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00:30Throughout most of my lifetime, an iron curtain has divided Eastern Europe from the West,
00:56preventing me from really getting to know it.
00:58I've flown over it, appeared at bits of it, but I've never really travelled through it.
01:04Now the iron curtain has lifted, I'm going to make up for lost time and explore the other
01:08half of my continent, Europe.
01:16Here in the Slovenian Alps, I'm turning my back on Western Europe and heading east to
01:21a world which is changing at a remarkable speed.
01:25Since the collapse of the Soviet Empire, the number of countries in Eastern Europe has
01:29doubled.
01:30Ten have already become members of the European Union, and even countries like Turkey are
01:34keen to join them.
01:37What lies ahead is, for me, a voyage of discovery.
01:40An exploration of the people, the places, the mood and the spirit that is transforming
01:46old lands into a new Europe.
02:16As we meander through the tranquil countryside of Slovenia, it's hard to believe that this
02:46was the country whose walkout from the Communist Conference in 1990 began the break-up of Yugoslavia,
02:52one of the cornerstones of post-war Europe, and put six new European countries on the
02:57map.
03:03I'll be travelling through them, to Croatia, Bosnia and Serbia, and beyond them, to the
03:09mysterious land of Albania.
03:15My first port of call is Slovenia's southern neighbour, Croatia, whose beautiful coastline
03:20stretches languorously along the Adriatic.
03:24Like many of the countries of New Europe, Croatia has a very old history.
03:29Here in the port of Split, off a square built at the time of Napoleon, Goran Golovko teaches
03:34children about the city's most famous son, the Roman Emperor Diocletian.
03:44Goran's way of bringing history to life is to portray the Romans as just one of the many
03:48peoples who've occupied Croatia over the years, very much like present-day tour groups that
03:54flock here every summer.
04:04Of all the ex-Yugoslav countries, Croatia is the one that seems most comfortable with
04:09international attention.
04:19You could say the idea of East and West Europe began here.
04:23It was Diocletian who took the momentous decision to divide the Roman Empire in two.
04:28He ruled the East from a mighty palace here in Split, which is still inhabited.
04:35The palace is still alive, people still live within it, and we can see architectural changes
04:41from medieval time onwards.
04:45Has there been any attempt by municipal authorities to sort of get rid of all the parasitic buildings
04:51on this beautiful thing?
04:52Because, I mean, many people would think that was a bit of architectural desecration.
04:57Well, not anymore.
04:58This is also part of traditional culture.
05:00This is how Split was developed.
05:05That washing looks very old indeed.
05:07Yes, it's Roman, actually.
05:09We didn't advertise it, but it's still there.
05:15So now we are at Peristil, which is the main square of the palace, where the emperor was
05:22appearing to his subjects, and we see these great colonnades of Corinthian-style pillars.
05:29And this extraordinary feeling, you've got modern buildings with sort of aluminium windows.
05:34Yes, this is my bank over there.
05:36That's your bank?
05:37Indeed.
05:38Where I shake in front of my bank manager.
05:42I don't think I've been anywhere quite like this, where you get the feeling of an empire
05:46which has just crumbled and been absorbed again by somebody else, you know, and been adapted.
05:52I spy a piece of more recent Croatian history, the name of the local football club.
05:57It's a famous name.
05:59Football lovers, yes.
06:00Split symbols.
06:02If you're born into being a Hajduk fan, then you're a Hajduk fan for the rest of your life.
06:07The word Hajduk means a bandit, but in the good sense of bandit as patriot, fighting
06:12for his country against Venetians and Ottoman Turks.
06:16Goran takes me to meet Zdravko, a modern Croatian patriot, who also happens to run one of the
06:21best restaurants in town.
06:23Here you are.
06:24I took a lot.
06:25Hello.
06:26Yeah, that's very good.
06:28Are you happy the way it's happening now with the tourists here?
06:31Of course, absolutely.
06:32You see, I always say to everybody, I'm very, very happy.
06:35Of course, I'm very critical, but imagine living for all of the communism, creation
06:42of the free Croatia, modern Croatian state for the first time in modern history, winning
06:47the war in three times a year, at the age of 60.
06:50You know, it's creation of the state alive, in direct.
