January 2025 • Page 2 of 2 • Folksy Travel by Bill Smale

January 17, 2025January 17, 2025

Enjoy scouting out Belgrade with Bill Smale adventures

Frankly, Belgrade was a little bit of a disappointment. I was expecting a much more interesting atmosphere with more old town feel. Plan your trip in advance so you get the more interesting sites all at once.

Tesla's suit — The absolute one thing the servers are proud of is Nikolai Tesla. There is a museum of his innovations and his possessions which I highly recommend you visit because they do some demonstrations showing some of the great things he envisioned and accomplished.

An alien land — The view from the airplane from Sarajevo to Belgrade looks almost like an alien land

Holiday celebrations — Pre-Christmas celebration assembly in the Square

A Christmas concert — A big concert celebrating a few days before the orthodox Christmas which occurs on January 7

Guinness is everywhere — I was happy to find a Guinness

Scouting out granny Smith — It was interesting to see granny Smith apples

The street in Belgrade — The typical Street

Selling oak leaves in bundles which are burned on Christmas day

A political commentary in Belgrade — A political commentary relating to the 1990s war

Local market — The local open market is much bigger than what you see here. It extends all the way back down this walkway and then in both directions to the left and right. They sell almost everything in this general area.

Enjoy scouting out the Vegetable market — The vegetable area of the market

An observance — This was some kind of observance in the middle of the intersection which stopped the traffic, people facing One Direction for at least 15 minutes and waiting for a loud horn to end the grouping. It was a gathering I wish I had asked someone about. It was very well organized

Enjoying the absent cars at the Chinese dealership — The sign is for a Chinese automobile manufacture but they weren’t selling automobiles here just parts

An empty entertainment Square — this has the name of what I understood to be the old town area but there was nothing going on. This was just an entertainment Square that was not being used

Free transport needs repair — The city transportation is all free but a lot of the transporters are in need of repair as you can see

Marble tofu (麻婆豆腐) at the nearby Chinese restaurant. It is completely Chinese flavor and way too much SANSHOU (山椒)

Geared to Chinese touristS — You can see this restaurant is geared towards Chinese tourists. In the two days I visited here I was the only non-Chinese and I doubt the owners speak even Serbian, definitely no English. Customers needed to translate some things for me.

Interesting little car at the café — I couldn’t see the make of the car but it looks a little bit too interesting to be aYugo

Old trams — The free trams are a little old

Garbage truck in Belgrade — That’s a big garbage truck

Tesla's things — Tesla’s personal things

The label inside Tesla's hat — This is a label inside the hat. It seems he bought it from the hotel shop. He probably lived there for a while.

father's honorary certificate — Tesla’s father’s honorary certificate from the emperor of the Austro-Hungarian empire

Windows presentation — You can see what they use to do the presentation which was actually very good and very interesting. It was well worth the fee which was nominal

Transformer demonstration — A demonstration of the transformer Tesla invented

Wireless electricity demonstration — Demonstrating wireless electricity

Tesla's mother's creation — Hand created by Tesla’s mother

Old town Street — Seemingly the only Street which comprises the “old town”

January 15, 2025January 15, 2025

Explore ancient Dubrovnik with Bill Smale adventures

Explore the ancient city of Dubrovnik while relaxing around Clearwater in the bay and the ocean nearby. This is a really enjoyable city to walk around. When you first get here you don’t immediately see the ancient city inside the fortress. That is the real draw of Dubrovnik. The transportation is very good so it’s easy to get around at that means you can stay some distance from the old town. So explore ancient Dubrovnik with Bill Smale adventures.

Explore ancient ship — This remake of an old ship is probably available for tours during the high tourist season

Map of attacks — Sites where there were attacks on the city in the 1990s

Fortification walls — The city from fortification walls

Yacht Harbour — It’s also an extensive yacht Harbour

Explore the castle — Part of the castle from the end of the fortifications

Old town of Dubrovnik — A church in the old town

The main square in the old town getting ready for Christmas celebrations

Explore the steps — The old town has a lot of steps

Narrow streets — This old town was definitely made for walking and for delivery carts pulled by people

Explore up the steps — Walk up the stairways and explore the apartments for rent and the dwellings behind the main area of the old city. It’s amazing how many of the buildings here are for short term rent.

