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Travelling around
Monthly Archives: July 2006
Beeping Mercedes!
Posted by on 28 July 2006
Hello World!
Ladies behind old "Yugo.
As you’re probably all dying for an update, I thought I should fill you in. I Can’t remember where I left off though… Macedonia, perhaps? I camped for two nights by Lake Ohrid and was grateful to be away from daggy cities and back to clear water. I had my first ever hitchhiking experience in Ohrid, and managed to be picked up by a limo! Man, hitchhiking is easy.
You are now entering Albania
From Macedonia I went to Albania, after 8 different vehicles I finally arrived in Vlora. Transport in Albania is interesting, to say the least. Highways are generally one and a bit lanes wide, so if a car is coming the other way, someone has to stop to enable the other to squeeze past. The roads are generally NOT SMOOTH, and seem to be bitumened (?) in no sort of pattern whatsoever. Travelling these tracks is also an aural experience, as Albanian drivers don’t indicate with the conventional blinker, one simply notifies other drivers that they intend to do something (anything) by beeping their horn. More than half the cars on Albanian roads are old Mercedes with cracked windscreens, apparently ‘sourced’ from Western Europe at a good price. The Mercedes betray the surrounding poverty.
Vlora on the Adriatic Sea
After the all day travelling experience, I was back to my beloved Mediterranean Sea in a town called Vlora on the Southern half of the Albanian coast. Vlora is not attractive, but I could travel no further. Fortunately, the only hotel listed in the Lonely Planet – though it had changed names since – was situated on the fringe of the city with it’s own private beach, and balcony overlooking the sea and awesome sunsets. How the locals, a cast of thousands swimming only 200 metres away at main beach, failed to encroach on the beach is beyond me. I enjoyed a recuperating two days on the outskirts of Vlora before negotiating the Albanian Roads again.
Sunset over Vlora
Meandering down to the bus station at midday, I discovered that I had missed the 6am bus to Dhermi. Who knew? I managed to bargain down a cabbie who took me on the two hour drive up a seaside mountain, hugging cliffs and beeping to overtake (yes, it was a Merc). I arrived in Dhermi having crossed the beautiful Mount Llogorija (spelling?) and took to finding accommodation. But first a coffee. I don’t know why, but the old lady serving tried to butter me up by explaining that she was an “Albanian Mama” in mixed Albanian, Italian and sign language. I gave the obligatory “that’s cute” laugh and this was her cue to try to extort $30 from me for a capuccino. When I divided that by 10, and handed over $3 (bloody expensive for Albania) she stared at the cash and me and then the cash again and when she realised that she wasn’t getting another $27, she asked if I’d like to stay at her hotel.
This doesn't fully explain the steep cliffs
Needless to say, I found alternative accommodation with a pleasant Albanian Granny who had rooms to let (dhoma me qira). She had, at an earlier stage in her life, spent a lot of time in Greece, and when agreeing on the price of the room, I heard her use the Greek for ‘euro’, I asked her if she spoke Greek. The barrage in Albanian quickly became a just as complicated barrage in Greek, but she liked me more!
Dhermi Beach
The beaches in Albania are stunning. But they are dotted with bomb shelters.
The room was 1 km up from the beach, a nice walk down, but not so on the way back. The beach was amazingly set at the bottom of a the Mountain I had just crossed to get to Dhermi and had the clear blue water that I’d left behind in Greece and Turkey. Dhermi was a place in which to linger, despite it’s only offering being the beach – the town was small, and had one shop, and frequent black outs meant that, well nothing really, I was mainly at the beach.
After a few days at Dhermi I took a 20 seater bus – with 35 passengers – to Saranda with the intention of getting a ferry to Corfu the same day. Unfortunately, I took the advice of some ill informed english tourists that I’d missed the last ferry to Corfu that day and would have to stay the night. On the upside, this meant that I could visit the ruins at Butrint. Await photos, this was fantastic!!!
Butrint
Mosaic in Butrint
I caught the half hour ferry to Corfu this morning and made my way to the Internet cafe after carting my bag through searing heat to find a hotel room. Everyone is here, and I had to settle for a cute little 60’s style room without an amenity of any sort. Still, it was cheapish.
Bed in Corfu.
I had no intention of being in Greece, as I wanted to travel up to Croatia. Though I couldn’t bear the idea of having to travel the length of Albania again, so I’m heading to Dubrovnik on ferries. From Corfu to Brindisi, then Brindisi to Bari overland, then Bari to Dubrovnik! Tres cool!
Istanbul – Bulgaria – Macedonia
Posted by on 19 July 2006
Zdravo!
Mother Theresa of Skopje
I am currently in Skopje after having travelled across Bulgaria from Istanbul.
On the bus from Istanbul
On my last day in Istanbul, and Turkey for that matter,. I was gonna have a Hammam and a Turkish shave with the really sharp razor. But people say I look better with a beard (5 weeks!) and I decided to keep it. I got a hair cut though, and they used the razor on my neck. WHOAH if I didn’t fear for my life then! After the razor bit, the bleeding bits get a nice dab of buring alcohol!!!