06:55It's a fantastic feeling.
06:56Of course, it's very emotional.
06:58Yeah.
06:59On the other side, I'm, of course, critical.
07:01Why not?
07:02Because, you know, at the very beginning, I was very, very mad, you know, because my
07:05creation was like a baby in cradle.
07:07Now you can kick it in the, you know.
07:09Now you can owe it.
07:11Take it apart a bit.
07:13In 1980, the war, I wouldn't do that now.
07:15Now I'm very critical.
07:16It sounds as though you were a bit unhappy in the communists.
07:18Well, you know, communism, I didn't like communism because it was very limiting for
07:25work, you know what I mean.
07:28You see, people felt much more secure in Exegoslavia because, you know, you get the job and you
07:34keep it for life, you know what I mean.
07:36You get what you get, but, you see, they didn't have so many possibilities to work like this
07:43one, like I'm working now, you see.
07:46What sort of things define Croatia now?
07:49You know, it's sort of...
07:52It is, yes.
07:53You see, when we look here now, this is the first time in history that we have our modern
07:58state.
07:59You see, for example, in Exegoslavia, I could not express my patriotism, I would say, as
08:05freely as I do now, you know.
08:07It has to be some kind of, within the Yugoslavia, whatever, you know.
08:11But now, you see, I am Croatian.
08:14It's a fantastic feeling when you can say, you know, openly, without any fear, without
08:19any consequences.
08:20That's the point.
08:23One of the most seductive attractions of Croatia are her islands.
08:27I take the ferry to Hvar, which comes highly recommended.
08:31What can we expect to see there?
08:33A paradise.
08:34A paradise?
08:35Oh, we're not allowed to go to paradises.
08:37You are.
08:38Yeah?
08:39You are.
08:40Well, what's it...
08:41In what way?
08:42Just the look at the...
08:43I mean, the scent, the flowers of the island, the colours, you should love it.
08:47I'm sure you will love it.
08:48Everyone does, so it's like...
08:58Hvar beckons you before you even reach it, with a heady scent of lavender, oregano,
09:03and the broom that seems to cover the island.
09:06Attractive as this might be to the tourists, it hasn't done much for the locals,
09:10who have, over the years, left in droves to find work abroad.
09:19One man who says he'll never leave is Igor Zivanovic.
09:23Raconteur, bon viveur and all-round character,
09:26Igor has his own bar and restaurant in a back street of Stary Grad.
09:30Ah.
09:31This is the family house, because my family is here 500 years.
09:35Mm.
09:36Then I'm here.
09:38It's in history.
09:39Yes.
09:40History.
09:43Do you know about all that slow food that they write about in Italy?
09:46Sometimes.
09:48I know.
09:49Sometimes, when we are friends on the bar, and we are drinking wine,
09:53we are talking about the wine, about, I don't know,
09:56about my grandmother, about your grandmother,
09:58about your time, when have you been 16 or 17.
10:03And the stupid tourist, but really stupid, not a friend,
10:06he wants to eat something.
10:08I said, you have 20 kuna, you can go to fast food.
10:11I have no time.
10:12I see, so if you want a quick meal, don't come in here.
10:15You are the Basil Fawlty of slow food.
10:17I enjoy to cook, to make the joke.
10:21What can I do for you now?
10:23You can give me the glass of wine.
10:25Wine from the island of Hvar, please.
10:27OK, OK.
10:28Put it there on the bar, my glass is on the left, yours on the right.
10:31May take a few hours, but I'll do my best.
10:33Yeah.
10:43Igor, that's all right?
10:44And where is your glass?
10:45Well, I've got, you know, a bottle and a glass.
10:47You're the most important person at the moment.
10:49I'm taking it slowly today.
10:51I have to work.
10:52According to your philosophy, there is no need to hurry.
10:55There you are.
10:57One for you, one for me.
10:58Is this the right one? OK, I'll go and get one for me.
11:00This is the land one from the island here.
11:02All right.
11:03On the bar.
11:05Yes, lovely.
11:06Her meal, peppery lamb stew and fresh grilled sardines,
11:09is delicious, and I find myself helplessly drawn
11:12into Igor's world, which includes opinions on everything,
11:16from Marshal Tito to McDonald's.
