The Magical Mystery Tour

So any way up we got at 5:30 which felt strange as usually when we´ve been up at that time it has been because we`re on a train and panicking that we have missed our stop, a quick look outside told us that the weather was going to be pretty nasty and knowing that we were going to be visiting gorges and mountains, flip flops were quickly ruled out as suitable foot wear. This meant squeezing back in to our trainers that still had half of the previous days rain in them.

It was about a 30 minute walk to the meeting point for the excursion and after some searching we finally found the right place, a few luxurious coaches pulled up but we were repeatedly advised that they were not for us, eventually our minibus did turn up and we were quickly on our way. As soon as the bus was in motion that was it both Nina and I were out cold, sleeping to the soothing sounds of a very high pitched talkative Russian lady who was irritatingly lively for that time of the morning.

About 2 hours had passed and we were back up on the gorgeous mountain roads, this time in full on daylight and they were just as beautiful, we then pulled into what looked like a lay by and everyone disembarked, we didn´t initially realise it but this was our first stop and where we had actually stopped was perfectly located to look down into the gauge and see an unfortunate rusting wreck of a car that had obviously fancied a bit of rally driving through the mountains and failed to judge the road quite right, either that or it was simply blown off by the winds which had Nina clinging onto me for dear life as I perched over to get some photos.

After 5 minutes or so everyone started boarding the bus again and we took it as meaning our time here was up and again we set off onto our next destination, we didn´t have a clue where it was going to be, turns out that it was CetinjeMonastry. As we went to get off they told us how long we had there in Serbian, we asked if they could tell us in English and suddenly every one was just staring at us. Turns out the mini bus was full of Serbians, Russians and Ukranians and that there was in fact a tour guide who had been talking pretty much constantly since we boarded, we were totally clueless to this fact and promptly felt guilt for sleeping and me in particular for listening to my MP3 player. They all thought it was hilarious though and did there best from then on to help the guide, who understood English but did not speak it, as much as possible, a notable star was the bus driver who had a passion for Only Fools and Horses and kept quoting his favourite lines.

By time we had got to the monastery the rain had started and as we entered the grounds it got heavier and heavier (clearly we were not wanted there), our 30 minute stop got condensed down to 15 minutes and by then people had taken the snaps they wanted, doused them selves with holy water and seen the church where St Peters remains are and were now in the minibus seeking shelter, the bus driver found it hilarious that we came from England but did not have water proofs with us.

On we carried through the mountains be for coming to what was billed as a spectacular lake where you could take walks around and look out for the local wildlife, (eagles, bears, Lynx etc) the Lake itself was more like a large puddle (we did judge it a bit based on Lake Garda) and with the rain teaming down like it was neither man or beast were up for spotting or being spotted so once again the obligatory snaps were taken and we were back on the bus within 15 minutes.

After more winding roads we reached the Tara Bridge which spans the gorge which at up to 1300m is the deepest in Europe and I believe the second deepest in the world after the grand canyon. For once everyone seemed to forget about the rain and walked across the bridge taking in the amazing views all around, it was truly stunning and Nina actually managed to make it across without crying, although she did stay well away from the edge. I had been hoping they did bungeeing from the bridge, it would be an awesome launch pad, but sadly they don,t and my feet remained firmly on the ground.

We headed further up the mountains after the bridge to the 2nd highest town in Europe, as we were making our way up the rain got heavier and heavier, the drivers vision got worse and worse and Ninas grip got tighter and tighter, when the first bit of thunder sounded I thought my are arm was going to get ripped off, this town was to be our lunch stop (nit inc.) We parked up in what we guess was the car park although it would easily have passed as a river and dashed across to the shelter of the restaurant. Hear the leaky roof problem was evident again, the rain was literally pouring through at certain points, however in the middle was a roaring log fire and that provided enough warmth ans we ended up staying there for a good few hours. The restaurant (Javorovača) was in an amazing setting and the food was even better, Nina had some cheese pie concoction where as I had the best lamb i have ever tasted (Lamb cooked under rocks), it was also at this restaurant that the irritably lively Russian decided we were her new best friends and she chatted away constantly, luckily a Ukranian couple were able to translate for us and basically we found out she was 70 and had been white water rafting a few day previously and before that she went water ski. We were in fits of laughter on hearing this and the fits of laughter quickly turned to tears of laughter as she got up from the table did a bit of a dance and then walked around in a circle patting her backside shouting Ruski Ruski Ruski, she was great!!!

