Varna (not inspirational)

We had a little trouble initially finding the hostel but eventually after a quick stop in an internet cafe we finally found it and it turned out to be literally around the next corner. We were greeted by a pretty young Irish lad who seemed pretty much out of it. He kind of pointed at two beds and then the bathroom/toilet/shower thing and asked if we had any questions before disappearing again. We were a little confused because everyone had raved about the welcoming nature of the Flag Hostel. Never the less we ditched our stuff grabbed our beach stuff and headed down to the beach.

Nina got about 30 mins beach time before the already existing shade got even shadier and the sandflies became a bit too annoying, so we quickly gave up on that idea and decided to walk along the beach to find a decent spot for in between the rain showers the following day. After a fair bit of wandering along pretty unspectacular sea front we found a bar that appeared to still be open and grabbed a quick drink and then headed back towards the main town area. The whole walk consisted of passing what looked like what could possibly be some pretty awesome clubs backing onto the beach and bars over looking the coastline. Sadly though the majority of these were closed for the season and generally the condition they were left in just made much of the coast line look really rough.

We wondered around the town for a little while whilst munching on pop corn, there seemed to be a pop corn vendor on every corner and Nina did a fair bit of window shopping which eventually turned to proper shopping. Give her her dues though she had spent much of the trip resisting. However she had decided that Varna had now grown too cold and she wanted new thick jumper (I think this pulled her through the depression of not being able to sunbathe). That evening we headed to a nearby restaurant for a bite to eat and a few drinks before heading back to the hostel unsure of what was going to meet us. Just as we were opening the front door the Liverpudlian owner (Mike) asked us if we wanted to join them at a local club where most of the guests had decided to head to celebrate Lesley's birthday (a U.S guest who was kidnapping Eion the Irish lad to go to the Middle East and then Africa). Feeling a bit let down so far by Varna we decided to join them after ditching our stuff.

We followed Mike to the club commenting on the stupid positioning of the black shin high bicycle rack which was plonked right in front of the unlit club door. We ended up only having a few drinks but also having a really really good time. Turns out Eion was a really funny bloke and earlier had pretty much just woken up and Mike was a legend who loved traveling and everything about owning a hostel. That night we had a pretty good night's sleep however in the morning Nina did wake up pretty itchy. Unfortunately being a relatively small 6 person dorm we had slept with the window open and the mosquitos smelt a feast and by all accounts had an all night banquet.

Other than the mosquito bites the other more annoying thing for Nina and myself was the fact that it was absolutely teeming down with rain and it was also nowhere near 28 degrees. The optimism of the weather turning bright lasted about 30 mins and then we just spent the rest of the day bitching about the BBC weather report. Not being able to hit the beach in Varna during the closed season is quite problematic because there is relatively nothing else to do. We quickly decided that it wasn't the place for us and decided the day would be spent in two main places... the internet cafe and the bus station.

Getting to the bus station turned out to be quite a mission, we knew which bus to get but we did not know where from and the majority of bus stops helpfully did not display the bus numbers of those that were to stop there. We then got accosted by many taxi drivers - these guys are absolute muppets. After saying no several times and trying to get a rough idea of where to get the bus from we gave up and knocked the fare down from one of the taxi drivers enough to make the fee worth while. The other fascination they all had was the idea we were going to Sunny Beach. We had to say several times we just want to go to the bus station to check some times, this was usually met with the reply of 'then Sunny Beach'. Anyhow we followed the taxi driver to his taxi, which turned out to be clapped out old banger with nothing identifying it as a taxi whatsoever. Instantly me and Nina explained to the muppet that he was not a taxi and we would be getting the bus. Two minutes later we were on the bus and heading in the right direction.

Following from our routine which has pretty much been the same since we left Hungary we thought we would just check out what went where and book which ever sounded the most interesting, however we had previously decided we did not fancy Turkey or Greece. We went to the Eurolines office and was basically told they had nothing until 3 or 4 days time and then they only had Thessaloniki. We considered it for a while but the combination of having to spend another 3 days in Varna and going somewhere we were not that fussed about we decided to opt against that. We had a bit of a further look at the other booths at the station and quickly realised the only other option really was to head back to Sofia and see if we can catch a bus or train from there to some place else (I had Belgrade in mind at this stage). So we ended up booking tickets back to Sofia which was a seven hour journey (the longest we would have done by coach at that stage). There were several times to choose from but knowing we were going out again that evening to properly celebrate Lesley's birthday we opted for the 12:30 departure.

After this we headed back to Varna this time catching a bus unheeded by any stupid taxi drivers and headed to the internet cafe for a few hours to sort out a hostel. In the end we didn't bother booking the hostel but I had few fliers which we knew would mean we could find a bed with not too much trouble (yes despite the various mishaps thus far we were still confident in our luck). That evening we returned back the hostel to see what the plan was for the rest of the night. We were greeted by a common room which comfortably sits 4 people full of about 8 people all playing drinking games. We were invited to join in, but having not yet eaten we declined and headed out for grub but said we catch up later. After a quick meal and bottle of wine we headed back and there they all were plus a few extras (including Sean the hilarious Dutch guy) still playing drinking games. This time we could not refuse and we popped back out to a local mini mart to pick up our weapons of choice and a bit of a shopping list from those currently wrapped up in the game.

The drinking game after we joined went on for a further hour before it was decided that we would all head out to a local cocktail bar which apparently held the world record for the longest cocktail list. We got there about 20 minutes before it was due to close much to the annoyance of the staff who had done a pretty good job in emptying the bar. From there we moved on to the club we were at the previous night, again all carefully navigating the bicycle rack. We spent quite a while at the club and gradually people began drifting off back to the hostel. Eventually Nina and I also decided we'd had enough and decided to head back, so off I went totally forgetting about the bicycle rack and managed to shin it as hard as possible. My God it hurt but luckily whilst it was the same shin that met its nemesis in the depths of the Adriatic sea it was a lot lower down and this time there was no infection or blood just a lot of damaged pride.

The following morning we both woke up feeling as rough as hell and decided the ideal cure would be McDonalds. We said our cheerios to what turned out to be an ace hostel and headed on our way. Nina had managed to collect a view more bites and had finally conceded that the natural insect repellent and insect bite cream which she had purchased many months previously at the Kingston Green Fair was about as much use as a chocolate tea pot. We got our coach with plenty of time to spare but were slightly perturbed that there were no toilets on board, dehydration was the way forward.

Our seven hour journey was very familiar, passing by many sites we had seen on our way down and also actually taking a rest stop at Veliko. Finally though we arrived back at Sofia at 8 in the evening having recaptured the travelling bug we decided we would see if there was any way of heading straight out that evening. Quickly however the buses were ruled out as all the offices closed at 8 and we had arrived just as they were locking the doors. We thought we'd try our luck at the train station instead which joined onto the coach station. Success, there was a train leaving for Belgrade at 22:20 arriving at 5:30am the following day. We decided that was the train for us immediately and booked it. We decided we would grab something to eat before boarding the train and quickly found that neither the coach or train station catered that well for fussy vegetarians but eventually were able to grab a little something.

Varna came to us as something of a disappointment. I was initially opposed to going there because I knew it was quickly becoming a package holiday haven and expected rowdy tourists and garish hotels. That isn't what we found but what we did find was a town which needed the distraction of people to take away from what was overall a very bland place. I would not rule Varna out for those wanting to find a place where you can hit the beach during the day and the clubs during the night in high season, but if you want culture, somewhere to get lost in your thoughts or somewhere to simply explore give it a miss. Thank God for the Flag hostel, thank God for internet cafes and thank God for Etap the bus company that allowed us to escape boredom.