11:18I think if you're going to travel, you should...
11:20My rules.
11:21You should obey and accept the terms...
11:23If I make you McDonald's, I will hang.
11:25Hmm.
11:26You'd hang...
11:28Do you understand?
11:29We need a little...
11:30The first...
11:31The first McDonald's Marshal I met.
11:33Solid honesty.
11:34There are clocks all over.
11:36They're all at 304.
11:38Look, there's some more.
11:40They're all at 304.
11:41304.
11:42304.
11:43This is the story, my dear.
11:45In that time, it's my ex-president,
11:48Josip Broz Tito, is dying.
11:50Ah.
11:51Tito's...
11:52Tito.
11:53Died at 304.
11:54304.
11:55Maybe not, but so was on TV.
11:58They've said, now he's dying.
12:00Super.
12:01And then I put all the clocks on 304.
12:03Yeah.
12:04And he was the biggest hedonist...
12:07Yeah.
12:08...in the history of the modern civilization.
12:11He was wonderful.
12:12After our lunch, Igor takes me out of the town
12:15to see the farms, deserted by those
12:18who couldn't make these stony fields pay.
12:22They are from 16th century.
12:2416th, 17th century.
12:25This is from 17th century.
12:26What, this?
12:27Yes, this one.
12:28Because you have no...
12:29In the middle, you have no this triangle.
12:31How do you say it?
12:32Right, headstone.
12:33Headstone.
12:34Bravo, bravo, bravo.
12:35You know everything about our architecture.
12:37Yeah, I've cracked it at last.
12:39Yeah.
12:40That's something I know about.
12:44Would you be happy to stay here in this paradise
12:46for the rest of your life?
12:48What have you said?
12:49You have said paradise.
12:50Yeah.
12:51Then the question is stupid, I'm sorry.
12:53Because if this is paradise,
12:56then you mustn't mean,
12:58mustn't make the question.
12:59You've come to the end of your life.
13:01Normally.
13:02Well, somebody called it paradise.
13:04You have said paradise.
13:05A girl I met on the boat said paradise.
13:06This is not my war.
13:09You are for the short time here,
13:10and I am sure that you will come back.
13:15I feel I've just got out in time.
13:17There was something dangerously tempting about Tavar
13:19that made me want to stop the journey right there.
13:22But the local fishermen make sure
13:24my ride across the water to Bosnia
13:26is as painless as possible.
13:31Fantastic.
13:35Lanchowiz.
13:36Oh, yeah.
13:37OK.
13:43I mean, a half pint of white wine,
13:44freshly caught lanchowiz,
13:46and oil made by the captains.
13:49I mean, this is the way to get around the world.
13:53I'm afraid someone has to do it.
14:00It's a short-lived celebration.
14:02Beyond the mountains lies Bosnia Herzegovina,
14:04where things are a lot more complicated.
14:12What I least expected to find in a country
14:14which probably suffered more from the breakup of Yugoslavia
14:17than any other
14:19was a quiet line of pilgrims from all over the world
14:22wending their way up a mountainside
14:24to a place where, 26 years ago,
14:27a group of local teenagers
14:29met and spoke with the Virgin Mary.
14:34MUSIC PLAYS
15:04What those children saw
15:06has transformed the village of Međugorje
15:08into a boom town,
15:10which has already attracted 25 million visitors.
15:14Despite the fact that the Pope has refused
15:16to endorse the visions, or apparitions,
15:18as they call them here,
15:20Međugorje is now the third most popular
15:22Catholic site in Europe.
15:25Mirjana Dragicevic
15:27is one of the children who saw the Virgin,
15:29and still does.
15:31She's in her forties now,
15:33married to a builder,
15:35and living to all intents and purposes
15:37a quiet suburban life.
15:39She told me what happened on the mountains.
15:41She said,
15:43''I saw the Virgin,
15:45and I saw the Virgin,
15:47and I saw the Virgin,
15:49and I saw the Virgin,
15:51and I saw the Virgin,
15:53and I saw the Virgin,
15:55and I saw the Virgin."
15:57So, what happened on the mountain
15:59when she was 15?
16:01At first, we ran away.
16:03We didn't go close to her.
16:05Were you frightened?
