Red Corner: Montenegro Stepping Up

by Neil Woodburn on

Although the newest “hot” location in Europe these days is Croatia, there is already speculation on where the next up-and-coming beach holiday destination will be. Some experts are looking toward Montenegro to fill that niche.

Offically called Serbia and Montenegro, and once part of Yugoslavia just as Croatia was, the country lies just south of Dubrovnik along the Adriatic coast. Like Croatia, it too is blessed with wonderful beaches and amazing nature as well as a UNESCO world heritage site. Where it differs from Croatia, however, is its “poor road infrastructure, problems with water supply in some coastal areas, and the lack of high quality accommodation.”

This assessment comes to us from the folks at Transitions Online, experts on post communist countries transitioning to capitalism. According to Nela Lazarevic, Montenegro has been a bit slower transitioning than their neighbor to the north, but this is all changing quickly. A PR campaign, “Discover the Wild Beauty” has been promoting the country and has already increased tourism to the area. By 2010, 10 million tourists a year are expected to turn this quiet nation into just another Ibiza or Mallorca. Go now before this happens.

Red Corner: Bushby Appealing

by Neil Woodburn on

Adventurer Karl Bushby arrested in Russia without proper paperwork after walking across the Bering Strait to get there, has now made his way to the region’s capital where he hopes to appeal the decision recently made against him-a decision that deports him from Russia and which, if upheld, will end his quest to walk around the world.

Under some type of odd, home arrest (in another person’s home) Bushby was stuck in the small frozen village of Lavrentiya last week where he quickly ran out of money since there were no banks or places that accepted credit cards. Friends eventually wired him some money which he used to buy a ticket on the once weekly flight to Anadyr, the provincial capital where his appeal will be heard sometime in the next month. In the meantime, Bushby has left his gear in Lavrentiya where he hopes to pick it up and continue on his journey walking west across Siberia. We’ll keep you posted as the situation develops.

Red Corner: Latvian Women

by Neil Woodburn on

I couldn’t resist taking a peek at an article in The Baltic Times entitled, 10 Things Not to Say to a Latvian Woman. For those of you men out there who have traveled through Latvia and found yourself enjoying the beauty of its women as much as the beauty of its cities and countryside, then such information would have undoubtedly come in handy. Of course, 10 Things to Say to a Latvian Woman would have been more helpful, but us poor mopes will take what we can get.

So if you’re heading off to Riga any time soon and are concerned about your clumsy, culturally insensitive attempts in chattin’ up the foreign women, take a moment to read this top ten list. It may not get you lucky, but it will go a long ways in not getting you slapped.

Red Corner: Hungarian Troglodytes

by Neil Woodburn on

There is simply nothing worse than discovering something wonderful about a destination long after having left it. This is how I felt when I came across a recent article in The Budapest Sun about a marvelous system of caves lurking directly beneath the city of Budapest.

Subterranean surprises are always the most underrated of tourist destinations. And yet, often times I find they actually eclipse the more popular tourist haunts located in the surface world above. This is why, after numerous visits to Budapest, I was saddened to discover a little known underground treasure while sitting behind a computer on the other side of the world.

Instead of being immersed in the goulash-eating tourist hordes crowding the narrow streets of Budapest, I could have been quietly spelunking through some of the nearly 200 limestone caverns that riddle the foundations of the Hungarian capital.

Although only a few of these caves are actually open to the public, they most certainly offer a peaceful, off-the-beaten-path alternative to the adventurous few who venture to their depths. Guided tours (available in English) will whisk you from the bustle of the capital, deep into a dazzling world of stalagmites, gypsum crystals, and a unique crystalline arrangement known as popcorn.

And don’t worry; there will be plenty of goulash waiting for you upon returning to the surface world.

Red Corner: Paying Respects to the Not-So-Recent Dead

by Neil Woodburn on

Hurry up and get yourself to Moscow because one of the world’s most bizarre tourist sights may soon be dumped into the ground and buried.

When Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the Soviet Union, died in 1924, his cronies decided to embalm the remains and put them on display in Red Square for the public to worship. Top Soviet scientists devised a revolutionary embalming technique that would keep his body as fresh as the morning dew for future generations of faithful communists to revere. Unfortunately for Lenin, his corpse–which can still be seen today in Red Square–outlasted his empire.

These days, however, there is serious talk of planting Vladimir in the Russian soil (where, it might be remarked, he could join the countless victims he placed there during his bloody reign). Although controversy regarding this decision has raged since the fall of communism, each year it seems to pick up more supporters. One day, it will most certainly happen.

In the meantime, Lenin remains displayed in regal splendor. Visitors to his Red Square Mausoleum can quietly file past his glass sarcophagus and gawk at the waxy remains of one of the 20th century’s most notorious rulers. In the spirit of communism, this morbid curiosity remains one of the few tourist sites in Moscow absolutely free; making a ruble off of Lenin would simply be far too ironic for even the wacky world of post-communist Russia.