Greetings from Serbia!

Tuesday, 8/31:  We left you last in Milan, awaiting our flight to Sofia, Bulgaria, to begin our 40-day Balkans Tour arranged through our favorite tour company, Michigan's Spiekermann Travel.  As we flew into Sofia, we see the Vitosha Mountains on the south and the Balkan Mountains to the north.  We were met at the airport by our guide Branko Bosilkov (email:  bosilkov_branko@yahoo.com), president of the Association of Tourist Guides in Macedonia.  Little did we know how quickly we three would bond together because of his warmth, knowledge and sense of humor.  We travel into this large city and receive a brief orientation.  We see signs in Cyrillic, sometimes English.  That night we see fireworks from our hotel window; Branko told us the next day they were not in honor of our arrival.  😞

9/1:  These countries of the Balkans have centuries of history of rulers and empires, take-overs, wars, border changes, foreign influence, communism, and now, independence.  As usual, my photographer has captured some of the beauty we've seen.  We drive 2 hours out of Sofia to see the amazing Rila Monastery in a beautiful valley.  We stopped for some wild blueberries along the way.  We learn that the area is known for rose oil.  We have trout and mishmash in a restaurant next to the river the fish have come from.

9/2:  We visit Veliko Tarnovo and a medieval stronghold.  We continue on to the 17th C village of Arbanassi.  We see new highways and bridges, signs of EU membership.

9/3:  We travel to the port city of Ruse, an industrial border town on the Danube River.   It has a delightful city center.  We have a long wait at the border crossing into Romania.  We don't see Cyrillic in Romania.  There is a lot of traffic in Bucharest; and we take a walk to see squares and fountains and the huge Parliament Building that was built as a residence by the former dictator Nicolae Ceausecu.  Branko reminds and teaches us of recent history:  Ceausecu began his communist reign over Romania around 1965.  In 15 years, conditions are rough for ordinary citizens with food and necessities shortages.  After another 10 years of starving his people, a revolution is started by college students in cities around the country, resulting in the loss of thousands of protestors' lives .  Just before Christmas in 1989 after his last speech and more murders of protestors, Nic and his wife Elena are aware that their reign is coming to a close; they are flown from their palace but are placed in the hands of the military who no longer back them.  On Christmas Day, they are both executed.  It's estimated they were responsible for the deaths of 60,000 Romanian people.  I'll have more to say about this in a couple days.

9/4:  We take a long walk to the Old Town and through the city.  We've received notification from the State Department that there will be a demonstration this evening, and we are advised to avoid the crowd.

9/5:  Today we see the Carpathian Mountains and visit pretty Peles Castle.   Anne and Branko take a walk to see Bran Castle, which Anne expected to be much spookier.  All the hype is due to the Dracula book, and this tourist trap takes advantage of people.  We see fields and fields of sunflowers and empty stork nests everywhere.  We travel on to lovely Brasov with its beautiful buildings and cable cars.

9/6:  Today we are in Sibiu.  We see a young woman riding a unicycle.  It looked frightening!  Sibiu has a charming city center, and a number of buildings' roofs have 'eyes'.  They make you smile.  We take a walk in the early evening and have our first taste of grappa with a charming man.

9/7:  We are near Hungary and Serbia today as we visit Timisoara on the Bega River.  Here we go to a museum of the 1989 uprising, and we watch a moving film.  The protests against Ceausecu started in this city around December 15.  Students were murdered that first day, and every day the protests grew.  Every day the people knew they could be shot, but the citizens continued to join daily.  And they were shot.  Thousands.  They were brave, they were tired of living in poverty under communism, they wanted freedom and a new start.  It made us think about our own Revolutionary War and the brave people who fought it.  Outside the museum there is a section of the Berlin Wall.

9/8:  We have a very short wait at the border crossing into Serbia.  Anne and I will always remember our 'coffee' at the border.  Serbia is not an EU member.  The signs are once again in Cyrillic.  I believe each of the countries we visit on this trip have their own money.  My understanding is that even if the countries are in the EU, they aren't necessarily in the Euro Zone, thus not using Euros.  We visit an old fortress in Novi Sad, and then drive to exciting Belgrade.  Our hotel, the Hotel Moskva, is pretty and comfy.  Branko says we're taking an hour walk, and I change into tennis shoes because his one hour walks seem to take several hours...  We visited perhaps the most bohemian street in all of Europe and have dinner.  Anne and I drag ourselves back to the hotel.  We are having a wonderful trip, and Branko is terrific.

A & M