Tirana

It was my first and probably the last visit in Tirana. I don't mean that I'm disappointed, but my expectations were totally different. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that my trip to Tirana had a lot of benefits in terms of life experience, but in the same time it wasn't such a captivating place for me. In my opinion it's just an ordinary city, so I'd like to mention only two monuments I visited. 

The first one is a pyramid, nowadays used for example as an international cultural center. Its structure was designed by the daughter of  a former Albanian communist dictator. It was created as a museum in his honour, to keep his legacy alive (in other words for example: forced-labor camps, frequent political executions or secret police). 

I think that it's so ugly. The worst of it is that it's still standing and starting to crumble. It looks abandoned and its surface is covered with graffiti, but on the one hand it has its 'symbolic' meaning (no matter how dark its history is). Not to mention that it was a great expense in times of widespread poverty. The goverment doesn't know what to do about that fact, so the debate continues and the pyramid still stands.

I was also in a mosque. It was my second or third visit in such a place, but this time it was a strange experience. There were no separated areas for tourists. I had to have all skin and hair covered and take off my shoes. What's more, there were separate entrances to the mosque for men and women. Then, inside, as a woman, I wasn't allowed to stay in the main prayer hall, because it was dedicated only for men. There were an isolated prayer area for women and children (as the man said - for provides them some privacy). It was really, let's say, interesting to observe Muslim prayers.

Albania

There are always some things you should know before travelling to another country, like for example basic cultural differences. Of course, the Internet is an inexhaustible source of information and it seems that it's possible to find there an answer to almost every question. However, it can be misleading or even false in some cases.

Reading some blog posts of other travellers, I was looking for some travel memories related to Albania. Opinions were quite divided but in my eyes many of them show this country in a bad light. Danger, insecurity, theft are the most common words used to describe it. No wonder I was a little bit worried. Nevertheless we decided not to change our plans. One of the aim's of our stay in Albania was to confirm or shatter these stereotypes.

 

It was the last country we visited. After more than two weeks of sigthseeing and in general many other activities, we wanted to rest a bit and just doing nothing. For three days, lying on the beach (I couldn't stand it even one more day :) )  I could admire these views:

Our hosts (like everyone else during the whole trip) were so nice and helpful. A good news is that in the south Albania some people speak Italian because of their economic emigration. A lot of young people decide to leave their country and move for example to Italy or Germany in search of better life, with its main aim to support their families. I had an opportunity to see the world from another point of view once again. For me, there is no doubt that conversations with local people can tell you more about a determine country that all the information in mass media. In the same time, I'm aware that it isn't always possible. Sometimes somebody starts to talk to you in Albanian and at this point you just know that your conversation doesn't take place.

 

There was no electricity for several hours every day (of course when you least expect it :) ). It was connected with a lack of water. Generally speaking, there is a problem with the electrical wirings in Albania. Despite these small ''difficulties'' (it isn't an appropriate word) I felt really happy there. First of all, it was a great opportunity to enjoy my life. You may think it sounds banal, but it was a perfect time to  take all the things slow, there was no rush and I could focus only on pleasurable things and views. Sometimes, it's necessary to escape from reality and to look at your life and choices in a different way, from a different perspective. All the days spent in the Adriatic Sea were full of tranquility. The town where we were staying was really small so we were attracted the attention of local people and in some moments it leaded to funny situations.

On the way back home,  we visited the capital of Albania, so in my next post I'd like to write a few words about Tirana.

PS: In my experience, contrarty to some opinions of other peole, Albania is such a safe and congenial country and I strongly recommend you to visit it.

Let's go to ....

 

The (unplanned) two-day stay in Greece was one of the surprises of my holiday trip. We had to drive about 300 km and we decided to spend in Meteora only one day, but then some things went wrong and we were forced to stay in Greece one more day. It was absolutely worth it. Meteora is so charming and this place completely blew my mind! Like many others by the way. :)
 

Why? There' s my answer:

Generally speaking, this place is considered as a magical and mystical not only for all these stunning views but also for a complex of Greek Orthodox monasteries, which are built on rocks. Nowadays remain six of them and they are still inhabited by monks and nuns. At the same time they have become a tourist attraction.

Originally, the access to the churches was difficult. First, hermits were living there in some individual caves within the rocks. Then, during an age of Turkish occupation, monks have decided to build these monasteries. It took a lot of years to carry all the construction material to the top of rocks, using for example baskets. Initially there were no access to for example electricity and water. 