The was one more stop after the meal and this was at the Black lake which due to the weather was not really any different to any other lake, but the bus driver did advise us that on every other trip he had done it had always been glorious sunshine and the lake does look really black, we took his word for it, took a photo and got back on the bus quick sharp, it was time to head home.

The bus journey home was a white knuckle ride comparable to those which you find at Alton Towers or Thorpe Park. The mountains that we had drove along earlier were now virtual water falls, the tunnels we went through all began with a sheet of water pouring down in front of the opening and once inside there were even more waterfalls on both sides of the road and down the middle, I had images of the rusting car that we had seen at the bottom of the gorge earlier in the day flashing through my mind and was grateful that our driver had enough skills to keep the bus on the road.

We had one rest break on the way back to Budva, I sought refuge in the smelliest toilets ever whilst Nina got harassed by the Russian lady, there were Pomegranates growing on the road side and the Russian lady was pointing at them saying ´granite´, Nina would then say ´Pomegranate´ the Russian would reply ´Granite´and so on and so forth for some time, eventually though Nina had the woman saying (in between hysterical Russian laughter) ´Pomegranate´, I guess you had to be there to appreciate it but i found it hysterical especially when the Russian women the punch Nina in the arm and walked off.

We were meant to get back to Budva at 9ish however we got back a 7:30 it was clear the trip had been curtailed due to the weather and although we saw all the sites listed many of the stops were reduced down however we did care one bit, we had loved absolutely every minute of it, the driver, the sites, the restaurants, the crazy Russian lady everything. However now when we here a squeaky Russian voice a flush of panic does come over us.

Montenegro

God only knows why we chose to do a bus journey down to Montenegro. There were trains that would take us four fifths of the way, I guess we figured it would be easier to get on a mode of transport and stay on that mode of transport until the end. Anyhow the bus it was, we booked it to take us from Belgrade down to Kotor. Shortly afterwards we found out that there really wasn't much in the way of accommodation in Kotor and a neighbouring town (Budva, not the beer place) seemed to be more accessible and a bit livelier. Luckily our bus took us past that destination on route to Kotor so we decided we would hop of there.

Apart from not being able to sleep at all in the upright position and constantly getting pins and needles the bus journey turned out to be awesome. Leaving Serbia we expected a delay going through passport control, however it appears on this particular day they forgot that Serbia and Montenegro were now separate countries and the only presence of passport control that we saw was a chap who boarded the coach at one of the rest stops, stood at the front and simply cast his torch over the bus once, the same went for the Montenegro side of the border too. Anyway back to this spectacular journey.

Ask anyone that has known me whilst I have grown up, particularly my parents, and they will confirm that I am the worst traveller on the roads and my travel sickness has always been the signal that showed the commencement of a good family British holiday. Which is maybe why I found this journey so amazing, I mean after all I spent the majority of the scenic trips we took (Lake district, Dartmoor etc) with my head firmly in a plastic bag. Once we crossed the border the whole journey seemed to become mountain roads all beautifully lit up by nothing but the moon. We were winding in an out of tunnels simply carved through the mountains (no lighting) and along roads which on one side had mountains and the other a deep deep gorge for what seem like for ever. After travelling through Podgorica, which is the capital but also possibly the only eyesore in Montenegro, the journey and scenery seemed to get even better but I think this was more to do with the sunrise catching the gorges and the mountains in all the right places. Sadly I don't hold anything close to the vocabulary that I would need to do the journey justice, but trust me it was amazing, by far the most beautiful I have ever been on.

We hopped off the bus at Budva bus station, the bus driver helpfully tried to get us back on the bus stating "No, Kotor...Budva", eventually though we managed to communicate that we were aware of this and had had a change of plans. Getting out of the station we were harassed by dozens of women offering accommodation. However we declined as we had already secured a hostel for the night. We both delighted to find that Montenegro used the Euro and that we had some change left in our bags from a previous Euro friendly country, as this meant the usually crossed legged dance to the ATM was not needed before we could use the loo.

