The Travels of Päivi and Santeri

Eating in local restaurants in the Balkans can be a bore as there are only a couple of vegan options available: mixed salad, french fries and Italian pasta with aglio and olio. Even rice is often cooked in broth. However, there is fresh produce available almost throughout the year, from early spring to late fall. Strawberries, cherries, apricots, nectarines, peaches, apples, pears, and plums abound, and vegetables are tasty. Beans and lentils are also part of local diet as well as walnuts and hazelnuts.

What can one say about Sarajevo? It is charming yet brutalist; there are ruins of an old Ottoman caravanserais but also dilapidated Soviet style housing blocks; the streets feel safe, yet the memorials and remnants of war abound, everywhere.

Touring around Balkans and travelling in Albania, Bosnia Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia.