Alexia Adams's Blog, page 4

Wow, November kind of snuck up on me. Please accept my apologies for the lateness of this blog post. As we’ve been loitering around south-eastern Europe for a few months now, we might as well head a little further north to Bulgaria. Guess what, one of my daughters is named after its capital, Sofia.

Aside from an elegantly named capital, let’s see what else is interesting about this Black Sea-bordering country. I bet you haven’t heard many people say, “I’m off to Bulgaria on holiday.” Or, “Pic...

We’ll slip down south from Macedonia and into Greece for today’s post. I’ve been to Greece. Twice technically although once was only to change plans. I was taking my mother to Egypt, we landed at Athens airport, she looked around and said, “It looks just like Kamloops.” Great, I take my mother on an epic around-the-world adventure, to the cradle of civilization, and she compares it to a pokey town four hours from where she grew up in British Columbia, Canada.

The first time I went to Greece,...

North of Greece and east of Albania is the small land-locked country of Macedonia, another former part of Yugoslavia. I know next to nothing about this country so let’s discover it together. At first I thought Macedonia was the original homeland of Alexander the Great but upon further research discovered that he was from an area of Greece with the same name. In fact, Greece has strongly objected to Macedonia taking that name and has blocked the newly formed country’s entry into several global...

Today’s destination is just to the east of where we left off in Bosnia-Hercegovina, the newly-minted country of Serbia. The Republic of Serbia officially became an independent country in 2006 when it split from Montenegro. Of course the region’s history goes back much farther. Seventeen Roman emperors were born in the area today occupied by Serbia and many built palaces or left monuments to commemorate their place of birth. Given its geographical location, Serbian history is a mix of cultures...

Yup, you guessed it, we are sticking with the Balkan countries and visiting Bosnia-Hercegovina today. I moved to Europe right when the Bosnian war started, so my initial thoughts on this country are tarnished by the brutality and war crimes that occurred during this horrific episode of the country’s history. For today, though, we are going to set that aside and concentrate on what there is to do and see in this all but for 20km land-locked country.

The capital, Sarajevo, is sometimes called...

We’re sticking with the Balkans and venturing a little farther north into Slovenia. Bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the north east and Croatia to the south, Slovenia has a tiny bit of coastline on the Adriatic Sea. It is a mostly mountainous country. The capital is Ljubljana which for some reason makes me smile. Maybe because it sounds like you need to be underwater to pronounce it correctly. With only 2 million people and half of the country covered in forest,...

We will continue to explore the Adriatic coast by venturing into Croatia. This country must have been on my mind because while I was writing a short scene for an upcoming promotion, my hero whispered in my ear that he was Croatian. So for today, I’m going to give you an insight into the type of things I research when I write. Bear in mind that until I actually delve into the book, there are other questions that will come up. For instance, I already know that I’m going to have a boat scene and...

In keeping with my last post on Albania, we’re going to continue to explore this corner of Europe and it’s oft-forgotten countries. Today let’s visit Montenegro on the Adriatic Sea. To the south of this country is Albania, to the north Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo and Serbia are to the east. There is also a sliver of Croatia along the north west corner. Montenegro means black mountain and many other countries have translated this name literally into their language so it’s called Crna Go...

I know very little about this European country, and I imagine most people are in the same position. However, as I watched their football (soccer) team play during Euro2016, I thought I’d investigate a little. I had done some surface research when I wrote The Greek’s Stowaway Bride as it makes reference to the country several times.

Located across the Adriatic Sea from Italy, Albania’s southern border is with Greece, it’s eastern border shared with Kosovo and Macedonia and to the north is Mont...

I spent two weeks in Moscow, many, many, years ago. It was when I went to summer school in St. Petersburg, in my relatively unsuccessful attempt to learn Russian. The Moscow excursion was part of the package. I really enjoyed my visit and I only scratched the surface of this amazing city.

The first stop on most Moscow itineraries includes Red Square and the impressive buildings in its vicinity: the Kremlin, Saint Basil’s Cathedral, (which looks large in photos but really isn’t that big) and t...