Dubrovnik...a wonderful summer vacation spot

Every year, the Jordanian newspapers are filled with advertisments and torusit offers.. to Sharm el Saikh, Cairo, Beirut, Turkey , Bulgaria.. sometimes Cyprus and Greece for a change.. and those who can afford more luxurious trip, decide to do a cruise around westren european countries... or go to the far east.

I find all these ads boring.. and repeated.. every year.. the very same locations.. and attractions...to a point when u loose interest to travel. Maybe those countries that are presented as offers in Jordan do a lot to promote their countries more than the others, but i still think that we can choose from hundreds of countries in the world.. and that there are zillions of wonderful locations that are still hidden to the Jordanian tourist.

Maybe Jordanian torusits prefer all planned trip by a tourist agency.. and avoid exploring by themselves.. which makes the vacation even more boring... you get to see only what they want to offer and serve.. not what you actually want to see.

One such location that i believe is still unknown to the Jordanian tourist is the city of Dubrovnik on the Adriatic Sea in Croatia. "The Pearl of the Adriatic" is a perfect combination of amazing beaches and wonderfully clear and clean sea... great night life.. cultural and historical heritage as well as preserved nature.. prepared with great infrastructure of modern Airport and stations.

Watch the clip below.. to have an idea of Dubrovnik.

I hope next time you think of going on a vacation.. you will consider Croatia.

Flaming Border

On my way to the R. Macedonia from Thessaloniki... things seemed fine.. normal.. peaceful for someone who doesn't know about the Macedonia name dispute. While i was waiting in the Thessaloniki train station, i had few hours to spend until my train to Gevgelia leaves. I observed the people.. coming into and out of the station, they looked so much similar to the Macedonians.. and then it occured to me .. that they probably are Macedonians.. but they are afraid of declaring themselves as Macedonians.. and speak their language.. but instead they speak Greek..

I had flash backs of the Macedonians running away from the very same station.. in the late 1940s during the civil war in Greece. Children.. and women.. running.. looking for the peron of the train going to Yugoslavia (at that time) ofcourse for those who were lucky enough to afford the train.. for the majority.. the border was crossed on foot.

The Greek Civil war... was probably one of the many unjustice acts made by Greece towards the Macedonians. The Greek civil war, was fought between the Greek governmental Army backed by UK and USA, and the Democratic Army of Greece - the military branch of Greek Communist Party. USA and UK backed the greek government at that time.. to stop the spreading of Communism as it it became the political system in almost all Eastern Europe.

During that war, many Macedonians caught in the middle.. decided to send their children and women as refugees to Yugoslavia to the newley established Socialist Republic of Macedonia within the Yugoslav federation. Those Macedonians who stayed in Greece.. more preciesly in Aegean Macedonia, fought alongside the Communists in Greece. And Unfortunately... that gave the excuse to the Greek army, to commit one of the biggest genocides against Macedonians after the Second world war, killing the Macedonians.. and kicking out those who stayed in their homes just to make the big dream or the big idea (the Megali idea) coming true.. of occuping Macedonia.. and make it Greek..

Bilingual slogan on mount Vitsi both in Greek and Macedonian ("Long live our leader, N. Zachariadis"and "Long live the II Congress of the NOF. Long live the national unification.") prooving the existance of Macedonians alongside the greeks in Aegean Macedonia

The Civil war ended.. and the genocide was done.. Greece continued its practise of assimilating the Macedonians.. and forcing them to change the endings of their last names from -ov or -ski (slavic) into -kis (greek), and changing the names of the cities , rivers and even churches.. into Greek names. Many Macedonian refugees from Yugoslavia at that time.. tried to go back to their homes after the war ended.. but they were always denied entrance at the border.. many have even migrated to USA , Australia and Canada.. and with those passports they were also denied entrance.. for simple reason.. the birth place written in the Slavic way not as it is now.. which was a reminder to Greece of the terrible act against human rights. Many of these refugees.. are still in todays Macedonia.. waiting the day when the border will be open and go and visit their houses.

