Preparations

We have a week to go. 

No packing as yet, although lots of items on the 'to do' list: both to be done and to be packed.

Weather forecast not great at this stage: some rain (including thunderstorms) and cooler than I had expected. Hmm. Add hot water bottle to that list!

Reading: 

I am struggling with The Bridge on the Drina - an historical novel by the Yugoslav writer Ivo Andrić.

On the back cover: "A great stone bridge built three centuries ago in the heart of the Balkans by a Grand Vezir of the Ottoman Empire dominates the setting of Ivo Andric's novel. A vivid depiction of the suffering history has imposed upon the people of Bosnia from the late 16th century to the beginning of World War I, 'The Bridge on the Drina' earned Andric the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1961." 

It is said that the ancient bridge (in the small Bosnian town of Višegrad) is a metaphor for Bosnia's suffering, its fragility and the country's role as a link between the East and the West.

Hmm...

A book I HAVE enjoyed is Spies of the Balkans by Alan Furst - a great read! An historical espionage novel, it is set in Greece in 1940 when German troops occupied Athens and Hitler is planning to invade the Balkans.

Another book of some interest is Tiago-Stanković’s Estoril (a town in Portugal near Lisbon - we briefly visited Estoril last year). I failed initially to understand the Balkan connection. However, the Palácio Hotel in this story (made famous in the James Bond book by Ian Fleming: Casino Royale) is the setting for the comings and goings during the war of an assortment of characters including refugees from the former Yugoslavia, double-agents, displaced Jews and dispossessed royalty seeking safety. A bit heavy-going at times but the story depicts the contradiction of Estoril in so-called neutral Portugal as both a luxurious safe-haven for refugees and a spy-hub against the tumultuous and brutal backdrop of the war raging elsewhere.