Road to Turkey - Bulgaria

We crossed Bulgarian border on 19th August in Sinistra and walked through the city to find a good hitchhiking spot. When we found it, soon we stopped a driver who took us to Balcik near the sea. We were hoping to sleep on a beach but we didn't find any so we spent the night in some kind of park, in bushes. We continued hitchhiking in the morning and rode eight cars that day. First took us to a better spot, the next to Varna. There we walked through amazingly long bridge to find a proper place to continue. We ran out of water and i started to panic. I said that nobody would take us from there and just after that a car stopped ;) It turned out that there were CouchSurfers going back from the airport where they left their cousin and the car was rent. on the way we talked about our journeys and hitchhiking experiences.
In Burgas we stopped to buy some water and the girls left us at the best spot around. Then we continued to Tsarevo by two cars. The second driver was "former hitchhiker" :) but he warned us that the route we'd chosen was not the best one. We could feel it waiting for hours. Then we decided to move a bit and after a while a car stopped. It was a young married couple exploring nearby villages.

They took us to Kosti and Bulgari, a village of 150 houses where every year on 3rd of July you can see people dancing on fire with icons.

We visited old orthodox church there and met a friend of the couple who was currently staying in Malko Tarnovo, our next destination. He took us there and helped us with an accommodation. We slept in luxury and it was relatively cheap.

The owner of the place spoke to us using a mixture of Bulgarian, Russian and German which sounded really funny.

Brasov and Romania

Romania
at the border we were told to get our luggage and go though the control with it. we had no bigger problems there but it felt a bit strange.

We reached Brasov some time after 5 am. There was a Bestie from Brasov Board waiting for our Chisinau friends and we went with them to their dormitory.

After a while we were allowed to stay there as well. A short rest and breakfast were refreshing. Then we went to see the city. It was beautiful city surrounded by mountains. We walked around for about six hours. I couldn't say where were we but Mato managed to lead me back. In the evening we went to the city again, this time with Besties. We didn't stay long however, bcs we wanted to leave Brasov at 6 am.



Our plan didn't work out though, we left after 9 and took wrong direction, we went to the mountains and hitchhiked heading to Sofia.

We wanted to skip Bucuresti. It dıdn't work out though, after Hitchhiking from Brasov to Bran (where Dracula's castle is) and then to Pitesti, 
we were forced to take a train to Bucuresti.

Dracula's castle

We were trying hard not to go there but after all we stayed in very pleasant hostel - Midtown Hostel. Luckily they have 24h reception desk and breakfast included. We slept well and travelled to Calarasi in the afternoon. From there we hitchhiked again to Bulgarian border with a Crazy Driver as it was written on the car.

Odessa

Serega

Odessa, early morning on the beach

After a few hours of watching Russian sitcom about doctors we arrived in Odessa at 2:30 am and was trying to find a place to sleep when we met a boy on bicycle who offered us his help. The boy was Serega and he lead us to the beach. We lay there watching falling stars and listening to the sea. quite romantic, isn't it?

Sasha

at 11 am we met again with our accidental guide. We went to leave luggage at the train station and waited there very long. Then we met Sasha, a CSer who couldn't host us but managed to show us around. I got a photo with Mr. Pushkin ;)

Mr. Pushkin

Odessa is pretty but it was so hot that soon we were only dreaming of some shadowy place to rest। We went for a beer and after that to the bus station with Serega to buy tickets to Chisinau। Funny thing, one lady in the ticket office told us there were no more tickets for that day and another sold us the tickets without tiniest problem. At 10.30 we found the minibus and went to Chisinau jumping on our seats (not bcs of happiness but bcs of roads' quality...). We crossed the Ukrainian
border and entered no man's land. After several kilometers we arrived at Moldovan border. Our passports, being the only not blue were the objects of unnatural curiosity.

Lover's bridge

Opera

Bus station

to be contınued...

