Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2016--Athens to San Antonio
Fortunately, I didn't have to get up extra early to start my trek home today. My flight was scheduled from Athens to depart at noon, so I got up at 7:00. I had eaten and cleaned up myself and the apartment by 8:20, so I walked to the nearby metro station and took the airport metro at 8:41 arriving at the airport around 9:15. Fortunately, the check-in counters were already open for Air Canada and had no lines, so everything went smoothly.
Air Canada made an announcement about downloading their app on computers or pads for viewing videos on the flight. I thought about opening my computer and downloading it, but then I realized that my battery, which was already depleted some, would probably only last about 4 hours. I didn't think about my phone at the time. By the time we were on the plane, I realized that I should have done it, because there were no screens on the seatbacks for viewing films. I tried to connect to wi-fi from the plane, but we were too far from the terminal, I guess. So I had to pass the 10-hour flight to Montreal with no screen access. That can make for a LONG 10 hours!! I slept off and on for the first 4 hours. Finally, after about another 3 hours, I pulled out my computer and played games on it. But it seemed like forever before we landed.
The US has been setting up customs and immigration preclearance points outside the country over a period of time. Well, Montreal is one of the places where it has been established, and it was very convenient. There is a whole set of gates for U.S. destinations that is walled off from the rest of the airport. To enter, you have to complete an online version of the paper form that you are given on the plane in which you declare you are not bringing anything illegal into the country. Then you stand in a holding room watching a screen until you see that your name under your destination in the US has been cleared to continue (by turning from orange to green on the screen). Next, you go to a normal immigration booth where they pull your information onto a screen from your passport, look at it, ask how long you were out of the country and what was the purpose of your visit, double-check that you are bringing nothing illegal into the country, and stamp your passport. (Luggage is not retried for this process, it is sent through a scanner behind the scenes to make sure nothing illegal is included.) Then you wait for your flight to a US airport where you arrive not at an international terminal but at a regular gate for either transferring to another flight or exiting the terminal.
By the time I got from my plane, through preclearance (see above), and to the gate for my flight to Chicago, the time had been changed to show a 30-minute delay--with a new departure of 17:00 Eastern Time and a 2 1/2-hour flight time. I knew I only had less than 1 1/2 hours to change flights in Chicago, so I began to worry. I heard a woman at the service desk explaining that it was weather related, so I started checking:
1. Radar showed a line of storms that were passing through Chicago.
2. The weather forecast showed that there had been a 90% chance of rain in Chicago a couple of hours earlier (with no information for before that) and 30% for the past hour with sunshine forecast for the rest of the day.
3. FlightAware showed that the plane I was supposed to take to San Antonio was already in Chicago (indicating that my flight was scheduled to leave on time at 19:15 Central Time).
4. FlightAware showed that the plane I was supposed to take from Montreal to Chicago had been in Montreal since a morning flight from Halifax, meaning that the delay in our flight was questionable with the weather already clearing in in Chicago.
5. FlightAware showed that my flight to Chicago would arrive at Gate E5 and that my departing flight to San Antonio would leave from Gate B20.
6. The O'Hare website showed maps that made me realize it would not be too bad of a run to get from gate-to-gate for my connection, but it would require running.
We did not make our 17:00 departure. We didn't start loading the plane until 16:45. So it was 17:30 before we took off. Still, I thought, maybe I can run and make my connection. And in the back of my mind, although FlightAware was not showing anything just before we left, I kept thinking that maybe the departure to San Antonio would be delayed.
We flew about 1/3 of the way to Chicago, and the plane turned back toward Montreal! Then the captain explained that, at the request of air traffic controllers in Chicago, we were going to make two loops to delay our arrival because of a lack of available gates at the terminals. Those loops ate up another 15 minutes of time. I was still thinking maybe I could just make it to the gate for my San Antonio flight if I REALLY ran, since our new anticipated landing time was 18:46--giving me 29 minutes.
After the two loops, we headed straight into O'Hare. It was 16:48 when we touched down, and then we taxied and taxied and taxied (strangely without seeing much action on the runways). Then the plane paused, because another plane was in the way keeping us from heading straight to our gate. When we landed, there was the usual too-long delay before they opened the door of the plane. I RAN! I paused briefly to look up San Antonio on the screen, and the gate had changed to B5--15 gates CLOSER!!! I ran again. I got to B5 and couldn't tell what was happening. There was a crowd. But the whole airport was crowded. I had had to twist and turn to be able to get through the crowds in the concourses as I was running. It was 19:16, and I thought, "Maybe the plane is loaded already." So I rushed up to a man to ask the status, thinking maybe the door is still open and I can be the last person to get on the plane. That's when I was told it was delayed and wouldn't leave until 21:15.
Why was it delayed, since the plane was there and had been there for hours? They were waiting for the crew to arrive by plane from a Washington Dulles flight. And the whole airport was a mess with delays. There were no gates available for arriving planes. The service counter had about 6 lines of people (each as long as the longest airport security lines anyone has ever seen) waiting for assistance to change flights. There were actually three groups of people at the gate for my San Antonio flight (which was the one posted on the gate screen)--others for an Orange County flight and for a Houston flight which had both been scheduled for the same gate.
At 20:15, they announced that the Orange County people should go to Gate B4. They were going to try to get them out by 20:45 so they would avoid "the curfew" at Orange County. Apparently, they are not allowed to land planes there after a certain hour. At 21:00, they announced to the Houston people that their flight had been canceled and that they needed to either go to the service desk or call the toll-free number to make new travel arrangements. They also announced that our crew had landed at 8:35, and that we were just waiting for them to get to our gate so that we could leave.
The crew didn't arrive until 21:35, because their plane which landed at 20:35 was stuck in a traffic jam of landing planes and couldn't get to a gate. By the time they boarded us and we took off, it was after 22:00. We landed in San Antonio at 00:25--after midnight. Then there was a further delay!!! As usual at the San Antonio Airport, no administrator was on the job at night watching to make sure everything went okay. Therefore, no one told the people who were stripping the floors that another flight was expected in Terminal B, so they had a wet mess blocking the exit doors from the secure area of Terminal B to the outer area for picking up bags or leaving the airport. We had to stand while a big vacuuming machine was ordered (after they saw us come up and stop) to suck up and dry the floor enough for us to walk though the area and out the doors!
It was about 00:35 when bags started coming out on the carousel. In the meantime, I had found three sets of men's rooms blocked off--the ones upstairs near the exit from the Terminal B concourse, the ones downstairs in Terminal B, and the ones downstairs in Terminal A. Again, no one was there supervising. Plus, the airport is open 24-hours a day. It's not like it is normal and okay to close all those rest rooms at once. The maintenance people told me to use the nearby Family Restroom which was open, and I did. But what about everyone else who may have wanted to use a restroom--especially out-of-towners arriving and wondering how an airport could be having all these problems with blocked exits and closed restrooms for arriving passengers?
Anyway, my sister Sue was waiting for me in the Employee's Parking Lot (since we get to park there as volunteers at the airport). She brought me home. I arrived 24 1/2 hours after I had left the apartment in Athens. It had been a long, tiring trip, and it was good to be home!
Thursday, September 22, 2016
Wednesday, September 21, 2016
Seeing a Few More Sights on My Last Day
Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2016--Athens
It was sunny today. After repacking my suitcase for leaving tomorrow, I walked to the center of town to see a few more sights. Again, along the way, it was interesting to see all the very old, small businesses that operate in this city. There are many small specialty shops that have apparently been in the same place for decades.
The main sights I visited were the National Gardens, the Olympic Stadium from the first modern games over a century ago, and the Plaka. Of course, in visiting these, there were glimpses of the Parthenon on the hill which I have seen a couple of times before and had no interest in visiting again.
It was my first time, I think, to walk through the National Gardens. It is a nice park in the downtown area that connects the government buildings with the old stadium and with the Parthenon.
I also do not believe that I saw the Olympic Stadium before, but I may be wrong about that. It's a pretty stadium and is still used for the ceremony lighting the Olympic torch every four years for its route to the point of the next Olympic games.
The Plaka is quite different from what I remember before. It has far more souvenir shops, jewelry shops, galleries, etc., that I recall. And there seem to be fewer restaurants. Furthermore, it is not the "wild" area that it was before. I don't believe people throw and break their plates anymore after eating. The restaurants looked just like the restaurants I have seen in other cities on my trip.
My hosts invited me for dinner tonight. We ate on their terrace. What a meal! I'm so stuffed. We started with a Greek Salad that included a piece of fried cheese from an island they visited this weekend. It is cheese that has been fermented in wine. Next, we had a pork dish with green beans and aubergine cooked together. Then we were served pastitsio, the Greek macaroni dish that consists of ground beef flavored with cinnamon and a cream sauce. It was so light and creamy compared to what I have tasted before. Finally, we had ice cream with raisins soaked in rum and sugar. Unfortunately, my portions were very large, so it was way too much food.
It was sunny today. After repacking my suitcase for leaving tomorrow, I walked to the center of town to see a few more sights. Again, along the way, it was interesting to see all the very old, small businesses that operate in this city. There are many small specialty shops that have apparently been in the same place for decades.
The main sights I visited were the National Gardens, the Olympic Stadium from the first modern games over a century ago, and the Plaka. Of course, in visiting these, there were glimpses of the Parthenon on the hill which I have seen a couple of times before and had no interest in visiting again.
It was my first time, I think, to walk through the National Gardens. It is a nice park in the downtown area that connects the government buildings with the old stadium and with the Parthenon.
I also do not believe that I saw the Olympic Stadium before, but I may be wrong about that. It's a pretty stadium and is still used for the ceremony lighting the Olympic torch every four years for its route to the point of the next Olympic games.
The Plaka is quite different from what I remember before. It has far more souvenir shops, jewelry shops, galleries, etc., that I recall. And there seem to be fewer restaurants. Furthermore, it is not the "wild" area that it was before. I don't believe people throw and break their plates anymore after eating. The restaurants looked just like the restaurants I have seen in other cities on my trip.
My hosts invited me for dinner tonight. We ate on their terrace. What a meal! I'm so stuffed. We started with a Greek Salad that included a piece of fried cheese from an island they visited this weekend. It is cheese that has been fermented in wine. Next, we had a pork dish with green beans and aubergine cooked together. Then we were served pastitsio, the Greek macaroni dish that consists of ground beef flavored with cinnamon and a cream sauce. It was so light and creamy compared to what I have tasted before. Finally, we had ice cream with raisins soaked in rum and sugar. Unfortunately, my portions were very large, so it was way too much food.
Tuesday, September 20, 2016
Ports and Architecture
Monday, Sept. 19, 2016--Athens
Following the advice of Chris who I met Sunday evening, I took the metro to the area just before Piraeus. It's the area where many of the venues from the recent Olympics are located including two large stadiums. He suggested I go, though, for the small marina in there. It is a picturesque one--arched shoreline with small, colorful boats and with the houses rising up the hillside all around it. Because it was cloudy and a Monday, not many people were there, although there are cafes along the shore which he recommended as a nice place to relax and enjoy the views.
Although the marina is nice, the area around it needs some work. There are abandoned building frameworks from the Olympics where they probably had shops and other facilities for visitors. It reminded me of the dead areas that are often found where there have been world fairs. There are also very nice unoccupied buildings that housed large cafes and bars during the Olympics. The city needs to plan a complete redevelopment of the area, since it is nice otherwise.
I took the metro back downtown getting of at Syntagma (Constitution) Square. It is the main square in the city. The city is buzzing in the area with government buildings, hotels, and fancy shops. I looked at the Hotel Bretagne, the old elegant hotel in the city, and other nice examples of architecture in the area. Then, unfortunately, it started to rain lightly.
I walked back to my neighborhood seeing lots of interesting local businesses along the way. There was an art cinema. There was a very old shop operated by an elderly man and woman who restored dolls.
I returned tonight to the small square I have found in the neighborhood and ate a sandwich there for dinner. Lots of people were out visiting with each other and enjoying the fresher air that arrived with the rain we had in the afternoon.
Following the advice of Chris who I met Sunday evening, I took the metro to the area just before Piraeus. It's the area where many of the venues from the recent Olympics are located including two large stadiums. He suggested I go, though, for the small marina in there. It is a picturesque one--arched shoreline with small, colorful boats and with the houses rising up the hillside all around it. Because it was cloudy and a Monday, not many people were there, although there are cafes along the shore which he recommended as a nice place to relax and enjoy the views.
Although the marina is nice, the area around it needs some work. There are abandoned building frameworks from the Olympics where they probably had shops and other facilities for visitors. It reminded me of the dead areas that are often found where there have been world fairs. There are also very nice unoccupied buildings that housed large cafes and bars during the Olympics. The city needs to plan a complete redevelopment of the area, since it is nice otherwise.
I took the metro back downtown getting of at Syntagma (Constitution) Square. It is the main square in the city. The city is buzzing in the area with government buildings, hotels, and fancy shops. I looked at the Hotel Bretagne, the old elegant hotel in the city, and other nice examples of architecture in the area. Then, unfortunately, it started to rain lightly.
I walked back to my neighborhood seeing lots of interesting local businesses along the way. There was an art cinema. There was a very old shop operated by an elderly man and woman who restored dolls.
I returned tonight to the small square I have found in the neighborhood and ate a sandwich there for dinner. Lots of people were out visiting with each other and enjoying the fresher air that arrived with the rain we had in the afternoon.
Monday, September 19, 2016
A Lazy Day
Sunday, September 18, 2016--Athens
I felt lazy today. I just didn't want to push myself, so I took a day of vacation from my vacation. I had a long, slow, late breakfast. Then I stayed in my room most of the day. I read, I re-packed my suitcase, I watched BBC news, etc. Then went out about 18:00 to the neighborhood square I found yesterday, bought myself a gyro, and sat on a bench eating it.
I met a young man (probably late 30s) named Chris. We sat and visited for about 1 1/2 hours. He is currently a barrista (making coffee in a cafe), but he is involved in and has ambitions for producing music--the computerized aspect of making the sound better after a recording has been made and before releasing it. We talked about travel, about the Greek economy, etc. It was nice to relax and have a good conversation with an interesting person.
I felt lazy today. I just didn't want to push myself, so I took a day of vacation from my vacation. I had a long, slow, late breakfast. Then I stayed in my room most of the day. I read, I re-packed my suitcase, I watched BBC news, etc. Then went out about 18:00 to the neighborhood square I found yesterday, bought myself a gyro, and sat on a bench eating it.
I met a young man (probably late 30s) named Chris. We sat and visited for about 1 1/2 hours. He is currently a barrista (making coffee in a cafe), but he is involved in and has ambitions for producing music--the computerized aspect of making the sound better after a recording has been made and before releasing it. We talked about travel, about the Greek economy, etc. It was nice to relax and have a good conversation with an interesting person.
