Ljubljana - Postojan Caves - Lake Bled - Piran - Berlin
Pozdravljeni!
Ah, Slovenia, such a beautiful diverse little country closed in on all sides by its bigger neighbours. A microcosm of Europe, featuring lakes, mountains, caves, beaches, picturesque towns, and food with Italian, Hungarian, Croatian and Austrian influences. For example, a pizza burek, which is a Croatian/Turkish pastry with an Italian style filling.
Slovenians are such lovely docile people. Only in Slovenia can, during a time where terrorism is the focus of the world, can a strange man approach a bus driver and say "hey, can you deliver this suspicious looking package in the bus luggage compartment for me? Oh, and please put it right in the center of the bus thanks!" and the driver would happily do so with no questions asked.
Anyway..
LJUBLJANA
Is a lovely little town. Note that I said town, not city. Slovenians are deceiving themselves. The size and the laid back quiet atmosphere in this student populated town denotes this status in my mind. Ljubljana is a sheer delight to
wander though, pulling oneself up the steep winding ivy covered pathways to the pretty lame castle on top of the hill dominating over the sleepy town. Never had I seen a castle with a billboard advertising womens lingerie in the centre of its courtyard. Speaking of which, much billboard advertising in this country is rather sexual in its nature. You would see billboards of women in various states of undress being licked or fondled in a rather intimate manner. I’ve seen a girl in a walking billboard, which just displayed a naked woman’s body. Not quite sure what it was advertising there...
More stunning is the river cutting across the town, joined by several picturesque romantic bridges and promenades, with trees turning into autumn colours, and Italian and Austrian baroque and renaissance style architecture, some clad with auburn and green ivy.
The hostel I stayed at used to be a prison, recently converted into a funky hostel complete with oriental waterpipe chill out room, meditation room, bar, and all sorts of amenities to make a backpacker feel at home. The prison cells themselves have been decorated each in their own individual artistic way. In a nutshell, this is a rather hippy hostel, owned by the university and situated in the "free" hippy druggy area of Ljubljana.
This hostel is the first hostel I've ever been to where the bed I was sleeping in is on top of the fire exit, which is a trapdoor leading apparently to poles to slide down. I was tempted to set off the fire alarm so I could pretend to be Batman and utilise it but I don’t think that would go down too well with the hostel. Then again, I’m not impressed with the hostel after they didn’t believe/refund me when the first night I was attacked by bugs crawling from the wooden walls, resulting in me sleeping in the kitchen. Eventually they did believe me when others started complaining about being bitten, but I could not convince them to do the moral right thing. So, 23 euros wasted on a room I didn’t sleep in.
POSTOJAN CAVES
Did a day trip to the heavily touristed Postojan caves, touted as the largest limestone karst caves in Europe if not the world. We entered the cave to be led to an electric train, where we were whisked through like a funfair ride to the first couple of kilometres, oohing and aahhing at the stalagmites and stalactites and taking illegal photos of
everything. It felt like such a funfair ride that I was expecting to see puppets or characters popping up from behind the karst formations with laser lights and smoke screens. It was actually quite fun.
Anyway, we emerged into the main chamber, a massive area filled with stalagmites and stalactites and everything in between, in assorted colours of white, yellow, red, black and brown. In the centre sat a mountain covered with said karst formations. We reached a pool where we were told we would see the famous human fish. It wasn’t that impressive. For one thing, it was a salamander. Secondly it didn’t look human at all; just the colour is the colour of (Caucasian) human skin.
Finally, we entered what was referred to as the concert chamber, as concerts would be performed there due to the acoustics. Everyone thus proceeded to test the acoustics by screeching and screaming rather irritatingly. I must say the irritating screeching did reach my ears quite loudly and clearly even in the other side of the hall...
LAKE BLED
Did a day trip to the famous Lake Bled, on what was probably the worst day to choose to go. For some reason we looked at the dark clouds coming in and thought "hey what a great day to go visit the lake". Thus we found ourselves halfway around the 7km walking trail around the picturesque clear blue lake lined with trees turning into that lovely autumn colours when it started to pour down with rain. Adding to our misery, we decided to climb up the steep muddy trail up to the lovely castle perched up on the hill overlooking the lake, only to find that close up it really wasn't so nice after all, and you had to pay to get in, even if you just wanted to get out of the rain into the
restaurant within. Still, it was a lovely place to visit, surrounded by snow capped mountains, the middle of the lake featuring a little monastery on an island, where resides the bell of wishes - one can ring the bell and make a wish and apparently the wish will come true. I wondered who wished for the pouring rain...
A "ROMANTIC" TIME ON THE SLOVENIAN COAST
I had two options, either catch a train to Bratislava to meet up with my ex-Slovakian girlfriend Jana, or go with Stephanie, a sweet bright Aussie girl studying medicine who I hooked up with, to Piran, a small coastal town on the Slovenian coast. Because Jana had not been able to confirm being able to meet me due to work and family commitments, I decided in the last minute to go to Piran.
We got to Piran just before it started pouring down with rain. Piran is a beautiful city on a peninsula, very Venetian except there are no water canals. We constantly came to the conclusion that 1. Piran is a pretty lovely town, and 2. The pouring rain is driving us #%& insane! To add to the romantic atmosphere, we both had colds that we were
trying to shake off. If going to the coast to find sun and relaxation was the remedy we were looking for we were clearly deluding ourselves. We still managed to have fun though, at one stage playing the most ferocious game of snap I’ve ever played with anyone with my Saddam Hussein pack of playing cards I bought in Jordan.
BEING IN A REALITY TV SHOW IN LJUBLJANA
Parted company with Stephanie back in Ljubljana while she continued on to Zagreb. I had booked myself a flight to Berlin leaving the next day (it was the most convenient quickest cheapest way of getting to my next destination Poznan on the north of Poland. Besides, I need any excuse to visit Berlin my favourite city).
So, the last night in Slovenia was spent going out on the town. Me and some hostel folk ended up in a bar that turned out to be the location for a Slovenian reality TV show, where the bar staff are contestants who are voted off every week by TV and Internet viewers. The winner gets a million Tolars and a car. The bar had cameras all over the place and naturally everyone wanted to talk to the bar staff and perhaps get on TV. I'm sure my crazy dancing and ethnicity got me on if anything else.
Anyway, next morning, slightly hungover, I took off for Berlin, which is where I am now.
NOW WHAT?
Every time I come back to Berlin it always reinforces my belief that it is my favourite city. I just love chilling out here in the atmospheric cafes and going out to the cool funky bars and clubs..
Tomorrow I'm catching a bus to Poznan to explore Northern Poland and
the Baltics.
Dasvidenia!
Saturday, October 1, 2005
Monday, September 26, 2005
Sampling Nightlife from Budapest to Ljubljana
Budapest - Pecs - Barcs - Zagreb - Ljubljana
Dobro Den!
FAILED MISSION IN BUDAPEST
So, Budapest. Second time I’ve visited this gloriously beautiful city, and the second time I have attempted to locate the real nightlife but failed miserably! It seems there are two types of nightlife places, the decoy tourist clubs with shocking music and no atmosphere, or the "hidden in backstreets with no signage" local joints, another world
that us tourists can never be part of.
Oh well, at least I got to take some great night shots of Budapest from top of the citadella, one of the best panoramic nightshots I’ve ever seen.
Anyway, deciding that Budapest was not showing me its Hungarian cultural side*, I decided to catch the next train to a town south of Hungary called Pecs.
* Due to the fact that it has become a tragic tourist trap that Prague, Krakow, Tallinn and the Croatian coast has become, and also being an international city where I found more Chinese restaurants than actual authentic Hungarian cuisine, the Hungarian cuisine naturally being "touristified" for tourist's benefit. Ha, funny how I detest tourists even though I am one myself. And of course it’s a hierarchy system of who you can look down with a "I am better and wiser than thou" attitude.
Here it is;
JAMES' TOURIST "BETTER THAN THOU" HIERACHY SYSTEM
First, at the bottom of the hierarchy, its the tour groups, usually led by a pink umbrella or something stupid with a very short guideperson attached. Worst thing about them is when you want to look at a museum piece or enter a room, and they block the whole place up! Middle aged American tourgroups are the worst, with "aw my gawd" exchanges and the stupid things they say. Stop me before I become too vitriolic!
Then the eurorail/interrail pass users who only hop from one big city to the next, sometimes staying for a night before hopping on the next train to the next town (the Japanese are notorious for this insanity! In Sarajevo I met two Japanese who arrived that afternoon, who quickly saw the town, then next morning caught a train to Belgrade, to catch another train to Sofia later that day! I think for them it's about collecting passport stamps to show off back at home).
Then tourists like me, relying on public transport and hoping from town to town at random. We usually hate being called tourists, preferring the more mysterious "traveller" term. Of course, the longer we travel, the more sagious and higher up the hierarchy we are (as well as more arrogant). Seniority in a group of travellers is also dictated not on age, height or race, but by how long you've travelled. "So, How long have you been travelling for James?" "Oh, only about over two years" I say matter of factly. "Wow that's a long time!" they exclaim as I sniff pretentiously. The guy in the corner says "Really, I’ve been going for five!" The attention switches to him and I’ve suddenly become insignificant.
Then, those crazy people (usually the Germans) who just walk or hitch hike or bike ride from village to village from one end of the continent to the end of another (Europe to Asia or Africa for example). These people also usually smell.
Finally, the arrogant expats who tell you that "a week in a city is just passing through, you have to live in the city for a couple of years to really know it."(which is untrue, I’ve lived in Melbourne all my life and don't know that much about it!).
Anyway, I digress...
PECS
On arrival, I took out my increasingly unreliable Lonely Planet guide and sought out a hotel that seems to offer dorm beds which would save me money. Of course, I discover from the cute receptionist (me and hostel receptionists, its a terrible addiction I know) that they stopped having them 3 years ago! Stupid LP. Anyway, while trying to discuss possible discount rates for a single room and a date (just kidding! Really!), two English blokes walked in, with the same intention (finding a dorm bed AND chatting up the receptionist). Anyway, a quick exchange of standard traveller "where you from, how long you're staying etc" banter, pooled forces, and voila, we ended up sharing a 3 bed room for a price of a standard dorm bed. Phew!
