Berlin 27-28 July 2010

Berlin 27-28 July 2010

On first impression Berlin seemed a bit bland. The post war reconstruction gave the city a uniform look that had no resemblance to Prague, Vienna and Budapest. Although knackered I forced myself to go straight out sightseeing once I arrived in the early afternoon. Went down to the Brandenburg gate and sat outside the Reichstag for a while….pretty sweet had been wanting to go there for ages. The holocaust memorial was one of the cooler things ive seen on the trip. A grid of different size concrete blocks forming an endless maze. It somehow seemed to sum up the magnitude of the horrors of the event, although most people there were using it as a playground and playing hide and seek…oh well everyone greaves in there own way I guess.

Then decided to walk to 2km or so through the park to the Siegessule. It was hard work and my reward for my efforts was a monument entirely covered in scaffolding…..gutted Went to take a photo then decided it was pointless…Spent the rest of the evening wandering around town near the hostel and looking for a supermarket to by a few cheap beers…

That night got chatting to some girls from the uk and Us in the hostel bar, and got some good tips on things to see the next day. Had an earlyish night….. the hostel bar was dead and no one seemed to want to go out.

Next day started at checkpoint Charlie and saw a moving free exhibition on the Berlin wall that lined the streets there. Following that I wandered around town and then spent the afternoon in the German History Museum, located on the impressive museum island. A really cool summary of the history of Germany from Celtic times up to reunification. The area around the museum had survived the bombing and you could get an idea of the former grandeur of the city.

That evening met a cool guy from Amsterdam by way of Sarajevo called Zlatan, who was staying in my room. He had been to Berlin many times before and upon discovering we had similarly eclectic music tastes, he recommended a few things to check out that night. We went to an artists squat/studio/bar that made tactile bosche/chappybar look like Owens’s after school art club. A really cool place…… Next stop was a folk gig where we met some girls from the hostel… when the DJ played Pavement after the performance finished knew I was in a good place!!….After a few more beers headed to a Minimalist Techno club to finish the night….. A cool little grimy smokey place a cab ride away. Interesting club with good music. Ended up meeting a nice German girl called Alex and her friends and had a good chat about life as the sun rose over the Club which continued to pump out the beats well into the morning ….turned into a gud’un…..didn’t get back to the hostel till 15mins before check out the next day after trying not to get caught riding the tubes without a ticket…

All and all a cracking time in Berlin…was interesting to be in a place that has had so much history in the last 70 years. The night out was one of the best of the trip in terms of the variety and met some cool locals who insisted I had to come back again for longer. Got the impression I had just scratched the surface of what Berlin had to offer but it was time to press on to Amsterdam…………..

Prague 25th - 27th July 2010

Arrived in Prague in early afternoon and realizing that I hadn’t had a decent feed in the last 24 hours went to burger king to gorge on a whopper meal. Not a decent feed I know but a large one.

It was raining fairly heavily but luckily the hostel wasn’t far from the station. The AZ hostel was a budget choice, and I would get what I paid for. I walked into my 4 bed dorm room and was hit by an unbelievably strong smell of bad feet. Not since Richard “Moldham” Oldham’s efforts on a fourth form school walking trip had I smelt anything like this in a hostel. To make matters worse the bed furthest from the source of the smell (a dirty pile of clothes near the window) had the hardest mattress id felt since a night spent in a Tibetan monastery in India……So the choice was between an eye watering stench or a hard night sleep…opted for the brick mattress after some debate. (Later that night the source of the smell would enter the room wearing boots I think he actually dug up from a WW1 trench) To make matters worse there was an exercise studio below the room that would repeatedly pump out the first 16bars of various Chicago house tunes at a ridiculous volume with a Czech fitness instruct shouting over a mic “up..up ..up”. AZ hostel has leapt to the top of the bad hostel list despite having decent enough facilities outside of room 101.


Spent the evening walking round town feeling knackered after a couple of nights out previously. The City itself was impressive…had a look around the old town trying to spot locations from the classic 80’s INXS video for “never tear us apart” ….Then I saw the funniest thing I’ve seen in ages. A dude wearing one of those Ostrich suits ( same as the one David Brent wore on Comic relief day in “the Office” ) verbally advertising a Thai Massage parlour on the street with the amount of enthusiasm Evans shows for after dinner chat ( ie. very little) “massage” ….( yawn)…“uh Thai massage” ….( sigh ) “Thai massage here“……What a way to make your money!! …was laughing out loud for 2 blocks afterwards. Once I had regained my composure headed back to the hostel for a quiet night listening to radio 6 through the intermittent wi-fi connection.

