Managua was never intended to be the capital of Nicaragua. Rival political groups from León and Granada had been fighting for decades in the early 19th Century to declare their respective city the capital; Managua lies roughly halfway between the two cities and in 1852 a compromise…
Update June 8, 2018: The situation in Managua has severely deteriorated in the past weeks. Peace talks have been suspended and the death toll continues to rise as Ortega refuses to step down. The silver lining of all the violence and bloodshed is that it has brought…
The National Museum of Serbia has been closed for renovations for well over ten years now. There apparently used to be a countdown clock ticking down to the museum’s re-opening, but even that glimmer of hope was removed several years ago. The outer facade has been restored,…
Podgorica became the capital of the Socialist Republic of Montenegro (a state within Yugoslavia) on July 13, 1946; the city at that time had been renamed Titograd in honor of the Yugoslav President Josip Tito. Before Titograd/Podgorica had been named the capital city the title had been bestowed…
Sometimes when we’re told we can’t do something it only makes us want to do it all the more. Such was the case with me and riding Bus 63 in Sofia, otherwise known as the Boyana Express. When I arrived at Hostel Mostel, where I would be…
It’s impossible to visit Skopje and not always be aware of Водно (Vodno), the towering mountain just south of the city. Not only does the mountain itself dominate the landscape, but in 2002 construction began on the Милениумски крст (Millennium Cross), one of the largest crosses in the…
There’s no substitute for simply walking around when you’re trying to get a handle on a new city. The morning I arrived in Sarajevo, I quickly dropped off my backpack at my hostel (the excellent Franz Ferdinand Hostel http://franzferdinandhostel.com) and started a long, but rewarding self-guided walking…
One of the great joys of solo, independent travel is that you’re not on anyone else’s schedule. You can do what you, when you want; travel at your own pace and plan your activities accordingly. While solo travel may seem scary at first, once you taste this…
Despite the horrors and hardships Sarajevo suffered during the 1990’s and fully admitting that the ghosts of those events are still living very close to the surface in minds of many citizens, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s capital today is a bastion of hope, warmth and vibrancy. Nowhere is…
While Prague’s UNESCO status Old Town has become overrun with mobs of tourists, stag/hen parties and tacky souvenir shops, the charming district of Praha 3 remains largely ignored, despite containing two of the more interesting sights in the city and plenty of restaurants actually frequented by locals. Vítkov…