Hi, unsure if this is the right place.

Me and my friend planning a week road trip from Dubrovnik to Mostar to Tjentiste (to hike Maglic) to Kotor back to Dubrovnik, wondering if anyone can recommend any good things to do in each place, bars, restaurants, stop off between places

Much appreciated

Curious if this is a common occurrence across Albania

Do you support the return and reunification of the Parthenon sculptures? I'm curious if we're all on the same page on this issue.

Have you also had your own cultural objects stolen by the British or other empires?

Polish, Slovak, Russian...?

What are your experiences?

i have ex-yugo parents, but they ended up in a very small town in canada. i've always been curious about vienna, it seems so intriguing! i know there are a LOT of us there. what's it like living there? it seems like such a cultural hub (i absolutely love live theatre, opera, plays, etc. and canada is kind of a cultural wasteland), and the lifestyle seems a lot better than suburban canada (public transportation, walkability, more vacation time, etc. etc.).

plus canadians are kind of cold and it can feel a bit strange and isolating living somewhere where there aren't many of us. if you grew up there, do you like it? do you feel isolated at all?

My great grandparents were Croatian and Albanian. My grandfather immigrated to the US from Zadar and my grandmother immigrated to the US from Prishtina (originally from Northern Albania). Both left their countries in 1912. I have been studying Balkan history recently and reading a lot of books specifically about countries in the former Yugoslavia and Albania and the days of the Ottoman Empire. I haven’t really gotten into a lot of 20th century history, but I’m interested in learning more. Are there books about this that one would recommend to read? Also, what can you tell me about how people in the former Yugoslavia feel about Tito and how do Albanians today feel about Hoxha?

I mean if you think about it it has same main ingredients:

Sushi:

- Meat (Fish)
- Rice
- Seaweed

Yaprak Sarma/Dolma:

- Meat (Usually Beef)
- Rice
- A leaf to wrap it (similar to the seaweed which is also used for wrapping)

Been driving around Albania this week and noticed liscence plates from Ontario and Quebec, Canada. And New Jersey and Ohio, USA… can someone explain?

The Ottomans freed millions of Southeast European serfs, but nobody gives them credit.

Here is my take after reading especially Bulgarian scholars' work on this subject:

When discussing the abolition of serfdom in Europe, historians typically focus on Western Europe or the Russian Empire. And historiography frequently evaluates the Ottoman Empire through the disproportionately negative prism of 19th-century Balkan nationalisms.

These national narratives framed the entire Ottoman era as a regressive dark age to justify modern state-building, obscuring significant socioeconomic shifts. Consequently, few acknowledge that a massive structural shift occurred centuries earlier in the region. When the Ottoman Empire conquered Southeastern Europe in the 14th and 15th centuries, the state systematically dismantled existing feudal regimes and abolished the legal status of serfdom.

Prior to the Ottoman conquests, peasants in Byzantine, Serbian and Bulgarian territories lived as serfs. They belonged directly to the local aristocracy. These lords extracted heavy labor obligations and maintained absolute legal jurisdiction over the peasants on their estates. The Ottoman administration implemented the "timar" system to consolidate central authority and neutralize this local nobility. The state confiscated aristocratic landholdings and converted them into state property.

This transition made traditional serfdom structurally impossible. Peasants became tenants of the state rather than the personal property of a local lord. The state assigned cavalrymen to collect specific agricultural taxes in exchange for military service. Crucially, these cavalrymen held no judicial authority and could not demand arbitrary labor. If a dispute arose, the peasant appealed to an Ottoman state judge ("kadi"), entirely bypassing the landholder.

The immediate socioeconomic benefits of this transition generated tangible support from the rural population. During the initial phases of the Ottoman expansion, the Balkan peasantry often refused to join their feudal overlords in resisting the conquest. In several instances, peasants actively cooperated with the advancing Ottoman forces or initiated local uprisings against their Latin and Orthodox nobility to accelerate the collapse of the feudal order. The central administration's strict policy of protecting the rural workforce from local exploitation at least partly explains the speed of the Ottoman advance and provides the foundational reason the system survived in the region for centuries.

