Why the Balkans
Traveling in the Balkans is like eating homemade bread, fresh from the wood-fired oven, with white cheese. It cannot be considered a fancy meal, but if you are hungry it will taste like the most delicious thing in the world. This is how the Balkans feed eager travelers that are hungry for adventure. If you are planning to go somewhere you never traveled, the Balkans are here, waiting to surprise you. Even though these countries are so different from each other, when it comes to wandering, they are one whole experience.
The Balkans aren’t just a peninsula, they are a way of life. These countries can be anything but predictable or clichéd and one of the things that they teach to visitors is the difference between vacations and impromptu traveling.
If there is anything good that came out of centuries of conflicts, wars, political and cultural invasions, it is the mixture of material and spiritual values in the peoples lying in the peninsula. Despite the peculiar languages that they speak, when it comes to wanderers, the Balkans have only one language that is true to the nature of traveling. It seizes the journey as a reflection of life, dreams, and nostalgia.
As Nabokov said: “Nostalgia in reverse, the longing for yet another strange land, grew especially strong in spring.”
Roam the Balkans and feel what’s like to have a wanderlust soul
The Balkans remain an enigma to many people, travelers included. The geographical position in the same peninsula and a few ancient legends are the only things that these countries share with each other while all their other traits are obviously different.
Even though the Balkans still bear traces of their untamed former self, the growth of tourism is casting a shadow over their reputation as Europe’s powder keg. The Balkan Peninsula is currently one of the most affordable yet fascinating areas to visit on the continent. Cultural heritage, myths of epic heroes and wandering fairies, nature, unique languages, friendly people, and delicious cuisine are quite an allure for different types of travelers.
Tourism in the Balkans is emerging while countries like Greece and Croatia already rank in the world’s top tourist destinations. While these two have gone into mass tourism, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, and North Macedonia offer great adventure opportunities for the fans of alternative tourism. Mountains, rivers, and lakes are the sites where mountaineering, climbing, hiking, rock climbing, winter and water sports, rafting, and canoeing activities take place.
The peninsula is home to numerous cultural, natural, and mixed UNESCO World Heritage Sites and during the millennia, it was under the influence of the Greeks, Romans, and Ottomans. Each of them left traces in the history and culture of the Balkan countries where one can walk in ancient settlements from Roman and Hellenistic times into the architectural legacy of communism.
One has to think about the region as it was the moon, with the only difference being that its far side is brighter than the known side. The latter refers to the turbulent part of these countries while the former to the natural beauty of this rustic region. Speaking about the tumultuous past of the area, heroes cannot resuscitate and put an end to never-ending conflicts, but tourism can rejuvenate the entire Balkan.
For those who want to understand:
Experience has shown that the secret of the Balkans is that one can comprehend these countries only after learning more about their bridges.
The Balkans are affordable, full of history, food, wine, sunny weather, breath-taking nature treasures, world heritage sites, mountains, islands, crystal clear beaches, hiking routes, modern capitals, and little towns with cobbled streets and terracotta roofs. And most of all, they are inhabited by friendly people that should be admired for their courage. Just like the ethnolinguistic diversity of the region, even the types of experiences for tourists and visitors are copious.
The Balkans are a great destination for people that roam in groups, solo travelers, family vacations, as well as for enthusiasts of hiking, trekking, climbing, rafting, and cycling. A region that has so many islands and forsaken mountains seem fit for a solo traveler, while nothing will fill cram your soul, mind, and head like the blue color of the Croatian, Montenegrin, and Albanian coasts. On the other hand, the Alps attract daredevils that are thrilled by rock climbing. One can roam the Balkans by train, boat, and bus, bike, and even by foot thanks to the organized transport network and affordable accommodation. This is an area where visitors can easily lose count of the cities they have seen or the promenades that they have walked.