Pecs is quite a pleasant town, but unfortunately there really is not much to see apart from the stunning 4 towered Romanesque cathedral and historical Synagogue. The atmosphere felt alot distinctly more Hungarian as there were hardly a tourist to be seen, less English spoken, and actual Hungarian meals (Though the bloody Brits insisted
on a Mexican meal the first night there.)
Oh, and did finally go to a local discotheque outside the city centre, but it wasn’t really any different to other discotheques I’ve been to around Europe. Oh well. Naturally did my standard get drunk and dance on the podium or pole dance thing I really should stop doing for sake of dignity.
After a few days I decided it was time to leave Hungary and re-enter Croatia. So, farewelled my Brit friends and, going against receptionist advice, decided to take the more macho unreliable and difficult route via bus instead of the more direct train (because I couldn’t be bothered waking up 15 minutes earlier!)
WHY BEING BOTHERED GETTING UP 15 MINUTES EARLIER TO CATCH A TRAIN
INSTEAD OF A BUS IS WORTH THE EFFORT
So, I caught a bus from Pecs to Barcs, a town in the border, believing naively that naturally there has to be many buses that go across the border into Croatia, where from there I could catch more frequent buses to the capital Zagreb. Boy was I wrong about that.
I was dropped off somewhere resembling the center of this village border town and was told some instructions in unintelligible Hungarian where to catch what later turned out to be an ghost bus. So, deciding that the bus was definitely not coming after an hour waiting, I ask an old lady for assistance. This started a chain reaction in the village, where I was passed from person to person like a bad penny while they discussed and debated how to get to Croatia. Soon, I had a crowd of locals around me, solving this perplexing problem. Finally, the gist I got was that I had to go to the bus station 2km down the road, cause frankly, they didn't have a clue! Oh well, at least I got them out of their morning routine.
So, walked to the bus station, while many people rode past in bikes staring at me as they passed (they love their bikes there, no one seems to walk in the town, they should change the name Barcs to Bikes! Bad joke). I got to the bus station to find out that my ghost bus actually does exist, but the 9am one I was planning to catch does not run anymore, the next and only bus across the border leaves at 4pm. But the good news is that it goes all the way to Zagreb. Great. Now, the only thing was what on earth was I going to do in this tiny town till 4pm? (it was currently 10am).
ZAGREB - CITY OF PARTY ANIMALS
Ah, the sound of the Slavic tongue, one of my favourite languages. For some reason I find it not too difficult to learn once you get the hang of it. And the people from the former Yugoslavia are lovely, it’s a shame they are all nationalistic and hate one another (Croats hate Slovenians and Serbians).
Zagreb is a capital city that hasn’t lost its cultural charm, mainly because most people have no interest in visiting the place (the locals think the same). But it is a lovely chilled out city, with many events, such as the Red Bull BMX Marketplace Race, and the World Corporate Games, which took place while I was there.
One great thing about Zagreb was the size of their pizzas! Order a medium and you can feed an entire army! Never seen or ordered a large (jumbo) but I’m sure one could solve the problem with world hunger today!
The nightlife is excellent, though you have to seek locals to tell you the good places. Croatians I have discovered seem to be quite mellow and chilled out, but get them completely intoxicated and they become party animals! Many times you'd see me being dragged by them (literally) to the dance floor, and to other clubs nearby. Heck, I was
even piggybacked to one club from the bar by some guy as a show of admiration (can't remember what for, I think it was for being Vietnamese or something, I was drunk also )
In one of the bars I went to, I met one of the most interesting characters on my travels. He was an old funny Croatian guy who had just came out of the insane asylum that afternoon (seriously, no joke), with the mannerisms of Robin Williams, Jim Carrey and Gerard Depardieu. Couldn't stop laughing at his antics all night!
WHERE AM I NOW?
I'm currently in a prison converted into a hostel (apparently) in Ljubljana, Slovenia, with lack of sleep due to yesterday partying in Zagreb. I've heard good things about Ljubljana. Having said that, it's starting to rain...
Dobro Den!
FAILED MISSION IN BUDAPEST
So, Budapest. Second time I’ve visited this gloriously beautiful city, and the second time I have attempted to locate the real nightlife but failed miserably! It seems there are two types of nightlife places, the decoy tourist clubs with shocking music and no atmosphere, or the "hidden in backstreets with no signage" local joints, another world
that us tourists can never be part of.
Oh well, at least I got to take some great night shots of Budapest from top of the citadella, one of the best panoramic nightshots I’ve ever seen.
Anyway, deciding that Budapest was not showing me its Hungarian cultural side*, I decided to catch the next train to a town south of Hungary called Pecs.
* Due to the fact that it has become a tragic tourist trap that Prague, Krakow, Tallinn and the Croatian coast has become, and also being an international city where I found more Chinese restaurants than actual authentic Hungarian cuisine, the Hungarian cuisine naturally being "touristified" for tourist's benefit. Ha, funny how I detest tourists even though I am one myself. And of course it’s a hierarchy system of who you can look down with a "I am better and wiser than thou" attitude.
Here it is;
JAMES' TOURIST "BETTER THAN THOU" HIERACHY SYSTEM
First, at the bottom of the hierarchy, its the tour groups, usually led by a pink umbrella or something stupid with a very short guideperson attached. Worst thing about them is when you want to look at a museum piece or enter a room, and they block the whole place up! Middle aged American tourgroups are the worst, with "aw my gawd" exchanges and the stupid things they say. Stop me before I become too vitriolic!
Then the eurorail/interrail pass users who only hop from one big city to the next, sometimes staying for a night before hopping on the next train to the next town (the Japanese are notorious for this insanity! In Sarajevo I met two Japanese who arrived that afternoon, who quickly saw the town, then next morning caught a train to Belgrade, to catch another train to Sofia later that day! I think for them it's about collecting passport stamps to show off back at home).
Then tourists like me, relying on public transport and hoping from town to town at random. We usually hate being called tourists, preferring the more mysterious "traveller" term. Of course, the longer we travel, the more sagious and higher up the hierarchy we are (as well as more arrogant). Seniority in a group of travellers is also dictated not on age, height or race, but by how long you've travelled. "So, How long have you been travelling for James?" "Oh, only about over two years" I say matter of factly. "Wow that's a long time!" they exclaim as I sniff pretentiously. The guy in the corner says "Really, I’ve been going for five!" The attention switches to him and I’ve suddenly become insignificant.
Then, those crazy people (usually the Germans) who just walk or hitch hike or bike ride from village to village from one end of the continent to the end of another (Europe to Asia or Africa for example). These people also usually smell.
Finally, the arrogant expats who tell you that "a week in a city is just passing through, you have to live in the city for a couple of years to really know it."(which is untrue, I’ve lived in Melbourne all my life and don't know that much about it!).
Anyway, I digress...
PECS
On arrival, I took out my increasingly unreliable Lonely Planet guide and sought out a hotel that seems to offer dorm beds which would save me money. Of course, I discover from the cute receptionist (me and hostel receptionists, its a terrible addiction I know) that they stopped having them 3 years ago! Stupid LP. Anyway, while trying to discuss possible discount rates for a single room and a date (just kidding! Really!), two English blokes walked in, with the same intention (finding a dorm bed AND chatting up the receptionist). Anyway, a quick exchange of standard traveller "where you from, how long you're staying etc" banter, pooled forces, and voila, we ended up sharing a 3 bed room for a price of a standard dorm bed. Phew!
Pecs is quite a pleasant town, but unfortunately there really is not much to see apart from the stunning 4 towered Romanesque cathedral and historical Synagogue. The atmosphere felt alot distinctly more Hungarian as there were hardly a tourist to be seen, less English spoken, and actual Hungarian meals (Though the bloody Brits insisted
on a Mexican meal the first night there.)
Oh, and did finally go to a local discotheque outside the city centre, but it wasn’t really any different to other discotheques I’ve been to around Europe. Oh well. Naturally did my standard get drunk and dance on the podium or pole dance thing I really should stop doing for sake of dignity.
After a few days I decided it was time to leave Hungary and re-enter Croatia. So, farewelled my Brit friends and, going against receptionist advice, decided to take the more macho unreliable and difficult route via bus instead of the more direct train (because I couldn’t be bothered waking up 15 minutes earlier!)
WHY BEING BOTHERED GETTING UP 15 MINUTES EARLIER TO CATCH A TRAIN
INSTEAD OF A BUS IS WORTH THE EFFORT
So, I caught a bus from Pecs to Barcs, a town in the border, believing naively that naturally there has to be many buses that go across the border into Croatia, where from there I could catch more frequent buses to the capital Zagreb. Boy was I wrong about that.
I was dropped off somewhere resembling the center of this village border town and was told some instructions in unintelligible Hungarian where to catch what later turned out to be an ghost bus. So, deciding that the bus was definitely not coming after an hour waiting, I ask an old lady for assistance. This started a chain reaction in the village, where I was passed from person to person like a bad penny while they discussed and debated how to get to Croatia. Soon, I had a crowd of locals around me, solving this perplexing problem. Finally, the gist I got was that I had to go to the bus station 2km down the road, cause frankly, they didn't have a clue! Oh well, at least I got them out of their morning routine.
So, walked to the bus station, while many people rode past in bikes staring at me as they passed (they love their bikes there, no one seems to walk in the town, they should change the name Barcs to Bikes! Bad joke). I got to the bus station to find out that my ghost bus actually does exist, but the 9am one I was planning to catch does not run anymore, the next and only bus across the border leaves at 4pm. But the good news is that it goes all the way to Zagreb. Great. Now, the only thing was what on earth was I going to do in this tiny town till 4pm? (it was currently 10am).
ZAGREB - CITY OF PARTY ANIMALS
Ah, the sound of the Slavic tongue, one of my favourite languages. For some reason I find it not too difficult to learn once you get the hang of it. And the people from the former Yugoslavia are lovely, it’s a shame they are all nationalistic and hate one another (Croats hate Slovenians and Serbians).
Zagreb is a capital city that hasn’t lost its cultural charm, mainly because most people have no interest in visiting the place (the locals think the same). But it is a lovely chilled out city, with many events, such as the Red Bull BMX Marketplace Race, and the World Corporate Games, which took place while I was there.
