Belgrade

Saturday 30 July 2005

We got off the bus exhausted but determined to see Belgrade. No workable ATMs. Sandy walked to a bank which refused to cash travellers cheques. Once again we had to cash US dollars. We took in the Military Museum where they brag about the prowess of the Serbian soldier from pre-medieval times to today. No mention of Serbian massacres and rape of Bosnian muslims but there is on display a small piece of a US Stealth jet alledgedly shot down during the 1999 bombings of Belgrade. We also had a tour of the city. A phone call to Tertia to get her to e-mail our friend in Bucharest was necessary as all Internet Cafes in Belgrade were down. We had a good trip in a sleeper - only occupants - to Bucharest. 14 hours. Belgrade was very run down. Sandy took two photographs of bombed out buildings. Many Serbs will never forgive the West for the bombings and consequently English speakers are given short shrift.

Bombed Buildings

Sarajevo

Friday 29 July 2005

Caught the bus to Sarajevo. We went along the Dalmatian Coast, through the Bosnian "toe-hold" at Neum, up the Neretva River to Mostar, past the reconstructed bridge then onto Sarajevo. We got off at the main station at 3.35 pm to find that the banks closed at 3.30! The ATMs did not accept our card. We had to cash in some of our precious US dollars and get a taxi to the only bus station from which buses depart for Belgrade in Lukavica in the Serb dominated enclave of Republica Sprska. Things are very complicated in the Balkans! There was huge evidence of the hostilities - bullet holes in the walls etc. We whiled away the time in a restaurant attached to the station until our bus left at 22.50. Dreadful bus trip! Think Malawi, think Salima. Not much sleep.

Dubrovnik

Thursday 28 July 2005

We bought tickets for Sarajevo for Friday 8am then walked a hilly 3 km to Dubrovnik walled town. This is the most substantial walled medieval city wall still in existence. We took in a museum and walked the entire wall, another 2km. The original city state was in a very defensive position. The Serbs shelled it in 1993 - a pointless exercise militarily. The relatively minor damage has been repaired. Dubrovnik is a jewel of a place, with a relaxed Mediterranean lifestyle. We soaked up the atmosphere at the Harbour and at a little restaurant on the waterfront.

Hvar Island

Korcula Island

Medieval Wall

Wednesday 27 July 2005

Caught the ferry at 10am and baked in the sun for 4 hours on the top deck. Beautiful ocean with rugged islands - very mountainous. We got off at Vela Luka and had a tense couple of moments until little miss pushy got us seats on the bus to Korcula. She adopted a low body height and drove through the crowds with little short legs pumping furiously! The bus ride took us through little Terra Cotta villages perched on steep rocky slopes. The island exists on wine making, olive growing and tourism. The last part of the ferry trip took us past more rough mountain terrain to Dubrovnik, the pearl of the Adriatic. A woman offered us a room three minutes away - turned out to be 10 minutes away - Patsy pace. Fell into bed at 11pm.

Looking Back at Split

The City of Split

Tuesday 26 July 2005

Caught the train to Split after a great ham and eggs breakfast at the Hotel Fala. Had one last CNN fix - TV in room - before leaving. We had an interesting train trip through mountainous terrain. Evidence of the war in the form of burnt out or destroyed houses all the way. When we arrived in Split we managed to beat a land lady down to 200Kr for an ensuite bedroom 50m from the centre of the water front. We walked through the most extensive Roman ruins in Eastern Europe. People have lived or worked in some of these houses since 250 AD, with additions and rudimentary repairs. No invasions and no tidal waves or earthquakes etc have ensured preservation.

Roman Ruins in Split

Zagreb

Monday 25 July 2005

Caught the 8.25 train to Zagreb. Great trip with a Hungarian who spoke English. Got lots of tips for the rest of our tour. Zagreb fabulous - best yet. Wandered around the town and had a couple of beers - clean with a great atmosphere and really helpful people.

Thomas, our friend on the train.

View from Square Tree

Budapest

Sunday 24 July 2005

The compartment situation remained the same until we arrived in Budapest - luxury. Conductors tried to get us to pay 24 Euros extra as we had come a different route and had been undercharged. We refused politely explaining that it was their problem since our tickets quite clearly said Prague to Budapest - the bunnies didn't get a bean. Then the little ponce in charge of the backpackers tried to short change us by 2o US Dollars, ferrety little bastard. Budapest is less Westernised than Prague but has its own beauty. It has not preserved its heritage as Prague has, with new and old buildings next to each other. The Danube though is magnificent and obviously Magyer decorative works are all over the buildings. Budapest always was going to be less of a quest of the grail site-seeing-wise, so we have restricted ourselves to wandering around taking in the sights and smells as it were.