TTFN

Daz

The Old Capital

For once we had opted to book our tickets for a reasonable time of the day mainly because the journey was only 3 and half hours and we didn't feel we'd be wasting a day. The bus must have got all of ten minutes outside off Sofia before it sudden pulled over to the side of the road.There we sat on the bus for a good 40 minutes before an announcement was made in Bulgarian, me Nina didn't have a clue what was going on, but as people started gathering their things and getting off the coach we though best follow suit. Turns out the coach was suffering mechanical problems (we think a flat tire) and so there we sat for 30 minutes on the side of the road waiting for another bus to come and rescue us. In the meantime Nina managed to strike up conversation with a Bulgarian lady who spoke perfect english (she worked for the police in Veliko Tarnovo, our destination). She said to Nina that it was a common occurrence on Bulgarian coaches for break downs to happen. Whilst the wait was frustrating it wasn't too bad as for once the sun had found us and we were able to kick back and relax in relative comfort.

Once the replacement coach came along all went swimmingly.......for a while. Two hours further up the road the coach pulled in again, initial thoughts were along the lines of 'Ok, she said the coaches were liable to break down but come on.....' however on this occasion there were several other cars pulled in as well and up ahead we could see the odd florescent jacket. So there we waited for a further hour or so (gave me time to ring my bro on his birthday and find out that Romanian post was pretty good as the card I had sent whilst there had reached him safe and sound). Nina's new friend advised her that this time the delay was due to the fact that up ahead in the mountains was a 3 kilometer tailback and the police wanted to let it disperse a bit before more traffic headed up that way. By this time Nina had happily munched her roll (purchased earlier when I opted not to grab any food for myself) leaving me with the scraps, clearly my earlier decision making had been pretty poor.

After 5 and a half hours and several phone calls to the Hostel Mostel who were to pick us up from the coach station we finally arrive at our destination which initially seemed a bit too city light to be regarded as a student citadel town. We gave the hostel another call and in five minutes the guy was there to take us to the hostel. He suggested we never use the coach company again (as it happens the company was Etap and we were to use them a few more times without incident). Via a guided tour of the town we arrived at the Hostel Mostel and it was gorgeous. It seemed pretty small based on some of the hostels we'd stayed in but had a decent sized common room and awesome sun trap of a terrace and our room was plenty big enough for the two of us. The hostel was also located at the opposite end of the town to the coach station and was much more like what we were expecting.

After travelling for what seemed for ever we decided to chill out and freshen up for a while and just hang at the hostel for the rest of the day. However in the evening we headed out to a highly recommended restaurant with an American guy (Chris), and two English girls who were studying at Prague Uni and were on vacation. The hostel guy had pointed it out as we drove past it and said they do cheap, good quality large potions of food. Turns out everyone had been told the same and he was correct the food was awesome and the prices even better. Chris had been there a couple of time before and said he'd come just for a beer and that he didn't mind watching us eat. Turns out Chris was a pretty shrewd chap. We all ordered our mains and side dishes and as the portions came out our eyes all individually virtually popped out of our skulls. We all did our best but safe to say there was quite a bit left over so Chris happily tucked into the left overs and ended up just as well fed as the rest of us but all for the price of a beer.

After a good night's sleep it was time to tackle the Citadel. This loomed over the old town (the area where we were based). It was quite a steep walk over a bridge but the ruins and the views over the town were awesome. We wandered around these for some time before deciding to grab a drink as we were totally parched. Turned out all the drinks stalls were shut and the sun was just getting hotter and hotter. Nina ribbed me for this a bit as she had suggested we grabbed some water before going up the Citadel. Still we stuck at it despite the thirst and eventually reached the church which is centrally located within the citadel and up another very steep incline. This turned out to be a really worth while walk as not only was it really cool in the church but it was also decorated with some of the most amazing art I have seen in any church or cathedral.

It was a strange form of art and relatively modern, very dark for a church and not one picture of the last supper anywhere. It just seemed very unique and we spent ages just looking at the various scenes many of which showed people repent and others being punished. I guess you could say the art could even be seen as disturbing and it did make us wonder what Church this building actually belonged to, but still we really really like it and would recommend anyone take the trip up to the citadel to see it. It was a complete contrast to the glorious colourful murals we had seen a few days previously at the Rila monastery.

After making our descent we quickly located a cafe and quenched our thirst before heading into the main street in the town and back to the same restaurant we went to the previous night for a massive salad each. I wish I could remember the name of the place (we called it the globe restaurant as outside it was just decorated with hundreds of globes) because again the food was great (the service wasn't the best though). We continued wandering down the street and started looking in the estate agents (a habit we had picked up on our travels for some reason). Turns out you can get some pretty reasonably sized houses in the villages for under 20 grand, probably a worth while investment as Bulgaria seems to be going from strength to strength at the moment (our wallets stayed firmly in our pockets though).

That evening after having dinner at the hostel, this was included in the price and consisted of a beer and an omelette which was delicious, we headed back to the citadel but this time not to go up it but just to watch it. In the evenings if they have attracted enough paying customers they do a spectacular music and light show which illuminated the whole of the citadel with lasers and different coloured lamps and undoubtedly woke the whole of Veliko with the haunting music. The show went on for about half an hour and was absolutely awesome and even better didn't cost a thing as we watched it from outside the grounds and the view was just as good. We then went on to a local cocktail bar and spent a while drinking extremely strong 1 pound cocktails, that night we slept well.

The following day was our last full day at Veliko and we spent it looking around the town some more and wandering down to their main monument which consisted 4 of the greatest Bulgarian kings on horse back (Veliko used to be the capital of Bulgaria many moons ago). I spent a while wandering around the monument, Nina, fed up with all the walking, just sat nearby playing with a local lizard. Wandering back up past the main strip we checked out the bus times for the following day when we decided to head to Varna. We then headed into the back streets a little, in amongst which were loads and loads of little craft shops of all types. We also took a walk down by the river but this was a bit of a non event as it just ended up with us coming to a dead end and a rather small part of town. That evening we decided to catch the light show again, this time however there was no music and all seemed a bit of an anti climax. We were pretty chuffed we had caught it the previous night. Feeling that cocktails at 1 pound ago was too good an offer to pass up we headed to another nearby cocktail bar and spent the rest of the evening there.

The following morning the hostel staff called us a cab to take us to the bus station for our coach to Varna. We think the taxi driver was either drunk, blind or loved his car as he drove about 5 miles an hour all the way there despite the fact that we previously believed the speed limit was around the 70 mile an hour mark (town or no town Bulgarian drivers are crazy). This time we had a successful coach journey and 3 hours later were in Varna looking for our hostel. We had arrived there at about 2 pm on a glorious day and given as that the main reason we were in Varna was so Nina could chill on the beach for a bit we wanted to ditch our bags as soon as possible and catch a few rays as the following day the weather forecast on the BBC website said it would be around 28 degrees but slightly rainy.... how wrong were they???

Sofia....So good (hee hee)

So anyway we arrived into Sofia at around 6:30 having had a better sleep than our last sleeper encounter. However this still only meant around 3 hours sleep for me particularly. Nina seems to have become more relaxed with travelling at night and manages to drift off into a content kitten style sleep quite easily, me on the other hand can't manage more than around 30 minute bursts of sleep, don't know why but that's the way it is. The first thing that we needed when we got off the train was the loo, which we found easy enough. However finding a cash machine whilst walking with crossed legs so that we could pay to use the toilet was a different story.

Finally after finding a cash machine and just about keeping our dignity we headed out of the station knowing we needed tram 7 towards the town centre. We also knew we had to purchase tickets prior to boarding from one of the food stands in the station (thank you Lonely Planet). After trying several times to get tickets using the phrase book and all number of mimes a helpful local came and asked if we needed help, learning from previous experience Nina quickly said yes, just as I was ready to stick to my usual British stubbornness and say we were fine. The chap quickly manage to obtain two tickets for us and then proceeded to try and book us into a hotel. We advised we had a place sorted and he trotted off slightly dejected.