Before the end of the evening myself and “swamp-thing” were joined in the room by a shell suited American in his late 60’s …something dodgy about this guy ….always had a mysterious duffle bag in his hands …gave off a similar impression to a certain glam rock musician who got into a lot of trouble in Vietnam recently. Not long after the lights were turned out the room filled with the sound of commercial waste bins being mechanically lifted loudly into a garbage truck on the street outside. The air soon also filled with the smell of wet garbage …(in this case actually quite refreshing in comparison to the socks smell from hell!! ) Slept that night with earplugs in to blank out the snore chorus going on in the room… yep AZ hostel was the pits alright…..

Next day was woken up by the sound of “Garry Glitter “ about to lock me into the room with the only shared door key…not a good start to the day…..

Once I was up and out on the street things improved dramatically though, the sun was shining and my mood was instantly improved. Got a cheap breakfast and spent the day wandering around the city. The views across the river to Prague castle , and back from the other side, are among the best in any city ive been to. Saw a cool Dixieland jazz band playing on one of the bridges and then found a Tesco to buy some cheap but nutritious food….. Prague’s architecture and various statue filled squares seemed endless and I wandered until around 5 in the afternoon at a slow place with no particular direction….a good day!

After playing guitar in the hostel for a few hours headed out to spend my last 39 koruna… ended up buying a large coke at McDonalds ( the cheapest price in town at 37K) and giving my last 2k to a tramp ( of which there were many in town ). With no urge whatsoever to get on the beer that night went back to the “AZ “around 10 to write this blog and anticipate another awkward nights sleep…..

Prague was an awesome city for sightseeing. Some of the views of boats on the river from the bridges in the late afternoon were truly inspiring….overall a positive and anecdote filled couple of days. Didn’t really meet any cool people in the hostel but that’s okay as feel refreshed after a couple of early nights in room 101 and saved some money .…..now its time to hit Berlin and start a week of madness, ( Berlin/Amsterdam/ Hamburg) before heading on to Scandinavia…

Vienna 23-24th July 2010

Ah Vienna this means something to me….turned into one of the highlights of the trip….

Got into town mid afternoon and upon entering my room was confronted with wheelie suitcases….hair extensions, make up accessories scattered across the table and hair straighteners in the bathroom…..Hmm…. a familiar scene…It wasn’t long before my suspicions were confirmed, I was the sole male in a cabin full of Aussie girls again…….

The hostel was right next to station so had plenty of time to check the town out that afternoon….The high street was comparable to Oxford Street and seemed to have an H & M outlet every 10 meters, definitely back in the west now ….While buying something to eat I became aware that I hadn’t recycled in over a month and was now buying a kebab in Vienna. Seemed id caught a case of “the Doyles” on my travels, or to give it its scientific name “ bigdogitus”……( that joke is for the Cardiff guys )

At the end of the shopping precinct hit the museums quarter and saw a poster advertising a Klimt exhibition in one of the galleries. Despite tired legs decided to pay the 11 Euro entrance fee and check them out. My excitement turned into disappointment though as there was only one good Klimt in the whole gallery, blatant false advertising !!… was fuming after at loss of funds (although did see a good Schaller exhibit there….)

That evening met my roommates who seemed really nice despite being obviously disappointed to have a male in the room ruining their girlie space….I met them in the bar later and got chatting to an awesome girl called Aimee who I really got on well with. Later we headed out to try and find an open air film festival together but ended up getting lost in the rain. The weather had taken a turn and was now similar to British autumn, rainy and windy ….despite the weather had a really good time that night..

Next day spent the afternoon with Aimee exploring the city in the continuing rain . Vienna has got some amazing buildings and the main gothic church in town is incredible… moved from site to sight with the odd coffee break to avoid the downpours. Really did feel like being back in Britain ….. for one day the lack of sun was pleasurable though (skin was relived) and the conversations we had along the way were great…..one of the more pleasant days so far of the trip.

That evening went to a local Aussie bar and drank with more Aussies who were on bus tours…turned into a hilarious night watching various different types of cocktail being consumed by short breakers with the “ here for a good time not a long time” attitude.

Next morning said goodbye to the girls who were leaving early and then made it to the train station for a 9.30 am train to Prague.

Had a great time in Vienna, but think that was as much to do with the fantastic company I had there as the impressive atmosphere…..When you travel alone its nice meeting lots of different people for brief periods before moving on….but sometimes time is too short. Without going into detail, its fair to say ill remember Vienna for a long time. …

Ah well, this trip is turning into a bit of an emotional odyssey as well as a geographical one…but the different experiences are why I’m traveling in the first place! …next stop Prague and some well earned rest time before Berlin …..

