An 18-day odyssy in the Balkans

Part I:

Scanderbeg


Kruje Castle


Museum at Kruje on Scanderbeg

Part II:

What is most obvious about Tirana, Albania, are the numbers of Mercedes on the roads. We were informed that 70 percent of all cars in Tirana are Mercedes, and most are stolen from Europe, and can be bought here for $500 to $10,000, with the older models costing more. Anyone missing a Mercedes?

The following morning, we coached our way to Ohrid (sounds like "oakrid"), Macedonia, for a three night stay, and stopped along the way for rest stops, picture stops, and a lunch break. We stopped in Durres, one of the most ancient and important cities of the country, located on the central Adriatic coast of Albania. We visited the Orthodox Church (circa 1995), the Roman Theater that was built during the middle ages, and the Byzantine Wall built during the 2d century AD.

We had a picture stop at some of the bunkers along the highway to Macedonia. We were informed there are about 30,000 still in existence, and they built 750,000 during the communist period.

****

We arrived in Ohrid at 5:15pm. After we had dinner at the hotel adjacent to ours, we were temporarily stopped from entering our hotel, the Metropol, because the President of Macedonia and his entourage were arriving. The purpose for his presence at the hotel was the Balkan state's conference on energy that lasted for the three days we were in Ohrid.

The following morning, we were treated to a 1.5 hour lake cruise to St Naum monastery.
St Naum of Preslav was a scholar, writer and teacher, and is credited with some others to have founded the Preslav Literary School where the Cyrillic alphabet was developed. Naum became a priest in Rome, and founded the monastery in 905AD. The Macedonia Orthodox Church was built in the 10th century, and belongs to the same branch as Hagia Sofia in Istanbul. They have converted the monastery into a hotel. The monastery and its surroundings has many peafowls (peacocks and peahens). Just adjacent to the monastery (now hotel) is a river flowing into Ohrid Lake from a smaller lake. We were informed that this is a very rare phenomenon on earth with only three in existence.

Durres Orthodox Church


Roman theater


Byzantine wall

Bunker


Cruise on Ohrid Lake


Church at St Naum monastery


St Naum


Peacock
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v97/imposter222/Apr07AlbaniatoBlackSea373.jpg

Water flow from higher lake

this is a repeat of the peacock pix. I'm having difficulty posting pictures, and didn't want to lose the previous four.

Part III:

It seems Macedonia has no real friends in their neighborhood, because parts of Macedonia were taken over by Albania, Greece, and Bulgaria during its long history. Ohrid Lake is owned 2/3ds by Macedonia, and 1/3d by Albania. The name "Macedonia" translates into "most beautiful" or the "Makedos God."

On the following day's tour, our first stop was at the Roman Theater (Blaosnik). Here we learned that Alexander the Great at 29 years old had already conquered the world including Palestine and India, and was known as "god" or "liberator" - not conquer in 2d century BC. Our next stop was the King Hamil Fortress (also known as Czar Samuel's Fortress) that once had 14 towers, and protected on three sides by the waters of Ohrid Lake, and constructed during the Byzantine Period (976-1014BC). Archaeologists have found artifacts on this property dating back from the 1st to 7th century BC.

St Paul started Christianity in Ohrid in 3-4c AD, and the Medieval Church was founded 9-15c AD, and the newer church is now named in honor of SS Clement (the protector of Ohrid) and Panteleiman. Ohrid once had 365 churches, but now only 72 remains.

We had a special treat: on the evening before this tour, we saw a short film on archaeology in Macedonia by a PhD candidate. The film was about the establishment of the Department of Archaeology in Macedonia, and included a segment about the first Director, Pasco Kuzman. He was at the Medieval Church site, where many of us were able to take his picture.
Director Kuzman






We were treated to a home-hosted snacks of sweet cherries (sweet guests), peanuts and cakes, with drinks of beer, wine or soft drinks. Our hosts' son is a gold medal winner in boat rowing, and will compete in the next Olympics.

Roman theater


Fortress


View of Ohrid Lake from fortress

The medieval church


Church dedicated to SS Clement & Panteleiman


Our hosts for snacks and tour director (standing)

Part IV:

April 22, 2007:

On the following morning, we were on our way to Thessaloniki, Greece. Unfortunately, another Murphy's Law was in the works, and the computer was down at the Greece border, so we had to wait over 1.5 hours before they found a solution; make copies of our passports - all 39 of them, and fax them over to another customs office.

Our first tourist stop was at the Odessa Waterfalls, and to have lunch.

