New Europe (2007) s01e01 Episode Script

Throughout most of my lifetime,
an Iron Curtain has divided
Eastern Europe from the West,
preventing me
from really getting to know it!
I've flown over it,
I've peered at bits of it,
but I've never really
travelled through it!
Now the Iron Curtain has lifted,
I'm going to make up for lost time
and explore the other half
of my continent, Europe!
Here In the Slovenlan Alps,
I'm turnlng my back on Western Europe
and headlng east to a world
whlch Is changlng at a remarkable speed.
Slnce the collapse of the Sovlet Emplre,
the number of countrles
In Eastern Europe has doubled.
Ten have already become
members of the European Unlon
and even countrles llke Turkey
are keen to joln them.
What lles ahead Is, for me,
a voyage of dlscovery,
an exploratlon of the people,
the places, the mood and the splrlt
that Is transformlng old lands
Into a new Europe.
As we meander through
the tranqull countryslde of Slovenla,
It's hard to belleve
that thls was the country
whose walk-out from
the Communlst conference In 1 990
began the break-up of Yugoslavla,
one of the cornerstones
of post-war Europe,
and put slx new European countrles
on the map.
I'll be travelllng through them,
to Croatla, Bosnla and Serbla,
and beyond them,
to the mysterlous land of Albanla.
My flrst port of call Is
Slovenla's southern nelghbour, Croatla,
whose beautlful coastllne stretches
languorously along the Adrlatlc.
Llke many of the countrles
of New Europe,
Croatla has a very old hlstory.
Here In the port of Spllt, off a square
bullt at the tlme of Napoleon,
Goran Golovko teaches chlldren
about the clty's most famous son,
the Roman Emperor Dlocletlan.
(SPEAKING CR0ATIAN)
Goran's way of brlnglng hlstory to llfe
Is to portray the Romans
as just one of the many peoples
who have occupled Croatla
over the years,
very much llke present-day tour groups
that flock here every summer.
And I can see girls
wearing tanga! Beautiful!
Of all the ex-Yugoslav countrles,
Croatla Is the one
that seems most comfortable
wlth Internatlonal attentlon.
(SPEAKING FRENCH)
You could say the Idea
of East and West Europe began here.
It was Dlocletlan
who took the momentous declslon
to dlvlde the Roman Emplre In two.
He ruled the East
from a mlghty palace here In Spllt,
whlch Is stlll Inhablted.
G0L0VK0: The palace is still alive!
People still live within it!
And we can see architectural changes
from medieval time onwards!
PALIN: Has there been any attempt
by municipal authorities
to get rid of all the parasitic
buildings on this beautiful thing?
Because many people would think that was
a bit of architectural desecration!
G0L0VK0: Well, not any more! This is
also part of traditional culture!
This is how Split was developed!
- That washing looks very old indeed!
- Yes, it's Roman, actually!
They didn't advertise it, but!!!
- It's still not dry!
- Yeah, but it's still there!
So now we are at Peristil,
which is the main square of the palace,
where the emperor
was appearing to his subjects!
And we see these great colonnades
of Corinthian style!
- Pillars!
- And this extraordinary feeling!
You've got modern buildings
with aluminium windows!
- Yes, this is my bank over there!
- That's your bank?
Indeed! Where I shake
in front of my bank manager!
0kay!
I don't think I've been
anywhere quite like this,
where you get the feeling
of an empire which has just crumbled
and been absorbed again
by somebody else, been adapted!
It's remarkable!
I spy a plece
of more recent Croatlan hlstory,
the name of the local football club.
- Famous name for us football lovers!
- Yes!
- 0ne of Split's symbols!
- Yeah!
If you're born into being a Hajduk fan,
then you're a Hajduk fan
for the rest of your life!
The word Hajduk means a bandlt,
but In the good sense
of bandlt as patrlot,
flghtlng for hls country
agalnst Venetlans and Ottoman Turks.
Goran takes me to meet Zdravko,
a modern Croatlan patrlot,
who also happens to run
one of the best restaurants In town.
PALIN: Hello! Yes, that's very good!
Are you happy the way it's happening
now with the tourists here?
0f course, absolutely! You see, I always
say to everybody I'm very, very happy!
0f course, I'm very critical!
But imagine, living,
the fall of Communism,
the creation of the free Croatia,
a modern Croatian state,
for the first time in modern history,
winning the war,
and sitting here at the age of 60!
You know, the creation
of the state alive and erect!
It's a fantastic feeling!
0f course, it's very emotional!
- Yeah!
- And, the other side,
I am, of course, critical! Why not?
Because, at the very beginning,
I was very, very mad
because my Croatia
was like a baby in a cradle!
Now you can kick it in the!!! You know!
0h, right!
Now you can take it apart a bit!
In the '90s, I wouldn't do that!
Now, I'm very critical!
It sounds as though you were
a bit unhappy in the Communist time!
Well, you know, Communism!!!
