Budapest day 1-2 (June 28) This tour had begun the day before, and as I had spent some time in Budapest before I had opted to take a more convenient flight that had me join the group a day later. There was a note that had the details of when we were to leave the following day. I grabbed a nap before heading out to work the now familiar streets of Budapest. There was a festival around the chain bridge so I wandered through. The Danube had overflowed it’s banks and was full of debris from the rain that had occurred [View Full Entry]

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Istanbul day 20-21 (June 26 -27) We arrived in Istanbul passing great views of the Bosphorous and the magnificent Mosques on the way. Our hotel was in the Sultanhamet area so really handy to all the usual tourist sites. A nice casual breakfast while we waited for our rooms to ready, before heading out on our orientation work and to get some Turkish Lira. We wandered around the streets and Blue Mosque area then grabbed some lunch, before heading to the Taksim Palace. It was quire an amazing area, especially the Harem. The following day I headed off to the largest [View Full Entry]

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Plovdiv and Overnight train day 18-19 (June 24 -25) We took a bus trip to Plovdiv through some amazing mountain ranges. We stayed in a hostel in the heart of the old town area of Plovdiv and a short walk down to the main street. Plovdiv has many Roman ruins including an amphitheatre that is being excavated right under the main streets. The Romans were here but also the Thracians (who I don’t know much about). A short walk up the hill from our accommodation and you find yourself suddenly on the top of the hill with a great outlook. The [View Full Entry]

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Sofia and Bansko day 15 -17 (June 21 - 23) The truck was still wedged in our street the next morning, so we headed up the stairs with our luggage to walk the long way around to the Bus station. The trip was on a fairly comfortable bus. We sat near a young girl who was a local Bulgarian singer who gave us some tips on Sofia and some insight into Bulgaria. When we got to Sofia our rooms were in a fairly central area but in a hotel that was fairly tired. I ended up having a day in as [View Full Entry]

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Veliko Tarnovo day 13-14 (June 19-20) A fairly long and hot train ride to our next destination. The border crossing again was fairly painless, just a bit time consuming and always hotter when the train is not moving. I was glad when our leader sourced some cold water for us at a rather long train stop. I had a brief conversation with an older man who got into the cabin I was stretched out in. He asked where I was from. I asked if he was from here. He indicated that this was a big crossroads, and that the announcements that [View Full Entry]

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Bucharest day 12 (June 18) It was a short train journey to Bucharest the capital of Romania. Our hotel was actually 3 star and a nice surprise. I took the metro to the down town area with a friend who had volunteered to help me get an external hard drive. He shook his head at the idea of going to an electrical store and then proceeded to show me how things worked in Romania. Using a web site we found a couple of hard drives that looked promising and arranged a meeting with the seller of one. We took the metro [View Full Entry]

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Sinaia day 10-11 (June 16-17) Our train was running late, but finally it arrived and we headed off on an hour and half’s journey to a mountain resort town of Sinaia. We were warned that hiking here should only be done with a guide due to the prevalence of bears. Romania has the largest population of bear and wolves in Europe. The weather was wet again but undeterred we headed up the hills in the rain to visit the local monastery and a renowned castle. The castle was built relatively recently in terms of castles and had been furnished rather ornately [View Full Entry]

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Brasov day 9 (June 15) Another mini-bus ride to Brasov. Equally crowded. I think one woman had a number of dinner sets in one stripy bag that was placed in the aisle, quite a few people sitting on luggage in the aisles. Brasov has a marketing slogan “Brasov, Probably the Best City in the World” which is a play on a Heineken add. A bold claim but I liked the slight humility in the “Probably” and also the fact that it wasn’t an absolute claim. Brasov is a lovely town. It’s old town including the black church (named due to a [View Full Entry]

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Sibiu day 7-8 (June 13-14) A return trip in our van with the wooden bench seat to Sighisoura where we caught a local mini bus to Sibiu. The bus was packed but we arrived in good time our driver handling the crazy overtaking of other vehicles. A taxi took us to a hotel a bit out of town, so we would need to relay on taxi’s to get us around. A visit to the local art museum, and a walk around the old town was the order of the afternoon. Sibiu had recently been the European Capital of Culture and so [View Full Entry]

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Sighisoara and Viscri Day 5-6 (June 11-12) Train travel to Sighisoara which is a fortified town in Transylvania. Claim to fame being Dracula’s birthplace (but Vlad didn’t live here long). There was an a museum with old artefacts, especially Saxon which this area still holds a sizable population of. The museum was in a tower, and there was a great view over the area from the top, as well as being able to look at the clock mechanisms. We were glad to be sheltering here from the storm which had come over quickly. As it abated we headed up the covered [View Full Entry]

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