Imagine going to sleep one night under the banner of one country, and waking up the next day living in an entirely different one. Sounds crazy, right? Well, not for the people of the Balkans. In fact, this scenario has played out dozens of times throughout their history; so much in fact that it has became a common occurrence.
After WWII, the nation of Yugoslavia (now present day Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Macedonia and Kosovo) came under the dictatorship of Josep Broz (better known as Tito). Fighting between all these rival groups halted under Tito’s term and Yugoslavia was even considered the most open of the communist republics by reaching a fairly high standard of living. Tito also sought neutrality in the two sided game of Cold War politics and made allies with both the USSR and USA. Life was good in the Balkan Peninsula for the next four decades.
Then, in 1980, Tito (the only entity gluing this fragile ethnic-religious mosaic together, died and Yugoslavia slowly began to deteriorate into a fiery blaze. In the early 1990s, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Serbia and Montenegro were all separated and at each other’s throats again. Then shit really hit the fan and Tito flipped three times in his grave.
(Bombed buildings, Pristina, Kosovo)
Slobadan Milosivic of Serbia began speaking of a greater Serbian nation, one that would incorporate Serbs from all surrounding republics into one big nation. Milosivic started moving into neighboring countries and even started the process of ethnic cleansing local Muslims to “make room” for the Serbs. Soon, full out war broke loose: Serbia vs. Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
(Bombed buildings in downtown Belgrade, Serbia)
The alliance of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina didn’t last long, however. They eventually turned on eachother as well, creating a three way war between the Bosniak Muslims (who wanted to create a multi-ethnic/multi-religious union) the Croats (who wanted more land for a greater Croatia) and the Serbs (who were mass murdering innocent Muslims under Milosivic to make a sort of lebensraum for Serbia). The situation incinerated like a cigarette in gasoline, causing US President Bill Clinton to lead a NATO intervention on the side of the Bosniak Muslims.
(Bombed buildings in downtown Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina)
After much bombings and heavy fighting, by 1996 everything cooled down for the time being. The Bosniak Muslims with the help of NATO achieved their aim of a multi-ethnic/multi-religious country by having sizeable groups of Bosniak Muslims, Croat Catholics and Serbian Orthodox, forming the country of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Croatia, Macedonia and Slovenia were also then independent. Serbia and Montenegro and Kosovo at the time during 1997 were all united under the Serbian flag.
Things heated up again in 1999 when the predominately Muslim region of Kosovo tried breaking away from mother Serbia. Serbia intervened and war broke out again. With the help of the US and Bill Clinton to the rescue once again, Kosovo got independence… kind of (only half of the world’s countries see Kosovo as truly independent). Serbia obviously doesn’t recognize Kosovo and the two every few years seem to clash.
(More bombed buildings in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Amazingly, in 2006, Serbia allowed Montenegro to have a referendum for independence. Montenegro voted “Yes,” and Serbia peacefully let them go, officially land-locking Serbia. It’s funny, why would Serbia put up such a fight for Kosovo, a region full of ethnic Albanians who are Muslim (meaning they’re very different from the Serbs), and let Montenegro, a place full of Orthodox Serbians (a place with obvious cultural and historic ties to Serbia), go with ease? Politics is a dirty game.
There’s a brief history of the Balkans for ya, but let me state that I have barley scratched the surface. There’s much more to this conflict than a few paragraphs scribbled down on this blog.
Anyway, I traveled to each of the former Yugoslavian nations to see how they were doing two decades after the conflict, and this is what I noted:
Slovenia
I had a unique time in Slovenia because I stayed at my friends’ house. Since they were locals, they showed me an entirely different side to the country and even took me snowboarding. Apart from that, it seems that Slovenia is doing the best out of the Balkans. The economy is booming and they’re the only country of Former Yugoslavia who uses the Euro. It also seemed to be a very clean, quaint, quiet, organized and enjoyable place to live in. The natural scenery is pristine and the architecture of down town Ljubljana tops European standards.
Croatia
Croatia seems to be doing the second best out of the Former Yugoslavia. Though they haven’t started using the Euro yet, it seems like that days is coming soon; especially with all the wealth that’s pouring in from it’s tourism industry on the Adriatic Coast. The Adriatic Coast is gorgeous and it attracts holiday sun bathers, rich businessmen with private yachts and party goers from around Europe during the summer months. Too bad it was below zero when I was there, a beach sounds mighty nice right now…
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina, unlike Croatia, Slovenia and Macedonia, was the center of the wars of the 1990s. Many of their buildings were destroyed, best friends from highschool turned on eachother, the economy plummeted and the nation was almost wiped clean off the map of Europe like Prussia. Nonetheless, they survived and are kickin’ it like never before. The Bosnians are having a cultural renaissance while people eat and drink all night to celebrate the joy of just being alive. People from different religions and ethnicities are friends again, just like the good ole days.

