In 2004, I visited all 25 countries in Eastern Europe. You'll find the blog entries from that trip here. In 2008-2011, I returned to see what had changed since that time. With these two visits, five years apart, I accumulated enough material for my 750-page book, The Hidden Europe: What Eastern Europeans Can Teach Us.
This blog now has many excerpts from The Hidden Europe. But who the hell reads anymore? Just look at the best photos from Eastern Europe!
This map reflects how I define Eastern Europe. Eastern Europeans love to deny that they're in Eastern Europe. I tackle how and why I define Eastern Europe the way I do in the Introduction of The Hidden Europe.
Guest Post by Romeo Demes:
Croatia has firmly established itself as one of Europe’s premium tourist destinations. Its major attractions like Dubrovnik, Zagreb, Plitvice Lakes and Zadar have gained global tourist acclaim.
As a result, most visitors to Croatia travel to these attractions. However, these attractions are just the tip of the iceberg. Croatia has numerous jewels and hidden gems, many of which have been delighting curious adventurers for years.
If you are one of those who are willing to look beyond the standard travel brochures, then these hidden gems are the perfect destination for you. Some of the hidden gems are the following:
Popularly referred to as the “Lover’s Island”, Galesnjak is quietly emerging as one of Croatia’s top romantic destinations. This is because it is the most heart-shaped island in the world. This fact was first brought to the attention of the world by Google Earth images in 2009.
The island has since become popular stopover for couples on a romantic holiday. Therefore, if you are travelling with your better half, you may want to drop by there.
The island itself is small, uninhabited and mostly covered with trees and shrubs. It is surrounded by pristine waters of the Pasman channel, and has a few pebble beaches. The majority of the island is wild and untamed. You can have a picnic, enjoy a quiet romantic time or even camp through the night. Most people who visit the island set base at Pasman Island or in the historic town of Zadar.
Guest Post by Alex Pejak:
Eastern Europe is increasingly becoming more popular with travellers around the world. Where is Eastern Europe? It encompasses the area of Europe east of the Czech Republic and extends from southern Bulgaria to Russia's Borders with Asia and the Arctic.
Some of the easily accessible countries of East Europe include Serbia, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, and many more. The countries of Eastern Europe are all ethnically, topographically, culturally and historically distinct. The one thing they do have in common is a past under the Soviet Union's realm of interest and control.
Eastern Europe has seen its share of war and atrocities after the breakup of the Soviet Union, with various new countries fighting to gain independence from socialist federal republics such as Yugoslavia.
Today, twenty odd years later, all of the countries of Eastern Europe have either been accepted into the European Union or are working towards gaining this status.
This has made the region more open and attractive to tourists, so here are the top five reasons you should visit Eastern Europe....
Guest post by Julio Moreno:
"I wish I had done this differently."
"Man, I would have totally skipped that if I had to do it again."
Sound familiar? Travel, like pretty much everything in our lives, suffers from 20-20 hindsight. No matter how much you plan, research, and get tips from your friends, the reality is always at least a little different from those early research stages. Some places turn out to be tourist traps and others unexpectedly wonderful places. So why do so few of us go do the same thing twice? It is that wonder, that excitement of doing something the first time that is so amazing, it can't be replicated, no matter how hard you try.
Like any sane person with a healthy dose of wanderlust, I too dream of some day exploring Eastern Europe. Will it live up to expectations? I don't know. Will it exceed them? I hope so. But, like everything that is worth while, it all starts with a dream.
These are 7 places in Eastern Europe that spring into my head when the lights go off and I start dozing off....
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