16:07Yes, because I didn't know what was happening to me.
16:09Nobody explained to me
16:11that this could've happened.
16:13Because our religious life
16:15in Communism was being in the homes.
16:17Have you had this experience?
16:19Was there a change in you?
16:21Did you feel different somehow?
16:22that like this is in heaven because for give you one example and the mother of
16:28two daughters and like all normal mother I will give my life for them but when I
16:32am with Blessed Mary even my children don't exist it's only inside of myself
16:37wish that she bring me with her and you can imagine how big pain is when she
16:43leaving and I sing that I'm here on the earth and I always need to pray one
16:49hours two hours on my room to be able to understand that like this must to be
16:53that this is what God want do you still see the Blessed Mary yeah she tell me
16:59every 18th of March in all my life that I will have this apparition every
17:0418th of March but she also said that I will have apparition every second day of
17:08each month but she didn't say still how much how long and every second of each
17:14month is most like a prayer for those who don't feel love of God yet what we
17:20saying unbelievers but Blessed Mary never say unbelievers does she call you
17:24by your name by your Christian she always saying my dear children always is
17:29it a burden to have the weight of these apparitions upon you is it a burden to
17:34be the person who's seen the Blessed Virgin Mary if you're seeing one time
17:38face of Blessed Mary you cannot say that is difficult for you because when you
17:43seeing the love the pain everything on the face of her for all her children and
17:49how I can say that for me it's difficult when I sing what she doing for all of us
17:55when I saying us I thinking all the world how I can say that this is what I
18:00doing it's difficult for me I cannot say because she is the one who leading
18:04everything Mariana and her friends have made Medjugorje into a focal point for
18:11Catholics my next stop Mostar has because of recent events become equally
18:18important to the Muslims
18:30in November 1993 in one of the most callous acts of the war this bridge
18:35behind me which has stood for over 400 years has now been immaculately restored
18:41was destroyed by Bosnian Kroak guns within seconds
18:54there's no reason for the destruction of the bridge
18:58was a single vindictive act one of many which following the disintegration of
19:03Yugoslavia brought terrible suffering to a land where Muslims and Christians once
19:07lived in peace
19:11this is the peak wow that's the highest peak in Mostar I feel my stomach down
19:19there already
19:20oh my god oh wow unbelievable the rebuilding of the bridge has enabled
19:25members of the select Mostari divers club to resume the perilous tradition of
19:31hurling themselves 70 feet into just 15 feet of water and the idea is you've got
19:36to jump well clear of the bridge and yes we have to be the way you have to
19:41throw yourself out from the bridge
19:54the destruction of the bridge became a symbol of the pitiless brutality of the
19:58Balkan Wars of the 1990s my friend Kamal and his family lived through those times
20:05what was it like when the bridge when this bridge was destroyed and what was
20:10the immediate sort of psychological effect for everybody
20:14for real Mostarians it was like they have lost their child because they had
20:21been born in Mostar they have been raised in Mostar they lived they breathed
20:27they first loved everything what Mostar represented the bridge
20:35yeah they felt like they lost their child or they lost their father or mother
20:40that's how people who really love this city and this bridge felt about it
20:49but it was only one act in a bitter struggle as races and religions jostled
20:53for power this city of tolerance and tradition was torn apart
20:57looking out there now
21:22let me just look everything looks the wooded banks and the little terraces
21:26with their tables out I mean this do you find it hard to remember that you
21:32know me up you know a dozen years ago there was such bloodshed around here
21:36there was a war on I think that is really nice nice question and quite a
21:43bit hard for me but yes it's beautiful it's an amazing nature amazing
21:48structures amazing houses and people of course in the end but going back like 12
21:55years going back in 1993 when I was 14 years old teenager it looked really
22:01unrealistic to me like that I would be let's say sitting today here having
22:09child discussion with you and because at that time we I was more like okay how to
22:17survive where to you know where to escape in case of bombing so I was like
22:28afraid afraid for my future afraid because we could not see an end to this
22:35bloodshed that we had here before I left musta I went with come out to one of the
22:43Muslim cemeteries where all the graves looked very new so many young lives
22:51ended in 1993 they all ended 1993 that was the height of the fighting that was
