I spent a few nights in Abu Dhabi with a friend and his very hospitable and generous family. In preparation and while there I learned a lot about the UAE and the region. I had never been anywhere near here before, and I flew over most of the height and width of Iran from Azerbaijan […]
Read More Oil be honest, the UAE surprised meI was blown away by Baku, figuratively and literally, and it sometimes wasn’t good, and I don’t plan to ever return. Azerbaijan is ranked as the most corrupt country in Europe, and after being compelled to pay my first-ever bribe to a police officer, I would believe it. But at the same time, I’m glad […]
Read More From Baku with PlovAfter finishing up my time in Romania, I flew Moldovan airline HiSky from Bucharest to Chișinău, the capital and largest city of Moldova. Moldovan airline FlyOne returned me to Prague. Who would have thought that Moldova would have multiple low-cost airlines?! A tour guide told us that flight traffic to/from Moldova has increased markedly since […]
Read More Kiss Me Now, Chisinau (and Transnistria)Friend (?) of the blog Vlad the Impaler founded Bucharest in the mid-1400s, so it’s a relatively young city in this region of the world. Its population is over 2 million, and despite still recovering from WWII and decades of crushing communist policies and neglect, it’s now quickly regaining ground. It’s even ranked as one […]
Read More Bucharest, not BudapestI was surprised to learn that the main tourist hotspot cities in Romania’s Transylvania are historically German: Brașov, Sighișoara, and Sibiu. The Transylvanian Saxons dominated the region after merchants and craftsmen from today’s Luxembourg, Belgium, and Germany were invited by the Hungarian leadership in the 1100s to establish towns and trade in the region and […]
Read More Staking out TransylvaniaCoincidentally, Dan Brown’s latest book, The Secret of Secrets, just released this month, is based in Prague. I bought an English language copy (surprisingly, it was less expensive than the Czech language version) and read it in five days, in time to finish it before a big book tour event held in Prague. I didn’t […]
Read More Dan Brown in TownTwo of the most interesting destinations on this two-week trip were definitely Gjirokastër, in Albania, and Corfu, in Greece. I loved it in Gjirokastër, and wish I had stayed for a night or two, instead of just visiting for a few hours. It has tons of good ingredients, like a giant castle, an old Ottoman […]
Read More Gjirokastër and CorfuToday’s focus is on photos captured in Albania and Kosovo. I took a day trip from Tirana to Kosovo (to its two largest cities of Prizren and Pristina), Europe’s youngest country, but one currently recognized by only about half of the United Nations members. Many nations such as Russia and Spain can’t stomach acknowledging a […]
Read More Two Lands, One LensThe most unique (and somewhat frightening) place I’ve explored in Albania so far was King Zog’s former villa in Durrës. It was worth visiting Durrës for this attraction alone, despite it not even being on my original list of places to see while there. The archaeological museum in Durrës was closed for renovations (as was […]
Read More King Zog’s Villa and Skanderbeg’s BustAlbanian Bunkers: Paranoid former Albanian leader Hoxha, whom you learned about in the previous post, ordered the construction of 750,000 defensive bunkers to be scattered across the country, particularly in the low-lying areas, of which over 170,000 were built by the time of his death. “Starting in 1967 and continuing until 1986, the Albanian government […]
Read More Albanian Bunkers and North Macedonian Lake
Major Meander 