Toronto, Ontario, Canada
This was my 6th trip to the Balkans and ex-Yugoslavia countries. I was going to visit the last hold out Republic of Montenegro as mountain buses were always very slow consuming too much time so had to miss out on prior trips.
Why are you going there? What is there do there? Is it safe? They had a war. These are questions I often get asked during each trip. Most people do not know the fascinating history of this region. All we are taught is that it was part of the "Soviet Bloc", they were Socialists, Farmers, there were ethnic wars in 1990s.
I had never heard of Serbs, Croats, or Bosniaks until the 1990s wars. When they were talking about "ethnic cleansing of Muslims" on the news my reaction was "what Muslims? There are no Muslims in Yugoslavia". I had never heard of Muslims in the Balkans and thought there were only from the Middle East, North Africa, and India/Pakistan.
My Uncle is married to a Yugoslav woman. I would play at my cousins and have sleepovers. My Aunt never mentioned any of this so this was all quite eye opening considering we had Yugoslav family members.
What is deliberately whitewashed in western schools, media, history shows and documentaries is the Ottoman Empire and its impact on Europe for 600 years. We are simply told they were the "sick man of Europe" at the breakout of WW1 and no other mention of its 600 year history or legacy in Europe.
During my first visit to Budapest in 2004 I was quite startled by an exhibit of the "Turks in Budapest". When were the Turks here? What were they doing? Why is there an exhibit? In Bratislava it said in the Castle the Hungarian Kings were crowned in Bratislava during the Ottoman rule of Budapest.
As I learnt more and on a further visit in 2007 I discovered the Turks had been in Budapest for 150 years when the Kingdom of Hungary fell to the Turks and they even laid siege to Vienna twice. All conveniently edited out of the European History I was accustomed to.
The other strange thing I started to experience in Eastern Europe was Balkan music. On my trip to Prague in 2004 one store was playing this music quite loud which was a mix of Turkish, Arabic, or Bollywood. I asked what it was and he said it was Bosnian and that is where he was from. I asked if he could make me a copy and I still have this CD.
The Turkish Ottomans advanced into the Balkans in the 1400s and quite easily made their way into Central Europe defeating the Serbs and Hungarians. This was the peak of their empire under Suleiman the Magnificent. Despite losing Hungary after 150 years and slowly being pushed back, they left their legacy on the region which they had under direct rule for up to 600 years.
Essentially they re-occupied what was the Eastern Roman Empire or the Byzantines so this region has a continuous history going back almost 2000 years, particularly for the Eastern Orthodox Church. I'm sure the Ottoman domes are inherited from the Byzantines.
The most noticeable impact in the region is the introduction of Islam. Bosniaks and Albanians embraced Islam in the largest numbers though there are also smaller numbers from other ethnic groups such as Greeks, Bulgarians, Serbs.
There was some financial advantage of lower taxation or opportunity of belonging to the ruling class. Many Jews also settled in the region after their expulsion from Spain and held prominent positions in Ottoman society. So all three religions were living simultaneously and contributing to the tapestry of the region.
The Kingdom of Hungary reorganized with the Hapsburgs into the Austro Hungarian Empire and there was a general stalemate for 200 years between the Ottomans that for the most part they would leave each others territories alone. Bosnia was the extent and the frontier of Ottoman lands from 1699-1878.
The period of most change was the Congress of Vienna in 1878 when Bosnia was ceded to the Hapsburgs.
Then the Balkan Wars of 1912-14 when the Ottomans rapidly lost land, culminating in WW1 when they were pushed back to present day borders of modern Turkey. Western powers were fermenting "Nationalism" and the break up of the Ottomans so that they could get their hands on the oil rich Ottoman territories of the Middle East.
In amongst all these changes a region that fascinated me is the Sandzak of Novi Pazar. As Serbia to the north and Montenegro to the south broke off gaining their independence from the Turks, the Sandzak of Novi Pazar remained as a land corridor linking Bosnia to the south Ottoman Balkans.
Today this region straddles Serbia and Montenegro but remained the most Turkish region as their neighbours sought independence and their own identity. There is also rich Serbian Orthodox heritage in the region.
I first visited the town of Novi Pazar in 2013 to see all the Turkish heritage in Serbia's most Islamic town - see blog [http://v2.travelark.org/travel-blog-entry/londone7/27/1381051824]
Another interesting region is the Vilayet (Province) of Kosovo. This was much wider than today's Kosovo and at times included the Sandzak of Novi Pazar and extended into present day Macedonia.
The region has layers of history we are taught virtually nothing about : The Eastern Roman Empire, The Byzantines, The Kingdom of Hungary, The Kingdom of Bosnia, The Ottoman Turks, The Hapsburgs, The Venetians, The Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Tito's Yugoslavia, post War Independent Republics.
There is no such thing as "Yugoslavia". This was a 20th Century creation of Western Powers to amalgamate pieces of the Hapsburg Empire (Slovenia, Croatia) with parts of the Ottoman Balkans.
I was excited to be returning to visit more sights. This certainly will not be my last trip as there were more places I did not get to visit. Very friendly people, very economical, great music and food, so many layers of history to explore.
2006 Trip - Ljubljiana > Zadar > Split > Dubrovnik > Mostar > Sarajevo > Zagreb
2007 Trip - Budapest > Sarajevo > Lukomir > Travnik > Visoko > Mostar > Istanbul > Edirne
2013 Blog - Budapest > Gyor > Pecs > Belgrade > Novi Sad > Nis > Novi Pazar > Pristina > Prizren > Skopje > Tetovo > Sofia > Plovdiv > Istanbul [http://v2.travelark.org/travel-blog/londone7/27]
2015 Blog - Thessaloniki > Skopje > Bitola > Struga > Ohrid > Tirana > Kruje > Durres > Berat > Gjiorkaster > Ioaninna [http://v2.travelark.org/travel-blog/londone7/31]
2018 Blog - Venice > Pula > Rovinj > Rijeka > Karlovac > Bihac > Zagreb [http://v2.travelark.org/travel-blog/londone7/42]
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2025-05-22