BlackSeaRoamer

I find Dubrovnik a depressing place nowadays. I remember the first time I stepped through the Pile gate into the old city, all those years a...

What a pleasure it was to be in Montenegro. Perhaps it is mainly due to familiarity, but I am hugely fond of the place. This year there was ...

I love Rucola (Rocket). One of my favourite things to eat. In Albania recently, I ate it (with parmesan, olive oil and balsamico) until I wa...

I have been having a nostalgia trip, going back to my old days as a graduate student, working in musty archives, poring through documents of...

While working in Albania recently I read Ismail Kadare's Broken April . It seemed like a good time to read a novel by Albania's most...

I like Zagreb in summer. Half empty, as its inhabitants head off for the coast, it is quiet and peaceful. No problem finding a place to sit ...

One of the first observations almost all foreigners seem to make on visiting Tirana is that it's a lot nicer than they expected. And it...

This evening I went to the Queen's Birthday bash in Tirana. I always feel a little embarrassed on these occasions. Other countries have ...

Yesterday Tirana was full of flags, the black and red of Albania, and occasionally the blue with stars of Kosovo. Albania were playing footb...

I'm really impressed by Tirana. After the hard times it has been through it has emerged as an attractive, lively, pleasant city. Lots of...