Category: Balkans
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Keeping Up to Date
A quick note on my current application status and development of opportunities involving the U.S. Peace Corps
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Pest!
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…
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Buda and Pest
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…
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Sarajevo – Bosnia
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.…
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Beograd – Belgrade!
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…
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Brasov – Romania – Castles, Vampires, O.o
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…
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Night trains… To Brasov, To Beograd… Or not to
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…
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Veliko Turnovo
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…
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Daniela and Shumen:
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…
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Varna – Night trains and cute little Bulgarians!
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…