Trip is nearly over. I saw some travellers with backpacks heading to bus station this morning while I was eating my complimentary hotel omelet, and I found myself wishing I was moving on to the next destination too. If only I could find someone who was willing to pay me just to wander around the planet with no particular goal in mind except to learn about this amazing, beautiful,  cruel, frightening, aggravating, fascinating world we live in. 

I think the surprise of the trip was Sofia. I was expecting drab and utilitarian, but what I found was vibrant and fascinating.  I guess I was a victim of Cold War brainwashing. Other than the scamming taxi driver it was a delightful experience.

In the late 1800's the Russians, Bulgarians, and several other Balkan countries fought the declining Ottoman empire. When Ottomans were finally driven out of Sofia, there was no bell to be found in the principal church at the time, the Hagia Sofia church since it had been converted to a mosque. A bell was found (provided by the Russian army I think), and suspended from a tree just outside the church so that it could be rung to celebrate independence. The bell remains outside the church in a tree to this day

Just to balance out the universe I guess, I had a bad planning experience after my good one this morning.  I had been warned on several travel websites that there were sketchy taxi drivers in town. I thought I had done my research and knew the rates , but I ended up in a scam taxi anyways. In the end I didn't pay as much as the driver was asking but more than what I think I was supposed to pay. It really soured my experience here. I was so mad I walked most of the way back. I know that most cab drivers are decent and honest, but there's enough bad ones out there to make me never want to take a taxi again.

But on the plus side, Sofia has an organization called Free Sofia Tours which provides twice daily tours of downtown Sofia. Very interesting and I highly recommend it if you pass this way. I was thinking it would be great if such a thing existed in Toronto. Here is part of the tour in the subway, where the Eastern gate of the Roman fortress of Serdika has been preserved and incorporated into the subway structure. Not only that, the stones on the ground are part of the Roman road that went all the way to Constantinople (Istanbul). Pretty cool, at least to me--hope you think so too.

Sometimes travel plans actually work exactly the way they are supposed to.  I chose my hotel in Sofia because it is near the bus terminal  (where I would be arriving ) and it had distinctive architecture  (which would make it easy to find). First thing I see when I walk out of the bus terminal is this:

Not quite as easy to see in this low resolution shot as in real life, but the light coloured building with the turret at the end of the street is what I wanted to see. I also chose it because it is close to the subway which will take me to the airport. Turns out there is a subway entrance right in front of the hotel. It is not always that everything falls in place so nicely, especially in a place you have never been before. It was kind of like a small reward at the end of a trip.

The first thing I did on arriving in Sofia is go to McDonald's. I have never done this anywhere while travelling but somehow it seemed like the right thing to do this one time. You have to understand that I grew up in the Cold War and it has very much shaped my thinking about how things are. Can't fully articulate my feeling, but McDonald's being the epitome of western capitalism deep behind the former Iron Curtain means something to me.

Today I had one of those fortuitous experiences that ever tourist hopes for and is thankful for when it happens. I got to a museum that was interesting and important to me but unfortunately just as they were closing. But a few of the staff very gratiously offered to take a few minutes to explain things to me. Which was the best thing. Their explanation gave me a behind-the-scenes view of the history here and our conversation ranged well beyond the museum to education, politics, regional conflict, and Syrian refugees. Unfortunately a happening like that is rare and can't be repeated I don't think. It can only be appreciated for what it is. 

About refugees, apparently because Hungary is closing their border this is putting more pressure on countries in the Balkans. For example there are lots of refugees in Belgrade, the Serbian capital. Both private citizens and government are doing what they can, but these are not countries with a lot of resources. I myself have not seen many or possibly any, although today I saw an old man who looked like he was weary from walking a long way. He was wearing dirty clothes that looked more middle eastern to me than Balkan, and he was carrying a small cloth folded up on the corners, like he was carrying his possessions.  Perhaps he was just a local homeless person, but he just looked like he was from far away in every sense. If so you wonder where he might be hoping to go, and what has got him this far all on his own.

The Nis (neesh) Fortress in the city of Nis, Serbia. Much like the fortress in Kotor,  this is an aggregation of constructions by various powers at different times.  In the background  (under the green umbrellas) are the remains of a Roman bath--not a military installation by any means, but evidence of an occupation going back a couple thousand years. In the foreground, the domed building is the hamam (Turkish bath) the first Ottoman presence on the site built in late 1400's. The Ottomans also built a major walled fortress a couple hundred years later which you see a piece of in the background,  and maintained control of this for a hundred years or so until Serbia gained independence.

