Monday 24 November 2014

Leaving America To Find Freedom

A guest post by Ken, an American living on the south coast of Turkey and blogging at www.southcoastofturkey.com

"I have had a vision. In this vision the white man is on a super highway to where he knows not. I have seen the end of that highway and it makes me shudder."  John Fire Lame Deer, Lakota Sioux - Seeker of Visions.

Saturday 15 November 2014

SARAJEVO. LIFE AFTER WAR.


Bosanski caj. Bosnian tea (Black tea, cinnamon, clove)
When we are still new to travelling, we would find ourselves admiring an old church, strange architecture or a beautiful landscape…I still do it…but it doesn´t bring the same emotions that it did at the beginning . So many waterfalls and sunsets, so many jungle trips, tons of hikes and more than 80 countries visited…
We start to take all the beauty for granted and it´s not as exciting anymore. Then we try to go off the beaten track and search for the roads less travelled. But after a while even that starts to lose its charm and feels superficial. We want to experience something that would touch our hearts and make us feel something! That´s how I felt in Sarajevo. I felt drawn to hear more, to ask many questions, to speak to everyone who would want to speak to me! It hit me massively. I was swept away by all the emotions I was capturing, not only in Sarajevo but in whole Bosnia & Herzegovina.
 It´s not just the beauty of the Old town, the bullet holes all over the city or the whole” Sarajevo under siege” thing that has struck me that much.  It´s the people that make the city so special and their way of greeting everyone who comes to visit, their pain and hardiness. Sadness and pride, wrapped in warmth and mystery are distinctive features of its inhabitants. It´s difficult to describe it but all the visitors feel it. And that yearning they have to move on and leave the war in the past is so massive but the war is inescapable and constantly tied to the reputation of the city.

Wednesday 5 November 2014

SERBIA. MY LONG UNKNOWN NEIGHBOUR



BELGRADE
If you are really really looking for hidden gems in Europe, do not miss the capital of ex-Yugoslavia. It is not as popular as Florence or Munich but it is backpacker´s paradise. The city is almost 2 million people and it growing bigger and bigger on budget travellers. I got there when EXIT festival was happening next door in Novi Sad so the city wasn´t that crowded but still...I was very impressed by the amount of hostels that I saw around the train station, literally at every corner. Bars, clubs, city tours...cheap food and drinks are some of the attractions in the city.