Bulgaria, Kosovo and Macedonia

[RooFlyer]

We were up on the flanks of the Sar mountains, which host Macedonia's 2 highest peaks, at 2764 and 2745m. We had to climb through these to get to Kosovo, and the weather finally failed us (for the first and only time on the trip):





I'm happy to say that I got a Kosovo stamp in my passport .. but the Brits didn't. Stamps were a continuously inconsistent thing on this trip. In Macedonia, some Brits go a stamp on entry and/or exit, others didn't. I usually got a stamp, but 2 out of 8 entries/exits, I didn't.

Reason I'm happy with the Kosovo stamp is that I reckon the country won't be in existence for a long time. This is the Readers Digest version ... details will (and have) filled books ...

Kosovo became part of the Serbian empire in the early 1300s. It was part of the Ottoman empire from 1455 to 1912, when Islam was introduced and, unlike Macedonia etc, it became the dominant religion. Albanians accepted the Ottomans and converted to Islam en-mass. The Albanians and Serbs came into conflict in the late 1800s and Albanians in Serbia were expelled into ares now generally within Kosovo.

The Albanians effectively expelled the Turks in 1912 as did the Serbs, Greeks, Montenegrans and Bulgarians. Kosovo ended up with Serbia.

After the Axis invasion in WW2, Kosovo was assigned to Italian-controlled Albania. Many Serbs were killed in Kosovo and many more fled east to Serbia proper. On the creation of Yugoslavia, Kosovo was assigned to Serbia as an autonomous region, but much tension between the ethnic Albanians in Kosovo and the Serbs. A separatist movement arose in the 1980s. Violence after government suppression ensued, and the % of Albanians vs Serbs had increased due to differing birth rates and continued leaving by Serbs from the area.

In 1989, Serbian President Slobodan Milošević, tried to reduce Kosovo's autonomy which had the predicable result of increasing the separatist movement, protests etc. The Kosovo Liberation Army came into being in the 1990s and a state of warfare ensued, with many massacres on both sides; a ceasefire forced internationally in 1998. it didn't last and in the end NATO bombed Yugoslavia to force the issue. Milošević and others were tried for war crimes during the conflict.

A few years of confusion followed, with the nature of Kosovo's independence debated in the UN, with Russia vetoing the outright recognition of Kosovo, as long as Serbia didn't like it. Kosovo declared unilateral independence in 2008 and currently is recognised by 112 countries, including all its neighbours, except Serbia (also recognised by Australia). It belongs to many world institutions, but not the UN and uses the Euro as its currency.

Interestingly, the most common flag you see is the Albanian flag - including at the border crossings. That's why I reckon Kosovo will eventually become part of Albania .. ethnically, religiously and historically, that's where it belongs; but whether Serbia and its allies will ever allow that, is another question.

 

[RooFlyer]

Arrived in Prizren in drizzle and straight to our hotel, which was the most basic of the hotels on the tour, but still OK. As expected in a (largely) Islamic state, the bed was on the firm side.





Right outside my door on the first floor was the emergency escape vehicle:

 

[RooFlyer]

The rain stopped so we did our scheduled walking tour. Our hotel was right in the centre of town (except for Ohrid, this was the norm on the tour).

Prizren was the site of the 'Prizren incident' in 1999 when German troops, advancing into Kosovo under the UN resolution, came into confrontation with stragglers of the departing Yugoslav army. Some civilians were wounded.

Prizren has been around since the 2nd century AD. It was under the control of the Bulgarians in the 800s and the Serbs from the 1000s and the ottomans had control from 1450s to 1912. It didn't suffer much during the kosovo war, but there were certainly exiling of Albanians in the early stages, and they returned after 1999.

The first stop on the walk was the Orthodox Cathedral (ie legacy of the Serbs) and here the tensions were on view. In 2004 there was confrontation between ethnic Albanians and Serbs throughout Kosovo, called the '2004 Progrom', with many Serbs, orthodox Chruches and neighbourhoods attacked. The Kosovo leadership acted genuinely to control the violence and set up special courts to prosecute those arrested re the violence. A number of ethnic Albanians were jailed.

The church of St George, Prizren's largest, was set on fire and today is closed and behind barbed wire with only the priest and his family living on site. Inside its just a shell.