We found the tram stop easy enough and this was when the fact that Bulgarians wrote everything in Cyrillic first became a problem. We knew which stop we had to head towards and get off at however we only had the name in English and no way of knowing what this looked like in Cyrillic (the Lonely Planet helpfully provided directions and a map but absolutely no Cyrillic whatsoever). Anyway we took a guess and managed to get on the number 7, (numbers luckily look the same) ten minutes later we got off in the middle off nowhere and purchased two more tickets (using the old tickets and the international sign for 2 whilst waving money) and got back on the number 7 this time in the right direction (Doh!). At this stage despite being knackered we managed to see the slightly funny side off this.

Getting off of the number 7 at the right place was again a tricky enough task, so we waited until we saw the big cathedral and hopped off there for we knew this was central and on the main street to upon which our hostel was. Using the Lonely Planet map we headed on foot along the main street and back towards the station. The map showed that our hostel was right next to the 'Spring Well' where locals would fill heaps of bottles with water. We found the spring well after a few wrong turns and were relieved that we were nearly at the hostel. Little did we know that pure frustration was just around the corner (unlike our hostel). For the next half hour to forty five minutes we walked around the spring well, around the nearby synagogue, around the local streets looking for the hostel. Nina left me with the bags and went for a five minute wander but had no luck, I left Nina with my bag and went for a ten minute wonder and I too had absolutely no luck. After getting totally wound up by this situation we finally decided to give the hostel a call, here is how the conversation went....

Me: Hi is that the hostel Mostel
Hostel Mostel (HM): Yes Hostel Mostel hello
Me: Great, we have a room booked with you guys but don't seem to be able to find you at all.
HM: AH! are you using the 'Europe on a Shoestring' directions.
Me: Yes, the Lonely Planet.
HM: Uh, yeah they're wrong.
Me: Pardon?
HM: The Lonely Planet they have us wrong, we tell them, but still it's wrong.
Me: (through laughter, although it may well have been tears) Hmmm, that's great, how do we find you?
HM: Hold on a tram's going past
Me: Hello.....hello.....hello
HM: Ok so where are you?
Me: We're by the fountains and the synagogue
HM: Yeah, you have quite a walk, we are 15 minutes further away from the station.
Me: The train station?
HM: Yeah
Me: Ok, do we walk towards or away from the city centre?
HM: Oh we are maybe 300 meters from the city centre....

From then on he gave excellent directions to the hotel and I made a mental note of each turning we had to take, land marks he gave were the golden arches (McDonalds naturally) and a giant Milka sign. By this stage we were so shattered, uncoordinated and generally beaten that when we walked for 20 minutes and saw the train station in front of us I am surprised neither one of us threw down our bags and got the first taxi to the airport to fly home. Around we turned and marched back the opposite direction refusing to get a tram due as punishment for our general stupidity, on walked past the fountains, past the stop we had originally got off of the tram at, right at the McDonalds, left at the biggest Milka chocolate sign ever and suddenly there before us was the Mostel Hostel sign. The real sucker punch was that it was about 200 meters from where we had originally got off of the tram about an hour and a half previously.

We got checked into the hostel relatively easily, only sobbing a little when we were told we were allocated in an apartment about 500 meters from the main hostel area, Ninas sobs got louder as we had to scale 3 flights of steps to our room, but when we finally got there we just collapsed in a relieved heap. Four hours later we woke and decided to take on Sofia for real, but not before dumping the now detested Lonely Planet guide and grabbing in replacement Hostel Mostel's own map complete with Cyrillic and English street names and also all of the major sights to see.

Sofia is a beautiful city to walk round, more so when it is not stupid-0-clock in the morning and you don't have a 15kg backpack on your shoulders. We did a complete circuit on our first afternoon there taking in sights such as the Court House, the mineral baths (under renovation, much to Nina's disappointment, I have promised her a Spa at some point on this trip), the spring wells (again...in a better mood) and the cathedral. We didn't chose to actually enter any of the sights but the walk around them was stunning enough. At one stage behind a Russian church, the description of which mentioned amongst other things the exquisite Plastic interior (we believe this was a translation error but never ventured inside to find out), we found a little market selling an array of different items from arts and crafts to instruments and war memorabilia. Worryingly there were many stalls that we selling items covered with the Swastika (knifes, hip flasks, guns, medals the lot). It was both strange but interesting looking through these various stalls. At one point I had asked Nina to buy me a beaten up accordion from one of the stalls, as she reached for her purse I remembered myself berating her with the phrase 'you buy it, you carry it' every time she looked in a clothes shop, and quickly advised her it was a joke.

We spent a good 4 or 5 hours wandering though the city and its parks with various communist and post communist monuments which are found amongst skate parks, fountains and quaint little cafe/bar huts with 'fussball' and pool tables outside them and both decided that we really really loved the place, there was such a good friendly vibe. That evening we headed into town and found a good little restaurant and had a bite to eat and then headed back to our room as we had decided to head out to the Rila monastery the following day and that meant a relatively early start.

Oh it was nice to sleep on a normal non moving bed again. The following morning we headed to the main hostel to grab breakfast and wait for instruction on who was going to take us to the Rila Monastery which was about 2 hours drive away - turns out the hostel managed to find Nigel Mansel. We spent most of the journey holding in the contents of our stomachs, closing our eyes and praying that were actually going to make it in one piece to the Monastery, whilst Dimitri (a fellow hostel guest chatted happily away to Nigel). Safe to say we did get there in good time and good shape and despite the hair raising trip and only having two hours there we were stunned. The Rila Monastery is amazing so well kept and so beautifully decorated, it seen as something of a shrine to many traditional Bulgarians. It is seen as being the main reason that Bulgarian culture, language and bloody alphabet was able to continue to exist through years of Ottomon rule. In my opinion, the culture and the language was worth saving, the stupid alphabet on the other hand......


I managed to enjoy the journey home a bit more than the journey there, feeling that, despite not being religious, going to a monastery has got to count for something. Either it did or I was just lucky but we made it back to Sofia in one piece. One thing I didn't realise was how mountainous and green and rural Bulgaria was. The journey back from the Rila Monastery really opened this side of Bulgaria up to me and my prejudice views that I held of Bulgaria all but evaporated. I had always though of it was the new up and coming Spain or Majorca due to the massive influx of British tourists since the early nineties and when we first looked at heading towards Bulgaria I had originally been quick to shrug off the idea, now I wanted to stay and explore.

That same evening we headed to what is billed as the Bulgaria TGI Fridays merged with Hooters for a spot of food. Turns out the food is nowhere near as good and as for Hooters -pah!. We knew also that the following day we would be moving on so we figured we'd go for a few drinks as well just to see what the night life was like. I left Nina in charge of this part and she came up trumps with her choice, the 'Budda Bar' located in a mini square amongst hotels and casino's (Bulgarians appear to love their casinos) and here we drunk away our night and learned quickly not to order doubles in Bulgaria as a single is 50 ml. Obviously we needed to do this a couple of times to make sure we were right, safe to say we slept well that night.

The following morning we hit the road again sad to leave Sofia and the awesome Mostel Hostel behind but excited to see what its sister hostel was like in what was billed as laid back student town with Citadel. The journey was to take 3.5 hours by bus, Nina suggested we grab some food to eat on the way, I opted out and just grabbed some water, this turned out to be a bit of a mistake....