Chisinau

We arrived in Chisinau around 3 am and slept a bit at the station. We decided that the next night we must sleep in bed.
We spent Sunday relaxing and visited an Internet cafe. We found a hostel there but in the end we stayed in a hotel for 10 euro per persom. The hotel was long after its best times but it was a delight to take a shower and sleep in an actual bed :)

  in the late afternoon we met Chip, another Bestie on our way (believe me, there'll be more. They're all around Europe ;) ) who led us to more Besties (told you). We were watching a film, played Twister and agreed that we'll join the Board* for Brasov if we could still get the tickets. We could.

So on Monday we discovered free wifi in a park in the centre of Chisinau, used it a bit, met some CSers (two of them were Polish but it's no surprise, we're all around the world and there's more of us than Besties ;]) and at 7pm we were in a bus heading to Brasov. That was the most comfortable journey since we left Kyiv.

road to Kyiv

We stayed in Lviv for a couple of hours. Mato wanted to meet his friends very much and they showed us around. We've been to some nice pubs and saw some interesting places. We were also joined by CSers from France and Sweden. Unfortunately it was too short a visit to see everything worth seeing there and we just have to go back someday. Anyway big Thanks to Kristina and Ivan for guiding us :)

then we went for the train to Kyiv. We were sleeping quite comfortably during the journey but the man snoring under Mato woke me up a couple of times.. We stayed with Ira and Anton, a couple Martin knew from BEST.

Train to Kiev

I liked Kyiv but as every big city it was tiring in the end. In my basic classification it would be the place i wouldn't like to live. Ira and Anton made great hosts, they prepared food for us and everything.

we realized it's quite hard to leave Kyiv. There were no tickets for trains nor buses but we managed to catch a minibus to Odessa. Just before that we met with Zoya, another of Martin's BEST friends. I only regret i didn't meet her earlier. We had some nice talk and I hope we'll talk again someday.

departure

we were supposed to stay in Rzeszów for 3-4 hrs but after all we stayed for night. we are supposed to leave at 8 am but from what i see our departure will be delayed again since Martin is still in bed playing with my cat Leon (which he wanted to cook and eat at the beginning).
i will now try to force Martin to leave and maybe we'll be off before 10 am...
see you.

on trains

I never said that Polish railways are good. All i can say about it is that they're absurd. Unfortunately i happen to live in a country when many things are absurd but railways are definitely most annoying to me. What can be weirder than trains slower than 100 years before and two different companies for passenger transport? 

maybe the fact that two trains provided by one company, on the exact same route, what is more, of the same kind (called TLK which can be translated as low cost railways) go through that route in 3 hrs (train A) and 6 hrs (train B). Train A doesn't stop anywhere between Krakow and Warsaw, train B has about 4 stops. And yet the price is the same.

I won't say anything about comfort, it just doesn't deserve that. but after years of using PKP (honestly, only because i have no choice) i still don't understand why all the trains are so short. going home for Christmas or Easter is a disaster. hundreds of people in three or four carriages sitting or standing almost one on another... and of course no one would check the tickets because it's impossible to move there. the same thing with train we're going by right now. train from Olsztyn to Krakow (600 km as it says on the ticket), during summer holidays and only four carriages. including one reserved for kids from a summer camp, one 1st class (the only difference except the price is that they have six people in one compartment and we have eight). which means a hundred of people sitting in the corridor hoping to get a seat on the nearest station. oh. i've almost forgotten about compartments reserved for mothers with children. it doesn't matter that there's no woman with children and people promise to get out if such a woman appears, the compartments are constantly locked.

if you don't want to pay more for quite pleasant journey in express or IC/EC (which happen to be two or three times more expensive), be prepared for long and rather tiring adventure with PKP. actually, PKP alone could be the subject of a separate blog. let's call it Road to Nowhere.

Wedding time part 2.

So we went to the Cathedral with hands full of rice and faces fulfilled with joy. There were people from previous wedding who just ended their ceremony. Looks like we got better time than they. We started at seven. Some locals were hiding inside.