Sunday, September 18, 2016
Athens--The Final Stop on this Trip
Saturday, Sept. 17, 2016--Kastraki to Athens
There was another moment of panic this morning. I went to the bus stop in Kastraki where I had been told the bus would pick me up at 8:45. It would go from there to Kalabaka where it would depart at 9:00 for Trikala where I would transfer to another bus departing for Athens at 10:00. Well, I had plenty of time. I arrived at the bus stop in Kastraki at 8:27. I watched people arriving for services at the Orthodox church and heard a man singing as a part of the service. I watched a butcher and his helper cutting up a slab of beef into different kinds of pieces. About 8:42, I asked the butcher if the bus was supposed to come at 8:45, and he replied positively. I had seen the bus arrive twice before--always about 2 minutes before the time of departure from there. At 8:47 I positioned myself so I could see down the road where the bus should have been coming, and I could see nothing. I realized it wasn't going to come.
It was too late to try to walk to Kalabaka. I asked the butcher about a taxi, and he called one. I waited, and I waited, and I waited getting more panicy every moment that even a taxi couldn't get me there in time. I started rushing down the road thinking maybe I could hitch a ride and have a chance of making it. Two blocks down, I saw the taxi coming and waived him down. It was then 8:50. I explained that the bus didn't come and I had to be in Kalabaka to catch it leaving there at 9:00. His reply was, "No problem. Kalabaka only 3-4 minutes away." And, surprisingly, he was right. It sure is a lot faster to take a taxi than to walk that distance!! He got me there with several minutes to spare.
The man working in the station told me that the bus starts in Kastraki only Monday through Friday--not on weekends. Why didn't they tell me that when I got my ticket? What another stressful travel experience. And I had been up early enough that I had plenty of time that I could have walked to the station which wouldn't be too bad due to it being downhill almost all the way.
The trip after that was uneventful and long. We arrived in Athens at 14:30. I was watching on my phone where we are, and the driver stopped at a metro station just before the bus station. It was on the same metro line I planned to take which would have required me walking several blocks to reach a station, so I got off to save the walk. It just meant I would go three stops instead of 2 on the line.
The metro train was very full. I was uncomfortable trying to be aware of everyone near me and all my things. When I got off, I was supposed to transfer to a bus to bring me within two blocks of the apartment. I could see that the buses were crowded, too. I was only about 12 blocks from the apartment, so I decided I would just walk, since I still had 30 minutes to the time when they expected me.
Unfortunately, it was uphill all the way!! I didn't know that until I had gone too far to return to try to catch the bus. And the temperature was about 89 degrees F (32 degrees C). By the time I reached the apartment, I was very tired and very hot. But then things improved greatly.
I am staying at Dream apartment @ heart of athens! Anna met me and showed me the apartment telling me that her husband speaks English and will be home soon. They own both apartments on this floor and live in one and rent this one. As a part of the tour, she showed me a bottle of wine they had for me as a welcome gift. Then she showed me items for me to use for my breakfasts--bread, toast, butter, cheese, jam, yogurt, eggs, milk, juice, coffee, and tea. She then asked if I would like a frappe. I had read that it is a popular drink with the Greeks. It sounded so good being as hot as I was from the walk here that I quickly accepted and sat out on the joint balcony of the two apartments. Soon she arrived with a large glass of frappe (coffee, milk, and sugar blended with just a little ice). And she brought a bowl of thick Greek yogurt topped with her homemade strawberry jam. UMMMM!
When her husband Petras arrived a few minutes later, we sat on the balcony visiting. We talked about his work (waste management equipment sales), my travels, immigration here in Europe and in the US, the repair work he is doing today at another apartment they have which had a kitchen fire recently, etc. It was an interesting conversation that lasted an hour.
Before leaving, he and Anna asked if I would join them for dinner Tuesday night, my last night in town. Of course I accepted. What a great opportunity it will be to have a home cooked meal!! (Surely it won't be like the home cooked meal in Georgia where I was expected to eat at least part of an eyeball a few years ago!)
After resting for a while, I went out to explore the neighborhood. I found supermarkets, shops, a very nice small square where locals gather each evening, etc. It's an interesting area--not touristy at all. It just a local Athenian neighborhood. Being tired from the long, hot day, though, I returned to the room for the night.
There was another moment of panic this morning. I went to the bus stop in Kastraki where I had been told the bus would pick me up at 8:45. It would go from there to Kalabaka where it would depart at 9:00 for Trikala where I would transfer to another bus departing for Athens at 10:00. Well, I had plenty of time. I arrived at the bus stop in Kastraki at 8:27. I watched people arriving for services at the Orthodox church and heard a man singing as a part of the service. I watched a butcher and his helper cutting up a slab of beef into different kinds of pieces. About 8:42, I asked the butcher if the bus was supposed to come at 8:45, and he replied positively. I had seen the bus arrive twice before--always about 2 minutes before the time of departure from there. At 8:47 I positioned myself so I could see down the road where the bus should have been coming, and I could see nothing. I realized it wasn't going to come.
It was too late to try to walk to Kalabaka. I asked the butcher about a taxi, and he called one. I waited, and I waited, and I waited getting more panicy every moment that even a taxi couldn't get me there in time. I started rushing down the road thinking maybe I could hitch a ride and have a chance of making it. Two blocks down, I saw the taxi coming and waived him down. It was then 8:50. I explained that the bus didn't come and I had to be in Kalabaka to catch it leaving there at 9:00. His reply was, "No problem. Kalabaka only 3-4 minutes away." And, surprisingly, he was right. It sure is a lot faster to take a taxi than to walk that distance!! He got me there with several minutes to spare.
The man working in the station told me that the bus starts in Kastraki only Monday through Friday--not on weekends. Why didn't they tell me that when I got my ticket? What another stressful travel experience. And I had been up early enough that I had plenty of time that I could have walked to the station which wouldn't be too bad due to it being downhill almost all the way.
The trip after that was uneventful and long. We arrived in Athens at 14:30. I was watching on my phone where we are, and the driver stopped at a metro station just before the bus station. It was on the same metro line I planned to take which would have required me walking several blocks to reach a station, so I got off to save the walk. It just meant I would go three stops instead of 2 on the line.
The metro train was very full. I was uncomfortable trying to be aware of everyone near me and all my things. When I got off, I was supposed to transfer to a bus to bring me within two blocks of the apartment. I could see that the buses were crowded, too. I was only about 12 blocks from the apartment, so I decided I would just walk, since I still had 30 minutes to the time when they expected me.
Unfortunately, it was uphill all the way!! I didn't know that until I had gone too far to return to try to catch the bus. And the temperature was about 89 degrees F (32 degrees C). By the time I reached the apartment, I was very tired and very hot. But then things improved greatly.
I am staying at Dream apartment @ heart of athens! Anna met me and showed me the apartment telling me that her husband speaks English and will be home soon. They own both apartments on this floor and live in one and rent this one. As a part of the tour, she showed me a bottle of wine they had for me as a welcome gift. Then she showed me items for me to use for my breakfasts--bread, toast, butter, cheese, jam, yogurt, eggs, milk, juice, coffee, and tea. She then asked if I would like a frappe. I had read that it is a popular drink with the Greeks. It sounded so good being as hot as I was from the walk here that I quickly accepted and sat out on the joint balcony of the two apartments. Soon she arrived with a large glass of frappe (coffee, milk, and sugar blended with just a little ice). And she brought a bowl of thick Greek yogurt topped with her homemade strawberry jam. UMMMM!
When her husband Petras arrived a few minutes later, we sat on the balcony visiting. We talked about his work (waste management equipment sales), my travels, immigration here in Europe and in the US, the repair work he is doing today at another apartment they have which had a kitchen fire recently, etc. It was an interesting conversation that lasted an hour.
Before leaving, he and Anna asked if I would join them for dinner Tuesday night, my last night in town. Of course I accepted. What a great opportunity it will be to have a home cooked meal!! (Surely it won't be like the home cooked meal in Georgia where I was expected to eat at least part of an eyeball a few years ago!)
After resting for a while, I went out to explore the neighborhood. I found supermarkets, shops, a very nice small square where locals gather each evening, etc. It's an interesting area--not touristy at all. It just a local Athenian neighborhood. Being tired from the long, hot day, though, I returned to the room for the night.
Friday, September 16, 2016
Wandering Meteora
Friday, Sept. 16, 2016--Kastraki/Kalabaka (Meteora)
I didn't want to visit more monasteries, so I picked out a trail that two different groups recommended to me yesterday. It, too, leads to a monastery, but much of the trail is in the hills before heading up the mountain. The trail goes behind the town of Kalabaka from west to east before heading up to Agiatrias. First, I had to walk from Kastraki to western Kalabaka which takes about 30 minutes. On that part, I stopped at a bakery and bought myself a thick slice of spinach-cheese pie to eat for my breakfast. Then, at the edge of town, I started the trail. After crossing the northern side of the city to get to the base of the mountain (another 30 minutes or more), I still continued up the trail maybe 1/3 of the way. By then, I was tired and hot and had less than half a bottle of water left. After resting in the shade awhile, I decided to come back down to town.
One problem here is the flies. I had been told about them, and the owner of the guesthouse said there are fewer than usual this year, but a few more mosquitoes than normal. Well, the flies have bothered me all day today. They seam to like sweat, and I know they like my hair gel when combined with perspiration. They want to swarm around my head all the time! That was another reason for cutting the hike short.
I met an American couple of Japanese descent at that moment. They had taken the bus up to the monastery and were walking down the trail. We walked together and talked. I told them I was going to a supermarket to buy some things, and they wanted to join me. (They had until 17:00 to spend in town, because they were taking the train to Athens at that time.) We talked about lots of subjects. She is a chemist with Merck Pharmaceuticals, and he is in IT.
At the supermarket, they were buying more than I was. I had decided I wanted to sit on my balcony tonight until the sun had set, so I was buying things to eat and drink. Also, I was getting enough to have tomorrow as my breakfast before the bus leaves. The Japanese-American couple were still shopping when I finished and left.
By the time I walked back to my guesthouse, it was 14:30 and hot. I sat outside in the shade on my balcony and read the news on the computer. After that, I read in my book. Finally, around 19:00, I ate--a ham and tomato sandwich on a nice seed-filled bread with a half-liter of Greek beer. For dessert, I had five fresh plums. The sun still was not down, so I went back to my book. I was reading the last pages of it just as the sky was turning colors and starting to darken.
The book is a bit unusual for me. It's not a novel, but it reads like a novel. It is a true story of people living in a slum in Mumbai written by an American woman who went there to live among them and write about their lives. Like so many other books about India I have read, it is quite depressing because of the circumstances of their lives with things often getting worse rather than better. The book is Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo, and it won the National Book Award for non-fiction. Even though I didn't like what was happening in the book, it was well written and well documented. It's an extraordinary achievement. I gave it 4 out of 4 stars.
I didn't want to visit more monasteries, so I picked out a trail that two different groups recommended to me yesterday. It, too, leads to a monastery, but much of the trail is in the hills before heading up the mountain. The trail goes behind the town of Kalabaka from west to east before heading up to Agiatrias. First, I had to walk from Kastraki to western Kalabaka which takes about 30 minutes. On that part, I stopped at a bakery and bought myself a thick slice of spinach-cheese pie to eat for my breakfast. Then, at the edge of town, I started the trail. After crossing the northern side of the city to get to the base of the mountain (another 30 minutes or more), I still continued up the trail maybe 1/3 of the way. By then, I was tired and hot and had less than half a bottle of water left. After resting in the shade awhile, I decided to come back down to town.
One problem here is the flies. I had been told about them, and the owner of the guesthouse said there are fewer than usual this year, but a few more mosquitoes than normal. Well, the flies have bothered me all day today. They seam to like sweat, and I know they like my hair gel when combined with perspiration. They want to swarm around my head all the time! That was another reason for cutting the hike short.
I met an American couple of Japanese descent at that moment. They had taken the bus up to the monastery and were walking down the trail. We walked together and talked. I told them I was going to a supermarket to buy some things, and they wanted to join me. (They had until 17:00 to spend in town, because they were taking the train to Athens at that time.) We talked about lots of subjects. She is a chemist with Merck Pharmaceuticals, and he is in IT.
At the supermarket, they were buying more than I was. I had decided I wanted to sit on my balcony tonight until the sun had set, so I was buying things to eat and drink. Also, I was getting enough to have tomorrow as my breakfast before the bus leaves. The Japanese-American couple were still shopping when I finished and left.
By the time I walked back to my guesthouse, it was 14:30 and hot. I sat outside in the shade on my balcony and read the news on the computer. After that, I read in my book. Finally, around 19:00, I ate--a ham and tomato sandwich on a nice seed-filled bread with a half-liter of Greek beer. For dessert, I had five fresh plums. The sun still was not down, so I went back to my book. I was reading the last pages of it just as the sky was turning colors and starting to darken.
The book is a bit unusual for me. It's not a novel, but it reads like a novel. It is a true story of people living in a slum in Mumbai written by an American woman who went there to live among them and write about their lives. Like so many other books about India I have read, it is quite depressing because of the circumstances of their lives with things often getting worse rather than better. The book is Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo, and it won the National Book Award for non-fiction. Even though I didn't like what was happening in the book, it was well written and well documented. It's an extraordinary achievement. I gave it 4 out of 4 stars.
I Hiked the Monks' Stone Paths to the Tops of the Mountains
Thursday, Sept. 15, 2016--Kastraki (Meteora)
I came here to see the monasteries of Meteora--the ones built on top of mountains in this area. I had no interest in trying to see all of them, since I am not religious and enough becomes enough. This morning I headed further up the roadway from my guesthouse until I got to the beginning of the stone paths that lead to two of the more popular of the monasteries. Then I headed up the paths that monks have used for centuries to get to and from them.
My first stop was at the most popular of the monasteries because it is the biggest--the Great Meteoron Monastery (Megalo Meteoro). It's a long climb to the top, but most of the trail is shaded by trees. I stopped a couple of times to relax and drink some water. At one stop, I had a nice visit with a German couple who were climbing the same way with their two children. Most of the time, the trail was quiet and empty, though. (Most people today take cars or buses up highways to parking lots that have been built behind the monasteries.)
Even though it is September (after the main tourist season), there were huge crowds at the top--mostly tour groups which are brought here from as far away as Athens each day. There really isn't a lot to see once there other than the architecture (which is amazing considering the location), the views (which are fantastic, especially toward other mountain-top monasteries), and the frescoes in the chapels (which are like those I have been seeing for weeks now in chapels from the 1300s to 1600s). What's frustrating, however, is the attitudes and actions of the tour guides. They think nothing of blocking the entrance to a chapel to talk to their group about it before going inside. Then they think nothing of closing the door behind their group to keep others from coming in while their group is there. I purposely maneuvered behind a tour guide at a door and opened the door just to irritate the tour guide inside who had closed it! I kept it open and stood there looking to see what I wanted to see in the chapel before closing it again.
I went back down about 1/3 of the trail after that and then took a branch that led up to another monastery--Varlaam, the second largest of them all. It was similar to the first--interesting to see, but more of essentially the same. A good part of seeing it was that they have built a public restroom beneath the monastery so that I could refill my water bottle before heading back down.
Coming down the old stone pathways is a lot easier than going up. It wasn't bad at all to return to the bottom of the mountain and then follow the roadway back to my guesthouse. I had been gone for four hours, so I was a bit tired. I sat on the balcony of my room facing toward the same mountains I had just climbed, and relaxed reading e-mail, on-line news reports, etc.