I didn't like Communism
because it was very limiting for work!
You know what I mean?
You see, people felt much more secure
in ex-Yugoslavia
because you'd get a job
and you'd keep it for life!
- You know what I mean?
- Yeah!
You get what you get, but!!!
We didn't have so many possibilities
to work, like this one!
- Like I'm working now, you see!
- Yeah!
What sort of things define Croatia now,
- Its role in the world, if you like?
- It is!!! Yes!
When we look here now, the first time in
history that we have our modern state!
- Yeah!
- You see!!!
For example, in ex-Yugoslavia,
I could not express my patriotism,
I would say, as freely as I do now!
It had to fit into Yugoslavia, you know?
But now you say, "I am Croatian!"
It's a fantastic feeling
when you can say it openly,
without any fear,
without any consequences!
That's the point!
These days self-expresslon breaks out
Just about anywhere In Spllt,
Improvlsed, energetlc and, after a
few beers, embarrasslngly Irreslstlble.
Can't walt to get home
and tell the wlfe about thls.
(CR0WD CHEERING)
One of the most seductlve attractlons
of Croatla are her Islands.
I take the ferry to Hvar,
whlch comes hlghly recommended.
- What can we expect to see there?
- It's a paradise!
A paradise? 0h, we're not allowed
to go to paradises!
- You are!
- Yeah?
- You are!
- In what way?
Just the look of the place?
What is there to do there?
The sands, the flowers
of the island, the colours!
- You should love it!
- Yeah!
I'm sure you will love it!
Everyone does!
Hvar beckons you
before you even reach It
wlth the heady scent
of lavender, oregano
and the broom
that seems to cover the Island.
Attractlve as thls mlght be
to the tourlsts,
It hasn't done much for the locals,
who have, over the years,
left In droves to flnd work abroad.
One man who says he'll never leave
Is Igor Zlvanovlc.
Raconteur, bon vlveur
and all-round character,
Igor has hls own bar and restaurant
In a back street of Starl Grad.
This is the family house,
because my family has stayed 500 years!
And then I'm here!
- Steeped in history, this!
- Yes, history!
Do you know about all that slow food
that they write about in Italy?
- Sometimes!!!
- Some of them try to do the slow food!
Sometimes when
we have friends in the bar
and we are drinking wine, we are talking
about the wine, about!!! I don't know!
About my grandmother,
about your grandmother,
about the time when you were 1 6 or 1 7!
And the stupid tourist,
but really stupid, not a friend,
he wants to eat something!
I say, "You have 20 kuna!
You can go get fast food!
- "I have no time!"
- I see!
So if you want a quick meal,
don't come in here!
- You are the Basil Fawlty of slow food!
- I enjoy to cook, to make the joke!
- What can I do for you now?
- You can bring me a glass of wine!
White wine
from the island of Hvar, please!
- 0kay, okay!
- There on the bar!
My glass is on the left,
yours is on the right!
May take a few hours,
but I'll do my best!
Yeah!
(READING LABEL)
- Igor, is this all right?
- And where is your glass?
Well, I've got the bottle and the glass!
You're the most important person
at the moment!
I'm taking it slowly today!
According to your philosophy,
there's no need to hurry! There you are!
- 0ne for you, one for me!
- Is this the right one?
- 0kay, I'll go and get one for me!
- This is the one from the island here!
- 0h, right!
- It's a table wine!
- 0n Hvar! Lovely!
- Yes!
The meal, peppery lamb stew and fresh
grllled sardlnes, Is dellclous
and I flnd myself
helplessly drawn Into Igor's world,
whlch Includes oplnlons on everythlng
from Marshal Tlto to McDonald's.
- My rules!
- I think if you're going to travel,
you should obey and accept the terms!
If they make here a McDonald's,
I will hang!
You'd hang?
- We need a little!!!
- The first McDonald's martyr!
- The clocks all over!!!
- They're all at 3:04!
- Look, up there are some more!
- They're all at 3:04!
- 3:04!
- Why 3:04?
This is the story, my dear!
At that time, it's my ex-president,
Josip Broz Tito, is dying!
- Ah, Tito died at 3:04?
- Tito! 3:04!
Maybe not, but so it was on TV!
They said, "Now he's dying!" Super!
- Then I put all the clocks on 3:04!
- Yeah!
- And he was the biggest hedonist!!!
- Yeah!
!!! In the history
of modern civilisation!
He was wonderful!
After our lunch, Igor takes me
out of the town to see the farms
deserted by those who couldn't
make these stony flelds pay.
ZIVAN0VIC:
They are from the 1 6th century!
Sixteenth, seventeenth century!
This is from the seventeenth century!
- What, this little!!!
- Yes, this one!
- Because in the middle!!!
- Ah, yes!
You know, this triangle! How do you say?
- Headstone?
- Headstone! Bravo, bravo, bravo!
You know everything
about our architecture!
Yeah, I've cracked it! At last!
- Yeah!
