AlexHodge

In the morning we went by coach with our Moldovan guide, Natalia, to Orhei Vechi . First we visited a small museum with various archaeological finds. Following this we walked up to a very small monastery church carved into the rock. As we weren't going to be having lunch until mid afternoon I bought a pretzel from a girl selling them part way up the hill to the monastery. It didn't taste as good as I thought as it took all the moisture away from my mouth! The monastery church was very atmospheric. In the corridor, leading down to the church, was what I presumed to be the monk reading aloud. The church was filled with the smell of incense and the flickering of candles, including people crossing themselves in front of the various icons. This ... read more

Left Manchester on Friday 5th from Liverpool to Bucharest. The flight was with Blue Air, a Romanian low cost airline, who I've never heard of before. I was lucky to have all spaces free next to me so I was able to stretch out. No food was provided apart from a small sweet given before we landed! Landed on time and then met my pre-booked taxi to take me from the Airport to the Railway station. I tried to explain where I was going to visit in Moldova but I had problems with my pronunciation and so it took some time for him to understand where I was going. Had some time to wait at Bucharest airport to meet rest of the group I was travelling with. I was travelling with Lupine Travel and there was ... read more

More photos of my trip... read more

Our guides had a surprise for breakfast....pancakes! This set us up for the day as we slowly travelled to the airport.We stopped to look at the third biggest canyon in the world and luckily the sun was actually shining for a change. It got very hot later on. We stopped for lunch at an area where gold and platinum are mined and it is also famed for its trout. We eventually got the airport and sad our goodbyes to the guides and our fellow travellers. It was sad to see people go off in different directions as half of our group were on another trip in South Africa.... read more

Another fairly early start leaving our camp site.It rained in the night which is a fairly rare occurrence these days. We stopped at a factory that makes glass ornaments from recycled glass and compared to Tuesday it was warmer near the glass furnace than outside! It didn't take long to leave Swaziland and enter South Africa.The road was being repaired and one of the men looking after the stop and go sign jumped up in the air when he let us through!! We stopped at a 'super spar' which is the biggest spar 've ever been to, to get stuff for lunch. I was surprised to see very familiar items for sale such as golden syrup. I always enjoy looking around foreign supermarkets. After lunch we then entered the Kruger national park desperate to see cats! ... read more