balkanology! part 2

continued from part 1: here.


KOSOVO (pristina, 1 night)

what a funtastically fascinating country! they declared independence in 2008, after obtaining united nations protected autonomy after the big nato intervention in 1999. but the serbs still consider kosovo to be part of serbia. so talk about political intricacies and complicated animosities, eh? although independent, one gets the impression that the place is still basically run by the unmik (united nations mission in kosovo). they have a huge complex in downtown pristina. i saw the "newborn" monument, which was unveiled at the announcement of independence and has become something of a symbol of nationalism. its a series of huge yellow letters that spell "newborn", and it is covered in the signatures of kosovo's youth. also, the library at the university of pristina, whose unique design has been aptly described as "simultaneously outrageous and beautiful": google image it! kosovo is definitely on the developing end of the spectrum. the smells and the sights are evocative of a place struggling to survive. i stayed in the only hostel in town, which is run by a hunchbacked former university electronics professor who speaks impeccable english (pretty rare in kosovo). there are lots of mosques (albanian/muslim majority), and a recently begun serbian orthodox church that has come to be known as a symbol of serbian arrogance and spite: it was a target of vandalism and anti-serbian hate graffiti, the u.n. had to move in with force to protect it, and apparently the serbian orthodox church isn't going to rest until its finished. oh and kosovo absolutely loves bill clinton. they named a street after him, and put up a statue as well as a 3 story tall mural of his perfect face. can't blame them - he saved them from the genocidal slobodan milosabitch. not to tell just one side of the story though, there were innocent serbians who lived in kosovo who now can't go back for fear of their lives. just a sad situation all around. actually, there are still serbian enclaves in kosovo, and they basically don't answer to any national government. anyways, ...

MACEDONIA (skopje, 2 nights)

what a funtastically fascinating country! all of skopje (pronounced skow-pee-ah) is seemingly under construction. they are building all kinds of huge museums, and statues in the central square of famous macedonians throughout history, like the byzantine emperor justinian. the centerpiece is a massive bronze alexander the great on a horse, which apparently was only erected a couple of weeks ago! there is a splendid old town, a huge bazaar, a beautifully ornate ottoman era church (that had to be built 3 feet under ground because churches couldn't be taller than mosques in the ottoman empire), and a really nice chapel built in commemoration of mother theresa, who grew up in skopje. also, a clock tower. did you know that every town in the ottoman empire needed a clock tower so that "no shop keepers could work longer than anyone else and earn more money"? good thing that era's over, eh!? if you want to climb the skopje clock tower you can find your way through the construction zone and into the big mosque on the hill. find the old guy with no teeth and give him some non-verbal pleasantries about his mosque. then motion to the clock tower and he will open the lock with a huge, archaic key from the middle ages that he finds under a carpet in the mosque. climb up the stairs, but watch out for the randomly placed wooden beams which could almost knock you out if you walk into one, and be careful not to step on the rotting corpses of dead pigeons or, further up, the nest with recently hatched baby birds. when you get to the top, crawl out the small window unto the ledge and its a beautiful view of skopje! here's something interesting: the greeks don't like the name macedonia. the ancient macedonia included part of greece (or as the greeks would say, it was greek to its core), and indeed there is a region in greece today called macedonia. thus, when the republic of macedonia emerged out of the ashes of the former yugoslavia as an independent state, greece saw their choice of name carrying with it the possibility of territorial expansionism, and demanded that the country be referred to in the united nations as the former yugoslav republic of macedonia (fyrom). as a byproduct of this angst, buses between macedonia and greece are extremely scant, despite the fact that they are right beside each other and its not very far. also, skopje has one of the largest roma settlements/slums in the world. the roma are a transient ethnic group in the balkans who struggle with unemployment. there was actually a roma museum in belgrade that i wanted to go to but i didn't have time. and because i have a thing for superlatives, i simply had to see the largest cross in the world up close. it is called the millenium cross (because it was built in 2002 to commemorate 2000 years of christianity in macedonia and the world), and it sits atop vodno mountain overlooking skopje. one gets to it first by hiking for 2 hours up the mountain (or by taking a city bus, i later discovered was an option), and then taking a brand new ropeway (that just opened last week!)

