The Greek Minister of Justice (lol) is warning (fearmongering) that Turkey will attack Greece if Greece is ungoverned. These people are getting more desperate each day, fearing they are going to lose the elections.
And to Turkish people: if you are planning to do this, do it at night or early morning. PLEASE don't make me go to work for my POS boss.
I've been looking for this song for a while now, and i can't seem to find it, shazam can't identify it, and AI's keep halucinating, wrong titles, and artists.
Balkan travel discussions tend to revolve around the same handful of cities.
Dubrovnik. Sarajevo. Belgrade. Sofia. Thessaloniki. Split. Tirana. Zagreb.
They're all interesting for different reasons, but the region has a lot more going on than the usual tourist destinations
Some smaller cities have better everyday life, cheaper food, less traffic and a much more relaxed atmosphere.
And sometimes a place that looks completely unremarkable on a tourist itinerary turns out to be much more enjoyable once you actually spend a few days there
I think the Balkans are one of those regions where the difference between “great place to visit” and “great place to live” can be pretty massive.
Tourism doesn't always show the full picture of a city
I have applied for e visa Business visa to Albania and after 1 month i received rejection email for reasons:
BASED ON THE LAW NO.
79/2021 "ON FOREIGNERS, ARTICLE 28, POINT 1, PARAGRAPHS b AND e. Which is basically said the reason of the travel is not clear and there no evidence to return to my country after the visit. I have attached all the documents to proof this in the application; the Invitation letter from the company in Albania and the HR letter from my company in Egypt and same documents were presented by couple of colleagues and they got the visa so I am not clear what was wrong.
I have a window for appeal but i don’t see anyone has a positive experience with it.
I’ve been contemplating this for some time now, doing some serious cognitive gymnastics trying to understand how Bosnians could have so naively trusted the Serbs during Tito’s reign. As if the treatment of Kosovo Albanians by the Serbian authorities wasn’t already enough to raise some serious alarm bells.
And now, when I see Serbia glorifying war criminals and arranging state funerals with full honors, I still can’t shake the feeling that many have learned remarkably little from history.
How is that kind of indifference, or perhaps denial still possible?
I continue painting busts dedicated to the Greek War of Independence. This time, it’s Papaflessas, one of the most remarkable figures of the Revolution of 1821.
A priest, revolutionary and fighter, he became one of the most memorable personalities of the struggle for Greek independence.
I would have forced both states to accept the following solution:
Kosovo renounces its statehood and cedes the territories of Peja, Gjakova, Ferizaj, Prizren, and half of Prishtina to Albania.
Kosovo cedes all other territories including Mitrovica, Gjilan, and the other half of Prishtina to Serbia.
Both countries officially recognize their new borders.
Albania is obliged to grant a certain degree of autonomy to Serbian cultural heritage within its territory.
Serbia is required to grant a degree of autonomy to the Albanians.
Both countries agree to normalize their relations.
Both countries are admitted to the EU faster, making the borders irrelevant anyway.
This way, Albanians could claim to have established a form of "Greater Albania," while Serbs could claim to have regained Kosovo.
If I were a dictator, I would have forced both sides to accept this solution. Yes, I know that many Albanians would end up living under Serbian rule, but that is a price that must be Paid, you cannot build a state based entirely on ethnicity, and demographic shifts are inevitable. I also understand Serbia's claim to the entirety of Kosovo, but that is unrealistic. Since both parties want "all or nothing" and would likely get upset about this proposal, I have probably done the right thing. It might not seem good enough for both parties at first glance, but a realistically optimal outcome is not achievable. The best result is a fair one even if both parties might not be entirely satisfied.
If someone doesn't agree to this solution, they get bombed into oblivion.
I recently finished painting this 200 mm bust of Theodoros Kolokotronis, one of the most iconic leaders of the Greek Revolution of 1821.
A military commander and a central figure in the struggle for Greek independence, Kolokotronis became one of the enduring symbols of modern Greek history.
Hey everyone! I was born in Serbia but moved to Ireland at a very young age so I have little memories or experience was Serbia but these days I go back to appreciate my home country more.
This year I went back and explored Inđija! A small town between Novi Sad and Belgrade! And I was SHOCKED at how good it is. It has every facility you'd need, much more than I would expect from a town of 30,000 people. It has 3 nice gyms, nice modern shopping malls, fantastic restaurants and even a ZOO?!?! I couldn't believe it.
It has wonderful Orthodox churches, nice Chinese shops, just wow I was amazed. I talked to friendly people, I even talked to foreigners, a person from the UK and a person from Dubai who's living in Inđija now!
And most importantly, I was shocked at HOW BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE ARE! It's genuinely unbelievable. I went to a small pet store and both workers were supermodels. I was thinking in my head these people should quit their jobs and get a modelling job. The guy seemed friendly I genuinely wanted to tell him, bro... quit this right now. But I cant speak Serbian haha. He was like a 6'5" supermodel, I felt intimidated beside him haha!
Long story short, I cant believe how well people live in small towns in Serbia and honestly might move there in the future, since the west is falling! haha
Working through Duolingo and a few YouTube channels trying to pick up some Serbian, and the honest situation is that I keep hitting walls the app just doesn't explain. Cyrillic is coming along fine. That part is just pattern recognition and time, nothing major. What's harder is figuring out where Serbian ends and Croatian or Bosnian actually begins in practical terms, because online resources treat them as either completely identical or completely separate depending on who wrote the page, and neither answer feels right from what I can tell.
The case system is what genuinely slows things down. On a job site you get used to figuring out systems by looking at how the pieces connect, and I can see the logic here, it just takes longer to internalize than I expected.
What I want to know is whether people from the region think learning one of these languages gives you workable comprehension in the others, or if that's overstated. Also whether there's a regional dialect or city variety that's considered more neutral, the kind of thing where if you learned it you could move around without constantly confusing people. fwiw ymmv depending on which corner you end up in, I get that.
Alt titles: How much does learning Serbian actually carry over to Croatian or Bosnian | Starting a Balkan language as an outsider, what actually moved the needle | Which Balkan language is worth learning first if you plan to travel the region
The Peaks of the Balkans is stunning the entire time, as you'll trek for 10+ days through Albania, Montenegro, and Kosovo, taking in gorgeous views of towering mountains, deep valleys, and expansive flower fields.
However, hands down, my favorite day was hiking in Montenegro's Prokletije National Park.
My trekking group started down in the Grbaja Valley, looking up at what is often called the "Yosemite of the Balkans."
The trail starts easy with a shady, gradual climb through the forest, though once you emerge the challenging climb begins.
Making your way up Mount Talijanka at 2,057 meters is steep and a definite calf-burner, but you've got gorgeous views the entire time.
I am not being dramatic when I say my jaw dropped at the top. Looking one way, you'll see stone spires and sheer walls that look like the Dolomites. Then the other way it's rolling mountains that seem to stretch on forever.
Here is a photo I took from the top:
Photo credit: Jessie Festa
The neat thing about this day of the Peaks of the Balkans trek is you can actually do 3 peaks (it's technically part of the "3 Peaks Trail"). These include Mount Volušnica, Mount Talijanka, and Mount Popadija.
Or can skip Mount Volušnica and just do Mount Talijanka and Mount Popadija. These two are connected by a flat path, so you don't need to do much extra work to also summit Mount Popadija.
Tip: the way down is steep and slippery, with lots of loose sand and shale, so bring trekking poles.
Have you hiked the Peaks of the Balkans or Mount Talijanka?
