Sofia sits in a mountain valley roughly in the center of the Balkan Peninsula. Most of the population live in the city making it feel gigantic. Certainly it has some of everything.  There are bigger than life old gray communist buildings.   Areas of crumble and poverty. But everywhere signs of rapid recovery from their troubled impoverished past. New shops, storefronts, restored buildings.  A new subway system.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the morning fog the old communist center can look like a gothic dream.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is an old city.  Neolithic settlements are here from 7000BC.  But its real history begins as a Thracian settlement from around 1400BC.  Later an important Roman city and the home of the Emperor Constantine. The old Roman main street still runs just outside (and probably under) my hotel.

 

 

 

 

There is a large and vibrant downtown and pedestrian only area, with lots of comparatively well-dressed people enjoying the ambiance, the bars and eateries and their friends.  Most of the restaurants in the pedestrian area itself are touristy Italian type places and the street smells like hot pizza cheese and cigarettes. But in the blocks nearby I found plenty of real and interesting restaurants.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are some pictures of a few of many fine downtown buildings.

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As you go outside the city center there is a large ring of terrible soviet style mid-rise apartment blocks. But then you reach the suburbs where I believe the story of Sofia today is being written.  Big shining new office buildings.  Shopping centers.  This is where the new investment is landing.  And it is all automobile centered, right down to the MacDonald drive-through restaurants. And of course many glittering auto showrooms.

 

Plovdiv

This city had many names over the centuries.  It is reckoned by some measure I do not know to be the oldest city in Europe.  Anyway, my favorite is Philippopolis:  seat of King Phillip, Father of Alexander the Great.

It was founded by the Thracians as a trading post for trade with the Hellenes.  Passing to the Celts, Macedonians, Romans, Turks, etc.  It was flattened at least twice, and there are ruins everywhere, many just lying around in the open unmarked.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The most comprehensive are those of the Roman city. Even though only a small part of the city has been excavated there are the remains of public buildings, baths, a stadium. And of interest to an old engineer: an ancient water system, and sewers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today the old town has been beautifully restored with a large pedestrian only center, making it a pleasure to explore.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Thracians

This area of the world was the center of the Thracian civilization, some of the earliest of European peoples.  The little we know about them we mostly know through the written records of the Greeks. In the Iliad they are described as allies of the Trojans. And the Romans, who conquered them early in the first century.

But the excellent History museum here in Sofia has an exhibition of Thracian artefacts that is very interesting.

Apparently they moved south into this area in the early bronze age around 1500BC. They were often described as barbarians, perhaps because they distained living in cities and had a tribal civilization comprised of numerous small villages.  They were noted for their horsemanship (their main god is always depicted on horseback), metalworking, and music.

There are plentiful metal ores in the Balkans, and the Thracians worked copper here, then bronze. Their bronzes cover a broad range of manufacture from weapons and armor to household goods and ornaments.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Their most famous works were in silver and gold.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And wine. These mysterious people living on the edge of prehistory were often referred to as the masters of winemaking.  It makes me laugh to think that is perhaps why they are still regarded as the forefathers of the local population .. even though so many other groups and peoples subsequently settled here. The local wine region is called Thracian Valley.

 

Travel note.

It has been quite a week here weather-wise.  I arrived and it was 60 degrees, but within a week it was freezing and snowing.  Going to museums was a good strategy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This entire fall I have been mister “two weeks late”  Because everywere I have been I have been told:  “Oh, you should have been here two weeks ago when the weather was wonderful”.

On the bus tomorrow down to Greece.

Travelled by Bus down to Nis from Belgrade.  Pretty easy to negotiate the well organized bus station.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nice motorway all the way.  Through a very agricultural, rolling countryside. Stopped half way at a tidy rest stop.

 

 

 

 

 

I just stopped in NIS to see some more of Serbia, and because I did not want to take a 7 or 8 hour bus ride down into Bulgaria.

