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Jamie Forsyth
I'm a 26-year-old journalist from Essex, England on a three-month trip around Eastern Europe with my best mate Si. It's our first time travelling due to our insistence on spending our pay packets on booze and football instead of saving for a trip which has been planned for some four years. Jai Essex
Whilst buzzing between some 19 countries (purely by train and bus, no planes allowed) we are attempting to visit as many football grounds and matches as possible. As supporters of English League One (3rd Division) outfit Southend, we're hoping we might see someone of a lower standard, but we don't hold out much hope.
The trip begins August 14th, 2008 with a 9am ferry from Harwich in Essex to the Hook of Holland. From Holland we will travel through Germany into Poland, and from there work our way through Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Hungary, Slovakia and finally the Czech Republic in early November from where we will return to England and go back to work :(
Next Destination: Bratislava, Slovakia
Travel Blog Posts
Part 25: Budapest (Days 73, 74, 75, 76, 77)
Published: November 15th 2008Europe » Hungary » Central Hungary » Budapest
November 11th 2008
After a few weeks in relatively small places, the familiar sounds of a big city railway station greeted us as we staggered irritably off the train from Ljubljana. Namely shady-looking characters in jeans and leather jacket combinations whispering "taxi" and "change money" to anyone with a rucksack. With not a wink of sleep between us on the overnight ride from Slovenia, and knowing that humouring these individuals would leave us considerably light on forints, we made sure they knew exactly what they could do with their services. There was even a man with a chessboard challenging people for money. Budapest is a city dissected into two halves, Buda (east) and Pest (west), by the Danube river. Keleti station is in Pest, a couple of metro stops from the sights, and in an area littered with down-at-heel ... read more
Part 24: Ljubljana (Days 69, 70, 71, 72)
Published: October 30th 2008Europe » Slovenia » Upper Carniola » LjubljanaOctober 30th 2008
The sound of the metal bars closing behind me echoed down the bare corridor. The small cell was empty except for two beds. I could make out my cellmate on the bottom bunk, his reddish beard glistening in the chink of light shining through the tiny barred window. I didn't know how long I would be in here, but it would be at least three days. Six hours earlier, I had been in a four-star hotel. Now I was banged up. And the worst thing about it was I was paying for the privilege. You might expect the above paragraph to be lifted straight from some hooliporn or some East End gangster's autobiography, but it is a true account of my arrival in Ljubljana, the Slovenian capital. You see, we were staying in the Hostel Celica, ... read more
Part 23: Zagreb and Split (Days 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69)
Published: October 27th 2008Europe » CroatiaOctober 25th 2008
No-one from either city will thank me for saying it, but Zagreb is a bit like Belgrade. No eyes are going to pop out of their sockets at the array of architecture, which here is largely grey and plastered in graffiti. Historic sights are few, but Zagreb is home to some great cafes, clubs and bars which more than made up for it. The train journey from Mostar was a draining 13 hours long. Fortunately we had paid extra to go first class, and had a compartment to ourselves for more or less the entire journey. We were tired and hungry on our arrival at Zagreb station, where we were taken to our apartment by Miroslav, whose voice sounded amusingly similar to Arold Schwarzenegger's. I was slightly peturbed that there was no actual bedroom, just two ... read more
Part 22: Mostar (Days 60, 61)
Published: October 26th 2008Europe » Bosnia & Herzegovina » South » Mostar
October 25th 2008
"Look at the silly tourists wandering around confused with their big backpacks, let's go and scam the fuck out of them" was what went through a taxi driver's mind as he pulled up next to us as we contemplated the long walk from Mostar train station to the Hostel Nina. After we agreed a five euro ride, he first asked if we were Swedish (must be my flowing blonde locks), before dropping us at a place with Pansion Pulzic emblazed on an illuminated sign above. "This, Hostel Nina", he triumphantly assured us despite the evidence to the contrary, and shouted up to an old man, who didn't look like a Nina, on the balcony above. This chap took us in hastily and showed us to a double bedroom. Alarm bells were ringing and sure enough, a ... read more
Part 21: Sarajevo (Days 56, 57, 58, 59, 60)
Published: October 23rd 2008Europe » Bosnia & Herzegovina » East » Sarajevo
October 23rd 2008
