Blava Nouveau
Bratislava has many fine Art Nouveau and Austrian Secession buildings. There are several pictures in this gallery of the Blue Church. Next to it is a school building built by the same architect. The school had not been painted and maintained as well as the church, but you can see they are a two of a piece. The Roland Café in the main square in the Old Town across from Old City Hall is a fine example of the form. I have included a full front to show it in context and several shots of detail on the building. These … Continue reading Blava Nouveau
Blava by Night
At night Bratislava lights up. There is a light show projected onto the clock tower in the old town square. It first becomes a digital clock and then, the clock face swirls and changes. Before the clock show there was a laser that started in Michael’s Gate and was reflected, by a series of mirrors through the old town streets. Continue reading Blava by Night
Banska Stiavinica, Slovakia
The city of Banska Stiavinica, an empire mining town, is a world heritage site. The legend is that a shepherd saw two salamanders, one silver and one gold. He watched them crawl under a rock and discovered the mother lode. The town’s symbol is a shovel, pick and two salamanders. Empress Maria Theresa founded the School of Mines here, it was the first technical university in the world. The town mostly is in need of restoration. This actually makes it seem more “real.” Continue reading Banska Stiavinica, Slovakia
Kosice, Slovakia
In Eastern Slovakia there are three shakers on the table, sometimes labeled “black,” “white” and “red;” salt, pepper and paprika. This region mixes cultures as well as spices. The towns were settled by German (Saxon) craftsmen, ruled by Hungarian nobles, administered by Austrian bureaucrats, Slovaks and Ukrainians did the farming and Roma handled the transport. Kosice, Slovakia’s “Second City,” is the business center of Eastern Slovakia. It is also a mix of all of those cultures. Kosice is a wonderfully restored old city that has a beggar as its mascot. The “Golden Beggar” sat on the main square for … Continue reading Kosice, Slovakia
Bratislava, Slovakia
When the 20th Century started Bratislava was Pressburg, part of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. It had an ethnically mixed population, German, Hungarian, Jewish and Slovak. Over the course of the 20th century, through two wars and 3 or four countries, depending … Continue reading Bratislava, Slovakia
Slovakia
We lived in Slovakia for 27 months between 1997 and 1999. It was a wonderful place to live. Bratislava is small enough to get around on foot if you live in the center. Traffic was not terrible so we could … Continue reading Slovakia
Serbian Countryside
Here are pictures from various places around Serbia. It gives you some idea of what the countryside is like. They were taken between Cacak and Uzice, on the road to Montenegro near Zlaribor, near the Kosovo border, and between Cacak and Guca. Continue reading Serbian Countryside
Sargan 8, A railroad climbs a mountain in Serbia
This is an excerpt from a June 2009 letter: This week we started our journalism summer school at Mokra Gora, (wet mountain) in the mountains near the Bosnian border. As part of the program we had arranged an excursion on the narrow gauge railway. This railroad has fascinated me for more than 35 years. Suzi and I encountered it in 1972 on a drive through Bosnia, the little steam engines pulled trains of logs and passengers along track that sometimes ran beside the rutted road on which we were driving. There was a lot of construction on that road … Continue reading Sargan 8, A railroad climbs a mountain in Serbia
Vojvodina, Serbia
This is an excerpt from a November 2008 letter. The Pannonian Plain is Fargo flat. It’s the bed of an ancient “sea” where rich soil settled into a flat bottom. The part of the plain in Serbia is the Autonomous province of Vojvodina with its capital in Novi Sad. The region was largely marshy swamp through which armies moved back and forth until the ground settled. When the ground settled people settled too. Serbian refugees, many from Kosovo, came north fleeing the Ottomans. Hungarians moved south, Croats East and Romanians west, all into the Vojvodina. Habsburg Empress Maria Theresa settled … Continue reading Vojvodina, Serbia
Subotica, Serbia
This is an excerpt from an April 20010 letter. On Easter Suzi and I decided to travel to Subotica, which is in the very northernmost part of Serbia. It is a majority Catholic city, so we thought it might be a good place to celebrate Western Easter. By the time we got there any Easter festivities were long over, but we got to wander the streets to look at this Art Nouveau-Secessionist town. Although it is in Serbia, it is not of Serbia, but is tied, by history and tradition, to the Hapsburgs. It’s where Serbs who cannot get a … Continue reading Subotica, Serbia
Palic, Serbia
This is an excerpt from a November 2008 letter, though some of the pictures were taken later. This weekend I spent time with some of the journalists from the region at Palic Lake. The lake is set in the very flat landscape of the Pannonian Plain and on a windy day it may have more terrain than the surrounding countryside. When I was there the lake was flat calm with mist rising, shrouding the piers and the 19th century empire hotels and villas. Palic is a piece of the Habsburg Empire that found itself just a few kilometers on the … Continue reading Palic, Serbia
Novi Sad, Serbia