Budapest 21-22nd July 2010

Got off the hot train to Budapest at 7:30 and walked for about 30mins to the hostel. On first impression Budapest seemed much more western than the Balkans. The Tesco superstore next to the train station was a good example of this. The hostel I had booked was advertised as a bohemian hang out in the lonely planet but that was an understatement. I basically walked into the hippy lounge from Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. There were people crashed out on sofas and sleeping on the floor. A very chilled vibe run by a 22 year old American traveller who had ended up in Budapest the year before and stayed on. After the horrors of the last night’s hostel in Sarajevo felt right at home and the other people staying there seemed to be on the same wavelength.


That evening went to the town centre and met up with Fiona from Dubrovnik and some of the guys on her tour who were in Budapest for the night. Spent a pleasant evening wandering across the banks of the Danube and checking out some of the city’s more impressive architecture. The bus tour guys were leaving early the next morn so said goodbye around 1am and walked back through town to my hostel. As soon as I was on my own was inundated with offers to visit free entry strip bars. Budapest is a very liberal city….

After avoiding the touts spent a couple of hours drinking with the guys in the hostel and crashed happily on a comfortable bed….

Next day I headed out alone to check out the city. The architecture was even more impressive by day. But I began to struggle badly with the heat, made progress slow. Think 9 weeks of sun has filled the backlog from the last 5 years in the UK without a holiday and I began to seek shade like to locals.

That after noon went to the terror house museum, in the site of the former Nazi and Soviet secret police headquarters. Pretty harrowing stuff when you consider how many people had been tortured and executed in the building for no reason what so ever.

Spent the rest of the day in the park and then that evening got a proper Hungarian Goulash for dinner. It was amazingly tender beef , plus washed down with a pint of Edelweiss, ( from the tap not shelf in home bargains …class!). Spent the evening drinking in the hostel and having some deep hippy type conversations with the other slacker lefties staying there , was pretty refreshing after a month on the party scene….

Next morning left fairly early , felt like I could have spent an extra day in Budapest but on a tight schedule now. Budapest is right up there in the top of the cool city tables…amazing architecture, nice tree lined streets with cool bars and bistros and there were plenty of guitarists on the streets. It was modern but still had a good eastern vibe, would def recommend a long weekend there to anyone who hasn’t been before….next stop Vienna and the western culture.

Sarajevo 19th-21st July 2010

Sarajevo turned into a tale of two days and one night…….

The night bus from Dubrovnik arrived at 430am, it was still dark, spent an hour in the bus station waiting for the sun to come up and then found the train station. Upon using the ATM outside my transaction was declined ( curses ). The HSBC call centre didn’t open for another 2 hours so basically had to wait to try find out what was happening before I could buy a train ticket for the following day and get a hotel room. During this time I had to practically beg the woman manning the train station toilet to let me use Croatian currency to pay to get in. Eventually she conceded, just in the nick of time too. The decision to have a jalapeño pizza the night before in Dubrovnik had almost backfired in the most horrible way….(turned out my stomach wasn’t quite back to normal after all, but I think everyone has heard enough about my digestive problems now so ill omit any future occurrences of “S.S.” going forward)

Around seven I decided to see if a hotel nearby would take Euros as I was in real need of a bed to crash out on. The first hotel I checked quoted a price of 65 euros per night (oouch ) and advised I should go into Sarajevo’s old town to find a cheap room . I had wanted to avoid staying too far from the station as the train to Budapest left at 655am the following morning. Passed a bank machine on the way and tried again this time it let me have money ( hazaar) ended up walking back to the train station to by the ticket to Budapest and then all the way back into town to get a hostel.( staying in a cheep hostel in town would prove to be costly in other ways…..)

After walking about 4km in total with pack killing my shoulders, the hostel I found in the middle of town turned out to be on the 4th floor of a shared apartment building.( lugged my stuff up Sherpa style exhausted). Luckily they had a bed available but I would have to come back 2 hours later ( the time was now 9am).

I dumped my stuff then headed into town….Sarajevo was different than I expected. Mosques and Churches and Synegogs sat together amongst the modern high street shops and an Ottoman Bazaar. The surrounding hills provided an impressive backdrop. The overall vibe was very chilled making the place seem the perfect example of religious tolerance and well being towards your fellow man. Only on closer inspection did the shadows of the violent past reveal themselves in the shape of bullet holes on building walls and filled shell craters on the streets. Unbelievable being there today that the longest siege since WW2 had taken place in the last 2 decades.