Where the legend began

Our train journey from Brasov to Sighisoara was relatively uneventful in the end, but very very beautiful. As mentioned previously the train line cut right through the mountains occasionally passing tiny rural Romanian villages. Less beautiful was the method of boarding the trains as this generally involved jumping down from the platform cross the tracks and boarding from another platform. Watching Nina tackle this was quite amusing, even more so is her method of disembarking, which basically involves her sitting down and sliding off as the drop apparently is way too high (bless).

Luckily we did actually manage to find our stop OK. I had a rough idea that it was coming up because I caught a glimpse of its medieval citadel through the train window and secondly because Sighisoara turned out to be one of the only stations we came across that actually had a station sign.

We arrived in Sighisoara with no accommodation booked and only the Rough Guide to direct us. Most of the details in the Rough Guide discuss the sites within the Citadel so all we had to do was get to the Citadel and we figured we would be home and dry. As we left the station we were delighted to see a big blue tourist information sign across the road. However when I entered all I found was an empty restaurant. Somewhat confused I walked back out again and we stood outside for 5 minutes or so wondering which way to go. Eventually who I assumed was the restaurant owner popped his head out asked if we were looking for food or information. We apologetically advised we wanted info and he helpfully gave directions to get to the Citadel (It seems a lot of people in Romania like to use the Tourist Info sign whilst not really being a Tourist Information Office. Never the less once he came out he was really helpful.). Ten minutes later after traversing many pot holes and road works we were inside the Citadel and knocked on a nondescript green door which we knew to be a highly recommended hostel (Lonely Planet Guide).

We knocked for some time but there was no answer. As we were doing so a little Romanian girl popped her head over a neighbouring fence and asked perfectly if we spoke English before telling us that she also had a room. We politely said we wanted to stay at this hostel but if we had problems we may stay with them (doing the typically British thing of not trusting anyone). There had still been no answer at the door so we decided to try the handle and it opened into a very dark corridor. There were still no signs that the place was indeed a hostel and we opted to stand in the door way shouting hello rather than going in. Eventually a sweet old lady came along out of the dark and advised us that she had no rooms left available. Whilst we were a bit disappointed (the hostel had been given a great write up) we weren't too panicked as there were other hostels recommended in the book.

We turned on our heels and headed away from the house to go to another hostel we had passed and suddenly the little Romanian girl who had popped over the fence was along side us just asking if we would at least look at the room. She also had a leaflet with her this time giving a few details. Cautiously after a quick glance at each other we decided we would go and have a look. She took us back to her place and showed us a gorgeous little self contained apartment with private facilities, and even better for Nina at least there were cats everywhere (nice ones not the usual vermin) including two kittens. After that we didn't take too much convincing and the girl's mother was along shortly to take payment. After popping our bags down and freshening up a little we headed back toward the centre of the Citadel to see what we could find.

With the Citadel itself there are dozens of little cafe restaurants and many souvenir shops, but all of these were tastefully decorated so that the true rustic medieval feel of the town remained. The roads were either cobble stones or gravel tracks and around the town there were a few signs apologising for the road works that were going on at almost every corner. Whilst it meant you had to watch where you stepped (not being a nanny state like the UK, people are expected to use their eyes to see that there is a hole in the path rather than have it pointed out to them by a dozen signs) it did not cause any inconvenience what-so-ever.

We spent the first day just wondering around the citadel diving into little side streets when we found them and nipping into the various shops. We both really really loved the citadel and it took away some of the disappointment that we had felt at Bran. Whilst being really nice and friendly there was still an overriding sense that the place did have quite a sinister connection which they really liked to exploit (the house where Vlad Tepes lived for an early part of his life is now a restaurant called Casa Dracula). In the centre of the Citadel is a small square where there are four or five little drinks stands and dozens of tables (we could imagine it being really vibrant in the heat of summer), but being wrapped up nice and warm we decided to sit there for a drink and just chill for a while.

After a few minutes we heard some familiar London voices and turned round to see the lads we had met at the previous hostel in Brasov. They joined us for a drink before heading off to a restaurant for some grub and Nina and I headed back to our room to change. We all made plans to meet up later in the evening to sample the local night life. Turns out there isn't really a night life as such. However within the city walls there is a club which Nina spotted earlier in the day so we all decided to head there. Listening through the heavy door all we could hear was a television, and unsure as to whether we about to crash some ones front room cinema or whatever we cautiously edged through the slightly ajar door. Inside was a bar and about a dozen or so locals watching Pet Detective Two dubbed into Romanian (we all laughed at the same points so they obviously made a good job). To the right of the bar was a pool room and basically that was our hide away for the next 5 hours or so. The London lads did advise us they were pretty bad at pool as did we. Turns out they were worse and at the end of a very enjoyable evening we wished them well on the rest of their trip and headed back to the hostel.

The following day we had to move rooms and the lady had advised us they only had a room for one night. However she had helpfully spoken to one of her friends who also had a room and we were taken to an equally nice apartment behind one of the shops and this was where we spent our final night in Sighisoara. We headed back into the the centre and decided to visit the 3 museums that the Citadel housed. The first was a 3 room exhibit that had an impressive collection of various medieval weapons with the occasional english translation. The second one we visited was the clock tower museum, which displayed a range of different articles from furniture to weapons and finally at the top the workings behind the clock itself. We got to the top at about 10 minutes to 2 and decided to hang around until the hour mark to see what went on in the workings when the hands moved and the bells chimed. As it got nearer and nearer to the hour mark the anticipation built and built to uncontainable levels and then.....not much really - a few cogs turned a bit more and a bell rang twice (ah well). Making our way back down the extremely creaky stairwell we knew there was only one museum left to hit and this was the one we were most excited about, The Torture Museum.

We found the museum but were gutted to find that it was shut, so we hung around for a while before deciding to grab a drink and head back in an hour or so. So an hour later we went back to the museum door and it was still shut. Eventually Nina plucked up the courage to go and ask the woman form the medieval museum if it was to open at all today. She made a quick phone call before telling us 'yes it opens now'. We nipped back round the corner and to our delight the museum was now open. We paid, entered and found ourselves in a single room with a stretched ladder, which had a note attached advising it was a rack, a hangman noose, some chains, a foot torture thingy and hand torture thingy. Having paid out the entrance fee and being stuck for much to do due to the fact that the relentless rain had found us again we stretched our time in the museum out as long as possible, but after 5 minutes decided to head out, however having paid the equivalent of 20p each - we saw the funny side.

That evening we decided to head to Casa Dracula for a bite to eat. The restaurant was excellently decorated. In the corners were full armour sets, there were mock chandeliers, pictures of Vlad Tepes and very scary looking waiters (although I think that was just coincidence, still it added to the atmosphere). We then proceeded to have probably the worst meal on our travels thus far complete with a relatively raw pork chop (reminded me of the raw chicken Kiev incident back home in Kingston). The following day it was time to head away from Sighisoara. We had really enjoyed being there, the place is tiny and there is not much to do but it was an excellent place to chill out and just wonder for a couple of days. We booked our train tickets to Bucharest and 30 minutes later were on our way.

Arriving in Bucharest we found ourselves in a massive station with pretty much nothing by way of signage. However eventually we found the exit and immediately regretted finding it and secondly loved the fact that we had only decided to stay one night. The station seemed to be pretty much surrounded by glue sniffers and alcoholics. Wanting to get away from the station vicinity as quickly as possible we found our bearings and headed in the general direction of where we believe a highly recommended hostel (Funky Chicken) was. After several wrong turnings, what turned out to be around a 2 km stroll and quickly descending darkness we found the hostel only to be told that they had no beds, but she could recommend another hostel right next to the station (Doh!).