A small group of us ended up at the same busy restaurant, and out of six in our group, only four received our food, so we had the restaurant pack our calamari to eat on our way to Pella, the birthplace of Alexander the Great, and his father Philip II (born in the Kingdom of Makedonia in 380BC). During that time, Pella was close to the sea, but is now landlocked. A farmer accidentally found a mozaic in 1957 while manually cultivating his land. We visited the Pella Museum and archaeological site (still active) for a short visit, and arrived at our hotel in Thessaloniki a little before 7pm.

Alexander the Great statue at Greece border


Old guard tower at Greece border


Landscape along our way to Thessaloniki


Odessa waterfall


Mosaic at Pella archaeological museum


Pella archaeological dig


Columns at Pella


Mosaic at archaeological dig site

Part V:

Our city tour of Thessaloniki, Greece, included the St Dimitrius Church (the oldest christian church then in Macedonia). Baptism was/is by full emersion, the icons always shows the Virgin Mary and Jesus on the left of the "door," and Jesus on the right side of the "door." To the right of Jesus is John the Baptist, and the left of the Virgin Mary and Jesus is the Patron Saint of the church. In this case, St Dimitrius. This holds true in over 90 percent of orthodox churches. There are no statues in the church, only icons. Only baptized parishioners are allowed to stand on the main floor, and the non-baptized listen from the second floor. Some services lasts over three hours. The ceiling at this cathedral looks like it's made of wood, but it is actually cement.

Our bus tour included drive-bys of the White Tower, the Rotunda (similar to the Parthenon of Rome), and Hagia Sofia. We had a walking tour of the Acropolis, the highest point of the city with the remains of a fortress wall.

Our next day's tour was a visit to the Royal Tombs in Virgena. Archaeologists from a Greek university started excavations in 1938 to find the Royal Tombs, and this is where Andrikos found a man-made hill. In 1952, Andrikos was named Head of Antiquities, and was named Professor of Archaeology in 1965. At the 1969 congress, Dr Hammond of the UK confirmed Virgena as the location of the Royal Tombs. Excavations again began in 1975, and the Royal Tombs were found 20' below ground in 1977. The first tomb was found 6' below, the second tomb another 6' below, and King Philip and his wife's 15' deeper. Another 6' deeper was Alexander the Great Junior's tomb. Philip II ruled 24 years, had 7 wives; 2 romantic, and 5 political. Philip II was known as a warfare genius, and trained his son Alexander the Great his skills. The mural on Philip's tomb shows Alexander the Great hunting lions, boar and other wild animals. Alexander the Great was also tutored by Aristotle. Philosopher Demosthenis(sp) spoke against Philip II in the Forum. Philip won the battle in 338BC, but was murdered in 336BC,. Alexander the Great died in Babylon, and is believed to be buried in Alexandria. Excavations to find his remains is difficult because of all the buildings now covering the area.

St Dimitrius orthodox church


The church icons


St Dimitrius


White Tower


Rotunda (background) Zeus gate (foreground)


Agia Sofia


View from the Acropolis


Acropolis tower


Seaside outside cafe near white tower


Royal tombs (we could not take pictures inside)


Tombs (underground)

Part VI:

On the following day, we transferred from Thessaloniki to Bansko via Melnik to have lunch, enjoy a cultural show, and wine tasting.
City hall in Melnik(?)


Shops in Melnik


Cultural show



After our arrival in Bansko, a skiing resort area, another couple in our group and I walked to the old town to find a cash (ATM) machine to get some Leva (Bulgarian currency). With the following morning free, I again walked to old town by another route to see more of the people and places before our included tour at 2pm. Our tour included the Eastern Orthodox Church built in 1835, and the icon museum. The statue of the main square is the monk who wrote the first Bulgarian history in 1762. Christianity was adopted in the 9th century.

Kempinski hotel in Bansko (my first Kempinski)


Eastern Orthodox church


Historian on Bulgaria (1762)


Scene from my room



April 26, 2007:
Our coach ride the following morning from Bansko to Plodiv, the second largest city in Bulgaria, included a stop at Rila monastery, founded by St John of Rila. At its height, it had 300 monks, but now only has six. The church is one of the most ornate of all the orthodox churches we have seen thus far. King Boris III, the last king of Bulgaria, is buried here.

Rila monastery sign


Monastery gateway


Rila monastery


Scene at the monastery



Since it was still daylight when we arrived in Plodiv, I walked into old town not far from our hotel, and saw one of the Roman Theater.

