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| Written by Ron Swift | |
| Saturday, 03 November 2007 | |
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Lots to see and do in Eastern Europe  Ron Swift Security personnel were everywhere when I recently traveled to Eastern Europe — not only in this country, but also abroad. And I don’t mean just at airport check-in facilities. Uniformed security personnel lined the terminal walkways, the boarding ramps and the baggage areas. There’s no telling how many plainclothes security folks were eyeing passengers. Our first of 13 flights started in Oakland, where we boarded a plane with a dented nose. Whether it was made by a Canada goose or a soft mountain, the dent was disconcerting. Our first foreign stop was Tirana, founded in 1614 and the capital of Albania, a small country of 4 million just across the Adriatic Ocean from Italy. Albania has been war-torn for about 2,000 years — and it looks it. The Greeks, Romans, Crusaders, Ottoman Empire, Balkan Wars and both world wars have all left their marks. One recent ruler under the Communist regime ordered the construction of 700,000 concrete bunkers throughout the entire country. Though never used, they still dot the landscape. He never did tell his people who he thought might invade. Albania is 70 percent Muslim and 30 percent Christian. A Democracy since 1992, its economy is struggling. One noon, we met in a restaurant with a small group of English-speaking students who four years ago founded a group called Mjaftl, meaning Enough. Run by no more than 300 volunteers and having about 8,000 members, Mjaftl is pushing for change in Albania and strives to shake the apathy the students claim is gripping the country. They are trying to hold their government responsible and seem to be making considerable headway. Some of Mjaftl’s financial support comes from the good ol’ U.S. of A., where we here at home measure apathy at every election. We could use some student organization to battle apathy in this country. On to Macedonia The bus trip for our 39 travelers took us on to the city of Ohrid in Macedonia and a stylish hotel overlooking a large lake of the same name. UNESCO has proclaimed the lake and surrounding area a Cultural Heritage Site. “Where’s Macedonia?” I asked Housemate (HM) before leaving home. “Right east of Albania,” came her reply. It came into existence in the early 1990s with the breakup of Yugoslavia and is a neat country to visit, despite an abundance of trash and graffiti marring the landscape. Ohrid, a pretty city of 55,000, has a history that dates back nearly 2,000 years. It was once a major Christian trade center, before succumbing to Ottoman Empire rule for 500 years. The Greeks still consider Macedonia to be theirs and recently forced a change in the nation’s flag design. Then, it was on to Thessaloniki, a thriving city on the Aegean Sea in the northern area of Greece, where our hotel again overlooked the water. We continued to visit ancient churches and monasteries and remains of old Roman walls and walk on cobblestone streets that appeared to be ageless. Its history is rich. Thessaloniki was founded in 315 B.C. and was named after the half-sister of Alexander the Great. We visited the tomb of his father, Phillip. The Apostle Paul brought the message of Christianity to this city in 49 or 50 A.D. Nine days in Bulgaria Then came nine days in Bulgaria, with overnights in Bansko — a ski resort city in the mountains — Plovdiv, Nesebar — where our grandiose hotel (one of about 300) overlooked the Black Sea — and the modern capital of Sofia. The Black Sea is a resort destination for many Europeans, though the tourist season was winding down at the time of our visit. One stop in Bulgaria was at the Rila monastery, with its impressive 1,200 mural paintings. Many of the old churches on the tour were built in the 13th and 14th centuries, and a few remain in use. It’s fun to walk on old Roman roadways and see Roman walls that are still used. At one point, we saw how high stone walls against a hillside were being used as foundations for a modern house perched atop them. Roman amphitheaters, including one on a major intersection in the heart of Sofia, have been unearthed in Bulgarian cities. Only a short section of the amphitheater, said to be 180 yards long and built to seat 20,000, has been excavated. The remainder will stay covered with asphalt. It was discovered in 2005 during excavation work for a new hotel. Sofia also claims the oldest working church in the country, one built in the fourth century. Its national museum is a “must see” for all tourists, and Bulgaria is attracting plenty of those. The country boasts hundreds of archeological sites that remain unstudied. It claims to have given birth to both Europe and the Far East. Sofia is a busy city of 1.6 million people, and its economy appears to be booming. Many young women are stylishly dressed, BMWs are popular on the streets, cell phones are prevalent, police officers had no visible side arms and young people didn’t appear to be obese. But just wait — McDonald’s, KFC and Dunkin’ Donuts have arrived on the scene. By contrast, other young women serve as street sweepers, using brooms to tidy up the roadways. We also witnessed teachers marching with signs in protest of their $240-a-month wage. They were peacefully picketing government offices for a 25 percent increase. Only democratic since 1990 after the Soviet Union dissolved, Bulgaria very obviously is attempting to get its act together. Its 7.7 million residents are divided into no fewer than 358 political parties, creating a presidential ballot that was more than 10 feet long in 2005. Its government is very friendly with the United States and has authorized the establishment of three new U.S. airbases in that country. That decision has not pleased the Bulgarian populace, which has had its fill of war. Interestingly, Bulgaria attempted to stay neutral in World War II and ended up saving close to 50,000 Jews. When Hitler’s forces finally moved in, Bulgaria aligned itself with Russia to push the Germans out, just as the Russians had done for Bulgaria in the 19th century after the Turks (Ottoman Empire) had occupied the country for 500 years. Another point of interest: The Bulgarians knew that Communism would fail, and they kept all their land records filed away for future use. When the Soviet Union dissolved in 1989, all property in the country was returned to its rightful owners. It is one country where Christians and Muslims are living in harmony. An oddity about Albania, Macedonia and Bulgaria is the many thousands of started-but-unfinished buildings that fill the cities and dot the countryside. Some have their first floors occupied, but second and third stories are starkly unfinished. And some buildings on the landscape appear to have been abandoned, with materials pilfered from them used for new structures next door. FOR THE SPORTS FAN Last weekend wasn’t a good one for Northern California football fans, with the 49ers, Raiders, Cal and Patterson teams falling to defeat. Sob! AND FINALLY … You may have read that Merrill Lynch CEO Stan O’Neal was pushed out early this week after his investment firm recorded losses of more than $2.24 billion in the third quarter. He left smiling with a retirement package of $161.5 million after five years of work at ML, where last year he earned $48 million. Not bad pay for running in the red. As for a replacement, I recommend former Yankee third baseman Alex Rodriguez, who, along with agent Scott Boras, is hungry for big bucks. A-Rod is seeking a new team, and ML might be the answer. Ron Swift is editor/publisher emeritus of the Patterson Irrigator. His column appears weekly in this space.
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