The Via Egnatia Christmas

Here’s hoping that you all had a lovely Christmas, together perhaps with your loved ones.

As animals are central to the story of Christmas, we have a message from Gergana and Stellian which is all about frivolous puppies!

As you could see, our lovely pup which turned to be a Xmas monster, doesn’t allow us to make frivolous plans:) We will spend the Christmas with our families and maybe we will go to a party for the New Year’s Eve. We will have 10 days off around the holidays and could spend some time at home as well.

We have great plans for the next year though. We intend to take part in the Greek part of Via Egnatia (Amphipoli – Alexandroupuli) and maybe to come later to Istanbul but not sure yet.

Stelli and I wish Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you, your family and all other members of Via Egnatia team. I hope we can gather for another great time next year! 

 Here are some of our newest pictures, hope you will have fun watching them!

 Franz’s life continues to inspire with its gentleness …

Good to hear from you again. I just finished my teachings in my studio. My course in music theory also stopped for a while. And now I’m looking forward to a nice Xmas with my family. This afternoon I dug out a Christmas-tree out of our garden and placed it in our living room.

Looking back this year I can say that I am grateful for all the good things. Amongst others our Albanian experience and the sale of 6 paintings recently so the chimney can smoke for a while, like we say. I am still not sure if I will walk along next year. I still have to decide. One of my students bought the painting of the little donkeys alongside the via Egnatia.

 A few photos: shovelling the snow from a flat roof last Sunday afternoon and one of our new chickens who had never seen snow before, our cat uneasy afraid wetting her delicate paws and the city of Leyden (the oldest university town of the Netherlands) with a skating court.

I wish you all a merry Christmas and an inspiring and healthy New Year.

 Greetings, Franz.

Tim Lunt has been to India trekking and is thinking about taking part in the early sections of the walk next year. Karen seems to be baking constantly; the American passion for baking things with the most incredible names never ceases to amaze me.

Perhaps the happiest news of the autumn was the news that Bernardka has got engaged; from what I hear she wants us all to turn up to the wedding with donkeys!

I have had a lovely Christmas at home with my family. I made my first Beef Wellington today and it was an amazing success. Another one to add to my signature dishes along with Cherry Kafloute. If I am coming on the walk next year I think the early parts sound interesting, but of course like Gergana I would love to be at the end in Istanbul. We shall see how the next few months treat me and as it is my 25^th wedding anniversary next year I am under strict control! We have booked to see the Oberammergau Passion play in late June which will be pretty special.

Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas and a Prosperous New Year.

Tom

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Turkish president visits Albania

Friday, December 11, 2009
TIRANA – Anatolia News Agency
Turkish President Abdullah Gül said Thursday that Turkey’s goal is to become a full member of the European Union and that the Cyprus issue would not hinder the country’s EU-accession process.

Gül made his comments at a joint press conference in the Albanian capital of Tirana that he held with his Albanian counterpart Bamir Topi following their meeting.

Turkey is always beside Albania and attaches great importance to its development, Gül said: “Turkey considers Albania a strategic partner in the region. Albania also gives great importance to Turkey.”

Read more.

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Updates from a Couple of Stragglers!

Well it is good to post some further updates – keep them coming. Bernardka has surfaced (if I had looked later on Facebook I would have seen she has been on holiday), and we have a lovely update from Hans and Margaret …..

Hi Tom,

Margaret and I just read your blog. Nice to be updated on what everybody is doing! Since the Via Egnatia walking experience we spent quite some time working around the house and in the garden. For a few days we visited Athens where we attended a presentation of a special issue of a French journal (Migrance) which is devoted to migration from and to Greece. It has an article by me. We used the opportunity to see some friends, visit a few musea and attend a concert. We also visited the Dutch Institute in Athens and talked there about the Via-Egnatia Project. Maybe they can help us in some – certainly limited – way.

The stunning view from Hans and Margarets house in the Pelion

We have a beautiful house here in Milies (Greece) with a very nice view and get quite some visitors from spring till autumn. Next week we will have 8 people here: one of our two daughters with her friend and our three grand-daughters, plus two other people. So that is what keeps us busy for the moment … and the near future as well: visitors. With some friends we hope to revisit Albania in September. By the way if some of you will ever visit the peninsula where we live (Pilion or Pelion), don’t hesitate to visit us.

 As some of you will know, at the Bitola conference of the VE Foundation a few ‘working groups’ were established. One deals with migration in the VE region. As coordinator of the group I have been spending also some time contacting people, making and discussing plans for our activities. But – I must confess – we are still in the beginning of our work … there is still a lot to do.

Have a nice month, as the Greeks say at the first day of a new month,

Hans

Bernardka confirms that she no longer has that job in the museum in Macedonia. The work was too much for her. She updates us as follows:

Bernardka relaxes on Lošinj - best foot forward?