BULGARIA (sofia, 2 nights)

what a funtastically fascinating country! there are countless ancient churches, the largest sephardic synagogue in europe, and the nicest shopping mall that i saw in the balkans (because yes, that does matter!). bulgaria is now part of the european union, believe it or not, and they are pouring the money in for things like new freeways. i say "or not" because the smell of corruption still seemed pretty thick in the air (to my relatively uninformed nose, although i would never say something like that unless i actually saw it happening) and there are still way too many elderly people who have to scrounge through the dumpsters looking for food. (by the way, if you're ever trying to get me to give you coins, you're going to have a lot more luck if you're digging through dumpsters than if you're sitting on the sidewalk with your hand out). saw some cool stuff in sofia, got caught in a refreshing rainstorm, shared a room in the "4th best hostel in the world" with some emaciated (and when i say emaciated i mean it was medically scary) party animals from the u.k....

GREECE (again!) (athens, 3 nights)

what a funtastically fascinating country! but now i'm repeating myself. i went to the archeological sights (like the parthenon at the acropolis!), it was really nice. national archeological museum, olympic stadium, greek salads, can't go wrong!


CYPRUS

what a funtastically fascinating country! i know its not in the balkans, but i had a noon - 6 am layover there! the island of cyprus is dominated by the e.u. member state of the same name, but the northern third is a de facto independent state called the turkish republic of northern cyprus (turkey is the only country in the world that recognizes its independence). because cyprus and greece are pretty tight, the "turkish occupation" of the north throws a monkey wrench into the already strained relationship between greece and turkey (indeed, greece's animosity is one big reason that turkey can't seem to get into the european union). we learned all about this stuff when i was on the middle east studies program. anyways, as i was looking at the map as we were landing in larnaca, i realized that it wasn't even too far to north cyprus. i thought "wouldn't it be cool to go there if i could!". found some free internet and discovered that indeed, starting in 2008 it had become possible to cross the u.n. patrolled buffer zone in the divided capital of cyprus, nicosia! found myself a shuttle to nicosia (also known as lefkosia), and a couple of hours after landing i was in north cyprus! and wow, talk about a city divided. from south to north you go from christian to muslim; white people to brown; greek language to turkish; crowds of tourists to abandoned streets; mcdonalds and starbucks to falafel places. i didn't really know what i was looking for, if anything, but i chanced upon this most amazing mosque. they had taken a huge ancient stone cathedral (it had very distinctive western style arches and stained glass windows), and converted it into a mosque by removing all the christian references and building two huge stone minarets on either side. usually mosques are built oriented toward mecca, but of course this one didn't have that orientation initially, so the mihrab (the depression in the wall at the front of the mosque) was carved into a huge chunk of rock that they had to orient diagonally inside the building. clearly i'm pretty nerdy about this stuff, but it was one of the most interesting things i've seen in a long time. and by the way, if you're thinking "what gives those muslims the right," christians have been known to convert mosques into churches as well. so that was my favorite sighting of the day. caught a bus back to larnaca, where there was a beautiful swimming beach and church with the grave of lazarus of biblical fame (who moved to cyprus after he was raised from the dead by Christ), and a 6 am flight to....

ISRAEL, TO START MEDICAL SCHOOL!!!!

balkanology! part 1

i figured i'd post the following synopsis of my recent travels through the balkans, as a few of you might be interested! also so i can come back and be reminded of what i actually did! i tried to put up some pictures too, but its hopeless with this website, so mere words will have to suffice!

my favorite things about the balkans:
-liquid yogurt!
-history!
-cheap! (most places)
-communism and ethnic violence are things of the past!
-liquid yogurt!

GREECE/HELLAS (athens, 1 night)

what a funtastically fascinating country! i flew into athens in the middle of the night. the flight was delayed for 5 hours because the greek air traffic controllers were on strike to protest the government's proposed austerity measures (as you may have heard, the greek government is broke). the metro line from the airport was also down, so i was forced to do something i always try to avoid: take a taxi. i went to the beautiful new acropolis museum and wandered around for the rest of the day. downtown around the parliament was like a war scene due to the recent riots!

