Memories and hints of a travelling IT professional.
Travelling by public transport through Tallinn, Estonia is easy and fun. The transport system uses tramways, bussess and trolley busses – like in a lottery you sometimes get a brand new one or a historic vehicle. Locals typically use smartcards they can charge up and validate them when entering the vehicle at any door. You can also buy tickets by using the ‘pilet.ee‘ smartphone app (‘pilet‘ means ticket).
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Bornhagen is just a tiny village in Thuringia, Germany. People getting here stop for a drink or a meal at the Klausenhof restaurant, to take a look at the sausage museum dedicated to the tradition of home-made sausages – but most often they get here for the beautiful castle ruin Hanstein. Nowadays the village has another interesting thing; a memorial that cannot be seen while walking through Bornhagen.
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The city of Kassel, Germany has two exclaves – or better said property outside of the boundaries of the city: the Lenoir mausoleum at Hessisch Lichtenau and the Gut Kragenhof at Staufenberg. The Kragenhof is a farm within a sinuosity of river Fulda. Since 1901 it belongs to Kassel but it is only accessible via Staufenberg and also has its postcode and area code.
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The hill Schäferberg (‘shepherd mountain’) near Espenau, Germany received its name because the farmers of Hohenkirchen often brought their cattle there. The inhabitants of Kassel mostly know the name because of the big hotel Waldhotel Schäferberg where you can get to have a good brunch or some cake. But there is also another story to tell: in 1943 the Nazis created here a camp for forced-labour workers from different European countries.
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Already in Roman times the city of London, United Kingdom had important harbours within the city and at Southwark. Over time the importance grew and more space was needed. In the east of the city along river Thames a large area became dedicated for loading and unloading goods: the Docklands. It is no official name and the area includes parts of the city quarters Greenwich, Lewisham, Newham, Southwark and Tower Hamlets. With the rise of containerization and container ships the docks of London became too small and had all to be closed in the end of the 20th century.
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Montenegro (or Црна Гора/Crna Gora, black mountains) is a young state on the Balkans which became independent only in 2006 (before that it was part of the federation of Serbia and Montenegro, before that it was part of Yugoslavia). It is a country that is mostly unknown to western Europeans; if they get here then mostly, they get to the Adriatic coast or by cruise ship to the UNESCO world heritage site Kotor.
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Yes, Podgorica is the capital city of Montenegro. But it doesn’t feel like a capital city. It is a town with 150,00 inhabitants and rather a silent capital. It has many green places, the buildings like in many areas very old and gray. The name means ‘at the foot of the hill’ but a lot people still know the city under another name: Titograd. Between 1918 and 1992 Podgorica belonged to Yugoslavia and was named like this to honour Josip Broz Tito who was communist prime minister and president of Yugoslavia.
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If you’re a real soccer aficionado you’ll have to watch the games also while on the road. Unless you fell in love with the really big clubs in the world this is sometimes pretty hard. As a fan of the SV Werder Bremen I’ll sometimes have to search a little bit more until I find a bar that shows Bundesliga and the matches of my club. But it is always worth the the effort – watching German soccer in another country is always fun.
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If you like cats then Kotor, Montenegro might be a good destination for you. They are everywhere in the old town, the citizens love their cohabitants and care about them. They add their special cuteness to the atmosphere of this nice place. Additionally the Italian name for the town is Cattaro – a funny coincidence.
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I did not use long distance busses very often in the past. Within western Europe you would simply take a train. Only once I went by bus to Zagreb, Croatia because it was cheap and I wanted to try it. If you’re on the balkans the situation changes totally and as there are only a small number of railway tracks the long distance busses become means of transport #1. And I must admit I also enjoyed it.
Continue reading “Bus from Albania to Montenegro”