Today the situation has changed. All of the monasteries are connected by some pathworks, so it's possible to see them all in one day. What's more, there are also roads, so you can get close enough them and then continue your 'climbing' on foot. It doesn't take a lot of time (if you choose an option with a car) and in my opinion it's good to see at least one monastery to have an idea of its architecture. Inside, there are a lot of things to see, for example some outstanding  frescoes, iconostasis, sculptures or:

I'm aware of the fact that to take advantage of all things that Meteora offers to the tourists, one need to spend there a few more days. It should be noted that these monasteries aren't the only 'attraction' of Meteora. We had to make a choice as our time was limited. It's undoubtedly one of these places that I would most like to revisit one day.

City of light - Ohrid

Finally, it's my last blog post about Macedonia but the story isn't over, not yet. :) It's time to share one of my favourite macedonian travel memories, even if it seems to be almost impossible to choose only one, the best place. By the way, I really enjoy writing all these blog posts. It's a great opportunity to take a stroll down memory lane and recall some past events or take another look at photos. 

Getting back to what I was saying, first I'd like to show you some of my photo impressions of Lake Ohrid. All of them are unedited, I mean that it's the original version of the pictures, without any filter. For me, these photos convey the natural beauty of the city. It isn't insignificant to note that Ohrid and its Lake were accepted as Cultural and Natural World Heritage Sites by UNESCO.

 

It's a typical summer destionation and for this reason Ohird is quite a crowded place and wherever you go, you'll find a lot of tourists. However, this doesn't change the fact that it's an ideal place to have a rest. Of course, you can spend all days on doing nothing, laying on the beach or walking along the shore of the lake, but like everywhere, there are some lovely places to visit. 

Ohrid is most famous for its ancient churches and monasteries, handmade jewellery (especially pearls). Most of the monuments are located in the Old Town. Anyway, I'd like to mention only a small part of all the places you can visit there.

 

In the Old Bazaar the customers can buy different handmade items, peral jewellery,  counterfeit articles, as well as fresh fruits and vegetables. There are always a lot of people, and in general the bazaar is known for its vivid atmosphere. Walking between stalls, a foreigner can observe behaviour of local people. It's a perfect way to understand, to a certain extent, cultural differences.

Travelling through Macedonia, many times I came across some frescoes and icons, which are strictly related to the religion. They are everywhere, also on the market stalls, because the biggest religious community in the country is the Orthodox Church. 

And here you can see a part of a frescoe from the monastery of Saint Naum, which is located close to Ohrid. It was founded in the year 905.

The above picture shows my preferred ancient church in Ohrid. It's one of the prettiest place I've ever seen. The building is really small, but  it offers a phenomenal view of the lake and this is why it's my favorite one. The view and the location are just breathtaking!

As I said, it's only a small part of Ohrid. It would take too much time and especially I have to write more blog posts about it. However, I prefer not to focus on only one place, so next time I'll write about totally different place. :)

Tetovo & Matka Canyon

 Hello!

Today I'm going to describe (briefly)  another two places which I recommend you to visit in Macedonia. I'm really sorry but I truly like this country so I must warn you that it isn't my last post about it. :)

The first one is a mosque located in Tetovo. By the way, it was the first and the only Macedonian town in which I had a shock. Traffic jams, bad driving and so on, in general - disorder .... everywhere. For this reason we decided to visit only this place and leave Tetovo as soon as possible.

Anyway, in Macedonian the building is called Šarena Džamija, while in English it means Decorated Mosque. It was originally built nearly 600 years ago, then it was rebuilt. The facade of the building draws people, because it's covered with a great number of vivid, colorful paintings. There are a lot of them also inside. It doesn't look like any other mosque I have seen. It looks rather like it was made from some playing cards. Unfortunately, it was foribbden to take photos inside, but it's easy to find them on other websites. Check them out, because they are absolutely worth seeing!

And now something for nature lovers - Matka Canyon. It's situated close to Skopje and it's a popular tourist destination. There are dozens of caves (some of them are under the water) and monasteries. As you can guess, there are a lot of things to do: mountain biking and climbing, sailing, kayaking, canoeing, scuba diving or walking. It's a perfect place to chill out and spend an active day.

 

Valley of Stone Dolls & Ancient Observatory

Yes, it's another blog post in which I'd like to emphasize that Macedonia has much to offer and is a safe place to visit. I hope you don't get bored with it. :) It seems to me that this country isn't sufficiently appreciated by foreigners.

As some of you know, I really love hiking and spending time in the mountains enjoying the scenery. That's why I was captivated by this place. 

The pictures present an Ancient Observatory which is located near the Kokino village. It's a hill that could be used as a perfect place for observing the movement of the Sun and the Moon. Moreover, there were found some objects from the Middle Bronze Age.

