Mostar is one of the jewels of Bosnia.
There are trips that change your life. Even those of us, like journalists, who are so used to discovering new destinations. This was exactly what happened to Ruth Alejandre when in 2018 she launched into the adventure of traveling the Balkans alone. It was not the first time that this graduate in Audiovisual Communication faced one of those Life (and professional) experiences that stir you up inside: She had traveled the Camino de Santiago and Southeast Asia alone with a backpack and even shared experiences in India with the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta. But she told her something, as she began her of it crossing the Balkan Peninsula, that she should write a book about the region. "We owed him," explains the author. For the love of the Balkans is its title and it has just been published by Editorial Círculo Rojo.
Cover of the book 'For the love of the Balkans', by Ruth Alejandre.
"Much has been said about war and very little of their culture, traditions, way of understanding life or its gastronomy", argues Ruth, an expert in travel journalism who knows about the importance of slow philosophy "which directly connects with the fact of being able to delve into a destination and meet its people! How they are, how they live, how they think, what they eat, how they cook... The people of the places I visit have always been one of my greatest interests. It's what moves me and It pushes me to continue traveling and counting".
The way of traveling that has been sold to us in recent times –until the arrival of the pandemic– It hasn't helped much to get to know the locals, says Ruth, who has been dedicated to travel and gastronomic communication for a decade through Gastrogurú, in addition to being a university professor of communication, hotels and gastronomy. For this reason, although in For the love of the Balkans she narrates her experience in the first person, she uses fictional characters that serve as a common thread in the story. "All the places, references, historical events, restaurants and gastronomy in general, however, They're totally real." she points out.
Portrait of Ruth Alejandre.
Because yes, the cuisine is also part of the idiosyncrasy of the Balkans, as Ruth reminds us: "There is a considerable influence of Mediterranean cuisine. An essential is the burek. original is a savory pastry filled with minced meat and spices. Zeljanica is filled, however, with spinach and cheese. It is my favorite! Very typical is also the cevapi (grilled minced meat). It's usually pork, beef or lamb."
Coffee lovers will be delighted in Bosnia, where they prepare really good coffee. The journalist recommends us not compare it ("they will be very offended") with Turkish coffee, what does it look like In addition, "they will be in charge of showing you the differences between one and the other."
THE BOOK
"With a accessible, fresh and direct language, Topics such as solo travel or the current reality of the Balkans, walking through its streets, talking with its people and learning about its products and more traditional elaborations", summarizes the Red Circle editorial in the synopsis of the book For the love of the Balkans.
"It is not another story of war and peace, but a very personal vision of how we are able to overcome the horror and look to the future with optimism and enthusiasm. A very intimate journey to the heart of the human being", points out Ruth, whose journey started in croatia she continued to Bosnia and Herzegovina, from there to Montenegro, to then explore Albania and enjoy Kosovo immensely before experiencing North Macedonia very intensely, until conclude her trip in Serbia.
Skopje, Macedonia
"All the countries in the area have some points in common, and yet they are completely different in many other things. Croatia has become much more touristy; Kosovo brims with youth; Macedonia -Skopje fundamentally- surprises with its exuberant architecture and Albania is full of contrasts," analyzes the writer who traveled alone to the Balkans, something that apparently continues to cause controversy.
"It's still controversial. the fact that a woman travels alone through certain areas of the globe. There were not a few who threw their hands in their heads when I told them about the trip that she was about to undertake. And that was another of the reasons why she was clear that she had to make my experience in the Balkans known and dismantle ideas so far from reality that we have from places like Kosovo or Bosnia", concludes Ruth, not without first reminding us that the experience was highly enriching and totally recommendable.