Nice place for coffee — A nice place to eat or have a coffee when it’s warm

Energy efficient drying — Of course you have to dry your clothes. There were no drying machines in ancient times

Explore the many steps — You might think I’m a little obsessed with steps but I was just amazed how this city is built on layers

A view from above — A few of the fortress from higher up

Explore the castle monastery — The courtyard of the Franciscan Church and monastery

An ancient church — I think some parts of a saint were buried here

Fortress walls — The fortress walls are a beautiful clear ocean

My own spaghetti — I made my own spaghetti with the ingredients I had which included eggplant and onion

Christmas decoration In Dubrovnik — A Christmas cresh

Tour limousine — That is a significantly long car

Beautiful ocean — The beautiful ocean side

War scars — Scars from the 1990s fighting

My veranda Dubrovnik — It was too cold to relax outside but this was my more than ample veranda

January 12, 2025January 12, 2025

Walking around fascinating Istanbul with Bill Smale Adventures.

Walking around fascinating Istanbul on my first two daysI thought was going to be a little bit complicated but the transport system, once you figure it out, is actually pretty easy so it helps with the walking tour. You can easily get to the attractions you want by yourself if you have time. Of course you want to go to the main attractions but just walking around people will talk to you trying to get you to buy things but in a pleasant way and if you could pass for someone who lives here people will ask you for directions or some kind of assistance. so you can just take your time and just relax, stop and have a cup of coffee, get something to eat, etc.

Istanbul city walls — You can see the old city walls in different parts of Istanbul

Walking at the Bosphorus strait — This is the Bosphorus strait where all the black sea ships need to pass. And you can see the cats are guarding the city. People here love cats and wild they seem to be everywhere walking around they are clean and they generally behave themselves but they get fed by everybody

Seabream Dinner — Seabream with nothing but part of an orange for sauce so not much character. But it was good quality food. I wasn’t quite sure about that quarter of an onion but it was actually much sweeter than most onions, almost as sweet as a Maui onion.

The restaurant by the strait — This was the restaurant which seems to be frequented by local people

Cats control the cars — It seems pretty clear cats are the preferred automobile alarm system and of course they control car parking

Walking street view — Nice buildings in the area nearSuktanahmet

Old building — Maybe not worth refurbishing

Building art — A local art display on a building

German fountain in Istanbul — German fountain near the blue mosque

A restaurant I want to try — I wanted to go here in the Fatih area of town but it opened up 30 minutes later than when I wanted to eat

UYGHUR/chinese food — So I tried this one instead because it was open and recommended. This is fried noodles with vegetables YAKISOBA (焼きそば). This is in the UYGHUR section of the city where half of the restaurants are considered UYGHUR cuisine and the other half are presenting themselves as Chinese food restaurants. The people at this restaurant seem to be a mixture of Chinese and tutkic peoples features while others looked just Turkic. The language spoken didn’t seem to be all Chinese but it was a language I’ve never heard. The food was very good.

Coffee and pastry — After the noodle lunch I came to this coffee shop for a cup of coffee and a pastry which was not sweet and had cheese in the middle. It was very tasty.

Farting building — You can see the large black tube coming out of the green mesh on the lower left side which attracted my attention and I was thinking to myself maybe it is so the building can fart.

The fish market — In the morning I went to this fish market to eat something at a highly recommended restaurant right there but it wasn’t open. But of course the cats were in control and under control, if you can figure out what that means.

Exchanged €400 — I exchanged €400 and look what I got.

January 9, 2025January 9, 2025

Exploring Mostar History and Relaxation. Mostar with Bill Smale Adventures.

Mostar was definitely the most interesting of the two cities which included Sarajevo. There was a lot of destruction in the city and you can see some bombed out large complexes and a modern Marriott hotel which for some reason has been abandoned. The city is very relaxing to walk around and people don’t seem to be as busy as in a large city so it’s a nice place to hang around and there are a lot of good restaurants. The old town is another post I put up with photos so you can click on “old town” to get the link to it and see what kind of interesting an ancient city has left there. I would recommend at least three days here and if you want to get a hotel on the river or in the old town you might wanna stay a few more days and just relax, enjoy Bosnian and coffee and good Bosnian food. So take a walk around Mostar with Bill Smale adventures.

Cold windy band — A Christmas event band in the seasonal event area with two people watching due to the extreme cold and wind.

The old bridge — The old Bridge. When it’s wet it can be a little bit slippery so you have to take care. This bridge was completely rebuilt since the original ancient Bridge was destroyed as it means of “teaching the people a lesson”.

Walking Santa — I never saw a Santa walking away but I guess he’s busy.

Parking on the sidewalk — Some old abandoned building but you can see people parking on the sidewalk. The police came by one day to take photos and pass out fines so the next day there were no cars on the sidewalk. But on the third day the cars came back and parked on the sidewalk so there seems to be a cycle going on here.

Ducks and plastic on the small river — The plastic collects on the river where it drops down but the ducks keep going to the main river.

