Sarajevo: nuestra amor!

Sarajevo was definitely one of the peaks of the trip for us. I had just a few days left for my return flight to Istanbul from Belgrade when we arrived to Sarajevo, but because everything had worked so well before, I decided to postpone my ticket, which was a fortunate decision otherwise I might have missed a lot. So Sarajevo also became the city where me and also Dorota prolonged the trip, allowing us to see Albania as well. 

As before the emphasis will be on people not the buildings or sights, in this case more so since our Sarajevo is the city of Tijana and Lelo. But let's return to the point where we left off.

Mostar: A good start for the amazing Bosnia!

From Croatia to Mostar

As soon as we got into car, I knew that this was going to be something amazing. There is a great group of hyperactive people who can talk for hours in a fast way and still manage not to bore you and from the very first second I was sure that Tijana belonged to that group. She studied in an American school in Sarajevo if I remember correctly and because of that can speak English very fluently; but no, it wasn’t a thing of language, it’s more about her personality.

The rough route of the Balkan travel

Here follows a rough route of the travel, the part spent with Dorota only. 

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How to enjoy tea like real tea addicts, or in other words Turks? An instruction manual for someone who just got a tea set from Turkey

Well you just got a traditional tea set (made of copper in this special case but could be porcelain or steel etc.) from Turkey and now ask yourself "How am I going to use it?" Let's see first what you should have:

Youporn out, Du-porn in! Three days through Dalmatia...

How would you think of a rich Russian businessman? Probably as shown in many Hollywood movies; riding a luxurious car, speaking English with the famous Russian accent and having a bad-tempered wife. Well that’s exactly what we have experienced in the black Mercedes at the border of Croatia.

Introducing some great poetry from Turkey part 2: Selected Poems

For further reading again go to that wonderful website, Turkish Poetry in Translation. Here follows some chosen poems from that collection with brief comments of mine...It will be followed by a further part with different poets. My love for Dağlarca is clearly felt in this first part, most poems are his but I hope you will also find them masterful as I do.

Introducing some great poetry from Turkey part 1: A Brief History

I had a long break since my last entry but will of course continue with my travel story later on. However today I felt like introducing my dear foreign readers to Turkish poetry.Yesterday, while reading the great Russian poet Sergey Yesenin unfortunately not in his own language but in English, my belief in powers of translation gained strength and I wondered how our ingenious poets would sound like in English. The results are really amazing, and even my countrymen can get a different  taste in them. I always thought that in terms of poetry Turkish literature can compete with the best of the best in the world and I hope my foreign friends will think the same after reading some of the poems I will introduce. I'm really thankful to Sibel Adalı, a Turkish academician living in New York, who has prepared a website with a really good amount of Turkish poems translated in English. All the translations are taken from her website and if you want to read more just go to her website: Turkish Poetry in Translation

In a strange land called Crna Gora I found my travelmate Dorota

Bar, Budva, Gin and Vodka!

So I met a Lithuanian guy and a Polish girl on a sunny and hot day of August. Dorota was definitely not the girl in the profile picture; in reality she looked very different; in a positive way of course. The other girl, the other Dorota seemed a little bit more innocent, which you can read as less colorful so I was pleasantly surprised to find a more cheerful and entertaining travelmate than expected. Of course the shiny and bright picture of Dorota will be clearer as we move on with the story, so let’s try to sketch Eduardas, the Lithuanian a little bit.

Five lazy days in Temerin and Novi Sad

We arrived to Novi Sad in the afternoon. For me the names of many ex-Yugoslavian cities are very familiar, mainly due to the tournaments mentioned in the chess books I have read in the toilet but also it is the second biggest city of Serbia, so it’s quite normal that I had a feeling about the city before I went there. People from Europe, like my travel mate Dorota, generally come to the city for the famous Exit Festival, a big festival of electronic music, however it was already over when we were there.Too bad since I like Portishead, well maybe next year. 

Ich bin ein Belgrader or ja sam u Beogradu: A summary

How I met Nevena?

Yes last time I was left alone in the plane, maybe trying to read “The Lighthouse” by Virginia Woolf to keep myself busy, a book which I could not finish due to some bad translation... Let’s not talk about the ultra-delicious micro-sandwich and juice of JAT Airways. However the flight taught me an important lesson which none of my professors had been able to teach me till then: I finally understood why we have been learning all those courses like vibration course, you don’t want your organs shake like a belly-dancer inside. I think Boeing should have made some bad choices in the past by employing engineers like me who passed the vibration course with the lowest grade possible.

Begin the Beguine

It’s been always hard for me to keep a travel diary and my trip around Balkans wasn’t an exception. But this time I have decided on writing at least a summary of my travel due to two reasons; main reason being to share my experiences with all the great people I have met during my trip  and showing my gratitude to all of them – that’s why I’m writing in English- ;  and the second reason is of course that it was a good one, worth recalling again in the future!