The hostel we were staying at was the Hippo Hostel and we decided to walk rather than get a taxi to the hostel which was just over a mile away. After 25 minutes we were at the hostel, things were just going too smoothly for us (a) we managed to book a hostel (b) we had money for the toilets (c) we found the hostel without getting lost once. We arrived at the hostel and the host let us know that all was fine but the room would not be ready until about midday. It was by then about 9 am, so we ditched our bags and went for a wander, found some breakfast and then found the gorgeous coast line with awesome beaches. We carried on wondering for some time heading towards the old town which is housed, wait for it....in a Citadel (woo hoo, we like these). The old town was about a 25 minute walk away but we managed to reach it just as the heavens opened and not just a little bit, this was a proper cloud burst.

At about 12:30 we got back to the hostel looking like a pair of drowned rats, the host looked at us apologetically, we just shrugged and advised her it was probably our fault as the weather has been crap everywhere we had been really. Her next words seemed all to familiar "there is a bit of a problem with the room we HAD for you". It seemed things had returned to normality, the host informed us that unfortunately the room we were due to stay in floods due to a leaky roof and the weather reports suggested that the next 36 hours was going to see the most rain fall of Montenegro for a good few months. Me and Nina were so used to this though and resisted hitting the panic button. The host then advised us she had managed to secure us a room across the road. 15 minutes later we were in a 3 star en suite hotel room with a balcony and T.V. We decided we liked there being problems with our hostels, the alternatives and the solutions are always so great!

After showering (how ironic) we took a long nap until the evening when we headed to a local family owned fish restaurant. Leaving our room we were delighted to see that the rain had stopped and although now night time the temperature had warmed up. We got through most of our meal before the rain started once again. We managed to make our drinks and dessert last just long enough for the rain to calm down a bit. We left just as the chef finished mopping up the water which had come through the kitchen ceiling (seems roofing is a problem here).

The following morning the weather seemed quite a lot better but still not beach weather so we went for another walk to the old town. This time we felt we could enjoy it a bit more as we did not need to worry about draining, en route we booked an excursion for the following day which would take us right up to the national park. The old town was much more residential than some of the other citadels that we had visited, but there were enough shops, restaurants and sites to make it tourist friendly. It was nice because it was big enough to be interesting but small enough to keep away the masses of tour groups that swamped Dubrovnik. We took a walk around the city walls and also the town walls which were cunningly presented as two separate attractions meaning that they could charge twice. Still the charge was minimal and the views were gorgeous so we didn't mind. That evening we headed back to the same family run fish restaurant and shared an awesome fish platter between us. I thought it was delicious but due to Nina's disliking of squid and there being about 12 of them on the platter I can safely say I have had my fill of them for this year and many more. We headed home relatively early as we had a 5:30 am start the following day for the excursion.

The alarm woke us and astonishingly there was no rain. However shortly after leaving Budva that all changed, this made for an awesome day out, which I will write about in a separate post, it was really that great...

The following morning we were due to leave having already extended our originally planned stay of two nights. However we woke up in no mood to travel and when we opened the doors to be hit by glorious sunshine and heat our minds were made up, if the hostel would have us we were staying. Nina went to investigate and was given the all clear, 30 minutes later we on the beach chilling out and soaking up the rays. This was what Nina had been desperate for since the disappointingly (and painfully) craggy coast of Dubrovnik. This is what Varna had failed to provide us. It was really great to have such a lazy day and that evening we wrapped it up nicely by cooking in the hostel, (they were going to have a barbecue but had to spend the day hunting a rat which had managed to gain entry) and munching our food whilst watching Family Guy DVDs and Sin City (can someone explain that film to me please).

As much as we had loved Montenegro the following day it was time to move on. The hostel phoned us a taxi and we got to the bus station in time to catch a bus to Dubrovnik. No we weren't going to stay there but that was the only way we could get to Split. It was time to give Croatia a second chance.

TTFN

Daz

x

Belgrade and beyond

We boarded the train and quickly located the guard who directed us to our couchette (we were slobbing it this time). We soon found that we were in a room with very poor lighting, this greatly impeded out chances of playing cards which had become customary on our train journeys and instead Nina read by torch light and I just chilled (literally) with my MP3 player. Two hours into our trip we wondered whether we had booked tickets to Serbia or Siberia as the temperature seemed to plummet and then plummet some more. Eventually we conceded that the very tatty prison issue blankets given to us by the train guard would have to be used.