“Since I came home from Ireland I did nothing very special. had some interviews for my diploma,  I did a day trip to Krnsko lake (in the Alps), sometimes I enjoyed sweet doing nothing… I was very honoured, because my cousin named her newborn baby after me… so we have little Bernardka now:) (Tom Edit – this is very concerning; two Bernardkas! Sounds like there is trouble ahead)

And now…I just came home from Lošinj, Croatian island (ps. I love Croatia:), where I spent a great weekend with my family and boyfriend. Now I am doing ordinary stuff like talking to my grandmothers for hours and playing with my cousins and reading, cycling…

And I am looking forward to see Mateja and Ines again and Mirjam…”

Bernardka

 

 

I think I may have mentioned I was going to the coast yesterday. The weather forecast was wrong and the cloud did not clear as promised. Nevertheless we had a great day on Dorset’s Jurassic coast at the beautiful Lulworth Cove (if you visit England it is a must), and I did swim in the sea with my daughter; we were the only ones to brave it!

A cold swim!

Lulworth Cove looking West

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Via Egnatia Foundation Website Relaunch

If you have a moment this weekend, take a look at the re-vamped VEF website. It has a slightly different look and layout with some new sections, and already there are snippets of information looking ahead to the Caravan in 2010.

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On the Road Again – Ines’ and Mirjam’s Story

Some of the greatest movies of all time have been road movies. Well now there is another film to add to the greats of the genre: the story of Ines and Mirjam after they left us at Ohrid. Where did they go? What did they get up to?

In another Blog exclusive all can now be revealed; Ines & Mirjam – On the Road Again!

Mirjam and Ines at Journey's End

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July Roundup – What Have We Been Doing?

Spoonbill at Lake Mikri Volvi – by Lia

Lia’s having a wonderful and peaceful time in Greece ….

Hallo Tom, nice to hear from you!

Well, just yesterday I went out to a lake to take some pictures and I send you some… It’s from Lake Volvi, near Thessaloniki. It was a wonderful day, and the contact with the nature filled me with energy!

Wader at Lake Mikri Volvi – by Lia

Two weeks ago I spent a week in Buddhist monastery on a mountain in Halkidiki (again near Thessaloniki). It was again a wonderful experience. Learning how to love, to feel compassion about the other people and the whole nature.

After that, I am trying to find what to do with vacations (15-30 August).

That’s all for now. Greetings to everybody, hope you have a good time for the rest of the summer!

Lia

Tim Lunt has been busy …

For the blog, the story so far this summer is :

• Ryanair to Latvia for midsummer with lots of beaches, bonfires and beers
• attended younger daughter Alice’s graduation in Dietetics (see picture). Now she has to find a job !)

 

• sold my car to older daughter Clara
• went to see a Shakespeare play at the Globe theatre in London
• been on some geophysics searches for roman roads in Somerset
• weeded the allotment, painted the windows etc …

Regards to All,

Tim

 The Peace Corps is such hard work for Karen …

I’ve been having fun entertaining visitors from the United States but believe it or not I did do some “work”.  I was a counselor at a girls leadership camp here in Macedonia and it was a great experience.  Not only did the girls learn new leadership skills they became friends with other ethnicities…for many of them they made their first Albanian/Macedonian friend.  I had 10 girls in my cabin and one senior counselor – we had alot of fun and not much sleep – about 5-6 hours per night.   I’ve attached a photo of the girls holding me…not sure why they wanted to do it and it was a bit scary – but I decided to trust them and let them do it.

 

Hope you and everyone else are doing well!

Karen

 Ines has been travelling but had some bad luck …

I just came from Czech republic. me and Jure (my boyfriend and husband at once) spent there three weeks in different places (Česke Budejovice, Boubinsky Prales, Praha, Trinec, Brno and Kiyov) around the state. We liked it very much especially the beer (which has high quality), and in Moravia they produce a lot of wine and slivovica (rakija). With pleasure I would send you some photos, but someone stole our camera 😦

I am now going home and most of the August I will spend there, working on fields with vegetables.
What about you? Aha I will read it on blog 🙂

Greetings from Ljubljana,

Ines

Despite a tourism downturn in Ohrid, Katerina is busier than ever …

Hey there Tom,

For me , very fortunately, this tourist season is better than the last one. I don’t know how or why, but I have more work than I did last summer. I hope it stays that way. There are less tourists in Ohrid, that is true, but probably that is bigger problem for those who are used to having thousands of tourist. For me and my micro company and small tours, this season turns out to be great so far.

Katerina

 Mirjam is doing nothing and everything …

I’m not really doing anything right now. Just enjoying summer and spending time on the beach or in way overcrowded city (seems like tourists didn’t hear about all the financial crisis going on). Ok, I also started to study a little bit for exams in September.