We headed back to the station and once again managed to get lost a few times, eventually a local lad came up to us and asked if we were looking for Villa 11 (this was the hostel that had been recommended). Having grown very tired and cold we didn't really bother with the cautious typical English approach of saying we were fine and nodded enthusiastically. The lad said he'd take us there for $5. Sadly I only had Euros so I gave him 5 of those and he took us to the hostel the long way. Basically he had caught us just before the turning for the hostel, we were probably 20 steps away, and led us around the block ( we only discovered this later when we went to grab some food, again we saw the funny side of this and had to admire the guy's skills). The Villa 11 was a pretty unwelcoming hostel a long shot from the previous places we had stayed, but we didn't care it was just a bed for the night that we wanted and we knew we were definitely getting out of Bucharest the following day.

The following morning we decided the first trip would be to find the international train ticket office. We found this and within about 30 minutes had our tickets to Sofia booked for about 30 quid each, again we had booked a sleeper service and this time we were really looking forward to it. Sadly though the train was not until 19:39 and it was only 10 am. Not wanting to venture too far we decided to try and find a locally advertised shopping mall and waste away as much time there as possible. Turned out it wasn't really necessary as we spent about 2 and half hours trying to find that whilst also try to find a nearby Ikea (desperate times, desperate measures and all that). Eventually we found a nice restaurant serving traditional American cuisine (that's right McDonalds) and killed a bit of time there and at a nearby Internet cafe before stocking up on crisps and vodka for the 11 hours night time journey ahead.

We spent the first few hours of our train journey playing cards and sipping on Vodka and Fanta. We knew sleeping would be pointless as passport control would be along at some point as we crossed the Danube into Bulgaria. The train guard obviously had more respect for his trains doors and so ensured everyone's were open before the passport guys boarded the train (wishing to avoid the same door splintering action of the Budapest - Brasov trip). Turns out passport control between Romania and Bulgaria is pretty stringent and we were stopped on both sides of the border for a good hour and a half each.

We had been warned that finding your way around Bulgaria is a whole different kettle of fish to anywhere else we had already been due to the fact that they seem to use the wingdings font as their alphabet. Of course we shrugged that warning off, after all we had a hostel booked and our Lonely Planet book to give us directions to it. Whoops!!!


TTFN

Daz

In The Pursuit of Dracula

So we caught our train from Budapest without incident, except from the station being in the grottiest part of town, much like Paris's Gare du Nord. We found our wagon and then our cabin and were some what confused by the extra bed that was within, did this mean we would be sharing with a random??? We sat in the station nervously waiting for a knock on the door which never came, amazingly we had asked for the right thing and got ourselves a private cabin (couchette, not sure of the correct terminology). Shortly after leaving the station at around 17:30 the guard came and took our tickets and disappeared. Then for the first time really on our trip I got a little bit apprehensive, thinking that we were going to get scammed into buying another ticket or just dumped in the middle of Hungary or Romania. After a few hours this fear subsided as I realised the guard had taken everyone's tickets. We spent the first few hours playing cards until passport control attempted to knock our door down (they just knocked really, but they meant it!). Just as we had settled down 40 minutes later again our door almost splintered as passport control mark 2 wanted to check things out.

At around midnight we thought it would be best to try and get some kip, then we started wondering whether we would get woken by the guard at our stop or not. Just in case we thought it best to set an alarm, then we got confused by the time difference. Firstly whether there was one (yes there was) and whether the ticket showed the arrival in Romanian or Hungarian Time (Romanian time). Anyway after about 3 hours of restless sleep my alarm woke us up, and an hour later the guard did indeed give us a knock and informed us we arriving into Brasov ( his knock was nothing compared to the passport control (1 and 2) so probably would not have woken us).

Arriving in Brasov at 6 in the morning we got to watch the sun rise over the nearby mountains, a moment somewhat lost by our sheer tiredness and aimless wondering. Luckily my spidey senses were in good order and the Lonely Planet had good directions so after catching the correct bus (assisted by a really kind taxi driver) and a 40 minute march and a bit more help from the locals we found our hostel (The Rolling Stone). We buzzed the buzzer and were greeted by a very sleepy hostess. She was so nice considering we had woken her at about 7:20 in the morning and she really wasn't a morning person. Paper work was filled in quickly and she located two spare mattresses and told us that we needed to sleep and that she would see us in 3 or 4 hours. She was right and 4 hours later the world seemed a brighter warmer place again and the chances of me and Nina killing each other had somewhat subsided.

Brasov is regarded as Romania's most popular city and given its small size compared to many of the cities we have visited thus far it is a reputation they have done well to gain. Within the city there are two squares the Piata Stafslui which is surrounded by a mixture of bars, restaurants and banks. There is a helpful tourist information centre, housed in a 15th century building which was once a torture house for prisoners, slap bang in the middle of the square. The second square (Piata Teatrului) is a fraction of the size and can quite easily be missed. However off it you will find what was advised to as the 'First Romanian Primary School'. We took a look - it seemed to look more like a church, but regardless of what it was it was still gorgeous. Also off the smaller square was our hostel.

Other notable sites in Brasov are the black and white towers which again we only saw from the outside (although it is tricky to tell which was the black and which was the white tower). They also have what is billed as one of Europe's narrowest streets 'Str Sforii'. We hunted this down with relative anticipation but rather than finding a 'Shingles (York)' style street we actually found an alleyway. That's right people no house, no shops, no quaint sticky out windows from which you can shake hands with the residence opposite, just an alleyway, pah! However a bit further along is the stairway to the Tampa Cable Car which for a couple of quid takes you up Mount Tampa upon which you will find awesome views over the city, a restaurant (which incidentally we ordered two beers at and are still waiting for them) and also the Hollywood-esque Brasov sign.

One thing we did notice about Brasov however was a distinct lack of bars and traditional restaurants. There were some but not as many as expected. However our hostel had its own basement bar run by a brilliant dutch guy with a habit of offering absinthe to anyone that walked in the door. We politely declined and Nina stuck with 'Dracula Vodka and Orange' and I alternated between beer from the biggest selection I've seen and his special cocktails one relatively harmless green, mint flavour one called 'Vampire' and one deadly red, Campari and Vodka based cocktail he called 'Dracula', so we felt our needs catered for. The great thing about this bar though were the people we met within, a German guy who spent an evening telling us about his many travels including to England in the 1970's (sleeping in the middle of Stone Henge and all that) and motor bike trips to Norway with his son. Two Finnish girls who were slowly getting wasted whilst writing about 20 post cards to friends and family and bunch of London lads (now residence of East Sussex Uni who were driving around Eastern Europe - we were to meet them again later in our trip).

Brasov is a really nice city but you do find yourself wondering what else the city has to offer other than that already discussed. Well the answer is not much however nearby are two tempting little villages, the first we visited was Bran. Bran is home to the supposed castle within which Dracula resided according to Bram Stoker. Obviously we couldn't miss the chance to visit this so we checked out bus timetables and headed to the bus station. After 30 minutes in the rain our bus turned up. However this simply was to take us to the main bus station 15 minutes away, where we had to wait much longer once again in the teeming rain. Eventually however we got our bus and after a 45 minute drive got off at what we assumed was Bran (not many signs anywhere). We were right (luckily), the rain however had got even harder (really building up a nice authentic feel). We dived into the nearest shop and managed to acquire two umbrellas (Nina is rubbish at sharing an umbrella) using impressive charades-style miming.

