Sarajevo, Bosnia Sept 8, 2025 Three times longer than the Battle of Stanlingrad. More than a year longer than the Siege of Leningrad. From April 5, 1992 to February 29,1996, for 1425 days Sarajevo was under siege. It is the longest siege of a capital city in modern times. The Bosnian Serb forces with support … More Years Under Siege
Mostar, Bosnia Sept 6, 2025 With the collapse of Yugoslavia, this part of the world was engulfed in war and Bosnia and Herzegovina was no exception. It was soon after the nation declared independence in 1992 that it saw ethnic violence of a level unseen on the world stage since WWII. In a country with … More Haunted Still
Mostar, Bosnia Sept 5, 2025 The name of the bridge is Stari Most and it is from this bridge that the town itself got its name Mostar, meaning Bridge Keeper. You might say the very identity of the town is wrapped up in this bridge. Built by the Ottomans in the 16th century CE, both … More Bridge Keeper of the Balkans
Prizren, Kosovo Sept 1, 2025 An old Hammam dating from the Ottoman era is now home to the tiny Archeological Museum of Prizren. In the very first exhibit is from the Neolithic era I see a stone axe, flint and stone spearheads. Not terribly surprising. But next to them in the display case are pottery … More Westward Ho
Prizren, Kosovo Aug 30, 2025 Rimmed by mountains in a large valley is Prizren, one of the best preserved towns of the Ottoman era. The red-roofed houses climb up the hillside, overlooked by the stone walls of the old Ottoman fort. The Sinan Pasha Mosque as well as other mosques date from this era as … More An Ottoman Town
Belgrade, Serbia Aug 19,2025 I had intended to end this summer’s trip in Finland and was supposed to fly back home from Helsinki. But this trip felt unfinished in a vague way; something was not quite what I’d expected although I would hard put to put a finger on exactly what. More than one person … More Not quiet on the Eastern Front
Suomenlinna, Finland Aug 15, 2025 The Helsinki harbor is dotted with many little islands, some inhabited, some too small to support more than a cabin for occasional use. The most famous of them are a group of six islands; on these was built a sea fortress called Sveaborg, or Sea Fortress. Begun in 1748, it … More Fortress at Sea
Tallinn, Estonia Aug 12, 2025 They may sound like the lead characters of a fairytale, but they are actually the names of a pair of defense towers. Twenty-six towers once studded the encircling wall of Vanalinn old town. Today we know the town as Tallinn. Heavily bombed in March of 1944, much of the walls, … More Fat Margaret & Tall Hermann
Vilnius, Lithuania Aug 1, 2025 In the not-too-distant past (mid-14th century CE) a wooden fortress on a small hill in the center of present day Vilnius was abandoned and a fortified brick castle built on the plain below the hill. It was the residence of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania, related to the Polish kingdom … More Inside a Ducal Palace
Krakow, Poland July 30, 2025 To the southeast of the old town of Krakow is the area called Kazimierz, founded by King Casimir in the 14th century and named after him. It was a separate city, intended to protect the southern boundary of Krakow. In the late 15th century, rising tensions in the city led … More The Changing Face of Kazimierz
ITCHY FEET TRAVELS 