The Balkan Chronicle

The number of people visiting Albania in the first eight months of this year has doubled since 2008. The country welcome 3 million tourists between January and August of 2011, as the Balkans continue to attract foreign interest.

The tourism growth has been a constant drive for the Albanian economy, with a 16 per cent increase in tourists this year than 2010. Approximately 300,000 more people visited the country, a jump largely attributed by the Ministry of Tourism to an improved infrastructure and quality of service.

Years of war had smudged Bosnia and Herzegovina, a no-go zone. Now that the war is long over, however, the county is welcoming tourists with open arms. Aiming to discover what Bosnia and Herzegovina has got to offer, I took off on a country tour away from its splendid capital, Sarajevo.

Lunching in the old town at Kotor, we overhear a crusty salt of the sea regaling his companions about "sailing into Kos harbour in 1967".

I fail to catch what happened on Kos back then, but we distinctly hear the man's wife inquire of the waiter, "Why the dickens, with all those mountains, would Montenegro experience water shortages?"

The water supply has indeed been cut, a common occurrence along this coast in summer, but the waiter is flummoxed. An uncomfortable silence ensues before the woman resorts to speculation. "I expect it's the pipes," she sniffs.

Turkish citizens of Albanian origin, who have successfully integrated into Turkish life and have made contributions to Turkish society, proudly recognize and appreciate their Albanian heritage.

Halil Metin, whose family has resided in İstanbul's Bayrampaşa district for over 50 years, is the co-director of the Turkish-Albanian Brotherhood Culture and Solidarity Association. Established 59 years ago, the organization is located in Bayrampaşa and has three branches located in the Küçükçekmece district of İstanbul and in the provinces of Ankara and Bursa. The association aims to preserve Albanian culture and traditions by hosting cultural nights and folklore festivals.

Late on a peaceful night in May, on a quiet island in the Sea of Marmara, I walked alone on a curving street edged by walls dripping with ivy. Behind the walls, palms and red pines loomed above Ottoman mansions that drowsed in the leafy darkness. With no sound but my own footsteps, I continued down a slope that led to my seafront hotel. Then I paused. Ahead of me, in the half-light cast by a streetlamp, I saw a cluster of tall, undulant shapes at the turning. "Women, or horses?" I wondered. Nearing, I nodded: horses. And then I laughed out loud. How on earth, in the 21st century, was it possible for me, or for anyone, to succumb to such poetic confusion? It was possible only on an island like the one where I found myself: the island of Buyukada, an hour's ferry ride from Istanbul, a place where time stands still.

An increasingly large number of tourists from Turkey are visiting Bosnia and Herzegovina, a small, heart-shaped land in Eastern Europe located on the western Balkan Peninsula, which has long-been an attraction for international tourists with its natural beauties and treasures and glorious history as a country that has been home to many civilizations and cultures throughout history.

MONTENEGRO

The denouement of the inevitable dissolution of Yugoslavia came in June 2006 when the citizens of tiny Montenegro voted to separate from the federation of Serbia & Montenegro.

Despite Montenegro being the smallest piece of the Balkans jigsaw, the rugged country packs in a geography textbook of natural features and spectacles.

Thirteen years after the siege, which between 1992 and 1996 made Sarajevo the symbol of the disintegration of former Yugoslavia, the city continues to fight. Today, however, its citizens are not trying to survive the bullets or missiles launched by the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) and the Army of Republika Srpska while lacking sufficient power, water or access to humanitarian aid.

Most visitors to İstanbul quickly hear about the great 16th-century Ottoman architect Sinan, particularly if they visit the Süleymaniye, Sokollu Mehmed Paşa or Rüstem Paşa mosques or the Çemberlitaş Hamam, where they will hear him spoken of in tones of reverence as befits the master behind so many of the city’s landmark buildings.

Muslims are being encouraged to vacation in Turkey this summer to offset the estimated $ 400 million loss caused by Israelis boycotting the country as relations between the countries deteriorate.