These are excerpts from an April 2009 letter. Spring has arrived and I have spent as much time as possible overcoming vitamin D deficiency drinking espresso on sunny sidewalks and walking through Belgrade’s and Novi Sad’s parks. On Saturday Suzi and I drove to Novi Sad, Serbia’s second city, a Hapsburg town on the Danube a little over 100 kilometers north of Belgrade. We visited friends and took a look at the Novi Sad School of Journalism weekend school. We had a stroll along the Danube and enjoyed the views of the citadel across the river and the colorful … Continue reading Novi Sad, Serbia
Novi Pazar, Serbia
Here is an excerpt from a February 11, 2010 family letter. 7 AM: looking out a hotel window, fog from the river, steam from tile roofs and smoke from chimneys all mingle and rise past the top of a minaret towards the snowcapped mountains carrying smells of baking bread, roasting coffee and wood smoke touched with soft coal. Two hours earlier the muezzin’s call to prayer would have mingled with these mists but I wasn’t looking out the window just then. The call to prayer nudged me awake long enough for me to check the time, think my own devotions … Continue reading Novi Pazar, Serbia
Nis, Serbia
Here are some paragraphs from a 2009 family letter. Last weekend we traveled to the southern city of Nis.We had a little time for sightseeing around work. We were in Nis to help demonstrate remote broadcast at the Nis Film Festival. The festival was in the old Turkish citadel so the main tourist attraction was all around us. We had a pizza in the garden of the Turkish bath. We drove out of town to visit the Skull Tower and the Nis Hot Springs. The tower is about 10 feet high and is lined with the skulls of Serb rebel … Continue reading Nis, Serbia
Serbia, Mokra Gora
(This is an excerpt from a letter from March 2009) Last week I visited a resort, Mecavnik, in the Tara Mountains near the Bosnian border just outside the town of Mokra Gora. It was built by Emir Kusturica, the Serbian filmmaker (“Arizona Dream”, “Underground”). We are planning to have the IREX Journalism Summer School there in June and July. Mecavnik is an “ethno village” designed to look like a traditional Serbian village and was built, I think, first as a film set. It is the site of the annual Kustendorf Film Festival and has a modern cinema, indoor pool, gym, … Continue reading Serbia, Mokra Gora
Serbia, The Iron Gates of the Danube
This is an excerpt from a Feb, 2011 letter about the Iron Gates. I’ve wanted to get to the Iron Gates of the Danube since I first started coming to Serbia. The Iron Gates are where the Danube narrows and … Continue reading Serbia, The Iron Gates of the Danube
Guca, The Trumpet Capital of the Balkans
This is my letter from the Guca Festival. August 14, 2011 Belgrade, Serbia Dear Friends, As you drive into the Guca valley it looks like morning mist lifting, but we arrived at about noon and getting off the bus realized … Continue reading Guca, The Trumpet Capital of the Balkans
Belgrade, 2000
These are pictures from Belgrade in 2000. We moved back as soon as we could get a visa, just days after Milosevic lost power. Continue reading Belgrade, 2000
Belgrade, Tito’s Grave, Yugo Nostalgia.
This is from an April 2009 letter: When I picked up my teacup a few mornings ago, the one with Tito, I noticed that my fingers were black. I don’t know if Tito is rubbing off on me. But the cup is a bit less stark than it once was. On Saturday I went to an exhibit “The Tito Effect” at the museum near his tomb. It explores the charisma that held Yugoslavia together after the Second World War. At the entrance a youth choir was singing. The group was backed up by a bass, guitar, and drum. They … Continue reading Belgrade, Tito’s Grave, Yugo Nostalgia.
Belgrade Street Life
There is always activity on Belgrade’s streets, good food and a festival of free entertainment. Continue reading Belgrade Street Life
Belgrade, St. Sava Temple
The Serbs claim this is the largest Orthodox Church in the world. The Georgians contest this, but it is big. I have actually attended a wedding in one of the chapels here. St. Sava dominates a part of Belgrade. Continue reading Belgrade, St. Sava Temple
Belgrade, NATO Bombing Sites.
This is from an October 2000 letter from Belgrade, on my first visit to the city after Milosevic lost power– and my first visit since the NATO bombing. When someone asks “do you want to see the sights” he really means “sites,” the places hit during the NATO bombing. Like in Pristina, the tour points out how accurate the bombing really was. People mark time “before bombing, after bombing” always pronouncing the second “b” in bombing. And when people ask “how has Belgrade changed” they expect me to cite the most visible of the sites, the tall building next … Continue reading Belgrade, NATO Bombing Sites.
Belgrade Nights
Belgrade is a night city. It is party center in Europe, but it also has stately buildings and grand evening walks. Continue reading Belgrade Nights
Belgrade, Hotel Moskva
These paragraphs are from a 2012 letter. We returned to the Moskva Hotel, where we had stayed so many nights in the 1990s. When we came back we stayed where we started, at the Moskva. The deskman knew us after a decade of absence from the hotel. The Moskva is one of my top three emotional picks for hotels in the world. We spent hundreds of nights here in the 1990s and early 2000s, sometimes staying for a month at a time. I watched the massive demonstrations against Milosevic from the Moskva’s windows. In 1997 Ljiljana chose the Moskva for … Continue reading Belgrade, Hotel Moskva