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Citizens of Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina have almost always travelled haggle-free to their neighbouring country, Croatia, the three of which were once part of the same federated country – Yugoslavia.

Photo:Gettyimages

While the first two are neither part of the European Union bloc nor the Schengen Area, Croatia has been an EU member since 2013, and only recently, on January 1, 2023, became a full Schengen Area member.

Up until now, travellers from Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Serbia, only needed to show their valid passports at the Croatian borders, in order to enter the country.

However, starting from November 2023, every Bosnian and every Serb will need to apply for an online travel authorization called ETIAS – which stands for European Travel Information and Authorization System – in order to be able to enter Croatia, and the other 26 Schengen Area Member States.

The ETIAS is a system on which the EU has been working on since 2016, and was supposed to start operating in 2021, but due to technical issues has been postponed several times. The current date for its launch is November 2023.

The reason behind the creation of such a scheme is that the EU wants to enhance security in the bloc by knowing who is coming even before the travellers start their trip.

Bosnians and Serbs will need to apply online for an ETIAS, by going to the ETIAS website, which hasn’t been created yet, and completing the application form. The form will ask simple questions like the traveller’s name and surname, date and place of birth, passport data, and some background security questions.

Travellers will also have to upload their photo in the system and a scan of their passport.

Once the application is approved, the ETIAS will be granted and will be valid for either three years, or until the passport expires, whichever happens first.

Bosnian and Serbian travellers will be able to use the same ETIAS to travel to Croatia, and the other Schengen Area countries.

Around 1.4 billon people from over 60 different world countries, will have to apply for an ETIAS before any trip to the Member States, starting from November 1, 2023. Travellers from other Western Balkan countries that have a visa-free agreement with the EU will also need an ETIAS – which area Albania, Montenegro, and North Macedonia.

Citizens of Kosovo for now still need to apply for visas, but after the ETIAS becomes effective, the EU is going through the necessary procedures to grant Kosovo with visa liberalization on January 1, 2024, the latest, which means that Kosovo citizens will also need an ETIAS, though at a later point.(SchengenVisaInfo)

The Via Francigena (‘the way of the Franks’) is an historic 2000-kilometre pilgrim way from Canterbury to Rome.

Foto:Gettyimages

It follows the route described by Sigeric, Archbishop of Canterbury, on his journey back from Rome in AD 990 after receiving his pallium, or cloak of office, from Pope John XV.

Many would have made similar journeys, but Sigeric had the foresight to instruct one of his party to record the 79 stages or mansiones of the return to Canterbury. Sigeric’s De Roma ad usque Mare, which is preserved in the British Library, thereby forms the basis of today’s Via Francigena from Canterbury to Rome across southern England, France, Switzerland and Italy.

This historical route was revived and put back on the map in the late 1980s and early 1990s by a group of enthusiasts who faithfully followed Sigeric’s stopping places, only adapting his itinerary where the old Roman road had become a modern highway. The leading pioneer was Giovanni Caselli, an Italian medieval historian, who re-mapped Sigeric’s route in 1985 with the help of Italy’s Military Geographical Institute. The results of his reconstruction were published in Florence in 1990, the 1000th anniversary of Sigeric’s journey, as La Via Romea, Cammino di Dio. One of the driving forces of the revival was Swiss-Italian Adelaide Trezzini, and in 1997 she established the Association Internationale Via Francigena (AIVF). Paul Chinn, who would produce the much-used Lightfoot guides, also played a role in the revival, as did Alberto Alberti, who set up an Italian Via Francigena group.

Pioneers on the ground were as important, and perhaps none more than the ferryman of the River Po, Danilo Parisi. Danilo has been operating his ferry since 1998, and he has kept a record of every pilgrim journey on the four-kilometre stretch of river between Corte San Andrea on the north bank and his home Caupona Sigerico on the south bank at Soprarivo di Calendasco. Just two pilgrims signed his magisterial Liber Peregrinorum in 1998 when Danilo first revived the ancient river crossing, but his pilgrim log has grown each year since, and it now runs into several volumes and has become a treasure trove of information about the Via Francigena. In 22 years he has ferried some 9000 pilgrims.

The revival of walking to Rome was in part also a response to the astonishing surge in the numbers walking to Santiago de Compostela, and while travelling on foot to R.

The Via Francigena was made a European Cultural Itinerary by the Council of Europe in 1994 (in the same way that the Camino de Santiago was in 1987), and another group with local government and European Union funding, the European Association of Via Francigena (AEVF), was set up in 2001 to help foster development of the route. Our own Confraternity was founded in 2006.

