While waiting for the door bell to be answered at the Stevović household, I noticed not less than five may beetles on their backs on the landing, having a pretty miserable time while trying to enjoy the last few days of their strange life. ‘Can’t find a much better indicator for good biodiversity than this….’ …
Category Archives: Travel
MontVet
“Where exactly are you going ?!…..” I asked my driver, about ten minutes after we had left the main highway and while I was following on Google Maps how we were zick-zacking through the Southern suburbs of Podgorica, the capital of Montenegro. “To airport ! ……..Not airport ?”……. ”Nope!……..Not airport……..but to the city centre !……” …
Rose water and a colourful car crash at Mrizi i Zanave
It was late in the evening and the sun was about to set, when I arrive at Mrizi i Zanave – Alma’s third and final recommendation. Driving towards a old stone house surrounded by olive trees on a small hill, one might have been forgiven for assuming to be somewhere in the middle of Tuscany. …
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French engineering, Albanian fjords and the beautiful valley of Valbonë
The diesel engine coughed a few times and then went out in a cloud of smoke…. We had been on our journey for not more than 3 minutes and that after having to wait for four days for the water level to rise, so that we could travel at all….. Alma’s (and, to put the …
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Lëpushë
Alma’s first recommendation was to head North to a part of Albania that is geographically more Montenegrin than Albanian, as it is completely surrounded by the neighbouring country. There are only few or probably no regular buses which are going there, so that I had to organise myself a car for this trip. My “brand …
Mi Casa es tu Casa
It is easy to walk pass my home in Shkodra, the main city in the North of Albania, and that despite the fact that I am staying at the former Russian Consulate and before that the former home of Pietro Marubi, the first photographer in this part of the world. “Mi Casa es tu Casa” …
Going to the vet in Albania
Ilir and Dritan have arrived on time, I am – as usual – a couple of minutes late….Some things never change…… I am meeting my Albanian colleagues in front of a cafe in the center of Tirana, following some communication by e-mail over the last few weeks. My new aquaintances have very kindly agreed to …
Further North to Tirana
It proofed to be not so simple, getting from Northern Greece into Albania. Sensible people – unlike me – seem to fly via Athens to Tirana, which, as previously explained, is not an option for me on this trip. There is no direct bus from Ioannina to Tirana, although rumour has it, that a long …
Three coins and four names
There are three coins on a small piece of paper and a few more just next to it on a table in a room where normally there shouldn’t be coins or a table and certainly not a building…. The reason for this is, that the table in question is just standing next to the abyss …
Costas and Michalis
While strolling along the promenade in Ioannina, just below the Aslan Pasha Mosque, I am coming across the beautiful sculpture of a couple, which – I find – is in perfect juxtaposition to the lake and to the mountains behind it. The elegant simplicity of the figures, reminds me a bit of the “Couple on …
The Blue Vet Diary 