In the middle of August I’m going to some village on Croatian- Slovenian border for a ethnological and documentary workshop on influence of Schengen border on life of people living there and I’m really looking forward to see Slovenian crew once again.

But the thing that  occupies me the most these days is waiting for interview for a job in kindergarten on one of the islands. I wanted that kind of job because I would like to try living on island (all the isolation seems so perfect for me right now) and I have a degree in preschool education so this would be a great opportunity to get some experience. There is really not a lot people living on islands (meaning not a lot of children and kindergartens) so this kind of job opens up once in a really long time. But it seems like they already promised someone a job and I’m calling and being kind of annoying just to get a chance. Hope it works out. Interview should be in 3 days unless they postpone it…again!

Hehe for someone not doing anything I sure write a lot, and I can’t wait to hear about others.

Sorry about me being so slow and lazy, I’m in a process of accepting Mediterranean way of life 😉 As you can see I’m doing great.

Mirjam

… Snippets from Facebook etc …

Benson Siwek (honarary VEF’er) has just climbed Mount Olympus in Greece

Carl Hagen hosted a 4th July party and VEF reunion at his house in Holland (on 4th July!)

Holger is still working on the technical report which is a long and detailed piece of work.

Marietta has been working out how to attract funding for the VEF and I am sure we will hear more of this soon.

Christina Kontaxi has been on holiday and has attended a number of environmental events in Greece.

Franz Hazelzet has still had no firm offers for the paintings; I am thinking seriously about it but if you are interested please get in touch with him.

Stellian has been spotted at a fancy dress party, at which Lina was also in attendance. Lina has a new job designing jewellry which looks really cool http://www.laloorna.com/ . I guess Ivan and Nayden are busy with their field schools at the moment as you can see from their website .

Wim has also been looking at ways to fund projects and Mirsa has been giving many concerts and has been in touch with the school at Dardhe with news to come of that at some later date I am sure.

There has not been much sign of Bernardka since she came back from her trip with her Scouts to Ireland; maybe the Leprechauns took her? There was a report of her working at a museum in Macedonia but this cannot be verified.

Bernardka’s New Job?

Laura seems to be busy but as my Italian is only slightly better than my almost non-existant Greek I can’t update you, but I am sure she is happy.

Mateja is very busy and has just celebrated her birthday (29 July). She was working hard on her dissertation but has now been to lots of events and appears to be singing as much as she can.

Over to me. It has been a month of very hard work. As we have had generally lousy weather in July I have not missed much by being indoors. I was lucky enough to have five days with my (almost all grown up) children in Fort William and Glencoe at the start of the month, climbing many mountains in good weather, and drinking in some of the wildest bars in Scotland, with great music playing; yes I embarrassed them by dancing. Of course I have also been enjoying the Ashes cricket matches, with England doing very well so far.

Patrick, Hannah, Harriet & Tom – Ben Nevis in background

I have had a lot of form filling to do with my eldest daughter and my son who both want to join the Army as officers after university; my daughter to be a doctor and my son to join the Infantry. With the war in Afghanistan having taken over 20 British soldiers’ lives this month that fills me both with pride and some trepidation, but it has to be done.

Ines’ mountain marathon in June has inspired me to enter for the Karrimor mountain marathon in October which will take place ‘somewhere in Wales’; I should hear soon if I have a place.

Finally, let’s all try to keep in touch one way or another, be it by email, Facebook or this blog. I know that the Via Egnatia Foundation is developing its plans and we can all play a part in that over the coming months. There is a lot of work to do, and I am sure Marietta would appreciate any support or assistance that you can give. We need to be ready to do more work next year as things move forward with greater momentum. My apologies if I have missed people out of this update, but I only have certain information. Be sure to mail me next time!

 

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Ohrid, Macedonia: Archaeologists Discover Significant Gold Artefacts from Hellenistic Period

I found this intersting news article which is about Ohrid and the Via Egnatia on BalkanTravellers.com

20 July 2009 | This Saturday, archeologists in Ohrid unearthed exceptionally valuable finds dating to the fifth century BC.

On the road between the Upper Gate and the St. Bogorodica Perivlepta Church were discoevered 17 tombs from the Hellenistic Period, Pasko Kuzman, head of the Macedonian Department for Cultural Heritage told the Dnevnik daily newspaper.

In one of the tombs was buried a 15-year-old girl, which most likely belonged to the nobility.

“There is something here which, from a scientific point of view, is more important even than the golden mask [discovered in Ohrid earlier], since the personality buried in this tomb had a golden object in the shape of eye glasses, a rhomboid-shaped golden plate on the mouth and a golden plate with a sun with 16 rays in the area of the heart,” Kuzman stated.

“The two objects that were placed on the eyes and the mouth mean the dead person was masked. This kind of combination of masking was unique on the Balkans. Until now, separate golden plates were discovered, especially in the Aegean, but this kind of combination was unknown until now,” the archaeologist explained.