Local associations in England, France, Switzerland and Italy have all taken a hand in way-marking the route – sometimes with mixed results.

Pilgrimage to Rome

Rome was traditionally the place of martyrdom of the two saints most closely linked with the founding and establishment of the Roman Catholic Church – the Apostles Peter and Paul. The associations of the city with these two saints were so strong that from the fifth century pilgrimage to Rome was known as “ad limina apostolorum” – to the threshold of the apostles.

Rome, with its relics and links, was a focus of holiness where believers could come closer to God, and receive benefits, both physical and spiritual, temporal and eternal.

There have been pilgrims travelling to Rome since the second century, but numbers increased after the victory of Constantine the Great over Maxentius in 312, after which Christians could worship publicly. Early pilgrims had the advantage of the well-maintained infrastructure of Roman roads.

Pilgrimage to Rome was revived when Pope Boniface VIII declared 1300 a Jubilee (Holy) Year, whereby a visit to Rome would merit a plenary indulgence, and with it a complete remission of sins. Pilgrim numbers soared, and the practice of declaring Jubilee Years at intervals of 50 and 25 years continued to attract large numbers until the Reformation when the new Protestant churches turned their backs on the cult of pilgrimage.The most popular route from northern Europe was down the Rhine Valley. But with the Barbarian invasions and the instability of Europe after Charlemagne, the pilgrim route became increasingly perilous, and from the early ninth century Santiago de Compostela came to replace Rome as Christendom’s most popular pilgrim destination.

Over the following centuries, however, the numbers of pilgrims to Rome crept back up – despite the vicissitudes of wars and revolutions in Europe – until, with the arrival of mass transportation in the early 20th century, visiting Rome had become a rite of passage for millions of Christians.

In the 2000 Jubilee Year, 25 million pilgrims visited Rome by one means or another, and a similar number during the Year of Mercy 2015-16. Today’s foot pilgrims have, therefore, swung full circle, making a conscious choice to travel under their own steam and at their own speed, on a journey in which not only the end, but also the means, are of great significance.(pilgrimstorome.org.uk)

On Friday, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) announced guidelines for international travel to Greece, including quarantine requirements, in order to curb the spread of coronavirus.

More specifically, the CAA made restrictions known through a Notice To Airmen (NOTAM), which outlined that the restrictions on international travel have officially been extended until the 14th of May at 6:00 AM.

Greece’s current entrance restrictions

Travel into Greece is still prohibited until the 14th of May for the majority of passengers, unless travelers meet some of the following criteria.

Travel continues to be allowed for those that can prove they are travelling for essential reasons, as well as those that are permanent residents of the European Union or countries part of the Schengen treaty.

Additionally, permanent residents of the following twelve nations are also now allowed to enter Greece: the UK, US, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Thailand, Rwanda, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, Russia, Serbia, and Israel.

Quarantine requirements upon entry into Greece

All other travelers entering Greece are still expected to quarantine for seven days at their residence or temporary housing, which should be the address included on their Passenger Locator Form (PLF). However, permanent residents of the nations listed above are not required to quarantine.

Those travelers who want to avoid a seven day quarantine requirement must be able to present to authorities one of two documents. They must carry either the results of a coronavirus PCR test taken within the past 72-hour period, or a public health certificate written in English guaranteeing that they have been fully inoculated.

In this case, fully vaccinated means that fourteen days have passed since their final vaccination.
More airports open to Russian travelers

Russian travelers, however, will require both a negative PCR test and a certificate of inoculation upon arrival to Greece in order to skip the seven-day quarantine period. Their vaccination must have been completed at least 14 days prior to their travel, the CAA notes.

A weekly limit of 4,000 arrivals of Russian citizens has been set. Nonetheless, Russian citizens will now be able to enter Greece through nine different airports, instead of the three which are currently open to them (Athens, Thessaloniki and Herakleion), as long as they also present the above-mentioned documents.

The new airports to include direct flights to and from Russia are Corfu, Rhodes, Kos, Mykonos, Santorini and Chania.
Passenger Locator Form (PLF)

Another requirement of all those traveling either to or from Greece, including permanent residents of Greece, is a QR code generated by the completion of the PLF. The PLF, which can be filled out electronically, includes details about where travelers have been staying and the address at which they plan to spend their time in Greece.

The PLF must also be filled out the day before passengers leave or enter Greece, and must include flight information.

Quarantine requirements to enter Greece will likely be fully lifted following the full reopening of the country on May 15th — just in time for the tourism season!

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