If that’s not enough, they then light this ‘torch’ kind of thing and blow the flame in your (my) ears to remove the unsightly hair in there. Very interesting.
Driving up the Black Sea Coast
The boarder crossing from into Bulgaria took a leisurely 2 hours. It is amazing the differences on either side of the arbitrary line. Sealed Highways became pot-holed roads, cars gave way to carts pulled by horses, the farms became smaller and more ‘rustic.’ I think the average salary halved too.
Absolutely everywhere.
Having said that, Bulgaria is a very green country, where the people shake their heads for yes, and nod for no. Quite funny, and a little confusing! My first stop was the former communist holiday resort of Varna (BAPHA in cyrillic), unfortunately, clouds were prevalent and this beachside city wasn’t at it’s radiant best. I would have left the following day, had I not realised that I would have forgone my only chance on this trip to swim in the black sea.
On the Black Sea
From Varna I went to Veliko Tarnovo, a cute medieval town on a hill, and former Bulgarian capital. Other then an old citadel and the odd large communist statue, Veliko, quoted as “Europe’s next big thing” had little else to offer, but I’ve already had my share of medieval towns, so perhaps I’m being a bit harsh. If you’re in the area, pop by…
Sudden deluge caused slight inundation, preventing ascent.
Plovdiv was next on the list, and it’s Old Town was pretty cool – wonderful cobbles streets and nice cheap food. Cheap beer should get a mention too. 2.5 litres, in large brown plastic bottles cost the equivalent of $1.50. Perhaps this is why Bulgarians were generally quite happy.
From Plovdiv I went on a Hostel arranged tour to Perperikon, an archealogical site that is currently taking form. So far they have uncovered an 8000 year old fortress atop a mountain, and there are wheel barrows off to the side where the diggers are uncovering the much newer Roman remains. If I understoon the guide correctly, Perperikon was where Alexander the Great received a divine directive to conquer the world.
I didn't mention this in the text. Rila Monastery, Bulgaria. Beautiful.
Took my first train (of the trip) from Plovdiv to Sofia and stayed in a cool, appartment-like hostel, that offered a pretty cool walking tour of the city, which covered everything in 4 hours. The highlight of Sofia was studentski Grad, a part of the city with cheap rent, loads of cafes and bars, all reserved for students. And it was cheap, and cheerful. Sofia also had a Mosque a Church and a Synagogue all within a city block.
Checking out the mosque in Sofia.
I am now in Skopje, Macedonia. The border crossing wasn’t without incident, and I held the bus up half an hour because I was without a visa. This cost me 33 euro, and it was lucky I had kept that much from Greece 5 weeks ago. Macedonia is cheap too, and Skopje has very good, greek style coffee – capuccinos that resemble capuccinos, and capuccino freddos! I’ve been hanging out for one since leaving Athens… It’s also 1/5 the price it was in Athens. Ahh… It’s a good thing too, as there doens’t seem to be much else in Skopje.
I took a total of 4 pictures in Skopje. Here's one.
Tomorrow I head to Ohrid, a nice lake on the border with Albania, before heading back to the brilliant blue of the Med.
Lake Ohrid, Macedonia
You wouldn’t read about it…
Posted by on 8 July 2006
After 5 amazing weeks, Madeleine and I have parted ways, Mads to Berlin and Mark (me) still in Istanbul. I’ll leave just as soon as I know where I am headed. I’m leanıng towards a couple of days on the beach ın Varna or some other Black Sea town ın Bulgarıa. The plan was to go to Gallıpollı and then to Ephesus, but thıs route naturally takes me back to Greece whıch ıs far more expensıve than Turkey (and Bulgarıa) and I ıntend to make thıs trıp last. I also have so much more to see ın Turkey that I can not conceıvably do ıt all on thıs trıp – who wants to come wıth me next tıme???
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- Blue Mosque, Istanbul
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- I love eikones!
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- Blue Mosque
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- Me at the pal
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- When in the 2nd Rome…
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- Me looking very chilled. I was born to travel…
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- Cucumber, white cheese and some Efes
Istanbul has been AMAZING! I can’t begin to describe the last week, but here’s an economical list of the sites I’ve seen: Blue Mosque, Aya Sophia (Church, Mosque and now Museum, very interestingly layered walls), Topkapi Palace (now a museum with exhıbıts of excessıve jewelery), Prıncess Islands (haven an hour from Istanbuls ferry termınal), Grand Bazaar (over 4000 shops under one roof – all sellıng the same thıng!), Spıce Bazaar (smaller and aromatıcally more pleasıng than the Grand – cheap saffron too…), smoked a capuccıno flavoured nargıle ın Tophane, and much wanderıng about. I stıll haven’t had a Turkısh bath, or tradıtıonal ‘cut-throat’ shave, nor have I ventured to the Asıan part of Istanbul. Tomorrow, ıf ıt ıs my last day, wıll be a bıg one!
In sadder news, my camera was damaged whilst I shared a busy tram wıth thousands of other Istanbullıes! I have been surprısıngly calm about thıs.
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