April 2015 -- The Balkans
Sometimes you feel like hitting the road and just going. I felt like that in a big way, so for Spring break, I set myself up for a whirlwind tour of the western Balkans. I wanted to try to understand how the breakup of Yukoslavia, and the subsequent wars, had defined this corner of Europe.
I started in Pristina, the capital of Kosovo. It is an odd sort of place, with a still-running UN camp and a Bill Clinton statue welcoming visitors into town. A newly-rebuilt cathedral, the horrifically-ugly university library, and a broad clean boulevard mark the downtown. At the national art gallery was an exhibition of deeply-moving photographs from Albania's blood-feud reconciliations.
I spent an afternoon in Skopje's awkward downtown. It feels like a fake Paris, with huge ornate buildings towering over a river. A wonderful fort guarding the city from a nearby hill has been largely ignored. I liked the spirited old town. The most memorable part of a visit to Skopje, though, is surely the overwhelming number of statues. I mean, seriously. There were statues of hermits, textbook authors, and teachers -- while I condone the idea, it ended up being a bit much!
A memorable bus ride through the mountains into Montenegro (via Kosovo, again) was a reminder of the mountainous terrain of Europe's "Southern Alps". I spent a couple hours in a small border town, near the sea, drinking tea. Montenegro is a beautiful country.
Next, I found myself in Dubrovnik. The old city was bombed during the war, but is looking pretty good these days. The highlight was sitting on the edge of the walls, staring at the Adriatic and feeling the cool wind.
I spent two nights in the wonderful city of Mostar, in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The city is famous for its bridge and war wounds (there are many derelict, bombed-out buildings that are caught in legal limbo). My goal, however, was a visit to the superb United World College in Mostar, where I was greeted with tremendous hospitality by some fellow teachers.
The road from Mostar to Sarajevo follows a beautiful series of canyons, making for a happy morning. Sarajevo was suffering from a snowstorm, and Banja Luka was a tad stale (despite the best efforts of the bus terminal regulars), so I passed through both rather quickly, and wound up in Belgrade. This huge city was the place for my mid-trip laundry. I walked around, and spent a lot of time in cafes, catching up on some hitherto-neglected work. I have great respect for a city that so demonstrably loves a physicist (Tesla, here) but I didn't see much significant influence: Tesla didn't inspire a generation of great inventors, create an institution, or even spend much of his adult life here.
Next, I took an overnight train to Budapest. The great city was kind to me: I spent two wonderfully sunny days wandering around, sipping tea at cafes, and enjoying myself. Soon, though, my time was up: a fast train to Vienna, and a slow flight back to Riga, brought me home at last.