Passport control was pretty extreme on the border.We got ours checked at least 6 times, we had the customs guy, we had the guy who just looked at them, we had the guy that stamped them, we had another customs guys and so on and so forth. Amusingly each time they came in they looked for the light switch of course each time they tried we told them the light didn't work. This also meant leaning out of the cabin into the light of the corridor so they could compare our mug shots with reality. Each time we thought it was safe to close the door and get back to freezing to death another official would come along. One got particularly excited when Nina, hastily looking for the passports which had been packed away for the 4th time that night, managed to knock her earring out. That was it - the torch came out and our cabin was thoroughly inspected. Still they were nice enough and let us in so all was well.

We arrived into Serbia about an hour later than expected which had us going through the customary panic of 'are we the last stop, have we missed our stop, where the hell are we', and of course once again the toilets were high on our priority. Once again we had no local currency, once again we could not find an ATM in the train station and once again we had to hold it until we acquired funds to pay or until we had found the hostel, which incidentally we had not booked.
We quickly found an ATM and knowing the success rate we have had using Nina's card each time we arrived in a new country, I went to withdraw some money. Sadly the ATM did not want to play that game, cross legged panic briefly commenced again but for once Nina's card worked first time. (Nina's bank has been a source of much frustration and she had mentioned several times she is going to visit her bank manager upon return to close her account). For once as well we actually found a hostel pretty quickly too although upon arrival we were slightly unsure as to whether they had a bed for each of us or not.

We had previously picked up a few hostel leaflets for Belgrade from other hostels we have been too and figured we had enough of a selection to not have to worry about booking one. This wasn't actually as risky as it sounds (at all bus stations private owners are waiting to offer you good priced rooms). The first hostel we went to was up 3 flights of stairs, we plonked our bags down and asked if they had any beds for a few nights. The reply we got was a slightly unsure 'yeah, we should have'. We did try finding out for sure, but simply got just a vague response and then a colleague chipped in with 'we always have beds...'. We got told to come back around 12 and they can sort it all out.

As it was only about 7:30 by that stage we headed in to the city centre and the place was dead (but then of course it was, it was 7.30 in the morning!!!). We wandered aimlessly for some time before locating the main street and heading down to the fortress. In front of the fortress is a massive park which seems to be the key morning jog spot for the locals. We resisted joining in and found a bench over looking the river and daydreamed for an hour or so. After a bit more of a wander we felt the rumble of hunger approach so decided to head to a cafe for some food. We ended up eating a massive pizza each at 11 o'clock in the morning (I promise I am trying to eat properly mum). The pizza went down well though due to the fact that as mentioned before Sofia train station wasn't exactly bustling with eateries and our initial hunt for food on arrival at Belgrade train station resulted in me getting a stale salted beef roll and Nina getting some kind of cheese pie which seemingly had been cooked in a tub of lard, urgh!

When we got back to the hostel (this took some time as we managed to get lost despite acquiring a map from the tourist info office) we were relieved to see that the hostel did indeed always have beds and headed to ours for a catnap. Nina took the nice safe ground bunk. I on the other hand got lumbered with the 2nd bunk on the unstablest bed ever, the side that faced the middle of the room had a 6 inch high, 1 foot long barrier to prevent me from rolling off in my sleep which considering the other side (on the only bunk that did not rest against a wall) had absolutely no barrier just some rickety old windows to help break my fall onto the Belgrade side walk, I was quite grateful for. Fear alone was enough to make sure that I didn't move a muscle at night.

More refreshed we took a longer wander through the streets.It just so happened there was a big kids basketball event going on whilst we were there so we watch a couple of games of 3 on 3 which were played on courts we saw getting rolled out earlier during the day on our morning wanderings (Serbians take basketball very seriously).

