Several of you have asked me about the flamingo revolution and asked if we saw the protests. Every night since late May protesters have gathered outside the Prime Ministry to protest a land deal between the government and an organization … Continue reading Protests and Sunsets
In my first blog post from Tirana, I remarked about how different it looked, new buildings, modern and shiny, new highways, lots more cars. It looked like a modern European Capital. I did note some of the funkiness still around, … Continue reading Albania Still Seems Familiar
Back before the country collapsed into chaos one of the travel magazines, I think it was Conde Nast Traveler, touted Albania as “The Next Place.” Those of us living here got a good chuckle, the next place with sporadic electricity, … Continue reading Albania, the Next Place?
“If you visit a country for a week, you can write a book. If you visit for a month, you can write an article. If you visit for a year, you can write nothing at all.” This is one of … Continue reading Back to Albania!
Conversation is one of the joys of the Belgrade Coffee Culture. One of the things people are talking about is the elections that may or may not happen in October. Politics are never far from the surface in Belgrade. While … Continue reading Belgrade Conversations
Бeoгрaд (Belgrade, Serbia) has lost none of its edge. When we were first there during the 1997 demonstrations the streets were alive with edgy humor and a party atmosphere, even with the serious intent of the demonstrations (to bring down … Continue reading Бeoгрaд!
This is a final post from Athens designed to show off some of the more colorful and curious aspect of our visit to Athens. We will start off at the Athens Acropolis Museum. If Greek history or mythology will not … Continue reading Athens’ Colorful Curiosities
On our third day in Athens, we took a day off from the heat to take a day long cruise around some of the Saronic Islands in the Aegean close to Athens. We were on the sailboat Angelique, although we … Continue reading A Mini Aegean Cruise.
Athens is where our cruise ends, our final port of call with a 6 night port stay, at least for for most of us. For Kevin, Shannon, and Elias, a 4 night port call. The Grandkids are into Rick Riordan … Continue reading Our Final Port of Call, Athens
In my last post I referred to our retreat from Kotor before the NATO bombing campaign. From 1998 to 2004 we spent part of our summers in Kotor either running or teaching at a journalism summer school that had attendees … Continue reading Summer Memories, Kotor
November 28 is Albanian Flag Day, or independence day. Thirty years ago in 1993 I celebrated Flag Day at the 55th anniversary of Radio Tirana, founded on Albania’s national holiday. It, like everything else in Albania in 1993 was fraught … Continue reading Happy Independence Day, Albania!
…And a look at today. I’ve always loved Independence Day. It and Christmas are my two favorites. I love the sense of community that both holidays engender. At Christmas it’s community parties, singing, decorations and a feeling of celebration. The … Continue reading Flashback Fourth…
My most intimate experience with a bear was not in Alaska, it was in Albania. A man in our neighborhood had a pet bear that was also his source of income. He and the bear walked around Tirana, he gathered … Continue reading Smart Bears
Ramadan is a movable fast/feast. Back in 2008 it was in August and September. Here is a letter that I wrote to my extended family back then, before I started blogging. I did not think it was appropriate to blog … Continue reading Ramadan Mubarak.
The posts below are all from a working trip to Istanbul in May 2016. The first picture is or the old Roman aquaduct. Then there are the city walls. You can see where they are being rebuilt and where they … Continue reading Istanbul 2016
Suzi and I are running a workshop in a Hilton Hotel in Istanbul. We’re working with Syrian broadcasters. We could be in any Hilton Hotel in the world. This one is far from the interesting parts of the city, surrounded … Continue reading Istanbul Oddities.
Thursday night was our last night before I took off for Tbilisi. At sundown we were on the Galata Bridge over the Golden Horn. It was a beautiful night with the call to prayer melding with tram bells and music … Continue reading Golden Horn at Dusk
One evening, at sunset, we went to the park between Hagia Sofia and the Blue Mosque. We watched the night architectural lights come on at both buildings as the sun set and the evening call to prayer came from three … Continue reading Evening Call to Prayer
Instnbul has a hop on- hop off boat that cruises between Europe and Asia in a two hour round trip. Continue reading Istanbul’s Hop on – Hop off Boat
We took the new light rail to the Spice Market. This week Istanbul is full of the world’s humanitarian aid leaders, at the Humanitarian Summit, but because of terrorism threats tourism overall is way down. One man said “come into … Continue reading Istanbul Spice Market
On Monday we met our friend Andrea Lemieux, a former IREX, colleague for lunch and a visit to one of her favorite places in Istanbul. The Kariye Museum (Chora Church). Constantine built it outside the walls of Constantinople, although this … Continue reading The Kariye Museum (Chora Church)
The last time we were in Istanbul the Suleymaniye Mosque was closed for renovation. This trip I finally got in to see a mosque that has intrigued me since I took a history of architecture class at St. Olaf. I … Continue reading Suleymaniye Mosque
Istanbul (not Constantinople) loves cats. According to Andrea some neighborhoods have free cat clinics where vets care for strays. Some folks take their pet cats to the clinic for free care. People leave bowls of water and people keep kitty kibble … Continue reading Kitties of Constantinople
These are two letters from Serbia I wrote about Thanksgiving from 2010 and 2011. 2010 (Suzi is in Egypt, I am in Belgrade, Serbia) Thanksgiving morning was the first cold, clear day of the season. Some of the lights in … Continue reading Thanksgiving in Serbia, 2010 and 2011