ALBANIA/SHQIPERI (tirana, 2 nights)

what a funtastically fascinating country! just before my bus left, the door knob to the restroom i was using fell off, locking me inside. luckily, someone eventually heard my incessant pounding and was able to let me out! the night bus ride to tirana was delayed for 4 hours at the greece/albania border because evidently someone was trying to smuggle in something illicit, which the customs guy found by literally cutting open the suitcase with a knife. this precipitated an all-bus pushing and shouting match with the customs guy! eventually we were able to get back on the road and, after loosing a few suitcases out the side of the bus after taking a hairpin curve a little too fast, arrived in tirana! albania has seen some tough times. they were under the control of a communist dictator named enver hoxha for most of the last half of the century, and then, swinging the other way, experienced a nasty bout of anarchy in 1997. the biggest pastime in tirana is partaking in "bar kafe" culture, in which one sits at a bar kafe and drinks expresso and hard liquor all day. they love their alcohol, starting with beer for breakfast! indeed, it was surprisingly difficult to find food amidst all the establishments specializing in alcohol. also - and i'm not kidding - there must be more casinos in tirana than there are in las vegas! the only difference is that tirana casinos are only about 10 square feet and have 1 slot machine. and albania loves america - to the extent that they named a main street in tirana after george w. bush. i stayed at this nice little imaginatively named hostel called hostel albania, which is run by a german local celebrity dj named claas. went to a tiny mosque in the main square which, due to its beauty, is apparently is one of the only religious buildings in the country to have survived hoxha's tenure. also, found a statue of mother teresa at tirana university (she was ethnically albanian!), went to the revolving top of the skytower for a nice view of the city, saw a nice albanian themed photography exhibition at the national art gallery, and climbed the hoxha pyramid - a huge pyramidal edifice built by hoxha's son to commemorate him, then turned into a nightclub called the mummy, and now abandoned and covered in anarchist graffiti. perhaps the scariest moment of the trip was getting to the top of the pyramid and realizing that i had go down the same way i came up, as it was 45 degree cement all the way to the bottom! took a minibus called a furgon to a city called shkoder, and then, while fighting off dozens of taxi drivers fighting for my attention, boarded an unmarked bus that a police officer who didn't speak english told me was heading for...


MONTENEGRO/CRNA GORA (budva, 1 night)

what a funtastically fascinating country! unbelievable natural beauty, with these lush forested mountains dropping off into the adriatic sea! also, a lot more civilized (and expensive) than albania. the bus took me to a nice seaside town called ulcinj, from where i caught another to budva. i decided to stay there merely because it was on the way - little did i know that budva happens to be to russia what cancun is to north america! so much burning russian skin. tourism is basically the entirety of montenegro's economy. there was a nice long (rocky) beach in budva, and a very picturesque walled old town. also nearby was this amazingly beautiful islet called sveti stefan - google image it! montenegro only split from serbia in 2006. also, unlike most of the other countries in the region, there isn't really a montenegrin ethnicity. thus, everyone in montenegro is first a serb, albanian, bosnian, etc. took a bus to the town of kotor, which is another beautiful walled town (they built the walls up the side of a cliff so it would be super-defensible! and the place even used to have its own navy), and then around this huge, extremely beautiful awkwardly shaped bay of kotor and into...

CROATIA/HRVATSKA (dubrovnik, 2 nights)

what a funtastically fascinating country! crazy expensive though, especially where i went, the red-roofed old city of dubrovnik. dubrovnik is the most successful and affluent city in croatia today (due to tourism), just as it was during the middle ages (due to maritime trade - it was a powerful city state that had a formidable navy and rivaled venice for supremacy in the adriatic). i had booked some place and thought it was a hostel, but nay, it was a room in a family's house! that was cool, and they even let me use their washing machine. i went around the top of the city walls, which is the thing to do there, and went to a few tiny museums, and otherwise just wandered the narrow pedestrian-only streets of the old city. a highlight might have been this little war photo exhibition about when the city was under siege by the serbian army in 1991. then took a bus to...

