Photos of Székely Land (Romania)

Last month I had the chance to spend a week in a part of Romania that I hadn't previously visited, the Székely Land. This part of Transylvania is much less well known to foreign tourists than the Saxon lands - the only travellers I saw were from Hungary. Although the Székely cities don't have the mediaeval architecture that makes Sibiu and Sighişoara so appealing, the countryside is well worth exploring. In contrast to the sad decline in the number of German speakers living in Transylvania, the Hungarian speakers of the Székely Land are very much still around, and this gives the area a slightly different atmosphere to the rest of Romania.

Photos from my trip can now be seen in the Székely Land Gallery.

New photos of Croatia

Following a recent trip to Croatia, I have significantly expanded the Croatia Photo Galleries. A variety of places that I had not previously visited are included, among them the islands of Korčula, Mljet, Vis, and Šipan. I haven't forgotten about inland Croatia either - there are new photos of Osijek, Imotski, and the Samobor hills.

In the coming months I will be rewriting and expanding the Croatia pages on Balkanology to reflect my most recent experiences there.

More about Mostar and Sarajevo

Over the last few weeks I have expanded and updated the Bosnia section of the site. The Sarajevo page now includes more pointers to outlying sights such as the Jewish Cemetery, Bukovik Mountain, and Bjelasnica. I have also added a note about Stolac to the Mostar page.

Not about the Balkans

Those up you who keep up to date with changes to Balkanology (all three of you) may have noticed that things have been rather quiet on the site recently. That's because I've been concentrating on non-Balkan-related travel plans (yes, I do travel to other parts of the world). Today I start a six-week trip around Chile and Argentina; there will be no updates to the site over that period.

The leaders of Kosovo chose to declare independence without the courtesy of asking me if the timing would fit with my plans, so any out-of-date references to Kosovo on the site will just have to stay there until I come home. Please don't write to point them out!

Normal service on Balkanology will resume later in the year.

New photos of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Earlier this month I paid a quick return visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Although my original plans were hampered somewhat by the unexpected arrival of winter in the first week of September, I did manage to visit a few places I hadn't seen before, including the highland village of Lukomir near Sarajevo, and the Radimlja Necropolis near Stolac. I also spent some time exploring the lovely (and very accessible) Bukovik Mountain area north of Sarajevo, walking from Skakavac Waterfall over Bukovik summit and right down to the centre of the city in one day.

Photos of all of these places, as well as some fresh pictures of old favourites Sarajevo and Mostar, are now in the Bosnia Galleries.

In the next few weeks I will be updating the Bosnia section of Balkanology to reflect the changes I noticed in my most recent visit.

Bigger, better, more up to date Macedonia guide

Following my trip in May, I have finally got around to updating the Macedonia pages in Balkanology. You'll find a new guide to Skopje and its very interesting surroundings, including Matka Lake and Tetovo. There is also a page about the Pelagonia, covering Bitola, Prilep, and Krushevo. And the Lake Ohrid page has been expanded to cover more excursions around the lake, such as Struga, Vevčani, and Galičica National Park.

New photos of Macedonia

I spent a few very enjoyable weeks in May travelling around Macedonia. As on previous visits, I was struck by how few foreign tourists find their way to the heart of the Balkans. I came across a handful of foreigners in Ohrid and Skopje, and a few Serbian and Bulgarian coach parties in other places, but apart from that Macedonia appears to be just as undiscovered as it was when I first visited a few years ago. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, as Macedonia is rarely promoted abroad. For example, I have found more articles in UK newspapers about tourism in Albania and Bosnia than Macedonia.

The weather has been rather unkind to me on previous trips to Macedonia, and I had to battle with the elements this time too. After some glorious sunshine in Skopje and Ohrid, which at last allowed me to take some photos with blue skies and sunshine, it was back to clouds and rain for much of the rest of my trip.

I have now finished uploading photos from the trip to my Macedonia Photo Gallery. Over the next few weeks I will be extensively revising the Balkanology pages about Macedonia.

Plans for 2007: Macedonia and more

There won't be much activity on Balkanology in April or May, as I will be concentrating on actually travelling instead of writing about travel. But don't worry, I haven't given up on the site, far from it: there will be plenty of new additions to the site over the summer months.

I will be visiting Macedonia in May and hope to expand my coverage of that country. Hopefully the weather will be better than it was for my two previous short visits - this time round I'd like to spend less time dodging torrential rainstorms and more time taking photos.

Later in 2007 I also hope to add some suggested itineraries for people wishing to take in several Balkan countries in a single trip, and more information about flights to the Balkans from the UK and Ireland.

At last ... Belgrade gets its own page

Due to Belgrade's key location within the transport network of Southeast Europe, I've passed through the city on a number of occasions in my wanderings around the region. I'm always pleased to arrive there, and sorry to leave: Serbia's capital may not be a conventionally beautiful city, but it is one of only a handful of Balkan cities to offer a truly urban experience.

Not before time, I have finally got around to creating a Belgrade page on Balkanology. I've also expanded the Vojvodina page to include a number of places that I visited last autumn.

By popular demand: How to Travel from Croatia to Greece

Balkanology has been up and running for about a year now, so I've been able to get a fairly good idea of the kind of thing that most visitors to the site are interested in. There isn't much doubt about the most popular topic: how to travel from Croatia to Greece (and vice versa). This conundrum of Balkan transport clearly troubles a surprising number of people.

