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Tallinn, 19 October 2003
European summer: the Balkans, Albanian roads, kitten from Ohrid and Auschwitz
Odv2004-09-15 11:38:46
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was assassinated earlier this year by what seems to have been the last remnants of Milosevic's criminal gangs.
In May of this year Serbia unilaterally abolished visas for most Europeans and we could enter the country without any problems.
After spending a few days in Belgrade and Pirot with Hans and his family, after having tasted Belgrade nightlife and homemade alcoholic drinks such as rakia and slibovitch, containing anywhere from 60% to 75% alcohol, we embarked on a tour of the southern Balkans.
Our first stop was the famous Rilski Manastir, a monastery located in the Bulgarian mountains near Rila. On the road from Sofia to the monastery we saw the legacy of Bulgaria's communist-industrial past: vast wastelands of rusting factories. Some still operational, sending thick black smoke into the air from tall chimneys, but most of it just seemed to be rusting away.
The peaceful atmosphere of the monastery and fresh mountain air underlined the enormous contrast with what we had seen before. From the outside the monastery looks more like a fortress, but on the inside it is a monk's oasis: a courtyard, containing a beautiful Orthodox church, a clock tower and a couple of large pine trees. All entirely hidden from the outside.
We then embarked on a longer than expected walk through the mountains to the grave of the monastery's founder, Ivan Rilski. The surrounding mountains are amazingly unspoilt, no disfigurement of these mountains with ski slopes for example.
We spent the night in Melnik, a little village surrounded by sandstone hills, several hours away from the monastery. The streets are sandy, but it is pleasant and relaxed, the food is good and the town is not expensive at all (5 Euros for one night with a local family, for the two of us).
The next morning we drove to Meteora in Greece. This world famous site, consists of many monasteries on top of mountains. On our way
...
See photographs from:
Serbia Montenegro Gallery
,
Poland Gallery
,
Netherlands Gallery
,
Greece Gallery
,
Bulgaria Gallery
,
Albania Gallery
