The village life, and every care that reigns
O’er youthful peasants and declining swains;
What labour yields, and what, that labour past,
Age, in its hour of languor, finds at last;
(George Crabb, “the village”- I just found it on the innernet.)
Albania has some fantastic old Ottoman and pre-Ottoman villages, such as Berat.
The old city is packed onto the sides of hills either side of the river, with the old houses giving it the nickname "city of 1000 windows."
Steeper and larger, but no less likable, Gjirokastra is sits under the watchful gaze of one of Albania's oldest and biggest forts.
The mountain villages of Albania's north are worth the hike. Theth has a number of good walks around, and still boasts old stone safe-houses used to protect family members during feuds.
Kosovo has been in the news lately. The bridge in Mitrovica divides Serb and Albanian parts like night and day.
The Kosovo capital has centuries of history in its tightly entwined streets and districts, but a very young population.
Things are much brighter and cheerier in the capital of Pristina.
Prizren is another Kosova gem, an old Ottoman city packed with history and monuments.
Macedonia's ancient trading and diplomatic city of Bitola has Ottoman mosques and markets, baroque embassies and mansions, and BC era ruins.
Krusevo is a small mountain town in central Macedonia, full of charming old houses and the odd church, as well as some fine food.
Macedonia's busiest tourist spot, the historical lake-front town of Ohrid boasts forts, churches, saints and more.
Dusk comes to the town square, bringing the people of Prilep, Macedonia out into the cool.
Skopje, Macedonia, one strange cat of a city. Statues the size of mountains, in numbers that must be seen to be believed.
Looking down on the old walled city of Kotor, Montenegro.
And again, but looking across towards the mountains.
The historical and likable Ottoman town of Prizren, Kosovo.
Glittering gold spires, skyscrapers and smog- Bangkok.
Old market area of Bangkok, around Wat Saket.
A flotaing village on an man-made lake, Sangkhlaburi, Thailand.
The hill-station capital of Nagaland, Kohima, in India's north-east.
Close to the state capital of Kohima, Khonoma takes great steps to maintain its traditions and lifestyle.
The India-Burma border splits the isolated, hilltop town of Longwa. Residents are dual citizens.
Char Minar is one of the most crowded parts of Hyderabad, population, 11m.
Situated in central Lesotho, Lejone is a pleasant enough place to stop when criss-crossing this mountain country.
Village houses dwarfed by hills, Malealea, Lesotho.
Scattered settlements dot the drive from Qacha's Nek border post to Semonkong Falls, one of Lesotho's most spectacular.
Like many towns in the Philippines, Legazpi lives with the threat of volcanic eruption. The Daraga church and town pictured here was stablished after Mount Mayon destroyed the parish of nearby Cagsawa.
Ban Rak Thai is a pretty little villages settled by Yunnanese immigrants, who established tea plantations in the area.
A small village in Sulawesi, Indonesia's Toraja region. Curved roof houses are set around a central ceremony ground.
Village life in Toraja centres around farming, buffaloes and funerals.
On the river front in Tentena, Sulawesi, Indonesia, people catch giant eels in wooden traps, and raise fish in rudimentary pens.
Tentena is probably the most pleasant town of size in Sulawesi, boasting both river and lake views.