The following day we headed back to the fortress this time to go to the military museum which was very proud to display parts of the US stealth bomber shot down in 1999. The military museum was really really impressive, covering comprehensively all forms of arms and armour from the medieval times right up to the end of the first world war. For some reason though there wasn't anything on the second world war (did they just keep their noses clean?). It jumped right from 1919 to 1999 and the NATO action against Serbia alongside the fragments of the stealth bomber were fragments of the cluster bombs NATO were alleged to have illegally used during their 70+ days of aggression (Serbians words, I'll remain on the fence until I've read up a bit more). Coincidentally the day we chose to visit the museum was also a special European culture day in Serbia which meant we got in for free woo hoo, unlike the torture museum in Sighosoara though we would have been happy to have paid.

Also in the grounds of the fortress is Belgrade Zoo. We did um and ah about this for a while knowing that many many foreign zoos seem to lack the knowledge or intelligence to look after animals in a humane way however we are happy to say that generally we were impressed with the enclosures, one or two were a bit shabby, there was one particularly peed off Panther, and some snakes that need to be out of there quick sharp, however the others seemed pretty well kept. Highlights included the most laid back Kangaroo ever, some extremely bouncy wolves (which one dopey bloke decided to give a metal pole to, the wolves proceeded to growl, grab the pole and scare the #£*" out of the bloke) and a hilarious chimp who taken exception to a few blokes pointing a laughing for a bit too long decided to spit at one and hit the target perfectly.

That night we experienced the first travellers we actually wanted to kill and unfortunately they were British. You see we have by now stayed in many hostels some times in private rooms and some times in dorms and people have always been civil. Yes they may go out until 4 in the morning but upon returning generally they are aware that other people are in the same room and sound asleep, not these muppets though. In they came at 4:30, totally spaced and a noisy as you like, they then proceeded to have an argument amongst themselves before eventually settling down. Turns out in the morning both Nina and I were equally narked with them and both had it in mind to get up particularly early and make as much noise as possible, sadly though they had an early train to catch and beat us to it. Not to worry though we sent enough bad thoughts their way (rant over).

On our third day in Serbia we took a bus to Novi Sad. I was dropped a hint about going here before leaving by a guy who had recently been to the ever increasingly popular EXIT festival which is held in Novi Sad's citadel grounds. Because we hadn't slept too well the previous night (I won't start again) we got there later than planned but still had about half a day there. We spent about a quarter of our time waiting for the right bus to get us from the main bus station to the town centre When it eventually did come it drove for all of 5 minutes and we were there. We then spent the next quarter looking for the bridge which would take us to the Citadel, Lonely Planet guide failed us again here due to crappy directions. Eventually though after asking at a local bar and with the assistance of all 3 staff members we found the old town which along side being simply stunning was also adorned with dozens of elaborately painted cows (I'd seen something similar in Brussels about 5 years ago). From there it was quick walk to the bridge and then an up hill struggle to the citadel. We broke the up-hill part up a bit by nipping into an Irish bar which was deserted.

The citadel itself is massive although not overly spectacular. However we did find an awesome restaurant at the top which we decided to eat at and enjoy the view and the sunset. On the way back down we passed a couple of lads who were picking lose bricks from the path way and throwing them onto the roads below (it was reassuring to see not only Britain has chavy little tykes), eventually we made our way back to the bus station to grab our bus back to Belgrade.

On our fourth and final day we spent the morning booking a hostel in Montenegro (Hippo Hostel) which seemed to have a shortage of reasonable priced places to stay and sorting out our transport there, this time we opted for an overnight bus (why, why, why). The bus was booked for 9:20 that evening so we had a bit of time to kill and amongst other things we visited the National Bank of Serbia which had a really interesting exhibit on the history of Serbian/Yugoslavian money. A history of money not that interesting right? Wrong, what with the hyperinflation suffered in the late 80s and the change from democratic governments to communist governments and back again there was a lot to learn. We also got our own mug shots printed onto Serbian Bank notes (very amusing).

Both me and Nina were a little unsure about going to Belgrade for a few reasons including not knowing much about it except a little while ago they were the bad guys (but Slobodan was long gone now) and that a lot of people we had met had said they found it pretty dull. We were both surprised that it actually turned out to be a really vibrant lively friendly place, it's not exactly cheap but it is affordable and it is really really interesting, despite recent history they have grabbed westernisation by both horns and are making a real good go of things. It was mainly our enjoyment of Belgrade that led us to opt for Montenegro as the next stop on our trip however this, the newest country in Europe and possibly the world, turned out to be completely different.

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