A number of Muslim scholars and leaders issued a statement on June 17 praising Turkey’s position regarding Israel and welcoming Ankara’s efforts to “lift the siege on Gaza and the Palestinian people.” It called on Arabs and Muslims to show support for Turkey by boosting economic ties.

The town of Ulcinj is in the far south of the Montenegrin coast. With its natural charms, Ulcinj is perfect for tourism. The longest sandy beach on the Adriatic (the Big Beach is 13 km long) - Ada Bojana, the splendid river island with more magnificent sandy beaches, the unique cove Valdanos with numerous old olive trees in the background, the reconstructed old town within Ulcinj (rich in interesting restaurants, cafs, galleries and hotels) and many other interesting sites make Ulcinj a unique place, attractive for many tourists. Ulcinj is a town that you definitely have to see. For more visit: http://www.visit-ulcinj.com/

Up 240 steps, behind a padlocked wooden door, is a shrine holy to both Christian and Bektashi Sufi believers.

It is not well known. Wary of flocks of tourists, the people in Makedonski Brod, in south-western Macedonia, have kept its existence a well-guarded secret for years.

The aged building, marked only by a cross from outside, is decorated within by Christian icons, and portraits of both Jesus Christ and Sufi saints.

If you ever felt regret that – having been born in contemporary times, you’ll never be able to see the Seven Wonders of the World, of which only the Great Pyramid of Giza survives, y
ou needn’t fret any longer. Since 2001, The New7Wonders Foundation - established by the Swiss-born Canadian filmmaker, author and adventurer Bernard Weber, undertook a campaign to identify the world’s new seven wonders – democratically elected, all intact and accessible to anyone willing to fly around the world and see them.

Officials of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia will sign the Communication on Protection of Cultural Diversity on 11 September: The event "The European Heritage Days" in Prijepolje has gone beyond the national framework, and for the first time in Serbia, under the roof of one museum, it has involved representative programmes of three large and significant museums from the neighboring countries - the Earth Museum of BIH, Museum of Republic of Srpska in Banja Luka and the National Museum of Montenegro.

Infrastructure Minister Milutin Mrkonjić on Tuesday said that Serbia is very interested in buying the port of Bar in Montenegro.

Mrkonjić told Podgorica television station Atlas that the Serbian industry is "very interested in the tender for the sale of the port", adding that Serbia and Montenegro will also be working together to construct the Bar-Boljari-Kraljevo road.

If you've a spare €2.5bn burning a hole in your pocket, and always fancied your own personal Mediterranean archipelago, now is your chance.

Hard-up Croatia is putting the celebrated Brioni Islands in the Adriatic up for sale. The islands, a few miles off the mainland, were a favourite bolt-hole for the ruler of the then Yugoslavia, General Josip Broz Tito.

Josip Broz Tito welcomed such figures as Gamal Abdel Nasser, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Sophia Loren to the celebrated Brioni Islands

Perlati Deep Drilling exceeds gold expectations, supports Lower Level theory.

May, 2009: Assay results from the sampled drill core were returned to BRI in January 2009, with very good results. At the predicted elevation for the second level of mineralization, assays showed a very rich interval of 7.02m that averaged 7.3%Cu, 6.3g/t Au, 31.5g/t Ag, and 860g/t Co

Text by Besa Beqiri and Ilija Djordjevic for Southeast European Times*

It's known as "Bosnian Mahalla". Home to many of northern Mitrovica's Bosniaks, the neighbourhood in the city in northern Kosovo is also frequented by Albanians and Serbs, making it an ethnic mixing bowl.

On the surface, life feels tranquil. At the stores, you can buy chocolates as well as traditional specialties such as ajvar (hajvar) and lutenica. New buildings have sprung up, financed by the Serbian government. Landmarks include a Jugobanka branch office and, above all, the locally famous Shera's Café.