Bosnian coffee with sweets — A wonderful Bosnian coffee with homemade sweets (very sweet)

https://maps.app.goo.gl/yHuTKLbkGAg5DHWi6?g_st=com.google.maps.preview.copy

Local restaurant specialty — At the restaurant where local people eat this very inexpensive meal is a specialty of the day. It was fine food, good quality and plenty for me for lunch.

Resident restaurant — The local resident restaurant

https://maps.app.goo.gl/d54YwTvVcq8X672g9?g_st=com.google.maps.preview.copy

The map of the siege — A map of the places attacked during the 1990s siege on the city.

Another siege map — There was a lot of destruction but most of it is rebuilt with some scarred memories.

The main river in Mostar — The main river through town

Tasty local food — This was a quick food restaurant with a kebab sausage sandwich. You put the sausage and onion and tomato inside the bread. It’s very tasty.

Restaurant menu — Here’s the menu from the restaurant

https://maps.app.goo.gl/JVKCzrZHX7kxQt93A?g_st=com.google.maps.preview.copy

A hotel parting gift — This seems to be a very popular treat which you find all over Bosnia. The hotel gave it to me as a parting gift.

A such dinner — A very elegant dinner setting, waiting for a pre-ordered SUCH dinner, a family style specialty food.

Such — This is meat with vegetables and potatoes in a very nice sauce mixed together called “such”. It takes time to prepare so we are asked to request it in advance

An elegant dessert — A simple but elegantly displayed dessert

A grapa dessert — I guess the dinner would not be complete without grapa. I drink it while eating the dessert since grapa is very strong by itself

https://maps.app.goo.gl/i7VQzLPMvRLZrcQ1A?g_st=com.google.maps.preview.copy

Local coffee shop — I went here many times in this local coffee shop for a coffee and a cigarhttps://maps.app.goo.gl/U9VTTFxPuibAZQNX6?g_st=com.google.maps.preview.copy

Chicken bits — Very tasty chicken bits with pizza style bread. https://maps.app.goo.gl/FE16VDyN7kZ9JL7h8?g_st=com.google.maps.preview.copy

A Greatly designed glass — This restaurant was fairly good and highly recommended and I just like the water glass. It’s the perfect kind of glass that will probably not slip out of your hand. I think this is a great design.

A view of the mountains — A view beyond the city

Strange architecture — I thought this was a very odd construction

Foggy countryside — Foggy and cold in the morning

A Bosnian Vineyard — This is not a great photo but it shows the vineyards along the way. I was told that Bosnia is famous for wine but unfortunately I didn’t try any.

A bombed out building in Mostar — One of the bombed out complex shells

Another damaged building — You can even see the bullet holes in the building and somebody tried to give it some beauty

Excellent restaurant Sadrvan — This was an excellent restaurant so I ate here twice. Sadrvan. I highly recommend it. https://maps.app.goo.gl/odBgYt12SnGEMdzZ7?g_st=com.google.maps.preview.copy

A whole Toscano, a little bit too much for me in one sitting. Normally I have the toscanello which is half this length so most of the time I just break these in two and smoke the one half at one time

I found this very interesting though not related to my visit here

It was nice of them to bring me “hot chili” catch up but there was no spice in it. It just tasted like regular ketchup so maybe they replaced the contents?

Tasty pizza bread — Very tasty pita bread with a flavorful sour cream type spread

The process of preparing a Bosnian coffee — For Bosnian coffee I was first taught to skim the top of the copper contained coffee, the foam with some bean residue, into the cup and then pour coffee into the cup and drop the sugar cube in. It was an interesting process

Baklava — I stopped here for some baklava

Water on the menu — I just put this here to see if you could figure out what this is on the menu. OK time is up. It has to do with water, either mineral or gas (soda water) and the third one I don’t know.

January 8, 2025January 8, 2025

A Wintery walk – old town Sarajevo with Bill Smale Adventures

The history of Sarajevo, Bosnia of course is long but as many of you may remember the war back in the 1990s was very much a persecution of many of the people living here but even going farther back we remember the spark that set off World War I, the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria. One interesting thing I learned recently was even thought this area was under the Austro-Hungarian Empire before World War I the peopledecided they wanted to take some land closer to the north and reduce the subjugation to the empire. Since Russia, allied with the Serbs, activated troops and stationed them on their western border, all hell broke loose. Walk through the old town of Sarajevo with Bill Smale Adventures.