The ceremony itself was quite boring for me, they spoke in Polish about idon'tknowwhat. The Cathedral was smaller than I imagined, usually my projection of cathedral is something really big. Maybe it was, but we were able to see just small part of it and also we were sitting there only for an hour! After that we jumped out and were waiting for the bride and the groom with rice and cameras.
Next to the main door there were some beggars hoping to get some money thrown by the family for good luck.

Surprise for the bride was just around the corner, carriage with horses for journey around old town.

Probably also some local tradition. At that time we moved to hotel for wedding party. It was just five minutes by walking.
I really appreciated welcome drink at the entrance. Unfortunately no cats as canapé.
According to my taste buds, all food was great :) We danced a lot and had a fun.

At the moment we continue in our journey on the way to Ukraine.
@polish train 8.8.

couple

with bubbles everywhere

compańera

First dish

Wedding cake

Bride

Family

Weding time part 1

Wedding time is close, people are trying to get ready and I'm still not ready. Basa is getting nervous, what is nothing extraordinary if you count that until 2pm I still didn't have all clothes for wedding :) Anyway our bathroom is flooded and sun is shining. Looks like wonderful day.. :)


At the morning, we have been walking around city centre of Olsztyn, shopping a bit. We found small pretty restaurant with old stuff like phone and slicing machine.

Bank

St. Jacobs' Cathedral

Solar clock

Olsztyn Castle

Place for marriage settlement, the couples place their locks on the bridge and through keys to the river.

The Upper Gate (High Gate) in the Old Town, only one which survived the centuries

North by Northeast

So we went to Mazury through Absurdistan called Poland.
Imagine country where trains at the beginning of last century were faster than now.
It's something beyond my understanding. We left Krakow by train at 9:13,
muhehe

We stay in city for 3 hours and then we eat mastodont pizza muhehe :P After pizza we acid it and jumped to train B, who was who? which just arrived from Krakow at 3pm?! wtf??? muhehe :P we are still in train who from time toi toi time stop for no reason at all!!! wtf??? :P muhehe
Hey man don't do it! Our brains are boiled inside our heads. Good thing muhehe that they are still inside. Yes, they are! muhehe We are almost in Olsztyn (wtf means that name?) wtf??? muhehe ja jeste m wulf]\garnyt  muhehe
It's almost midnight and we are still in the same train, or it's just our imagination of Absurdistan? You never know. muhehe :P We just passed through some nice train station (we are in train for those who don't know it or who don't remember it). Hell damn warm. Now I fully understand what global warming means for us. :P Oi preffer gramma erroe\rs :P muhehe.
They are people who are trying to eat me and bite me. Like Baś. Help me get out of clothes!!!! :P muhehe
The people in our compartment are weird, there is also some weird singing child, even with weird family. I thought they are all from Absurdistan. Weird!?!. !@##$%^^&(( :P wtf? muhehe
wtf wtf wtf wtf! :)

Some clouds in the air, someone even knocked up. Baś is(are) (sometimes i feels like there is one thousand of her biting me )still biting me. O man, I'm hungry, we are hungry and that fuckin train is still ongoing to nowhere land. It's hard, i'm writing these last letters to anyone who will found it. We will survive, but nooo She is trying to eat my brain, man heeeeelp me

Explanation: I was writing these words in train from Krakow to Olzstyn. It was really hot inside. We were traveling by one particular train for ~13 hours.  I was unconsciousness at that time...

last day

...before we leave Krakow and start travelling. we won't stay in any place longer than three days. tomorrow we're heading North, to Olsztyn and will stop in Warsaw to pick up my passport with visa to Iran.
Olsztyn is beautiful, as i once said: it's one of few Polish cities that looks nice from a train :)
this is one of my old photos from Olsztyn:

as for Maťo, it'll be his first visit there and i'm quite curious if he's going to like it. what i'm sure of, there will be more photos ;)

Travelin'to Krakow

So it is time to use my seven miles boots again :) Destination Krakow, Poland.

Eurovia, Bratislava, Slovakia

Without car, you can use direct train from Zilina or bus from Poprad to Zakopane and then from Zakopane to Krakow. 
Of course I used to use buses. They are operated by Strama company, 4x daily. From Zakopane there is bus to Krakow every 10 mins, usually it cost up to 20zł.

