Interview with Albena Shkodrova, Editor of BalkanTravellers.com

The Balkans may be one of the least traveled areas of Europe but don’t let that make you think its not a worthwhile place to visit. The region has a fascinating and complex history expanding thousands of years, a rich culture, spectacular sights and countless natural wonders. Albena Shkodrova shares her insight with us about the region and what its like to be editor of BalkanTravellers.com, the first e-magazine dedicated to travel in the Balkans.

Tell us about your e-magazine, BalkanTravellers.com?

We try to publish interesting and well researched articles, which would help a traveler to see the region, or its countries including on topics such as cuisine, music, literature, customs, and news. Some of the texts we publish are on the verge between journalism and literature, but we also try to be practical. Our currently expanding section Route Planner aims at helping people to organize their trips to the region with practical advice and ideas on what to see.

BalkanTravellers.com’s editorial is independent of any commercial interests – we don’t sell services, we don’t have hidden advertisements. Our goal is to present the region as it is – without make up, old-times propaganda, hidden marketing agendas, or nationalistic interpretations – just what it really is.

We have attracted a number of local and foreign journalists, photographers and fiction writers, and filmmakers. Amongst our authors are people, writing for Lonely Planet, people, whose books are published by Penguin. I’m at the same time, proud, grateful and a bit sad to say that they are all contributing voluntarily – they find the project interesting and nice, and are eager to support it until it becomes profitable.

How did it get started?

I was working as a travel writer for several years before I launched it. But I was also running the Bulgarian branch of BIRN, the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network. At some point I decided that I need to concentrate on BIRN and I left my job at the travel magazine. But it was only to realize very quickly that I was bored with political journalism and that I didn’t find it rewarding anymore. Instead, I was fascinated by human places, history, ideas, interactions between cultures and times. So, I decided to develop BalkanTravellers.com to just enjoy the best part of life, as I came to see it.

For the last two and a half years, I’ve also combined it with another great job – running Bulgaria’s only magazine on wine, food and gourmet traveling, Bacchus. I have to admit that the latter affects the commercial success of BalkanTravellers.com, by leaving me no time to turn the website into a profitable enterprise. But I enjoy Bacchus all too much to give it up.

What do you like most about your job?

I am not sure whether I like best researching about places I need to visit, the traveling itself, or recreating my trips in my memory when I need to write. I guess all three are just part of the same experience – of real traveling. I like to read about spots, while experiencing them – tasting, smelling, walking, and also I like defining them in my way, trying to catch in words what is so peculiar about them.

Apart from that, BalkanTravellers.com and also Bacchus magazine brought me one more pleasure – to be able to compose a whole entity out of bits. To bring together pieces of stories, colors, faces, and arrange them so that they can compose together a bigger plot, a greater picture – pretty much the same way as it is in life: things complementing each other, talking to each other, even interrupting each other sometimes, overlapping. But shining and speaking together.

Is it difficult to promote travel in a region that is not as well-known?

Actually it is easier. There is so much that is not known, not said. It’s a sea of new experiences, and it’s such a pleasure to be able to point at them. Of course, there are many inconveniences which one encounters traveling through the Balkans. But I think those are the inevitable price of any discovery. It may be very little to suffer from, while traveling through Germany, but then, there is not too much to discover in my opinion either. So the Balkans are still another type of destination: a bit challenging, but offering unfamiliar experiences. It’s not a place of luxurious getaways, but rather for adventures – at least for the time being.

What is your favourite destination in the Balkans? Do you have any recommendations for first time travellers?

It depends a bit on how you define the Balkans. If you would do it broadly, Turkey is my number one: from Istanbul, perhaps the most fascinating city in Europe, to the fairy-talish landscapes of Cappadocia, the giant sculptures of Mount Nemrut, the suffi hometown of Konya, the sea-like lake of Van with its water-loving cats with one blue and one emerald green eye, the hilly, white stone Mardin at the beginning of the Syrian border, mount Ararat and the lost Armenian town of Ani, the Georgian and Armenian churches of Kachkar Mountains and Trabzon… it’s just difficult to end a sentence like this.

If you think of the Balkans as a European destination only, then my three top spots are perhaps the deep, black bay of Kotor in Montenegro, Mostar in Bosnia, at the end of the summer, with its ripening pomegranates and ruined buildings, through the windows of which you just see the sky, and the Bulgarian Black sea town of Varna in June or September: the lush sea garden, excellent restaurants, good value for money hotels and the experience of an old town beach. For upscale travellers: replace Bulgaria’s Varna with Geece’s Nafplio. But then again, this is so much a matter of personal taste. There are so many other great places as well.

What can people expect when visiting the Balkans? Is it different than other places in Europe?

Bad roads, slow traffic, lack of good public transport, bad service. But also – fantastic nature, rich culture, fascinating acquaintances, often great food and growingly good wine. And, predominantly, good prices.

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Tags: adventure, balkan, Balkans, Eastern Europe, Travel

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