Nis sits in a valley with a fast running river through the middle of town.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NIS has the look of a big country town. The occasional tractor or horse drawn wagon comes along the streets. NIS is one of the oldest cities in Europe, and over the centuries has gone back and forth between the east and west. The town was wrested from the Ottoman Empire as recently as the late 1800’s.

One of the top tourist attractions in town is a tower built in the early 1800’s as a “warning” by the Ottomans using the skulls of Serbs who tried an uprising.  I did not go to have a look.

AN old fortress commands a site over the river.  Today it is a city park.  There are various bits and pieces of ruins here, but not much.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I like it that they have converted the old Turkish baths into a night club.

 

 

 

 

 

There is a small pretty nice downtown. But actually I have never seen a place like this. Where there has been some investment there might be a good restaurant, a glittering shopping mall, a good hotel. And there are some of these. But they stand in a sea of poverty, shambles and mess.  

A good restaurant.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A local restaurant.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Irish pub.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Poverty

 

 

 

 

 

One interesting feature of NIS is that the city smells like an ongoing barbecue.   You can see the smoke from this shop.

 

 

 

 

 

This is a Rostilj, a small charcoal grill shop.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And they are everywhere.  They grill up various meats and sell them as sandwiches into the street.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Footnote.  Since you asked, this is what I mean by “crumbling”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here in one photo is the effect of investment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The third world’s cycle of sadness. No investment leads to no tools and no productivity so no wealth creation so no quality of life so no investment.

Heading south into Bulgaria tomorrow.

I was predisposed to like Belgrade by the ease of my arrival.  The Nikola Tesla airport was tidy and efficient. The luggage came quickly and the ATM worked. The taxi desk sent a young fellow who spoke perfect English to walk me to the taxi line and see that I was easily loaded.

We zipped into town on a fine new motorway and arrived to the attractive sight of Christmas lights in the streets and trees and many buildings lit up.

 

 

 

 

 

There are a number of things to like about the downtown.

They have plenty of parking garages, so not all of the sidewalks are  blocked with parked cars. 

There are good sidewalks throughout the downtown.  And there is a very large and busy “pedestrian only” area in the old town where the buildings are in good repair. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are plenty of nice open spaces and parks.

The old Belgrade Castle sits on high ground overlooking the strategic position where the Sava river joins the Danube. Doubly strategic since this is also where the Pannonian plain meets the Balkan mountains. The site has probably been occupied since around 6000 BC.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Romans built the first stone fortifications at the Castle, and some of their working remains can still be seen, like in this gate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Romans held the Castle for four hundred years. The kind of number I like to remind people of .. who believe in the enduring history and legacy of our country. Like everywhere in the Balkans it was fought over and occupied by almost everyone over the succeeding years.

Today the Castle grounds serves as a City park, and joins the “pedestrian only” areas of the old town.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some fine buildings around town.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a very large city with a number of distinct districts.  Close to the old town there are some nice residential areas with the kind of small shops: bread, meat, wine, groceries, fruit, pastries etc. of the kind and size of those you would see in city streets in Italy.

There are countless cafes, coffee bars, pubs and fast food restaurants.  There are plenty of restaurants in the city center but they become less dense farther out. The ones I went to had interesting straightforward food and very good wines. And inexpensive “plenty to eat” sized servings. 

 

 

 

 

They were also pretty smoky. It seems like everyone smokes here.

 Unfortunately as soon as you leave the immediate downtown Belgrade becomes gritty and crumbly. With a huge graffiti problem.  ANd even further from the center dirty, poor and sad.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I very much enjoyed the small but excellent Tesla Museum, where local  Electrical Engineering students explain and demonstrate replicas of his key inventions. I have always been fascinated by Tesla’s life and his amazing contributions to science and our wellbeing.  Here and throughout the Balkans he is a local hero.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Actually it has been a pretty quiet week. Tracking down restaurants. Walking a lot.  