The catholic cathedral was not attacked, but its not terribly attractive:



I guess they could have just used a power pole, but it is a city of history, after all ...



Statue of a Kosovo Liberation Army fighter ... there are a number of these in the town square area:



City mosque from the 1600s and Church of the Holy Savior, built in the 1300s. It was also badly damaged in the 2004 pogrom, as better seen in the second pic:






The tour ended and a couple of us decided to hike up to the fortress overlooking the town:



Good view from the top, weather notwithstanding:

 

[RooFlyer]

There is a very nice mall/restaurants area close to our hotel. Long menu, just 1 page of it:



My veal medallions were one of the more expensive items on the menu, at 8 euro:



We desperately tried yet another local wine and were again disappointed:



The bill:



Kosovo and all the Balkans are quite cheap. You can have a good meal for about A$10. Skip the wine and stick to beer, though.

 

[RooFlyer]

Next stop was the Gračanica Monastery, another highlight of the trip. Gračanica is a Serbian enclave within Kosovo. The monastery was established by Serbian King Milutin (one of the most powerful, who built numerous great churches) in 1321 on the site of a 6th century church. It was lucky to have survived bombing by NATO in the Kosovo war.







You can see marble from the former structure has been recycled into the lower courses:




The monastery accommodation complex (is a nunnery) is more recent than the church:

 

[RooFlyer]

We were given a tour of the church by one of the officials - a lovely guy, full of stories and explanations of the frescoes inside. And what a show! They were painted in 1321-22 by the same two artists who decorated the big church we visited in Ohrid. Every conceivable surface is covered with frescoes, dozens and dozens of scenes from the Bible, the king & queen etc etc.

It was no photography, but after the official tour, we could continue to wander around, and I couldn't resist. Would love to have done more, but you had to be a little subtle!! (I bought the picture book as well )







The iconostasis, usually the dazzling centrepiece of these churches, was almost lost:

 

[OATEK]

We were given a tour of the church by one of the officials - a lovely guy, full of stories and explanations of the frescoes inside. And what a show! They were painted in 1321-22 by the same two artists who decorated the big church we visited in Ohrid. Every conceivable surface is covered with frescoes, dozens and dozens of scenes from the Bible, the king & queen etc etc.

It was no photography, but after the official tour, we could continue to wander around, and I couldn't resist. Would love to have done more, but you had to be a little subtle!! (I bought the picture book as well )

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The iconostasis, usually the dazzling centrepiece of these churches, was almost lost:

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Subtle??!! Great photos though.

 

[RooFlyer]

Subtle??!!

As in flipping the iPhone up when no-one was looking ... as opposed to taking detailed pics on my proper camera which would have been magnificent.

I appreciate the 'no photos' policy in many of these places - flashes can go off which would be bad, and they want people to buy the booklet at their shop. But here, there are bright lights shining right on the frescos ! And whilst there was a booklet for sale here (and I bought it), in many places, they don't exist.

There are no photos allowed in the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican. 'No photos' was required by Mitsubishi (I think) after they paid for the restoration, but that was a ban on commercial imagery. The Vatican however decided to impose a blanket 'no photos' policy. Now, the (sort of) silence in the chapel is punctuated by the attendants calling out 'no photos! in 3 or 4 languages.

No photos allowed in the Amber Room at Catherine's Palace, St Petersburg as well. But as my guide pointed out, no problem in standing just outside the door and photographing in - so I got a couple of good shots.

 

[OATEK]

As in flipping the iPhone up when no-one was looking ... as opposed to taking detailed pics on my proper camera which would have been magnificent.

I appreciate the 'no photos' policy in many of these places - flashes can go off which would be bad, and they want people to buy the booklet at their shop. But here, there are bright lights shining right on the frescos ! And whilst there was a booklet for sale here (and I bought it), in many places, they don't exist.

There are no photos allowed in the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican. 'No photos' was required by Mitsubishi (I think) after they paid for the restoration, but that was a ban on commercial imagery. The Vatican however decided to impose a blanket 'no photos' policy. Now, the (sort of) silence in the chapel is punctuated by the attendants calling out 'no photos! in 3 or 4 languages.