After finally taking the plunge back into the rain we manage to catch a good view of the castle and to be honest we were pretty disappointed. Not as many spires as expected and no real sense of anything sinister. We paid our 1 pound to look around hoping to find something a bit more 'Dracularish' but instead we got to see loads of pictures of an old princess, pretty dull to be honest. However the castle itself was really a pretty cool building. After an hour or so we decided it would be best to head back to Brasov, the hostel and dryness but not after having a quick drink and a look at a few of the stands and stalls. At the back of one of the buildings we came across a walk through a ghost house (proper fun fair style) with grisly looking ghoul patrolling the entrance gate, on the sign we were advised of a 10 - 15 minute horror trip within which we will face Dracula, Werewolves, the undead in general and Satan himself. Feeling some what let down we decided we might as well give it a shot get the knees knocking a little bit at least, so we paid our entrance fee and started our stroll. Expecting mechanical ghosts to pop our every now and again we were totally freaked out when the first live actor rose from a grave. This did indeed begin for Nina what was quarter of an hour of hell as from room to room people jumped out at us. I did my best with the no jumping be brave malarchy whilst Nina used the tried and tested method of screaming, swearing, say no (firmly but politely) and then hitting them with an umbrella. This seem to work pretty well for most but not for Mr Satan as he had his pitch fork, which was much longer than Nina's umbrella. Me being keen to get back to normality strolled on ahead, quickly releasing my hand from Nina's bone crushing grip when she decided to freeze with fear. She did politely request that I stopped Mr Satan from jabbing at her with his trusty pitch fork but I thought it would be better just to stand and laugh. Eventually we did get out and quickly order two beers to calm the nerves, sadly the bar man misunderstood and we ended up sharing a pint off of a table shaped as a coffin.

The second near by village was Rasnov, this was about half the distance from Brasov as Bran was and on the day we chose to go there the weather was much nicer which was great for two real reasons. Firstly being a Sunday we hadn't realise that once we had got to the main bus station we would have to wait 2 hours for a bus (we spent this winding up the stray dogs by discretely whistling, probably not wise really) and secondly Rasnov is a citadel based on top of what would certainly become a very slippery (Durbrovnikesque style) hill/mountain. Rasnov also had its own Hollywood style mountain decoration so this time we new for sure we had the right stop (kind of). I didn't realise Nina needed a ten minute warning that we needed to get off the bus and so we did miss our first stop. The Citadel itself was really worth seeing, the views from the battlements were amazing and also within the walls were an impressive medieval museum, a second museum which seemed to just house sketches of various tortures and a semi covered real human skeleton. There was also a 169 metre (apparently) well which they had got two Turkish prisons to build with a promise of release once they had completed the task....it took 17 years.

We had really enjoyed our time in Brasov however the true highlight didn't come until the last night when the hostel organised a trip bear watching. Basically Brasov is encircled by mountains and forests and on the outskirts there a few large housing estates with communal bins from which the bears have decided to feed from. So we all bundled into the back of a people carriers hoping to catch site of a few real life wild bears, the first few spots we went to all we saw were bear behinds (he he). However eventually the driver found a great spot where there was a whole family feeding (what we assumed was a mother bear and 3 cubs of varying size). The police were there ensuring the bears were not disturbed and that no one took photos with flashes at all. We stood for about an hour a matter of 5 metres from the feeding bears and were chuffed to bits.

In all we had spent 3 and a bit days in Brasov and in truth that was probably about right what with the trips to Rasnov and Bran, when it came time to move on our plans altered again slightly and instead of heading to Bucharest we decided to head back up the same track we had already come down to go to Sighisoara (check the map, we really are rubbish at route planning). What laid ahead was a 4 hour train journey through rural Romanian in daylight, absolutely stunning tiny villages in the middle of nowhere, whole families travelling by horse and cart and, worryingly, plenty of train stops with no signs whatsoever. How on Earth were we going to know when and where to get off the train???

TTFN

Daz

Budapest on one leg

Well the first few days were really chilled and I said we were really beginning to like Budapest, but it was time to find out if there was more than nice food and nice hostels. After chatting with the hostel host she was able to recommend a trip down the Danube (which separates the two sides of the city) and we both agreed this was a good first step (hop). So we headed on down to the river and for around 3 pounds each took a hour long sight seeing tour, which took us from just after the Elizabeth bridge (currently being renovated), past the impressive gothic Parliament building around the Margitsziget island and past the Buda side of town where the impressive castle stands upon a massive hill. All this was with a reasonably price refreshments bar and an excellent English commentary, really good value for money, really informative and highly recommended.

After the boat trip feeling the recently digested pain killer taking effect I suggested we head towards an ornately decorated building to check it out. Turns out this was a massive indoor market, selling everything from meat and veg (loads of paprika) to tablecloths and chess sets. We spent a good few hours wandering around the various stalls (mainly running away when some one attempted to engage in conversation, 2 days of relative isolation obviously had affected out confidence slightly). Upstairs in the market hall there are about a dozen food stalls. Nina grabbed a falafel (fussy vegetarian) and I just pointed at some meaty sludge and a concoction of spuds from a traditional Hungarian stand and tried my luck. Still couldn't tell you what it was but it was good and about 1.50 including a drink.

We headed back to the hostel to rest up before heading out again for another awesome meal. Mine consisted of several meats include the local speciality of goose liver. Nina chanced a vegetarian speciality which seemed to go down well (but then with vegetables there is no real risk are there?). Feeling buoyed by our first sites of Budapest beyond the first few closely located streets we decided the following day we would hit another tour, this time on the bus, this of course was to take place after moving to a slightly less expensive less roomy hostel.

We found are new hostel quickly and were somewhat perturbed by the dilapidated building and we had to press buzzer 13 to enter. Wandering up the steep stairs with backpacks in tow, we were beginning to think our luck of choosing nice hostels had run out. But No! once we entered we were greeted by a really friendly member of staff and shown to a really nice small double room. She even did our washing for us for about 3 quid so we were obviously chuffed (finally we would look semi presentable again).

The bus tour cost about 8 quid each but this was for a 24hr hop on hop off tour, again really good English commentary. Sadly though no windows just open spaces and considering the fact that the British weather had once again hunted us down occasionally the tour descended more into a log flume style affair. We did a loop and a half of Budapest picking out possible sites to visit. Before finally alighting near the infamous Terror Haza (I had spotted this attraction in the Lonely Planet book and desperately wanted to visit it). This oppressive looking building was the old head quarters for the Arrow Cross agency of Hungary's brutal past. It had also been used as an office and prison for various dubious but horrific government agencies of their grim past. In all truth we got there a little bit late so had to take a rather brisk walk through but still found it a very interesting eye opening experience (accompanied through by some of the scariest communist style gloom music ever). The place literally sent shivers down the spine, everyone generally knows a bit about the KGB, Gestapo, SS etc but I was not aware of the Hungarian equivalents and struggle to understand why, I mean these guys were pretty mean.

After leaving we planned to cheer ourselves up with a trip to heroes square but as it was still teaming it down we opted to get the metro back to the hostel to chill before heading out in the evening. The following day we decided would be our last full day in Hungary and so we planned to head firstly to Statue park and secondly to Heroes square before heading to the river for a meal.

Getting to statue park was a mission (25km from central Pest), basically you could pay extra and get a direct coach or get there using public transport (a metro, another metro, a tram and then a bus). Feeling adventurous we opted for the second option and quickly regretted it, but we soon found our feet and in the end were glad of the experience. Statue Park is a really great place to head to - it is basically where, after the fall of communism, many of Budapest's communist memorials and statues were taken to (rather than just destroying them). It stands not as a celebration of the era but more a memorial of the past they had endured. Regardless of what the statues stood for they were magnificent objects and despite the continuing rain we had a good hours or so looking around the park. Getting back to town was a little easier.

We headed straight over to Heroes' Square, the weather taking its toll a bit and the 2km walk causing a little discomfort (should have taken the tram again really, Doh!). Once we got there we were dead impressed (and dead on our feet). The square has a huge 3 piece monument, 2 pieces containing Hungary's past monarchs in various glorious poses, the 3rd is a huge pillar atop of which is the Angel Gabriel (guardian of Hungary). This made Trafalgar square look a bit dull, and much to Nina's relief there were no pigeons.