Also visited the Latin bridge scene of the assassination of Franz Ferdinand ( the prince, not terrible band unfortunately ) and the catalyst for WW1. Later after checking into the hostel, showering and sleeping for a couple of hours, headed out again and visited a few of the cemeteries on the surrounding hills. The view down into the valley was picturesque was feeling good about my time in Sarajevo and one day seemed like the right amount of time to spend before heading north . Things would soon take a turn for the worse though, as I decided to have a few beers in the evening to use up my local currency…..

Basically drank too much cheaply priced beer that night, firstly with some Dutch guys then ran into some English fellow ex public school attendees and ended up in the local rock bar until around 4am……( “what, with my reputation?”)

The next morning I was woken up by my alarm at 840am,it had been on snooze since 5.30am making me an instant enemy of my room mates. Had missed the train and lost a travel day , my head felt like sludge and to make matters worse the hostel was full that night, so I had to check out at 10am.……( ohh chrissy-bado when will you ever learn?)

With lost money in mind found a 20 bed hostel room up the road that cost 9 euros……Upon entering the dorm room my heart sank…..there were basically seven , 3 birth bunk beds arranged concentration camp style around the sides of a small sized dorm room. There was no room for luggage so every ones stuff was in a pile in the middle of the room and the bathroom looked like something I had seen on the border of India and Nepal…

Doing my best to block out my surroundings I went straight back to sleep until around 2pm and then hazily walked back to the train station ( again ) to see if my train ticket would be valid for the following day. …Luckily it was ( hazaar) ….Spent the rest of the afternoon trying to cure another hangover from hell and looking for a wi-fi connection to alter my hostel booking in Budapest. ( the bad lieutenant felling was back in abundance….)

That evening crashed out in the hostel around 8pm and lay in bed feeling like a battery hen and trying to sleep through the sound of other travellers getting drunk in the room next door. At 530 my alarm woke me up and I checked out of the hostel. Ended up walking back to the station again and made the train in plenty of time. It was hard enough getting up on 8 hours sleep with no hangover…don’t know what the hell I was thinking going drinking the other night ( although must admit it’s the first time I’ve ever slept through my alarm like that, even after a big night out , looks like my days of being a “Hangover Ninja” are over ).

All and all despite set back in plans Sarajevo was one of the coolest places ive been to on the trip. History aside the town is beautiful, and the friendliness of the local residents after recent troubles was inspiring…..As the train pulled out through town and the local villages more war damage was apparent….crossed over into Serbia again in the midday heat and felt more at ease about loosing a travel day (doing the train trip hung-over the day before may have broken me)…next destination the Austro-Hungarian Empire…..

Former Yugoslav Summary

The time spent in Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina was memorable for many reasons. The first time I had travelled in eastern Europe ( not including a 2 day stag in Krakow) was interesting. The relics of communism were apparent in the amount of bureaucratic red tape around, for example the countless passport checks on the borders. However the overall vibe was very relaxed and I found the people to be very hospitable and helpful ( apart from when you asked them to make change). The Balkan area itself is on the cross roads of 3 major religious cultures ( Catholic, Orthodox and Islamic ) so there is an interesting historical mix. The shadows of recent violent events seem surreal when you view them along side the modern capitals and tourist areas. In terms of the natural environment saw some of the best views of the trip, and also met a lot of cool people along the way. In comparison with Turkey was a vast difference in the experience and overall the Balkans

Dubrovnik 16th-18th July 2010

The night bus to Dubrovnik was on a par with the other night journeys I’ve done recently, A couple of boarder stops on the way, and the F1 driving style of the bus driver, kept sleep to a minimum. As the sun rose it became apparent that we were travelling through some fantastic countryside. We stopped around 10am in Mostar in Bosnia. Noticed when passing a cemetery on the way in that a large number of the gravestones were dated 1993, quite chilling when you think what was going on there in the early 90’s. In Mostar the three of us on the bus who were going to Dubrovnik were suddenly herded onto another one, this one without a.c.. We had to pay for luggage again and then got stuck in traffic on the way to the border…frustrating as hell in the heat. Eventually hit Dubrovnik 3 hours over schedule after passing through various other border stops between Bosnia and Croatia.

Got a shuttle bus to the old town where my hostel was, the old town of Dubrovnik is a walled Medieval city on the shores of the Adriatic. After walking around the city it became apparent that Dubrovnik was a tourist trap with meals and drinks being comparable to London prices. My search for cheap food proved to be in vein and I decided to treat myself to a rare meal…… had soup , lasagne and a beer, came to about 14 quid…sheeeiiiiit. Upon walking around town some more though it was clear why the tourists come. Winding alleys and hidden courtyards with amazing views from the city walls ( don’t think my photos will do the place justice.)