In the late afternoon, I walked through Kastraki where my guesthouse is located to Kalabaka, the bigger town below, and bought my bus ticket to Athens on Saturday. I faced sticker shock!! The 5-hour trip cost 31.50 Euros--about $36 US!! That's three times what a ticket of a similar length of time has been costing me elsewhere on this trip--even in Italy! When I talked with the German family this morning, one of their comments was about how expensive things were here in Greece. They had expected prices to be cheaper due to the financial problems the country has faced in recent years. But from what I have read, their financial problems are mostly related to the fact that NOT paying taxes is a common game in Greece. There have been stories from the very beginning of their adoption of the Euro that their prices had jumped to double or triple what they had been before. Greece hasn't been an inexpensive paradise for years. Still, the bus ticket seemed unreasonably expensive.
In the evening, I read from my novel on the balcony as the sun was setting. Inside, I checked TV, but there are no English language channels of interest to me. I was ready for bed around 22:00.
I came here to see the monasteries of Meteora--the ones built on top of mountains in this area. I had no interest in trying to see all of them, since I am not religious and enough becomes enough. This morning I headed further up the roadway from my guesthouse until I got to the beginning of the stone paths that lead to two of the more popular of the monasteries. Then I headed up the paths that monks have used for centuries to get to and from them.
My first stop was at the most popular of the monasteries because it is the biggest--the Great Meteoron Monastery (Megalo Meteoro). It's a long climb to the top, but most of the trail is shaded by trees. I stopped a couple of times to relax and drink some water. At one stop, I had a nice visit with a German couple who were climbing the same way with their two children. Most of the time, the trail was quiet and empty, though. (Most people today take cars or buses up highways to parking lots that have been built behind the monasteries.)
Even though it is September (after the main tourist season), there were huge crowds at the top--mostly tour groups which are brought here from as far away as Athens each day. There really isn't a lot to see once there other than the architecture (which is amazing considering the location), the views (which are fantastic, especially toward other mountain-top monasteries), and the frescoes in the chapels (which are like those I have been seeing for weeks now in chapels from the 1300s to 1600s). What's frustrating, however, is the attitudes and actions of the tour guides. They think nothing of blocking the entrance to a chapel to talk to their group about it before going inside. Then they think nothing of closing the door behind their group to keep others from coming in while their group is there. I purposely maneuvered behind a tour guide at a door and opened the door just to irritate the tour guide inside who had closed it! I kept it open and stood there looking to see what I wanted to see in the chapel before closing it again.
I went back down about 1/3 of the trail after that and then took a branch that led up to another monastery--Varlaam, the second largest of them all. It was similar to the first--interesting to see, but more of essentially the same. A good part of seeing it was that they have built a public restroom beneath the monastery so that I could refill my water bottle before heading back down.
Coming down the old stone pathways is a lot easier than going up. It wasn't bad at all to return to the bottom of the mountain and then follow the roadway back to my guesthouse. I had been gone for four hours, so I was a bit tired. I sat on the balcony of my room facing toward the same mountains I had just climbed, and relaxed reading e-mail, on-line news reports, etc.
In the late afternoon, I walked through Kastraki where my guesthouse is located to Kalabaka, the bigger town below, and bought my bus ticket to Athens on Saturday. I faced sticker shock!! The 5-hour trip cost 31.50 Euros--about $36 US!! That's three times what a ticket of a similar length of time has been costing me elsewhere on this trip--even in Italy! When I talked with the German family this morning, one of their comments was about how expensive things were here in Greece. They had expected prices to be cheaper due to the financial problems the country has faced in recent years. But from what I have read, their financial problems are mostly related to the fact that NOT paying taxes is a common game in Greece. There have been stories from the very beginning of their adoption of the Euro that their prices had jumped to double or triple what they had been before. Greece hasn't been an inexpensive paradise for years. Still, the bus ticket seemed unreasonably expensive.
In the evening, I read from my novel on the balcony as the sun was setting. Inside, I checked TV, but there are no English language channels of interest to me. I was ready for bed around 22:00.
Thursday, September 15, 2016
The Bus Ride/Border Crossing from Hell then an Uphill 2.6 km Sprint with 26 Minutes to Go!
Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2016--Triane to Kastraki
I thought it was nice not getting up in the middle of the night to catch my bus. I read the news on the computer. I ate a good breakfast from the hotel buffet. I walked to the location the bus would depart in plenty of time.
As soon as the bus left, however, I realized there was going to be a time problem. We headed NORTH out of Triane, then we headed WEST toward Durres. Greece is to the south and the east! We went an around-the-way route through Albania stopping to pick up more passengers. Every time we stopped, it took more time, because not only did we load more passengers, but all the men on the bus would get off to smoke a cigarette and then would have to be herded back on. Five hours after departing, we were still in Albania, yet Google maps shows that a car can drive all the way to where I was headed in a little over 5 hours (but not following the route we were using)!!
At every border crossing on this trip, it has gone fast and smoothly getting a busload of people checked and approved. But not today. On the Greek side, they took our passports and spent much more time than usual for checking OUT of a country. Then we started waiting, and waiting, and waiting. Finally, I asked a young lady who speaks English what was happening. Somehow, a woman had gotten onto the bus with no passport and with only a piece of paper (like the Turkish man who was taken off our bus going from Montenegro into Kosovo). How it happened is mysterious, since the bus company photocopied passports as a part of issuing tickets and wrote the passport number on each ticket. Anyway, after about 45 more minutes, we were told she would not be going with us and we were free to cross.
The two checkpoints are built so that buses have a special lane on the right. But to get from one checkpoint to the next, the bus has to pass through the line of cars, take a lane on the left, then cross back through the line of cars to get to the special lane on the right at the next checkpoint. That took a long time to maneuver.
There had been a long line of seldom moving cars between the two checkpoints. When we got to the Greek side, there was only one lane open. A cherry-picker device was being used to do some repair work to overhead signs. The bus got us to the right lane, but there was no one there to take our passports. Suddenly, the driver told us to get out and walk through the procedure at two booths that were manned. That ate up more time as each person was checked (and even more time as the one who checked my line kept trying to carry on a conversation on his cell phone while processing us).
That was 19:00 Albanian time, but Greece is in another time zone, so we had jumped to 20:00 Greek time. The reason the time mattered so much is that my guesthouse had told me that they close reception at 22:00 and re-open it at 7:00 each day. I needed to be at my guesthouse by 22:00, and we were just leaving the border!
The bus actually went fairly fast for a while, since we were on expressways in Greece. I began to think maybe I would make it within my time limit. But then the bus exited onto a two-lane, winding road through the mountains at 21:00 and things really slowed down. I started to worry. My phone cannot be used to make calls inside Europe, so I asked the young lady who speaks English if she had a phone I could use. She didn't, but she said that she was sure we could use the driver's phone. Then she dropped a bombshell: She said we would be stopping soon for 30 minutes so everyone could eat dinner. I suggested that I would wait until then to try to use the driver's phone.
By 21:45, we had not made much progress--we had not stopped yet for eating and were still at least 45 minutes away from my destination. We borrowed the driver's phone and called the guesthouse to ask if there was a way to leave a key for me when they closed in 15 minutes. Fortunately, the lady said she could leave a key with a tavern that is 30 meters away if I could be there by 23:30 when they closed. Otherwise, she said, I should find somewhere else to stay for the night.
The place the driver intended to stop for dinner was closing, since it was 22:00 when we got there. He drove on, and I hoped he would continue all the way to my stop. Unfortunately, he pulled off at 22:15--just 15 minutes away from my stop for everyone to have a 30-minute dinner break!
It was 23:00 when the bus stopped to let me off in Kalambaka. But my guesthouse, Guesthouse Vavitas, is in Kastraki--2.6 km (1.5 miles) up the steep hill toward the Meteora mountains. There was no taxi at the stop, so I rushed to a nearby bar and they tried to call one. They couldn't get anyone. So at 23:05, I started running uphill knowing that the tavern where they were holding my key was scheduled to close at 23:30! My throat went very dry, and I was breathing heavily. Not only was I rushing uphill, but I was pulling my rolling suitcase and wearing my backpack.
I kept checking the time. And I had to keep one-handedly opening my phone while continuing to move to make sure I was following the right road. As a car would pass, I would stick out my hand and try to hitchhike. It was 23:20, and I was only a little over halfway up the hill to my hotel, but a car stopped. It was two men who were searching for their own hotel. I jumped in with them and used my phone to figure out that their hotel was just ahead on the left and that mine would be a little bit beyond. They drove past theirs. I looked at my phone map and could see we were almost to mine, and I saw an empty tavern with a man standing outside. I asked, "Do you have keys for an American staying at Vavitsas?" It was the right place!
The men in the car let me out and turned back toward their place. The man at the tavern walked me up to mine and let me in. He has apparently done this before, because he took my passport number and brought me to the room to show me the details. I was so happy to be in the hotel, but I felt bad that he had been waiting for me; it was obvious that the tavern business for the night had ended earlier. Anyway, at 23:25, I was able to get into my guesthouse and be in my room. Maybe the man would have waited longer at the tavern for me, but I was so glad I did not have to continue uphill with my luggage that last part of the way and did not have to worry about being later than the time I was trying to beat.
This was a third day in a row for problems. I hope this will be the end of it! I want to spend my last week on the trip enjoying myself again.
I thought it was nice not getting up in the middle of the night to catch my bus. I read the news on the computer. I ate a good breakfast from the hotel buffet. I walked to the location the bus would depart in plenty of time.
As soon as the bus left, however, I realized there was going to be a time problem. We headed NORTH out of Triane, then we headed WEST toward Durres. Greece is to the south and the east! We went an around-the-way route through Albania stopping to pick up more passengers. Every time we stopped, it took more time, because not only did we load more passengers, but all the men on the bus would get off to smoke a cigarette and then would have to be herded back on. Five hours after departing, we were still in Albania, yet Google maps shows that a car can drive all the way to where I was headed in a little over 5 hours (but not following the route we were using)!!
At every border crossing on this trip, it has gone fast and smoothly getting a busload of people checked and approved. But not today. On the Greek side, they took our passports and spent much more time than usual for checking OUT of a country. Then we started waiting, and waiting, and waiting. Finally, I asked a young lady who speaks English what was happening. Somehow, a woman had gotten onto the bus with no passport and with only a piece of paper (like the Turkish man who was taken off our bus going from Montenegro into Kosovo). How it happened is mysterious, since the bus company photocopied passports as a part of issuing tickets and wrote the passport number on each ticket. Anyway, after about 45 more minutes, we were told she would not be going with us and we were free to cross.
The two checkpoints are built so that buses have a special lane on the right. But to get from one checkpoint to the next, the bus has to pass through the line of cars, take a lane on the left, then cross back through the line of cars to get to the special lane on the right at the next checkpoint. That took a long time to maneuver.
There had been a long line of seldom moving cars between the two checkpoints. When we got to the Greek side, there was only one lane open. A cherry-picker device was being used to do some repair work to overhead signs. The bus got us to the right lane, but there was no one there to take our passports. Suddenly, the driver told us to get out and walk through the procedure at two booths that were manned. That ate up more time as each person was checked (and even more time as the one who checked my line kept trying to carry on a conversation on his cell phone while processing us).
That was 19:00 Albanian time, but Greece is in another time zone, so we had jumped to 20:00 Greek time. The reason the time mattered so much is that my guesthouse had told me that they close reception at 22:00 and re-open it at 7:00 each day. I needed to be at my guesthouse by 22:00, and we were just leaving the border!
The bus actually went fairly fast for a while, since we were on expressways in Greece. I began to think maybe I would make it within my time limit. But then the bus exited onto a two-lane, winding road through the mountains at 21:00 and things really slowed down. I started to worry. My phone cannot be used to make calls inside Europe, so I asked the young lady who speaks English if she had a phone I could use. She didn't, but she said that she was sure we could use the driver's phone. Then she dropped a bombshell: She said we would be stopping soon for 30 minutes so everyone could eat dinner. I suggested that I would wait until then to try to use the driver's phone.
By 21:45, we had not made much progress--we had not stopped yet for eating and were still at least 45 minutes away from my destination. We borrowed the driver's phone and called the guesthouse to ask if there was a way to leave a key for me when they closed in 15 minutes. Fortunately, the lady said she could leave a key with a tavern that is 30 meters away if I could be there by 23:30 when they closed. Otherwise, she said, I should find somewhere else to stay for the night.
The place the driver intended to stop for dinner was closing, since it was 22:00 when we got there. He drove on, and I hoped he would continue all the way to my stop. Unfortunately, he pulled off at 22:15--just 15 minutes away from my stop for everyone to have a 30-minute dinner break!
It was 23:00 when the bus stopped to let me off in Kalambaka. But my guesthouse, Guesthouse Vavitas, is in Kastraki--2.6 km (1.5 miles) up the steep hill toward the Meteora mountains. There was no taxi at the stop, so I rushed to a nearby bar and they tried to call one. They couldn't get anyone. So at 23:05, I started running uphill knowing that the tavern where they were holding my key was scheduled to close at 23:30! My throat went very dry, and I was breathing heavily. Not only was I rushing uphill, but I was pulling my rolling suitcase and wearing my backpack.
I kept checking the time. And I had to keep one-handedly opening my phone while continuing to move to make sure I was following the right road. As a car would pass, I would stick out my hand and try to hitchhike. It was 23:20, and I was only a little over halfway up the hill to my hotel, but a car stopped. It was two men who were searching for their own hotel. I jumped in with them and used my phone to figure out that their hotel was just ahead on the left and that mine would be a little bit beyond. They drove past theirs. I looked at my phone map and could see we were almost to mine, and I saw an empty tavern with a man standing outside. I asked, "Do you have keys for an American staying at Vavitsas?" It was the right place!
The men in the car let me out and turned back toward their place. The man at the tavern walked me up to mine and let me in. He has apparently done this before, because he took my passport number and brought me to the room to show me the details. I was so happy to be in the hotel, but I felt bad that he had been waiting for me; it was obvious that the tavern business for the night had ended earlier. Anyway, at 23:25, I was able to get into my guesthouse and be in my room. Maybe the man would have waited longer at the tavern for me, but I was so glad I did not have to continue uphill with my luggage that last part of the way and did not have to worry about being later than the time I was trying to beat.
This was a third day in a row for problems. I hope this will be the end of it! I want to spend my last week on the trip enjoying myself again.
Wednesday, September 14, 2016
Sick for a Day
Tuesday, Sept.13, 2016--Tirane
When I went out for a while last night, I didn't stay out long. I thought I was just tired from the stresses of the day. But I must have been coming down with a virus. A little later, I had a bought of diarrhea. Then I had chills. I kept burping up the taste of some peanuts I had eaten while writing my blog. I felt worse and worse as the night continued, but I only had diarrhea once more, and I never threw up.
This morning, I didn't really want anything at breakfast, but I forced myself to eat some eggs, some tomatoes, a piece of cheese, and a tub of yogurt. I ate about half a slice of bread with some honey, and I drank two glasses of juice and a cup of tea. Then I went to find the office for th bus I was supposed to take from here tomorrow morning at 3:30 a.m.!