22:58the height of the fight and yes it is but I would say one thing that I hope
23:06that these heroes haven't died in vain
23:10well I'm going to be leaving musta by train which is going to take me deep
23:39into the heart of Bosnia and to the city that's perhaps more synonymous with all
23:44the events that have happened in this area than any other Sarajevo this is the
23:49musta Sarajevo Express when Bosnia Herzegovina rose from the ruins of
23:56Yugoslavia the various ethnic groups that made up the country Bosnian Serbs
24:01Bosnian Muslims Bosnian Croats suddenly felt vulnerable and began to fight to
24:06safeguard the territory nowhere was the fight more prolonged and destructive
24:10than in the capital Sarajevo I check in at the Holiday Inn famous for being the
24:21only hotel that journalists could stay at during the war frequently shelled its
24:27most sought-after rooms were those without a view
24:31say Sarajevo from here it's just a city in a most spectacularly beautiful
24:36location it's almost unbelievable to think that only a little more than 10
24:40years ago they were coming to the end of the longest siege in modern European
24:44history and be no cars there'd be no trams and even if you tried to cross
24:48that road out there you could be shot by snipers from any of these buildings
25:01today the wounds are healing the trams are running and the city is gradually
25:12rebuilding Sarajevo is a tough resilient working city whose inhabitants just want
25:19to get on with their lives most of them don't want to talk about the war though
25:23sooner or later everybody does
25:32I take a tram to the outskirts of the city to see one of the reasons why what
25:40happened only 12 years ago can't easily be forgotten the countryside where
25:47Sarajevo's used to go for walks and picnics is now a death trap as a mine
25:52clearance squad works away I talked to its leader Damir once a soldier himself
25:58this particular part was a territory controlled by Republika Srpska army yes
26:04the Bosnian government army was further down in the field and in the further up
26:11mountain so the Bosnian Serbs moved their armies yeah this was part of the
26:15sort of the ring and if you look at Sarajevo and you can see the mine belt
26:21right along the yeah completely surrounding the city closing down it is
26:27and this is the old center and we are now this area just under the mountain so
26:36during the conflict at that time we we did not think about what will happen
26:42with Bosnia after but it's a fact that now we are paying the price big price
26:48for for use of landmines
26:53I mean you see all this painstaking work has to go on and the endless amount of
27:01time it's going to take I mean how do you feel do you feel do you feel very
27:05bitter about people who laid these mines and well situation it's difficult to say
27:12because I was part of it and for many people at that time was perfectly normal
27:21to use landmines the the conflict was so long and so difficult that I
27:28understand why if we had ten times more landmines those would be used if if you
27:36are facing really powerful army on the other side and you expect something to
27:41happen you're gonna use everything you have in stock just to stop them from
27:46entering your trenches and landmines were used for that landmines were used
27:52as a as a protection for the front lines and it is sad that now we are paying the
28:00price for that but at that time if you did not think about long-term at that
28:09time you had to think I'm gonna survive no matter what and I'm gonna use
28:14everything I got to protect myself it's such a beautiful place I mean in England
28:22this would be a nature reserve we say oh it's wonderful the farmers agribusiness
28:26hasn't cleared all this we'd be valuable it's only here because because of the
28:33war really Sarajevo's dramatic location at the focal point of north-south and
28:43east-west trade routes has made it one of the most cosmopolitan cities in
28:47Europe its years as part of the Ottoman Empire have left behind a legacy of fine
28:52buildings and religious tolerance I walked through the old Turkish quarter
28:58with Atamir Kenovich a film director who kept working here throughout the war
29:03risking his life to fly in and out to show the world his films he's teaching
29:08a lot about the city including what streetwise Sarajevo's should drink here
29:13we can get our drinks can you repeat it once again
29:18boza boza boza boza it turns out is a fermented corn drink local speciality
29:28so you'll first tell me how it is border border border boza boza okay
29:36JVL give you
29:45unusual taste that different kind of lemony almost a lemon taste but it's
29:50it's thicker than the lemon juice what was this area like during the the siege
29:56still operating where people still going to the mosque we're still buying their
30:00boza this is all closed most of these places were devastated it's it's empty
30:09most of the time because you know you can see the hills from this place wherever