- Something I know about!
Would you be happy to stay here,
in this paradise,
for the rest of your life?
What have you said?
You have said, "Paradise!"
- Yeah!
- Then the question is stupid, I'm sorry!
Because, if this is paradise,
then you mustn't make the question!
- You've come to the end of your life!
- Normally!
- Well, somebody called it paradise!
- You have said paradise!
- A girl I met on the boat said paradise!
- This is not my word!
You are for a short time here
and I'm sure that you will come back!
I feel I've just got out In tlme.
There was somethlng
dangerously temptlng about Hvar
that made me want to stop the journey
rlght there.
But the local flshermen make sure
my rlde across the water to Bosnla
Is as palnless as posslble.
Fantastic!
Little anchovies! 0h, yeah! 0kay!
0oh, lovely!
I'm having a half-pint of white wine,
freshly-caught anchovies
and oil made by the captain!
I mean, this is the way
to get around the world!
I'm afraid someone has to do it!
(T0ASTING)
It's a short-llved celebratlon.
Beyond the mountalns
lles Bosnla-Herzegovlna,
where thlngs are a lot more compllcated.
What I least expected to flnd
In a country
whlch probably suffered more
from the break-up of Yugoslavla
than any other,
was a qulet llne of pllgrlms
from all over the world
wendlng thelr way up a mountalnslde
to a place where, 26 years ago,
a group of local teenagers met
and spoke wlth the Vlrgln Mary.
What those chlldren saw has
transformed the vlllage of Medjugorje
Into a boomtown whlch has
already attracted 25 mllllon vlsltors.
Desplte the fact that the Pope
has refused to endorse the vlslons,
or apparltlons, as they call them here,
Medjugorje Is now the thlrd
most popular Cathollc slte In Europe.
Mlrjana Draglcevlc Is one of
the chlldren who saw the Vlrgln
and stlll does.
She's In her 40s now,
marrled to a bullder
and llvlng, to all Intents
and purposes, a qulet suburban llfe.
She told me what happened
on the mountaln when she was 1 5.
The first day, we just ran away!
We didn't go close to the!!!
- Were you frightened?
- Yes!
Yes, because I didn't know
what was happening to me!
Nobody explained to me
that this can happen,
because our religious life in Communism
was being in the home!
Having had this experience,
was there a change in you?
Did you feel different somehow?
I understand that happening to me
is something beautiful,
because to be with blessed Mary,
I think, is like being in heaven!
Because, to give you one example,
I am the mother of two daughters,
and, like all normal mothers,
I would give my life for them!
But when I am with blessed Mary,
even my children don't exist!
It's only, inside of myself, the wish
that she bring me with her!
And you can imagine how big the pain is
when she is leaving
and I see that I am here on the Earth!
And I always need to pray,
one hour, two hours, in my room,
to be able to understand
that like this it must be,
that this is what God wants!
- Do you still see the blessed Mary?
- Yeah!
She tells me every 1 8th of March,
in all my life,
that I will have this apparition
every 1 8th of March!
But she also said
that I will have the apparition
every second day of each month!
But she didn't say how long!
And every second of each month
is most like a prayer
for those who don't feel
the love of God yet,
what we are saying unbelievers!
But blessed Mary
never says "unbelievers"!
Does she call you by your name,
by your Christian name?
She always says,
"My dear children!" Always!
Is it a burden to have the weight
of these apparitions upon you?
Is it a burden to be the person
who's seen the blessed Virgin Mary?
If you see one time
the face of blessed Mary,
you cannot say
that it's difficult for you,
because when you see the love, the pain,
everything on the face of her,
for all her children,
how can I say
that, for me, it's difficult?
When I see
what she's doing for all of us,
when I say "us",
I'm thinking of all the world,
how can I say
that what I'm doing is difficult for me?
I cannot say, because she is
the one who is leading everything!
Mlrjana and her frlends
have made Medjugorje
Into a focal polnt for Cathollcs.
My next stop, Mostar,
has, because of recent events,
become equally lmportant to the Musllms.
(CR0WD CHEERING)
In November, 1 993, in one of
the most callous acts of the war,
this bridge behind me,
which has stood for over 400 years
and has now been immaculately restored,
was destroyed by Bosnian-Croat guns
within seconds!
There was no reason
for the destructlon of the brldge.
It was a slngle, vlndlctlve act,
one of many whlch, followlng
the dlslntegratlon of Yugoslavla,
brought terrlble sufferlng to a land
where Musllms and Chrlstlans
once llved In peace.
- So this is the peak? Wow!
- The peak!
- That's frightening!
- The highest peak in Mostar!
I feel my stomach is down there already!
Yeah, this adrenalin!!! 0h, my God!
- Wow!
- Unbelievable!
The rebulldlng of the brldge
has enabled members
of the select Mostarl Dlvers' Club
to resume the perllous tradltlon
of hurllng themselves 70 feet
Into just 1 5 feet of water.