One great thing about Zagreb was the size of their pizzas! Order a medium and you can feed an entire army! Never seen or ordered a large (jumbo) but I’m sure one could solve the problem with world hunger today!
The nightlife is excellent, though you have to seek locals to tell you the good places. Croatians I have discovered seem to be quite mellow and chilled out, but get them completely intoxicated and they become party animals! Many times you'd see me being dragged by them (literally) to the dance floor, and to other clubs nearby. Heck, I was
even piggybacked to one club from the bar by some guy as a show of admiration (can't remember what for, I think it was for being Vietnamese or something, I was drunk also )
In one of the bars I went to, I met one of the most interesting characters on my travels. He was an old funny Croatian guy who had just came out of the insane asylum that afternoon (seriously, no joke), with the mannerisms of Robin Williams, Jim Carrey and Gerard Depardieu. Couldn't stop laughing at his antics all night!
WHERE AM I NOW?
I'm currently in a prison converted into a hostel (apparently) in Ljubljana, Slovenia, with lack of sleep due to yesterday partying in Zagreb. I've heard good things about Ljubljana. Having said that, it's starting to rain...
Friday, September 23, 2005
Rural Romania
Suceava - Humor - Voronets - Moldovita - Suceavita – Sighetu Maramureti - Sapanta - Budapest - Pecs - Zagreb
Jo napot kivanok! (Hungarian for hello, quite difficult a language)
FIRST, A JOKE:
European Heaven:
-English Police
-German Mechanic
-French Chef
-Italian Lover
-Swiss Government
European Hell:
-English Chef
-German Police
-French Mechanic
-Italian Government
-Swiss Lover
WILD BEAR WATCHING IN BRASOV
Left Brasov after going bear watching, which involved driving up and down the street littered with garbage bins, the boundary between civilisation and the forest. Eventually we saw what we were waiting for; dogs barking announced the arrival of a mother and four cubs who were looking to scavenge the bins for food. Unfortunately, the bears became frightened and ran off when dogs came running out barking, and everyone’s flash photography went off.
SUCEAVA - JAMES SORDID LOVE LIFE SOAP OPERA CONTINUES
Spent the night in a corn field in the middle of remote Romania with a New Zealand girl under the full harvest moon and the stars. Quite romantic really. We actually first met in the hostel in Sibiu, which Iulia pointed out I was flirting with (I really wasn't - It was annoying how Iulia would not leave her horrible boyfriend for me (Romanians are very apathetic, tending to put up with what they're used to), yet treated me in a way as if i were hers.) It was unexpected to bump into her in Suceava, which is a rural town in the Moldavian region north east of Romania.
Stayed in the "High Class Hostel" run by an energetic enterprising girl named Monika, famous in Lonely Planet. The hostel is just out of Suceava, in a little village surrounded by corn and maize fields, tractors, and hay stacks. Got addicted to her famous home cooking and stayed longer than planned. She gave me the last night and dinner there free because I stayed quite long. I'm going to do a revamp on her dreadful website in return, shouldn't take more than a day to fix up. She's also considering coming to Oz for the winter and I’ve invited her to stay with me in that case but I guess we'll wait and see...
Suceava isn't the most exciting city, there's an old fortress and a few churches. In fact the picturesque journey through the dramatic white cliffed forested Carpathians was more interesting. The main reason for being in Suceava was to see its famous painted monasteries of the Moldavian Bucovina region.
THE PAINTED MONASTERIES OF HUMOR, VORONETS, MOLDOVITA, AND SUCEAVITA
Monika drove us around the Moldavian region to visit the four main painted monasteries in the area. All of the monasteries were covered with painted Byzantine murals, the paint itself containing a substance scientists haven't
worked out how the paintings have remained so well preserved against the elements.
Humor is the smallest and predominantly red, and lacking a bell tower as it is a family monastery as opposed to the royal monasteries of the other 3.
Voronets is blue with a fascinating Judgement day mural containing a scroll of pagan Zodiac signs being rolled up by angels signalling the end of time.
Moldovita is yellow, and is the most picturesque and grand of the 4, with a well tended flower garden looked after by the nuns.
Finally, Suceavita, green, with a interesting mural of the ladder of virtues. All these monasteries inclosed within a fortress courtyard complete with towers, all located in some isolated part of the countryside (which isn't hard to find in Moldavia).
SIGHETU MARAMURES - BACK IN THE 18th CENTURY
Maramures was pretty cool, a rural farming area, they still wear traditional dress, lots of horse drawn carriages, hay stacks scattered in the vast fields, and towns built completely out of wood. Hate to see what happens in case of fire. Here you can see farm animals who are able to walk themselves to the fields in the morning and return back to their homes at night, unassisted and unaccompanied. There's also a status thing about having over the top enormous intricately carved wooden gates in front of their houses.
Anyway, there were two reasons for visiting this remote northern area of Romania, to see the Merry Cemetery, and the see the old wooden churches famous in this region. The churches was as you expect; brown, made completely out of wood, several centuries old, with very steep wooden roofs to ensure snow does not collect and collapse the
roof in. All this usually surrounded by a beautiful peaceful cemetery.
The Merry Cemetery is a cemetery that is famous for it's colourful humorous tombstones depicting a scene of the persons life and death. There are ones showing the person in their trade, also several ones showing how the person died, such as in a car accident. This is part of the traditional Romanian way of laughing at their troubles, even death (though this is probably more older generation, the younger are just chronically depressed).
Anyway, I thought, do I go to Cluj, Oradea, or leave Romania for Budapest? Coin flips and convenient bus schedules and voila, finally made it out of 18th century Romania after a long bumpy overnight bus to Budapest, quite a change being in a big city after such a long stint in small villages and towns.
I've already been to Budapest and seen the sights, so I may just chill out and go to the clubs at night that I missed last time. I'll write about that next email.
Viszontlatasra!
Jo napot kivanok! (Hungarian for hello, quite difficult a language)
FIRST, A JOKE:
European Heaven:
-English Police
-German Mechanic
-French Chef
-Italian Lover
-Swiss Government
European Hell:
-English Chef
-German Police
-French Mechanic
-Italian Government
-Swiss Lover
WILD BEAR WATCHING IN BRASOV
Left Brasov after going bear watching, which involved driving up and down the street littered with garbage bins, the boundary between civilisation and the forest. Eventually we saw what we were waiting for; dogs barking announced the arrival of a mother and four cubs who were looking to scavenge the bins for food. Unfortunately, the bears became frightened and ran off when dogs came running out barking, and everyone’s flash photography went off.
SUCEAVA - JAMES SORDID LOVE LIFE SOAP OPERA CONTINUES
Spent the night in a corn field in the middle of remote Romania with a New Zealand girl under the full harvest moon and the stars. Quite romantic really. We actually first met in the hostel in Sibiu, which Iulia pointed out I was flirting with (I really wasn't - It was annoying how Iulia would not leave her horrible boyfriend for me (Romanians are very apathetic, tending to put up with what they're used to), yet treated me in a way as if i were hers.) It was unexpected to bump into her in Suceava, which is a rural town in the Moldavian region north east of Romania.
Stayed in the "High Class Hostel" run by an energetic enterprising girl named Monika, famous in Lonely Planet. The hostel is just out of Suceava, in a little village surrounded by corn and maize fields, tractors, and hay stacks. Got addicted to her famous home cooking and stayed longer than planned. She gave me the last night and dinner there free because I stayed quite long. I'm going to do a revamp on her dreadful website in return, shouldn't take more than a day to fix up. She's also considering coming to Oz for the winter and I’ve invited her to stay with me in that case but I guess we'll wait and see...
Suceava isn't the most exciting city, there's an old fortress and a few churches. In fact the picturesque journey through the dramatic white cliffed forested Carpathians was more interesting. The main reason for being in Suceava was to see its famous painted monasteries of the Moldavian Bucovina region.
THE PAINTED MONASTERIES OF HUMOR, VORONETS, MOLDOVITA, AND SUCEAVITA
Monika drove us around the Moldavian region to visit the four main painted monasteries in the area. All of the monasteries were covered with painted Byzantine murals, the paint itself containing a substance scientists haven't
worked out how the paintings have remained so well preserved against the elements.
Humor is the smallest and predominantly red, and lacking a bell tower as it is a family monastery as opposed to the royal monasteries of the other 3.
Voronets is blue with a fascinating Judgement day mural containing a scroll of pagan Zodiac signs being rolled up by angels signalling the end of time.
Moldovita is yellow, and is the most picturesque and grand of the 4, with a well tended flower garden looked after by the nuns.
Finally, Suceavita, green, with a interesting mural of the ladder of virtues. All these monasteries inclosed within a fortress courtyard complete with towers, all located in some isolated part of the countryside (which isn't hard to find in Moldavia).
SIGHETU MARAMURES - BACK IN THE 18th CENTURY
Maramures was pretty cool, a rural farming area, they still wear traditional dress, lots of horse drawn carriages, hay stacks scattered in the vast fields, and towns built completely out of wood. Hate to see what happens in case of fire. Here you can see farm animals who are able to walk themselves to the fields in the morning and return back to their homes at night, unassisted and unaccompanied. There's also a status thing about having over the top enormous intricately carved wooden gates in front of their houses.
Anyway, there were two reasons for visiting this remote northern area of Romania, to see the Merry Cemetery, and the see the old wooden churches famous in this region. The churches was as you expect; brown, made completely out of wood, several centuries old, with very steep wooden roofs to ensure snow does not collect and collapse the
roof in. All this usually surrounded by a beautiful peaceful cemetery.
The Merry Cemetery is a cemetery that is famous for it's colourful humorous tombstones depicting a scene of the persons life and death. There are ones showing the person in their trade, also several ones showing how the person died, such as in a car accident. This is part of the traditional Romanian way of laughing at their troubles, even death (though this is probably more older generation, the younger are just chronically depressed).
Anyway, I thought, do I go to Cluj, Oradea, or leave Romania for Budapest? Coin flips and convenient bus schedules and voila, finally made it out of 18th century Romania after a long bumpy overnight bus to Budapest, quite a change being in a big city after such a long stint in small villages and towns.