No photos allowed in the Amber Room at Catherine's Palace, St Petersburg as well. But as my guide pointed out, no problem in standing just outside the door and photographing in - so I got a couple of good shots.

It's OK, I am with you right down to the sneaky Catherine Palace shot from next door.

 

[RooFlyer]

A highlight (for me) was the depiction of the 'Last judgement'. A river of fire with lost souls being pitchforked into staying there by an angel; also animals with various human parts in their mouths .. ghoulish perhaps but thinking of the 13th century when this was 'how it is (or will be)'

 

[RooFlyer]

A bonus stop next - Ulpiana, an excavation of what sounds like an enormous Roman town laying under fields just out of Gracanica. It was established in 1st century AD but destroyed in an earthquake in 518; rebuilt but decayed thereafter.

Only a tiny part has been excavated and they are doing what we first saw in Sofia - they encase the excavated walls etc in modern masonry - marking the pattern of the walls etc, while protecting the masonry underneath.

this is a sewer:







A necropolis, with sarcophagi



Then it was off to a nearby town for lunch; noting special, just a pleasant environment:. Again, a long stop; even the Brits were ready to go by the time the tour leader grouped us up.

 

[RooFlyer]

In the 20 mins before we hit the Kosovo/Macedonia border, we witnessed a remarkable piece if engineering, all the more amazing "considering where we were". Some backward, war affected country in southern Europe? Or does this get built in Australia?

The countryside was mountainous and difficult. So there's a freeway, built on elevated piers, straight down a valley. Simply amazing and shows what can be done with an economic imperative exists to modernise and connect with your neighbours.

The countryside:




The freeway:











Across the border, and back into Macedonia. Macedonia is not backward, but clearly they have a bit of work to do on their roads (or finding to get from the EU )

 

[RooFlyer]

And onto Skopje, the capital of Macedonia.

Settlement since 4,000 BC; occupied by the Romans, of course, and became part of the eastern, Byzantine Roman Empire when it split. Capital of the Bulgarian empire in the 900s. Serban from 1282 to the late 1300s. Invaded by the ottomans from late 1300s and occupied for 500 years until 1912, when it was annexed into Serbia again. Exchanged between the Bulgarians and Yugoslavia between the wars, then became a part of Yugoslavia again, A disastrous earthquake in 1963 retarded its development considerably.

Now developing as Macedonia's capital, with a population of over 500,000.

We checked into out hotel - the '5 star' Bushi Resort and Spa very close to the old town. Room was comfortable enough:







But I was sceptical of being right underneath a bloody big mosque minaret:



We had an orientation walk around the town and it came across as a neat and tidy town with plenty of history, space and modern amenities.

A great Turkish Bazaar of about 4-6 blocks,, very quiet today but otherwise very bustling:



Not a caravanserai, but a han, built in the 15th century. The former provided free of charge, a han is like an great inn - charges for accommodation.



The main 'Independence Square' is a riot of statuary of the greats from Macedonian history - there must be a hundred or more. Pride of place at one end is Phillip II, and underneath his wife and son, Alexander III, AKA 'The Great' (as a boy):





then you look out to the new archaeological museum:

 

[RooFlyer]

More around the 'Macedonia square' area.

A young Alexander the Great with his parents. Lions a plenty!



Unusual clock face with letters rather than numbers



Another statue of a warrior on a horse!



Phillip II of Mecedon, father of Alexander in typical pose.



Young Alexander in equally typical pose.



Another lion



Skopje fortress looms over the city



Lotsa more statuary

 

[RooFlyer]

Most of Skopje was destroyed in the 1963 earthquake. Rebuilding was done mainly with plain, functional buildings somewhat in the 'Soviet' style. So, in 2010 the 'Scopje 214' project was announced, to inject some more 'classical' style buildings into the centre of the city. 163 structures were built, at a cost of about US$700 million. Its hard to tell what the place looked before the re-building, but many certainly softened the Macedonia Square precinct, and surrounds (Museum of Macedonian Struggle, parliament building, theatres etc) but one dominates it - the Archaeological Museum.



It does look a bit odd. In front of it is a bridge across the river Vardar lined with statues of 'classical' figures from Macedonia's history, going back to before the time of Christ.