And the idea is that you've got to jump
well clear of the bridge, haven't you?
- Yes! You have to be away!
- You've gotta really throw yourself out!
You have to throw yourself out
from the bridge!
The destructlon of the brldge became
a symbol of the pltlless brutallty
of the Balkan Wars of the 1 990s.
My frlend Kamel and hls famlly
llved through those tlmes.
What was it like
when this bridge was destroyed
and what was
the immediate psychological effect?
Was everybody distraught?
For real Mostarians,
it was like they lost their child!
- Yeah!
- Because they have been born in Mostar,
they have been raised in Mostar,
they lived, they breathed,
their first love!
Yeah!
Everything that Mostar represented,
represented the bridge,
so they felt like they lost their child
or they lost their father or mother!
That's how people who really loved
this city and this bridge felt about it!
But It was only one act
In a bltter struggle.
As races and rellglons
Jostled for power,
thls clty of tolerance and tradltlon
was torn apart.
Looking out there now, Kamel,
everything looks!!!
The wooded banks and the little terraces
with their tables out!
Do you find it hard to remember that,
only a dozen years ago,
there was such bloodshed around here,
there was a war on?
I think that's a really nice question
and quite a bit hard for me,
but, yes, it's beautiful!
It's an amazing nature,
amazing structures, amazing houses
and people, of course, in the end!
But going back 1 2 years,
or going back to 1 993,
when I was a 1 4-year-old teenager,
it looked really unrealistic to me!
I would be, let's say,
sitting today here
having a chat, discussion with you!!!
Because, at that time, I was more like,
"0kay, how to survive?
"Where to escape in case of bombing?"
And so on!
I was afraid!
Afraid for my future!
Afraid because we could not see an end
to this bloodshed that we had here!
Before I left Mostar, I went wlth Kamel
to one of the Musllm cemeterles,
where all the graves looked very new.
So many young lives ended in 1 993!
They all ended in 1 993!
That was, I suppose,
the height of the fighting!
That was the height of the fight!
Yes, it is!
I would say one thing, that I hope
that these heroes haven't died in vain!
Well, I'm going to be
leaving Mostar by train,
which is going to take me
deep into the heart of Bosnia
and to the city
that's perhaps more synonymous
with all the events that have happened
in this area than any other, Sarajevo!
This is the Mostar-Sarajevo express!
When Bosnla-Herzegovlna rose
from the rulns of Yugoslavla,
the varlous ethnlc groups
that made up the country,
Bosnlan Serbs,
Bosnlan Musllms, Bosnlan Croats,
suddenly felt vulnerable and began
to flght to safeguard thelr terrltory.
Nowhere was the flght
more prolonged and destructlve
than In the capltal, Sarajevo.
I check In at the Hollday Inn,
famous for belng the only hotel
that journallsts could stay at
durlng the war.
Frequently shelled,
lts most sought-after rooms
were those wlthout a vlew.
See, Sarajevo, from here, is just a city
in a most spectacularly
beautiful location!
It's almost unbelievable to think that,
only a little more than 1 0 years ago,
they were coming to the end
of the longest siege
in modern European history!
And there'd be no cars,
there'd be no trams,
and, even if you tried
to cross that road out there,
you could be shot by snipers
from any of these buildings!
(GUNS FIRING)
Today the wounds are heallng,
the trams are runnlng
and the clty Is gradually rebulldlng.
Sarajevo Is
a tough, reslllent worklng clty
whose Inhabltants
Just want to get on wlth thelr llves.
Most of them
don't want to talk about the war,
though, sooner or later, everybody does.
I take a tram
to the outsklrts of the clty
to see one of the reasons why
what happened only 1 2 years ago
can't easlly be forgotten.
The countryslde where Sarajevans
used to go for walks and plcnlcs
Is now a death trap.
As a mlne clearance squad works away,
I talk to lts leader, Damlr,
once a soldler hlmself.
This particular part was a territory
controlled by the Republika Srpska Army!
Yes, right!
The Bosnian Government Army
was further down in the field
and further up the mountain!
So the Bosnian Serbs
moved their armies!!!
Yeah, this was part of the ring!
And if you look at Sarajevo,
you can see the mine belt!!!
Right along the hills!
Yeah, completely surrounding the city
and closing down!
This is Grbavica
and this is the old centre!
And we are now in this area,
just under the mountain!
So during the conflict, at that time,
we did not think about
what will happen with Bosnia after!
But it's a fact
that now we are paying the price,
a big price, for the use of landmines!
When you see all this painstaking work
that has to go on
and the endless amount of time
it's going to take, how do you feel?
Do you feel very bitter
about the people who laid these mines
and created this situation?
Well, it's difficult to say
because I was part of it!
And for many people, at that time,
it was perfectly normal
to use landmines!
The conflict was so long
and so difficult that I understand why,
if we had 1 0 times more landmines,
those would be used!