That evening we took a meal by the Danube (not living the high life, but food there was just so cheap and so great). It had got on a bit so many of the restaurants were closed. However after finally finding two open we had quite the decision to make. Option A being an authentic British pub, option B being a Hungarian restaurant with surly looking waiters. We weren't read to sit with Brits again just yet so we took option B and immediately thought we had made a dramatic error. As we saw, once seated, a string quartet heading in our general direction (felt sorry for the guy on double bass having to drag it back and forth across the restaurant). Luckily though they had their targets locked on a neighbouring table. Unfortunately one of the guests felt she could sing along and the quartet new many Andrew Lloyd Webber numbers. We momentarily considered asking the waiter for extra bread just to stick in our ears. Once again though we did have a really great meal with a lovely bottle of Hungarian white wine.

We checked out of our hostel on the last day but left our back packs whilst we went to find out how to get to Romania. The initial plan was to head to Bucharest but for some reason we changed our minds and decided to head to Brasov instead. A decision we would later come to regard as one of our best thus far. Sleeper train tickets successfully purchased we stocked up on water and snacks for our first experience of an over night train in Europe (11hrs ish), having being sleeper train novices we had a rather interesting experience ahead.

We had loved our time in Budapest and I would strongly recommend anyone young or old to head here as soon as possible. Full westernisation will shortly follow and Budapest may start to lose some of its charm.

TTFN

Daz

(still loving it)

Buda....Pest (really is two different places)

By time we had touched down into Budapest I was in a fair bit of agony and we had nowhere organised to stay and not a clue what Hungarian was for doctor. Nina (bless her) did try at the tourist information booth in the airport and was pointed in a certain direction. This ended up being the pharmacy, so we did our best there exchanging pointed words in each of our phrase books. They looked at my leg, pointed to Hungarian for bite. I shook my head, riffled through the book for the Hungarian word for rock, and they laughed, they then gave me an ankle support and a cream of some sort!?!

We decided that was the best we could do and opted to give it a few more days and then if my leg was still swelling we hit the local A and E department. We headed off to the airport internet café to book ourselves a hostel. This was done with pretty good ease once we established that Buda and Pest are two different clearly defined parts of the city. After consulting the Lonely Planet guide we agreed that Pest would be best for two reasons it was where the bulk of the functioning City is and also it is a lot flatter that Buda where the castle and various other historical attractions are (mostly up a massive hill).

We booked the hostel and as we were leaving realised that we had wandered directly past the airport doctors several times. So we rang the buzzer and was greeted by a Hungarian nurse who beckoned us in and sat me down before calling the doctor in. The doctor looked at my leg and simply uttered "ah beautiful". He advised that I needed a course of antibiotics straight away and took Nina with him to the same pharmacy we went to before. Apparently he took a look at the stuff we had been already given and said it was useless, but I'm sure we'll find a use for them. Whilst Nina and the Doc were away the nurse was applying all kinds of lotions to my leg, only one of which I recognised as Iodine, the other ones hurt like hell. Along with her constant tuttings, temperature takings and pity filled glances (I think these were meant to be reassuring), I had expected her to produce a rusty saw and start hacking away at me.

In all honesty though the doctor and the nurse that sorted my leg out were brilliant, so nice and through their broken English and general nature I felt very comfortable (if ever you happen to injure yourselves whilst travelling do it near Budapest airport!). As we were about to leave the doctor took my passport to note down my details and spotting that it was in fact my birthday that day, he wished me happy birthday and gave me some extra strong pain killers advising that they were instead of a cake.

Eventually we grabbed a taxi and got dropped off at our hostel, the apologetic looking hostel host looked at my leg and awkwardly advised that our room was on the 2nd floor and they had no elevator. Still we managed to scale the stairs and got to our room which was massive. It had a kitchen, shower room and everything and we were pretty chuffed as we knew at this stage a lot of time was going to be spent in the room whilst I recovered.

We then spent the next couple of days simply chilling out in the hostel, me waking up taking some of the special pain killers and antibiotics before promptly falling back to sleep again. In the evening I would hit the pain killers again and we'd hobble to a nearby street (Raday) for dinner, and we both agreed that the food was amazing in presentation, taste and price (highly recommend the Trattoria Caffee). Even in these little evenings out we were starting to really like Budapest, the people were all so friendly and the atmosphere in general was really vibrant.

Croatia on the rocks

To the amusement of the other guest on our row of 3 seats on the plane, Nina and I manage to fall asleep before taking off and barely wake up until after we landed (no vodka this time). However in the fleeting moments that I did open my eyes I did see the Dalmatian coast in all its glory, islands, mountains the lot, and it is gorgeous from the air.

We touched down into what is possible the most efficient airport ever and within 10 minutes of hitting terra firma we had our bags and we were waiting for our pre-arranged hostel transfer. I had actually managed to give the wrong time by about an hour but they had checked my flight details and were waiting for us. We informed that we would actually be staying within the city walls. We thought this was great and sat back relaxed for a 30 minute transfer along windy mountain roads.

One problem about the walled city however is that it is totally pedestrianised. This meant that we were ditched at the gates with a map with a sketchy blue biro route drawn on it and a set of keys with a number 2 on it. Kyara (our hostel manager I guess) then told us we would be unable to check in until 12 noon. Given that it was 8:20 and we had barely slept more than an hour in the past 36 hours we were a little gutted but at the same time thought this would be the case anyway.

After walking (the type of walk where you don't lift your feet, look up or talk) about 15 minutes, on shiny marble pavements and up shiny uneven steps (hundreds of them) we found our hostel and dumped our bag packs and attempted to find somewhere to chill. After a while we found a net café and spent 2 hours in there. Following that we went and grabbed a bite to eat (desperately trying to kill as much time as possible) and got attacked by wasps. Luckily Nina's a smoker and the poor little mites soon got too dozy to really bother us any more. Eventually at 12:30 we headed back to the hostel to find that our room was still a complete state. Just as we were about to crash anyway a lovely Croatian lady came up to clean (fumigate) our room. We shuffled out the way and sat on the steps to wait. Within 20 minutes the place looked brand new and finally we could get some kip.

Croatia had not really been on our list of must sees but as my parents were there on holiday for a week we thought it would be great to meet them for lunch (sounded cool to meet up for lunch on the Dalmatian coast). Safe to say on our first day we were far too knackered to do the parent thing (if you met my dad you'd understand) so had a quiet meal before sleeping some more after making arrangements to meet up the following day in Lapad where my parents were staying.

The following day we got the bus to Lapad. We had been promised beaches and relaxation so we were quite looking forward to this. After missing the bus stop to get off at and then as the bus looped back on itself only just spotting my mum frantically waving from the correct stop we alighted and did the customary hand shakes and hugs before heading down to the 'beach'.

We headed down to the shore line not to be greeted by golden sands and the Adriatic but rather craggy rocks with little bathing areas some naturally made, some cemented in place. Still it was the sea and I was going in. Nina had also been longing for this but then confessed to having a fear of the sea (apparently more of rocks) and that she would rather just sunbathe. Well I wasn't having that and so egged her on in an almost bullysom fashion to get it in and damn well enjoy it, explaining that there was nothing to be scared off. Shortly after I managed to shin a rock on my way out. Safe to say it hurt like hell, bled a fare bit and little did I know it was already busy getting infected (lovely).

We spent a good four or five hours just chilling by the 'beach' before making arrangements to meet for food later that evening and head back to our respective dwellings - ours being the Dubrovnik Youth Service Hostel and the parents being the Grand Hotel Park (we took at peak at this and left thoroughly jealous, of the facilities, the bed and the awesome Adriatic view).

