Turkey

My next stop after Sofia was Istanbul.  Istanbul was one of the few places I knew for sure I would go to before leaving for my Christmas train trip.  As I had pre-booked my plane ticket home from Istanbul.

I ended up arriving in Istanbul a few days earlier then I expected (mostly because I had not had any luck with train connections to Romania) . As a result of arriving early I felt that I had enough time to see both Istanbul and perhaps one other area of Turkey. I decided that I would stay for a couple of days in Istanbul then I would go to Cappadocia to see that part of Turkey.

Istanbul is an amazing city and is very clean compared with the eastern European cities I had come from.   The only complaint I had about my arrival, was that the train tracks are currently under construction and so they are supposed to provide a bus to downtown from the edge of town. This bus didn't end up existing, but lucky for me a very nice Austrian girl paid for me to get a city bus to downtown.

After arriving downtown I met some really awesome people to explore Istanbul with, at what I'd say is probably the nicest hostel that I have ever stayed in.   If you are going to Istanbul you should definitely stay at the Cheers hostel the staff are amazing and the view from the hostel bar is unbelievable. It is right in the middle of the old town and really cheap too!

After a couple of days of wandering Istanbul, I had manged to avoid buying a carpet despite being in a few of the bazaars, so it was time for me to go to Cappadocia.   I tool the night bus which was quite nice and even had a steward to serve drinks and coffee! Cappadocia is famous for  its volcanic rock structures and the underground cities built by the ancient Hittites.  I had booked a tour of sorts through a travel place in Istanbul, (otherwise you'd need a car or motorbike to get to all of the locations in Cappadocia), included in this tour was the bus trip, a ride to all the local sites, and a room to stay in a "cave hostel".  The tour was supposed to also include a balloon ride but the weather ended up not being good enough.  The cave hostel was great though and the lava formations and the underground cities where like something out of a movie. 

The volcanic structures where formed by alternating ash and lava layers creating hard structures with soft easy to carve inside bits.  Ancient christians and others carved all sorts of churches, houses, and even hotels into these structures.  All of these are really amazing, especially the cathedrals that are carved and painted in the rocks.

After exploring the caves, the cave churches, the volcanic formations and the underground city I headed back to Istanbul.  I wandered through town and ended up finally finding myself a new backpack!  I had been looking for backpacks for a while, and had one in mind, as my big 70L bag was just way to big for most trips around Europe.  However my new 32L bag is perfect and can be carry on!

 The lighthouse from "The World is Not Enough" the James Bond movie.

 Great views from the Ferries.

Blue Mosque

 

 The Cisterns (Really Amazing)

 Entrance to the Sultans Palace.

 One of the many Mosques.

 

 The Spice Bazaar

 

 View from the Hostel Bar (the ring is a reflection from the bar lights)

 Cappadocia Landscape

 Enjoying the great landscape in Cappadocia.

 One of the underground tunnels that form part the underground cities.

 All of the holes in this are actually interconnected rooms in the lava structures.

 Me and the amazing structures carved into the lava formations.

 More of the amazing formations.

A really neat outdoor museum.

Bulgaria

I had been looking forward to visiting my buddy Dimitar in Sofia for a while (pretty much since moving to Europe).  So it was very nice to finally be able to visit him on my Christmas vacation.  I took the train from Belgrade to Sofia and aside from one annoying train robber (He wasn't sneaky so I didn't lose anything), and the train being late,  it was the usual night train ride.  Dimitar quickly took me out to check out the city of Sofia and show me the different architecture styles.

Sofia is quite interesting because their are a large mix of different styles, as well as some Roman ruins. We did some exploring around the town, and set off the alarms at the mall(thanks to poorly labeled fire exits).  Sofia is a really nice city with lots of cool buildings, and a giant gold lady statue in the center.  I particularly liked the little tiny church and the National Theatre.  While I was in Sofia we also went to an awesome concert featuring Dimitar's friend's sister, which was really fun.  The concert also featured great music, cheap beer, and of course a crowd surfing penguin.  Dimitar also showed me a great spot at the university where he works.  You can climb up on top of the roof and enjoy a beer overlooking the whole city!  I wish my university had that when I was studying!

Since I was in Sofia for a few days, Dimitar suggested that I should go to Plovdiv, which is a small town nearby, as well, and see the town.  The town is quite famous for its Roman ruins.  After taking the train up to Plovdiv in the morning I enjoyed the Plovdiv free tour (especially the really amazing Roman theater).  Also in Plovdiv was a huge Roman Stadium, fortunately most of it is buried under the town but part of it is opened up to see.  After all this, my amazing trip to Bulgaria came to an end with another night train to Istanbul... That's a different adventure though!

Dimitar's Buddy's Sister Singing (Crowd Surfing Penguins not Shown)

 

 Really cool street art is everywhere in Sofia, these air ducts are painted to look like traditional women's dresses.

 

Part of a monument that is half removed.

 This really large statue of a golden girl is in the middle of Sofia.

 During the Ottoman Empire churches could not be higher then a man on a horse, so they used to build them below ground level!  Here is a good example.

 The National Theatre

 When I was in Sofia it was very foggy for most of the time.

 

A neat bronze statue of Milio known as the "Harmless Crazy"

 A section of the ancient Roman Stadium in Plovdiv.

 The Ancient Roman Theatre in Plovdiv.

 

One of the many cool little streets in Plovdiv.

Serbia

My trip to Serbia started on new years day in Zagreb, after making my way to the train station I was very upset to find that nothing was open because it was new years day.  I managed to find a bottle of water and hopped on the train for the trip to Belgrade.  About 10 hours later I arrived in Belgrade.