If you are facing a really powerful army
on the other side
and you expect something to happen,
you're going to use
everything you have in stock
just to stop them
from entering your trenches!
And landmines were used for that!
Landmines were used
as a protection for the frontlines!
And it is sad that now
we are paying the price for that!
But, at that time,
we did not think about long term!
At that time, you had to think,
"I'm going to survive, no matter what,
"and I'm going to use everything I got
to protect myself!"
It's such a beautiful place! In England,
this would be a nature reserve!
They'd say, "0h, it's wonderful!
"The farmers' agro-business
hasn't cleared all this!"
We would value all this!
But it's only here
because of the war, really!
(SPEAKING SERBIAN)
In a local school,
a Serblan theatre group,
helped wlth money from UNICEF,
uses puppets and jokes to put across
the deadly serlous message
that a walk In the woods could be fatal.
The group, organlsed by Dlana here,
turn the classroom Into a courtroom
where landmlnes and other weapons
are put on trlal,
wlth the chlldren as the jury.
Maybe half a kilometre or a kilometre
outside of this school region,
you have lots of landmine fields!
Some of them are marked, some are not!
So that's why
we try to keep children aware
that they should really be careful
of where they go,
especially when it comes to going
to nature or to the mountains!
What does it do to the community here
to have these mines all around,
with the fields
and the economy and all that?
It has a very negative impact
on the economy!
This particular part of Bosnia was very
famous for the woodcutting industry!
People used to go to the forest
to cut wood or to collect medical herbs
or to even collect mushrooms!
Now they can no longer do it!
0r they have a choice, either basically
to starve because they have no income,
or to go to the forest and risk being
killed or injured by the landmines!
PALIN: It's kind of depressing!!!
DIANA: It is!
- !!! For the future of these children!
- You're right!
That's why many families
are leaving this town!
This school was built for 600 pupils!
Now it has a bit over 1 20 pupils!
That means, some due to the war,
but mostly due to the economic reasons,
families are just leaving this community
because they have no jobs here,
which is very sad!
It's a beautiful part of Bosnia!
Yeah!
The good news Is that,
thanks to work llke thls,
the deaths from landmlne accldents
are less than 20 a year.
The bad news Is that
It may be another 70 years
before It's safe to walk
In the Bosnlan countryslde agaln.
Sarajevo's dramatlc locatlon
at the focal polnt of north-south
and east-west trade routes
has made It one of
the most cosmopolltan cltles In Europe.
Its years as part of the Ottoman Emplre
have left behlnd a legacy of
flne bulldlngs and rellglous tolerance.
I walk through the old Turklsh Quarter
wlth Ademlr Kenovlc,
a fllm dlrector who kept worklng here
throughout the war,
rlsklng hls llfe to fly In and out
to show the world hls fllms.
He's teachlng me a lot about the clty,
Includlng what streetwlse Sarajevans
should drlnk.
Here we can get our drinks!
- Can you repeat it once again?
- Er, bod!!!
- Boza!
- Boza! Boza!
(KEN0VIC SPEAKING B0SNIAN)
Boza, It turns out, Is a fermented
corn drlnk, a local speclallty.
Good!
- So, you'll first tell me how it tastes!
- Bor!!!
- Boza!
- Bor!!! Boza! Boza!
I keep wanting to put an 'R' in it!
(T0ASTING)
0kay!
Well, that's!!! Yes!
- Unusual taste, that!
- Different, huh?
It's got almost a lemon taste,
but it's thicker than a lemon juice!
What was this area like
during the siege?
Was it still operating?
Were people still going to the mosque?
- Still buying their boza?
- No, no, no, this was all closed!
Most of these places were devastated!
It's empty most of the time
because you can see the hills
from these places!
Wherever you can see the hllls from,
you wouldn't dare to go there.
So there was sometlmes
very fast walklng through these places,
but It was malnly empty durlng the war.
People were hldden.
Did you feel very, very frustrated
that this was happening to your city,
a civilised city,
and you had no electricity,
you had no water?
- And it went on for three years!
- Yeah, but being!!!
How did you keep yourself going, really?
I understand you, being British,
using the mild words like "frustrated"!
It was more than outrageous!
Nobody here could believe,
what's wrong with all these people,
letting all these idiots and maniacs
and that system
go and destroy the people
and destroy all that's good
about this place!
Mosques and churches
were the flrst bulldlngs
to be repalred after the war,
reassertlng Sarajevo's
tolerant tradltlon
and helplng to breathe new llfe
Into the old town.
My last meal In Sarajevo Is memorable
for good wlne, good humour, good company
and the enchantlng sound
of a slnger called Amlra,
whose volce seems to echo all the paln
and pleasure of thls remarkable country.
(SINGING IN B0SNIAN)
Bravo!
It's only a few hours' drlve
from Sarajevo to Belgrade.
Once the capltal of all Yugoslavla,
Belgrade Is now,
after defeats In three wars
agalnst the Croatlans,
the Bosnlans and the Kosovans,
the capltal of a Serbla
that's not only reduced
but blamed squarely, If not falrly,
for all the recent troubles.
