Balkans

I grabbed a few other Hostel goers and headed out to see the Pest side of Budapest. We walked down the central street toward the chain bridge and stopped off at the beautiful and ornate opera house complete with drama faces and sphinx. from the opera house we turned and visited St. Stephens:

and wandered inside to view the splendor of the edifice: From its gate

To the central altar:

and even its courtyard:

I saw St. Stephens Mummified hand, encrusted in rubies, diamonds and precious metals, and then we headed on from the Church to find the Chain bridge and make our way to the Palace atop Castle hill in Pest.

From the Chain Bridge:

With its growling and gruesom protectors

We made our way across and up next to the funicular towards the palace which sits overlooking Buda. The castle which held the last german resistance to soviet invasion in world war two and houses budapests underground nuclear bunkers and hospitals.

the view of parliament from Pest Castle:

The Palace grounds which now house galleries and museums as well as the state library are decorated with beautiful fountains the like of which I have not seen before. Each fountain shows a different scene from life.

Fishing:

Hunting:

and then there were the fishing monuments and castle walls:

From the walls we headed down into Pest and found the Underground entrance to the underground hospital and once top secret nuclean bunkers built into the natural caves under Pest palace and castle.

The tour was eerie climbing through wax museum dummies of doctors, suffering world war II patients and the 60’s era hungarian defense propaganda. we finished after an hour and made our way back to the Hostel. The next morning I headed out to the bus station and caught a bus to Krakow Poland.

I pulled into Budapest around that night. Wandered my way through the metro and found myself along with a fellow Kiwi to Tiger Tim’s Hostel. We dropped our gear and rested up before heading out on the town. Grabbing dinner with the crew and then headed out into Budapest’s nightlife. Decent, not thriving but still pretty hard hitting. We went out together as a hostel, so as a group we were about 20-25 and we mixed and had a decent time at a few clubs and House bars. We came in around 4 am and crashed. Not too bad of a welcome to Budapest.

I woke up the next morning bright and early at 9 am, stumbled about the hostel sleep deprived until I managed to connive some norwegian girls to make me coffee and tea and then grabbed my camera, a cold douse of water over my face and began to walk the city.

I passed some great signs:

and then started into the city architecture:

\

An Archer in the park: Surprise!!

and then found myself facing a giant memorial which dominated the northern half of the city of Buda. The memorial built in commemoration of the Hungarian empire documents its great kings and leaders and is dominated by an angel lead by what I presume is a statue of the first kings of Hungary. the Orthodox cross raised high.
Chariot Horses:

First kings:

Angel:

After the monument I headed into the park and found the Buda castle an amazing structure which now houses the Budapest Natural History Museum.

and the statue of Anonymous:

Complete with beautiful women crawling on it:

I wandered around the park to the Bath’s and watched Hungarians and tourists play in the waters before taking a shot of the entry way

After the park I called it an afternoon and headed back to the hostel. But only for a short while, I took myself a nap and then headed out to see Pest!

After another long ride on the bus of death I arrived in Sarajevo Bosnia at 11:30pm. I grabbed the last trolly of the night and headed to Old town. There I wandered about the small district until I found my Hostel nestled into a dark corner street just at the edge of the Old town. I checked in, discovered my booking had been lost and that the hostel was full, dropped my bags on my cushy Airbed stuffed under the staircase used in emergencys to the upper dorms and promptly passed out. I awoke at 2 am, 3:15 am, and 4:45 am to the sound of drunk Irish, Austrailian and dreaded Canadians respectivley. I then returned to sleep to be woken at 6:15 by the hostel staff, who apparently used the closet under the staircase (blocked by my bed) as storage for breakfast.

I made sure to book a bed for the next night and took a long hot shower to wake up. Then I called my friend Matthew Jacobs and left the hostel around 10am to meet up with him. I missed him and decided to go to the tunnel museum which showed the city during the serbian siege and the tunnel which meant life or death to those trapped within sarajevo during the 90’s war.

The tunnel museum was more than just the simple, narrow, tunnel which ran from bosnian free territory to sarajevo, it was a tour of the sieged city, pictures of what it looked like less than 15 years ago, and footage of War tourism (the act of buying time on a sniper rifle gunning down civilians within the city). Pretty heavy stuff.

I met Matt later that night for some nibbles before we got ready to go out.

After a filling and heavy Lasagna at Barhana in oldtown we headed back our separate ways to get ready for the night. We met up and headed to the park to relax and wait for Bosnians to get ready and head out for the evening. from the park we went to Sloga a salsa/mix club 5 minutes from my Hostel. We danced until 3 am before calling it a night and heading back.