When it became evident in the late 1980s that Yugoslavia will break up..and that Macedonians will gain independency , Greece decided to continue its practice of Helenising Macedonia.. renaming the northern province.. from North Greece into Macedonia, renaming the Airport of Thessaloniki into Macedonia.. and starting a strong campaign claiming that Alexander the Great was Greek.. and that Macedonia is Greek, challenging the history.. and prooving that the powerful writes the history.. not facts and actual events.

Thats basically the reason why until now Greece denys the right of milions of Macedonians of Self Identification.. and moreover un-recognizing the constitutional name of the Republic of Macedonia, even though Greece had no problems with the name Macedonia when it was within Yugoslavia.

Greek Neo-Nazis Attack Macedonian Minority

The Greek Neo-Nazi faction Golden Dawn, entered and ravaged during a promotion of a Macedonian-Greek dictionary, promoted by the party of the Macedonian minority in Greece called "Rainbow". Rainbow is part of the European Free Alliance and Greece is a member of the European Union. This should not be allowed to happen in third world countries let alone a EU member.

Because Rainbow is part of the EFA, such provocations can be seen as political pressure for the current European elections. It is not the first time for the neo-nazis to pull off such a stunt on behalf of Rainbow, but the Greek and EU authorities seem not to care as no official condemned the incident up until now. 

RIGHTS FOR THE MINORITIES OF GREECE!

RIGHTS FOR THE MACEDONIANS OF GREECE!

Its more than obvious now why Greece refuses to recognize Macedonia under its constitutional name.

Watch the attack on the clip bellow. All rights reserved to theMac3donian

Call me by my name.. Don't FYROM me.. Say Macedonia.

Impressions from Athens.. (24 - 5 - 2009)

Before leaving Sweden, i put in my mind to record my impressions in Greece.. having high expectations from Athens and Greece itself.. as the cradle of democracy and an open book for history and philosophy.  But things started to go wrong from the minute i arrived in the Airport in Athens. Coming from a relatively cold region with day temperature of 15 degrees in Sweden.. i was literally shocked by the unbelievably hot weather in Athens.. of 35 degrees and high humidity, which made everything else more in slow motion.. and made the people around me puffing in discomfort every few minutes. 

I gathered by broken suitcase.. which the "gentle" danish hands broke, and found my way to the info center to get some info about how to get to the central station and things weren't simple there either..

You can literally feel how the mentality changes once you go from north to south.. and if you go souther to our arabic countires, things get even worse. Ma 3alena, the nice lady explained to me how man trians i should switch in order to reach my destination - my hotel. It was 12 noon.. and i was melting.. but within 1 hour i got to a deserted city.. because the worst combination ever - hot weather and Sunday!

The hotel wasn't that good.. and surprisingly the receptionist was extremely unfriendly! although i used my Jordanian passport to identify myself as the one who made the reservations, but i guess he noticed my birth place - Macedonia ... and thats the only justification i can think of for his very bad attitude.. 2olna bardo ma 3alena.. maybe the heat is making him that unfriendly..! 

i got into my room.. and probably the only best thing in it was the Air conditioning..! God bless those ACs.. it brought me back to life.. and cheered me up.. combined with a nice shower.. i was ready to give it a try and still not judge on Athens as the worst city i've ever visited..

We (me and my friend who also shared my miserable experience) deided when the sun calmed down.. to go and see the Acropolis.. as time wasn't waiting for us.. and the next day both of us will find his way. We took the metro , which was surprisingly in good shape compared to the Old train station we arrived at. We got off Sintagma square, and things started to get better.. we looked up a place to grab a sandwich and then walked through the Athenian streets to the Acropolis. 

There it was fun, i mean.. i felt the arabic or better said the oriental feeling of the city.. of people's behavior of the buildings.. and their facades and balconies. People were having coffee.. or beer.. ladies were talking and laughing.. People were really enjoying those precious moments of having a chat with someone over a coffee. 