Set lmpresslvely on the Danube,
Belgrade bears few obvlous scars of war.
I cadge a rlde on the rlver
wlth a charlsmatlc DJ
and crltlc of the Mllosevlc reglme
who thlnks I can sall.
- As are we at the moment!
- Let's!!!
All right!
- Tacking!
- Tacking, okay!
(GRUNTING)
My gosh, the old arthritis!
A man of many names, hls current handle
Is, modestly, Rambo Amadeus.
What was the war like for you?
Did you have to fight?
No, I was like a fake soldier!
For me, it was like!!!
Everybody tolerated me to be like
a "peace, brother" guy, you know!
So you didn't raise a gun in anger?
No, quite the opposite!
We had in Belgrade here
a huge peace organisation
to struggle against!!! To stop the war!
But it was quite a bad time in Serbia
for a long time
because you were involved in a war
which you couldn't win!
It was a bad time
for all of the former Yugoslavia!
Yeah!
If you threw your TV through the window,
you didn't notice anything!
But actually, nobody threw the TV
through the window!
- Too precious!
- Yeah!
What was your feeling about Milosevic?
When he was alive and he was in power,
I had some thoughts about him!
Now he's dead
and I don't want to tell anything!
But you can ask around
- What I was thinking about him!
- I can find out from people, yeah!
But somehow I think it is polite!
(H0USE MUSIC PLAYING)
Serbs know how to party
and Belgrade Is renowned for lts muslc,
avallable at all klnds of clubs,
at all hours of the nlght.
In one of the clubs I meet Tljana,
a DJ and slnger,
and her frlend Jelena, a TVpresenter.
We end up back on the Danube,
thls tlme navlgatlng the trlcky waters
of Serbla's recent past.
There was never a real war in Serbia,
so you don't get the same feeling
as if you go to Bosnia,
or parts of Croatia, there were war!
- We've seen that, yeah!
- So that's why!!!
And Belgrade always had
this metropolitan glitter!
It was the capital city
of ex-Yugoslavia, too,
so I think the tradition of this city
is, in a way, kept!
And there is also the ironic side
of this nation,
so everyone's making jokes
about their history!
So you have absurd things like
celebrating the battle that we lost!
Are things improving now?
I don't think that things are
going to change for the better
with the new generations!
I think the new generations
are really!!!
Because they grew up
in the way they did!
And it's going to be
really confusing and crazy and!!!
I really don't know!
I have no idea what is going to happen!
So the prejudices
are still there, you think?
I think there is not a big hatred
toward other nations in the Balkans,
not even among younger generations!
Although they grew up
in a very aggressive environment,
they didn't actually know
what was happening!
They were not aware!
They just knew that there was a problem!
But there is something,
this damn Serbian mentality,
that is always coming on the surface!
Thls fleetlng lmpresslon tells me
the Serbs are well aware
of the contradlctlons of thelr hlstory.
They're also rather proud of them.
In the hope of flndlng transport
on through the Balkans,
I've come south to the busy port
of Dubrovnlk, jewel of the Adrlatlc.
Even thls treasure was not spared
the vlolence of the war.
For half a year,
Bosnlan Serb artlllery shelled the clty
from up on these cllffs.
Thanks to lts beauty and lts harbours,
Dubrovnlk Is once agaln
flauntlng lts attractlons,
though there are many locals who worry
that thelr clty Is becomlng too popular
and that the crulse-llner crowds
are tarnlshlng
the very beauty they've come to see.
Someone who stlll loves the atmosphere
of the old town Is Edln Karamazov,
a Bosnlan who plays the lute so sweetly
that Stlng has made an album wlth hlm.
But he's kept the busklng job,
Just In case.
Edln, that Is, not Stlng.
As a storm, blowlng up from nowhere,
clears the stone-flagged streets
of the clty,
Edln, wlth true Balkan hospltallty,
offers me shelter In the apartment
he's been lent by a frlend.
Do you go back to Bosnia?
0h, yeah, of course!
I just started loving Bosnia!
It's a nice country!
- It's your homeland!
- Yeah!
- Do you feel at home there?
- Let's say, yeah!
Although I don't feel at home nowhere
at the moment!
- Nowhere?
- Yeah!
- No?
- Yeah!
Home is everywhere!
- You are, indeed, a wandering minstrel!
- It seems so!
You know, when I look back,
I travelled most of my life
and I played everywhere!
And I think it's my way, in the end,
although I never wanted
to be a minstrel!
But I think it is so!
On thls sultably soulful note,
my tlme here and In Croatla
and, Indeed, In the former Yugoslavla
has come to an end.
Wlth some dlfflculty, we've found a boat
that wlll take us
down the coast to Albanla.
Her captaln Is a part-tlme opera slnger
who's just played Judas
In the Zagreb productlon
of Jesus Christ Superstar!