Dinner was fun and it doubled up as a birthday celebration for my good self. One thing that I can recommend is the sea food in Croatia. My mum and I shared a seafood platter and it was amazing. Food in general is relatively cheap but the cost of the wine soon boosts the price up.

Having already been in Dubrovnik 2 of the 4 days we were staying we felt on our 3rd day we should get out there and see a bit of the old town. This we did by taking a walk around the city walls (in the rain). This is well worth while doing as it offers many different views over the town and cost line. However I would recommend you avoid it if you have a rapidly swelling leg, or shoes that turn in to ice skates in the rain (Nina!).

I would have to be honest and say that we did not do too much else in Croatia. However one thing that you quickly notice is how amazingly well this country is doing for a place that was totally war torn a little over 15 years ago. (On that point you do have to wonder what the reasoning was behind building a fortification right at the bottom of a mountain, a fault exploited by the opposing forces who at one stage shelled Dubrovnik constantly day and night only allowing one 15 minute let up).

Nina was slight miffed as to why when the renovated, repaired and patched up Dubrovnik they used such slippery stones, but in truth apart from the slipping hazard it does leave a really nice clean touch to the city. Dubrovnik is somewhere to come if you want to eat good food and relax, however if you were looking for sand and more to do generally you would be better off heading more towards Split. We did enjoy our time here but had to agree it was our least favourite destination so far, possibly because it was so different from the cities we have and are planning to visit. It came across very touristy and you did have to look hard to find a touch of the real Croatia, still it was great to see the old folks.

Oh Vienna

We arrived into Vienna slightly giddy from our in-flight drinks. Forty minutes into the flight they came around with the trolley and Nina readily purchased a vodka and orange for herself and also vodka and tomato juice for me (Bloody Mary, the drink I fly by). We were then given a double shot of vodka each and our respective cans of fruit juice. Just as we kicked back to enjoy these, the seat belt sign went on and we were advised we would shortly be landing, necking a double vodka and juice at altitude having not yet eaten at 2 in the afternoon is never the best idea.

The great thing about Vienna Airport is its proximity to the city itself, (16 minutes by shuttle train) despite it apparently being in Slovakia (some one told me this, had no chance to validate it though). Having neither of us ever been to Austria and neither of us speaking German we thought it would be great to travel there without any organised accommodation (duh!). With the burn in my belly from our in flight luxuries I though it would be great to head straight to the Westbarnhoff Station and just walk around until we came across a hostel (Nina obliged despite looking longingly at the in-station Internet cafe). After ten minutes of wandering in a largely uninspiring part of Europe with our backpacks on in a decent heat Nina virtually staged a sit down protest and I conceded that it would be best to find an Internet Cafe. This we did readily and within 30 minutes had a hostel around the corner booked for our only whole night in Vienna.
We wasted the rest of our day wandering around the main street directly in front of Westbarnhoff wondering why the hell we had decided Vienna would be a cool place to come. We then remembered that it was only really booked as a stop off point. After grabbing a bite to eat at a pizzeria (we found it hard leaving Italy) we headed back to the hostel and hit the sack.

The following day we decided we would take a longer wander and take a few trams (having purchased a 24 hour tourist travel card for 6 euros the previous afternoon). After a bit of a trek we came to one of the points of interests that we were both up for seeing, the Sigmund Freud museum. Oh my god it was dull dull dull, give this place a wide birth, we were expecting a bit of info on his bizarre and not so bizarre theories but instead we got his suit case, a walking cane, some home movies and a guide book that read like an essay by a fresher. Leaving this totally zoned out I decided we should head over to the Holocaust monument. Amazingly this too was a disappointment, the monument which consists of a block made of sculptured books in a large undefined square seemed to lack any real sentiment.

Having almost given up on finding anything of interest in Vienna we hopped back on the tram and after about 5 minutes we were surrounded by massive breath taking buildings all adorned with amazing sculptures. We seized the moment and alighted for a look around. This area was amazing. Located near by were concert halls, parliament buildings, opera houses and a butterfly house. Nina dragged me in but it was worth it (don't see so many butterflies in the city, not like the good old days in Thatcham).

We spent a good few hours wandering around this area before stumbling across what was advertised as a green festival (in truth it was really a beer and food festival). Knowing we had no accommodation for the evening (we were going to sleep at the airport) we decided we would chill in the park next to the festival and soak up some of the local produce, before heading to a near- by restaurant for a slightly intoxicated late meal. Calves brain was on the starter menu but I resisted.

We took our time with the meal before heading back to our hostel where we had left our luggage, just in time to meet the 11:55 coach to the airport. Turns out Vienna airport isn't party central at 00:30 am. So after having a stroll around we found a nice comfortable cold, steel, narrow bench to try and kip on. Turns out Nina had no problem with this, me on the other hand not a chance! Still it gave me plenty of time to have a think about what exactly I could write about Vienna.

In truth we both initially thought Vienna was a very dull place (certainly during the day). However this view shifted slightly on the second day and if you like to go and just take in the sights without actually doing too much Vienna is a good place to visit. However if you go for more than 2 or 3 days you may end up twiddling your thumbs a fair bit.

Finally at 5 am our check in desk opened and we crawled over and ditched our back packs before going through passport control (turns our Vienna has some very 'interesting' shops on the other side of Passport control!). Next stop Croatia for some R and R (best laid plans and all that).

TTFN

Daz

Romeo and Juliet

Obviously my writing isn't quite up to Shakespearean standards as yet, so it's unlikely that I will have a city as fond of me as Verona is of old Wills.

On arriving in Verona by train (Stazione Centrale) we took a bus to a hostel Nina had used once previously. It's a gorgeous 16th Century Villa, converted into a hostel with several large single-sex dorms. Sadly it was also up the side of a mountain, but the gardens and views were amazing so I didn't give her too much of a hard time about it.

The main street in Verona (via Mazzini) is much like any famous street in Europe (Champs-Elysées, Oxford Street etc.) with its numerous high class label shops and boutiques. To come to Verona just to shop would be nothing short of criminal. Being in Italy we obviously brought a slice of pizza each and went for a wander (Nina has told me numerous times that this is one of her favourite cities and that she had been there many times before, however I did begin to doubt this when it took for ever to find any of the major sites, and Veronians don't like to use signs). Eventually we located Casa di Giulietta which we visited the following day. It's here that the famous balcony in Shakespeare's work stands. There is also a bronze statue of Juliette who now has a very shiny right breast due to a superstition that if you give it a rub you will be lucky in love and life.

During our stay we also came across the 1st century Amphitheatre in the Piazza Brá, which is renowned as one of the best if not the best example of a Roman Amphitheatre, and Gladiator quotes aside it is an amazing structure. Even more amazing is the fact that they still use it for entertainment purposes, but sadly rather than gladiators fighting to death the choice of amusement is opera.

Usually on this bank holiday weekend I would be at the Reading festival, however instead I had been coerced into going to the opera and seeing Aida. I was highly sceptical but we went armed with 2 slices of pizza each and a scrumptious red wine (albeit in a plastic bottle) and proceeded to get blown away. It certainly wasn't the Smashing Pumpkins or the Red Hot Chili Peppers but it was still absolutely stunning.

On our penultimate day we took a local coach to Lake Garda, about an hour from the train station. The journey took us through some amazing scenery of vineyards and olive groves. I had my very own guided tour from Nina who had "repped" there for a summer season a while back. Lake Garda is beautiful, there is amazing food being served everywhere, virtually all the restaurants have views over the lake with the foothills of the Dolamites in the background. And the whole area was so laid back, one to recommend to any one who wants a bit of relaxation, good food but the opportunity to get a bit cultural by taking day trips to both Venice and Verona (perhaps catch the opera on an organised coach tour?).

Next stop Vienna (lots of V's in this period of travel).

TTFN

Daz