Doing simple things that are mini-adventures when travelling like this. Finding the Bus Station and buying a bus ticket.  Getting a haircut. Finding a laundry. (Got a week’s laundry done for 6 bucks)

There was a cold snap early in the week, but then it warmed up into the 60s.  The doors of the cafe’s and coffee bars are open.

Ready to move on. Tomorrow I take the bus south down the peninsula, to one more stop in Serbia:  Nis.

 

Last fall I visited and very much enjoyed a few smaller towns in Romania. Like Cluj-Napoca and Oradea and Timisoara.  And so I decided to come to the Capital: Bucharest, and have a look.

Bucharest is a very large Eastern European City, struggling to overcome the coma of communism and even further economic injury under the Ceausescu regime. 

Which left them some remarkably grand constructions such as their Parliament, one of the largest buildings in the world.

 

 

 

 

 

A taxi driver told me that it has over 1000 rooms of over 1000 square meters.  And that you can see it from the moon. I doubt the latter.  

And they are still going for grand constructions, at work today building the world’s largest Orthodox Church.

 

 

 

 

 

The city center is already fairly nice, especially all along the Calea Victorie, a street that runs a pretty far distance from the river near the old town all the way up to the Plata Victoria.  Numerous historic buildings have been restored and the area cleaned up and modernized.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The pavement and sidewalks are new, with nice bike lanes.  

 

 

 

 

 

This is where most of the international hotels and upscale shopping is located. As well as new investment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are also perhaps a half dozen museums in this area. And they are worth visiting although there is not much English used in the displays.

 The old town itself is fairly small and has been converted into a continuum of restaurants, bars and night clubs. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The guide books say that the nightlifmle here is very wild.  Being a 9:30 to 6:30 guy I don’t know.  But for sure they stay open late.

 

 

 

 

 

Any time I come to a new city I hope to fall in love. Like my first times in London, Paris, Florence.  Or be fascinated by their history and culture like in Rome, or Edinburgh or Munich.  But Bucharest a

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nd I never hit it off.  Sure I admire the effort being made to improve this city and the progress that has been made.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But the city is still gritty and crumbling. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are very big problems with automobiles, graffiti and the desperately poor.

And it is sad that there is so little here. Whatever was once the city outside of the immediate center has been demolished and replaced with endless blocks of soviet style mid-rise apartment buildings. 

Perhaps a young night-life loving person would really enjoy this city.  The prices are certainly astonishing.  50 cents for a coffee on the street (watch out, 3 dollars in the old town). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How about a 24 cent hot dog?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Splurging with a dollar and 11 cents the Colonel will give you a “Cheesy Booster”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Or one could just eat 60 cent doughnuts and pastries all day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Many of you are familiar with the Economist’s Big Mac Index which they use as a gauge of the comparative Purchasing Power Parity between economies. I have my own gauge. I go into an upscale supermarket and look at the wine prices. Here a cheap bottle of wine is about a buck 50, and what looks like good stuff say 8 to 10 dollars.

I walked two blocks from my hotel and had a week of laundry done “wash and fold” for 6 bucks.  It would have cost me that for two pairs of socks in my hotel.  Where our hypothetical young traveler would not be advised to stay.

A glass of wine in the hotel bar costs 12 dollars.

Anyway, a blue sky morning makes everything better.

 

 

 

I need to point out that this is a very beautiful, interesting and welcoming country to visit. Everyone I have interacted with could not have been more friendly and helpful. I am just sorry for all they have lost .. and wish them the very best.

Scotland.

 

 

 

 

 

I was told that Edinburgh was recently voted the best city for living in the UK.  And a note in my guide book says that there are more restaurants per capita here than any city in the UK. 

Greater Edinburgh has perhaps a million people, but the Old Town area is compact and quite walkable. They call this area the Old Town (ancient) and the New Town (Georgian) but they run together. All of the old town is a Unesco World Heritage site.

