As we come to the end of the Balkans, I thought I might make some random thoughts on them collectively.
They were good to travel. Cheap, but not nasty. Plenty to see, at least for us, with a nice mix of history, culture and countryside. However, if you stick to the capitals and biggest cities the differences between them are greatly reduced – which is a problem with those Danube river cruises, for example. Most of the cities needed two full days minimum, and often longer, just on the city part.
English has totally taken over as the language of international culture – art exhibitions will be advertised in English alongside the home language even to the locals. Most places had explanations in English, though not universally. In Ljubljana castle the explanation video was in English and you had to get a device to hear it in Slovenian!
However outside tourist spots, language was often an issue. Less so if you know some German (French wasn't a starter). We generally toughed it out, learning how to say "two tickets please" isn't that hard, but you'll lose much of the cost savings if you end up taking taxis rather learn how to negotiate trams and buses if that worries you.
Other than the Dalmatian coast, it's most not very busy. In particular you don't get full of coach loads of tourists just seeing a sight because it's on the list of sights to see, with little interest in the history or meaning of what they are seeing. There are coach tours everywhere, including deepest Bulgaria, but the ones there don't have the milling around while being sorted out, and then ignoring the actual sights, crowds that bug me. (A particular dislike, which has grown in this tour, is for people to stand blocking a busy pathway while they take a selfie. The sight won't be seen properly in the result, because the middle of the photo is taken up by the vapid person. In extreme cases the process can take 10 minutes while they get the perfect shot of themselves. Meanwhile people who actually want to see the sight in question have to wait.)
Some other thoughts
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While people say that there is considerable nostalgia for the Communist period, there is no sign of it visibly. All the pro-Soviet, Russian or cult of personality stuff is gone totally, even if it had to be dynamited out. The less excessive (politically) have merely had any labels removed, so that these enormous statues and monuments remain, but shorn of any apparent meaning.
The ex-Yugoslavs have a few remnants of Tito, but then they were never really Soviet anyway.
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People looked very much like people back home, especially in the bigger cities, with only minor differences in dress style. The middle classes seem to be doing well.
However the poor are very definitely much poorer, judging by clothing, cars etc. Houses and apartments, are still quite small and some of the older stuff rather sub-standard, although the newer ones look nice. The further south the more apparent the lack of money – Bulgaria and to a lesser extent Romania have pockets where money is clearly not plentiful.
However, while money was often obviously a bit short, the cities were mostly clean, once you got past the omnipresent graffiti. It always felt safe, and people were usually very helpful.
In the countryside the villages were tidy and clean, even if the houses were very little.
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The exception was in Bulgaria and Romania that some of the gypsy areas are really quite squalid. The locals don't particularly like them, associating them with crime and laziness. The governments want them to become "normal" citizens, but they resist. Not many still live in caravans, but they don't particularly settle and live on the margins.
Begging was a big issue until we got to Slovenia and Hungary. Mostly but not exclusively gypsies, and it was often quite brazen – literally walking up to you in the street to ask.
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I'm still getting weird language rubbish on my devices. My computer in Belgrade was deciding that it would load the Google home page in Hungarian, despite having left there, and then was immediately translating it to English (sometimes not very well).
Both of us are getting advertisements in Romanian on our phones. That is because we have Romanians SIM cards – Bulgarian plans were too awkward and the EU forces providers to have decent roaming options. They are usually hard to decipher, but not always:
They were good to travel. Cheap, but not nasty. Plenty to see, at least for us, with a nice mix of history, culture and countryside. However, if you stick to the capitals and biggest cities the differences between them are greatly reduced – which is a problem with those Danube river cruises, for example. Most of the cities needed two full days minimum, and often longer, just on the city part.
English has totally taken over as the language of international culture – art exhibitions will be advertised in English alongside the home language even to the locals. Most places had explanations in English, though not universally. In Ljubljana castle the explanation video was in English and you had to get a device to hear it in Slovenian!
However outside tourist spots, language was often an issue. Less so if you know some German (French wasn't a starter). We generally toughed it out, learning how to say "two tickets please" isn't that hard, but you'll lose much of the cost savings if you end up taking taxis rather learn how to negotiate trams and buses if that worries you.
Other than the Dalmatian coast, it's most not very busy. In particular you don't get full of coach loads of tourists just seeing a sight because it's on the list of sights to see, with little interest in the history or meaning of what they are seeing. There are coach tours everywhere, including deepest Bulgaria, but the ones there don't have the milling around while being sorted out, and then ignoring the actual sights, crowds that bug me. (A particular dislike, which has grown in this tour, is for people to stand blocking a busy pathway while they take a selfie. The sight won't be seen properly in the result, because the middle of the photo is taken up by the vapid person. In extreme cases the process can take 10 minutes while they get the perfect shot of themselves. Meanwhile people who actually want to see the sight in question have to wait.)
Some other thoughts
======================================================================
While people say that there is considerable nostalgia for the Communist period, there is no sign of it visibly. All the pro-Soviet, Russian or cult of personality stuff is gone totally, even if it had to be dynamited out. The less excessive (politically) have merely had any labels removed, so that these enormous statues and monuments remain, but shorn of any apparent meaning.
The ex-Yugoslavs have a few remnants of Tito, but then they were never really Soviet anyway.
======================================================================
People looked very much like people back home, especially in the bigger cities, with only minor differences in dress style. The middle classes seem to be doing well.
However the poor are very definitely much poorer, judging by clothing, cars etc. Houses and apartments, are still quite small and some of the older stuff rather sub-standard, although the newer ones look nice. The further south the more apparent the lack of money – Bulgaria and to a lesser extent Romania have pockets where money is clearly not plentiful.
However, while money was often obviously a bit short, the cities were mostly clean, once you got past the omnipresent graffiti. It always felt safe, and people were usually very helpful.
In the countryside the villages were tidy and clean, even if the houses were very little.
======================================================================
Most graffiti is in English, of a sort, when it isn't merely art or tagging. Much of it is football oriented. (The ex-Yugoslav republics did have some political stuff, some of it rather crude about other groups.)
The deal is, apparently, that when someone puts up "Partizan Army" to indicate that they rather like Belgrade Partizan you cross it out, rather than writing the equivalent of "sucks" afterwards. So you see quite a lot of crossed out graffiti.
Also, they tend to put up their supporters groups, rather than the club itself, so you see a lot of "Bad Blue Boys" and "BBB" when you enter Zagreb. Which requires knowing that they are an ultras group for Dinamo Zagreb.
I think someone likes Hajduk Split! (Spalato is the old Roman name for Split)
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The exception was in Bulgaria and Romania that some of the gypsy areas are really quite squalid. The locals don't particularly like them, associating them with crime and laziness. The governments want them to become "normal" citizens, but they resist. Not many still live in caravans, but they don't particularly settle and live on the margins.
Begging was a big issue until we got to Slovenia and Hungary. Mostly but not exclusively gypsies, and it was often quite brazen – literally walking up to you in the street to ask.
======================================================================
I'm still getting weird language rubbish on my devices. My computer in Belgrade was deciding that it would load the Google home page in Hungarian, despite having left there, and then was immediately translating it to English (sometimes not very well).
Both of us are getting advertisements in Romanian on our phones. That is because we have Romanians SIM cards – Bulgarian plans were too awkward and the EU forces providers to have decent roaming options. They are usually hard to decipher, but not always:
I particularly like how the ad is in Romanian, but the "Learn More" stays in English.
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