The other valuable artefacts discovered on Saturday include a 40-centimetre-long golden belt, amphorae-shaped golden pendants for a necklace, bronze and silver gloves and golden object with a conical shape which are quite rare for this part of the world.

Also found were objects from amber, a material which – as Kuzman explained, was not found in these lands but was transported from the Baltic area when there was a strong trade connection between North ad South.

“We should be proud of this priceless treasure being discovered [in Macedonia] and thankful to all the archaeologists who have invested all their energy and knowledge,” Macedonian Minister of Culture Elizabeta Kanchevska-Milevska told the publication.

The state and the Ministry will continue working with the same speed and intensity towards the protection of cultural heritage and the exploration of a large number of sites, Kanchevska-Milevska added.

Ohrid is the leader in Macedonia in terms of the golden ornaments discovered in the area, numbering 450 objects so far, Kuzman stated. This, according to him, has to do with the city’s location, near the ancient Via Egnatia road which connected Rome to Byzantium (later Constantinople, now Istanbul).

Excavations at the site, according to the publication, will continue in the fall and an exhibition of all the golden artefacts discovered so far will be organised by the end of the year

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“Albanian Landscape” – by Franz Hazelzet

Albanian Landscape - by Franz Hazelzet

What a delight to be able to bring to you the first of two paintings by Franz Hazelzet evoking memories of our time in Albania. Both paintings are for sale.

Franz describes his inspiration for this painting:

“I painted the landscape out of my visual memory. Imagine the Albanian mountains as petrified waves with snowy spume rocking up and down with thunder and rainfall at one its peaks …. nearly a gale … for the keen observant an old road over the ridge, yes indeed the Via Egnatia … envision the Roman legionaries marching up east to subdue rebellious tribes … the soldiers have to put their big shields over their heads to protect themselves against the showering rains.”

Detail

 

This painting of the Albanian landscape is acrylic on canvas and measures  85 cm x 65 cm.

The sale price is Euro 400 plus shipping costs and is at half the normal price that Franz would charge. Franz will reserve half of the revenue for a fund which may be used for project work at the Dardhe school. He keeps the other half. As he says “Painters also have to eat.” Please contact me or Franz direct if you are interested in purchasing.

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“Donkeys in Highland Albania” – by Franz Hazelzet

Donkeys in Highland Albania - by Franz Hazelzet

The second painting by Franz, inspired by our time in Albania and again on sale. These donkeys are so patient and placid and are strikingly like ours waiting for us to move – “And not a moment later!” – as we walked in highland Albania. The terraced brown ploughed fields contrasted by the lush green surroundings is so evocative of the moment. 

Detail

 

This painting of two loaded donkeys is acrylic on canvas and measures  40 cm x 40 cm.

The sale price is Euro 200 plus shipping costs. Franz believes that this is a very modest price and he would normally charge much more. Remember that Franz will reserve half of the revenue for a fund which may be used for project work at the Dardhe school. He keeps the other half. As he says “Painters also have to eat.” Please contact me or Franz direct if you are interested in purchasing.

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A Quick Update About Some of Our Activities

We have heard from Christina which is lovely and she gave us Laura’s email address. Laura has been fortunate enough to miss out on all my blog spam over the last month but I have mailed her so she can catch up. Read Christina’s latest blog article here

Tim Lunt is off to Latvia which is undergoing its own economic crisis at the moment, described in the Daily Telegraph as “Latvia risks becoming first EU member to face economic meltdown”. I guess Tim can take a video or two for us as it happens.

Bernardka is off to Ireland on 26^th June with her Scouts and will be around the Dingle and Connemara. Let’s hope the weather is good for them all.

I hope I speak for us all when I wish Ines a big dollop of Good Luck as she undertakes a mountain marathon this Saturday 20^th June.

Carl is still trying to master Pinup Pro (I can’t seem to find that software anywhere can you?) and we have corresponded on obscure topics including this excellent YouTube video of Alfred Lord Tennyson filmed reading his famous poem the Charge of the Light Brigade.

Holger now has a number of inputs for his technical report and is working his way through that which will be a huge task so best of luck with that.

Karen appears to be back safely in Ohrid after spending some time in a Slovenian prison. I had best let her explain.

If you are on Facebook take a look at Katerina’s ‘Lost in Ohrid’ page where you can join and become a ‘fan’

For me it is now the time of year when the English become wildly enthusiastic tennis fans as Wimbledon approaches. We genuinely have a good chance of a winner this year in Andy Murray so please support him! We need all the help we can get. A great summer of sport will be capped by the England versus Australia cricket seriesThe Ashes which first started in 1882; two great countries battle it out over two months in five games each lasting five days, for probably the smallest , strangest and most famous trophy in sport.

Michael Vaughan, England Captain, Ashes Victory 2005

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