The streets were shining with antiquity... and with busy life.. we found our way to the Acropolis.. and climbed the hill. The view from up there was breathetaking.. i guess the Acropolis was the best thing i've experienced in Athens.  You can see the entire city from there.. overviewing the white houses.. and thick green forests scattered here and there around the city and ofcourse the most famous blue Sea in the background - the symbol of Greece. 

The Acropolis itself.. wasn't a massive building.. but a witness of the Greek glory in that era.. You can feel how glorious were those moments and places.. where one of the strongest school of philosophy was established and developed. Its impressive how precise and sophisticated the ancient greeks were compared to the rest of the nations at that time. Although they didn't florish much further, but their legacy is certainly something humanity is still appreciating and learning. 

After 2 hours or exploring every single detail of the Acropolis.. we decided to go back and sleep.. coz we were already exhausted... We stopped by Syntagma Square again.. and decided to follow the advice of our greek professor, and pass by Kolonaki.. a nice wealthy area in Athens.. were a lot of diplomatic representatives are located.. and ofcourse a lot of cafes and restaurants. We had some drinks there.. and rested a bit under the warm moonlight of Athens, and then went back to our hotel. 

Things weren't that bad after all.. after my first impression of the city in the morning.. but they should certainly warn people to be patient before judging the city.. hehe

The next day , early in the morning.. i continued my trip .. from Athens.. towards Thessaloniki and Macedonia - my next destination.. the country were the sun never sets. Will see you folks from there..  :) 

Goodbye Sweden...

As my journey in Sweden comes to an end.. i couldn't but look back at the past 4 months and remember how was the experience of the drastic change from the busy streets of Amman.. to the extremely calm city of Lund in the south of Sweden. 

I arrived here, on a windy cold day. I got off at Lund Central Station from the Copenhagen Airport train, and called my mentor to pick me up and take me to my hostel. The city seemed empty.. all i kept thinking was where the hell are all the people? it was almost 4 in the afternoon.. but it was dark already.. as the day is very short here up north in the winter. 

I got to my little dorm room, and tucked myself into my blanket.. and a strong feeling of lonliness hit me.. i decided to sleep.. and imagine am still back in my home in Amman. 

THe next day, i started figuring out everything.. i met my flat mates with whom i shared the kitchen and the laundry.. as well as explored the dorm building in which i found saunas , restaurant and even a small gym. It seemed warm and friendly.. but still alone..

Starting the semestar was probably the only thing that took me away from the loop i was stuck in. And i got my schedule and met my colleagues.. it all started to make sense.. 10 days later.. i explored the city.. found the basics of living around here.. learnt the esence of being a swedish person : work/study , have lunch.. go home.. sleep at 7 (since everything closes at 6 - literally everything). 

The rain.. the snow.. the grey scene.. was everywhere.. it was like the nature is mourning.. and those little precious hours in which the sun was visible.. where so short at first.. and i felt that people didn't know how to appreciate them. But slowly things got changed.. the Spring came.. around mid march.. and the awakening phenomena appeared in every single corner.. and even in people's laughter.. and mood. They started to talk.. and be more social.. and they started to explore other ways of living aside of the previously mentioned routine.

and once i started to enjoy the fast rythem of the fun city of Lund.. i realised it was time for me to go.. I have never imagined that nature have such an impact on people's behavior and habbits. It really is interesting to see that people up north.. literally sleep more in winter.. and stay awake more in the summer.. - i thought thats only for the polar bears :D 

But hey, lets give the swedish people a break, they are not that bad.. they are very caring people.. thoughtful.. pleasant to talk to, they have in general a good attitude towards Arabs.. and particularly Palestinians and they love our Queen Rania.. :) they speak about her always when i tell them i come from Jordan. Oh and when they get drunk on weekends they are fun people to party ! :))

Now that am leaving in few days to another journey in Europe.. I think i am gonna miss the inner peace i had while living here.. the nature.. those little muffins in the nearby coffeehouse... am gonna miss reading in the park.. i am gonna miss the spirit of Lund. 

p.s. my next post will be impressions of my next destination.. will keep it a secret for now :))