I never found the bus office. But there was another office with a bus going where I wanted to go at 11:00 each day. I talked to the woman, and they even stop right where I want to be; the other bus would have taken me further causing me to have to backtrack for 45 minutes. I knew that the new bus would be a much more convenient time and that it would give me more time to get well before leaving. Also, since I hadn't been looking forward to carrying my luggage 25 minutes across town in the middle of the night, I booked a ticket with this new company.
Returning to the hotel, I felt worse and worse. The smell of food was a turn-off, and a slight fever had returned. Even noises irritated me and I had no interest on being on the computer. I went to bed and slept for about 4 1/2 hours. Sometime around 16:00, I realized I was starting to feel better. So at 17:00, I went out for a walk for two hours. I could smell the food without feeling sick. But I still felt clammy as if I might have a bit of a fever. Anyway, apparently, it was just a 24-hour virus and I will be fine for travel tomorrow. I'm so glad.
When I went out for a while last night, I didn't stay out long. I thought I was just tired from the stresses of the day. But I must have been coming down with a virus. A little later, I had a bought of diarrhea. Then I had chills. I kept burping up the taste of some peanuts I had eaten while writing my blog. I felt worse and worse as the night continued, but I only had diarrhea once more, and I never threw up.
This morning, I didn't really want anything at breakfast, but I forced myself to eat some eggs, some tomatoes, a piece of cheese, and a tub of yogurt. I ate about half a slice of bread with some honey, and I drank two glasses of juice and a cup of tea. Then I went to find the office for th bus I was supposed to take from here tomorrow morning at 3:30 a.m.!
I never found the bus office. But there was another office with a bus going where I wanted to go at 11:00 each day. I talked to the woman, and they even stop right where I want to be; the other bus would have taken me further causing me to have to backtrack for 45 minutes. I knew that the new bus would be a much more convenient time and that it would give me more time to get well before leaving. Also, since I hadn't been looking forward to carrying my luggage 25 minutes across town in the middle of the night, I booked a ticket with this new company.
Returning to the hotel, I felt worse and worse. The smell of food was a turn-off, and a slight fever had returned. Even noises irritated me and I had no interest on being on the computer. I went to bed and slept for about 4 1/2 hours. Sometime around 16:00, I realized I was starting to feel better. So at 17:00, I went out for a walk for two hours. I could smell the food without feeling sick. But I still felt clammy as if I might have a bit of a fever. Anyway, apparently, it was just a 24-hour virus and I will be fine for travel tomorrow. I'm so glad.
Tuesday, September 13, 2016
A Stressful Day
Monday, Sept. 12, 2016--Prizren to Tirane
When I awoke, I checked the weather forecast. It called for a 50% chance of rain at 15:00 when I was supposed to be standing on the roadside waiting for my bus. So that started the stress for the day.
When I finished breakfast, there was a light rain. I knew I had until noon to stay in the room, but I started to worry that maybe the rain would be all day and that I couldn't go out. I spent time in the room doing various things. And by 11:30, fortunately, the rain had stopped.
I checked out of the hotel and headed for the one last tourist spot I wanted to see--Church of Our Lady of Ljevis, an Orthodox church that is a World Heritage Site (WHS). I knew it had been damaged by fire during the war and was undergoing restoration, so I was uncertain what I might be able to see. But I went there, because I would hate to miss seeing a WHS when I am in a city whre there is one. What I found was a disappointment. There were restoration signs, but the yard was grown up with weeds, and there were rusty gates blocking any entrance. On top of the gates and the fences were coils of razor wire. I was able to see the exterior of the building fine, but that was all I got to see.
From there, I walked to a small seating area I had used yesterday and sat and read from my book until 13:30. Then I returned to the hotel to be sure I was there whenever the owner wanted to leave to take me to the bus. While waiting, I visited with a new employee who speaks English very well--a very nice young man who enjoyed talking, and another employee who listened mostly, but also was interested in the conversation. At 14:35, we left for the bus stop at the side of the highway.
We had been told the bus would be there at 15:00. We arrived at 14:45, fortunately with sunshine instead of rain, and waited. At 15:05, I started worrying that maybe because of the light holiday traffic the bus had arrived earlier and already left. The driver called. They told him it was still 5-10 minutes away. Fifteen minutes later, we saw a blue bus come down the highway and take the exit. When it got to the traffic circle near us, it turned and drove into town. It wasn't the bus I needed. A car arrived with two other passengers waiting for the bus. They said they were told the bus would come at 15:30. Finally, at 15:35, the bus pulled off the highway and stopped to pick us up!!
The highway is a nice 4-lane controlled-access road most of the way. We curved and winded through mountains, but at a much faster speed than any of my other bus trips. We went through one long tunnel that had to be almost two miles (3.5 km) long. At a half-way point stop, I visited with 4 young men excited about heading to the beach in Durres for a week of swimming (and partying, too, I imagine). Seated beside me on the bus was an elderly man. All five of these men became fascinated by my phone as I used Google mapping and GPS to follow where we were as we headed back on the road again. Every few minutes, I would open the phone, have it find our location, and they would see what was near on the map as they watched the dot slowly moving along.
Unfortunately, the bus did not go all the way to the center of town. It let us off on a ring road about a 25-minute walk from the center. Fortunately, I already know Tirane from my previous trip here 7 years ago, so I headed straight into town. Soon, I was at Skanderbeg Square, the center of the downtown area. I turned up the street toward my hotel, Hotel Stela City Center, where I checked in around 18:45.
I thought I would go back out to walk around after that, but as soon as I had gone a couple of blocks I realized how tired my body was from the stressful day. I just turned around and went back to the room for the night.
Aft
When I awoke, I checked the weather forecast. It called for a 50% chance of rain at 15:00 when I was supposed to be standing on the roadside waiting for my bus. So that started the stress for the day.
When I finished breakfast, there was a light rain. I knew I had until noon to stay in the room, but I started to worry that maybe the rain would be all day and that I couldn't go out. I spent time in the room doing various things. And by 11:30, fortunately, the rain had stopped.
I checked out of the hotel and headed for the one last tourist spot I wanted to see--Church of Our Lady of Ljevis, an Orthodox church that is a World Heritage Site (WHS). I knew it had been damaged by fire during the war and was undergoing restoration, so I was uncertain what I might be able to see. But I went there, because I would hate to miss seeing a WHS when I am in a city whre there is one. What I found was a disappointment. There were restoration signs, but the yard was grown up with weeds, and there were rusty gates blocking any entrance. On top of the gates and the fences were coils of razor wire. I was able to see the exterior of the building fine, but that was all I got to see.
From there, I walked to a small seating area I had used yesterday and sat and read from my book until 13:30. Then I returned to the hotel to be sure I was there whenever the owner wanted to leave to take me to the bus. While waiting, I visited with a new employee who speaks English very well--a very nice young man who enjoyed talking, and another employee who listened mostly, but also was interested in the conversation. At 14:35, we left for the bus stop at the side of the highway.
We had been told the bus would be there at 15:00. We arrived at 14:45, fortunately with sunshine instead of rain, and waited. At 15:05, I started worrying that maybe because of the light holiday traffic the bus had arrived earlier and already left. The driver called. They told him it was still 5-10 minutes away. Fifteen minutes later, we saw a blue bus come down the highway and take the exit. When it got to the traffic circle near us, it turned and drove into town. It wasn't the bus I needed. A car arrived with two other passengers waiting for the bus. They said they were told the bus would come at 15:30. Finally, at 15:35, the bus pulled off the highway and stopped to pick us up!!
The highway is a nice 4-lane controlled-access road most of the way. We curved and winded through mountains, but at a much faster speed than any of my other bus trips. We went through one long tunnel that had to be almost two miles (3.5 km) long. At a half-way point stop, I visited with 4 young men excited about heading to the beach in Durres for a week of swimming (and partying, too, I imagine). Seated beside me on the bus was an elderly man. All five of these men became fascinated by my phone as I used Google mapping and GPS to follow where we were as we headed back on the road again. Every few minutes, I would open the phone, have it find our location, and they would see what was near on the map as they watched the dot slowly moving along.
Unfortunately, the bus did not go all the way to the center of town. It let us off on a ring road about a 25-minute walk from the center. Fortunately, I already know Tirane from my previous trip here 7 years ago, so I headed straight into town. Soon, I was at Skanderbeg Square, the center of the downtown area. I turned up the street toward my hotel, Hotel Stela City Center, where I checked in around 18:45.
I thought I would go back out to walk around after that, but as soon as I had gone a couple of blocks I realized how tired my body was from the stressful day. I just turned around and went back to the room for the night.
Aft
Monday, September 12, 2016
Churches and an Earthquake
Sunday, Sept. 11, 2016--Prizren
Churches here tend to be locked much of the time. Therefore, Sunday is the best time to see them. Today, I visited two cathedrals--the Serbian Orthodox Cathedral and the Catholic Cathedral. Both are just a block from my hotel in different directions.
Most Serbian churches were greatly damaged in the war against Belgrade's efforts to hold as much of Yugoslavia together as possible by force. Some have had no restoration at all and are closed. But St. George Orthodox Cathedral has been restored to a great extent and can be visited. Unfortunately, when it was burned in the early 2000s, the frescoes were lost. The beautiful woodwork inside has been rebuilt, but the walls are now a simple white color. Next door to it, the small St. George Church which is older has also been restored. Its ceiling and wall frescoes remain, since it was not burned as a part of the war.
The Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, the Catholic Co-Cathedral for all of Kosovo, is also undergoing restoration and has nice, old frescoes on its ceiling. It is only open for the 11:00 o'clock mass on Sundays, so I went there at the beginning of mass this morning to see the inside of it.
After seeing the churches, I walked out to the edge of town where I found the animal market which was doing a booming business today due to the tradition of slaughtering a live animal on the holiday that will be tomorrow. Most of the animals for sale and being bought were lambs. But there were also turkeys, chickens, and cattle. Every family either buys its own animal or poorer families go together to share in the purchase of an animal they share. Everywhere I looked, the legs of live animals were being tied and then the animal hoisted into the back of a truck, an SUV, or the trunk of a car! Tomorrow is one of the two most important holidays of the year for Muslims, so everyone seemed to be in an excited mood with the wives shopping for other needed items at the fruit and vegetable market and at other stores while the men handled the buying and selling of the animals.
Back at the hotel, I was in bed working on the computer when we had an earthquake. Research on the Internet showed it was centered at Cair in northern Macedonia not far from here. It was a 5.3 quake and didn't last long, but it had my bed wobbling rather strongly for 3-4 seconds.
In the evening, I clarified my plans for tomorrow. I will pack and check out of my room at noon. I still have one tourist site I want to see, so I will go there and I may sit and read somewhere. Then I will be back here at the hotel at 14:00 to be picked up by the father of the men who run the hotel. He will drive me about 30 minutes away to meet the bus from Pristina headed to Tirane on the highway. The bus should be expecting us. I just hope it all goes well!!
Churches here tend to be locked much of the time. Therefore, Sunday is the best time to see them. Today, I visited two cathedrals--the Serbian Orthodox Cathedral and the Catholic Cathedral. Both are just a block from my hotel in different directions.
Most Serbian churches were greatly damaged in the war against Belgrade's efforts to hold as much of Yugoslavia together as possible by force. Some have had no restoration at all and are closed. But St. George Orthodox Cathedral has been restored to a great extent and can be visited. Unfortunately, when it was burned in the early 2000s, the frescoes were lost. The beautiful woodwork inside has been rebuilt, but the walls are now a simple white color. Next door to it, the small St. George Church which is older has also been restored. Its ceiling and wall frescoes remain, since it was not burned as a part of the war.
The Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, the Catholic Co-Cathedral for all of Kosovo, is also undergoing restoration and has nice, old frescoes on its ceiling. It is only open for the 11:00 o'clock mass on Sundays, so I went there at the beginning of mass this morning to see the inside of it.
After seeing the churches, I walked out to the edge of town where I found the animal market which was doing a booming business today due to the tradition of slaughtering a live animal on the holiday that will be tomorrow. Most of the animals for sale and being bought were lambs. But there were also turkeys, chickens, and cattle. Every family either buys its own animal or poorer families go together to share in the purchase of an animal they share. Everywhere I looked, the legs of live animals were being tied and then the animal hoisted into the back of a truck, an SUV, or the trunk of a car! Tomorrow is one of the two most important holidays of the year for Muslims, so everyone seemed to be in an excited mood with the wives shopping for other needed items at the fruit and vegetable market and at other stores while the men handled the buying and selling of the animals.
Back at the hotel, I was in bed working on the computer when we had an earthquake. Research on the Internet showed it was centered at Cair in northern Macedonia not far from here. It was a 5.3 quake and didn't last long, but it had my bed wobbling rather strongly for 3-4 seconds.
In the evening, I clarified my plans for tomorrow. I will pack and check out of my room at noon. I still have one tourist site I want to see, so I will go there and I may sit and read somewhere. Then I will be back here at the hotel at 14:00 to be picked up by the father of the men who run the hotel. He will drive me about 30 minutes away to meet the bus from Pristina headed to Tirane on the highway. The bus should be expecting us. I just hope it all goes well!!
Sunday, September 11, 2016
Solving Problems Caused by Muslim Holiday
Saturday, Sept. 10, 2016--Prizren
I ran into a transportation problem here. I went to the bus station yesterday to try to plan my trip to Tirane in Albania on Monday. There is no central ticketing area there. Instead, there are travel agencies everywhere advertising buses to various places. I tried to find one going to Tirane, but there was confusion. One man said that the bus I intended to take left at 7:30 and showed me where. But I still wanted more confirmation. I found a web page for them this morning and wrote them an e-mail. They replied that they will not run on Monday because it is a Muslim holiday--the celebration of Eid el-Adha, the Muslim feast of sacrifice which represents the end of the hajj this year. I tried to find a way to contact other bus companies, and they had only Facebook pages with none of them having an e-mail address available there. (Since I am not a member of Facebook, I cannot see full Facebook pages--one of their ways of trying to force everyone to accept and participate in their website. Companies should never use Facebook as their primary business location on the Internet.)
(Note: The holiday causing this confusion was not set at the time that I planned my trip. It is not a set date each year, it is a floating date which is decided by a group of imams based upon their decision of when the moon enters a certain phase, so the date is set only a few weeks before it occurs each year.)
I went to the hotel desk to ask them for help, and they were great. They looked up the companies that were going to Tirana and called three of them. Only one was running a bus on Monday, and that bus was not running until the middle of the afternoon. I considered leaving tomorrow when there will be several morning buses (as there always are on non-holidays), but the desk clerk explained that my reservation with booking.com made it difficult for them to make a change in my reservation--that it could be done easily if I had reserved directly with them; apparently they have to pay a fee to booking.com that covers the entire period of the reservation. So I asked them to call back and make a reservation with the one bus company that had told them it had a bus Monday--Albeni. Even that company, which normally has several buses each day, has only this one bus running that day, and it goes from Pristina to Tirane without even stopping here in Prizren. But the bus company took my name and told us where to be on the highway (about 6 miles from Prizren). The father of the owners of the hotel will drive me there to wait for the bus to stop and pick me up at 15:00 Monday afternoon. The bus will cost me twice as much as the regular buses from Prizren would, but it will allow me to go on the day I had planned, and, therefore, does not require me to change my hotel reservations either here or in Tirane. I still feel a bit uncomfortable about the lack of certainty of it all, but, as I said, the company took my name and told us where they would stop to pick me up on Monday, so I guess all is well. Will see.