I've already been to Budapest and seen the sights, so I may just chill out and go to the clubs at night that I missed last time. I'll write about that next email.
Viszontlatasra!
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Romania
Timisoara - Sibiu - Rasinov - Sighisoara - Cisnadie - Carta – Brasnov - Siniaia - Bran (Draculas Castle) - Rasnov
Buna!
Romanian Sentence to Learn: Sint Dracula, Vreau satsi sug sangele!
(I'm Dracula, I want to suck your blood!)
ROMANIANS
Most tend to be very goth pale, with dark hair and eyes, and like to listen to scar punk/rock/heavy metal music (the young ones that is, and just like the Polish). They also are very good at English as they get English shows with Romanian subtitles, and tend to be chronically depressed, or just sad and melancholy, probably due to the poverty
they live in where they can't see any way out of their predicament. For example, a house would cost 100,000 euros in a town where the average salary is 150 euros a month!
They are however, a very friendly nation, since despite their poor conditions, would do all they can to ensure foreigners are comfortable. The couple I met after wandering in the dark after midnight on arrival to Timisoara walked a few kms with me to show me a cheap hotel, and also offered me to join them to a party the next day.
The next night, was invited by another young couple to their home for a home cooked dinner. Despite the dreary conditions their old little broken down apartment was in, it was cosy, and they even refused to let me buy them beers later on, continually buying me drinks instead. Amazing hospitality!
There are also Roma gypsies, distinguished by colourful free flowing cotton garments and dresses, long hair in plaits, and hands outstretched asking for money, even though most Roma are settled with stable jobs provided by the government, some even richer than the average person in Romania.
There are two types of Gypsy, White Gypsies and Dark Gypsies. The White Gypsies are generally nice unless you do business with them. They are generally very rich, having made money begging outside of Romania, and lending money with 20% interest per month to other Romanians inside the country, yet never wash, and live in wooden huts
built outside the big house and luxury car they own. The Dark Gypsies are the ones who tend to be aggressive and have no culture.
Romanians seem to like Asians. Everywhere I go I get smiles, a wave or greeting yelled out in Romanian across the street... One guy went up to me in a club and said "Hey you Chinese? I love you guys!".
And lets not mention Ilana, the Romanian girl I met in a club whose every second word while we were together was "D'amour!"
TIMISOARA, THE BIRTHPLACE OF THE REVOLUTION
The architecture in Romania is like nothing else you'd see anywhere else in Europe (almost). Romania is very diverse in it's architecture, each town seemingly having it's own style. In Timisoara you are confronted with colourful baroque buildings but with slightly distorted or bulged black roof tops and arch windows, some buildings almost
looking Gaudi-esque/Modernist even though they are centuries old.
SIBIU AND TRANSYLVANNIA
Headed to Sibiu, a small town inside Transylvania. Here the buildings become a lot more unusual and distorted. "The houses have eyes!". This refers to the roofs that contain (usually) two tiny windows in the attic covered by a fold of roof tiling, giving the impression that the house has eyes, quite an eerie experience as this makes the houses seem alive with character. Yes, this is Transylvania, the land of myths and legends. In this land you'd see huge fields of tall corn stalks, morning mist that seems to linger and dissipate at random, and fortified Saxon villages with similar surreal architecture, black pinched pointy roofs and towers, the perfect setting for any gothic (Tim Burton directed?) film.
There are alot of wild dogs running about, which could be the inspiration for werewolves, more legendary than Dracula and Vampires.
Did day trips to some of the fortified church Saxon towns that are scattered about the region such as Cisnadie and Rasinov. These towns consisted of a church surrounded by fortified walls for defence – the rest of the town would be built around it.
BEWITCHED BY MAIDENS IN TRANSYLVANNIA
The girls in Romania always seem to melt my heart with their beauty, their gentle disposition and sweet accented voice and their below the surface melancholy that makes me want to reach out and hug them!
SIGHISOARA, DRACULA'S BIRTHPLACE
Sighisoara is a beautiful (tourist) town, featuring the old walled town rising on a hill, complete with churches, cobbled streets and souvenir vendors around the area where Vlad Tepes (AKA Vlad the Impaler AKA Dracula) cheerful yellow house of his birth resides. The walls of the town feature several stone towers, each pertaining to
a particular trade guild (butchers, bakers, blacksmiths etc) of medieval times. There is also a scary looking covered long dark stairway leading to the "church on the hill" above the old town. The church is nothing special, but the German Cemetery with it's many worn marble tombstones, covered with moss and dry autumn leaves from the
trees amongst the graves, is extremely picturesque and for lack of a better word, romantic.
CARTA, A VILLAGE IN TRANSYLVANNIA
Did a day trip to Carta with Elena (hostel receptionist) on her day off work, which is a little village east of Sibiu. Here I saw White Gypsy houses, a picturesque ruined monastery with Saxon warrior graveyard, and a very fragile looking wooden bridge on verge of collapse, which we and her sister sat around talking and enjoying the views of the river and the Carpathian mountains beyond. Later we went to her grandmothers house there, where the house's bathroom was an outhouse behind the small house warmed up by ceramic wood furnaces you usually see in museums, grape vines, chickens and a huge vegetable and plum tree garden. Got some tuica (plum brandy) from a White Gypsy women who makes it in her backyard and enjoyed the sunset in a field while watching the horses and cows come home. Quite a unique wonderful experience.
BRASNOV
Is a very touristy place in Transylvania, a town nestled between mountains, with beautiful coloured buildings and the famous "Black Church" which wasn't very black at all. Here I based myself while I did day trips to:
SINAIA
A more beautiful town than Brasnov, also a ski resort, where after going up 2000m in the cable car, one can enjoy glorious views of the Carpathian Transylvanian mountains. The highlight of Sinaia is it's multi spiked stunning Peles Palace, with it's over the top interior decoration of intricate wood carved doors and walls, silk carpets, ornate furnishings and paintings and mirrors... I've never seen so much detail before, a definite favourite palace of mine.
BRAN CASTLE - DRACULAS CASTLE
Was a little disappointing, since Dracula never actually set foot there. Still, it looks like a castle that could be vampirish, picturesquely situated over a cliff edge. It was also quite small and very touristy.
RASNOV CASTLE
Rasnov is more beautiful and less touristy than Bran, a fortress town with ruins set on top of a hill through stones acting as steps through the forest. The views above extend to the plains of Transylvania below...
Tonight, bear watching, followed by heading up to the painted monasteries of Bucovina, north east of Romania.
La revederie!
Buna!
Romanian Sentence to Learn: Sint Dracula, Vreau satsi sug sangele!
(I'm Dracula, I want to suck your blood!)
ROMANIANS
Most tend to be very goth pale, with dark hair and eyes, and like to listen to scar punk/rock/heavy metal music (the young ones that is, and just like the Polish). They also are very good at English as they get English shows with Romanian subtitles, and tend to be chronically depressed, or just sad and melancholy, probably due to the poverty
they live in where they can't see any way out of their predicament. For example, a house would cost 100,000 euros in a town where the average salary is 150 euros a month!
They are however, a very friendly nation, since despite their poor conditions, would do all they can to ensure foreigners are comfortable. The couple I met after wandering in the dark after midnight on arrival to Timisoara walked a few kms with me to show me a cheap hotel, and also offered me to join them to a party the next day.
The next night, was invited by another young couple to their home for a home cooked dinner. Despite the dreary conditions their old little broken down apartment was in, it was cosy, and they even refused to let me buy them beers later on, continually buying me drinks instead. Amazing hospitality!
There are also Roma gypsies, distinguished by colourful free flowing cotton garments and dresses, long hair in plaits, and hands outstretched asking for money, even though most Roma are settled with stable jobs provided by the government, some even richer than the average person in Romania.
There are two types of Gypsy, White Gypsies and Dark Gypsies. The White Gypsies are generally nice unless you do business with them. They are generally very rich, having made money begging outside of Romania, and lending money with 20% interest per month to other Romanians inside the country, yet never wash, and live in wooden huts
built outside the big house and luxury car they own. The Dark Gypsies are the ones who tend to be aggressive and have no culture.
Romanians seem to like Asians. Everywhere I go I get smiles, a wave or greeting yelled out in Romanian across the street... One guy went up to me in a club and said "Hey you Chinese? I love you guys!".
And lets not mention Ilana, the Romanian girl I met in a club whose every second word while we were together was "D'amour!"
TIMISOARA, THE BIRTHPLACE OF THE REVOLUTION
The architecture in Romania is like nothing else you'd see anywhere else in Europe (almost). Romania is very diverse in it's architecture, each town seemingly having it's own style. In Timisoara you are confronted with colourful baroque buildings but with slightly distorted or bulged black roof tops and arch windows, some buildings almost
looking Gaudi-esque/Modernist even though they are centuries old.
SIBIU AND TRANSYLVANNIA
Headed to Sibiu, a small town inside Transylvania. Here the buildings become a lot more unusual and distorted. "The houses have eyes!". This refers to the roofs that contain (usually) two tiny windows in the attic covered by a fold of roof tiling, giving the impression that the house has eyes, quite an eerie experience as this makes the houses seem alive with character. Yes, this is Transylvania, the land of myths and legends. In this land you'd see huge fields of tall corn stalks, morning mist that seems to linger and dissipate at random, and fortified Saxon villages with similar surreal architecture, black pinched pointy roofs and towers, the perfect setting for any gothic (Tim Burton directed?) film.
There are alot of wild dogs running about, which could be the inspiration for werewolves, more legendary than Dracula and Vampires.
Did day trips to some of the fortified church Saxon towns that are scattered about the region such as Cisnadie and Rasinov. These towns consisted of a church surrounded by fortified walls for defence – the rest of the town would be built around it.
BEWITCHED BY MAIDENS IN TRANSYLVANNIA
The girls in Romania always seem to melt my heart with their beauty, their gentle disposition and sweet accented voice and their below the surface melancholy that makes me want to reach out and hug them!
