Sophie’s World

While writing the post about Kosovo, I was reminded of Macedonia. A former Yugoslav republic, Macedonia (like Kosovo) is also at a bit of a standstill regarding future membership in international organizations. After two unsuccessful applications, the country was finally allowed to join the UN in 1993, providing they didn’t use the name Republic of Macedonia, but rather the long, awkward-sounding provisional name FYROM (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia). Because of the naming dispute (covered in my Skopje article and in much more detail in Wikipedia), Greece has successfully hindered Macedonia’s membership in other organizations.

Last April, I visited Skopje. About the same time, NATO’s Bucharest summit decided not to issue an invitation to Macedonia to join the organization because of Greek objections. Curious to see whether there has been any developments, both regarding future EU and NATO membership, and relations with Greece, this is what I’ve gleaned:

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A year ago (April 2008) I travelled to then 2-month-old Kosovo to try to get a first impression of the fledgling nation. It was a very quick visit, just one day really, a Saturday. And I only visited Pristina.

Pristina April 2008 

In October, I had an article published in Travelmag and got quite a few interesting responses. Some (Americans mostly) were surprised - and pleased - to read about the US’ popularity in Kosovo. Others (also mostly Americans) were not so pleased at my commenting that some Eastern Europeans actually miss the good old days. How can I even suggest that there are people who might want a return to socialism or even communism?

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When travelling with my daughters, I often opt to reserve lodgings with breakfast. One reason is to get the girls up. Can't miss brekkie we've already paid for now, can we... well, that argument works some of the time, anyway. This time I ... [Continue reading this entry]

Our final day in the Emirates and our plane didn't leave until midnight. I had seen and done all I came to see and do, so today was the girls' day. Not surprisingly, they opted to hit Dubai's shopping malls. Apart from the world's best ... [Continue reading this entry]

A bit weary of seeing all these emirates, the girls weren't exactly enthusiastic about travelling to yet another one. Nor was I, for that matter. But with just one to go, we couldn't very well give up, so ... [Continue reading this entry]

We finally managed to get up to the Musandam peninsula, after I ascertained our new driver had brought his passport. The border formalities at Al Darah were straightforward - we paid 25 dirham p.p. to leave the Emirates and about twice that ... [Continue reading this entry]

        

Abu Dhabi, capital of the UAE, is the second largest emirate. Also, the Emir of Abu Dhabi, Khalifa bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, is currently the president of the country (as well as the son of the country's first president, ... [Continue reading this entry]

Between Ajman and Dubai lies Sharjah. Like Ajman, we didn't stay very long here but liked what we saw. Home to many of Dubai's workers, as cost of housing is about one third (we were told); Sharjah seemed much livelier than ... [Continue reading this entry]

With a quarter of a million people, Ajman wasn't as tiny as I somehow had expected. Also, it seemed much more affluent than I had expected. I suppose that says more about my expectations. It seems the closer to Dubai, the better ... [Continue reading this entry]