, and our stingy guy called the police for help. They promptly arrested him for public endangerment.

[Photo: baslow]

Related Stories:
· Man Used Snake as Car Alarm [All Headline News]
· Asking For Her Hand ... [Jaunted]

Forum Ferreting Feature / Balkans / → All Tags

Forum Ferreting: The Best Cities in the Powder Keg of Europe

Online travel forums are filled with gems, if you have the time to dig for them. Luckily we do the dirty work for you in our somewhat regular Forum Ferreting feature.



In light of Montenegro's recent secession from Serbia and the increasing popularity of Croatia--this year it's been upgraded to Cote D'Azur on the Adriatic--the Balkans are on everyone's lips. If you don't head to the beach, however, and instead try to get a more authentic experience in the region's many cities, which ones should top your list? Dubrovnik may be the classic choice, and Sarajevo the option for the slightly more adventurous, but our money's still on Tirana. What's more fun than the occasional power outage?

Sarajevo: I'm afraid I am going to be unoriginal and go for Sarajevo too. A very enjoyable place to hang around for a week or so. In addition to what everyone else said, I love the feeling of being close to the mountains, and the views you come across walking around the hilly suburbs.

Tirana: The most Balkan of all the capitals. Ripped-up pavements, mosques, bazaars, Communist monuments and the wildest colour scheme of any city in the world. The mayor Edi Rama has unleashed artists to repaint hundreds of apartment buildings, even if the residents didn't know about it. Now all the Communist grey has been replaced with lurid pink, orange, green, yellow and purple, often just on one building. Blloku must have more bars and cafes per square metre than anywhere this side of Bangkok.

Sofia: At first look horrible, but after couple of days fantastic, Sofia is a very young city (tons of students) and has lots of night life. The city centre is compact and overall very nice. One can ski/hike on Mt. Vitosha, only 20 mins from the centre.
 

One day, we'll do a comparison of bürek in every Balkan country. That's an assignment that our stomach could fully support.

[Image via ectoformo/Flickr]

Related Stories:
·   Forum Ferreting [Jaunted]

Balkans / Montenegro / Politics / → All Tags

Balkan Bisection

Big news from the Adriatic this weekend, as Montenegro did indeed vote to secede from Serbia. According to EU regulations, the referendum needed 55% of the vote to pass, and the yes vote ended up at 55.4%. The Montenegrins celebrated Balkans-style in the streets of Podgorica, the capital, by firing shots in the air and waving their flag.

Ethnic Serbs make up roughly a third of the country's population--you'll remember that large ethnic minorities are what percipitated most of the problems in Yugoslavia in the 1990s--but so far, they had yet to take any serious negative action.

Over the weekend, Montenegro Airlines--they have all-leather seats, just like jetBlue--cancelled most flights to Belgrade in order to increase flights from the rest of Europe, and bring in as many ex-pat Montenegrins as possible. Ex-pats were thought to be more pro-secession, and it sounds like it may have made the difference in the vote. Congratulations, Montenegro.

[Imag e via achecci16/Flickr]

Related Stories:
·   Montenegrins Elect to End Union [NY Times]
·   The Full Montenegro [Jaunted]

Albania / Tirana / Balkans / Beaches / → All Tags

Return to the Albania Riviera

The Times of London thinks that Albania is the next big thing. Way ahead of you, fellas. Obviously, the Times is headed to Tirana because British Airways just launched nonstop service from Heathrow, but they're examining Albania at an interesting time.

Development is underway, but it's one of the few remaining places in Europe that has remained unspoiled and yet is actually a pleasant place to visit. The landscape of the place is one reason; for the last few thousand years, whenever there was an occupying force, the Albanians retreated into the mountains, which make up much of the nation's topography.

There's a brief mention of the Albanian Riviera--approximately Saranda to Vlora, along the country's southern third of coastline--but it deserves fuller treatment. Tirana is a bustling, over-stimulating city, as foreign a place as you can visit while remaining in Europe. Saranda and the coast, on the other hand, will become viable alternatives to Croatia and Montenegro (as soon as they solve the trash situation; there's a lot of it). Go now--Club Med bought property north of Saranda and will begin building there soon.

[Image via Hugo VT/Flickr]

Related Stories:
·   Albania: Europe's Last Secret [Times of London]
·   The New Croatia [NY Post]
·   Balkan Bonanza! [Jaunted]
·   New Cheap Flights: European Edition [Gridskipper]

Balkans / Tourism / → All Tags

The Full Montenegro

David Farley (of Traveler's Tales Prague fame) has an excellent analysis of future Dalmatian media darling Montenegro in this week's Balkan-centric Washington Post Travel section. We love Montenegro, but it's easy to pigeonhole the region into next-big-thing status.  As David points out, it already was a big thing before the troubles of the 90s. Elizabeth Taylor and Claudia Schiffer both paid the area a visit for vacation, way back when.

That said, big development in Montenegro is imminent. Aman Resorts purchased the right to remake Sveti Stefan--an island resort currently charging an $8 admission for a look around their old-tymey ersatz village--while new hotels are springing to life up and down the coastline. Montenegro's bid for independence, scheduled for this May, is likely to accelerate the process even further, as will the country's true minders (cough, Russian Mafia, cough).

So, Montenegro: go now, before it becomes the new Croatia.

[Image via AlphaTangoBravo/Flickr]

Related Stories:
·   The Next Small Thing [WaPo]
·   Balkan Bonanza! [Jaunted]

Balkans / → All Tags

Bright Bosnian Future?

It's become a well established rule of travel writing these days that formerly war-torn countries are the new hotness. Forget Cambodia--for quality ethnic strife, choose the Balkans. With that in mind, Sarajevo gets the full treatment in the New York Times Travel section.

The article itself is remarkably restrained, and forgoes any mentions of fusion cuisine. It gives turbofolk (one of its biggest stars, Ceca, is pictured above) too much credit for a deeper meaning. Turbofolk is considered a musical scourge of the entire region, cobbling together two genres that are meant to be kept as far apart as possible.

Sarajevo is doubtless a fascinating place, but it may be too soon for the glossy treatment, even in an article evaluating the damage wrought by war in relation to the tourist industry. Croatia is so popular because all those islands and beaches are essentially history free. How many tourists are genuinely ready for the complete Balkan experience?

Related Stories:
·   Going Out in Sarajevo [Gridskipper]
·   Sarajevo Reclaims its Lost Innocence [NYT]

Balkans / → All Tags

Balkan Shuffle

It's likely that most of the travel press will be pushing destinations like Muscat in Oman and Uganda this year. However, one destination that has been underrepresented is Macedonia. It finally gets some press in the Times of London this week.

While it might be in poor taste to suggest that the whole region is likely to "blow up" this year, with the massive growth in popularity of Croatia and the continuing development of Montenegro, countries like Macedonia have a lot of potential for an increase in tourism, too.

Skopje, the capital, still lives a lot to be desired--think of it is as Ulaan Bataar West--but the region around Lake Orhid, including the town of Orhid, may become a choice destination. There's a 13th Century Church and a 10th Century Fortress--the region has plenty of those, for the discerning fortress enthusiast--and it was the site where Europe's first uiniversity was founded. Plus, the natural beauty of the lake is quite impressive.

While they don't have the advantage of a coast, like Montenegro or Albania, they don't have bunkers, either, so it evens out. It's a country to watch this year.


[Image via Fif'/Flickr]