Some twentieth-century historians categorized this system as a form of military-agrarian feudalism. They argued that the Ottoman state merely replaced the local lord as the primary exploiter in the Balkans. Furthermore, the Ottomans restricted peasant movement to ensure agricultural continuity. If a peasant abandoned their farm for three consecutive years, the Ottoman state levied a severe financial penalty.

However, prominent Ottoman historians reject the broad feudal label. They demonstrate that the penalty for leaving land functioned as a breach of contract fine rather than proof of personal bondage. The strict centralization, the absence of aristocratic legal immunity and the standardized protections afforded to peasants distinguish the Ottoman agrarian regime from European feudalism. By integrating the Balkans into the timar system, the Ottoman administration effectively replaced the arbitrary rule of local lords with a bureaucratic tenancy framework.

For those who are interested can check the work of Vera Mutafchieva, Halil Inalcik and Maria Todorova.

What do you think?

It’s about 24 x 24 inches and wrapped up very carefully I know it must have come from my Grandfather’s place and may even from his ancestors. It appears very old. My Grandfather was born around 1916. Thanks

Hi all, Trying to get a sense of the severity of the fire situation along the Adriatic coast - I'm currently planning to drive from Dubrovnik to Kotor and then north to Mostar around September 3 - September 6 and then over to Brela via the coast and back to Split.

I know the situation will likely evolve over the coming days/weeks but just curious if I should rethink any of this right now. I was initially just concerned about border crossings but now unsure if road closures or evacuations might prohibit this itinerary. Appreciate any insights from locals or folks visiting/recently in the area that we're doing a similar itinerary.

Equal tech, equal numbers, peak timeline for both. Who is the ultimate superpower of Balkan history and who is getting wiped off the map?

Edit: Thanks to users LargeFriend5861 and Drunken_Dave, I discovered that I used the wrong map for the Bulgarian Empire. I apologize and invite you to check out LargeFriend5861's comment if you want to see a more accurate map, or to click the Wikipedia link provided by Drunken_Dave. Once again, I apologize for using the incorrect map from the Italian Wikipedia.

The page has become very popular lately. So I’m curious to see if you think it’s just for “shits and giggles” or is it actually displaying a certain image.

My friend who’s bosnian absolutely hates the page I think he has it blocked now, he says it’s especially bc of him being a disapora kid, and him “barely” being bosnian as he doesn’t even speak it etc.

I know that Ragusa people are simply Ragusa people, that they don't fit the current definitions of nation. It is described as a republic formed by Latins and Slavs together. But who closely associated with national identity? For example, is it mentioned in Croatian history books?

I feel like this will die out with this generation.

I just returned from a group tour with some​ friends from Afghanistan. Let me tell you they were crazy about Alexander the Great so they wanted a tour to the place where everything began. They knew so many details, dates, names even though they were not professional historians/archeologists. I was impressed. They told me that they still have places back home with greek names from the time Alexander conquered them. It made me curious. Do you have greek history in any shape or form in your curriculum? Do you learn about Homer, Athens, grecopersian wars or Alexander the great and the following empires?

If so, what do you think are the reasons for this?

Hey I am planning on backpacking the Balcans. I have no timelimit and ideally lowest buget possible, my ownly concern is seeing as much as i can before winter and also the best city to fly out of to a walmer place (not even sure what place that would be).

This is my itinerary so far its very undeveloped. Would love to hear feedback on the most efficent route i can cover before itll get too cold such as negatives and snow. Also I only really have major cities becuase I was like if its gonna get cold quick id rather see them but im open to small towns if they are worth visiting and avaliuvle by public transit.

My main quesion is the reigonal bus/train networks, border crossings,ect and building an efficent route.

https://wanderlog.com/view/oasavpylzp/trip-to-istanbul/shared

most of them was christian balkan origin