30:12you can see the hills from you you wouldn't dare to go there so there were
30:18sometimes very fast walking through these places and you know but it was
30:22mainly empty during the war I mean people were hidden I mean did you feel
30:29very very frustrated that this was happening to your city a civilized city
30:34and you you had no electricity had no water and it went on for three years I
30:40mean how did you keep yourself going I understand you're being British using
30:45the mild words like frustrated it was more than outrageous nobody here
30:51couldn't believe what's wrong with all these people letting all these idiots
30:57maniacs and and that system to go and destroy the people and destroy all what's
31:04what's good about this place mosques and churches were the first buildings to be
31:11repaired after the war reasserting Sarajevo's tolerant tradition and
31:15helping to breathe new life into the old town
31:21my last meal in Sarajevo is memorable for good wine good humor good company
31:31and the enchanting sound of a singer called Amira whose voice seems to echo
31:36all the pain and pleasure of this remarkable country
32:21it's only a few hours drive from Sarajevo to Belgrade once the capital of
32:38all Yugoslavia Belgrade is now after defeats in three wars against the
32:42Croatians the Bosnians and the Kosovans the capital of a Serbia that's not only
32:47reduced but blamed squarely if not fairly for all the recent troubles set
32:58impressively on the Danube Belgrade bears few obvious scars of war I catch
33:05a ride on the river for the charismatic DJ and critic of the Milosevic regime
33:09who thinks I can say a man of many names his current handle is modestly Rambo
33:25Amadeus what was the war like for you would you have to fight no no I was like
33:32like a soldier you know for me it was like everybody tolerate me to be like
33:40peace brother guy and he didn't raise a gun in anger no quite opposite we had in
33:53Belgrade here a huge peace organization to struggle against
34:02but it was quite a bad time in Serbia for a long time as you were involved in
34:06a war which you couldn't sort of wait was it was bad time for all former
34:11Yugoslavia no it's like in Belgrade was like cow yeah it was like if you throw
34:19your TV through the window you didn't notice anything but actually nobody
34:27too precious what was your feeling about Milosevic when he was alive and he was
34:38in a power I had some thoughts about him now he's dead and I don't want to tell
34:46but you can ask around what I find out about him somehow I think it is polite
34:56Serbs know how to party and Belgrade is renowned for its music available at all
35:10kinds of clubs at all hours of the night
35:18in one of the clubs I meet Tijana a DJ and singer and her friend Jelena a TV
35:24presenter
35:31we end up back on the Danube this time navigating the tricky waters of Serbia's
35:37recent past there was never a real war in Serbia so you don't get the same
35:44feeling as if you go to Bosnia or parts of Croatia that were infected so that's
35:52why and Belgrade was always always had this metropolitan glitter it was the
35:57capital city of ex Yugoslavia too so I think the tradition of the city is in a
36:03way kept and there is also ironic side of this nation so everyone's making
36:08jokes about their history so you have absurd things like celebrating the
36:12battle that we lost nothing's improving now I don't think that things are going
36:19to change for better with the new generations I think new generations are
36:24you know really because they grew up you know in a way they did and it's going to
36:31be really confusing and crazy and I really don't know I have no idea what
36:36is going to happen so the prejudices are still there you think I think there is
36:42not a big hatred toward other nations in Balkans not even among young younger
36:50generations although they grew up in a very aggressive environment and they
36:55didn't actually know what was happening they were not aware they just knew that
37:00there was a problem but there is something this damn Serbian mentality
37:06is always coming on the surface this fleeting impression tells me the Serbs
37:12are well aware of the contradictions of their history they're also rather proud
37:17of them in the hope of finding transport on through the Balkans I've come south
37:23to the busy port of Dubrovnik jewel of the Adriatic even this treasure was not
37:29spared the violence of the war for half a year Bosnian Serb artillery shelled
37:34the city from up on these cliffs
37:39thanks to its beauty and its harbors Dubrovnik is once again flaunting its
37:44attractions though there are many locals who worry that their city is becoming
37:48too popular that the cruise liner crowds are tarnishing the very beauty they've
37:54come to see
38:00someone who still loves the atmosphere of the old town is Edin Karamazov a
38:05Bosnian who plays the lute so sweetly that sting has made an album with him
38:11but he's kept the busking job just in case
38:15Edin, that is, not Sting.