He doesn't really want to go to Albanla,
but he llstens polltely as I burble on.
I rather like the idea
of the mystery of Albania!
I like the fact of it being secret!
Everywhere is kind of opening up,
but it still seems to be
the reclusive country!
Yeah, it was really one of
the closed European countries!
So, in our mind,
it's still some kind of black hole!
Really, maybe!!! I will say maybe 50
people from Croatia even go to Albania!
It's very!!! Communication!!!
Some businessmen,
they start, maybe, some little business
or something like that!
The captaln does everythlng he can
to avold reachlng Albanla too qulckly,
ralslng only hls smallest sall
and slnglng a lot.
(SINGING 'O SOLE MIO)
I'm not complalnlng, but we've
another 1 7 countrles to get through.
- What's for supper?
- What's that? I heard some echo!
Yeah, very good! Very good!
Cooklng the supper glves hlm
another reason to slow the boat down,
but the mussel rlsotto Is superb.
You can put this in the sea, back!
All right! 0kay!
I suppose that's the way they've come!
I don't want to lose
any of this nice risotto, though!
I accept now
that the Captaln's not golng to hurry
and, after washlng my smalls,
I settle In and surrender to the nlght.
I must say there's something to be said
for this way of getting round Europe!
I mean, bobbing along the Adriatic,
along one of the most ancient
trade routes of the world
with this lovely sort of symphony
of creaks and groans!!!
I mean, you just don't get
hotel rooms like this!
Lovely, really!
And tomorrow, Albania!
Tomorrow, Albania!
(CAPTAIN SINGING 'O SOLE MIO)
Amazlngly enough,
we do eventually reach Durres,
Albanla's maln port and second clty.
Well, we're now heading
into the very heart of the Balkans,
and the first port of call is Albania,
surely the most quirkily inscrutable
country in Europe!
I know they had a king called Zog
and, for 45 years,
a hard-line Communist dictatorship
where even having a map
could land you in prison!
But now they're open for business!
We can see the reality for ourselves!
Wlth Italy, her maln tradlng partner,
only 70 mlles away,
Albanla Isn't exactly cut off.
It just feels that way.
On the beach at Durres,
there's surreal evldence
of the paranold rule of Enver Hoxha,
the dlctator who embraced
flrst Stalln, then Chalrman Mao.
0ne of the first things you notice
when you come ashore in Albania
are bunkers everywhere!
Apparently, there are about 400,000
of them scattered across the country,
a sort of symbol of the paranoia
during the Hoxha years!
But now some of them
are being recycled rather nicely
and certainly make British beach huts
look rather pathetic!
You could have a nice holiday
and repel an invasion from here!
And what can you say about Dunsleepin'
and all those little Balmorals
you see up and down the coast?
This is a proper, decent beach hut!
Right?
I take the traln from Durres
Inland to the capltal, Tlrana.
It's about an hour's rlde away.
Under Communlsm,
Investment In Albanla stagnated,
and, afterwards, thlngs got even worse
when a huge
pyramld selllng scheme collapsed,
taklng savlngs wlth lt.
The vlllages we pass through
show a brulsed economy
maklng a fraglle recovery.
In the capltal, evldence of hardshlp
Is less lmmedlately apparent.
The Albanlans' car of cholce
appears to be a Mercedes.
Almost everybody has one,
though no one seems qulte sure
where they've all come from.
I get a part-tlme job
wlth some young Albanlan courlers.
They've been glven the task
of dellverlng some of the clty's bllls
and buslness letters
because the postal servlce
and the trafflc Is so bad.
My fellow worker, Illr,
seems to know just what to do,
Includlng wearlng a helmet
and gettlng a proper blke.
The natlves are not frlendly.
(H0RNS H0NKING)
- Ilir, do you want some water?
- 0h, thank you! Thank you very much!
- You need it after that!
- I'm tired!
It's dangerous sometimes,
isn't it, out there?
- Yeah! With a bike, it is!
- Yeah!
- Were you born here?
- Yeah, I was born in Tirana!
Ah! Was it a good place to grow up?
- It was before a good place!
- Was before?
- Before it was a good place!
- When? Before the!!!
Before, 1 5 years!
- Really?
- Yeah!
- Do you prefer it when it was Communist?
- Empty!
Yeah, it was better!
No car, nothing, no troubles!
(LAUGHS) No troubles!
A bit of nostalgia for the old days!
Albanla's natlonal hero, Skanderbeg,
fought the Turks,
but today's hero
Is flghtlng for hls clty.
- Hello, Mayor!
- Hi!
It's nice of you to meet me!
Michael Palin!
And what a fantastic office!
I've only just noticed!
- Yeah, it's not bad!
- It's not really an office!
- It's an art gallery!
- Have a seat!
Edl Rama Is an artlst
who became mayor of Tlrana.
Hls notebooks, doodled on
durlng councll meetlngs,
glve hlm Insplratlon
for lmprovlng the clty.
