Two Cultures, Two Festivals, in Melbournes February

Melbourne has a strong and vibrant community of Chinese Heritage.

A large influx of Chinese migrants arrived in Melbourne in the mid 1800s as part of Victoria’s Goldrush.

Little Bourke Street is Melbourne’s Chinatown, and was the centre of the 2024 Luna New Year Celebrations on 11 February.

An event full of noise and colour.

From head to tail, the main dragon was half a city block long.

And superstition says that it brings good luck to touch the dragon.

The Antipodes Festival, which commenced in 1987, celebrates the Greek diaspora in Melbourne.

Melbourne is said to have the largest Greek speaking population outside of Greece and Cyprus.

The festival takes part in Lonsdale Street in the Melbourne CBD. The spiritual hub of the Greek Community.

The closing band Xylourides had the whole audience up.dancing.

Such vibrant music from young performers.

Even the Greek flag was up and dancing.

It was a beautiful summer day. Id ridden back from the rain forest, swapped urban cool for nature.

Hit the beach:

Before a night of Greek Culture.

Riding across northern Greece

After leaving Konista, it was a misty ride through the mountains of Western Macedonia skirting Thessalonika to Kavala.

I had decided I wanted to make, what is a bit of an Australian Pilgrimage, to ANZAC Cove on the Cannakale Peninsula in Turkey. Hence, it was a blast across northern Greece.

What were the highlights?

The most fascinating stop was the Porto Logos. A little fishing village on the coast between Kavala and Alexandroupoli.

A quaint village with a small port and restaurants, a secluded beach and flamingos and other bird life.

It’s also the site of the Byzantine Monastry of St. Nicholas.

The monastry is set in the middle of the lake with each of the churches containing amazing frescos and etching.

The Byzantine Madonna and Child in the photos are etched and coloured directly onto brass plate and were breath takingly beautiful.

The city of Alexandroupoli is a beautiful coastal city at the top of the Aegean sea close to the border with Turkiye.

The sad part of crossing this part of Greece was the largely blackened forests and farmland, the legacy of recent wildfires in Northern Greece. Wherever I travel, there are ever present reminders of the current climate crisis

Albania

The mountains of Montenegro continue over the border into Albania.

Spectacular hairpin roads, coming up from the coast.

Near the border is the Theth National Park. A beautiful alpine area for both riding and walking.

There are a number of restaurants, guest houses and hotels in the area. The local food is delicious and plentiful, and if you are lucky you will be invited to share a campfite with the locals.

The next destination was Vlore on, what is termed, the Albanian Reviera.

Vlore is also where Europes last wild river empties into the Adriatic Sea.

The Vjose River’s headwaters are in the Mountains of Western Macedonia, Greece, where it is called the Aoos and my route through Albania.

Vlore has beautiful marshlands as well as beaches.

But I was keen to aquaint myself with the Vjose River. Next blog will follow the Vjose river into the mountains of Greece.

Montenegro – a bikers paradise

Montenegro is a country of absolute scenic beauty with high mountain ranges that run right to the sea and mountain roads the match of any in Europe.

A day didn’t go by that I didn’t find other riders.

The great roads started at the Bosnian border. The first destination was the Bay of Kotor and the Kotor Sepentine.

With 25 hairpin turns and amazing views over the Bay of Kotor this is a special ride.

After a night in Kotor, it was off to the city of Podgorica to undertake one of the great rides of Europe through the Moraca and Tara river canyons.

The ride along the Moraca climbs from the Montenegro capital Podjorica into the mountains and onto the Serbian Border.

The village of Kolosin is just off the road. At 1450m elevation its a beautiful ski village with lots of accomodation. It is a beautiful place to stop after a hard ride.

Its also a good place to see some striking Soviet style architecture.

Mixed with some good local beer French Romantic style buildings.

It was a short along the Moraca canyon road to Mojkovac to the start of the Tara Canyon road.

The Tara Canyon is second only to the Grand Canyon as the longest canyon in the world.

What a ride!!!!

The road finishes at the Durdevica Tara Bridge, which provides a wonderful view down the Canyon.

How good was the ride? So good. I turned around and road it again as set my course for Albania.

In all my riding in Europe and Australia, these canyon roads are close to the top.

The road to Albania continues through some remote mountain country. Where the script changes in the little villages.

On the return trip, I took the road from Serbia down through the Durmitor National Park. Beautiful, high plain roads.

That lead back to the Bay of Kotor. Being late September, many of the water side hotels were closing for the season and rooms were relatively cheap. Right on the water at Herceq Novi, which is right on the Montenegro/Croatia border.

Mostar and surrounds

Mostar is famous for its Ottoman bridge that joins the two sides of the old town that flank the Neretva River.

It’s beautiful by day and by night. Especially when there is a full moon.

The river divides the city not just physically but also culturally with the west bank of the town being primarily Muslim and the east bank Christian.

The bridge was destroyed during the cival war and its reconstruction has become a symbol of the cities resilience.

The scars of the civil war are still evident on the buildings.

But in the housing estates in the new city, the power of art, in the form of murals, provides some salve.

It was wonderful to see an artist at work.

Around 15km from Mostar is the Vrelo Bune or the River Buna Spring at the village of Blagaj.

The spring is one of the largest in Europe flows from a large cave in the limestone cliffs.

The ruins of

At the cave mouth is an old Sufi Mosque, the Blagej Tekke. A beautiful place of silence and beauty built is the 16th century and a place of pilgrimage for Sufi pilgrams from Pakistan.