Prague

Saturday 23 July 2005

With our train for Budapest only leaving at 22.23 hrs we spent the day once again wandering Prague, having the odd beer in various outdoor cafes and taking in the National Gallery and again the castle - we simply cannot get tired of Prague. We had a six people compartment all to ourselves when we got to the train - with couches!

Prague from the Castle



Friday 22 July 2005

Walked and had breakfast - hotdogs - next to the river then took in the Municipal Building with the New Art murals. We then went to the Alfons Mucha museum and art gallery - fascinating. We would love to have seen the Slav Epic but it is not housed in Prague.



Thursday 21 July 2005

A good nights sleep for once. We arrived in Prague and found our hostel. We could not move in until 1.oo pm but left our backpacks and moved into Prague. It grabbed us both straight away. Kafka was right when he said - this little mother has claws - implying that Prague grows on you so that you don't want to leave. It is without doubt the most beautiful city that I have seen. No buildings in the inner city, apart from one which snuck in, are later than the 19th century. The river with its bridges is exquisite. Just walking around is a treat. In the afternoon we took in the Castle, Old Town, the Old Town Hall with the astronomical clock and the Saints parading every hour and Wencelas Square before a walk home along the River. Prague is very Western and quite delightful.

Prague Castle



Astronomical Clock

Zakopane

Wednesday 20 July 2005

A 3.5 hour trip to Zakopane in the foothills of the High Tatras, part of the Carpathians. Verz is interesting and beautiful. It would be great to hike there. An overnight trip with couches saw us depart for Prague.

Ski Jump at Zakopane

Auschwitz

Tuesday 19 July 2005

Spent a day at Auschwitz. Very sobering. I always thought that the huts were wooden, temporary structures. They were in fact substantial brick buildings built for a long future of extermination after Germany won the war.



Auschwitz 2, Birkenau, was huge, 2km by 2km.

Warsaw

Sunday 17 July 2005

A leisurely day with a walk down the Vistula River and a beer in the Old Town Square listening to brilliantly played classical favourites on an accordian. Spent some time in the Orgraod Saski where they have the memorial to all Poles who died in 1939-1945. Warsaw lost 50% of its population in this period. Home for a couple of beers and a cuppa soup! Both of us happy and relaxed.

Saturday 16 July 2005

Arrived in Warsaw and bought bus tickets. Jumped on the bus to go to Varskova Centralna but neglected to put the tickets through the machine on the bus. A funny little Pole came up to us and demanded a 120Zl fine because we had not put the tickets through the machine. We both went into Patsy plausible mode. Tourista no understand. Little bastard was obviously trying to rip us off. Eventually he gave up when we mentioned the police and the Australian embassy - this was our intro. to Poland. It took us a while to luke warm to the place.

Older Poles are still a little rude - the young ones are better to the tourists.

We visited the Warsaw History museum, the Old Town - reconstructed after being totally destroyed during the Second WW before bed to a cacophony from nearby rooms - loud music until 3am - quite a good choice of music though!

Bulduri Beach, Riga

Friday 15 July 2005

Spent the morning at the Occupation Museum and the afternoon at Bulduri Beach (a typical Baltic beach - Caloundra has the edge). Celebrated birthday with samoosas and beer at an Indian restaurant (yes they are everywhere). Spent the last two hours at the backpacker's pub and met Robert Legg from, wait for it ... Toowoomba! Small world. Caught the overnight bus to Warsaw at 2200hrs.

Riga

Thursday 14 July 2005

Woke for a late breakfast at 9.30am. Caught the bus at 12.00 and got into Riga at 17.00. This time the bus station was 150m from our Hostel. Reception is in the pub run by a young Aussie from Perth!

Our room was great sharing a bathroom, with BATH, washing machine and kitchen with one other room. All clean and recently done up. We had a beer in the pub with a Dutchman, a Kiwi and Adam, the Aussie, with his Latvian girlfriend then went for a stroll and a short shop for breakfast things before bed.

Tallin

Wednesday 13 July 2005

Arrived in Tallin at 5 am in broad daylight after a seven hour trip in a very bouncy bus on bad roads which improved slightly after crossing the Russia/Estonian border - not much sleep.