So, all these colours
that you have here,
they're part of how you approach
changing the city?
I mean, the look of the city,
by painting the buildings and that!
Well, colours are part of our life,
and it's really a pity
that cities are not really reflecting
- This very special part!
- I absolutely agree!
And I think Tirana has a big potential
to develop on colours,
so I would like this city
to become an open-air
contemporary arts living space!
It's llke people llvlng
In an arts space.
So, If every bulldlng would be palnted,
every corner would be palnted,
It would be amazlng and It would be
a really extremely attractlve clty.
PALIN: And so the Idea for the palnted
bulldlngs comes, really, from you?
RAMA: No, the Idea of the palnted
bulldlngs came In the beglnnlng,
when I came In and we had no money
and the people had blg expectatlons
after 1 0 years of greyness
and lack of hope.
And Tlrana was llke a translt statlon
where everybody wanted
to leave for somewhere.
Dlrty and no communlcatlon.
So we had to glve a slgn, and how?
We thought colours are the best way.
You grew up here, presumably,
during the Hoxha years and all that!
It must have been depressing for
someone with an artistic colour sense!
It must have been a bit depressing,
or were there good things?
No, it was like a concentration camp!
Private life was totally controlled!
Cafes dldn't exlst.
We dldn't have cafes.
What sort of education were you getting?
It was a Stalinist country!
It was like we were isolated
from both West and East, you know?
So there was no other country
that was in the same situation
as Albania, then, really!
- Kind of unusual!
- No comparison!
When it all finished,
was there a great feeling!!!
Did you feel a great spirit
of excitement
and opportunity and liberation?
Sure, sure!
It was like the end of a nightmare!
To escape Tlrana's turbulent trafflc,
I take a taxl out of town to see
what llfe's llke beyond the clty llmlts.
Thls Involves negotlatlng
the Infamous Blackblrd roundabout,
named after a brothel
that used to stand on the slte,
maybe stlll does, for all I know.
The Mayor is doing his best
to beautify Tirana,
but there are times when a city
needs something more than art,
like roads that work,
and, until you get
the infrastructure right,
I think Tirana is never really
going to thrive!
As a friend of mine once said
about a British city
that tried to paint its way out
of trouble, "You can't polish a turd!"
Albanla, llke most of
the Balkan penlnsula, Is mountalnous,
and here In the town of Kruja,
the 1 5th-century hero Skanderbeg
used natural defences
to flght off three Turklsh sleges.
In a country wlthout a lot to celebrate,
thls has made Kruja a natlonal shrlne
and leadlng tourlst attractlon.
But Illlr Matl, my gulde, has somethlng
rather dlfferent to show me.
He Invltes me to accompany a young man
who Is taklng a sheep
to be sacrlflced at the local monastery
In the hope that
It wlll make a dream come true.
So tell me about this dream!
Yeah! That's the basis
of this procession!
Yeah! This little pilgrimage, yeah!
Yeah, pilgrimage!
The basis is the dream!
- A dream?
- Yeah!
People have dreams
about the person working in Europe!
- In Europe!
- 0h, I see!
So their family,
who are working in Europe,
- They pray for them! Ah!
- And they pray for them!
- Pray for them in this mountain!
- What do they pray for?
They pray they have documents and work!
PALIN: Documents and work!
That's a simple goal for your prayer!
Don't seem to be too many people on this
particular pilgrim trail this afternoon!
However, I daresay
our reward will be greater!
The monastery belongs
to the Bektashl rellglon,
one of the offshoots
of the mystlcal Sufl order of Islam.
Its posltlon
on the very top of the mountaln
Is good for devotlonal contemplatlon,
but hell on the thlgh muscles.
Hello!
Very pleased to meet you!
Yes! Difficult to get here, but!!!
- You may go there!
- Yes, where do we go?
- Because you are an important guest!
- I'm here? Ah! 0h, wow!
I'm honoured!
(GR0ANING) So nice to sit down! Right!
The holy man, known as the baba,
doesn't Inltlally look thrllled
to see us,
but, after a tumbler full of the local
rakl, he seems to perk up a blt.
(SPEAKING ALBANIAN)
Baba, very good to meet you!
In the mountain,
the villagers like to have raki!
(T0ASTING)
Mmm!
Regrettably,
the maln buslness of our vlslt
cannot be put off any longer
and the pllgrlm hands hls sheep over
for the sacrlflce.
I've seen such thlngs many tlmes now,
but I'll never, ever get used to lt.
News of the successful sacrlflce
has cheered up the famlly no end
and I'm Invlted back for a party
at whlch my pllgrlm frlend
plays celebratory muslc
wlth hls father and brothers.
Albanla does seem very dlfferent
from the other countrles of the Balkans.
It may be looklng Increaslngly
to the West,
but, at heart, It feels orlental,
and I have to remlnd myself
that not only am I stlll In Europe,
but I've a lot further east to go yet.