 Yesterday, coming back from Vienna I spend good time with one of my old friend in Bratislava. We even played chess together, it was ages when we did it before.
From my point, Bratislava is good city if you are financial shark or developer, but other hands it´s not my favourite. City lost souls some years ago, right now is just bunch of glasscrete.



Even if some parts of city are beautiful, the whole overview is different. Well we´ll see what happened with city development in next 5 or 10 years, but I don´t expect big changes. Even change of colour of some buildings could make it more interesting than current state of art.


The same is with culture in the city. Imagine that you make some art, but if there is developer found, place for it will be destroyed.  But to be honest it´s not happening just in Bratislava, it´s everywhere where city council or mayor can´t stand financial pressure from developers.

Slovak Howto Turistické Viza do Iránu 2010

Viacero ľudí sa ma pýtalo ako som si zabezpecil víza do Iránu. Takze tu je krátky návod:

When I was walking back to train station

Nutné predpoklady:

• Cena turistických víz pre Slovensko 50 Eur, resp. 75 Eur na počkanie
• Formulár na víza: html/pdf
• fotokópia prvej strany pasu, kde je fotografia 

I saw some museums

Všetky druhy víz sa pre Slovákov vydávajú na Iránskej ambasáde vo Viedni.Postup spočíva v tom, že im najprv pošlete poštou (odporúčam 1.triedou Sl.pošty) vyplnený formulár s nalepenou fotkou a fotokópiou prvej strany pasu. Vyčkáte asi 2-3 týždne a zavoláte na číslo 00431 7122657. Majú automatický systém hovoriaci v nemčine a angličtine. Po zavolaní treba stlačiťč.2 a potom č.4. Spojí sa s vami úradník hovoriaci po anglicky, nemecky a perszky. Vyžiada si vaše krstné meno, potom priezvysko a nakoniec  vám oznámi či vám udelia víza alebo nie. Mne sa podarilo dovolať tam asi až na 3 krát naštastie s kladnou odpoveďou :) Zároveň vám oznamia, že víza stoja 50 eur a ambasáda je otvorená v pondelok až štvrtok od 9:00-13:00.

And also some abandoned tunnels

Následne, prídete do Viedne s pasom alebo ho pošlete poštou. Môj prípad bola osobná nášteva na ambasáde. Vchod na ambasádu je spredu akokeby do záhrady, chvíľku mi trvalo kým som našiel ambasádu bez mapy, ale potom to bola otázka 40 minút. Od tohto roku nastala zmena, pokiaľ prídete a chcete víza na počkanie priplatíte si 25Eur, čiže cena víz sa vyšplhá na 75Eur, čo je lepšie ako prísť tam znova. Dá sa platiť cez bankomat alebo vám dajú šek pre Bank of Austria, na ktorý vyplníte svoje meno a odovzdáte ho v banke, poplatok je 3.80Eur, pri platbe kartou o niečo menší. Šek odnesiete späť na ambasádu, kde už vás čaka pas aj s nalepenými vízami a môžte vyraziť :)

Toť vše, ak by niekto potreboval bližšie info, stačí sa ozvať.

we got visas

On the way to home

next to the river

Hooray finallyI gotta visa to Iran few days ago :) Baś already has it. I just need to go for them to Vienna.

Accidentally somehow i fell asleep yesterday and I missed the train to Austria. No big deal, jumpin´ to another one in few hours.

Going to meet some friends before and pack last things like DSLR camera and sleeping bag. I wanna travel as light as possible so I could bring as many things as possible to my new home. Especially I was thinking about big water pipe :)
I used to have in our private club and from time to time smoke it on festivals or in our club. And hopefully after some weeks we will have our own.


Anyway today i cancel almost all of my bank accounts and I feel so free and Baś feel same

is Aquacity

almost ready to go...










Night is coming and I got some tips ¨how to survive¨ in Iran from fellow travelers


Good night  :)