Journals

I thought I would take a break from writing about Sweden since 1) you are probably tired of hearing about it 2) I think I am getting a bit bored writing about it and 3) I have an itch to do some more traveling. I am grounded here in Scandinavia until I find a job or a sponsor to pay for my travel (is anybody out there?)….so for now, all I can do is scheme up ideas for  future trips.   One area I have been dying to explore is the Balkan Peninsula. I visited Croatia a few years ago, for only a week, and that merely whetted my appetite to delve deeper into the countries of former Yugoslavia and the rest of Southeast Europe. Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia and Bulgaria are all high on my list of places I want to go, and from the looks of the tourism commercials I dug up on YouTube, I think they are more than willing to accept our tourist dollars.   Montenegro: Breathtaking (and wild) beauty A few different tour companies were offering day trips to Montenegro when I was in Dubrovnik to see the medieval cities of Kotor, Budva and Cetinje, and the Bay of Kotor, the world’s southernmost fjord. Unfortunately, I ran out of time but maybe it was for the better. Who wants to see a country in a day, anyway? With no currency of its own, Montenegro switched from using the Deutsche Mark to the euro in 2002, although they are not a part of the European Union…yet. They applied to join in December 2008. Watch Montenegro’s tourism commercial on YouTube here . Albania: Mine to discover The first response I usually get when I tell people I want to go to Albania is, “Have you seen the movie Taken ?” (it was an Albanese gang who kidnapped Liam Neeson’s daughter ). Yes, I have seen it, but it didn’t put me off wanting to visit this country that is desperately trying to shake off its lonely and turbulent past that includes being sealed off from the rest of the world for nearly 40 years by a paranoid Communist leader , a civil war, and economic collapse. It’s only a hop, skip and a jump across the Ionian Sea from some other European hotspots so there’s no doubt in my mind that it’s only a matter of time before Albania’s coastline gets bombarded by resorts and sun-seeking tourists. While it is true the country has been known as a key route in the smuggling of trafficked women into Western Europe , they have been working on cleaning up their act the past several years.  As a result, Albania was officially inducted into NATO this past April and in the same month formally applied for EU membership. Watch Albania’s tourism commercial on YouTube here . Macedonia: Timeless Reading about Macedonia becoming the world’s first wireless country in Lonely Planet’s Travel Book a few years ago fascinated me, and I have been wanting to visit ever since. In doing further research, I found out about the project called Macedonia Connects in which the U.S. Agency for International Development was going to pay $2.5 million to provide 461 schools with Internet access for two years by creating a wireless communication network across the entire country. Technological advancements aside, I’ve heard Macedonia is gorgeous, charming, and now is the best time to go. Marissa, whose blog I stumbled upon , has spent the last couple of years living there for the Peace Corps and recommended I check out the famous Lake Ohrid with its 365 monasteries, Bitola, Prilep, and Skopje, the capital city. Together with Croatia and Turkey, Macedonia is one of the three remaining candidate countries to enter the European Union. Watch Macedonia’s tourism commercial on YouTube here . Bulgaria: Open doors to open hearts As one of the newest members of the European Union, the green light for tourists to flock to Bulgaria has already been turned on. With landscapes ranging from white-sand beaches to snow-capped mountains and a colorful culture that blends ancient with modern, Europe’s oldest state seems to have something for everyone. Bulgaria is still a bit off the radar and therefore one of the cheapest countries to visit in Europe, so I better hurry up and get there before the euro does. Watch Bulgaria’s tourism commercial on YouTube here .