SIGHISOARA, DRACULA'S BIRTHPLACE
Sighisoara is a beautiful (tourist) town, featuring the old walled town rising on a hill, complete with churches, cobbled streets and souvenir vendors around the area where Vlad Tepes (AKA Vlad the Impaler AKA Dracula) cheerful yellow house of his birth resides. The walls of the town feature several stone towers, each pertaining to
a particular trade guild (butchers, bakers, blacksmiths etc) of medieval times. There is also a scary looking covered long dark stairway leading to the "church on the hill" above the old town. The church is nothing special, but the German Cemetery with it's many worn marble tombstones, covered with moss and dry autumn leaves from the
trees amongst the graves, is extremely picturesque and for lack of a better word, romantic.
CARTA, A VILLAGE IN TRANSYLVANNIA
Did a day trip to Carta with Elena (hostel receptionist) on her day off work, which is a little village east of Sibiu. Here I saw White Gypsy houses, a picturesque ruined monastery with Saxon warrior graveyard, and a very fragile looking wooden bridge on verge of collapse, which we and her sister sat around talking and enjoying the views of the river and the Carpathian mountains beyond. Later we went to her grandmothers house there, where the house's bathroom was an outhouse behind the small house warmed up by ceramic wood furnaces you usually see in museums, grape vines, chickens and a huge vegetable and plum tree garden. Got some tuica (plum brandy) from a White Gypsy women who makes it in her backyard and enjoyed the sunset in a field while watching the horses and cows come home. Quite a unique wonderful experience.
BRASNOV
Is a very touristy place in Transylvania, a town nestled between mountains, with beautiful coloured buildings and the famous "Black Church" which wasn't very black at all. Here I based myself while I did day trips to:
SINAIA
A more beautiful town than Brasnov, also a ski resort, where after going up 2000m in the cable car, one can enjoy glorious views of the Carpathian Transylvanian mountains. The highlight of Sinaia is it's multi spiked stunning Peles Palace, with it's over the top interior decoration of intricate wood carved doors and walls, silk carpets, ornate furnishings and paintings and mirrors... I've never seen so much detail before, a definite favourite palace of mine.
BRAN CASTLE - DRACULAS CASTLE
Was a little disappointing, since Dracula never actually set foot there. Still, it looks like a castle that could be vampirish, picturesquely situated over a cliff edge. It was also quite small and very touristy.
RASNOV CASTLE
Rasnov is more beautiful and less touristy than Bran, a fortress town with ruins set on top of a hill through stones acting as steps through the forest. The views above extend to the plains of Transylvania below...
Tonight, bear watching, followed by heading up to the painted monasteries of Bucovina, north east of Romania.
La revederie!
Sunday, August 28, 2005
James visits Post War Yugoslavia
(Croatia) Dubrovnik - (Bosnia) Mostar - Sarajevo - (Serbia) Belgrade
Zdravo!
DUBROVNIK
Dubrovnik, called the "Jewel of the Adriatic", doesn't have the same crowds and carnival holiday atmosphere of Budvar, nor the long beaches, but it does have a really impressive walled old town overlooking the sea. Huge fortress walls enclose the spanking clean shiny marble pavemented town, where, sloping down from the walls to
the main street in the centre via a maze of narrow picturesque streets lie grand old buildings, arcades and basilicas of renaissance/neoclassical/Italian design, and numerous pizzerias that you tire of very quickly. The beaches were quite disappointingly small but pleasant. Oh, and a useless fact, did you know the Croatians invented the tie?
THE BEAUTY AND THE HORROR OF BOSNIA
Bosnia is a beautiful place, yet you are often confronted with the horrors of the past years of war and torment. Travelling through the countryside amongst huge mountains covered with mist reminiscent of Chinese mountains, with turquoise rivers meandering through the valleys dotted with old romantic cottages, now abandoned or a gutted
out version of it's former glorious self - the inhabitants long vanished, perhaps now living abroad, scattered about or killed in the wars. It really is quite tragic.
It is also the more terrible when you meet the locals, who are extremely warm and hospitable, and do not mind talking about the war. It is a shame that in so many countries, people are so friendly and nice, but at the same time detest and loathe other nations. Syrians/Lebanese hate each other, Jews and Palestinians also, Macedonians hate the Greeks, Albanians are hated by the Serbians and Macedonians, Bosnians hate Serbians, Polish hate Germans, the list goes on.
MOSTAR
Mostar is a beautiful and fascinating place. Here lies the famous Mostar bridge, a aesthetic bridge of white stone arching gracefully without supports over the beautiful turquoise rivers, the old town of stone houses with grey slate tiled roofs and cobbled ankle twisting streets clinging precariously on the steep rugged banks either side of the bridge. This bridge is a symbol of Croat-Muslim unity, and was actually destroyed by Croat shelling during the fighting between them, but is now rebuilt. Tensions between the Croat and Muslims have died down but things will never quite be the same again. In fact, walking along the front line between the Muslim/Croat areas, you could see the mosques on the Muslim side and churches being built on the Croat side - one church right on the front line with a absurdly tall steeple, probably sending a subtle message to the Muslims I reckon.
What was sad was walking down the front line, where on both sides of the street, especially the weaker Muslim side, bullet and shell holes cover the buildings, many buildings also blown up or on verge of collapse. All around are signs on buildings stating "Dangerous Ruin - do not enter or park here", dangerous not only because it could collapse, but also because of the possible unexploded mines and shells which could cause serious injury or death to those who inadvertently step on them. Landmines is a problem in Bosnia, and the rule of thumb is to keep to asphalt or concrete surfaces, avoiding soft ground or abandoned looking places and suburbs.
SAREJEVO
If there’s one place that people coming to Europe must see, it is Sarajevo, a place full of history, beauty and tragedy. A beautiful city with a Turkish influenced old town of wooden huts and cobbled streets, surrounded by cascading terracotta roofed houses up to the hills and mountains enclosing the city. Outside the old town it turns into a bleak communist style buildings of grey concrete, many still bearing the scars of the Serbian siege less than 10 years ago. Some buildings and schools are now just husks and burned out shells. On the pavement you would see what is called "Sarajevo Roses", that is, patterned concentric marks on the ground where a mortar shell had hit and exploded.
Walked along Sniper Alley, where Bosnian Serbs shot at innocent civilians all the way to the UN airport, where a secret tunnel had been dug by the locals, a tunnel which saved the city during the 3 year siege by being the only way to the outside world where they could get supplies, since the impotent UNPROFOR had been notoriously
incompetent, in fact they were supplying 50% of their aid to the Bosnian Serbs, the other to the Sarejevians, which meant that things just got drawn out longer than it should have.
The tunnel was difficult to find, at the end of a long muddy road outside of Sarajevo in the middle of nowhere, yet it is one of the most visited museums in the city. The Tunnel is a symbol of the human spirit during times of oppression and is truly an inspiring place to visit.
All around you would see on any patch of grass, numerous cemeteries, transforming fields of green into fields of white marble. It touches the heart seeing so many graves that only existed in the last 10years.
Also saw the bridge that Archduke Ferdinand was assassinated by a Bosnian Serb, which sparked WW1 and changed this area of the world forever.
BELGRADE' S SECRET
After a long dusty rickety bus ride through terrible roads (at one stage we drove through a corn field on a mud track!), I finally made it to Belgrade.
Belgrade! Not the most beautiful place to visit, in fact it's just a very typical looking city filled with Austrian-Hungarian architecture and occasional NATO bombed buildings, but the secret that is Belgrade is that it has one of the best nightlife in the world! Along the river there are several barges, all nightclubs pounding all kinds of music into the early morning. Also, bars, clubs and cafes in the city, some outside, some hidden in some old unmarked building, are fantastic places to go party. In fact, I haven't really done much in Belgrade, mainly sleeping in the day and going out partying at night. The locals are all extremely friendly and the girls are stunning and very approachable! In fact last night I went out with some staff working at the fast food restaurant near the hostel after they finished work. Belgrade is that kind of relaxed friendly place.
Of course, they also have a different view of what happened with the wars etc. They maintain that it was Bosnian Serbs, not Serbians that were fighting in Bosnia. Secondly, they state it was the Albanian Kosovians that started the conflict because Kosovo is holy ground for the Serbs, with many 11th Century churches and monasteries that were
destroyed by the rioting Kosovos which of course angered the Serbians. Not that the Serbians were justified with their bloody retributions to the thousands of murdered Muslim Albanians as a result. But it does make you always think about what you are being told on the news etc. There is always two sides to a story, and rarely is it not biased.
Anyway, tomorrow I may go to Romania, if I can actually get up and leave this city, which has a way of keeping you here...
Zdravo!
DUBROVNIK
Dubrovnik, called the "Jewel of the Adriatic", doesn't have the same crowds and carnival holiday atmosphere of Budvar, nor the long beaches, but it does have a really impressive walled old town overlooking the sea. Huge fortress walls enclose the spanking clean shiny marble pavemented town, where, sloping down from the walls to
the main street in the centre via a maze of narrow picturesque streets lie grand old buildings, arcades and basilicas of renaissance/neoclassical/Italian design, and numerous pizzerias that you tire of very quickly. The beaches were quite disappointingly small but pleasant. Oh, and a useless fact, did you know the Croatians invented the tie?
THE BEAUTY AND THE HORROR OF BOSNIA
Bosnia is a beautiful place, yet you are often confronted with the horrors of the past years of war and torment. Travelling through the countryside amongst huge mountains covered with mist reminiscent of Chinese mountains, with turquoise rivers meandering through the valleys dotted with old romantic cottages, now abandoned or a gutted
out version of it's former glorious self - the inhabitants long vanished, perhaps now living abroad, scattered about or killed in the wars. It really is quite tragic.
It is also the more terrible when you meet the locals, who are extremely warm and hospitable, and do not mind talking about the war. It is a shame that in so many countries, people are so friendly and nice, but at the same time detest and loathe other nations. Syrians/Lebanese hate each other, Jews and Palestinians also, Macedonians hate the Greeks, Albanians are hated by the Serbians and Macedonians, Bosnians hate Serbians, Polish hate Germans, the list goes on.
