Tourism and travelling

North Macedonia, an endless hiking trail

31/12/2023 -  Aleksandar Samardjiev Tetovo

Crossing North Macedonia in an endless circle, savoring the beauty of its pristine mountains: this is the goal of a group of mountain enthusiasts who are implementing the "Sammiana" project

Romania, travelling to tell stories

10/01/2024 -  Oana Dumbrava

A journalist and a photographer from Romania have been living in a van for ten years to be able to write their investigations on how life is in Romania and how expatriate Romanians live. They are Elena Stancu and Cosmin Bumbut: we met them

Marco Polo, homo adriaticus in spite of everything

28/08/2023 -  Giovanni Vale Korčula

Where was Marco Polo born? What is his native country? A question that made little sense in the 13th century – everything was under the control of the Republic of Venice – is nowadays a source of debates, especially between Croatia and Italy. A new project tries to overcome them

The Žitna lađa, traditions along the Kupa

31/08/2023 -  Giovanni Vale

Through entrepreneurial initiative, Ana and Jasmina have managed to bring back to life a story – that of river navigation – which involves different territories. The last episode of our report dedicated to the Kupa

Italy-Slovenia: the joyful construction of GO!2025

28/06/2023 -  Paola Rosà

In less than two years, Gorizia and Nova Gorica will be together the European Capital of Culture. We met Gorazd Božič, director of GO!2025

Cres: Irena, Guerino, and San Martino medicinal herbs

28/06/2023 -  Davide Sighele

In San Martino in Valle, on the island of Cres, the distillation of medicinal herbs boasts a centuries-old tradition. Today, it is kept alive by Irena and her husband Guerino

Cycling between environment and memory: the new Isonzo-Soča cross-border park

31/05/2023 -  Paola Rosà

The warm season will be an opportunity to test the new infrastructures and strategies of an EU-funded project in the municipalities of Gorizia, Nova Gorica, and Šempeter-Vrtojba, a border area that conceives itself as a single, homogeneous territory along the river Soča

Baška, tourism, its limits

25/05/2023 -  Nicole CorritoreDavide Sighele Krk

As in other areas of the Croatian coast, also in Baška, a municipality on the southern tip of the island of Krk, the local administration is facing depopulation in the winter months and saturation in the summer ones. We talked about it with its mayor, Toni Juranić

Transylvania: memories of pickled gherkins

17/02/2023 -  Sielke Kelner

For families who emigrated from Eastern Europe, affection and memory are also handed down through culinary inheritances. Distant and recent memories of a Transylvanian grandmother intertwine remembering Erzsebet's passion for coffee and her lost pickled gherkins recipe

Plitvice: the care of a park

15/12/2022 -  Nicole Corritore Plitvice

A UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979, the Plitvice Lakes Park located in Croatia on the border with Bosnia Herzegovina, with its 300 sq km of surface area, is an exceptional European natural area. The biodiversity of its habitats and its overall ecosystem need constant protection interventions. A reportage

Rivers of the Balkans: the Kupa

07/12/2022 -  Giovanni Vale

We dedicate the second chapter of our report on the rivers of the Balkans to the Kupa. The journey will lead us to talk about natural parks and migrations, borders and declining industry, barbed wire and sustainable tourism

Adriaticaves, protecting the caves between Italy and the Balkans

14/10/2022 -  Marco Ranocchiari

The Adriaticaves project, part of the Interreg Adrion cooperation programme, aims to promote sustainable management of the immense speleological heritage scattered on both shores of the Adriatic, with particular attention to tourism with low environmental impact and disadvantaged territories

Astypalea, the first ‘smart & sustainable island’ in the Mediterranean

13/09/2022 -  Mary Drosopoulos

On a remote island of the Aegean, thanks to a public-private collaboration and European funds, an innovative sustainable mobility system is being developed

Durmitor Park, Colorado of Europe

Durmitor National Park is located in the northwestern part of Montenegro, bordering Bosnia and Herzegovina. Opened in 1952, it includes the massif of the same name. In 1977 the area and the long gorge of the Tara river, which winds through the park, were designated as a UNESCO biological reserve, while in 1980 the park was included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites.