Later in the hostel met a guy from London and three Brazilians, we all headed out to the local bars to spend more money on overpriced booze. That evening met a really cool Aussie girl (again) called Fiona and ended up making a night of it in town, including a trip to the local Irish pub. ( always fun )

Eventually got back to the hostel after sunrise and crashed out for a couple of hours before having breakfast at 11am. Said goodbye to the English / Brazilians who were leaving and wandered round town in a daze. Having arrived in mid afternoon the day before I was unprepared for the midday heat . Dubrovnik is easily the hottest place I’ve been so far on the European leg of my voyage round the Universe. After bearing the heat for a couple of hours succumbed to a Siesta then went to the bus station to buy a ticket on bus to Sarajevo the following night.

That evening met up with Fiona to walk the city walls at a price of 9 quid. Was worth it though, the views of the city and surrounding coast from the top of the fortifications were impressive. Ended up buying another expensive meal again for dinner …..oh well at least a decent eat was helping to remove any lingering affects of the “Sofia stomach”. After saying goodbye to my Aussie friend, who was on a bus tour, had an early night listening to Radio six in my almost unbearably sweaty hostel room. ( the hostel was really sound but had only been open a week so there was no air con or fans yet )

Next morning checked my bags and went to the beach…water was lovely but it was hot as hell again. After a few hours decided to do a swim right round the city walls and back…took about 25 mins each way and was a struggle on an empty(ish) stomach. When I got to a beach at the halfway point and swam ashore it became apparent that the water here was semi stagnant and I was fairly sure upon reaching land that I discovered a dried sewerage runoff point. The feeling of un-cleanliness overcame my tiredness and I pretty much jumped straight back in to the sea to find some cleaner water. By the time I got back to where I started felt well knackered but relieved (for some reason kept worrying about shark attacks in the open water ). Spent the rest of the afternoon chilling round town before heading to the bus station for a 10:30 bus that was scheduled to arrive in Sarajevo at 4:30 am. This time a three hour delay would be perfect……..

Despite it being mega expensive had a really goodtime in Dubrovnik, met some really cool people, had a memorable night out and got some good exercise…with recent history in mind think Sarajevo will be a slightly more sombre.

The Sleeper train, Sofia stopover, Belgrade 12-15th July 2010

I should have known better than to think I would be catching up on sleep on a cross border overnight train!. The journey began with a 2 hour bus ride to a station in the middle of nowhere where the train was waiting. The town we came into was more a kin to some id been through in India a decade ago, and the train itself certainly smelt as bad as some id taken on the sub continent. The coach I was in seemed to be filled only with backpackers, was sharing a cabin with a Swedish guy. Got the bunk down pretty quickly and crashed out around 1am . At 3.30ish there was a knock on the cabin door “ passport control 5mins”, we had reached the Bulgarian border. At the boarder stop the cabin emptied and about 2 dozen dishevelled looking travellers shuffled down the platform to the passport check point. Once we got to the office, however, we were told the passport police wouldn’t be there for 40mins and we should go back to the train to wait. Upon returning to the train to find it locked we were told we all had to go back in together for security reasons…… so the next 40mins was basically spent standing on the platform shivering in the unexpectedly cool evening air…..”why do I do this to myself” I wondered….

Once we had finally got our passports stamped and got back on the now moving train was looking forward to more sleep> However before long there was another knock on the door “ passport control”, a uniformed woman came onto the train to check our documents. 15mins later a knock “ passport control” this time a uniformed man ( presumably Bulgarian rather than Turkish this time ). After another 20mins “ baggage check “ the fact that this guy was wearing rubber gloves didn’t fill me with confidence. However he seemed content to do the slackest bag check I’ve ever seen on the Swedish guys duffle bag and didn’t even look at mine, he just pointed to my guitar and said.. “guitar “ ..”yes” “ nice …goodbye”.

The next morning around 11 after a broken nights sleep dreaming about passport control demands the conductor knocked on the door “ train delate you go Sofia 6 hours “
Turned out the delay by the passport police at the border had meant that we missed out connecting train to Belgrade at Sofia and would have to wait until 9pm that evening to be attached to the next one.