38:18...Music playing...
38:43as a storm blowing up from nowhere clears the stone-flagged streets of the
38:48city Edin with true Balkan hospitality offers me shelter in the apartment he's
38:53been lent by a friend
38:56...Music playing...
39:14do you go back to Bosnia oh yeah of course I I just started loving Bosnia
39:21it's nice country it's your homeland let's say although I don't feel at home
39:32nowhere at the moment yeah home is everywhere you are indeed a wandering
39:41minstrel it seems so I you know when I look back I I traveled most of my life
39:49and I played everywhere and and and it's I think it's it's it's my it's it's
39:56my way in the end although I never wanted to be a minstrel but I think it
40:02is so
40:08on this suitably soulful note my time here and in Croatia and indeed in the
40:14former Yugoslavia has come to an end
40:26with some difficulty we found a boat that will take us down the coast to
40:31Albania her captain is a part-time opera singer who's just played Judas in the
40:36Zagreb production of Jesus Christ Superstar he doesn't really want to go
40:41to Albania but he listens politely as I burble on I rather like the idea of the
40:47mystery of Albania like the fact of it being secret everywhere is kind of
40:50opening up but it still seems to be the reclusive yeah it was really one of the
40:55cloth the closest European country so and in our mind is still some kind of
41:04the black hole really I maybe I will say maybe 50 people from Croatia even go
41:12to Albania it's very communication yeah you know some business can be they start
41:17maybe some little business or something the captain does everything he can to
41:23avoid reaching Albania too quickly raising only his smallest sail and
41:28singing a lot
41:37I'm not complaining but we've another 17 countries to get through
41:58fine
42:07what's the supper I heard some echo very good cooking the supper gives him
42:16another reason to slow the boat down the muscle risotto is superb
42:28I accept now that the captain's not going to hurry and after washing my
42:34smalls I settle in and surrender to the night
42:39something to be said for this way of getting around Europe I mean bobbing
42:44along the Adriatic ancient trade routes of the world this lovely sort of symphony
42:51of creaks and groans and I mean you know you just don't get hotel rooms like
42:56this really
43:03tomorrow Albania
43:07Albania
43:24amazingly enough we do eventually reach Duras Albania's main port and second
43:30city well we're now heading into the very heart of the Balkans and the first
43:37port of call is Albania surely the most quirkily inscrutable country in Europe
43:42I know they had a king called Zog and for 45 years a hardline communist
43:47dictatorship where even having a map could land you in prison but now they're
43:51open for business we can see the reality for ourselves with Italy her main
43:59trading partner only 70 miles away Albania isn't exactly cut off just feels
44:05that way
44:16on the beach at Duras there's surreal evidence of the paranoid rule of Enver
44:21Hodja the dictator embraced first Stalin then Chairman Mao one of the first
44:29things you notice when you come ashore in Albania bunkers everywhere
44:34apparently there are about 400,000 of them scattered across the country a
44:39sort of symbol of the paranoia during the Hodja years but now some of the
44:44being recycled rather nicely and certainly make British beach huts look
44:49rather pathetic you'd have a nice holiday and repelling invasion from here
44:54and what can you say about you know they're done sleeping and all those
44:57little Balmoral to see up and down the coast this is a proper decent beach hut
45:02right
45:15I take the train from Duras inland to the capital Tirana it's about an hour's
45:20ride away
45:25under communism investment in Albania stagnated and afterwards things got even
45:31worse when a huge pyramid selling scheme collapsed taking savings with it the
45:37villages we pass through show a bruised economy making a fragile recovery in the
45:44capital evidence of hardship is less immediately apparent the Albanians car
45:49of choice appears to be a Mercedes almost everybody has one no one seems
45:54quite sure where they've all come from
46:02I get a part-time job with some young Albanian couriers they've been given the
46:07task of delivering some of the city's bills and business letters as the postal
46:11service and the traffic is so bad
46:23my fellow worker Ilya seems to know just what to do including wearing a helmet
46:28and getting a proper bike
46:35the natives are not friendly
46:42yeah you want some water oh thank you you need it after that I'm tired it's
46:49dangerous sometimes isn't it out there yeah with a bike with a bike it is yeah
46:55were you born here yeah it was a it's a good place to grow up was before good