Another bridge across the Vardar is the 'Stone bridge' . Its been damaged and rebuilt many times, but the present bridge was largely established in the 1400s on foundations put in during Roman times. It was due to be demolished by the naz_s in WW2 but was saved at the last minute. Its now the main pedestrian link between the 'old town of Skopje, including the Turkish bazaar and the newer part of the city. You an see some more 'Skopje 2014' buildings in these pics.







As noted above, a fortress dominates the hill overlooking the city. The hill has been occupied since neolithic times; the first fortress built about 6th century AD. Current fortress thought to have been started during the Byzantine emperor Justinian I's rule, and continued during the 10th and 11th centuries. major damage in the 1963 earthquake and excavation and some restoration only in recent times. inside there's not much to see other than some crumbling walls. there is a boardwalk around the battlements but the best view spot was locked off.





Nice views of the city though. Turkish bazaar in the left foreground, Archaeological Museum and stone bridge off to the right.

 

[craven morehead]

Check in at Qantas Hobart - we still have humans here . Strangely, even though my Qantas and Qatar flights are on separate tickets, the check in agent was quite happy to check my bags all the way through. As I wanted the bag in Adelaide,I declined, but I got all my boarding passes.

Security was a breeze and into the Qantas Club, where I found that my QFF number wasn't on my BPs. I hope this isn't going to be a wierd trip.

The QP at HBA, which I've ranted on before:

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Not crowded now, but that will change!

Still better than EMD

 

[craven morehead]

The tour hotel was the Sofia Place hotel, close to the mall. A bit downmarket from the Intercon but quite OK. the aircon worked!

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After the tour, there was supposed to be an 'optional welcome dinner', but there was no mention of this when our main guide briefed us on the next day's activities (leaving at a leisurely 10:00am) and then bade us good-bye for the day, so several of us went to 'Moma' restaurant for some Bulgarian fare.

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The menu was extensive, with ots of meat and vegetable dishes; again, I'm not so much into my food and taking pics at the table on the first meeting I thought wasn't a good idea, but I snuck a few. Fortunately most were interested in the wine - so we chose this Melnik (local grape variety) ay 40 LEV, abyt A$35. It was pretty light style and we were a bit sus with the ENglish label, but never mind. We are visiting the town of Melnik tomorrow, so will follow it up.

Melnik grape I The best Bulgarian wines from the Melnik grape variety!

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www.bulwine.com

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Shashlik stye:

Rosé or Pinot Noir light ?

 

[craven morehead]

Then back down the mountain to have lunch. Our bee farmer is a bit of an entrepreneur, as he and his family hosts lunches of country fare.

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First course of salad, of course, tomato, cucumber and grated cheese:

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Then home made feta sheep's cheese, some pureed veges, those are spicy local snals on the left and some off fried dough at the front:

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Checking out those snails - they were delicious.

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Drinks of raspberry juice from his garden. Some had his white wine, which was said to taste a bit like cider:

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Mains of pork and beef done two different ways

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Our host then went foraging in his raspberry patch again:

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... for the desert garnish (with honey, of course):

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Score a big win for tour groups. A really nice experience.

How were the Snails served @RooFlyer ? I've only ever had them presented in a garlic butter type of style.

 

[RooFlyer]

How were the Snails served @RooFlyer ? I've only ever had them presented in a garlic butter type of style.

The first was in a thin, spicy (ie mild chili) sauce; second was in a thin sauce but not spiced. Both times no shell and you'd barely recognise them as snails when served.

 

[RooFlyer]

Next day we had a free morning in Skopje.

I visited the Archaeological museum for an exhibition of gold and other artefacts recovered from a funerary site dating from the 6th century BC at Trebeniste, Ohrid, discovered 100 years ago. They had been assembled from collections in Bulgaria, Serbia as well as Macedonia. These are of course just the shiny highlights











Back outside, more wandering around downtown, especially the 'Macedonia Square' precinct. Lotsa scary lions:





Macedona's holocaust museum was part of the Skopje 2014 project. Almost all of Skopje's Jewish population perished. the fortress in the background.



The Stone Bridge:



This is the 'Porta Macedonia', erected in 2011/12 to celebrate 20 years of independence (another Skopje 2014 project), and Macedonian history. The Greeks protested its erection.