NessaMae

Picking up where I left off, Jaco, my new Dutch friend who I met in Lviv then later travelled through Kyiv, Chernobyl, and the Crimea region with for the next 11 days of this trip.Since this blog is actually a few months behind, I will be quick just to get some pictures up… And most of this part of the journey was almost-adventures that ended in fumbles and laughter. Kiev is pretty worth-seeing city, but doesn’t beat L’viv’s atmosphere and feel. Did enjoy St Alexsander Street wandering the stalls selling cheap souvenirs and Ukrainian memorabilia. Went out for a fun night of drinking with several people we met, sampling several different beers and bars. First stumble was trying to get to some cave monasteries but somehow missed that metaphorical boat 3 times in one ... read more

I have learned the bartering rate in a village in Transylvania: my life and hand in marriage is worth four goats or one 10year old horse. I have been in this small farming village of Idicel for a few hours, and already my WWOOF host (Graham) has been asked by the locals if he would trade me for livestock so I can marry a drunk, toothless, peasant farmer.. I can’t believe Graham turned down an offer like that!.. According to the elderly village members, I wouldn’t be very good for breeding- like the Aussie volunteer, Annie- but I would be good for milking, and I could use more work. Why, you may ask, am I now being sold off as a working slave wife in a Romanian village? Alright, let me explain... As my spontaneous-self has ... read more

I have discovered the most effective way to get the stranger sitting next to you on a hot bus bothered enough to change seats and move away: start knitting. On the bus to Nerja, I sat next to the window for the nice views- the seaside, cliffs, green hills scattered with wild flowers and windmills, and houses (well, shacks, really) made of tin and tarp but with new fancy cars parked in the muddy yard beside them ... and- although the bus was not by any means full- some older, hairy, sweaty man opted to sit right next to me, despite the vacant seats around me. Usually I have my bag occupying the seat next to me to avoid this annoyance from happening, but on this particular ride it was at my feet. Then the chap ... read more

Oporto Ah, Porto, where the utterly confusing conglomeration of narrow, cobblestone roads network together, somehow, to make up this stunning city connected to (yet somehow removed from) the rest of the world. I discovered it is substantially cheaper to take several small bus/train trips from Santiago de Compostela to Oporto, meeting the same bus in Vigo, Spain that had left from Santiago de Compostela for the last leg of the journey. First impression seemed much like Basque country, but on closer examining discovered the sun is a bit hotter, the gulls are excruciatingly louder/larger/stupider, and the language is relatively different, though much of it is understandable. Also worked on toning my musculature by lugging my rucksack and always walking uphill, it seemed. LOVE the buildings in Portugal covered in Azulejos, hand-painted tiles ... read more

Alright, gotten a little bored with myself and my entries, so doing this in the perspective of my travel companion/mascot/pillow/stuffed dog, Ralph. Woof! Greetings, all. Ralph here. We took a train from Barcelona to Girona and gotten a hostel dorm with 5 beds to ourselves for the 3 days we were here! Being cheap, she's washed all her clothes in the sink and strewn them all over the room to dry, but didn't bother to wash my shirt which I have been wearing since our Romania trip! How rude! Well, from where we left off: Train to Girona where, for some asinine reason, a ridiculous amount of tourists were travelling with giant suitcases on wheels, and none of them knew (1) how to navigate and watch for others (2) how to walk faster than a crawling ... read more