Oh well, as I had no hotel booked in Belgrade would save a nights accommodation costs and give me a chance to check out Bulgaria’s capital. Ended up getting the tram into town with some other passengers ; an English guy from the channel islands and a couple from Slovenia all of whom had been in Istanbul at the same time as me. On first impression Sofia seemed nice, a lot of green areas and some interesting buildings mixed in with the eastern block architecture. I about an hour and a half we had seen all the sites the city centre had to offer and settled in a pub for the next 3 hours drinking half litre glasses of beer that cost the equivalent of 78p. ….“Hmmm maybe I should stay in Sofia a bit longer “

At the end of the afternoon we stocked up on booze and food for the next overnight leg of the train journey and jumped on the tram back to the station. As there was no ticket office in sight of our stop we decided to risk riding without a ticket. Sods law 3 inspectors got on after a few stops. Tried sweet talking them and claiming western stupidity when they asked why we had no tickets but they were having none of it and demanded 10lira penalty fines from all of us. Problem was we had all just spent the last of our Bulgarian currency. Luckily the English guy had some US dollars, which they happily accepted instead of course.

The train pulled out on time that evening and we ended up drinking the night away along with some Germans and the Swede. After drinking a four pint bottle of the local brew and being offered vodka and wine by my fellow passengers had a “thunderbolt of realisation moment” and incredibly decided to got to bed early based on our Belgrade arrival time of 5am. Fair play during the day/evening I had consumed about 7 pints of beer for the grand sum of 3.80 pounds. Maybe I should have saved all my drinking for Eastern Europe…….

The next morning I was the last to leave the train in Belgrade after using the facilities for free.( The trend in Turkey and Eastern Europe tends to be to charge for public WC’s and using them for 3 days in Istanbul had taken a chunk out of my budget). I waited a couple of hours at the station before finding a hostel nearby. During this time I realised that strange things were afoot in my bowls. Anyone familiar with the term “Delhi Belly “ will understand when I say I began to expect I was suffering from “Sofia Stomach”. First use of the hostel WC confirmed this and to say I was in need of a shower after 2 days on the train also was an understatement.

After spending about 30mins washing and putting on a full set of clean clothes from my pack I felt like a new man. The feeling of smug cleanliness didn’t last long though, as another bought of “Sofia stomach” would soon rob me of my last clean pair of clean underwear…..literally Gutted!!!

After recovering a bit I went out exploring the city. Belgrade is an interesting place. Very green in the centre much like Sofia, with many palatial buildings lining the streets. The people are friendly enough and there are lots of very good looking fashionable woman around. Its hard to believe the UN bombed the city for 78 days just over a decade ago. The damage of these raids was still visible in places ( see photo)

After spending some time in the parks and visiting the town fortress on the banks of the river Sava realised I was absolutely exhausted and struggled back to the hostel around 2pm to get a nap in. That evening I went out for some cheap food and was shouted out by a middle aged woman selling pasties for trying to by a 85dinar snack with a 100dinar note and not having 5dinars to give her so she wouldn’t have to make change…eventually after my protestations and treats to return the pasty she got the guy stood next to her the whole time to change a ten dinar coin into two fives….man people in Europe really hate making change……

That evening I toyed with the idea of going out to sample the nightlife…apparently Belgrade is the party capital of the Balkans…however in the end on account of my stomach, and the only other traveller I had met in the hostel being a Japanese guy in my room who didn’t speak much English, I opted on an early night and slept for about 11 hours through the heat.

Next morning felt refreshed, checked out of the hotel at 11 and left my stuff in reception. Spent the day exploring the city, sitting in the various parks and checking out a few of the smaller sized museums. I have to say Belgrade has definitely got something about it I really like. The mishmash of styles in the city centre and rundown areas meeting modern shopping precincts gives it an interesting character and a certain charm. Felt a bit remorseful I hadn’t taken the opportunity to see the city by night the evening before, although my stomach was definitely thanking me for the early booze free night.

Spent the evening chilling in various parks and eating Mcdonalds cheeseburgers ( the onlybudget food I was trusting at the moment...convinced cheap 1 lira pizza slices in Sofia had lead to my downfall)

The night bus to Dubrovnik on the Croatian coast left the station at 10:45 with an arrival time of 12pm the next day. I was going a bit out of my way to see Dubrovnik for 2days however seeing photos of friends that had been there earlier in the year ( cheers Ben + Jen ) convinced me it would be worth it……

Istanbul 10-12 May 2020

The night bus from Cappadocia wasn’t too comfortable…..we seemed to stop every three hours for about an hour or so, meaning the overall trip was about 30% longer than it had to be. Upon ordering a chicken donner at one of these night stops was also given a curdled yogurt drink and pretty much forced to drink it by the locals despite my polite decline to the initial offer:

“you English ?”
“yes”
“ I no English I Turkish boy”
“ gotcha”
“ you drink!”
“no thanks”
“ Turkish curses”
“ that wasn’t too bad”
“ you go now”

the Turkish “boy” in question was about 65 …………..