Even if it takes about 10 minutes to go to the top of the hill (it's more a walk than climbing), the landscape is stunnig! I liked also the shape of all these rocks. ;)

While talking about rocks, there is another quite unusual place - a stone town, located about 55 km from Kokino. These rocks are naturally formed and at the first sight, there is nothing speciaI about them. During our visit in this ''town'', we had an opportunity to hear the legend, which has totally changed our perception of this place.

There are different versions of the story, but I want to tell you only one of them. Once upon a time, there was a man who was undecided. It was hard for him to choose between two women. He didn't know which of two women he should marry. For this reason, he decided to  marry each woman on the same day, but at different times. When the first wedding was taking places, another woman wanted to see this ceremony and a young couple. As she saw her future husband with another woman, she turned them into stone.

These stone blocks are called ''dolls'', because according to the story, they are reminiscent of human figures - wedding guests. Of course, the scientits have their own explanation of this phenomenon, but I think that this one is more pleasurable. ;) 

Skopje - part 2

The first word that comes to my mind when I think about Skopje is monument. The reason is very simple. The capital of Macedonia is full of monuments, especially statues. It seemed to me that there were .... everywhere. It wasn't easy to count them, so I don't know how many statues are there and what's more, I can't find any information on the Internet.

 

 

   A little bit of history: 

• Almost 80% of the city was severely damaged by the earthquake in 1963. Tens of thousands of people were left  homeless. The rebuilding of the capital was largely completed by 1980.  

• Thirty years later, in 2010, the Government of the Republic of Macedonia has decided to give Skopje a new, classical look. There were two main purposes of the project called Skopje 2014 (it was meant to be finished in 2014) : to attract more tourists and to present the most famous people from Macedonia, and in general the history of the country. It's worth noting that this project has cost more than EUR 500 million.

There is no doubt that the new look of the city brings visitors, but a lot of local people says that Skopje became the city of kitsch. Moreover, many Macedonians state that it's a waste of money. Bearing in mind that many of them live in poverty, it's true.  Sasha ( if you want to find out who he is, read my previous post :) ) told me that for example a signle student room in Skopje costs about € 70 per month and it's a big expense for many people.

Nevertheless, from my perspective, the result of the project is really surprising and impressive in some way. Sometimes, walking around the city, a tourist can feel a bit overwhelmed by all these monuments, but on the other hand it's an unparalleled view. 

Obviously, it was impossible to take pictures of all the buildings and statues, so I put here only some of them. ;)

Not everyone knows that Skopje is a hometown of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who was a catholic missionary. To commemorate her presence in the town, there was built the Mother Teresa Memorial House.

It's a modern version of her birth house. In the same time, it has a sacral character, because a part of her relics is kept inside. There is also a museum and a chapel.

In different parts of the city, tourists can find some of her thoughts like for example:

It's just impossible to describe this city in only two blog posts, I showed you only a part of Skopje. However, there are also other amazing places to visit in Macedonia. :)

The next stop

I'm finding it very difficult to write something about the next place that I've visited. There are a lot of thoughts going through my mind. Although I spent there only three days, this experience will remain engraved in my memory forever. I realized once again that it's hard to predict what might happen during each journey.

I'd like to present to you a person who has left a memorable impact on me. I saw him on the street in the capital of Macedonia, Skopje. We couldn't find the way to our hotel (even GPS had a problem with it ;) ) so I decided to ask someone about it. Sasha was sitting with his friends in front of the grocery store. It was he who came to us to offer his help. From the very beginning of our conversation, he was really kind, but of course, there was nothing surprising about this. Eventually, he said that he led us to this place (by the way, it was located in another part of the city). I didn't want to bother him, so I refused his proposition.

The next morning, Sasha was waiting for me near to our apartment. It was an unexpected meeting. It turned out that the (hotel) owner was his friend. We started talking about my first impressions of the city. Then, describing himself as a patriot, he suggested that he could be our guide. Without going into details, at this point, I'd emphasise that he was one of the most helpful and unselfish person that I've ever met. We were completely surprised by his behavior. I just couldn't believe that someone wanted to help us without hoping for something in return. To be clear, I'm aware of the fact that there are a lot of good people around. However, I get the feeling that nowadays, for some people, money, success, career are more important than relationships. The meeting with Sasha reminded me that there were still some selfless people.

We spent together almost 2 days,  exploring the city, talking about history, culture and daily life of the Macedonians. It was the best history lesson I've ever had. Below, as usual, I put some photos taken during our trips.

