Balkan Tour 2008-07

Balkan Tour 2008-07      by Chris Hsu

這就是以相片為主的 travel photo blog，是我的弟弟夫婦旅遊攝影的。

We first arrived in Budapest , Hungary .  With the influence of the Austro Hungarian Empire, I would venture to say that Hungary was probably the most developed country in the five countries we visited in the lower Danube, that includes Hungary , Croatia , Serbia , Bulgaria and Romania .

Budapest was formed by three cities in 1873.  The hilly side was consisted of Buda and Obuda (old Buda) and Pest on the east side.  They read it "Pesht."  The most impressive was their National Assembly Building , a Gothic Revival style building, on the east bank of Danube River on the Pest side.  It is the largest building in Hungary and the tallest in Budapest (96 meters).  Like in Washington , D.C. ,  there is a rule that no building should be taller than it. The number "96" coincides with the country's formation in 896 A .D. by the seven chiefs of the Magyar tribes from Asia .  However, the origin of these people has been disputed over the years.  But it seems the Hun might have been part of them.  The building is really beautiful.  It was inaugurated on the 1000th anniversary of the country in 1896.  However, it was completed in 1904.  It took 19 years to complete.  The first two photos was the full view from the back of the building. One was from the hill across the river.  It was just unfortunate that we did not have time to see the inside of the building, which was opened to tourists.

The third photo was a typical sunset in the lower Danube .

The fourth photo was a 200+ years old fort built by the Austrians in Turdja , Croatia .  Eastern Croatia facing Adriatic Sea is supposed to be beautiful.  Unfortunately I did not get to see it. The unemployment rate in that region is about  10 %.  In the eastern Croatia , which received the blunt of the Serbian military offensives has an unemployment rate as high as 80%.  Many fields are left unused due to the landmines. They are sinking deeper and deeper and it is hard to detect them. We saw the worst destruction in the town of Vukova .  We were arranged to eat lunch at a host family in Osijek .  Since the housewife could not speak English, the travel company had prepared a 40-year-old interpreter.  This guy has three children and he used to be a forest engineer.  He told us that he has been unemployed for the past five years and he considered himself as a "lost generation."  The situation there is still grim.

The fifth photo was a fort overlooking the Sava and Danube River in Belgrade , Serbia .

(It was the central area of the former Yugoslavia .)  This place is strategically important that it was military post as early as the Roman era.  There are some Roman ruins that we saw in Serbia , Bulgaria , and Romania .  They were probably the eastern most territories of the Roman Empire including the Istanbul in the south.  The ruins we saw were mostly the foundations.  There were none of the more complete structures left.

The sixth photo was taken in Belgrade . We visited an uncompleted St. Sava Orthodox Cathedral.  The guide claimed that it was larger than the Aya Sophia in Istanbul , which made us somewhat skeptical. 

 The draw of religion is getting weaker.  They could not collect enough money to complete the church.  The Serbians and Croatians are almost the same ethnic group but one is Roman Catholic and one is Eastern Orthodox.  They found sufficient reasons to kill each other and did it very viciously.  People are still discovering mass graves dug by the Serbians.

The seventh photo was the Army Headquarters of Serbia in Belgrade , which was attacked by the American Tomahawks.  Precision bombing does have its devastating effects. 

 We were thinking of visiting the Chinese Embassy, which was also bombed "by mistake with an old map" but it was too far away that we did not go. We did visit the grave of Tito who was enshrined in a mausoleum next to a museum with his collections.  I personally respect his ability to withstood the pressure from the Soviets and unite all seven groups into an unified Yugoslavia .  However, one college kid out of three came to talk to us on the boat blamed him for enjoying his 35 years of dictatorship and not establishing a democratic government thus the split up of the country.  I don't know how the history will judge him.

The eighth photo shows the most scenic stretch of the entire cruise.  Down stream, the water was blocked by a dam thus it looked like a lake.  There was an Orthodox church on the way.

The ninth photo showed the relaxed couple.  Mia suffered severe shoulder pain one month prior to the cruise.  We thought for sure that we would have to forgo the payments and stayed home.  Luckily after 5 expensive treatments by a Chinese medicine man, we made the trip.

The tenth photo showed the pretty old capital city of Veliko Tarnovo of Bulgaria in the hilly area. 

The eleventh photo showed a pretty girl in qipao in Velico Tarnovo.  I forgot what is the statue in the background.  Who could pay attention to it?

The twelfth photo shows the Romanian flag and the gigantic memorial of completing the Danube Canal , which cut short the route more than 100 miles in reaching the major seaport, Constanta , in the Black Sea .

In building this canal, the disposed dictator Chauchescu used slave labors and many of them died.  According to the captain, the boat has to pay $7500 toll to cross the gate into  Black Sea .

The thirteenth photo shows the second largest office building of the world next to Pentagon.  It is the Chachescu's dream House of Parliament. 

When he was summarily executed, the building was only 75% complete.  This uneducated shoemaker was a shrewd man with Machiavelli mind.  He gained the control of the country at fairly young age.  He became paranoid and was afraid of germs, probably like Howard Hughes.  This gigantic building did not have air conditioning installed at his command for he was afraid of germs spreading around by the AC.  The building is only 60% in use today.  Chauchescu got inspired by the giant buildings and personality cult after a visit to China and North Korea .  He learned from the masters, Chairman Mao and Kim Il-son.

The fourteenth photo shows the Communist Headquarter Building in Bucharest where Chauchescu escaped by a helicopter on the roof top after realizing his regime was falling. 

He and his wife were called the co-dictators.  She was even more spiteful to the people than him. People celebrated their death since he engaged in extravagant projects, paying national debts with the farm products of the people and let them starve.  It is a typical ending of a hated dictator.  However, one taxi driver Mia talked to was proud of his many achievements. 

Hope you enjoy these photos.