47:03place was before before when before them before 15 years really do you prefer it
47:12when it was a communist yeah what's better no car nothing no troubles a bit
47:21of nostalgia for the old days Albania's national hero Skanderbeg fought the
47:27Turks but today's hero is fighting for his city hello ma'am it's nice of you to
47:34to meet me Michael Payne and what a fantastic office just notice it's an art
47:45gallery Eddie Rama is an artist who became mayor of Tirana his notebooks
47:53doodled on during council meetings give him inspiration for improving the city
47:59so I mean are these sort of I mean all these colors that you have here were
48:03there they're part of how you approach the changing the city I mean in the look
48:07of the city by painting the building colors are part of our life and it's
48:15really a pity that cities are not really reflecting this very part and I
48:23think Tirana has a big potential to develop on colors so I would like the
48:29city to become like an open-air contemporary arts living space you know
48:36and people it's like people living in an art space you know so if every building
48:41would be painted every corner of the painting it would be amazing you know it
48:45would be a really extremely attractive city and so the idea for the the painted
48:52buildings comes really from the beginning when I came in and we had no
48:58money and people had big expectations after 10 years of greatness and lack of
49:06hope and Tirana was like a transit station you know where everybody wanted
49:12to leave somewhere dirty and no communication so we had to give sign and
49:17how we thought colors are the best way you grew up here presumably during the
49:24Hodja years and all that I mean what must have been depressing for someone
49:28with an artistic a color sense it must have been a bit depressing over the
49:33like a concentration camp yeah private life was totally controlled cafes didn't
49:41exist we didn't have cafes what sort of education were you getting so it was a
49:47Stalinist country it was like we were isolated from both west and east so it
49:55really was and there's no other country was in the same situation as Albania
50:01no comparison when it all finished and wasn't a great feeling of did you feel
50:06the great spirit of excitement and opportunity and liberation it was like
50:14the end of a nightmare Albania like most of the Balkan Peninsula is mountainous
50:22and here in the town of Kruje the 15th century heroes Skanderbeg used natural
50:28defenses to fight off three Turkish sieges in a country without a lot to
50:34celebrate this has made Kruje a national shrine and leading tourist attraction
50:40but Ilya Mati my guide has something rather different to show me he invites
50:46me to accompany a young man who's taking a sheep to be sacrificed at the local
50:50monastery in the hope that it will make a dream come true tell me about this
50:58dream yeah but in the basis of this procession yeah this little pilgrimage
51:06yeah yeah pilgrimage the basis is the dream and dream oh yeah people have
51:14dreams about the person working in Europe in for in Europe I see so their
51:22family who are working in Europe they sort of they pray for them pray for them
51:26pray for them in this mountain what do they pray the pray have have documents
51:33and work yeah that's a simple goal for your prayer don't seem to be too many
51:41people on this particular pilgrim trail this afternoon however I dare say our
51:47reward will be greater the monastery belongs to the Bektashi religion one of
51:55the offshoots of the mystical Sufi order of Islam its position on the very top of
52:00the mountain is good for devotional contemplation but hell on the thigh
52:04muscles
52:13yes difficult to get here yes where do we go yeah I'm here
52:19important guest ah oh so nice to sit down the holy man known as the barber
52:30doesn't initially look thrilled to see us but after a tumbler full of the local
52:34rocky he seems to perk up a bit so he good to meet you in the mountain the
52:42villagers like to to have a key yeah Gazua Gazua yeah
53:01regrettably the main business of our visit cannot be put off any longer and
53:05the pilgrim hands his sheep over for the sacrifice
53:19I've seen such things many times now but I'll never ever get used to it
53:30news of this successful sacrifice has cheered up the family no end I'm invited
53:39back for a party at which my pilgrim friend plays celebratory music with his
53:43father and brothers
54:00Albania does seem very different from the other countries of the Balkans it
54:13may be looking increasingly to the west but at heart it feels oriental and I
54:18have to remind myself that not only am I still in Europe but I've a lot further
54:22east to go yet
54:30you
55:00you