There was a bit of a nause at Russian customs as our visa expired on 12 July and it was 3am on 13 July. The Russian Embassy in Canberra had made a mistake - not reading our already prepared travel documents properly. They eventually solved the problem by stamping 12/7/05 on the passport. Russia was fascinating but we were happy to be out.

The instructions for getting to the backpackers from the bus station were short and concise. Turn left at the exit and walk 200m. The only problem was they had a different bus station. The one our bus stopped at was 4 km from the one they were talking about. We found out where we were by Sandy doing a 20 minute recce until he found a street name that matched one on the map (not a lot of help from the locals). We then decided to test our mettle by walking with our backpacks. Due to our incredible fitness we made it.

Tallin Bus Station



Once we were there the people were very helpful but our room only became available at 12 noon. We went back to the bus station to book a trip to Riga (tram and bus this time) and then moved into a great room.

The afternoon was spent exploring the Old Town. Totally brilliant! The houses and city walls dated back as far as 1157 with most having been built 1300-1450. Our visit to a merchants house, now a museum on the history of Tallin and Estonia, was the highlight. The recent history is as interesting as the medieval, all about the struggle for independence from the USSR. Still 40% Russian in Tallin but Estonians slightly more helpful than their former occupiers.



After a beer over-looking the town square we fell into bed at 7pm.

St Petersburg

Tuesday 12 July 2005

Another stroll around sundry parks, we live in the poorer part of town, City improves closer to the river. Took in the Winter Palace, Yusupov Palace, where Rasputin was murdered and thrown into the Moyka, had a great boat trip 1.5 hours up and down the Neva and took in the Peter and Paul fortress - gun goes off at noon with a huge blast. Went to a pub before catching the bus to Tallin at 12.50am.

Monday 11 July 2005

Woke up to another russian breakfast. Hang on to your food otherwise it gets snatched by overly Slavonic waitresses! A lovely walk along the Neva River to the Summer Palace Gardens - beautiful oaks - to Palace Square, where one of the revolution masacres took place, overlooked by the exotic Winter Palace and Hermitage Museum - the latter closed on Mondays! Went shopping, spent time in the INet Cafe, very yuppy - bloody Russian machines! Posted some goods and then a leisurely stroll back to our hotel for MGTs.

Moscow

Sunday 10 July 2005

Caught the bus to St Petersburg. Got in at 11.30pm sun still up amazing. Fell into bed.

Saturday 9 July 2005

A brilliant guide told us all there is to know about the history and present situation in Russia. Another Gin and tonic evening.

Moscow River from our hotel



Moscow, Red Square



Friday 8 July 2005

Flew to Moscow 3 hr flight, 2 hours in Passport queue, 2 hours in traffic.
Got tipsy on gin and tonic in hotel room. God what an unhappy place.

Vienna

Thursday 7 July 2005

We walked in Mozart's footsteps in the centre of the city and then we took in the Schloss Schonnbrunn.






Wednesday 6 July 2005

Woke up early and had a great continental breakfast. We took the 38 tram to Grinzing and walked round this quaint little village almost detached from Vienna and surrounded by wineries. We were moved by a war memorial with a roll of honour for the 2nd and 1st WWs - just like the ones we have! Kahlenberg overlooking the whole of Vienna was awesome. We took the underground to Donaupark and saw the Donauturm (tower). Donau is German for Danube. In the evening we had a meal and a Strauss song and dance show.




Tuesday 5 July 2005

Took the CAT and underground to our hotel after an 11 hour flight on Lauda with seriously Teutonic air-hostesses. 'You vill drink your coffee now!!'

The Hotel Bleckmann is very cute and old world and Vienna amazingly historical. Still intact with architecture dating back as far as 1100! Just a stroll around yields a wealth of culture and history. We took in the Volksgarten, the Hofburg, the Rathaus and the atmosphere. Jet lag forced us to sleep at 5.00pm - conscious of the fact that we were now in EUROPE!

Kuala Lumpur

Sunday 3 July 2005

We walked to the MRT at Clarke Quay and took the train to Changi airport. A quick 55 minute trip to KLIA then a two hour bus trip to our hovel (with comfortable beds) in KL. KL also vibrant but very dirty, compared with Singapore, with obvious signs of poverty - smelly drains etc. Also there is heavy vehicle pollution. The place we are staying is locked up like Fort Knox with bars on all the windows and a huge padlocked jail type metal door (not a great area) with the lock on the outside and difficult to open through the grill. The most total fire hazard I have yet seen!! Hoping for a paucity of raging conflagrations tonight.