Istanbul is a very lively and, at times, chaotic city, especially in summer.
It has a mix of new and old, which makes it very interesting to visit and walk around. In fact, the city of Istanbul, historically known as Byzantium and Constantinopolis, was created around 667 BC (the legends say) and has a very long past which has left traces scattered around the different parts of the city.
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photography
The bus to Istanbul almost felt like being on an airplane: hostesses, a screen for each passenger, treats and snacks included. That one was definitely the best bus I have ever been on.
Once we arrived in Istanbul, we headed to the Asian side (Istanbul is in 2 continents: one part in Europe and another in Asia), where a good friend of mine was waiting for us.
After a short break, we directly went to the center. At the time, there was the ‘Asırlık Tatlar ve Sanatlar Çarşısı’, which in English translates to: ‘Centuries-Old Tastes and Arts Bazaar’.
Lollipop maker
It was a one-street market where people would show traditional arts and foods (as the name suggests).
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The sunny and warm city of Sofia was a very nice change of atmosphere, it felt much less like the other Balkan countries we visited both from the architecture and the food. I found it to be some sort of mid-way between the Crotian/Bosnian/Serbian dishes and the Greek/Turkish ones.
Marching band resting in the shade
Even its history is quite peculiar as Bulgaria, according to our guide, tried to stay out of World War II (even being occupied by the Germans, they succeeded in saving Bulgarian Jews from being sent to Nazi concentration camps) and was not part of Yugoslavia.
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In Serbia, as well as Bulgaria, the Cyrillic alphabet is used in their language; not knowing this, it was an interesting experience being surrounded by a totally unexpected and a somewhat new set of characters, right off the bus.
The Cyrillic letters (commonly and mistakenly referred to as just the Russian alphabet) have mostly a 1-to-1 relation to the Latin ones, making it a fun game to guess what it’s written on street signs given the context (once every character is translated, it’s not too complicated to guess the meaning of a word). The first sign I started translating was an obvious ‘тоалет’, right next to the toilet stalls, giving me a good base for guessing more words around the town.
Even with just a bit longer than a day in Belgrade, our Coushsurfing hosts (a very nice and active couple who traveled all around the world) managed to give us a glimpse of the local life: making us taste their homemade liquor, bringing us to a party (the guy played in a band) and showing us Belgrade from the Sava river on their boat.
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The arrival in Sarajevo turned out to be quite an adventure: in the middle of a rainstorm, in a cab with a very brave/wild/crazy driver who, after about 40 minutes of U-turns, unexpected change of lanes and getting out of the car to ask for directions, finally reached our destination. He was a nice guy and we did our best to communicate with some mix of English and Croatian, but perhaps not the best ride.
Here I got a massive, great watermelon. This started my ‘watermelon hunt’, which lasted throughout the whole trip.
I found the town of Sarajevo to have many faces: the more modern and high-end part of the town in the city center, with beautiful and new buildings unexpectedly appearing along the street, the historical old town, and the rest, where the buildings still retain metallic mementos of a war gone, not so long ago (read also: Sarajevo Roses.)
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Arriving in Mostar, I was rather surprised as I had not looked up much about the town. The part of the town around the old city is quite different, with many buildings in a state of abandonment and disrepair. Their empty shells showed me the consequences of war and made me understand how perhaps other less popular places in Bosnia ed Herzegovina look. In some parts of town, the contrast between tourist spots and war-torn buildings was very evident.
Gimnazija “Aleksa Šantić” in Mostar
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The trip started with a 13-hour long overnight bus ride from Trieste to Dubrovnik:
totally devastating.
Right from the first foot off the bus, the familiar sight and weather gave me a sense of excitement and happiness. It was definitely nice to be back!
The following days went by very quickly, visiting old and new spots around the city of Dubrovnik and enjoying a sea we wouldn’t be able to enjoy for another month.
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Hello!
Travelling is just great but, as most things, it requires time; this is why I find summer a great period for doing long trips.
This summer, I decided to properly visit the Balkans, starting from Croatia, and going to Turkey and Greece; the idea first came from my girlfriend who suggested to do Workaway and Couchsurfing while travelling. It took us quite a bit of planning, coming up with new destinations and usually realizing how unlikely they were, given the amount of time available (one plan had us reach even Cyprus).
At the end, we managed to get a good idea of the destinations, some couchsurfing hosts and a workaway opportunity in Albania.
Our itinerary is the following:
- Dubrovnik, Croatia
- Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Sarajevo, Bosnia abd Herzegovina
- Belgrade, Serbia
- Sofia, Bulgaria
- Istanbul, Turkey
- Thessaloniki, Greece
- Tirana, Albania
- Shkodër, Albania
- Durrës, Albania
This series of posts will follow our steps and try to show the beauty of South-Eastern Europe.
As we will be on the road for quite a while, the photos will be uploaded later.
If you happen to be in one of these places in July, feel free to let me know! 🙂
Stay pressed!
/Nesh
This post is the seventh in a set of publications which will describe the last trip I did in East Africa, back in August, leading me to Zanzibar and back again.
In my last day in Zanzibar, I had the chance to choose among several available tours: from properly visiting the east side of the island to even swim with dolphins, but I decided to visit Jozani Chwaka Bay National Park, a great place to see monkeys and walk in the woods.
Baby red colobus
Once I arrived at the park, I was assigned a friendly guide who introduced me to the park and the animals there. I was the only one in that time slot, so we had the freedom stop in some parts I found more interesting.
On the way to the first area, he told me that there are 2 types of monkeys at the park: the more common and friendly Zanzibar red colobus and the Zanzibar Sykes’ monkeys, more shy and harder to see.
Zanzibar (blue) Sykes’ monkey
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This post is the sixth in a set of publications which will describe the last trip I did in East Africa, back in August, leading me to Zanzibar and back again.
Walking around the streets of the Stone Town of Zanzibar is not unusual to see people of all ages spending the warm afternoon playing board games.
In East Africa, the game of Bao is a common form of entertainment.
Before starting to write this blog, I wanted to research on this game to know something more and I found out that in Zanzibar there are actually two version of this game: one is called Bao la kiswahili (“Swahili Board Game”) and the other, a simplified version, is called Bao la kujifunza (“Bao for beginners”).
Other than seeing the locals playing a new game, I was interested in the skill they showed. Some of them could, with a single hand movement, consistently put three kete‘s (the stones) into three different pits!
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