As well as being the catalyst for this entire journey, Sarajevo is the most incredible city I have ever seen or am likely to see in my lifetime. And I can go anywhere I want. But between April 1992 and late 1995, the only way in or out of this city was by sprinting across an airport runway or by queuing for hours to go through an underground tunnel, hoping not to be hit by bullets. The longest siege in human history saw over 10,000 killed and about 50,000 wounded as the Yugoslav People's Army and Bosnian Serb forces occupied the hills around the city. Using tanks, mortars and sniper fire to target civilians, the attackers wanted to break the spirit of the people to reclaim the city for the Republic Srpska, an area of Bosnia ... read more
Part 20: Belgrade (Days 52, 53, 54, 55, 56)
Published: October 21st 2008Europe » Serbia » West » Belgrade
October 20th 2008
We had altered our itinerary to be in Belgrade a little earlier to see the stand out fixture in the Serbian football calendar. Red Star Belgrade v Partizan Belgrade, due to take place on Sunday. We rolled into town at roughly 7.30am the day before having spent the night train journey sharing a compartment with Bane, a 20-year-old Red Star fan from Podgorica who was returning to the Serbian capital to study. He spoke excellent English and had even mastered the very British humour of sarcasm. After two months without being able to crack a joke without seeing a puzzled look, both of us enjoyed his company. We checked into our hostel, on the 6th floor of an apartment building, to be told by another very friendly young Serb chap that our beds would not be ... read more
October 12th 2008
Morrissey may well have written "Everyday is like Sunday" about the British seaside town, but he really should come to Montenegro in the off season. Nobody else does. Ulcinj, our first arrival point on managing to get out of Albania, is heaving with tourists from June until August, but in early October the only people about were the 10,000 townsfolk. Many shops, bars and cafes had closed for the winter. For the first time on the trip, we had nothing booked in advance, neither our transport from Albania or a bed for the night. But we were conspicuous with our backpacs and within minutes we had been sorted out with a private room in the detatched wing of a family home for four euros each. Congratulating ourselves, we roamed the tatty new town area and had ... read more
October 10th 2008
It's fair to say that Albania suffers from an image problem. Communist for so long and isolated because of its refusal to become part of Yugoslavia in 1948, plus the breaking up of relations with Russia and China, it suffered more than anyone when the old regime collapsed in 1991. The country's economy collapsed, the capital Tirana was swamped with migrants now free to travel there, and infrastructure was found totally wanting. Five years ago we would probably have shyed away from this poverty-stricken nation, but things have changed. Money has been invested from abroad and the capital city has been transformed. We arrived at 5am on Monday morning and were taken to our apartment by the sleepy owner who was late meeting us because of his very human mistake of overusing the snooze button on ... read more
October 10th 2008
The only possible reason there is no direct train from Sofia to Skopje can be to see who is man enough to take the bus. This was the most unrelaxing six-hour trip ever. Our coach wound its way high up the mountainside in the pouring rain along narrow, unlit roads. Of course, as it was through a border point there were plenty of trucks coming the other way, causing our driver to lean ever closer to the precipice above a drop of around 1,000 metres. At some points I really wished he would get off the phone and concentrate. Arriving in one piece at around 9pm we wearily accepted an offer from a hawking taxi driver to take us to our hostel as we were unsure of its location. During a five minute ride where our ... read more
Part 16: Sofia (Days 39, 40, 41, 42)
Published: October 5th 2008Europe » Bulgaria » Sofia City » Sofia
October 5th 2008
It took me a while to figure out why I was so fond of Bulgaria's capital. The architecture is fairly typical of the region, and the sights and history don't compare to some other cities we have visited, even with it being some 7,000 years old. But Sofia has to be one of the highlights of the tour so far. Discovering that the fine local Zagorka beer was priced at 60p definitely went in its favour, but it is Sofia's diverse street scene that holds its key. Makeshift stalls selling everything from pizza to flowers to jewellery dot the pavements while expensive designer boutiques have moved in alongside independent stores selling anything and everything for extremely cheap prices. People bend down to almost pavement level to buy cigarettes and drinks from squat kiosks. It is all ... read more
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