Belarus, Ukraine, Transnistria, Moldova, Kosovo - July 2019

Over dinner last night, we both agreed that we thoroughly enjoyed the five countries we experienced on this trip, but that we were also ready to sleep in our own bed.  So as much as that early alarm was annoying, it also carried with it some anticipation and excitement.  International travel - especially with summertime packed flights - is never a real joy:  you just grit your teeth and head into it, determined to get it over with.  Three things happened, however, on our trek home that added frustration to an already long-haul.  First:  we had pre-booked a group of two seats on our nine-hour flight from Istanbul to Montreal.  The seat configuration is 2-4-2, and a cluster of two seats makes it so much more comfortable for an overseas flight.  But when we got to the Pristina Airport, Turkish Airlines gave us boarding cards showing middle seats. We protested at the customer service desk, and did so again in Istanbul, but to no avail. Second: we were the literal last two economy clas

Today is the last day of our vacation.  We cannot believe it was two weeks ago today that we left Halifax.  We decided to focus this last day on three main things:  a famous monastery in Gračanica, the relatively new Bear Sanctuary Pristina in the tiny village of Mramor, and a few last sites in Pristina. Given very limited bus options and the extreme heat today (it got to 32C), we negotiated with a taxi driver to take us to the monastery and bear sanctuary and to wait for us, which was a great move. Once back in the city, Pam did some shopping, and we took in those last few sites mentioned above. We then had a drink on the rooftop terrace of our hotel before a great final vacation dinner in a Kosovan restaurant.  One last early rise tomorrow, and if all goes well, we can sleep in our own bed tomorrow night back in Nova Scotia. I have to make note of all the linkages, no matter how minor, with Canada that we have encountered in our visit to Kosovo.  It seems like everyone we inter

Before I get into today, I'd like to provide some brief words on Kosovo itself.  Kosovo is Europe’s newest country. The War between the Serbians and the Kosovo Liberation Army (which represented the ethnic Albanian majority in Kosovo) was in 1998-1999.  Hundreds of thousands of people were displaced during the conflict.  Canada took in over 2500 refugees from Kosovo in 1999.  Over 13,000 people were killed during the War.  So, what caused the War?  That's a very complicated question requiring an understanding of the country's history going back to the 1800s.  But in short, the Serb minority (about 10%) started to really tighten the thumb-screws on the Albanian majority (about 85%) and it exploded.  The Albanians said, 'no more!' Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, and while it has been diplomatically recognized by 160 countries, there are still many nations that do not accept Kosovan independence, including Serbia, Russian and China. The country has

It was 1:30AM by the time we got to bed at the "Yotel" in the new Istanbul Airport.  The bad thing was that we couldn't get the temperature in the room down, so sleep was impossible.  The good thing is that we were able to leave our room and not have to deal with customs or security before heading to the gate.  The bad thing is that the new Istanbul Airport is so incredibly massive, we had to walk further than we have ever walked in an airport to reach our gate! In any case, our flight from Istanbul to Pristina, the capital of Kosovo, was on time and excellent.  We landed at 8AM, got a cab to our hotel in the center of Pristina, and lay down to sleep for a couple of hours before starting out.  Pristina is a city of 200,000.  Getting around is quite easy, either on foot, or via the city's bus network. We met some wonderful people today, and learned alot about what led to the war in Kosovo in 1998-1999.  I'll try to relate some of those conversations in the cap