MOSTAR
Mostar is a beautiful and fascinating place. Here lies the famous Mostar bridge, a aesthetic bridge of white stone arching gracefully without supports over the beautiful turquoise rivers, the old town of stone houses with grey slate tiled roofs and cobbled ankle twisting streets clinging precariously on the steep rugged banks either side of the bridge. This bridge is a symbol of Croat-Muslim unity, and was actually destroyed by Croat shelling during the fighting between them, but is now rebuilt. Tensions between the Croat and Muslims have died down but things will never quite be the same again. In fact, walking along the front line between the Muslim/Croat areas, you could see the mosques on the Muslim side and churches being built on the Croat side - one church right on the front line with a absurdly tall steeple, probably sending a subtle message to the Muslims I reckon.
What was sad was walking down the front line, where on both sides of the street, especially the weaker Muslim side, bullet and shell holes cover the buildings, many buildings also blown up or on verge of collapse. All around are signs on buildings stating "Dangerous Ruin - do not enter or park here", dangerous not only because it could collapse, but also because of the possible unexploded mines and shells which could cause serious injury or death to those who inadvertently step on them. Landmines is a problem in Bosnia, and the rule of thumb is to keep to asphalt or concrete surfaces, avoiding soft ground or abandoned looking places and suburbs.
SAREJEVO
If there’s one place that people coming to Europe must see, it is Sarajevo, a place full of history, beauty and tragedy. A beautiful city with a Turkish influenced old town of wooden huts and cobbled streets, surrounded by cascading terracotta roofed houses up to the hills and mountains enclosing the city. Outside the old town it turns into a bleak communist style buildings of grey concrete, many still bearing the scars of the Serbian siege less than 10 years ago. Some buildings and schools are now just husks and burned out shells. On the pavement you would see what is called "Sarajevo Roses", that is, patterned concentric marks on the ground where a mortar shell had hit and exploded.
Walked along Sniper Alley, where Bosnian Serbs shot at innocent civilians all the way to the UN airport, where a secret tunnel had been dug by the locals, a tunnel which saved the city during the 3 year siege by being the only way to the outside world where they could get supplies, since the impotent UNPROFOR had been notoriously
incompetent, in fact they were supplying 50% of their aid to the Bosnian Serbs, the other to the Sarejevians, which meant that things just got drawn out longer than it should have.
The tunnel was difficult to find, at the end of a long muddy road outside of Sarajevo in the middle of nowhere, yet it is one of the most visited museums in the city. The Tunnel is a symbol of the human spirit during times of oppression and is truly an inspiring place to visit.
All around you would see on any patch of grass, numerous cemeteries, transforming fields of green into fields of white marble. It touches the heart seeing so many graves that only existed in the last 10years.
Also saw the bridge that Archduke Ferdinand was assassinated by a Bosnian Serb, which sparked WW1 and changed this area of the world forever.
BELGRADE' S SECRET
After a long dusty rickety bus ride through terrible roads (at one stage we drove through a corn field on a mud track!), I finally made it to Belgrade.
Belgrade! Not the most beautiful place to visit, in fact it's just a very typical looking city filled with Austrian-Hungarian architecture and occasional NATO bombed buildings, but the secret that is Belgrade is that it has one of the best nightlife in the world! Along the river there are several barges, all nightclubs pounding all kinds of music into the early morning. Also, bars, clubs and cafes in the city, some outside, some hidden in some old unmarked building, are fantastic places to go party. In fact, I haven't really done much in Belgrade, mainly sleeping in the day and going out partying at night. The locals are all extremely friendly and the girls are stunning and very approachable! In fact last night I went out with some staff working at the fast food restaurant near the hostel after they finished work. Belgrade is that kind of relaxed friendly place.
Of course, they also have a different view of what happened with the wars etc. They maintain that it was Bosnian Serbs, not Serbians that were fighting in Bosnia. Secondly, they state it was the Albanian Kosovians that started the conflict because Kosovo is holy ground for the Serbs, with many 11th Century churches and monasteries that were
destroyed by the rioting Kosovos which of course angered the Serbians. Not that the Serbians were justified with their bloody retributions to the thousands of murdered Muslim Albanians as a result. But it does make you always think about what you are being told on the news etc. There is always two sides to a story, and rarely is it not biased.
Anyway, tomorrow I may go to Romania, if I can actually get up and leave this city, which has a way of keeping you here...
Friday, August 12, 2005
Albania and Montenegro
Shkoder - (Montenegro) Budvar - Cetinye - Kotor - Sveti Stefan - Herceg Novi
Dobro den,
LAST THINGS ABOUT ALBANIA
So, Albania, a country where power and water cuts are frequent, roads and public transport is terrible, buses refusing to travel after dark due to fears of banditry of times past, and currently in-between governments. Lets also not forget the lack of street names and street numbers (the postman just happens to know what is what, more to
experience and knowing who's who than logic).
Albania is also 70% Muslim, though you wouldn't know it. Being the only atheist country in the world during the communist era, everyone is a non practicing such and such, though this could change now that the country is open to the world and outside religious influence. Though I am told that Albanians would consider blowing oneself up for
God as absurd, and even more absurd would be them giving up alcohol!
Did meet some interesting people. The hostel owner happened to also be a TV anchorman, who I had hilarious discussions on the quirky, amusing (yet also shameful) story of Albanian politics. Also briefly hooked up with a pretty American Jewish girl called Olivia, with Moldavian roots, working in Kosovo, who amongst many things told me about the state of affairs with the UN and Kosovo. The UN apparently should leave Kosovo to rebuild their lives since the UN staff do nothing but seek ways to remain employed rather than solving problems.
I also discovered how friendly the Albanians really are when you are out of the capital city. It's not that people in Tirana are unfriendly, it's just that they are more reserved and shy. The ones who do talk to me always inevitably ask the question "So why are you here?" I guess they cannot perceive their country as being a tourist attraction.
The people are generally good humoured and happy, astonishing considering their past turbulent unhappy years. As with the rest of the Balkans and Eastern Europe, bad politics has ruined what was once such an affluent rich fertile land full of manor houses, country villas and romanticised people into a disorganised broken down state, with bleak communist concrete buildings and war torn ghost towns - where the people had vanished from what was once vibrant towns I wouldn't know. But it's a dreadful shame to know that all these changes had only occurred within the last 50 years.
Finally, I must not forget my tradition of rating the girls in each country I visit. In Albania I could say they are prettier than Macedonians, but can't compete with Bulgarians and Montenegrins. Albanian girls take on all sorts of appearances; it's hard to stereotype their look. Olivia was often mistaken for Albanian, which made it more amusing when shocking the locals when seen with me, an Asian, rarely seen in Albania, holding hands down the street!
Sometimes when you get stared at all the time as I do, you find it's fun to mess with locals heads...
MONTENEGRO
Is a beautiful country. Montenegro, meaning "Black Mountain", is very much that; all over the tiny country are towering mountains burdened with lush green vegetation and little villages all the way to the dramatic coastal beaches and resort towns. Cheaper than Croatia and most of the popular beach resorts of Europe, Montenegro is a local secret (which will probably change in a few years time). You don't really see any foreigners here that do not have Slavic roots. So the staring and "Chinese" whispered in the wind continues...
BUDVA
Is a resort town that I stayed at, the largest and most populated with tourists and vacation beach seekers mainly from the ex-Yugoslavian countries. A plethora of hotels, private apartments, outdoor bars, cafes and clubs as well as street side stalls and a carnival, to create that true "I am on holiday" feeling amongst the huge "almost sandy" pebble beaches, blue water, tiny islands and the reconstructed walled old town fortress with the narrow sandstone coloured buildings and angled streets, on a peninsula overlooking the blue Aegean sea.
At night, the crowds do what Balkan crowds do best - strut their stuff in the promenades in the ritualistic evening stroll, to see and be seen. The girls here are stunning, very tall, and as with most girls I encounter, completely unattainable!
The funniest thing I’ve seen is the flying boats they have here, which is literally a boat with wings flying overhead.
The problem with travelling solo is that there are no single rooms at all in Montenegro, because they couldn't imagine anyone travelling on their own, especially here. Which makes things a little lonely for me, since I rarely find English speakers, and everyone has company. Sigh.
CETINYE - OLD CAPITAL OF MONTENEGRO
Was a little disappointing, the bus trip there and back was beautiful though high up on the mountains overlooking the towns by the sea. Anyway, I did check out the Monastery which contains a piece of the True cross, and also the brown mummified Hand of John the Baptist which was used to baptise Jesus. Lovely. Apart from that though, just a series of old buildings used as embassies, and many outdoor cafes.
KOTOR
Kotor is one of those places I fell in love with immediately upon arrival. Situated on the deepest fjord in southern Europe, the Italian influenced walled old town sits at the edge of a beautiful bay of glass, perfectly reflecting the surrounding grey mountains covered with forests and, in the case of Kotor, a solemn ruined fortress, which is a heck of a climb up, but worth the dramatic views. The town itself, consisting of narrow streets, piazzas and plenty of places to sit, have a coffee and watch people walk by. Indeed, Kotor would be on my favourite towns list, and I could see myself easily retiring here one day..
SVETI STEFAN
Is a small island fortress of terracotta roofed stone houses and buildings, accessed through a causeway from the mainland. Although you don't bother going into the place as it is just a hotel complex, the beaches around are quite nice, with the picturesque view of the island in front of you.
HERCEG NOVI
Stupid thing about Montenegro is it is not very logical. You would think there would be several buses going to touristy Dubrovnik from Budvar, which is really not that far away. But of course there is only 1 morning bus, which was booked out, so I thought I’d make my way to the border town of Herceg Novi, for surely there'd be heaps of buses going to the Croatian town. Of course, upon arrival (at 10am), I’m told "Nope, this is Montenegro, you have to wait till 4pm for the next bus!" This being annoying because I wanted to arrive early to find cheap accom. So, stuck in Herceg Novi, I thought I’d make the best of a bad situation and explore the steep hilly town (with my big backpack
mind you). But it is worth it, the town doesn't get a good mention in the Lonely Planet guidebooks, but it is a beautiful Italian inspired old town worth a look.
It is here that I am writing this, waiting for the bus to Dubrovnik...