The next morning we headed around the city for a nice walk of old town and the city. we ended up napping in a park by the latin bridge (where Ferdinand got shot)

Napping in the Park:

and then headed over to the brewery for some good nibbles. We arrived in the very Upscale brewery and ordered a decent meal before settling in to talk.

after eating we hiked up to the overlook over sarajevo and watched the sunset. I did some human javelin throwing :

Watched the sunset

then prepared for another night out at the pub and a 7am bus to Budapest!

Pulling in to the train station from our grueling cross mountain trip, we arrived exausted and sore in Belgrade. Beograd, Serbia is a beautiful mixture of Old city, sitting atop its hilltop fortress, newer city edging its ancient streets away from the fortress and the newest communistic residential blocks across the river staring bluntly into the sunset.

Belgrade is Eastern Europes Berlin. The Nightlife there is startling. The culture is Party all night, drink coffee and enjoy the pedestrian only districts during the day. Spectacular. I wandered to Green Studio Apartment Hostel on the 6th floor of a building just a few blocks from the Railstation, dropped my gear, checked my mail, grabbed my camera and ran out the door. Wandering the streets of Belgrade I made my way to the Fortress, and inside it to the Military museum showcasing rows of tanks, artillery and weapons for seige and assault throughout serbski history.

Fortress’s walls and impressive battlements completed I made my perilous journey in search of Serbian food. I was delighted to find a serbian shop which, named after the norse god of mischief provided me with suitable food and drink. I got a sandwitch like meal with a huge sausage patty folded over and stuffed with katchup, mustard, coleslaw, sauercraut, spices, and chili.

Full and satisfied I started my march back up the narrow streets toward the pedestrain district, I meandered through the universities student square and grabbed a few shots of some really impressive graffiti before making it to the main pedestrain way. There I found myself a hot coffee and muched bread while watching the beautiful serbian women pass by.

As night rolled in I made my way back to the hostel, took a quick shower and hurried out to do some dancing. I was stoked and ready for a good time. I found a club called Anderground which was built into the cave systems under the fortress. They had salsa EVERYNIGHT. I started dancing and quickly made friends with the salsa crew who were dancing there. they brought me in and started me to teach the Rueda calls in Serbian (haha awesome) and then showed me rueda style salsa on my own. I threw in a little LA to keep it new for the girls and had a wonderful night dancing. I repeated my dancing Saturday and Sunday night I headed on from Belgrade to Sarajevo.

Saturday during the day I walked the new city (spreading down the hill from the old jewish quarter) and found the closed (sucky) Nikolai Tesla Museum. I’ll have to go back to find that museum when its open. It looked amazing.

I Arrived in Brasov at 2pm found my hostel by 2:30 and then headed out to walk the city and explore. Romanian architecture is mostly German. When it was unified to become the Romanian Kingdom, a German man was chosen as king and the German influences abound. Romanian language doesn’t use the cyrillic alphabet, and better yet, it is based on latin. Being able to read the signs and understand large portions of the language made Romania a lot of fun.

The city of Brasov is beautiful, quaint, but also jumping. The people are clear eyed – mostly blue and green – with brown to dark blond hair. I bought a replacement earring (my earring from Venice had broken and I had to replace it) and looked in vain for a place to go dancing. Satisfied with a quiet night I hit the hostel, watched the movie Taken (brilliantly retarded) with five girls from the hostel, had a nightcap and hit the sack. Showering early in the morning I hopped on a guided tour of Peles Palace (SPECTACULAR) Bran Castle (weak) and Rasov Fortress.

Peles is an example of wealth beyond wealth. Built from 1873 to 1918 the palace is decorated in intricate inlays of wood. There are no paintings. Instead, each portrait and work of art is made of between 10 and 20 kinds of inlaid woods, done in unbelievably intricate work. There are life sized detailed wood carved statues – the men are in decorated platemai. The wood is meticulously carved including the embroidery and embossing of the would-be steel. The intricate lacework of the wood continues down to the chain mail undergarments, each ring distinct and clearly carved. Outside of the entry hall there are long rectangular rooms, each representing a different culture from Italian, German, Swiss, Venetian, Spanish and French. Each room is made of materials imported from that area mimicking its greatest and most beautiful treasures. The Turkish room for example is a full room with every square inch covered in silk carpets including the floors, walls, ceilings, tables, chairs…everything in the room is embroidered intricate silk… Stunning.