(Above is a pic of the Mostar Old Bridge. The original one was hundreds of years old, but it was destroyed during the war. This is the renovated one. There’s a mountain of tradition here. A group of locals jump off this bridge to 1. save the name of tradition 2. make cash and 3. impress the ladies. Bridge jumpers are town idols and each one has a tattoo of the bridge and their name written in a special book. I met a bridge jumper one night and chatted with him about the proud bridge jumping heritage for a bit and the horrors of a gruesome war for the other bit. He’s one of the most interesting people I’ve ever met).
Serbia
Serbia’s capital Belgrade was the most important city and capital of Yugoslavia. Apart from being the economic hub and capital of new Serbia, it’s the largest city of the Balkans with over 2 million people and seen as kind of a regional cultural hub. Plus, Belgrade was rated by Lonely Planet as Europe’s number one party city of 2010. Like the Bosnians, the country suffered a lot from the war and suffered even more from Milosivic, the genocidal mad man. But they seem to have put the past behind them and are enjoying life to its fullest.

(I was in Belgrade the eve of January 7th, the same day the Orthodox celebrate Christmas! So, I got to celebrate Christmas twice this year! I met a group of Belgian guys and partied with them and the locals the entire night. Everyone was bar hopping and drinking warm, herbal red wine. After everyone got a strong buzz, they went to the church (shown here and in the below pic) to pray. After a good drunk prayer, they hit the streets again. Why can’t all Christmases be like this?).
Montenegro
The people of Montenegro are nearly exactly like the people from Serbia- Serb and Orthodox. Which makes me question, why did Serbia let a region with similar beliefs, race and history go with a referendum while they fought brutal wars with a tiny Albanian Muslim region known as Kosovo, one that has no cultural ties to Serbia. Apart from crazy politics, Montenegro is one of the most boring places I’ve ever been to. I hear that things pick up during the summer on the Adriatic shores, making it a kind of mini-Croatia, but that doesn’t help my opinion much. I stayed one day then bounced.
Kosovo
What’s up with all the US/Bill Clinton propaganda? I’ll get to that in a second. The region at the souther tip of Serbia has definitely got the blunt end of the stick. Serbia refuses to let it go and stomps its foot to recognize Kosovo’s independence. Saying that, only 50% of the world recognizes tiny Kosovo as an independent nation. Furthermore, every once in a while, Serbia and Kosovo skirmish. In fact, there was one 3 days after I left the country! It was a close one. But perhaps the most interesting thing about Kosovo is their passionate love for Americans. Yeah, I couldn’t believe it myself. Many countries have a strong anti-American sentiment, but Kosovo hasn’t forgot the help Bill Clinton provided them. In fact, the main street in Pristina is called Bill Clinton Ave and there’s a statue of him in the center of town. I told people I was American and was instantly bombarded like bombs over Belgrade with free food and discounts. I can get used to a country like this!
Note: Many say the US is raging a war against Muslims around the world. Let me remind you again, however, that the residents of Kosovo are predominately Muslim. So disconcerning whatever mess George W Bush has started, it just goes to show that not all American presidents and Americans have had anti-Muslim sentiments.
Macedonia
Macedonia is the quiet guy of the Balkans. It’s shy, the economy is puttering a long and it stayed clear of the major wars. Despite being a bit introverted, it gets the sash of “Miss Balkan” due to its incredible natural scenery. I guess nothing is always that easy though. While the Balkan nations were fighting it out, Macedonia was having its problems with Greece. Greece apparently got mad that this newly independent country was called Macedonia (the same name of a Greek Province where Alexander the Great’s from). Greece flipped out and forced poor Macedonia to change its name to the FYR Macedonia- The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia! Again, politics is ridiculous sometimes…
Albania
This one came out of left field since I haven’t mentioned Albania all blog! And why should I? It was never part of Yugoslavia. Instead, while Tito was practicing a very open and tolerant form of Socialism, Albania’s Enver Hoxa introduced one of the world’s most radical branches of communism. The country was closed off from the rest of the world, military bunkers were constructed all around the country and Albania sunk into a hole of international isolationism. They didn’t want relations with anyone, not even the Soviets. Now, Albania is opening up very slowly like a heated clam shell. But despite the bleak rays of internationalism shining through, there’s still hardly any trace of Western influence, giving the country a very unique feel and culture that can’t be seen in too many other countries today. I really enjoy odd places like this one!






























































































































































































































