Belgrade is a really interesting city, as you come into the city by train it doesn't look like any other Eastern European city I've seen.  You are surrounded by glass skyscrapers with neon signs.  This is because you actually start by coming into New Belgrade, but soon the train comes into the rest of Belgrade and its much more similar to other Eastern European cities.

After I had wandered to my hostel.  I was quite happy to find out, when I checked in, that they had free alcohol!  After checking in I went for a wander and located first some food, and second a bar with a beerpong table and cheap beer!  It was a really fun night with some new friends from Slovenia, and their homemade wine.

Then the next morning, I went to wander around the town for the day and enjoyed some local foods.  In Belgrade there is a really awesome castle at the spot where the Danube River meets the Sava River.  There is a peace memorial (consisting of a naked dude on a pole holding a pigeon and a sword), as well as lovely views of the rivers.  Along the rivers are many boats each with a bar onboard (Great spring destination!).

That night I met up with a girl from Couchsurfing who took me out and showed me an awesome restaurant with live music, then showed me around new Belgrade.  We went along the water and saw a really cool old church on the top of the hill.  We also went and explored some of the other areas of New Belgrade.

After a walking tour around town the next day I booked my night ticket and headed for Sofia!

Free Rakia!

New Friends from Slovenia

 The Old Army Headquarters (Slightly Bombed by NATO)

The Peace Monument (Naked Guy, Pidgin, Sword)

Cathedral of Saint Sava (Largest Orthodox Church in the World)

Castle Entrance

Another Entrance to the Castle

The Government Building

View from the top of the hill in New Belgrade

A really nice church in New Belgrade

Croatia

Croatia was one of the few stops I had planned ahead.  One of my friends I had met in Ottawa is actually from Croatia, and had invited me for New Years!  After visiting Vera in Austria the next stop was to visit Kristina in Zagreb.  After an amazing train ride through the mountains (amazing views), I ran into a few British folks on a train tour who shared their drinks with me!  Before I knew it I was in Zagreb, where I checked into my awesome hostel which was right in the middle of downtown.

The next day Kristina and her brother Tom gave me a wonderful tour around town.  Zagreb has some really nice buildings as well as great snacks and amazing people!  For the night we went to a house party, it was conveniently right next to my hostel, and full of awesome people!  With lots of snacks, lots of music, and just a little homemade wine I had a great night!  The next day of hangover on the train to Belgrade was not quite as friendly though! (But that's a different story!)

Me and Kristina

 

Me and my other new friend!

 New Years preparations

 A church with a really cool roof

A statue of a horse and guy

 Me in front of another church

 

A statue of Nikola Tesla

Slovakia

In between being in Vienna, and going to Saltzburg I spent a bit of time in Bratislava, Slovakia.  Its a great city that has some amazing views, and what is currently my favorite pub in Europe!

Compared with all of the views of Bratislava, I had from various movies (Hostel, Eurotrip) I was quite happy to see its a little different. 

Screenshot from Eurotrip in Bratislava

Actual Bratislava

I really enjoyed my brief time in Bratislava, there is a fantastic free walking tour that takes you around town and they have a nice castle (Rebuild completed in 2005).  They also have the most fantastic blue church I have ever seen (It looks like a fairytale).  

In my favorite bar, I thought I would try all 3 of the local dishes in one go.  I asked for the mixed plate, and the waiter looked at me a little bit funny before asking: "Are you sure you want that".  I assured him I did (it was a little expensive at almost 10euro), and he agreed to bring it.  About 10 min later I found out why he had asked.  The plate was actually 3 full size plates carved into a wooden plater containing Bryndzove Halusky (potatoes with sheep's cheese), Bryndzove Pirohy (Perogies), and Strapacky (Cabbage also known as Cabbage Halusky).  All three were delicious but I don't think I even managed to eat half as they are all very heavy!  

Some more pictures:

My huge plate of food.

The old national theatre building.

 

Cumil the "Typical Slovak Worker" (According to my tour guide not me!)  More Info

 

The amazing blue church! ... Just like a fairytale!

Austria

Well I am quickly falling behind on my blog posts.  That said the next stop on my Christmas trip was a Vienna in Austria.  Unfortunately, I was not able to book a seat on the train from Budapest to Vienna, and so I ended up sitting on the floor between two cars.  After a less then perfect trip, I got to Vienna and wandered off to find my hostel.  After checking in I started to wander around town and check out Vienna's many beautiful sites. I ended up meeting a few people in the hostel to wander with and have a few drinks with. 

The palaces and churches in Vienna are really quite nice, and they are conveniently mostly in one area so you can walk in an almost straight line and see all of them.

After being in Vienna I had a brief stopover in Bratislava (next blog post) and then I headed to Salzberg to visit Vera. We had a great time going around the city of Salzberg and after a short wander up to the castle on top of the mountain we went for beers followed by chocolate cake.  I had forgotten how much I missed having mountains around (Ottawa and Malmo are both very flat!).  After our snack we headed off for dinner at the top of a mountain in a Gasthaus. To get to the gasthaus, we hiked all the way to the top of the mountain in the snow.  Once we arrived and enjoyed dinner with beers and then hit the schnapps.  As we were the last ones left in the place the owner came by to chat and buy us one last round of schnapps.  After the schnapps we took sleds down the mountain to get back to our car.  I only crashed a few times, and it was great fun! 

The next day after an amazing lunch with Vera's grandmother it was off to Croatia!

Pictures:

Schönbrunn Palace

Schlosspark

 

The Rathaus 

 

Austria's Parliament

 The Hofburg

 

In Salzberg statues live in glass houses

 The River through Salzberg.

 Me and my Sachertorte!

The view from Vera's kitchen.