Nis as a town is much more like what I would call a "normal" place. That is I think I may have escaped the tourist bubble. The bus to get here from the coast did not have a single tourist as far as I could tell and no one I interacted with spoke English. In fact one of the bus company staff here, when I asked if she spoke English just glared at me like she would rather shoot me than talk to me. I moved on to the next wicket not wanting to be glared at or shot and found other staff much more helpful.

I'm sitting at modern shopping mall in Kotor, Montenegro at the foot of the Kotor Fortress which is a UNESCO world heritage site. Normally I would not consider heading for a shopping center when something so fascinating is nearby but I have to confess, I feel pretty good.  And by "pretty good", I mean the air conditioning is blasting and I'm not out there in the thirty-who-even-cares-how-many degrees sun. It is stinking hot out there. Is it just me, or is there some kind of change in the climate going on?

The fortress at Kotor was started over 2000 years ago give or take and was added to piece by piece over the centuries by various world powers of the day. To me it is one of those crazy impressive structures that awes you with the engineering and near superhuman determination required to build it. Beyond that it is sobering to be reminded in such a stark way what lengths we go to in order to fight with each other --or defend ourselves from each other--depending on how you want to look at it.

Sorry, I waited too late at night to take this photo of Dubrovnik, Croatia. A 15th century coastal town with a walls, turrets, narrow cobble stone streets. Commerce is thriving today just as I imagine it was 500 years ago, except today's trade is souvenirs, and boating excursions instead of copper and gold. A very pretty place and I will provide a better shot when I have a chance to retrieve some from my camera.

The Neretva River in Bosnia Herzegovina. Important as the boundary between first, the East and West Roman Empires--significant perhaps because these would come to represent Orthodox and Catholic faiths--and later on, the boundary between the Christian West and the Muslim East (under the Ottoman empire). Ground zero in a sense and a physical and metaphorical line between worlds that have clashed for centuries. It is so beautiful here it is hard to believe that such lines exist at all or that in today's world they may be intensifying. 

Visited the Historical Museum in Sarajevo today. Very moving account and display of the besieged city in the early 1990's. That, combined with a walking tour of "Sniper Alley" left me with--what can I say? A few hours of touring around does not in any way bring one close to understanding what having your hometown surrounded for over 1400 days would be like, but--the physical signs of a 20 years past conflict are still perfectly evident: bullet holes in walls, shell marks in the street.

I'm posting this courtesy of the Stari Grad municipality of Sarajevo free wifi. Pretty progressive I would say. Can you imagine if my town made wifi available as a public service? I don't even know what the logistics would be like on that.

Anyhow, I'm at at riverside patio just down the street from the Latin Bridge where Archduke Ferdinand was shot--the incident that triggered World War I. Sadly, this is one of the very few facts I can say I legitimately learned in school about the Balkans. In fact the corner where you see "museum" in the photo is the exact spot where the infamous deed was done. 

What is fascinating to me is that there are so few moments in history where one single event so clearly defines an era. More often it seems to me, history is an accumulation of a bunch of small and less well defined events that add up to make something observable. 

"Sure" you say, "the causes of WWI were much more complex than that".  But the fact remains that a decision by a very small handful of people or maybe even one guy, precipitated a continental war that lasted years and cost millions of lives.

Brussels airport, which claims to be one of top airports in Europe, at least according to the video I saw on the plane. Who am I to argue? (Well, if you know me, I'm likely to argue...)

Video also told me that the Brussels airport is the largest retailer of chocolate in the world which is totally believable given the quality of the chocolate here. I hope to buy some on the return flight. Don't ask me for any.

The Killarney hike while tiring, was rejuvenating. I think all that scrambling up and down hills and sweating somehow purged my system.  In my mind it seems like a good idea to do that kind of walking more often but good intentions....

Right now I'm actually looking forward to just sitting inert on the plane for a few hours.

Travel notes:
My doorstep to airport on public transit = 2 hours 10 minutes
Airport entrance to gate = 17 minutes 1 second

Made it to Silver Peak and back. Many hikers do this trail, so not such a great feat I suppose, but for me it was hard and I'm tired. But I feel good, even rejuvenated. This is Proulx Lake, and this is really the colour of the water. And the water here is about 5 or 6 metres deep looking almost straight down. Next stop, Sarajevo. 

The good news is that we'very been able to book some of the best campsites on the Silver Peak trail because other hikers have beenough cancelling out in the past few days. The bad news is that other hikers have been cancelling out because rain is forecast for most of this week. Forecast keeps changing though so I'm optimistic about not hiking soaking wet every day.