 

 

 

 

 

The heart and symbol of the city is the Edinburgh Castle that looms over the city and is visible from almost anywhere.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The castle sits on the top of the remains of a volcanic core, eroded by Glaciers.  Since the Glaciers moved in one direction they left a sloping mound of till on the downdstream side, convenient for a single access to the top.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Scots and the English fought over and around Edinburgh for centuries, but that is another story.  The Castle has been continuously occupied for a thousand years. 

At the bottom of the “Royal Mile”, the road build on the sloping till, is the Scottish Parliament and the Queen’s Palace, where she stays when in town.

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are a number of interesting neighborhoods worth a look:  Grassmarket, Stockbridge, Dean, to name a few.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I once lived for a few years in Manchester in the North of England, which is built almost entirely with red bricks. This city was constructed using cut stone blocks.  There are endless streets of stone buildings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some other subjects from our visit:

 They have a wonderful Botanical Garden

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A number of good (free) museums.

 

 

A 300 year old                    Newcome Steam Engine

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The city is covered with excellent markers and monuments describing historic places and local heros.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Plenty of quiet churches.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Better than the USA, UK zoning preserves areas around cities as green spaces giving plenty of opportunity to walk directly from the City Center.  Here is a fine walk we took from the castle (looking out at Arthur’s seat park) ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

And from Arthur’s seat looking back.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have had a very nice week here. Lots of good food. And the weather has been as cooperative as could be.

Lucky for us, with the current uncertainty around Brexit, the UK, which has been very very expensive for a decade or more is reasonably priced just now.

 

View from our hotel balcony.

 

 

 

 

 

 

CAMarchand is soon winging home,

 

 

 

 

 

and I fly south east into Romania.

 

Have been crossing the Highlands of Scotland, and then hiking in the Cairngorms National Park.  This is the highest area of mountains in the UK, and a mecca for outdoors people. Like CAMarchand.

Even the Royal family love the area with a private retreat at Balmoral.  But today commoners can use their train station.

So, this little blog contains some hiking pictures of the area .. but first some misc. pictures of our travels over the past week.

Another castle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

More Neolithic passage graves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The locks of the Caldedonian Canal at Fort Augustus.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Morning fog filling Loch Ness.

 

 

 

 

 

And Haggis in the Butcher’s shop.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hiking in the Cairngorms.

We used the town of Aviemore as our base.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Settled in a big old Hotel with a fine Lounge Bar and Restaurant.  Even in late October the town is full of hikers and bikers.  The trails are many and over a wide area and vary from flat and easy to rough and steep.

This week it has been quite windy on the tops, but we walked every day without any serious rain (a miracle here).

The Scottish Highlands and the Cairngorms

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Spent most of the week on the Isle of Skye.   Northwest Scotland. Found some fine restaurants but mostly the visit was about tramping along the bountiful hiking trails. 

We made the nice village of Portree our base. 

 

 

 

 

 

Lots of tourists here in October.  I can’t imagine the place in the summer.  Some of the roads here are one lane with passing places.  And there are too many cars on them even now. 

There aren’t many trees on Skye, but the scenery is still spectacular.

 

 

 There are plenty of sheep.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And peat bogs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are some views from the trails.  The spectacular cliffs are on the west coast.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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And here is a bonus picture of a cute country girl.

UnIt is the beginning of the winter travel season, and I have convinced CAMarchand to come along for a few weeks in the Scottish Highlands. Continue reading The Scottish Highlands – 1 →

Sanya is on the southern tip of Hainan Island and the southernmost point in China. It is roughly half way between Hong Kong and Hanoi Vietnam.

This place is promoted as the Hawaii of China.  I suppose the weather is similar.  They have nice beaches, hot sunshine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Palm trees, flowers, fruit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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But this is China.  China is crappy. It used to be crappy everywhere. Now one can find surprisingly beautiful things in China, like tiny islands in a huge sea of crappyness. Sanya city is crappy.  I am staying out at DaHongHai beach area, a mile or so from town and it is OK.