The only reason for going to Tirane is to take a bus from there to Greece that leaves each day at 3:30 (in the morning)--the simplest way for me to get from Kosovo to Greece. I had hoped to take a morning bus from here to Tirane Monday so I could go to the bus office in Tirane in the afternoon Monday to make plans for my trip from there into Greece.. But since the day is also a holiday in Albania, the bus office probably will be closed there Monday. Therefore, my next step in trying to solve my travel problems was to contact the bus company I will take from Tirane to Greece to see if they would reserve me a seat for the bus leaving Wednesday morning (at 3:30 a.m. which is really late on Tuesday night). I was afraid to wait until Tuesday when I am in Tirane; if I did, I might find that the bus for that night was fully booked already.
Fortunately, in writing Crazy Holidays to make that reservation, I got a reply that said a place had been reserved for me but also said that their office is not in the location in Tirane that I had been told when communicating with them back in May or June. They gave me the correct street name but no number for locating the office on Tuesday. I wrote back asking for a number, since the street is a major one that is quite long. Their office was closing at 14:00 today, and I didn't hear back. But the main office that I was writing is in Greece and should be open on Monday to send me a reply that I should have before I need it on Tuesday.
That's a long story, but it shows how complicated things can become unexpectedly when traveling. And the longer a trip is, the greater the chance that a glitch like this one will occur.
Before settling all of that, I had my breakfast that comes with the hotel. It is not a buffet like many hotels offer. Instead, I had a choice of five menus. I chose the "Three Eye" menu representing three fried eggs with ham, cheese, cucumber slices, tomato slices, and olives on one plate; a slice of watermelon and a container of yogurt on another plate; and orange juice and a choice of either coffee or tea. It was quite good.
It was already 13:00 before I settled all the travel complications. I went to a park I could see on the map on my phone. Unfortunately, it is a rather horrible place. Many of the benches have been destroyed, and the areas around the benches are greatly littered with trash. I did find a decent bench (with surrounding trash) near a playground though, and I sat there and read from my current book. I left a couple of hours later when it started sprinkling some and returned to the room.
The sun was back out soon making it possible for me to wander through the center of the city watching people and seeing more sights. I saw two of the major ones--the Sinan Pasha Mosque from the 1600s which is the main mosque in the city and the Gazi Mehmet Pasha Hammam, the old bath house from the 1500s which is undergoing restoration and is not currently open for the public to enter.
I ran into a transportation problem here. I went to the bus station yesterday to try to plan my trip to Tirane in Albania on Monday. There is no central ticketing area there. Instead, there are travel agencies everywhere advertising buses to various places. I tried to find one going to Tirane, but there was confusion. One man said that the bus I intended to take left at 7:30 and showed me where. But I still wanted more confirmation. I found a web page for them this morning and wrote them an e-mail. They replied that they will not run on Monday because it is a Muslim holiday--the celebration of Eid el-Adha, the Muslim feast of sacrifice which represents the end of the hajj this year. I tried to find a way to contact other bus companies, and they had only Facebook pages with none of them having an e-mail address available there. (Since I am not a member of Facebook, I cannot see full Facebook pages--one of their ways of trying to force everyone to accept and participate in their website. Companies should never use Facebook as their primary business location on the Internet.)
(Note: The holiday causing this confusion was not set at the time that I planned my trip. It is not a set date each year, it is a floating date which is decided by a group of imams based upon their decision of when the moon enters a certain phase, so the date is set only a few weeks before it occurs each year.)
I went to the hotel desk to ask them for help, and they were great. They looked up the companies that were going to Tirana and called three of them. Only one was running a bus on Monday, and that bus was not running until the middle of the afternoon. I considered leaving tomorrow when there will be several morning buses (as there always are on non-holidays), but the desk clerk explained that my reservation with booking.com made it difficult for them to make a change in my reservation--that it could be done easily if I had reserved directly with them; apparently they have to pay a fee to booking.com that covers the entire period of the reservation. So I asked them to call back and make a reservation with the one bus company that had told them it had a bus Monday--Albeni. Even that company, which normally has several buses each day, has only this one bus running that day, and it goes from Pristina to Tirane without even stopping here in Prizren. But the bus company took my name and told us where to be on the highway (about 6 miles from Prizren). The father of the owners of the hotel will drive me there to wait for the bus to stop and pick me up at 15:00 Monday afternoon. The bus will cost me twice as much as the regular buses from Prizren would, but it will allow me to go on the day I had planned, and, therefore, does not require me to change my hotel reservations either here or in Tirane. I still feel a bit uncomfortable about the lack of certainty of it all, but, as I said, the company took my name and told us where they would stop to pick me up on Monday, so I guess all is well. Will see.
The only reason for going to Tirane is to take a bus from there to Greece that leaves each day at 3:30 (in the morning)--the simplest way for me to get from Kosovo to Greece. I had hoped to take a morning bus from here to Tirane Monday so I could go to the bus office in Tirane in the afternoon Monday to make plans for my trip from there into Greece.. But since the day is also a holiday in Albania, the bus office probably will be closed there Monday. Therefore, my next step in trying to solve my travel problems was to contact the bus company I will take from Tirane to Greece to see if they would reserve me a seat for the bus leaving Wednesday morning (at 3:30 a.m. which is really late on Tuesday night). I was afraid to wait until Tuesday when I am in Tirane; if I did, I might find that the bus for that night was fully booked already.
Fortunately, in writing Crazy Holidays to make that reservation, I got a reply that said a place had been reserved for me but also said that their office is not in the location in Tirane that I had been told when communicating with them back in May or June. They gave me the correct street name but no number for locating the office on Tuesday. I wrote back asking for a number, since the street is a major one that is quite long. Their office was closing at 14:00 today, and I didn't hear back. But the main office that I was writing is in Greece and should be open on Monday to send me a reply that I should have before I need it on Tuesday.
That's a long story, but it shows how complicated things can become unexpectedly when traveling. And the longer a trip is, the greater the chance that a glitch like this one will occur.
Before settling all of that, I had my breakfast that comes with the hotel. It is not a buffet like many hotels offer. Instead, I had a choice of five menus. I chose the "Three Eye" menu representing three fried eggs with ham, cheese, cucumber slices, tomato slices, and olives on one plate; a slice of watermelon and a container of yogurt on another plate; and orange juice and a choice of either coffee or tea. It was quite good.
It was already 13:00 before I settled all the travel complications. I went to a park I could see on the map on my phone. Unfortunately, it is a rather horrible place. Many of the benches have been destroyed, and the areas around the benches are greatly littered with trash. I did find a decent bench (with surrounding trash) near a playground though, and I sat there and read from my current book. I left a couple of hours later when it started sprinkling some and returned to the room.
The sun was back out soon making it possible for me to wander through the center of the city watching people and seeing more sights. I saw two of the major ones--the Sinan Pasha Mosque from the 1600s which is the main mosque in the city and the Gazi Mehmet Pasha Hammam, the old bath house from the 1500s which is undergoing restoration and is not currently open for the public to enter.
Saturday, September 10, 2016
Leaving the Rain Behind (Maybe Only Temporarily)
Friday, Sept. 9, 2016--Peja to Prizren
It was raining again this morning in Peja. It came down very hard as I was having breakfast. Back in my room, I noticed the rain had slowed some. I decided it was silly to stay there waiting for the bus at 10:30 when I had time to leave and catch the one at 9:45. But as I walked to the station, the rain got harder and harder again. I was quite wet, but I was leaving which gave me a good feeling.
There was a group of 11 British tourists on the bus accompanied by their guide who sat in front of me. He looks as if he is originally from the Balkans, but he did not speak Albanian which the bus operators were speaking. (He probably speaks Serbian.) Anyway, what was most interesting is that even though his physical appearance is like that of a local, he had 3 rings in different places on one ear and another ring on an eyebrow. One local young man who caught the bus couldn't keep his eyes off this guy. This is a very conservative area, so I imagine he was wondering how a man could wear rings like that. Maybe he was even envious. But as I watched him, he kept glancing sideways to look at the guide who was seated in front of me.
The rain stopped just before we entered Prizren. I was able to walk to my hotel, Hotel Centrum, with no problem. Then I decided to immediately go out to see some tourist sights in case the rain was headed this direction. First, I headed up the steep hill to the Fortress above the city. It's a steep climb, but many people were making it--with about half of those being teenagers who apparently go there to get away with doing things they cannot do in public elsewhere. I saw one couple necking in a nook of the fortress, and it was impossible to see what their hands were doing!! While up there, I saw a photographic exhibit of the Fortress and the city over time. They have some wonderful photographs from all the way back to 1865. And views of the city and the mountains around it were great from the tops of the walls of the Fortress.
Back down in town, I explored the central area. It is much different from Peja--more eastern looking and sounding. In fact, it is much like being in a Turkish city with all the mosques with their multiple calls to prayers going off at the same times. The people here look different from those in Peja, too. Many have the darker look of Turks, but then some of them have brown skin with blondish hair. They also dress differently with jeans being much more popular here. Regarding women, even though the city seems more Eastern, it is not common to see burkas. A few women wear Muslim head coverings, but most women dress in western style.
I bought a pizza for dinner from a place recommended on the Internet. I got a medium one with dried ham, cheese, oregano, and tomato sauce for only 2 Euros ($2.25 US)! I brought it back to the room and ate it while watching BBC News.
It was raining again this morning in Peja. It came down very hard as I was having breakfast. Back in my room, I noticed the rain had slowed some. I decided it was silly to stay there waiting for the bus at 10:30 when I had time to leave and catch the one at 9:45. But as I walked to the station, the rain got harder and harder again. I was quite wet, but I was leaving which gave me a good feeling.
There was a group of 11 British tourists on the bus accompanied by their guide who sat in front of me. He looks as if he is originally from the Balkans, but he did not speak Albanian which the bus operators were speaking. (He probably speaks Serbian.) Anyway, what was most interesting is that even though his physical appearance is like that of a local, he had 3 rings in different places on one ear and another ring on an eyebrow. One local young man who caught the bus couldn't keep his eyes off this guy. This is a very conservative area, so I imagine he was wondering how a man could wear rings like that. Maybe he was even envious. But as I watched him, he kept glancing sideways to look at the guide who was seated in front of me.
The rain stopped just before we entered Prizren. I was able to walk to my hotel, Hotel Centrum, with no problem. Then I decided to immediately go out to see some tourist sights in case the rain was headed this direction. First, I headed up the steep hill to the Fortress above the city. It's a steep climb, but many people were making it--with about half of those being teenagers who apparently go there to get away with doing things they cannot do in public elsewhere. I saw one couple necking in a nook of the fortress, and it was impossible to see what their hands were doing!! While up there, I saw a photographic exhibit of the Fortress and the city over time. They have some wonderful photographs from all the way back to 1865. And views of the city and the mountains around it were great from the tops of the walls of the Fortress.
Back down in town, I explored the central area. It is much different from Peja--more eastern looking and sounding. In fact, it is much like being in a Turkish city with all the mosques with their multiple calls to prayers going off at the same times. The people here look different from those in Peja, too. Many have the darker look of Turks, but then some of them have brown skin with blondish hair. They also dress differently with jeans being much more popular here. Regarding women, even though the city seems more Eastern, it is not common to see burkas. A few women wear Muslim head coverings, but most women dress in western style.
I bought a pizza for dinner from a place recommended on the Internet. I got a medium one with dried ham, cheese, oregano, and tomato sauce for only 2 Euros ($2.25 US)! I brought it back to the room and ate it while watching BBC News.
Friday, September 09, 2016
Extra Post: Communications and Thoughts
Extra Post--Sept. 8, 2016--Peja
I have spoken with a few local people over time during my visit here and in visits in my previous cities since Wes returned home. One topic that has come up regularly is how difficult life is here--that it is difficult for many people to get a job and that the the pay for those who do get jobs is low. I've even been told specific salaries. One person told me he makes 500 Euros a month (about $560 US) and that his father, a retired teacher, gets only 120 Euros a month (about $135 US). Another person told me that he makes 300 Euros a month (about $335 US). Another didn't tell me how much he makes, but he lives at home with his mother and a sister, and he seems to be the breadwinner for the three of them with a job for a non-profit organization (called an NGO, for non-government office, here in Europe) that probably doesn't pay much. I can understand now from knowing these salaries why one person in Sarajevo was shocked and said I was paying too much for my apartment when I told him I was paying $20 a night.
I continue to see beggars and people going through dumpsters everywhere I go. My guess is that these are people with no salaries or pensions. The fact that communism ended just in the 1990s means there are many elderly who live off very low pensions, since they never worked much under capitalism. And those who do not have the skills for getting a job are left with foraging and begging. Often, I see young children going through the dumpsters and putting things in their pockets or into plastic bags--probably to take home to feed their families or to try to sell for money. Many women here hold small children in their laps as they beg.
I saw a pickup truck pass me flying an American flag today. It was a bit faded, so I figure it is someone who has had it on his truck ever since the US military helped stop the war in Kosovo. People here are very grateful that Kosovo is free from rule by the Serbians who have always been a minority in this region but were the holders of power.
Because of all the years of communism when people were not allowed to be religious, Muslims are not fanatics here. Men will claim to be Muslim, but they may not ever go to the mosque. It's just that the Albanian people have always been Muslims since the Ottoman Empire, so they call themselves that. But one man told me that as soon as communism disappeared, the country did have an invasion of both Christians and Muslims from elsewhere arriving with the purpose of pushing religion in the region.
Ethnic tension (based predominantly on religious differences and memories of atrocities) remains under the surface here though. It shows in travel posts and signs that are at tourist sights: _____ was burned by Albanians during the war. ______ was destroyed by Serbian bombs and had to be rebuilt after the war.
As I walked around Peja the past two days, it has been interesting to note how many dental offices and barber shops there are here. The dental offices are fancy and probably are quite inexpensive. It's too bad I don't need any dental work done while I am here. And I spent so much time trying to find a barber in Cetinje when I should have just waited until I was here. I have seen barber shop after barber shop, and they tend to have young barbers who can probably speak some English and would have done a better job of cutting my hair the way I like it.
I have spoken with a few local people over time during my visit here and in visits in my previous cities since Wes returned home. One topic that has come up regularly is how difficult life is here--that it is difficult for many people to get a job and that the the pay for those who do get jobs is low. I've even been told specific salaries. One person told me he makes 500 Euros a month (about $560 US) and that his father, a retired teacher, gets only 120 Euros a month (about $135 US). Another person told me that he makes 300 Euros a month (about $335 US). Another didn't tell me how much he makes, but he lives at home with his mother and a sister, and he seems to be the breadwinner for the three of them with a job for a non-profit organization (called an NGO, for non-government office, here in Europe) that probably doesn't pay much. I can understand now from knowing these salaries why one person in Sarajevo was shocked and said I was paying too much for my apartment when I told him I was paying $20 a night.
