Shasti Walsh

Weird and Wonderful Albania

I spent a month in Albania this spring (May 2018), and I loved it. Because it was almost completely isolated under an extremely repressive communist regime from the 1950s through the early 1990s, it looks and feels like a slightly alternate universe. Those who are up on their Albanian history, skip ahead; I knew nothingContinue reading “Weird and Wonderful Albania”

New Favorite Mountain Fortress

03 May, 2018: On my third day in Bar, Montenegro, I took a local bus to Stari Bar, which is the old town in the mountains about a half hour from the port town of [new] Bar. It has a large and well-preserved ruined fortress:

Pickling My Way Around the World

I made several plans before I started this adventure, to give myself ways to stay grounded and feel at home regardless of place. One of those plans involves pickles, and the strangest item in my luggage: a glass pickle weight (thanks, mom!). I decided that every time I stayed in one place for long enough,Continue reading “Pickling My Way Around the World”

Black Mountain

01 May, 2018: I spent a week in Montenegro (or Crna Gora, in Montenegrin), in Bar on the Adriatic coast. Bar is a port city (the main port of the country) and border crossing (by ferry) first and a tourist destination second; it’s really only a tourist spot because the spectacular Belgrade-Bar railway ends there (moreContinue reading “Black Mountain”

Wide Awake on a Sleeper Train

I took my first sleeper train! It was fantastic. I decided to start on a high note, with one of the most spectacular train lines (according to the internet) in Europe: the Belgrade-Bar line. I did a bunch of reading first, of course, and in the process I learned that sleeper trains (at least inContinue reading “Wide Awake on a Sleeper Train”

Grocery update

Since I’m doing my best to be a proper local in each new place I live, however short-term, I’ve been exploring the local shops to find my groceries. As usual, grocery shopping is simultaneously the most stressful aspect of living in a different country, and one of the most engaging. It’s difficult not knowing whereContinue reading “Grocery update”

Public Transit

You can learn a lot about a place from the public transit. You can tell what the city/state prioritizes, what areas have better funding, and how important tourism is vs how many locals rely on public transit. Areas with a lot of tourism and an emphasis on that will have signs in multiple languages, orContinue reading “Public Transit”

Belgrade

07 April, 2018: On the train from Budapest to Belgrade, I sat in a cabin with a retired Serbian couple. We eventually started chatting, and I was impressed with their pride in their city. “You will love Belgrade” they said. “It is the best city in Europe.” They told me all about the food, andContinue reading “Belgrade”