I was fairly sure the drink would cause some lasting problems but there was nothing to report by the time we got to Istanbul in the morning. Getting away from the most annoying person ever sat in the seat next to me was a relief. Had to wait about an hour to get a shuttle bus from the main bus station to Sultanumet, the area my hostel was in .

After checking in, headed out map in hand to spend a day exploring (was determined to stay awake until the night.) Visited the Blue Mosque, Aya Sofia ( which was really good ) and the spice Bazaar. Istanbul is a really nice city very typical of Turkey. That evening went to an area called Taksim over the bridge and saw some really cool street musicians before watching an amazing sunset over the Bosporus. Ended the day drinking with some Mexicans while watching the 3rd place world cup game. Eventually crashed around 1am.

Next morning made it to breakfast which was a buffet and made enough sandwiches to last for lunch. Spent the afternoon booking a train ticket to Serbia and declining various offers to “ look my family shop?” “ yes please you eat something?” “let me help you spend your money friend?”

That evening met a cool guy from Singapore in the hostel who was on leave from the army and watched the final with an English girl and a couple of Australian girls…..A fair result I thought and now that the WC is over will be easier to avoid the beer…..crashed out at 4am after trying to find a Kebab shop that was still open in vein.

Next day went to the grand Bazaar and then had a much needed nap in the park while waiting to get the 10pm train to Belgrade. Istanbul was a cool city, the best since Rome, very westernized and very relaxed. Some amazing buildings make up the skyline and street food is great.

Turkey Summary

What can I say Turkey was awesome …not quite what I was expecting but very chilled and easy to travel in. Met some really cool locals and fellow travellers. Cappadocia was the best destination and will def try and go back there for longer at some point. It’s a tough call between Spain and Turkey for best country so far. Will have to asses with hindsight one I’m home.

Just over a month left to go and got eastern Europe, Germany and Scandinavia left feeling physically drained but spiritually fit. A good sleep on the train ( first sleeper cabin ) should get me prepared for a lot of city exploration in the next 2 weeks……Serbia here we come…

Cappadocia July 8th-9th 2010

The last day in Olympus consisted of chilling out and taking the guitar to the beach where I met a couple of local musicians who gave me some names of Turkish artists to check out. I got a shuttle bus to Antalya where I got the overnight bus to Cappadocia.

The bus trip was bearable. We had the Germany Spain game on the TV and managed to get some good sleep despite the adolescent Turk sat next to me stinking like a junior high school locker room.

Got to Cappadocia about 730 am and found a cheap hostel with super friendly staff and a swimming pool. Cappadocia is renowned for its natural beauty. The landscape is made up of layers of volcanic ash that have been eroded over millions of years to form incredible rock formations. These formations had then been carved out into dwellings by previous local inhabitants.

On first impression of Gerome ( the town I was staying in) the place seemed smaller that I was expecting but after setting out on my own for a days exploration I became more and more captivated by the landscape. There was another amazing view over every horizon I ended up going off the beaten trail and after climbing through many a cave dwelling found myself following a dry river bead down a steep sided gorge. The floor would often drop 5-10 feet or more below my feet and I used ancient carved handholds to make my way down further and further until eventually I found my way out of the canyon and into an incredible plain ( not without some relief “ Body of Missing Cardiff Man found 20 years After Disappearance” ). I walked the rest of the afternoon to the next village and saw a church with original frescos that has been carved into the rocks in the 9th century.

A great walk and the first in a while, the last couple of days in Olympus had been a bit awkward for various reasons and the end of the day brought some perspective.On the way home ran into the couple from Calgary who had given me a lift to Cappadocia two weeks earlier, which was cool .That evening I chatted to yet more Aussie travellers in the hostel and then had an early night. Was woken only by the 4am call to prayer blasting through the window above my bed….loud but strangely comforting …very surreal .


The next day was spent largely chilling by the pool and doing some overdue guitar practice. Following my lack of song playing form on the boat cruise decided to relearn some of the old classics. That afternoon went for a hike in the north valley and again found myself trying to navigate blind, this time looking for a shortcut up a valley. After pushing an overgrown trail as far as possible trying to get to another town got to a point where the danger level got to great and as I climbing up rocks I would struggle to get back down. Eventually I turned back and pretty much made my way back by falling down the mountain. Tough work but rewarding. By the end of the day had come to the conclusion that one could easily spend 2 weeks in Cappadocia exploring.