I continue to see beggars and people going through dumpsters everywhere I go. My guess is that these are people with no salaries or pensions. The fact that communism ended just in the 1990s means there are many elderly who live off very low pensions, since they never worked much under capitalism. And those who do not have the skills for getting a job are left with foraging and begging. Often, I see young children going through the dumpsters and putting things in their pockets or into plastic bags--probably to take home to feed their families or to try to sell for money. Many women here hold small children in their laps as they beg.
I saw a pickup truck pass me flying an American flag today. It was a bit faded, so I figure it is someone who has had it on his truck ever since the US military helped stop the war in Kosovo. People here are very grateful that Kosovo is free from rule by the Serbians who have always been a minority in this region but were the holders of power.
Because of all the years of communism when people were not allowed to be religious, Muslims are not fanatics here. Men will claim to be Muslim, but they may not ever go to the mosque. It's just that the Albanian people have always been Muslims since the Ottoman Empire, so they call themselves that. But one man told me that as soon as communism disappeared, the country did have an invasion of both Christians and Muslims from elsewhere arriving with the purpose of pushing religion in the region.
Ethnic tension (based predominantly on religious differences and memories of atrocities) remains under the surface here though. It shows in travel posts and signs that are at tourist sights: _____ was burned by Albanians during the war. ______ was destroyed by Serbian bombs and had to be rebuilt after the war.
As I walked around Peja the past two days, it has been interesting to note how many dental offices and barber shops there are here. The dental offices are fancy and probably are quite inexpensive. It's too bad I don't need any dental work done while I am here. And I spent so much time trying to find a barber in Cetinje when I should have just waited until I was here. I have seen barber shop after barber shop, and they tend to have young barbers who can probably speak some English and would have done a better job of cutting my hair the way I like it.
I Made It to the Rugova Gorge!!
Thursday, Sept. 8, 2016--Peja
It was cloudy, but it wasn't raining when I got up this morning. I decided I would head out to see more sights as soon as I finished my breakfast--IF the dry spell continued. I tried the peppers I had seen yesterday. They are long, thin roasted peppers with great flavor. They are tossed with oil and crumbled cheese (which I thought was egg yesterday). Something else I tried that I didn't have yesterday was a pancake which I spread with Nutella. That was delicious, too. And today, I only had one of the nice chocolates.
The sun even peeked out a couple of times. So off I went in hopes of finishing my tour of town and maybe going further. I started by going to the bus station only to learn that I have to buy my ticket on the bus tomorrow. Then I walked to the edge of town and visited the Patriarchate of Peja which is a World Heritage Site which is a beautiful Serbian Orthodox Monastery complex from the 1300s. Because it is Serbian and Kosovo is ruled by the majority Albanian Muslims now, it has a huge wall around the complex and a permanent police guard house at its entrance. Everyone has to state his country to visit, and has to give a document in reserve if the answer indicates a citizen of a country that could be an enemy of Serbia and Orthodoxy. The church is actually one building with 5 chapels. It seems that each person in charge of the monastery wanted to have his own chapel and just kept adding onto the original building. There are old frescoes covering the walls and ceilings. It's a beautiful place. The only people there early this morning were a tour group of people from New Zealand, a Spanish man who entered at he same time I did, and me.
Being on the edge of town toward Rugova Gorge and with the weather still dry after my visit to the monastery, I decided to hike into the gorge. The walk was not a great incline, so I was able to walk fast. I went inward for about 2 hours. The mountains were high, the river was rushing, the views were wonderful. It was similar in appearance to the area where I rafted last week near Zabljak. The road twisted and winded along the sides of the river. the mountains overlapped each other in the distance. At one point, a waterfall gushed out of a hole in the side of the mountain and became multiple falls as it hit boulders toward the bottom where it entered the river. I decided to turn back after that point when going through a tunnel just didn't seem completely safe. I knew, anyway, that I was already deep inside the gorge.
Back in town 1 1/2 hours later, I walked back through the Old Town to take some photos. Then I visited the Peja Art Gallery to see an exhibit of photographs, paintings, and videos which was described as "connecting to the moment after a war or revolution when the real is present without the promise of utopia or illusion, like a broken simulacra." It was interesting, but didn't take up much time.
How nice it is that I have seen and done everything I wanted to do here. I could have spent more time in the gorge and gone as far as the valley that is supposed to be beautiful, but I don't feel like the rain completely ruined my visit anymore.
It was cloudy, but it wasn't raining when I got up this morning. I decided I would head out to see more sights as soon as I finished my breakfast--IF the dry spell continued. I tried the peppers I had seen yesterday. They are long, thin roasted peppers with great flavor. They are tossed with oil and crumbled cheese (which I thought was egg yesterday). Something else I tried that I didn't have yesterday was a pancake which I spread with Nutella. That was delicious, too. And today, I only had one of the nice chocolates.
The sun even peeked out a couple of times. So off I went in hopes of finishing my tour of town and maybe going further. I started by going to the bus station only to learn that I have to buy my ticket on the bus tomorrow. Then I walked to the edge of town and visited the Patriarchate of Peja which is a World Heritage Site which is a beautiful Serbian Orthodox Monastery complex from the 1300s. Because it is Serbian and Kosovo is ruled by the majority Albanian Muslims now, it has a huge wall around the complex and a permanent police guard house at its entrance. Everyone has to state his country to visit, and has to give a document in reserve if the answer indicates a citizen of a country that could be an enemy of Serbia and Orthodoxy. The church is actually one building with 5 chapels. It seems that each person in charge of the monastery wanted to have his own chapel and just kept adding onto the original building. There are old frescoes covering the walls and ceilings. It's a beautiful place. The only people there early this morning were a tour group of people from New Zealand, a Spanish man who entered at he same time I did, and me.
Being on the edge of town toward Rugova Gorge and with the weather still dry after my visit to the monastery, I decided to hike into the gorge. The walk was not a great incline, so I was able to walk fast. I went inward for about 2 hours. The mountains were high, the river was rushing, the views were wonderful. It was similar in appearance to the area where I rafted last week near Zabljak. The road twisted and winded along the sides of the river. the mountains overlapped each other in the distance. At one point, a waterfall gushed out of a hole in the side of the mountain and became multiple falls as it hit boulders toward the bottom where it entered the river. I decided to turn back after that point when going through a tunnel just didn't seem completely safe. I knew, anyway, that I was already deep inside the gorge.
Back in town 1 1/2 hours later, I walked back through the Old Town to take some photos. Then I visited the Peja Art Gallery to see an exhibit of photographs, paintings, and videos which was described as "connecting to the moment after a war or revolution when the real is present without the promise of utopia or illusion, like a broken simulacra." It was interesting, but didn't take up much time.
How nice it is that I have seen and done everything I wanted to do here. I could have spent more time in the gorge and gone as far as the valley that is supposed to be beautiful, but I don't feel like the rain completely ruined my visit anymore.
Thursday, September 08, 2016
Seeing Some of Peja between Showers
Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2016--Peja
The rain continued to fall today. The heaviest came during the evening, but throughout the morning there was a steady downfall causing people to use umbrellas outside.
The hotel had a nice buffet breakfast that was a bit different from some of the others I've had on this trip. Kosovo has a bread made from corn that is popular, and they had some of that--made from very fine ground corn. Bell peppers are a big part of the cuisine here (and markets have piles of them for sale). On the buffet they had whole peppers that had been scrambled with eggs. Something that I don't associate with Kosovo but was on the buffet and not common elsewhere was homemade dark chocolates. They had large square-shaped pieces 1 inch by 1 inch by 1/2-inch (2.5 cm x 2.5 cm x 1.25 cm) and similarly-sized diamond-shaped pieces. They were very tasty while being super rich. I took two pieces and had a problem finishing them both!
Because it was raining, I sat in the lobby after breakfast and used my computer to read the news as I waited for the maid to make my room. I finally returned to the room at 11:00 and stayed there until about 14:00. By then, there was only off-and-on drizzle. I decided to head out to see what I could of the city.
The lady at the tourist office gave me a map with a walking trail marked to connect some of the special features of the town. She also confirmed that it would be impossible to go to the river gorge today or tomorrow because of the amount of rain. (Seeing the river that runs through town convinced me she was right, since it was high and the water was rushing very fast.)
The first portion of my walk took me through the Old Town (Peja Bazaar) here. It is a large section of town built during the Ottoman period. The shops are small and the streets are narrow. It is similar to the section of Sarajevo from the same time period, but it isn't as architecturally so interesting. What makes it different and somewhat interesting is that the shops are ordinary shops serving the local population with shoes, jewelry, clothing, housewares, etc., rather than selling gift items and souvenirs like the shops in Sarajevo.
Just on the edge of Old Town and beyond it, I saw the Tahir Beg Inn (which is now an ethnological museum), Bajrakli Mosque, Haxhi Beu Hammam (bath house), Defterdar Mosque, Kurshumli Mosque, Mill of Haxhi Zeka, Kahreman Aga stone house, Goska family stone house, and Zenel Beu stone house.
I was lucky to be able to walk about 3 1/2 hours with only light rain. I wore my waterproof jacket that has a hood rather than take an umbrella. Back at the hotel, I watched CNN news. I considered going to the sauna downstairs, but it consists of individual cabinets which sounds rather boring to me--to just be isolated in a place with nothing to entertain my thoughts.
The rain continued to fall today. The heaviest came during the evening, but throughout the morning there was a steady downfall causing people to use umbrellas outside.
The hotel had a nice buffet breakfast that was a bit different from some of the others I've had on this trip. Kosovo has a bread made from corn that is popular, and they had some of that--made from very fine ground corn. Bell peppers are a big part of the cuisine here (and markets have piles of them for sale). On the buffet they had whole peppers that had been scrambled with eggs. Something that I don't associate with Kosovo but was on the buffet and not common elsewhere was homemade dark chocolates. They had large square-shaped pieces 1 inch by 1 inch by 1/2-inch (2.5 cm x 2.5 cm x 1.25 cm) and similarly-sized diamond-shaped pieces. They were very tasty while being super rich. I took two pieces and had a problem finishing them both!
Because it was raining, I sat in the lobby after breakfast and used my computer to read the news as I waited for the maid to make my room. I finally returned to the room at 11:00 and stayed there until about 14:00. By then, there was only off-and-on drizzle. I decided to head out to see what I could of the city.
The lady at the tourist office gave me a map with a walking trail marked to connect some of the special features of the town. She also confirmed that it would be impossible to go to the river gorge today or tomorrow because of the amount of rain. (Seeing the river that runs through town convinced me she was right, since it was high and the water was rushing very fast.)
The first portion of my walk took me through the Old Town (Peja Bazaar) here. It is a large section of town built during the Ottoman period. The shops are small and the streets are narrow. It is similar to the section of Sarajevo from the same time period, but it isn't as architecturally so interesting. What makes it different and somewhat interesting is that the shops are ordinary shops serving the local population with shoes, jewelry, clothing, housewares, etc., rather than selling gift items and souvenirs like the shops in Sarajevo.
Just on the edge of Old Town and beyond it, I saw the Tahir Beg Inn (which is now an ethnological museum), Bajrakli Mosque, Haxhi Beu Hammam (bath house), Defterdar Mosque, Kurshumli Mosque, Mill of Haxhi Zeka, Kahreman Aga stone house, Goska family stone house, and Zenel Beu stone house.
I was lucky to be able to walk about 3 1/2 hours with only light rain. I wore my waterproof jacket that has a hood rather than take an umbrella. Back at the hotel, I watched CNN news. I considered going to the sauna downstairs, but it consists of individual cabinets which sounds rather boring to me--to just be isolated in a place with nothing to entertain my thoughts.
Wednesday, September 07, 2016
A Beautiful 6-Hour Trip through the Mountains
Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016--Podgorica to Peja, Kosovo
It was nice not to have to get up so early to catch the bus this morning. Since I was already in Podgorica and not leaving from Cetinje, I only had to be at the bus station at 7:30--fifteen minutes before my bus to Peja was scheduled to arrive and depart.
The trip was spectacular in terms of scenery. The first two hours, we drove up a narrow canyon of high, rocky mountains. After that, we moved into a combination of rocky mountains with small valleys. Then we entered a long stretch of really nice forests of tall fir trees with an occasional valley. Besides the beauty, there was the feeling of going back in time. This is a VERY remote area since the only way to get here is on these same roads. I saw shepherds guiding sheep. I saw very old homes built of raw stone and sometimes with the upper part built of huge pieces of stacked timber. Everywhere, there were high, mounded hay stacks built around a central speer of wood maybe 3-4 meters (3-4 yards) high. Adding to the beauty is that it was still cloudy. There were areas with fluffy clouds hanging below the tops of the mountains and others with fog.
It was a long and tiring trip though with all the twisting and winding along the way. I was constantly leaning one way then the other. My body would tense in an effort to stay as much as possible an upright position over and over again.
There was a Turkish man traveling on our bus near me. When we stopped at the Montenegro border to check us out of the country, they took him inside and questioned him. Apparently all he had was a Turkish ID card and a letter of some kind with a seal on it. However, they let him leave. He was removed again when we got to the border control to enter Kosovo. I don't know what happened there, but he never got back on the bus. Maybe they were taking their time vetting him and would let him get on a later bus, or maybe they were going to send him back to Montenegro. I have no idea if he was trying to travel just to Kosovo or to maybe try to get all the way back to Turkey.
As we entered Kosovo, the scenery became more plain. The trees turned to scraggly ones. And we twisted and winded our way down to a large flat area. Unfortunately, the rain began again about halfway through the trip. So when I arrived at the station in Peja, I had to put on my raincoat to walk the 12 minutes or so to the hotel.
I am staying in a five-star hotel here, the Dukagjini Hotel, and I am glad. The main reason to be here was for me to go hiking into the canyon that forms the Rugova Valley. However, it is raining, and rain is in the forecast for the next two days I will be here. Even if it stopped, there is no way it would dry up enough for hiking. This is my first disappointment of the trip caused by weather. I will try to see some of the other sights in the city, but I think I will be spending a lot of time in my room or in the sauna they have here in the hotel that is included in my room!
It was nice not to have to get up so early to catch the bus this morning. Since I was already in Podgorica and not leaving from Cetinje, I only had to be at the bus station at 7:30--fifteen minutes before my bus to Peja was scheduled to arrive and depart.
The trip was spectacular in terms of scenery. The first two hours, we drove up a narrow canyon of high, rocky mountains. After that, we moved into a combination of rocky mountains with small valleys. Then we entered a long stretch of really nice forests of tall fir trees with an occasional valley. Besides the beauty, there was the feeling of going back in time. This is a VERY remote area since the only way to get here is on these same roads. I saw shepherds guiding sheep. I saw very old homes built of raw stone and sometimes with the upper part built of huge pieces of stacked timber. Everywhere, there were high, mounded hay stacks built around a central speer of wood maybe 3-4 meters (3-4 yards) high. Adding to the beauty is that it was still cloudy. There were areas with fluffy clouds hanging below the tops of the mountains and others with fog.
