Sunday, 3 May 2015

Tito's Belgrade: Europe and Balkan simultaneously

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After arriving at Belgrade railway station early in the morning, we took a taxi to our apartment. Based on my research, the apartme...
Wednesday, 22 April 2015

A Pakistani visits Serbia (and enjoys Belgrade)!

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The train journey from Sofia to Belgrade (Serbia) was near perfect. If one enjoys long, old fashioned 'clickety-clack' rail ...
Tuesday, 14 April 2015

Bulgaria: the gateway to Europe

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Sofia is not well known for tourism. The capital of Bulgaria has no recognizable icons like the Eiffel Tower nor commercial attr...
Saturday, 11 April 2015

The Balkans Express: Istanbul to Sofia train

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A few years I had a pleasant experience traveling on a Turkish Railways (TCDD) sleeper overnight train from Istanbul to Sofia, Bulgari...
Monday, 6 April 2015

Byzantine churches, Ottoman mosques and Constantinople's conversion to Istanbul

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Many in predominantly Christian parts of Europe associate Turks and Turkey only with Islam. I have even heard some refer to a mosqu...
Monday, 30 March 2015

Ataturk's withering Istanbul?

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Istanbul is one of my favorite cities. I first visited Istanbul in February 2003, on the eve of the US invasion of Iraq. From 2003 on...
Tuesday, 24 March 2015

The Grand Moofti's (East and Central) European Rail Tour 2015

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Following from my rail journey from Istanbul to London (via Bucharest, Budapest, Vienna, Munich, Cologne, Bruges) in late 2012, it wa...