Dobro den,
LAST THINGS ABOUT ALBANIA
So, Albania, a country where power and water cuts are frequent, roads and public transport is terrible, buses refusing to travel after dark due to fears of banditry of times past, and currently in-between governments. Lets also not forget the lack of street names and street numbers (the postman just happens to know what is what, more to
experience and knowing who's who than logic).
Albania is also 70% Muslim, though you wouldn't know it. Being the only atheist country in the world during the communist era, everyone is a non practicing such and such, though this could change now that the country is open to the world and outside religious influence. Though I am told that Albanians would consider blowing oneself up for
God as absurd, and even more absurd would be them giving up alcohol!
Did meet some interesting people. The hostel owner happened to also be a TV anchorman, who I had hilarious discussions on the quirky, amusing (yet also shameful) story of Albanian politics. Also briefly hooked up with a pretty American Jewish girl called Olivia, with Moldavian roots, working in Kosovo, who amongst many things told me about the state of affairs with the UN and Kosovo. The UN apparently should leave Kosovo to rebuild their lives since the UN staff do nothing but seek ways to remain employed rather than solving problems.
I also discovered how friendly the Albanians really are when you are out of the capital city. It's not that people in Tirana are unfriendly, it's just that they are more reserved and shy. The ones who do talk to me always inevitably ask the question "So why are you here?" I guess they cannot perceive their country as being a tourist attraction.
The people are generally good humoured and happy, astonishing considering their past turbulent unhappy years. As with the rest of the Balkans and Eastern Europe, bad politics has ruined what was once such an affluent rich fertile land full of manor houses, country villas and romanticised people into a disorganised broken down state, with bleak communist concrete buildings and war torn ghost towns - where the people had vanished from what was once vibrant towns I wouldn't know. But it's a dreadful shame to know that all these changes had only occurred within the last 50 years.
Finally, I must not forget my tradition of rating the girls in each country I visit. In Albania I could say they are prettier than Macedonians, but can't compete with Bulgarians and Montenegrins. Albanian girls take on all sorts of appearances; it's hard to stereotype their look. Olivia was often mistaken for Albanian, which made it more amusing when shocking the locals when seen with me, an Asian, rarely seen in Albania, holding hands down the street!
Sometimes when you get stared at all the time as I do, you find it's fun to mess with locals heads...
MONTENEGRO
Is a beautiful country. Montenegro, meaning "Black Mountain", is very much that; all over the tiny country are towering mountains burdened with lush green vegetation and little villages all the way to the dramatic coastal beaches and resort towns. Cheaper than Croatia and most of the popular beach resorts of Europe, Montenegro is a local secret (which will probably change in a few years time). You don't really see any foreigners here that do not have Slavic roots. So the staring and "Chinese" whispered in the wind continues...
BUDVA
Is a resort town that I stayed at, the largest and most populated with tourists and vacation beach seekers mainly from the ex-Yugoslavian countries. A plethora of hotels, private apartments, outdoor bars, cafes and clubs as well as street side stalls and a carnival, to create that true "I am on holiday" feeling amongst the huge "almost sandy" pebble beaches, blue water, tiny islands and the reconstructed walled old town fortress with the narrow sandstone coloured buildings and angled streets, on a peninsula overlooking the blue Aegean sea.
At night, the crowds do what Balkan crowds do best - strut their stuff in the promenades in the ritualistic evening stroll, to see and be seen. The girls here are stunning, very tall, and as with most girls I encounter, completely unattainable!
The funniest thing I’ve seen is the flying boats they have here, which is literally a boat with wings flying overhead.
The problem with travelling solo is that there are no single rooms at all in Montenegro, because they couldn't imagine anyone travelling on their own, especially here. Which makes things a little lonely for me, since I rarely find English speakers, and everyone has company. Sigh.
CETINYE - OLD CAPITAL OF MONTENEGRO
Was a little disappointing, the bus trip there and back was beautiful though high up on the mountains overlooking the towns by the sea. Anyway, I did check out the Monastery which contains a piece of the True cross, and also the brown mummified Hand of John the Baptist which was used to baptise Jesus. Lovely. Apart from that though, just a series of old buildings used as embassies, and many outdoor cafes.
KOTOR
Kotor is one of those places I fell in love with immediately upon arrival. Situated on the deepest fjord in southern Europe, the Italian influenced walled old town sits at the edge of a beautiful bay of glass, perfectly reflecting the surrounding grey mountains covered with forests and, in the case of Kotor, a solemn ruined fortress, which is a heck of a climb up, but worth the dramatic views. The town itself, consisting of narrow streets, piazzas and plenty of places to sit, have a coffee and watch people walk by. Indeed, Kotor would be on my favourite towns list, and I could see myself easily retiring here one day..
SVETI STEFAN
Is a small island fortress of terracotta roofed stone houses and buildings, accessed through a causeway from the mainland. Although you don't bother going into the place as it is just a hotel complex, the beaches around are quite nice, with the picturesque view of the island in front of you.
HERCEG NOVI
Stupid thing about Montenegro is it is not very logical. You would think there would be several buses going to touristy Dubrovnik from Budvar, which is really not that far away. But of course there is only 1 morning bus, which was booked out, so I thought I’d make my way to the border town of Herceg Novi, for surely there'd be heaps of buses going to the Croatian town. Of course, upon arrival (at 10am), I’m told "Nope, this is Montenegro, you have to wait till 4pm for the next bus!" This being annoying because I wanted to arrive early to find cheap accom. So, stuck in Herceg Novi, I thought I’d make the best of a bad situation and explore the steep hilly town (with my big backpack
mind you). But it is worth it, the town doesn't get a good mention in the Lonely Planet guidebooks, but it is a beautiful Italian inspired old town worth a look.
It is here that I am writing this, waiting for the bus to Dubrovnik...
Saturday, August 6, 2005
Sofia, Ohrid and Albania
(BULGARIA) Sofia - Rila Monastery - (MACEDONIA) Ohrid - Sveti Naum - Sveti Petrov - (ALBANIA) Tirana - Kruje - Durres
Mirdite!
STUCK IN SOFIA
Last time I left you I was stuck in Sofia for a week waiting for the Romanian Embassy to open (when it did it took only an afternoon to process. Sucks how Aussies have to get a 40USD visa at the embassy whilst almost everyone else can get a free one at the border!) Being misinformed and waking up late due to late night partying meant I stayed in Sofia rather than go anywhere else and come back when it opened. Although there is not much to see in Sofia (I saw all the sights the first afternoon I arrived), I became rather fond of the little city, the friendly locals, the multitude of cafes, restaurants and bars/clubs! I also became quite fond of the family run hostel staff, where I preoccupied myself with causing fun and mischief to drive Toni, the receptionist, insane.
Did go on a day trip however to Rila Monastery, a stunning monastery south of Sofia, decorated in red and black candy cane stripes and magnificent Byzantine frescos covering every wall and pillar, second to the Vatican itself in it's artistic majesty. This of course being contained in a courtyard surrounded by an enclosure four stories high
containing monk cells and arched balconies. And, as with most devout monasteries, situated in a remote valley of lush vegetation and mountains.
I must say that Bulgaria, with it's food, the people, the little picturesque villages and nature, has tied with Portugal as my favourite country so far to date.
HOSPITALITY IN OHRID
After sadly farewelling the hostel staff in Sofia after a week of hilariarty and fun spent with them, I left for Ohrid in Macedonia. Though upon reaching the border I was informed by the border guard that despite what Lonely Planet says, Visas for Aussies are not free, you must pay 25USD to get into Macedonia. Not sure if I was scammed or
not, but what can you do? So, having entered Macedonia 25USD lighter and not impressed, I arrive in Ohrid at 4am.
I was planning to stay at a house in the old city, but as fate turned out it was lucky I didn't, since I would have been walking a long distance up a steep hill in the dark to find it. Instead, I decided on the spur of the moment to ask a group of young people walking past if they knew any hostels or cheap rooms.
Such friendly people! They spoke English, and told me that indeed one of them has a cousin who lets out rooms in the residential area north of the center. So they drove me to the house where I was immediately served coffee and cigarettes. (Thing about Macedonians is that they smoke and drink coffee ALL THE TIME!!!! I've never had so much
nicotine and caffeine in my life (I don't usually smoke but only accept cigarettes because I feel disrespectful or out of place if I don't))
The mother who owned the house and her son Sasha did not speak any English, yet they were incredibly hospitable and did everything to make me feel welcome. The mother even cooked me dinner every night and called other cousins to come and take me around Ohrid and also to see the nightlife. Me and Sasha became close friends even though the extent of our conversation mainly centred around the words "Ubavo" (beautiful - in reference to nice girls walking past), and "Dobro" (good) for everything else.
Speaking of which, Macedonians like telling me that the girls are stunning in the country. Personally I think they are ok, the Bulgarian girls are way more hotter!
Luckily Macedonian is similar to Bulgarian as I was able to get the gist of many things being said by the frequent guests in the house (seems like everyone goes to everyone’s open houses at all hours to talk, drink coffee and smoke - I love it!)
Anyway, Ohrid is a beautiful place, the old town up a rocky hilly peninsula where a fortress citadel sits on top, 365 churches (for 10,000 people!), a roman amphitheatre, and the usual traditional old houses on cobbled streets. The peninsula ends with a rocky cliff where locals would dive into the deep blue crystal clear lake itself (265m at its deepest).
The nightlife was pretty disappointing however, as the clubs were all overcrowded that you couldn't move, and full of smoke.
SVETI NAUM
Did a day trip via ferry across the lake to Svet Naum, a 10th Century monetary on the other side of the lake. Georgian in it's style, with many soot covered frescos. Also a beautiful tranquil pool of water that becomes a rapid stream flowing icy water into the lake, the flow you can actually see in the lake itself being a greenish colour to the
surrounding blue lake. Nearby, people bathe and soak in the sun on the small beach, and here I also met many families from Melbourne (particularly from Epping), who were there like many other Macedonian families around the world, for a holiday back in their homeland.
I'm also starting to get locals staring at me and saying "Chinese" or "Jackie Chan". Not again! Same thing happened when I was in Morocco! Though they mean well, they also say "Hello" and "Welcome to Ohrid". I usually have to remind myself that they are not being racist, only curious, but it's a struggle sometimes. I wonder if less touristed
Albania would see an increase in this sort of behaviour...