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA (sarajevo, 4 nights)

what a funtastically fascinating country! although something i didn't know: its not even really a unified country. it is composed of 2 completely autonomous entities: the muslim dominated federation of bosnia and herzegovina, of which sarajevo is the capital, and the serb dominated republika srpska. the army of the latter had the city of sarajevo under seige for 4 years in the early 90s, in what was the worst conflict during the breakup of the former yugoslavia. i went to a little museum that had a remnant of a tunnel under the airport that supplied sarajevo with provisions during the siege. that war was between the orthodox serbs and an alliance of the catholic croats and the muslim bosniaks. i learned that although the wars of the 90s were between religious groups, the animosities had much more to do with ethnicity than religion. also, the bosnians, croats, serbs etc. all have their "own" languages, but they are all mutually intelligible. so are they really that different after all? anyway, there are 2 types of buildings in sarajevo: those that existed before the early 90s, which are are invariably riddled with bullet holes, and those that have been built since then, including, much to my appreciation, many modern shopping malls! outside one of these one night was a huge free concert by a bosnian rock star! despite all the hostilities, sarajevo has a tremendous history of religious tolerance. in one block, for example, there are catholic and orthodox churches, mosques, and a synagogue. there is also a bridge, called the latin bridge, on which the archduke of austria-hungary franz ferdinand was assassinated, precipitating world war I, as well as the more recent formation of a rock band named after him. sarajevo also hosted the winter olympics in 1984. i explored some of the many cemeteries filled with countless white arabic-inscribed gravestones from the early 90s :( , went to a sweet indoor/outdoor swimming pool complex with the most powerful hot tub jets imaginable, ate lots of dirt cheap balkan ice cream (which really does taste better than anywhere else, apparently its because they use fresh, local unpasteurized cream!), and got a view from the top of the futuristic, brand new and epically tall (especially for the balkans) avaz twist tower! on day 3 in sarajevo i experienced my first speed bump, as there wasn't supposed to be a day 3 in sarajevo. i purchased a train ticket to belgrade, and they told me to go to a track at the train station. some unmarked train showed up at the correct time, so i got on, but soon realized it wasn't the right one. everybody yelling at me in who knows what language. by the time i got off, the correct train had come and gone on another track. and because bosnia and serbia hate each other, there is only one train and one bus a day, so i gave up on the train and bought a bus ticket for the next morning. luckily the guy named jan at the awesome hostel (very much nice guy; place), let me stay another night even though they were really busy. he said "dude, your crazy try taking train, man. all trains balkans suck so bad, bro". he also ranted a bit about how it is common for people in the republika srpska to believe that the horrific atrocities against muslims during the war in places like srebenica didn't actually happen and are merely anti-serb conspiracy theories. in the morning i unfortunately set the alarm for 5:45am instead of 4:45, so i missed the bus as well. so i ended up taking the train after all. it was sort of like i expected a balkan train to be: extremely hot inside (if there's ever a next time remind me to bring a lot more water) and very pleasant views outside!. after the fact i learned that the train route actually only started up again in 2009 (much to international media acclaim) as more of a political statement of "moving on" from the war than out of traveler demand.

SERBIA (belgrade, 2 nights)

what a funtastically fascinating country! belgrade is a big, graffiti-filled city that never sleeps. it also seemingly has more than its fair share of gothic, over-tattooed young people who subsist off death metal and cocaine. it was also more than 40 degrees C when i was there (as well as everywhere else for the rest of the trip as well). because i showed up a day late, the nice hostel i booked (which was playing the most recent arcade fire album in the restroom and had lockable lockers) had cancelled my reservation because it was the busiest night of the year (because the infamous exit festival, one of the largest music festivals in the world, had just let out in the next town over). did you know that belgrade is the #1 rated party destination in all of europe? anyways, ultimately, through a long, unfortunate series of events i ended up at a place called the hostel from hell. actually it was called hostel centar. the owner managed to accost and completely sketch me out on the street before i even got to the place, i don't think they've washed their sheets since the communist era, and, despite my best efforts to be nice, i became the new enemy of an intoxicated homeless serbian man who was sleeping at the base of the ladder that was the only access to the unbearably hot attic where they had me sleeping. other than that though belgrade was great: the city is sprinkled with beautiful serbian orthodox churches that are filled with amazing icons. all except one - the st. sava temple (one of the largest orthodox churches in the world) - which despite being under construction since 1931 is still an empty shell inside. and there was a castle! and i couldn't leave without paying a visit to the largest mall in serbia, the ocse center! took a bus through the beautiful mountains of southern serbia into...

continued in next post... here.