I have been wanting to visit Central Asia for a while now and finally all the visas are applied, and drivers and guides booked for an adventure in the Stans of the Silk Road. First stop is Kazakhstan and its former capital Almaty which has become the main hub and access point for most Central … Continue reading Almaty, Kazakhstan Sep 2019
About a 40-min drive northeast is the wooden articled Hronsek Church made an UNESCO World Heritage Site together with seven other wooden churches of the Slovak part of Carpathian Mountain Area. An articled church means that to build a Lutheran church during the rule of the pro-Catholic Austro-Hungarian times, a specific list of guidelines based … Continue reading Hronsek Church July 2019
This morning I headed east to the medieval town of Banska Stiavnica, often called Silver Town, about 2 hours drive from Bratislava. Bankska Stiavnica is located in the middle of a caldera created by the collapse of a volcano in central Slovakia. Its history has been closely linked to the mining of silver ore since … Continue reading Banska Stiavnica July 2019
From Bosnia in the Balkans, I continued my summer adventures to Slovakia in central Europe, formerly part of Czechoslovakia. During the 5th and 6th century, Slavs settled in the area and were later conquered by the Principality of Moravia to establish Great Moravia. After the dissolution of Great Moravia, the Kingdom of Hungary was formed … Continue reading Bratislava July 2019
Early in the morning, I headed southwest towards Mostar which is about a 2-hour drive from Sarajevo. Mostar is probably the best known city in the Herzegovina region of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The name Herzegovina literally translates to mean a duchy or land ruled by a herzog or duke. Although the larger Bosnia region includes … Continue reading Mostar & Pearls of Herzegovina July 2019
This morning I ventured to Jajce and Travnik in northwestern Bosnia and Herzegovnia. Jajce is about a 3-hour drive from Sarajevo and has been the home of medieval Bosnian kings and the birthplace of Yugoslavia. Jajce was built in the 14th century as the capital of the independent Kingdom of Bosnia. It also became the … Continue reading Jajce & Travnik July 2019
From Slovenia, I travel to another Balkan state formerly part of Yugoslavia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, often known in short as just Bosnia. Like its neighbors, Bosnia was once inhabited by the Illyrians and then settled by the Slavic people from the 6th century. It also came under Ottoman rule until the late 19th century where … Continue reading Sarajevo July 2019