Panoramic view of Skopje from Vodno mountain

Skopje Fortress

At first sight, it's rather a inconspicuous building, as shown in the picture below. I mean that it's quite common to see this type of churches in Macedonia.  In the same time, it's worth pointing out that the church was constructed in 12th century. Inside, you can admire the frescoes, which are outstanding examples of the Byzantine Art. Even if the church was damaged by an earthquake in the 16th century, some of the frescoes have been repainted. 

Church of St. Panteleimon

The left picture shows one of the streets in the Old Bazaar. It's a typical local and a little bit crowded market.

On the right, you can see an iconostasis, located in the Church of Holy Salvation. It's a small church so it can easily be overlooked. There is no dobut that it's one of the most splendid examples of the traditional Macedonian woodcraving. It's absolutely worth seeing. This masterpiece presents a lot of commonly known biblical scenes, figures from the flora and fauna or various geometrical ornaments.
Moreover, there are still some old frescoes visible on the walls.

It's the first part of the story and one of some memorable meetings. In my next post, I'd like to present you another part of Skopje.

Budapest!

Unfortunately all good things come to an end. It's time to return to reality and Poznań. :) For me, every holiday season is a great opportunity to create some unforgettable memories. For this reason, during these three months I decided not only to work, but also to visit some new places. There is no doubt that all my working experiences were positive. However, in my today's blog post I'd like to share with you one of my recent travel experiences.

Before my trip, while browsing a lot of different websites, I came across some lists of truly amazing/unbeliveable/surreal/breathtaking places to visit before I die. I'm sure that you all know what I' m talking about. I'm aware that all of them are worth-seeing but in the same time, I wanted to make one of my dreams come true and visit at least three capitals. That was how I found myself frist in Budapest and then in the Balkans.

As I said, our first stop was Budapest. I've heard so many good things about this city and I wasn't disappointed at all. What's more, I really fell in love with the city and I'd like to come back there as soon as possible to see Budapest at night once again. It's such a charming view. :)

Of course, there are plenty of guidebooks with practical tips and useful information, recommended places and so on, but there is especially one thing that I love about travel. 
Each trip gives a perfect opportunity to explore the culture of a nation from another perspective, I mean, from your own perspective.You have a chance to confront and combat different stereotypes, but I'd like to raise this subject in another blog post.

As usual, I put here some photos I took during my trip. Most of them show popular tourist attractions and monuments, but there is no doubt that you can find something more in Budapest.

It's quite a popular destination, so I'm sure that some of you have visited this city. What was your first impression of Hungary's capital?

 

Jelonek

May was the month of students' festivals called Juwenalia. It was a great opportunity to participate in some amazing concerts.

During the festival organized by the Poznan University of Technology, I took part in the concert of Michał Jelonek. It was one of the best concerts I have ever been to. For this reason, I decided to write something about Jelonek and his music, which I really enjoy.

He is a Polish composer, also known as Jelonek, who specializes in violin. In his compositions combines different music genres like for example classical music, rock, pop, heavy metal, folk or even hard rock. It's an interesting combination, isn't it?

He released his first solo album in 2007 and he was formerly known as a member of a band called Hunter. He has performed over 1600 concerts in many different places in the world.

There are no lyrics in his pieces of music. You are in some way forced to listen to the instruments to discover what is the song about and what it means to you, how it makes you feel.

Here is one of my favorite compositions By the way, it sounds even better live than on album. :)

Vilnius

One of my New Year's Resolutions was to visit at least three European capitals. I am happy to say that I have achieved my goal in less than five months. That makes me feel more motivated and I strongly believe that I can reach also other aims. :)

 

So, it's time to write something about the third capital I visited. This trip was unplanned. It means that I had no intention to visit Lithuania (at least in the near future).. I think that sometimes it is good to travel with absolutely no plans and to make spontaneous decisions (which doesn't mean that this rule refers to all areas of life). One thing travelling always reminds me is how many places the world has to explore. It's also a great way to learn something about other cultures, people but especially about ourselves. For me, traveling isn't conected only with watching charming views, visiting places of historic interest, eating local dishes. Sometimes it gives an opportunity to experience something totally different.

Although I spent only one day in Vilnius, I vistied the most popular places, I met some interesting people and I have some funny stories to tell.  However, I would like to concentrate on historical monuments. 

Below I want to present some photos with a short description, enjoy!

 

  The Gate of Dawn - one of the most important religious, historical and cultural monuments.

 

The Gediminas' Tower on the left (the remaining part of the Upper Castle) and the new city center of Vilnius.

 

One of the streets in the Old Town of Vilnius and a place related to Polish culture.