Originally my attempt to answer this question was confined to a few paragraphs within the Croatia FAQ. In response to the level of interest, I have now created a completely new page to tell you everything you ever wanted to know about travelling from Croatia to Greece but were afraid to ask. Whether you prefer ferries or flights, buses or trains, I hope you will find a route that suits you.

To be honest, I have mixed feelings about all this. In creating this site I was trying to show that the other Balkan countries, the ones that don't appear so often in glossy travel supplements, are just as much worth visiting as Croatia and Greece. So it's a little ironic that so many people seem to want to find out how to zip through the heart of the Balkans as quickly as possible. I hope that just a few people who read the new page will be encourage to slow down on their way through the Balkans, and get to known some of the in-between bits.

More about Durmitor

I've already mentioned in this blog that my visit last August to northern Montenegro's Durmitor region made a deep impression on me. Not only is there wonderful scenery in the Durmitor Mountains and Tara Canyon, but that scenery is surprisingly accessible on straightforward one-day hikes. You can read more in the latest addition to Balkanology: a new page dedicated to Durmitor National Park.

Serbia in Pictures

Over the last week I have continued to edit and upload photos from my most recent trip to the Balkans. I already had quite a few photos of Serbia online, but my Serbia galleries now have many pictures of locations I hadn't visited before, and improved ones (or so I like to think) of some old favourites.

New photos of Montenegro

I have been busy expanding my Montenegro Galleries with photos taken on my most recent visit in September.

Most of the new photos are from Durmitor National Park in the mountains of northern Montenegro. This is one of the most impressive places I have seen on my travels. The wonderful hiking trails were almost deserted in early September, apart from a few Czech and Polish visitors. Although the mountains appear rather jagged and forbidding at first glance, many of them have relatively smooth slopes on one side. Combined with the high altitude of the resort of Žabljak, this means that it is possible to get to many of the higher peaks in a few hours of surprisingly easy walking. Of course this was in September when there is no snow cover. I had 5 days of clear weather, which apparently is freakishly lucky. (I paid for this luck when I visited Bohinj in Slovenia later in my trip - it rained for three days).

As well as Durmitor, there are also some new photos of Kotor, Ulcinj, and Stari Bar. It was nice to be actually able to get into Stari Bar - on a previous off-season visit I found the place locked.

At last... photos of Albania

The absence of any photos from Albania has been a gaping hole in my Balkan photo collection for quite a while now. But today that gap has been filled: pictures from my visit to Albania in August are now online.

It was extremely hot in August, often too hot walk around carrying my favourite SLR camera, which was a little frustrating - and sometimes too hot to walk around at all. But the photos I did get will have to do for now.

Next in line is Montenegro - I'll soon have a gallery from the awe-inspiring Durmitor National Park, as well as new pictures from Stari Bar and the Bay of Kotor.

Back from the Balkans

It's been a long time since my last post, but normal service is about to be resumed. I have just returned from another extended trip to the Balkans. Over the next few months there will be extensive changes to Balkanology to reflect my experiences on this trip. At the moment I am working on my first gallery of photos from Albania.

On the way to Albania... and beyond

Over the last few days my plans for another extended trip around the Balkans have started to come together. This time I will be concentrating on the Western Balkans. Next week I will finally visit Albania, the one country in the region that I haven't yet seen. In September I will continue to Montenegro, Serbia, and possibly Macedonia.

Once I return home in October I will get busy uploading new photos and updating Balkanology with proper coverage of Albania (at last) and of whichever other areas I get to visit. In the meantime, though, there won't be any updates to the site.

Treasures of Transylvania

Transylvania is one of my favourite corners of Europe, but until now I hadn't got around to writing much about it for Balkanology. I've put that right with two new pages, one about Brasov and the surrounding area, the other about Sibiu, Cluj, and Sighisoara.

Thinking about Thessaloniki, musing about Meteora

Following a visit to Greece earlier this year, I have expanded the Greece section of Balkanology. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I was particularly impressed by Thessaloniki, which now has a page of its own. I've also added pages about the Province of Macedonia and the monasteries of Meteora.

New photos of Greece

Thessaloniki

Kavala

In March I spent 12 days travelling in mainland Greece, from Athens to Thessaloniki with stops in Meteora and Mount Pelion. I've now added photos from that trip to my Greece Galleries.

As a travel destination, Greece is often talked about in the context of the Mediterranean world, but for me part of its fascination lies in its links to its Balkan neighbours - well, what did you expect in a blog called Balkanology? These are especially obvious in the province of Macedonia. The Varosi quarter of Edessa and the Barbouta district of Veria have some great examples of Ottoman-era architecture, although sadly some of it is gradually rotting away.

This was my second visit to Thessaloniki and I was even more impressed than on my first visit. In a way it feels like a Southern Balkan counterpart to Belgrade in the north. Like many large cities in the Balkans, it doesn't immediately impress the visitor with its beauty, initially appearing as a collection of bland modern buildings. But you can spend several enjoyable days seeking out the surviving traces of its complex history - Ottoman and Jewish as well as Byzantine.

My enjoyment of Thessaloniki was greatly enhanced by Mark Mazower's Salonika, a fascinating account of the various communities that thrived in the city for hundreds of years, but failed (except for the Greeks) to survive the 20th century. If you want to know why the New Mosque is decorated with Stars of David, or find the villa where a deposed Sultan once lived, I recommend this book.

Kalambaka

Pelion

An Introduction to the Balkanology Blog

It seems like everyone who has a web site these days feels the need to have a blog as well. I was always a sucker for peer pressure, so I am no exception. I will be using this blog to keep you informed of additions to Balkanology. I'll also mention items of travel news relevant to the Balkans as they come to my attention.