Having said those hard truthful things, let me also say: I love China.  I always feel genuinely welcome here, and over the years these people have done me a thousand kindnesses.

I live over the beach which has an endless strip of bar/restaurants.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So far I have only seen a few of Sanya’s diverse offerings..

The big golden pineapple mall.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The most expensive driving range I have ever encountered.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Dolphin Sports Bar.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lots of Russians come here. Not the skinny ones. So there is a lot of Russian language on the shops.

 

 

 

 

 

There are probably 20 seafood restaurants I can walk to.

My hotel is truly a pleasure.  There is no loud bar, touts, prostitutes or other BS.  Chinese families come here and there are lots of laughing children.  The staff are wonderful.

 

 

 

 

 

The don’t get many americans, Marriott platinum members or long stay guests. So I am a triple storm. Apparently I was discussed in a staff meeting where the General manager told them to do everything they could to keep me happy.  I have been upgraded to a big suite,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They gave me lots of welcome notes in English, and a little buddy to live with me..

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the special gift toothpaste !!

Drinking wine and talking with Richard the Assistant General manager, I made the mistake of telling him that his staff should only speak Mandarin Chinese with me,  so I could practice speaking.  Now I don’t know much about what is going on, and get helpful notes I cannot read.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is hard to get out of the hotel. They have a large and wonderful buffet restaurant. Some stations have chefs who will wok up whatever you want. (Maybe I can show some of this next time). And they have afforded me free food and wine.  (oink) 

 

 

 

 

 

This week I am setting my alarm to get up in the middle of the night to watch the Masters Tournament.  The room has a little german machine that I can use to make pretty good coffee. I told them which kind of coffee I liked and now I have a surfeit.

 

 

 

 

 

So, although this is not paradise, I have made a good landing and am having fun with some really nice people.

More later.

 

 

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This is the end of my fall 2015 scouting tour of the Balkans. Tomorrow is the first day of winter and I am winging home for holidays in Minnesota.

There is not a lot to say about Zagreb. It is not a wealthy city. Not particularly historic. It is gritty and crumbling and there is a lot of graffiti and dog poop.

But I have enjoyed my stay here. There are lots of Museums. The Egyptian collection at the Archeological museum is surprisingly good.

The Technology museum has a very nice section on Nicholai Tesla, the genius who brought us Alternating Current, a native son. And there are nice areas of the city with shopping and restaurants and pubs.

The best thing about Zagreb is how the people who live here enjoy their city. They are walking everywhere, using the extensive tram system, enjoying the seasonal festivities, sitting outside eating sausages, drinking coffee or hot wine and smoking cigarettes.

Here are some random photos of Zagreb that speak for themselves:

 

Some Zagreb stories:

They count among their local inventions the Neck-tie and the Ball point Pen.

If you can think of one of the old sewing machines that was powered by rocking a plate with your feet… I was surprised to see in the technology museum that they were still manufacturing a version of these into the 1960’s.

 

The End

If you have looked at a post or two from this trip it may have looked like a random walk. But except for shooting up to Munich to spend time with CAMarchand I have been making a pretty methodical look around of the North East of this region.

I guess a brief summary statement is in order.

It has been a very interesting fall tour. It is easy to travel here if you don’t mind the occasional long bus ride. English is available everywhere. English music plays everywhere.

People have been kind and helpful to me.

Travelling here you are not overwhelmed with crushing population and alien-ness like in Asia.

The Balkans are a bit gritty. But they are real and certainly cost effective.

Their history is extremely long, and everywhere you look. It is both glorious in its scope and horrendous in how continuously bloody it has been.

They eat bread and meat and drink wine. So do I.

These are Europeans. I see the faces of friends and acquaintances everywhere. It makes me think that although it might be right culturally to say “I’m Irish, I’m German, I’m Hungarian, …” in the great scheme of things we are all poured out of the blender.

Best holiday wishes.  Thanks for coming along.