By Chris Deliso for Travel Intelligence (2006) Unless you take the other one, in the dead of night, the train arrives in late afternoon and by that time you just want to sit down and sleep against the window. But usually the press of people, all pushing and clamoring to board (grandmothers with glass jars […]

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By Chris Deliso Moment Magazine (2006) Once a year, in March, Moritz Romano returns to his hometown of Bitola in southern Macedonia. There he walks up the Sirok Sokak, the old Turkish name for the grand pedestrian avenue lined with open-air cafés and neoclassical edifices. At 84, his hearing is weak and his gait slow, […]

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By Chris Deliso May 26, 2009 (Balkanalysis.com) High on a windswept ridge in Macedonia’s barren northeastern expanse, some 17 kilometers down a rough dirt track heading towards Kratovo, it stands as a cryptic reminder of the country’s still largely undocumented past: the rocky remains of what was once an important outpost in the Early Byzantine […]

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By Chris Deliso for Travel Intelligence (2004) “You guys are sitting on a gold mine here,” rasped the jovial American, clad in a Dallas Cowboys football shirt and marked by his unmistakable New England accent. “This country is incredible.” A bit past middle age and just returned from the Athens Olympics, the New Hampshire man […]

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By Chris Deliso May 26, 2006 (Balkanalysis.com) On Easter, the apple trees were blossoming in Staro Nagoricane, along the lower part of the village near the river, birds singing in the treetops and crickets buzzing in the fields. The little river marks the southern border of the village, separating it from Trnovac and surrounded by […]

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By Chris Deliso, Lonely Planet Travel Writer Denver Post (Dec. 10, 2006) Despite its partially Mediterranean climate, Macedonia in winter can be snowy and cold. No surprise then that the country’s hospitable inhabitants keep warm with copious amounts of food and grog, along with carnivals marked by costumed tomfoolery. Luckily, those traveling through southeastern Europe […]

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