Handy maps of Kosovo, Montenegro, Macedonia

Problems. Are you wondering which country is which? Trying to remember the capitals and tourist sights? Thinking of a two-centre or touring holiday?

Answers: Check these handy maps.

Kosovo is landlocked and surrounded by Albania, Montenegro, Serbia and Macedonia. Look carefully and you'll see the little symbol of a plane. A five-point star marks the capital. Fly into the capital, Pristina.

To get an idea of why buildings are named after local heroes and what the conflicts were about, read:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adem_Jashari
It's rather chilling reading. I tried to see it from both sides.

Thinking back to earlier times, from the point of view of British film-makers, Lawrence of Arabia was a hero. From the point of view of the Turks, they were trying to bring civilization to a lot of nomads and Lawrence was the leader of a gang of terrorists.

Should a fighter keep his women and children with him, where he can protect them? Or send them away to safety?

The country is recognized by some countries but not others. Check out the up-to-date news on arrangements for crossing borders in both directions. You might need to get visas, change your direction of travel, and / or not have a passport with certain stamps in it.

Check the advice for American and Canadians and Brits. You might think you don't need it. However, their websites might have handy tips. Also, check the nationalities of your travelling companions and where your companions have travelled from. If you team up with a singleton or couple from another country, you don't want to get to the border with Serbia and find two of you can cross the border, but the other one can't.

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/kosovo

Montenegro, surrounded by Bosnia, Serbia, Kosovo, Albania. Capital and airport, Podgorica.

Macedonia is surrounded by Albania, Serbia, Bulgaria and Greece. The capital, Skopje, is in the north.
Skopje's buildings were badly damaged in the 1963 earthquake resulting in lots of rebuilding with Christian and Muslim edifices vying to outdo each other. Something to see for everybody.

What to see in Skopje
Mother Teresa museum
Holocaust museum
Alexander the Great memorial
Giant Cross
See next post.

Author

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Handy maps of Montenegro and Macedonia (and what to see)

I must admit, the two places starting with the M confused me.  The furthest north is Montenegro, black mountain. (The name Montenegro means mountain black, or as we would say in English, black mountain. The noun is first followed by the adjective which is second in many languages including French, moulin rouge being red mill.

Montenegro, black mountain, is north of Albania, which sounds like white. South of Albania is Macedonia, whose citizens, Macedonians, are also in Albania and Greece. Macedonia has been in dispute with Greece about the right to call itself Macedonia. In 2018 the two countries seem to have resolved this problem. 

Any more memory aids regarding which country is where. Yes, ma'am. Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia, initials M A M make the acronym MAM. (An acronym means a new word from initial letters. Nym stands for name.)

                                                                                   

European Languages.This map seems to leave out Switzerland and does not tell you the languages spoken in Corsica and Sardinia. Nevertheless, quite handy.

Republic of Macedonia

Coat of Arms of Macedonia

Flag of the Republic of Macedonia since 1995
The old flag, which the Greeks objected to on the grounds of cultural appropriation, had a more elegant sun, small in the centre, with delicate rays. However, the new design is distinctive and striking.

So many flags are three bands of colour, horizontal or vertical, or a a white cross on a contradsting background. You would not confuse this flag with anybody else's! It's Macedonia! It turns out that neighbouring Greece is the main trading partner and benefactor of Macedonia. So, finally, they have reached a compromise and I think the new flag is terrrific. You can see it for miles. That's what a flag is for.

I see a pattern in small and large events. Macedonia and Greece, are like a son who left home and wanted to be independent and father is worried that the son wants to take over Dad's property.

Another analogy is the companies where the son sets up a rival business such as a hotel group, and wants to continue using the family name. They go to court and eventually an agreement is reached for two separate brands, with similar names, which confuse some of the public. When you look into, you find you now have two distinctive countries, Greece and Macedonia, with a shared history, both of which are worth visiting.

Also, no trouble remembering that Macedonia, with an unamrked c, is a soft c. Add an accent on top and you have turned the c into a ch, without needing to spend time writing a whole extra letter, rather like Pitman's shorthand where you can indicate a letter or sound with just a dot or a teeny tick.




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More information from:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macedonia_naming_dispute


Montenegro Map

Montenegro - Cities and Sites and Sights:
From Fly into Podgorica airport; see Podgorica the capital. Take a bus towards Mount Ostrog, a monastery against a cliff face. Get off bus ... and take taxi. The last part is stone steps.

Montenegro tourist sites:


Photo of Sveti Stefan by Einer Flog Zu Veit in Wikivoyage.
Sveti Stefan is the renowned, romantic five-star hotel on an island. I saw pictures of it years ago. If you cannot enter without booking a bedroom, or it is closed for renovation, admire it from afar. If you look at all the photos in Wikipedia under Sveti Stefan, you'll see that you get a better photo from a distance, like the one I have chosen to show.

Stefan is Stephen. Svet is world (in Serbian and Bosnian) and Svetnik is saint.
In Croatian Svet is holy and Svetnik is councillor. As you see, the three languages are mutually intelligible, like British and American English, with slight variations in meaning.

Montenegro flag

More capitals in Europe - bet you don't know these!

Country - capital
Problem
Liechtenstein - Vaduz (How do I remember the spelling of the country.  And the others?)

Answer
LIE - I don't lie - about the fact that I struggle to remember how to spell it. I had better check. Yes, add CH. I repeated it ten times. TEN! Stein is German for stone. Add STEIN. Lie-ch-ten-stein

Capital - country
Macedonia - Skopje (Common letters E O - O E. Think of M and S like  the shop Marks and Spencers. Macedonia and Skipje. Is there a shop called Marks and Spencers in Skopje in Macedonia?)
Moldova - Chisinau (Common letter a. in both MoldovA and ChisinAu.) Double letter o in Moldova. Check letter I is twice in Chisinau, an unusual name. My, it's good to see you. HellO Chums.
Montenegro - Podgorica. (Montenegro means black mountain. The letters O-G-O-R are in mOnteneGRO and pOdGORica. Oh, I'll to to Montenegro and on the black mountain I will grow a POD of GOReous - I CAnnot tell you because it's a secret.)
Vaduz - Liechtenstein (Nobody invades Liechtenstein. Maybe they think it's stony.)

https://tinycards.duolingo.com/decks/c9a0abc8-4704-4d76-ba8f-acd8865c12aa?lesson=5

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer. Author and speaker. Teacher of English and other languages. Please follow and share links to your favourite posts.