In shock from the display and deeply saddened that I hadn’t paid the 20 euro to take pictures I wandered through the extensive gardens before being collected by our guide and lead on to the very disappointing Bran castle – nothing more than a weak, small, bare hill fort protecting a small unessential pass.

We made it to Rasov Castle and enjoyed the view as an afternoon storm rushed over the castle walls and covered everything in rain and storm. I had the driver drop me at the train station and started to Beograd.

Night trains aren’t sleeping night trains if they require more than three major changeovers, especially if those change overs require more than an hour’s wait at a station before the next train comes.

Grumpy, sleep-deprived and sore I arrived in Brasov after a delay in Gorna, Ruse, and Bucharest (eww). Leaving Brasov to come to Belgrade was just as bad…no wait…it was worse, but I’ll touch on that later.

Bulgarian trains are the way to travel, more comfortable and much more spacious than buses. They have the cabin layout on almost all of their trains, so a seat actually represents a bench seat in a cabin (much better than big commuter style airline seats). This factor combined with half empty trains yields plenty of space to lay down and stretch out. Nice. Cut out the transfers and you’re good.

Brasov to Beograd I was trapped in a commuter-style train stuffed to the brink with seats. There was little room and less comfort. To top it off, the train was stuffed with Romeni (gypsies). Paranoid about my gear, stuffed into small seats and uncomfortable I spent my first eight hour leg awake from 8pm until 3am. I caught my connection to Timisoara Nord at 3:15 arriving at 4:35 am and then my second connection to Beograd at 4:55 (5:55 Romanian time). At 8:55 we passed through Belgrade without stopping. Starting at the farthest suburb of Belgrade we worked our way back into the city arriving two hours later at Belgrade central. I’d met six Danes traveling together and joined in with them on their quest to find a hostel.

Green Studio Hostel located, we dropped our gear and I went out on a quest to discover Beograd.

I arrived around 9pm (closer to ten) in Veliko Turnovo, a classical city etched into two steep cliffs surrounding a winding river valley. The city itself is built on either side of the river with three distinctive fortifications. I ended up having to take a taxi to find the hostel I was looking for (the first three cabbies had no idea where it was). 2 dollars and 20 minutes poorer I was at the door. I met up with some folks I’d seen when I had been leaving Flag hostel, dropped my gear on my bed, and ran out to meet up with them. Apparently the castle was to have a laser and light show which was spectacular. The heavy rain and thick electrical storm above us canceled the show but nature provided us with one which was just as spectacular. Great arcing bolts of splitting lighting lit the skies behind the castle as the storm raged on. We’d taken shelter in a bus stop and made a dash back to the hostel. We had a few drinks and dinner in the kitchen area of the hostel (gorgeous home with five bed rooms, 3 big dorm rooms, outside patios, wood floors, rose gardens, wine cellars… really spectacular). Calling it a night we prepared to see the fortress in the morning.

The main castle is connected to the city by a narrow and heavily fortified path that leads to a central island splitting the river. It is flanked by the two smaller fortifications (which have not been rebuilt) and contains a small church. The entire area is undergoing archeological reconstruction and is being rebuilt to represent its ancient glory.

The church at the very top of the fortress of Veliko has been completely rebuilt and houses some of the most amazing new gothic christian art I’ve ever seen…bloody and tortured, the gothic style is mixed and turned with new age artistic flair. It’s 100% worth seeing. Really amazing.

From the church I turned and headed down into the city and across toward the main bus station. I found my ticket for the night train to Brasov Romania and then headed to the hostel for a night of rain, revelry and plain fun before catching my train that same night.

After some frustration at the bus terminal, I was told to board a bus that had left 15 minutes prior. Then, when I asked about the next bus to leave, the information booth told me I should go to each office and ask each individual company what time their next bus was (most of which spoke no English). I found a bus headed 5Km outside of Shumen and hopped on. I was on my way and an hour and 10 minutes later I was at Fifth Kilometer. I hopped off the bus, covered myself in spray-on deodorant and hopped across the road to meet Daniela and her husband. Greeted with warm smiles and happy Bulgarian hearts I climbed into the backseat and off we went.

We started by visiting one of the oldest cliff carvings in Bulgaria – a giant horseman (the Khan) with hunting hound chasing a lion carved into the cliff side below a fortress. From there we wandered around the caves and ancient fortified food storage areas on the cliffs below the fortress. After a hike through the forests we found our way back to the car and then had a leisurely morning brunch at a hotel overlooking Shumen.