It was a long and tiring trip though with all the twisting and winding along the way. I was constantly leaning one way then the other. My body would tense in an effort to stay as much as possible an upright position over and over again.
There was a Turkish man traveling on our bus near me. When we stopped at the Montenegro border to check us out of the country, they took him inside and questioned him. Apparently all he had was a Turkish ID card and a letter of some kind with a seal on it. However, they let him leave. He was removed again when we got to the border control to enter Kosovo. I don't know what happened there, but he never got back on the bus. Maybe they were taking their time vetting him and would let him get on a later bus, or maybe they were going to send him back to Montenegro. I have no idea if he was trying to travel just to Kosovo or to maybe try to get all the way back to Turkey.
As we entered Kosovo, the scenery became more plain. The trees turned to scraggly ones. And we twisted and winded our way down to a large flat area. Unfortunately, the rain began again about halfway through the trip. So when I arrived at the station in Peja, I had to put on my raincoat to walk the 12 minutes or so to the hotel.
I am staying in a five-star hotel here, the Dukagjini Hotel, and I am glad. The main reason to be here was for me to go hiking into the canyon that forms the Rugova Valley. However, it is raining, and rain is in the forecast for the next two days I will be here. Even if it stopped, there is no way it would dry up enough for hiking. This is my first disappointment of the trip caused by weather. I will try to see some of the other sights in the city, but I think I will be spending a lot of time in my room or in the sauna they have here in the hotel that is included in my room!
Monday, September 05, 2016
Change of Plans
Monday, Sept. 5, 2016--Cetinje to Podgorica
Each day, I have been trying to find someone working at the bus station to check my plans for taking a bus to Podgorica tomorrow morning at 6:05. No one seems to work there, so I went by the tourist office today. They called, and it doesn't look like that bus runs anymore. The first bus coming through toward Podgorica would not be guaranteed to get me to the bus station by the time my bus to Peje leaves tomorrow (Tuesday) morning. Therefore, I had to quickly start making alternative plans.
On the way home to use the computer to change those plans, however, I heard band music. I could see it was at the front of the President's home. I walked that way to hear two pieces as official guests were being met and escorted into the home. The musicians were accompanied by an armed guard with all of them in very nice uniforms with red jackets and blue pants.
I went online and found a single room for 30 Euros near the bus station in Podgorica at Hotel Evropa. Then I checked bus schedules online to find that there are buses leaving every 20-30 minutes that will get me there by 13:00 or so after bathing, shaving, and packing. I explained to the lady who owns the guest house (through an interpreter over the phone) that I was leaving and why so that she could prepare the room for a new guest rather than just cleaning for me to stay one more night. I told the interpreter that I didn't want any money back. But as I left around noon, the lady insisted on giving me back the money for one night which covered over half of the cost of the hotel in Podgorica.
The hotel is not a great one. It is acceptable--a bit worn, but with a/c, lots of TV channels, and very clean, crisp sheets. The lady at check-in suggested places for me to walk to see the town with the hours I had remaining during the afternoon.
I ended up walking over 3 1/2 hours. There isn't a lot to see, and a lot of what there is to see is not so great. But everything is spread out. I went through the Old Town (which had little to see); Novo Podgorica which is the new part of town with office towers, fancy shops, and a huge new Orthodox church; and the center of town which has the government buildings, the old shopping areas, a new Hilton Hotel and some very nice parks. Parks are one of the better features of the city, because they have such beautiful, lush trees growing here. On the way back, I stopped at the Mall of Montenegro which is small and failing but has a very good supermarket where I shopped for some breakfast items to take on the bus with me tomorrow. I also walked through the next-door market hall with lots of independent sellers in stalls. By the time I left that area, the rain had arrived. Fortunately, it was light at the time, and I was able to walk the 10 minutes back to the hotel without a problem. We had storms off and on for much of the night.
Each day, I have been trying to find someone working at the bus station to check my plans for taking a bus to Podgorica tomorrow morning at 6:05. No one seems to work there, so I went by the tourist office today. They called, and it doesn't look like that bus runs anymore. The first bus coming through toward Podgorica would not be guaranteed to get me to the bus station by the time my bus to Peje leaves tomorrow (Tuesday) morning. Therefore, I had to quickly start making alternative plans.
On the way home to use the computer to change those plans, however, I heard band music. I could see it was at the front of the President's home. I walked that way to hear two pieces as official guests were being met and escorted into the home. The musicians were accompanied by an armed guard with all of them in very nice uniforms with red jackets and blue pants.
I went online and found a single room for 30 Euros near the bus station in Podgorica at Hotel Evropa. Then I checked bus schedules online to find that there are buses leaving every 20-30 minutes that will get me there by 13:00 or so after bathing, shaving, and packing. I explained to the lady who owns the guest house (through an interpreter over the phone) that I was leaving and why so that she could prepare the room for a new guest rather than just cleaning for me to stay one more night. I told the interpreter that I didn't want any money back. But as I left around noon, the lady insisted on giving me back the money for one night which covered over half of the cost of the hotel in Podgorica.
The hotel is not a great one. It is acceptable--a bit worn, but with a/c, lots of TV channels, and very clean, crisp sheets. The lady at check-in suggested places for me to walk to see the town with the hours I had remaining during the afternoon.
I ended up walking over 3 1/2 hours. There isn't a lot to see, and a lot of what there is to see is not so great. But everything is spread out. I went through the Old Town (which had little to see); Novo Podgorica which is the new part of town with office towers, fancy shops, and a huge new Orthodox church; and the center of town which has the government buildings, the old shopping areas, a new Hilton Hotel and some very nice parks. Parks are one of the better features of the city, because they have such beautiful, lush trees growing here. On the way back, I stopped at the Mall of Montenegro which is small and failing but has a very good supermarket where I shopped for some breakfast items to take on the bus with me tomorrow. I also walked through the next-door market hall with lots of independent sellers in stalls. By the time I left that area, the rain had arrived. Fortunately, it was light at the time, and I was able to walk the 10 minutes back to the hotel without a problem. We had storms off and on for much of the night.
I Climbed the Mountain
Sunday, Sept. 4, 2016--Cetinje
It was sunny today, but a spell of rain is coming if the forecast is right. I had originally planned to go to museums today, but I changed my mind based on the forecast.
There is a grave on top of the mountain just to the south of Cetinje. It is the burial spot for a famous bishop from the 1600s, Vladiko Danilo, and the site has good views of the city. I decided to climb up before it got to warm. First, I took the wrong path. After finding myself about half way up, I was at a dead end. An elderly man up there sunbathing himself indicated I needed to go back down and around to another path. So I did that. Then it was quite a steep climb, but on a nice paved pathway. At the top, the grave site was nothing special. But there were wonderful views of the town and the mountains in the distance as well as toward the mountains of Lovcen National Park which is nearby.
Back in town, I visited two small churches which are both dedicated to the Virgin Mary. One of them, the Cipur Church, has the tombs of King Nicola, his Queen, and the founder of Cetinje inside. The other, Vlaska Church, is mainly interesting because of its iron fence which was made from several thousand rifle barrels captured from the Ottoman soldiers as they were forced out of the area.
I wandered the streets more, finding several more of the old embassies I had missed yesterday. The French one is quite unique, and the plaque at the building says that it was often joked that the design for the Cairo embassy for France got sent here by mistake. The British embassy has been restored nicely. Here are more photos of former embassies here.
I thought I had seen most of the town yesterday, but I also found the present home (probably his second home, since Podgorica is now the capital) of the President of Montenegro with its guards and the former seat of government building which is now the National Museum.
Because of all the former government buildings and of the famous monastery here, Cetinje gets lots of tourists. Most, however, are day tourists. The tour buses come and go all day long with crowds of visitors following their guides around the town.
By the evening, there were big crowds at the cafes downtown. Apparently Saturday night is still a night to go downtown here in Cetinje. I bought a slice of pizza and ate it while I watched people. Then I returned to the hotel as it started to get darker and turn cool.
It was sunny today, but a spell of rain is coming if the forecast is right. I had originally planned to go to museums today, but I changed my mind based on the forecast.
There is a grave on top of the mountain just to the south of Cetinje. It is the burial spot for a famous bishop from the 1600s, Vladiko Danilo, and the site has good views of the city. I decided to climb up before it got to warm. First, I took the wrong path. After finding myself about half way up, I was at a dead end. An elderly man up there sunbathing himself indicated I needed to go back down and around to another path. So I did that. Then it was quite a steep climb, but on a nice paved pathway. At the top, the grave site was nothing special. But there were wonderful views of the town and the mountains in the distance as well as toward the mountains of Lovcen National Park which is nearby.
Back in town, I visited two small churches which are both dedicated to the Virgin Mary. One of them, the Cipur Church, has the tombs of King Nicola, his Queen, and the founder of Cetinje inside. The other, Vlaska Church, is mainly interesting because of its iron fence which was made from several thousand rifle barrels captured from the Ottoman soldiers as they were forced out of the area.
I wandered the streets more, finding several more of the old embassies I had missed yesterday. The French one is quite unique, and the plaque at the building says that it was often joked that the design for the Cairo embassy for France got sent here by mistake. The British embassy has been restored nicely. Here are more photos of former embassies here.
I thought I had seen most of the town yesterday, but I also found the present home (probably his second home, since Podgorica is now the capital) of the President of Montenegro with its guards and the former seat of government building which is now the National Museum.
Because of all the former government buildings and of the famous monastery here, Cetinje gets lots of tourists. Most, however, are day tourists. The tour buses come and go all day long with crowds of visitors following their guides around the town.
By the evening, there were big crowds at the cafes downtown. Apparently Saturday night is still a night to go downtown here in Cetinje. I bought a slice of pizza and ate it while I watched people. Then I returned to the hotel as it started to get darker and turn cool.
Sunday, September 04, 2016
Cetinje
Saturday, Sept. 3, 2016--Kotor to Cetinje
It's only 1 1/4 hours from Kotor to Cetinje, but what an uncomfortable trip it was. The bus was fine, but a man with three children took seats just behind me. One boy was quiet the whole way. The little girl talked very loudly very often. The other boy has some kind of disability and never stopped making nonsense noises at a high pitch. Between his noises and the girl trying to talk over them, it was unnerving.
My guest house in Cetinje, La Vecchia Casa, is a small place with each room being different. Mine is in the main building with a window looking out to the courtyard filled with flowers. It has a single bed, a side table with a reading lamp, a closet, a TV, and an old 1930s-style buffet. The bathroom is small with a toilet, a sink, and a shower head; the entire floor is the drain for the shower. The woman who owns it is Italian, and she has a young man who speaks English she pays to come and assist English-speaking tourists. Breakfast is not included, but she has items in the kitchen which can be used by guests--fresh eggs, bread, honey, butter, and a couple of kinds of spreads. She also has coffee and teas. Therefore, I will still have to make my own breakfast here.
Cetinje no longer has the marble curbs. I found a couple of places that still have them, but all the streets in the city have been rebuilt, and that process included putting modern concrete curbs!! It's an interesting city though--so small, yet with so many rather grand buildings--former palaces and embassies from the period from the late 1800s to the end of WWI that it had its independence. By the end of the day, I had walked the distance of every major street in town.
I found a festival occurring at the local monastery which is considered to be the preeminent one in Montenegro. School groups were here from all over the country, I guess. Each had a performing group (or maybe more than one) that went to the stage to either sing, dance, or play music. Many families were there in support of their groups, and there were more Orthodox priests (not only those from the monastery, but also those coming from the different schools) than I have ever seen before. Some of the children wore native Montenegro costumes while others just performed in street clothes. One young lady had a fantastic voice backed up by other students playing a keyboard, a guitar, an accordion, and a violinist. While there, I stepped inside to see the small chapel and the baptismal chapel (which is covered--ceilings and walls--with murals, but is not pictured on the Internet as far as I can find), the only two parts of the monastery open to the public. (There is another, larger chapel that can be visited with advance notice and a vetting process to make sure you mean no harm. It supposedly has several "relics" including one of the hands of John the Baptist.)
I was bothered a bit by something I saw during the festival there. I first noticed it with a younger priest probably in his late 30s/early 40s. He had a young girl maybe 4 or 5 years old sitting in his lap facing him with her legs straddling his sides who was bouncing and wiggling around. As I watched thinking that such a thing would probably never happen in the US these days, I didn't notice anyone showing any concern. The priest had his hand on her rear holding her in place on his lap. Then later, I saw the same priest and another, older priest both with girls in the 11-12 year old range sitting in their laps. It seemed awkward to me, but it apparently didn't seem that way to anyone else there.
In the late afternoon, I searched for a barber shop. I always like to get my hair cut in various countries when traveling, and it had gotten too long and was making me feel miserable. I drew images of how I wanted it cut in back and on the sides which he understood. He charged me more than a regular haircut, because I know it should have been about 3 Euros. But for the 5 Euros, he gave me something I haven't had in ages--a scissor and razor cut. First, he used thinning shears. Then he cut the hair with regular shears. Then he took a straight razor and pulled it across all parts of my head cutting more. When he finished, he blew my hair dry. But then he put a cream on it. It's a little longer along the back edges than I like, but it is a good haircut.
I went to a burger place that was recommended and was near the barber shop. Both the bun and the meat were 6 inches (15 cm) in diameter, and the meat was 1/2 inch thick (12.5 mm). The meat had spices and chunks of cheese inside it. As she cooked the meat, she spread mayonnaise on one half of the bun and a thick sour cream that looked like it came directly from a farm rather than from a factory on the other half of the bun. She added cabbage and pickles. She put the bun on the griddle to toast while the meat finished cooking, then she put the meat inside and served it to me steaming hot. UMMMM. It tasted so good. And it cost only 1.50 Euros (about $1.65 US).
I finished reading my novel, The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt, today. It's a western about two brothers who are hired killers--one rough with little conscience and the other somewhat sensitive. It was named to best-of-the-year lists by a number of reviewers and was short-listed for the Man Booker Prize. It's a unique western that incorporates some science fiction as well as some superstition. I enjoyed the book and gave it 3 1/2 stars out of 4.
It's only 1 1/4 hours from Kotor to Cetinje, but what an uncomfortable trip it was. The bus was fine, but a man with three children took seats just behind me. One boy was quiet the whole way. The little girl talked very loudly very often. The other boy has some kind of disability and never stopped making nonsense noises at a high pitch. Between his noises and the girl trying to talk over them, it was unnerving.
My guest house in Cetinje, La Vecchia Casa, is a small place with each room being different. Mine is in the main building with a window looking out to the courtyard filled with flowers. It has a single bed, a side table with a reading lamp, a closet, a TV, and an old 1930s-style buffet. The bathroom is small with a toilet, a sink, and a shower head; the entire floor is the drain for the shower. The woman who owns it is Italian, and she has a young man who speaks English she pays to come and assist English-speaking tourists. Breakfast is not included, but she has items in the kitchen which can be used by guests--fresh eggs, bread, honey, butter, and a couple of kinds of spreads. She also has coffee and teas. Therefore, I will still have to make my own breakfast here.
Cetinje no longer has the marble curbs. I found a couple of places that still have them, but all the streets in the city have been rebuilt, and that process included putting modern concrete curbs!! It's an interesting city though--so small, yet with so many rather grand buildings--former palaces and embassies from the period from the late 1800s to the end of WWI that it had its independence. By the end of the day, I had walked the distance of every major street in town.
