Europe

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Hearing it from the locals

I took the 0900 bus back to Sarajevo which got me in at 1130. I had a brief rest before starting my tour from the Tourist Information Centre to the Tunnel of Life. As Sarajevo was largely surrounded by the Serb forces, then tunnel under the airport runway allowed food and supplies to be brought […]

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Sniper tower

I had planned to make an excursion today to a nice town called Blagaj or the waterfalls at Kravice. I couldn’t decide and neither could the others that I had invited. It started raining around 0900; it came down in big globules like in the tropics. There were several breaks which were nearly sufficient for […]

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Mostar revisited

I went to Mostar 11 years ago when the old stone bridge destroyed during the war hadn’t been rebuilt yet. There was a wooden one in its place. I wanted to seem how things have progressed and whether the rift between the Muslim and Croat side had healed. The bus left Sarajevo at 1130 and […]

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Jerusalem of Europe

Today I do begin a side-trip to Bosnia & Herzegovina.  I had went to Herzegovina in 2002 and other parts of the Balkans during several other trips.  It is a rather expensive place to get to from Europe by flight due to limited options.  But from Istanbul, I managed to prebook great fares on Pegasus […]

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Washout in Salzburg

I had to wake up at 0340 for a 0400 pickup, in time for an 0600 flight from Nene Tereza airport in Tirana, to Munich. But my subconscious kicked in too effectively and woke me at 0230. Upon arrival in Munich at 0750I had a short wait before taking the train to Salzburg across the […]

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Up high and around

We had a day for some sort of day-trip from Tirana.  None of the options appealed so we settled for a roam around town followed by cablecar ride up Mount Dajti. While we didn’t really want to do that, the next option was to just do nothing in the room.  

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Back to the Big Smoke

Travelling back We woke early for the 0745 direct bus to Tirana.  When a bus pulled up at 0720, the driver said “Tirana” and “directo” … so we boarded.  Strangely, none of the markings on the bus said “Tirana”. Sure enough, when we reached Vlore, he instructed us to change to another bus.  It was […]

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Day at the beach

From our dorm at summer school, Jale beach is about 45 minutes away but we didn’t go there. Supposedly it has restaurants and is quite well patronised. We’ve been told that if you walk right or left from Jale, you’ll get isolated spots to yourself. Instead, our host Ben drove us (about 10 minutes by […]

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Summer school in Albania

We travelled from Berat to Vlore (2.5h) to connect on to Vuno (1.5h), where we stayed in its local school.  The school (Shkolla Vuno) is closed for summer (or in the last couple of years for the whole year due to lack of kids), when it is converted into airbed dorms. It is run by the […]

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Visiting the citadel

Today we climbed up to the Kala or citadel above Berat. It was a hot but nice little outing. We had a traditional Berati meal up in the village in the citadel. As with the rest of Albania, there isn’t too much of “Wow” sites which allows one to relax, people-watch and appreciate the subtleties […]

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