SVETI PETROV
I arrived back to the house on my last day to receive a surprise from my "cousins", who took me to another monetary at night up a hill illuminated with a huge cross. As it turned out, almost everyone else in the town went to this monetary that night, because it was apparently the saint day of St Petro (Macedonians are devoutly religious folk). So, was taken through the throng of people past the stalls selling icons, toys and fairy floss in the monetary grounds, into the monastery itself, where they lit candles and made many prayers at different areas of the monastery; me, the spectator, overwhelmed by the immaculate frescos, the one of the Last Judgement especially intrigued me (why is hell always depicted as a large monster with flames coming out of it's mouth swallowing the damned in this part of the world?).
And then we went to a nightclub.
ALBANIA
After being sadly farewelled by my friends in Ohrid at the bus stop, I got on the bus and wondered what Albania had in store for me...
First, I had difficulty getting across the border because they only accept Euros for the entry tax and I only had US dollars. After some haggling they finally relented. Then, what was apparently meant to be a 3 hour trip turned out to be 6 hours, since we stopped for lunch at a restaurant for an hour, and we took the long way around, stopping at
towns around Tirana before actually going in to the capital itself.
Then, after finally arriving, I had to worry about finding an ATM that would accept my MasterCard. After trying a dozen ATMS, I finally found one that would (at least it's a far cry from 3 years ago where only one ATM existed in the whole country!).
And then I had to find the backpacker hostel (which had only opened last month, and is not yet registered. Was lucky to discover it's existence via a web forum otherwise I would have to find a hotel room which are expensive in otherwise cheap Albania).
After wandering around with a dodgy map along streets with no street signs or numbers, and asking locals who didn't even know what a hostel was let alone knew of the existence of one nearby, I finally stumble across it - a house with a large iron gate with the number 85 on it. Phew!
Anyway, Tirana is actually quite a nice looking city, due to the way they had painted all the communist era megalithic concrete block apartments and buildings with bright cheerful colours like pink, yellow and orange. It actually does work too! Apart from being pretty though, there is not really much to do.
The language is very difficult. Like the Bulgarians, they shake their head for yes and nod for no. Their language resembles nothing else on Earth. "Hello" is "Tungjajeti", "Thankyou" is "Yu falem nderit", and so on...
KRUJA
A pleasant little town, typically Albanian with the old houses scattered down mountain side, with imposing fortress on top and stunning views around. The little bazaar consisting of old wooden houses and cabins along rickety cobbled streets was the highlight, though they all seem to sell only souvenirs as opposed to anything practical...
DURRES
Is extremely disappointing (but that's what happens when you go to the closest beach instead of the famed steep cliffed beautiful Albanian Riviera (which would have taken 8hrs and 3buses and 1hr walk to get to). The buildings were decrepit, and the water was putrid and polluted. The upside with Durres at least is that the people are alot
more friendly than in Tirana.
Well, off to Montenegro tomorrow morning!
Mirupafshim!
Mirdite!
STUCK IN SOFIA
Last time I left you I was stuck in Sofia for a week waiting for the Romanian Embassy to open (when it did it took only an afternoon to process. Sucks how Aussies have to get a 40USD visa at the embassy whilst almost everyone else can get a free one at the border!) Being misinformed and waking up late due to late night partying meant I stayed in Sofia rather than go anywhere else and come back when it opened. Although there is not much to see in Sofia (I saw all the sights the first afternoon I arrived), I became rather fond of the little city, the friendly locals, the multitude of cafes, restaurants and bars/clubs! I also became quite fond of the family run hostel staff, where I preoccupied myself with causing fun and mischief to drive Toni, the receptionist, insane.
Did go on a day trip however to Rila Monastery, a stunning monastery south of Sofia, decorated in red and black candy cane stripes and magnificent Byzantine frescos covering every wall and pillar, second to the Vatican itself in it's artistic majesty. This of course being contained in a courtyard surrounded by an enclosure four stories high
containing monk cells and arched balconies. And, as with most devout monasteries, situated in a remote valley of lush vegetation and mountains.
I must say that Bulgaria, with it's food, the people, the little picturesque villages and nature, has tied with Portugal as my favourite country so far to date.
HOSPITALITY IN OHRID
After sadly farewelling the hostel staff in Sofia after a week of hilariarty and fun spent with them, I left for Ohrid in Macedonia. Though upon reaching the border I was informed by the border guard that despite what Lonely Planet says, Visas for Aussies are not free, you must pay 25USD to get into Macedonia. Not sure if I was scammed or
not, but what can you do? So, having entered Macedonia 25USD lighter and not impressed, I arrive in Ohrid at 4am.
I was planning to stay at a house in the old city, but as fate turned out it was lucky I didn't, since I would have been walking a long distance up a steep hill in the dark to find it. Instead, I decided on the spur of the moment to ask a group of young people walking past if they knew any hostels or cheap rooms.
Such friendly people! They spoke English, and told me that indeed one of them has a cousin who lets out rooms in the residential area north of the center. So they drove me to the house where I was immediately served coffee and cigarettes. (Thing about Macedonians is that they smoke and drink coffee ALL THE TIME!!!! I've never had so much
nicotine and caffeine in my life (I don't usually smoke but only accept cigarettes because I feel disrespectful or out of place if I don't))
The mother who owned the house and her son Sasha did not speak any English, yet they were incredibly hospitable and did everything to make me feel welcome. The mother even cooked me dinner every night and called other cousins to come and take me around Ohrid and also to see the nightlife. Me and Sasha became close friends even though the extent of our conversation mainly centred around the words "Ubavo" (beautiful - in reference to nice girls walking past), and "Dobro" (good) for everything else.
Speaking of which, Macedonians like telling me that the girls are stunning in the country. Personally I think they are ok, the Bulgarian girls are way more hotter!
Luckily Macedonian is similar to Bulgarian as I was able to get the gist of many things being said by the frequent guests in the house (seems like everyone goes to everyone’s open houses at all hours to talk, drink coffee and smoke - I love it!)
Anyway, Ohrid is a beautiful place, the old town up a rocky hilly peninsula where a fortress citadel sits on top, 365 churches (for 10,000 people!), a roman amphitheatre, and the usual traditional old houses on cobbled streets. The peninsula ends with a rocky cliff where locals would dive into the deep blue crystal clear lake itself (265m at its deepest).
The nightlife was pretty disappointing however, as the clubs were all overcrowded that you couldn't move, and full of smoke.
SVETI NAUM
Did a day trip via ferry across the lake to Svet Naum, a 10th Century monetary on the other side of the lake. Georgian in it's style, with many soot covered frescos. Also a beautiful tranquil pool of water that becomes a rapid stream flowing icy water into the lake, the flow you can actually see in the lake itself being a greenish colour to the
surrounding blue lake. Nearby, people bathe and soak in the sun on the small beach, and here I also met many families from Melbourne (particularly from Epping), who were there like many other Macedonian families around the world, for a holiday back in their homeland.
I'm also starting to get locals staring at me and saying "Chinese" or "Jackie Chan". Not again! Same thing happened when I was in Morocco! Though they mean well, they also say "Hello" and "Welcome to Ohrid". I usually have to remind myself that they are not being racist, only curious, but it's a struggle sometimes. I wonder if less touristed
Albania would see an increase in this sort of behaviour...
SVETI PETROV
I arrived back to the house on my last day to receive a surprise from my "cousins", who took me to another monetary at night up a hill illuminated with a huge cross. As it turned out, almost everyone else in the town went to this monetary that night, because it was apparently the saint day of St Petro (Macedonians are devoutly religious folk). So, was taken through the throng of people past the stalls selling icons, toys and fairy floss in the monetary grounds, into the monastery itself, where they lit candles and made many prayers at different areas of the monastery; me, the spectator, overwhelmed by the immaculate frescos, the one of the Last Judgement especially intrigued me (why is hell always depicted as a large monster with flames coming out of it's mouth swallowing the damned in this part of the world?).
And then we went to a nightclub.
ALBANIA
After being sadly farewelled by my friends in Ohrid at the bus stop, I got on the bus and wondered what Albania had in store for me...
First, I had difficulty getting across the border because they only accept Euros for the entry tax and I only had US dollars. After some haggling they finally relented. Then, what was apparently meant to be a 3 hour trip turned out to be 6 hours, since we stopped for lunch at a restaurant for an hour, and we took the long way around, stopping at
towns around Tirana before actually going in to the capital itself.
Then, after finally arriving, I had to worry about finding an ATM that would accept my MasterCard. After trying a dozen ATMS, I finally found one that would (at least it's a far cry from 3 years ago where only one ATM existed in the whole country!).
And then I had to find the backpacker hostel (which had only opened last month, and is not yet registered. Was lucky to discover it's existence via a web forum otherwise I would have to find a hotel room which are expensive in otherwise cheap Albania).
After wandering around with a dodgy map along streets with no street signs or numbers, and asking locals who didn't even know what a hostel was let alone knew of the existence of one nearby, I finally stumble across it - a house with a large iron gate with the number 85 on it. Phew!
Anyway, Tirana is actually quite a nice looking city, due to the way they had painted all the communist era megalithic concrete block apartments and buildings with bright cheerful colours like pink, yellow and orange. It actually does work too! Apart from being pretty though, there is not really much to do.
The language is very difficult. Like the Bulgarians, they shake their head for yes and nod for no. Their language resembles nothing else on Earth. "Hello" is "Tungjajeti", "Thankyou" is "Yu falem nderit", and so on...
KRUJA
A pleasant little town, typically Albanian with the old houses scattered down mountain side, with imposing fortress on top and stunning views around. The little bazaar consisting of old wooden houses and cabins along rickety cobbled streets was the highlight, though they all seem to sell only souvenirs as opposed to anything practical...
DURRES
Is extremely disappointing (but that's what happens when you go to the closest beach instead of the famed steep cliffed beautiful Albanian Riviera (which would have taken 8hrs and 3buses and 1hr walk to get to). The buildings were decrepit, and the water was putrid and polluted. The upside with Durres at least is that the people are alot
more friendly than in Tirana.
Well, off to Montenegro tomorrow morning!
Mirupafshim!
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