If you’re looking for idyllic, try Slovenia. It’s one of those places that is so rightfully self-confident and pulled together, it’s almost other-worldly. Once a part of Yugoslavia, Slovenia declared its independence in 1991, following the death of Yugoslavia’s long-time benevolent dictator, Tito. Since then, Slovenia’s capital, Ljubljana, has changed a lot. It’s a wildly popular tourist destination and I understand why.
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For the past week, I’ve been in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. The city has great museums, a million trees, parks, walkable neighborhoods, and gorgeous old churches. This part of the Balkan Peninsula also has an almost unimaginably complicated political history. Until 2003, Serbia was Yugoslavia, which is now six independent states — Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro. Depending on your politics, Kosovo is either an independent nation, or part of Serbia (most of the world says it’s part of Serbia). This is not the most complicated part of the history of this part of the Balkans.
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Camino Milagro 