A Country in Construction: A Recap

I have had a sympathy for communism for all my life and still I believe in its virtues. As son of an upper-middle class family I'm in a quite privileged position in the society enjoying all the fruits of capitalism but you don't have to be a genius to foresee that capitalism is leading us to an ultimate apocalypse; it's becoming more and more clear that we have to reorganize everything starting from the distribution of resources. Communism seems to be the only real alternative, together with anarchism which doesn't seem very practical, but it has to be rediscovered and reinvented. The so called "communism" in 20th century failed terribly so in the end all the practical experiments damaged the ideals of communism so much that nowadays it has seized as being an alternative, which also meant a world order with no real opposition. One of those leaders who caused this damage was definitely the Albanian leader Enver Hoxha. Traveling through Albania will also make you reach to the same conclusion as me and hopefully reading my travelogue will have the same effect as well.

Polaku polaku to Canyon Tara and then Albania!

Well after a long break due to a project it's time to finish my travelogue. Let's start from where we left off. We were in Sarajevo, ready for another trip but didn't exactly know where.

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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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.

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!