That evening chilled back at the hostel before catching yet another overnighter to Istanbul ( 2 overnight busses in 3 days was gonna be tough ) Only saw a fraction of what Cappadocia had to offer , missed out on the underground cities and hot air balloon trips, but think that it has overtaken Lake Geneva on top of the Natural Beauty leader board. Will definitely endeavour to come back on another occasion for longer but now its time to head back to the urban environment in Istanbul…….

The Blue Cruise, Fethiye to Olympos July 1st -4th 2010

Upon return to the ship (the Babavelli) following an evening spent using wifi in an ice cream parlour ( rock and roll) found the crew drinking on deck with some girls who had been on the cruise before. They had nothing but good reviews and the crew seemed friendly enough, even got some free beer ( I would be paying for my drinks for the rest of the cruise). It turned out however that the sail on the boat was broken and the crew would be working on it all night so I had a restless but free nights sleep in a boiling hot cabin below.

Next morning I spontaneously traded my travel guitar ( crap sound but light) for a full size nylon string semi acoustic ( better sound but heavy ) in a local music shop and got back to the boat just as the rest of the passengers arrived. They were made up of 5 Turkish dudes and their other halves one of whom was English and another 2 were from the Ukraine. In addition to this there were 6 nice girls from Australia and a girl from Vancouver in their early 20's who came on board with a mission to get suntanned ( despite the fact they already were) and the inevitable wheelie suitcases that had pissed me off so much in various train stations across the continent.

We set off around midday to the first destination Butterfly Valley and anchored for a swim. Best swim ive had in years the water was clear and there were fish ...a bit disappointed we didn’t actually make it into Butterfly valley itself , which was billed as a great nature spot by the booking agents. I think this may have been due to the crew being too tired to get the outboard off the ship and ferry us across. The next stop was Odulenz beach again billed as a great place to spend a few hours....however we just laid anchor again and stayed for about an hour. It was becoming apparent that the majority of the trip would be like this, which was cool but after a couple of days on a boat its nice to have some space.

We stopped for the evening and I caught my first fish in over a decade over the side of the boat , I thought I had killed it by accident when I struggled to get the hook out and the captain chucked it back in the water roughly ...this leading to the inevitable fishing guilt ( the reason I stopped fishing in the first place ) ...however after a couple of minutes it seemed to recover a bit and started swimming back towards the bait lopsided....dumb fish alright.... nicknamed it Jesus on account of the full resurrection it made in the end.

That night was asked to get the guitar out by the Turkish guys and rapidly realised I had forgotten how to play any songs in their entirety resorted to making one up Scruon style about the Aussie girls ( who turned out to be a lovely bunch of people) Lyrics went something like this: Beautiful Sydney Girls on a Turkish boat, doing their best to get skin cancer, with their wheelie bags in the hold below its a wonder this boat can even go ...etc this seemed to go down well.....

Next morning the engine started at 4am so didn’t get much sleep , the next day was spent in pretty much the same fashion....when we did get off the boat at a town called CAS for a couple of hours the whole world was rocking after being on the sea for 24 hours. I felt about as spaced out as I have over the whole trip and struggled to make any meaning full conversation for the rest of the day.

The next day watched the Germany Argentina game with the Turkish guys, who all spoke very good English and were super friendly, and then got a small taxi boat back to the babvelli. This allowed us to get in close to the coast on the way around sunset and was really struck by the natural beauty of the place...

That evening after dinner on board ( we got all meals included in the price) we all went to a hilarious bar in the middle of nowhere called the smugglers inn ( only accessible by boat) and had a good time on the dance floor. Turned into one of the more memorable nights of the trip but woke up the next day with another banging hangover and struggled through the rest of the morning.....( seriously have to hit the boozing on the head for a bit turns me into a jibbering wreck the day after )

We eventually got off the boat around midday and got a bus to Olympus ( have to admit that 3 days on board was more than enough for me and was fairly relieved to be back on terra firma esp as some of the crew turned out to be real dickheads)By the time we checked into the hostel in Olympus was just about feeling normal again place was so chilled out decided to stay an extra night to recover. That evening went out to a club in town with the Turkish guys for a goodbye drink. The "bull Bar" had a western theme and had a live campfire in the middle of the outdoor dance floor (can you imagine the Valley Commando style carnage if they allowed this in the UK ) The cliental were mostly Turkish clubbers and every now and then someone would leap across the fire in the middle of a song...craziest club ive ever seen no doubt.

Next day hit the beach and began 2 day chill out process before heading on to next stop: Cappadocia....