Ćevabdžinica Željo, Old town local food — Eating kebab at a restaurant frequented by locals. Ćevabdžinica Željo

Photos of the archduke — Photos of the procession

Kids playing in snow in old town graveyard — Kids having a snowball fight in a graveyard

SarajevoChristmas event — A Coca-Cola sponsored Christmas event

Illegally parked car — Taking a car, illegally parked, to a impound lot

Partly smoking a Bosnian Cigarette — I don’t smoke cigarettes but just lit it and felt the smoke in my mouth. It was a Bosnian cigarette offered by the owner of the coffee shop

Fresh ground coffee — The owner of this coffee shop grinds the beans to make sure it’s fresh

A very clear sign — The sign is very clear on the contents of the shop

Bosnian sausages and dried meats — Bosnian deli cuisine

Old town Tourist souvenirs — Old town shops

Large Sarajevobazaar — The large inside bazaar

Partly damaged building — A beautiful old building partly damaged

Jameson whiskey advertising — Big advertising for Jameson whiskey

2 man juggling in the street — These guys were doing a two man juggling act every time the traffic stopped for the light

Tramm fine — A €13 fine because they ticket machines on the trams don’t work. Make sure you pay the driver in cash directly.

View from the bus to Sarajevo — On the way from Mostar to Sarajevo

Ancient house — Ancient practical house construction

Ancient artifact — A very detailed ancient artifact

Ancient agricultural artifacts — The lower right has scissors constructed almost exactly the same as the sheepshearers I used to trim the lawn around the edges.

The swastika in use long ago — The swastika was used in ancient times indicating good fortune. I thought it was something originating from northern India but an archive told me it originated farther north.

Tombstone identifier — Relating to the tombstone above

Old symbol — The artifact on the upper right shows the three drops circling just like the old Celtic symbol and the one in Japan from thousands of years ago.

The trident — Not only Neptune but real people used the trident

Swastika on an ancient piece — Here we see on an ancient structural piece the swastika used again

Snowy museum view — A snowy day, view from the museum

January 3, 2025January 3, 2025

Loch Ness with Bill Smale Adventures and no monster

one of the beautiful drives I’ve ever had is this area in mid October with a beautiful fall colors, the cool climate and the warm friendship of the people of Scotland. I highly recommend coming to this place in the fall and enjoying Loch Ness with Bill Smale Adventures.

people come here from all over the world hoping to see the “monster”. But the last credible “sighting” was the early part of the 20th century and that one is dubious. On looking at the loch from the outlet to the ocean to the interior it is easy to see how a large fish or other ocean going animal could get into the loch, grow and become large enough to be very visible at different times of the day. But it’s quite a tourist attraction and it’s a beautiful area so if you stay away from the crowds and enjoy the beautiful scenery you will have a good time.

Gaelic road signs — along the way you see the signs in Gaelic as well as English

Bill Smale Adventures. Morning walk — Taking a walk in the morning

A view of the loch — The loch in the background

I've been in breakfast? — A house which is probably partly rented out to help pay the taxes

January 3, 2025January 3, 2025

A Fascinating walk-through the ancient town of Mostar with Bill Smale adventures

When in Montenegro I saw the town of Mostar in Bosnia on Google maps and history came to mind. I remembered the conflict after the breakup of Yugoslavia and the horrible things that happened in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Mostar was prominent in my memories due to the press attention concerning the destruction of the 400 year-old bridge.

It was a very good thing I visited this town since it has a very old town which is very attractive and a good short walk through mostly tourist related venues but I found the restaurants to be not so expensive compared to many EU countries and very high-quality and tasty food. If you visit Bosnia then this is the one town you should put as the place to visit. It is easily accessible by car and bus so make sure to put it on your itinerary and enjoy walking through Mostar with Bill Smale Adventures.

The rebuilt old bridge in Mostar — A view of the old bridge rebuilt

Old bridge destruction — The targeted destruction of the old bridge.

I did not delve into the reason the old bridge was targeted for destruction but I suspect it was too totally demoralize the people in this area. That not only did not work but the people have great pride in what they have rebuilt and it’s a very beautiful place to visit.

A photo of town — A photo of the video which runs in the genocide museum in town

The old Bridget nighttime — The Bridget Knight

Old Bridge walkway in Mostar — The old bridge walkway

Tourists on the bridge — Only a few touristS since it is not high season

The old town in Mostar — Walking in the ancient town

Shopping in the old town — Many tour shops along the way with restaurants, cafés and opportunities to buy local foods such as baklava and other sweets

View from the bridge — A view from the bridge

A viewpoint restaurant — A restaurant with a good view and a mosque in the background

The edge of the river — People go down to the edge of the river

Small bridge and mosque — Another mosque with the smaller bridge

one thing you have to note is that the old town and the bridge are paved with stones which have been polished over the years by millions of tourists walking on them so especially when it is wet there are places that tend to be slippery.

Restaurant outside — My hotel restaurant outside seating

Sit outside — When it’s not cold in the winter it’s a very nice place to sit outside and enjoy food or coffee

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