The bridge pedestrian mall to the old city from our hotel


The Roman theater


In the morning we walked on cobble stones of the old city streets where the architecture is unique from any place I have ever visited. Some homes have painted murals outside and inside with much use of wood (even on the ceilings) and carvings. We visited a wealthy merchants home built in 1835 with hot and cold running water, the reformation church, and the Constantine and Elena church first built in the 4th century and rebuilt in 1991. We visited another Roman theater that once had 28 rows of seats, but now has only 14 built during the time of Emperor Trajan.

Statue of Philip II (once controversial, since he was a Macedonian)


Did I say unique?


Constantine and Elena church


An old gate


Acropolis fortress round barrel (sign)


My photo


Wealthy merchant's home


Murals inside the merchant's home


The "other" Roman theater

We were on our way to Nesebar the following morning which is located on the south-eastern coast of Bulgaria on the Black Sea. It is situated on a peninsula that is now connected by a narrow manmade isthmus about five miles from Sunny Beach. On driving into Nesebar, one can't help but notice the black (middle 18th century) windmill on the left and the statue of a St Marina (to protect fishermen) on the right side in the water half-way between the island and the mainland. The Western Fortress Wall (at the entrance of Nesebar) was built in the V and VI centuries, but Thracian history goes back to the VIII to VI centuries BC and IV to III BC. Because of its numerous historic buildings, UNESCO included Nesebar in its list of World Heritage Sites in 1983. Many of the churches were built during the 5th through the 14th century, but many are now used as art galleries.

The black windmill


St Marina statue


Western fortress wall


One of many churches


A view from an old church window


Lunch at Neptune restaurant


A view of Sunny Beach from Nesebar


Sunny Beach is essentially a developing resort town with many new buildings under construction, but poorly planned. The streets are too narrow with no parking areas except for the narrow streets, and busses cannot get through to the hotel's entrance for lack of street space. From what I've observed, Sunny Beach, just north of Nesebar is going to be a disaster in the making when all those buildings are completed, and people start to move in. Our hotel, the Victoria Palace, is one of the largest new hotels on the beach front. They're now in the final stages of construction of three more hotels between the Victoria Palace and the main road, and our bus was never able to drive to the front of our hotel. All rooms facing the water has balconies furnished with plastic furniture. The ambiance done in Asian-African motif leaves much to be desired, and to my mind a waste a good money. Makes you wonder who invests in this "junque."

The Victoria Palace


From the beach side


View from room A215

Byzantine church


A door at the church


Russian orthodox church


National theater


I love doors



May 3, 2007:
We departed our hotel, the Sheraton, at 10:30am for our 1:10 flight to Munich.
We landed at SFO at precisely 6:50pm, and was in my family room by 8:45pm - unpacking.

WRAP: Another rich journey into countries part of which is now considered the Balkans. We learned and saw many things about these four countries that few Americans visit, but especially in the same footsteps in which we took them. We learned about Scanderbeg and his heroics during the Ottoman Empire period; saw the birthplace of Alexander the Great, and the Royal Tombs of his father; the influence of the Christian religion in the region since the 4th century; the viewing of archaeological artifacts dating back to the 6th century BC; the histories of the Hellenic, Ottoman and Byzantine periods; the past and current geography and politics of the region; the old and the new structures including many of the orthodox churches and their icons, Roman ruins, the fortresses, monasteries, and the homes of the rich and the poor; but especially the co-mingling with the peoples of these far-away places, and meeting many of them.

We were treated to a couple of cultural shows, met children in a special school where they danced and sang for us, and met the proud parents of a Olympic athlete.


It is, I believe, one of the best ways to enrich one's life.

Thanks very much for sharing your photos and thus enabling us to take viually part on your tour, c.i.!

Great photos - I enjoyed it ... as I did before. :wink:

bm

Hello and thanks for the travel tips
Cicerone Imposter,

We had dinner in Prague on the Germany River trip and you were kind enough to share the site information and your travels to Israel. I made the trip in November and thoroughly enjoyed it. We are off to Costa Rica in March. Glad to see from your positings that you are still travelling and enjoying!

Ginger H.

Hi Ginger, Glad to hear that your trip to Israel was a winner. I'm still traveling, but will cut down from about 7 or 8 down to 5 or 6.

I'm now in Hawaii with my wife and younger son for 12-days. We spent 4 nites in Oahu, we're on our third nite in Maui (my wife and I went to the Hyatt-Regency dinner-show this eve), and will be flying to the Big Island for 4-nites.

Will be traveling to the 5-stans above Afghanistan in May, Bhutan and India in November, and a 26-day cruise from Papeete to Ft Lauderdale in Dec.

Did Tunisia last Oct, China and Tibet in Nov.

Must slow down.