From there we headed out to the first capital of the Bulgarian Kingdom. The ancient fortress (still being excavated) was massive. We toured its grounds, admired the thoughts of so many lives spent in these building and foundations and then, ice cream in hand, we walked back along the walls toward the car. We found some wild cherries still a little sour and gobbled them down as we enjoyed the beautiful Bulgarian plains land.

Leaving behind Bulgaria’s 1st capital, we headed to Shumen itself and one of the most magnificent monuments I have ever seen. It was startling, shocking, awe inspiring. A true monument to communistic times. Colossal figures breaking free of their cement confines represented 1300 years of Bulgarian kingship with each major ruler breaking their way free into the light.

We then headed to the nearby fortress before heading down into Shumen and enjoying the local girls walk by. Over a cold lemonade we discussed the trip, life, and how nice it was to be traveling and to see the difference between home and abroad.

Sated and ready for more travel I waved my goodbyes with a heartfelt thanks and headed off to Veliko Turnovo.

From Plovdiv I caught my bus and train connections toward Burgas and then Varna. At 2:14 am I was sleeping happily, stuffed under arm rests in my train car when my sleepy world was thrust into awareness.

A young Bulgarian girl maybe 21 or 22, knocked and then opened my cabin door. Noting that the other side of the cabin was completely empty she motioned me to sit up so she could sit on my half of the seats… thus disallowing my slumber. After nodding understanding and expressing that there was no way in hell I was moving when less than three feet away there was a bank of clean open seats she finally gave my foot a nudge and sat across from me flashing a big happy smile.

She then proceeded to lay down on her half of the cabin and curl up to take no more than a seat in a half. She was tiny. Serenity restored, I stuffed myself back into the seats and headed to sleep. We woke at 5:25 am and disembarked in Varna. I made my way through the sunrise of the sleepy beach city noting the flow of sobering beach goers stumbling back towards home or the next open bar. I made it to the hostel, dropped my gear and headed in.

Flag hostel was a shock, and a surprise. I was greeted at 5:43 am with a bottle of Vodka and a Vodka bong. The customary shot completed I was offered a couch until the others awoke. I slept out in the common room until 10:15ish before the first hostelers woke and gathered their belongings. I claimed a bed, dropped my gear, grabbed my shorts and headed to the beach.

I spent 5 hours on the beach and another 2 swimming before calling it a day, grabbing some beach food and heading back to the hostel. Hot, sunburnt, but happy (the beaches and beach goers were beautiful) I returned to the hostel for dinner… Vodka…and sleep. I woke early the next morning and left Varna for Shumen to meet up with a friend of Alex’s and her husband for a private guided tour of the central eastern part of Bulgaria.

I believe the last time I left you, I was heading away from Cappadokia and into the wide world of Bulgaria. Having finished my Turkish Bath in Nevsehir, I headed north the next day after my tour on the night bus to Istanbul. Staying an hour and 15 minutes the next morning wandering around the Otogar (Turkish for Bus station) I caught a connection to Sofia and bought a reservation for my stop in Plovdiv. I was excited and ready to reach Bulgaria and find a spot to rest for a bit. Plovdiv, housing a friend of mine from University, seemed just the place.

I pulled in around 4:30 and followed a local man who was working in Istanbul but grew up in Plovdiv. He’d helped me with advice on where to stay and what to expect of Plovdiv on the bus ride. We set off from the bus station and made our way to the central square – a giant communist remnant with a huge parade ground style square and a giant war memorial statue. A newer addition in the Square was a new millennium type fountain.

We walked to the tourist information center and got information RE: hostels in Plovdiv and where to go and what to see. I picked the Hiker hostel there, a quaint building with a spacious common room and GREAT internet access located in the heart of Plovdiv’s old town. Perfect location, great staff, and friendly hostelers mitigated the fact that the toilet was literally the shower (one drain in the room with shower head and toilet feeding off the same water line). It was clean and besides the free chair while taking a shower was nice…. hahaha.

I set out from the hostel and wandered the streets of Plovdiv, seeking nightlife and a lively spot to sip coffee and enjoy. I rested and recouped the first night, coming in early and enjoying my sleep. Day two I spent 6 hours getting my fotos, and over 60 video’s uploaded, taking advantage of a good connection (one of the very few I’ve found) I got my videos of Plitvice, Split, Dubrovnik, Albania and Turkey up.

That second afternoon I went out and met my University friend. She showed me around the city, got me a Bulgarian kabap, and led me to the open fruit market where I picked up some fresh honey. We walked back and grabbed ice cream and coffee before calling it a night. I spent the evening enjoying the night life, crashed and then headed to the bus station for my bus to the Black Sea coast!