Montana174: stories of mountains and cooperation

31/05/2022 -  Pietro Casa

The Montana174 project shared a series of video testimonials on how the support of the European Union through cohesion policies has made a difference for many who live in the mountains

Cycling in the Amazon of Europe

24/05/2022 -  Marco Ranocchiari

The Amazon of Europe bike trail makes it possible to cycle over 1000 km along a cycle path that winds between rivers and forests, from Austria to Serbia

Italy-Slovenia: the ecological link

01/03/2022 -  Serena Epis

Between Italy and Slovenia there are two natural parks that have been in dialogue for years. We interviewed Antonio Andrich, director of the Julian Pre-Alps Natural Park

Tourism in Croatia: the contribution of European cohesion policies

18/01/2022 -  Klaudijo Klaser

Between 2014 and 2020, a significant portion of the funds granted by the EU cohesion policy in Croatia went on training, with numerous projects focused on the tourism sector

The other Dubrovnik

22/12/2021 -  Giovanni Vale Dubrovnik

There is a district located just outside the historical centre of Dubrovnik which offers a valid alternative to big luxury city hotels. It is the industrial area of Gruz, with its old Carbon Graphite Products Factory (TUP), which young local creatives have transformed into a vibrant space thanks to EU funds

More trains, fewer emissions

27/10/2021 -  Lorenzo FerrariGianluca De Feo

Currently, trains offer a reasonable alternative to around half of the most popular short-haul flights in Europe. Additional improvements and incentives could bring further reductions in CO2 emissions from transport.

“Ada Ciganlija”, Belgrade's seaside

10/09/2021 -  Nicola Dotto Belgrade

A few kilometres from the centre, "Ada Ciganlija" is now Belgrade's favourite escape from the chaos of the city, a green oasis where you can play sports, relax, and swim in the summer; however, few know of its turbulent past

From Sicily to Greece, a dream on pedals

09/08/2021 -  Maria Francesca Rita

The EUSAIR macro-regional strategy has approved a project for the construction of a bike route that will cross all the countries bordering the Adriatic-Ionian basin. It will be called Adrioncycletour and will integrate the bike paths of nine European countries into a single network

Autumn in Toledo

11/02/2021 -  Božidar Stanišić

A trip to Toledo, Spain, on the trail of the Sephardic Jews who were expelled from the Iberian Peninsula in the 15th century and arrived in Bosnia and Herzegovina. A chance for a reflection on memory, the Holocaust, the tragedies of history

Mostar's divers

07/01/2021 -  Veronica Tosetti

Starting from those moments of precipitous flight towards the Neretva, the first long feature directed by Daniele Babbo shows both the love for a city and how hard it is to live in it. An interview

Venice and the Dalmatian islands

22/10/2020 -  Giovanni Vale Zagreb

In a preview for readers of OBC Transeuropa, some pages of a guide dedicated to the Republic of Venice, which will be published at the end of the year – the first volume of the series "Extinguished Countries"

Armenia: stranded in Thailand

27/08/2020 -  Armine Avetisyan

Pregnant, she was stuck with her partner for months in Thailand due to coronavirus. But she did not give up, and to raise the money for this forced stay she launched an online vegan restaurant. The story of Varda and her entrepreneurial initiative

Albania: the ranger of the natural park

13/08/2020 -  Christian Elia

"This is my place, there is no other place I could be". Shahin, like his father and his grandfather before him, takes care of the woods. We met him in Borockë, southern Albania

“Abchazja” and other untranslated bits of Wojciech Górecki's Caucasus trilogy

26/06/2020 -  Giorgio Comai

Górecki spent a lavish amount of time in the Caucasus, meeting people across the region and hearing their stories. His Caucasus trilogy makes for excellent reading. Yet, not all of it is accessible to the international readership it deserves

The village submerged by the Neretva

04/06/2020 -  Marco Ranocchiari

Lisičići, halfway between Mostar and Sarajevo, was submerged by an artificial lake in the 1950s. After nearly 70 years, the inhabitants still await justice. Meanwhile, the village has been reborn, and the lake has become its best ally

More and more school trips to the Balkans

15/04/2020 -  Marco Abram

Are the histories of the former Yugoslavia and Albania finally entering Europe’s space of memory? A constantly increasing number of Italian school trips to the region gives us reason to hope so