I found a festival occurring at the local monastery which is considered to be the preeminent one in Montenegro. School groups were here from all over the country, I guess. Each had a performing group (or maybe more than one) that went to the stage to either sing, dance, or play music. Many families were there in support of their groups, and there were more Orthodox priests (not only those from the monastery, but also those coming from the different schools) than I have ever seen before. Some of the children wore native Montenegro costumes while others just performed in street clothes. One young lady had a fantastic voice backed up by other students playing a keyboard, a guitar, an accordion, and a violinist. While there, I stepped inside to see the small chapel and the baptismal chapel (which is covered--ceilings and walls--with murals, but is not pictured on the Internet as far as I can find), the only two parts of the monastery open to the public. (There is another, larger chapel that can be visited with advance notice and a vetting process to make sure you mean no harm. It supposedly has several "relics" including one of the hands of John the Baptist.)
I was bothered a bit by something I saw during the festival there. I first noticed it with a younger priest probably in his late 30s/early 40s. He had a young girl maybe 4 or 5 years old sitting in his lap facing him with her legs straddling his sides who was bouncing and wiggling around. As I watched thinking that such a thing would probably never happen in the US these days, I didn't notice anyone showing any concern. The priest had his hand on her rear holding her in place on his lap. Then later, I saw the same priest and another, older priest both with girls in the 11-12 year old range sitting in their laps. It seemed awkward to me, but it apparently didn't seem that way to anyone else there.
In the late afternoon, I searched for a barber shop. I always like to get my hair cut in various countries when traveling, and it had gotten too long and was making me feel miserable. I drew images of how I wanted it cut in back and on the sides which he understood. He charged me more than a regular haircut, because I know it should have been about 3 Euros. But for the 5 Euros, he gave me something I haven't had in ages--a scissor and razor cut. First, he used thinning shears. Then he cut the hair with regular shears. Then he took a straight razor and pulled it across all parts of my head cutting more. When he finished, he blew my hair dry. But then he put a cream on it. It's a little longer along the back edges than I like, but it is a good haircut.
I went to a burger place that was recommended and was near the barber shop. Both the bun and the meat were 6 inches (15 cm) in diameter, and the meat was 1/2 inch thick (12.5 mm). The meat had spices and chunks of cheese inside it. As she cooked the meat, she spread mayonnaise on one half of the bun and a thick sour cream that looked like it came directly from a farm rather than from a factory on the other half of the bun. She added cabbage and pickles. She put the bun on the griddle to toast while the meat finished cooking, then she put the meat inside and served it to me steaming hot. UMMMM. It tasted so good. And it cost only 1.50 Euros (about $1.65 US).
I finished reading my novel, The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt, today. It's a western about two brothers who are hired killers--one rough with little conscience and the other somewhat sensitive. It was named to best-of-the-year lists by a number of reviewers and was short-listed for the Man Booker Prize. It's a unique western that incorporates some science fiction as well as some superstition. I enjoyed the book and gave it 3 1/2 stars out of 4.
Saturday, September 03, 2016
Final Day in Kotor
Friday, Sept. 2, 2016--Kotor
I went out for a few hours today, but it was another hot day. I started by exploring outside the Old Town. I walked to the pebble beach that is nearby and walked along it and further where there is a promenade lined with sidewalk cafes with much cheaper food prices than can be found inside the Old Town. I passed an enclosed part of the bay where a group of men were practicing water polo. I have been told that Kotor has two professional water polo clubs, so I wonder if this is the home of one of them or if it was just some local guys enjoying the sport.
I walked into a mall to cool down and observed two women peeling off a promotional sticker. Then I observed the younger employee coming out to try to remove the sticky residue with a window cleaning liquid. I asked if she spoike English, which she did, and I told her that the liquid wouldn't help--that she needed acetone. We went inside where I repeated it to the store owner. She said she knew, but she didn't have any. Later I saw the two of the struggling unsuccessfully to get the residue off with the cleaning liquid. I imagine she eventually bought some acetone.
I stopped at a seaside park and read from my novel. Then I wandered back into the Old Town. I have been up and down its passages enough now that I have a general idea where I am at any time. At first, it was easy to get disoriented.
Eventually, I was too hot and too thirsty to stay out, so I returned to the apartment. I spent more time reading my novel. I went through my computer's saved websites to clean out the ones that are no longer needed (mostly ones related to places where I have already visited). I prepared my dinner and ate it. Then I heard nice piano music nearby and took a chair out to the landing on the stairs outside my front door and, drinking another glass of wine, relaxed and enjoyed the outdoor scenery and the music.
In the late evening, I went back out to walk through the Old Town. I wanted to see what life is like at that hour. I was surprised to see that many shops were still open after 22:00. There are people out, but nothing like the crowds during the daytime. And the traffic flows smoothly outside the walls of the city versus the constant traffic jams that exist during the daytime. No matter where you go in the old town, there are small bars and restaurants open. Some have live music; the best one had just a saxophone player playing jazz. Others have electronic dance music with disc jockeys starting by this hour. The pub near my apartment is one of the liveliest places; it is a hangout for locals. One bar that was down a narrow street had placed lighted votive candles along the way on the street and on windows and nooks along the way to guide people to it--a nice touch, I thought.
Even though I have only been here for 2 1/2 days, I am going to miss Kotor. There is something special about this place which results in a nice feeling with the atmosphere of the old town, the palm trees, the sea, the lively club/restaurant scene, etc.
I went out for a few hours today, but it was another hot day. I started by exploring outside the Old Town. I walked to the pebble beach that is nearby and walked along it and further where there is a promenade lined with sidewalk cafes with much cheaper food prices than can be found inside the Old Town. I passed an enclosed part of the bay where a group of men were practicing water polo. I have been told that Kotor has two professional water polo clubs, so I wonder if this is the home of one of them or if it was just some local guys enjoying the sport.
I walked into a mall to cool down and observed two women peeling off a promotional sticker. Then I observed the younger employee coming out to try to remove the sticky residue with a window cleaning liquid. I asked if she spoike English, which she did, and I told her that the liquid wouldn't help--that she needed acetone. We went inside where I repeated it to the store owner. She said she knew, but she didn't have any. Later I saw the two of the struggling unsuccessfully to get the residue off with the cleaning liquid. I imagine she eventually bought some acetone.
I stopped at a seaside park and read from my novel. Then I wandered back into the Old Town. I have been up and down its passages enough now that I have a general idea where I am at any time. At first, it was easy to get disoriented.
Eventually, I was too hot and too thirsty to stay out, so I returned to the apartment. I spent more time reading my novel. I went through my computer's saved websites to clean out the ones that are no longer needed (mostly ones related to places where I have already visited). I prepared my dinner and ate it. Then I heard nice piano music nearby and took a chair out to the landing on the stairs outside my front door and, drinking another glass of wine, relaxed and enjoyed the outdoor scenery and the music.
In the late evening, I went back out to walk through the Old Town. I wanted to see what life is like at that hour. I was surprised to see that many shops were still open after 22:00. There are people out, but nothing like the crowds during the daytime. And the traffic flows smoothly outside the walls of the city versus the constant traffic jams that exist during the daytime. No matter where you go in the old town, there are small bars and restaurants open. Some have live music; the best one had just a saxophone player playing jazz. Others have electronic dance music with disc jockeys starting by this hour. The pub near my apartment is one of the liveliest places; it is a hangout for locals. One bar that was down a narrow street had placed lighted votive candles along the way on the street and on windows and nooks along the way to guide people to it--a nice touch, I thought.
Even though I have only been here for 2 1/2 days, I am going to miss Kotor. There is something special about this place which results in a nice feeling with the atmosphere of the old town, the palm trees, the sea, the lively club/restaurant scene, etc.
Friday, September 02, 2016
Extra Post: Remembrances from 1982
Friday, Sept. 2, 2016--Kotor
I wrote a couple of days ago about changing buses in Kotor to get away from the rain in Dubrovnik, but I didn't tell details of that trip which occurred in May, 1982. They are still vivid in my mind.
This area was not a major tourist center then, and the tourists who did come were mostly from other parts of Yugoslavia or from Germany and came to be on the nearby beaches. Few people even knew about Kotor much less the inland part of Montenegro where I was headed. English was not commonly spoken.
I was just trying to get away from the rain and had no idea about the trip I was about to take. The mountains rise dramatically behind Kotor. As the bus left the station here, it started climbing and climbing and climbing with one switchback after another. On each turn, I could look out and see the bay and the walled city getting further and further away--one of the most dramatic and beautiful views I have ever seen in my life. It was a narrow road with barely room to pass if we met another vehicle, so there was also the thrill of the bus being right on the edge of a road with no guardrails and a very long drop-off--as exciting as I have experienced in the Himalayas in my mind. The roadway was, and remains today, one of the most exciting road trips one can take in the world.
(See this map of the switchbacks on the P1 road from Kotor to Cetinje)
(See this website for information and photos about the P1 road from Kotor to Cetinje)
(See this video of driving up the switchback portion of the P1 road from Kotor to Cetinje)
At the very top, far above Kotor and the bay but with them still in sight, we made a final turn onto a plateau. What a surprise. After all that climbing, we were on flat land that spread ahead of us rather than heading back down the other side of a mountain. And best of all, it was thickly covered in colorful May wildflowers.
It was all local people on the trip. A group of country men, probably farmers, seated just in front of me pulled out a bottle of homemade brandy. I don't know if it was because we had climbed the mountain without going over the edge and could relax now or if it was because they were getting closer to home. They started passing the bottle around. One of them handed it to me and insisted that I take a swallow. I was hesitant because I actually was suffering from a fever and didn't want to to infect them. But they insisted, and I took a swig to join the merriment.
Someone on the bus spoke a little English; I don't imagine it was one of the farmers, but I don't remember who it was anymore. As we passed through the edge of the first major town up on the plateau, I noticed it was old. But more imprinted in my mind is that I noticed that it had marble curbs lining the edges of the streets. That's something I had only seen in Rome before. I had never heard of the name of the city before--Cetinje. Whoever spoke English explained that it is the former capital of Montenegro and a very old city. I kept thinking, I would like to see this place, but the bus kept going with my destination being Titograd (Podgorica, today) where I would change buses again to continue to Skopje in Macedonia where I would switch to a train to Greece taking me far away from Cetinje.
In planning my trip for this year (2016), I knew I would be near this area, so I decided to return. I had only passed through Kotor and had not seen the old walled city, and I had only passed by Cetinje. I wanted to see both and to take a bus over the same road heading up the mountain. My plans have failed in one respect, and it is probably best as I think about it. The old road (now numbered P1) still exists, but there is no longer any public transport service on it. Therefore, I cannot repeat the road trip. Now that I have accepted that, I realize it is for the best. I am always advising people not to repeat a travel experience that was exceptional, because the repeated experience will never be able to live up to the original one. The view would still be there as we headed up the mountain, but there would be no farmers sharing their homemade brandy and there would be limited, if any, wildflowers on the plateau at this time of the year. Plus, I would know what to expect of the view back down the mountain and of our entering a plateau at the top. It would likely just be a bus trip (if buses still made the route) with no surprises.
I now know that the surprise plateau is a national park that I will be able to visit this weekend. Rather than making the mistake of trying to relive an old experience, I am adding new experiences by visiting both Kotor and Cetinje. And by taking the bus over the new road between the two cities tomorrow, I am preserving those wonderful old memories from my 1982 bus trip in the region.
I wrote a couple of days ago about changing buses in Kotor to get away from the rain in Dubrovnik, but I didn't tell details of that trip which occurred in May, 1982. They are still vivid in my mind.
This area was not a major tourist center then, and the tourists who did come were mostly from other parts of Yugoslavia or from Germany and came to be on the nearby beaches. Few people even knew about Kotor much less the inland part of Montenegro where I was headed. English was not commonly spoken.
I was just trying to get away from the rain and had no idea about the trip I was about to take. The mountains rise dramatically behind Kotor. As the bus left the station here, it started climbing and climbing and climbing with one switchback after another. On each turn, I could look out and see the bay and the walled city getting further and further away--one of the most dramatic and beautiful views I have ever seen in my life. It was a narrow road with barely room to pass if we met another vehicle, so there was also the thrill of the bus being right on the edge of a road with no guardrails and a very long drop-off--as exciting as I have experienced in the Himalayas in my mind. The roadway was, and remains today, one of the most exciting road trips one can take in the world.
(See this map of the switchbacks on the P1 road from Kotor to Cetinje)
(See this website for information and photos about the P1 road from Kotor to Cetinje)
(See this video of driving up the switchback portion of the P1 road from Kotor to Cetinje)
At the very top, far above Kotor and the bay but with them still in sight, we made a final turn onto a plateau. What a surprise. After all that climbing, we were on flat land that spread ahead of us rather than heading back down the other side of a mountain. And best of all, it was thickly covered in colorful May wildflowers.
It was all local people on the trip. A group of country men, probably farmers, seated just in front of me pulled out a bottle of homemade brandy. I don't know if it was because we had climbed the mountain without going over the edge and could relax now or if it was because they were getting closer to home. They started passing the bottle around. One of them handed it to me and insisted that I take a swallow. I was hesitant because I actually was suffering from a fever and didn't want to to infect them. But they insisted, and I took a swig to join the merriment.
Someone on the bus spoke a little English; I don't imagine it was one of the farmers, but I don't remember who it was anymore. As we passed through the edge of the first major town up on the plateau, I noticed it was old. But more imprinted in my mind is that I noticed that it had marble curbs lining the edges of the streets. That's something I had only seen in Rome before. I had never heard of the name of the city before--Cetinje. Whoever spoke English explained that it is the former capital of Montenegro and a very old city. I kept thinking, I would like to see this place, but the bus kept going with my destination being Titograd (Podgorica, today) where I would change buses again to continue to Skopje in Macedonia where I would switch to a train to Greece taking me far away from Cetinje.
In planning my trip for this year (2016), I knew I would be near this area, so I decided to return. I had only passed through Kotor and had not seen the old walled city, and I had only passed by Cetinje. I wanted to see both and to take a bus over the same road heading up the mountain. My plans have failed in one respect, and it is probably best as I think about it. The old road (now numbered P1) still exists, but there is no longer any public transport service on it. Therefore, I cannot repeat the road trip. Now that I have accepted that, I realize it is for the best. I am always advising people not to repeat a travel experience that was exceptional, because the repeated experience will never be able to live up to the original one. The view would still be there as we headed up the mountain, but there would be no farmers sharing their homemade brandy and there would be limited, if any, wildflowers on the plateau at this time of the year. Plus, I would know what to expect of the view back down the mountain and of our entering a plateau at the top. It would likely just be a bus trip (if buses still made the route) with no surprises.
I now know that the surprise plateau is a national park that I will be able to visit this weekend. Rather than making the mistake of trying to relive an old experience, I am adding new experiences by visiting both Kotor and Cetinje. And by taking the bus over the new road between the two cities tomorrow, I am preserving those wonderful old memories from my 1982 bus trip in the region.
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