Under the shadows of pines and cypresses, between green and blue shades, you can see a massive, white memorial ossuary, dedicated to the fighters in a war for liberation. The park of heroes is dedicated to partisans in WWII.
Industrial, antifascist & working-class city on Croatian coast… that you don’t really hear about
What Detroit was to the USA and the car industry, Rijeka was to Yugoslavia and the shipbuilding industry. Rijeka has a rougher appearance. Parts of it look like an Austro-Hungarian crack house with palms and sea. It has a certain mess that usually comes with harbor cities. Unlike medieval and ancient streets of southern Adriatic, streets of Rijeka are more urban.
Matija Gubec: Croatia’s beloved historic rebel, tortured & murdered on Zagreb square
Meet Matija Gubec, Croatian Spartacus who led the Peasant revolution in the 16th century. Partisan army battalions in WW2 fought under his name, kids learn about him early in school, bands sing songs about him and his village still has a very special memory of him that I'll reveal to you at the end.
Guide through Plitvice lakes, Croatia – 15 facts about the garden in the land of wolves
What do wolves, Milka chocolate and president Tito have in common? They all found a place for themselves among crystal blue lakes and a hundred waterfalls of Croatian National Park - the Plitvice lakes. Here are 15 facts and guides through the most popular National park of Croatia
Croatia’s hidden gems: Rainforests & Yugoslav monuments – hiking through Peter’s mountain
Yugoslav monuments, socialist architecture, brutalist buildings, or Spomeniks (Serbo-Croatian word for the monument) have made a comeback. More and more people want to see these out-of-the-world, UFO-like pieces of art created by vanguard artists of their time. Hidden in nature, forgotten by the state and often devastated, these grandiose storytellers still resist the time with a defiant attitude.
Macabre walk: Zagreb’s forgotten mental asylum graveyard
If you ever find yourself in Zagreb, you'll probably get a recommendation to visit the famous Mirogoj cemetery. What you probably won't get is an offbeat tour through the forgotten asylum graveyard of a psychiatric hospital – although it's as easy as the walk in the park. Because it literally is.
From caveman to the World Cup finale: History of Croatia for beginners in 5 stages
Don't worry if you're having a hard time figuring out Croatian – or even worse: BALKAN – history. This war, that war, one Yugoslavia, two Yugoslavias (What? There was one more?)… Balkans rocky history is so messed up sometimes even we don't know what hit us, let alone someone coming from outside.
Postcard from Palestine #3: Children of the third path
Schools that we visited were the ”problematic ones” in critical zones where the Israeli army has control. That morning I went to a school on a border between the Palestinian and Israeli neighborhoods, which is why the streets around it were full of soldiers. Kids and teachers show their teeth from time to time, soldiers get even more pissed off, and the vicious circle never stops.
Sorry for the Kung-flu: Corona & racism
Today's smoldering anti-Asian sentiment is bred on distrust and disgust with so-called ''wet markets'' and unhygienic conditions that life in China and the Far East is usually associated with but covered up by the mystic authoritarian communist government. Even though scientists are trying to find the exact cause of the problem, these attempts are covered with blankets of media's created repulsion with Chinese ''culture'', supported by already mentioned videos and rumors.
Postcard from Palestine #2: The scent of cardamom coffee
The sound of morning adhan, a call for prayer from the local mosque, blended so graciously with the first rays of the sun that illuminated the room through the dark curtain cracks and a window cage. It was only 5 am and my Palestinian family was already awake, preparing to leave the house. The scent of cigarette and cardamom coffee from the kitchen gently overwhelmed the room. ''Yalla, Lidija, we go?''
Postcard from Palestine #1 : To the south, to Hebron
Hebron (Arabic: al-Khalil), a Palestinian city on the West Bank south. City of concrete, rocks and poor land. Palestinians from other cities think of it as gloomy and are often surprised to hear a foreigner went there. ''Why would anyone do that?''. Its residents (Khalilis) are of few words and even the sweetest ones are wrapped up in a rough peasant accent. You won't find it in cities like Bethlehem or Jerusalem. Khalili mentality is the same, difficult, at least at first sight.
Between the Orient and the reality: Grand Bazaar
Memoirs tell about mosques, public wells, hamams, schools and thousands of little shops, workshops and wooden cabinets behind fortifications of Bazaar. It opened up every morning with the sound of azan and shopping was something you did by casually negotiating over a cup of Turkish coffee or tea. This, however, changed once Western ideas came to the East, along with wide avenues, modern infrastructure and new facilities in the city. The bazaar look has changed forever.
Beirut, caramel and women
Caramel was directed by Nadine Labaki from Lebanon. She dedicated the movie to women and their everyday life in Beirut. The plot is presented through the lives and dreams of employees and customers of a local beauty salon. A movie about women, female friendship and warmth of human relationships below the chaos and clashes.
Gypsy in Istanbul
Yesterday's historical and archeological features became a nuisance. Neighborly communities have been replaced by window cages, shopping centers and metal detectors. Places that used to be public became private and commercial spots. The spectacular illusion hides the community divided between ‘us’ and ‘them’. No-go zones of the poor were suppressed by the no-go zones of the rich. All in the name of ”modern age”. And Roma, where are they today?
Yellow vests and red bikinis: the hypocrisy of the Left when it comes to Pamela
As long as activism is a field to play for celebrities like Bono Vox, who are not fighting against capitalism, but its ''side effects'', and as long as they fit within the frames of anxious provincial taste (nice gestures, stylish clothes, civilized manners), the media will gladly accept and Emma Watson, Beyonce, Cynthia Nixon, Jane Fonda, Meryl Streep, Eva Longoria, Alicia Keys… But, the same rules are not applied to Pamela, whose political views are immediately discredited by downplaying her persona as ''a bimbo''. The Left - that is, like always, never satisfied with anything – welcomed her with mocking nicknames (''comrade Pamela''). Apparently you can not take Pamela seriously since she is a starlet.