Adventures on the way home from Budapest

I thought I had enough adventures on the way home to warrant a full post on them. There are however, no pictures to accompany this. I feel awkward taking pictures as a tourist on a train with no other tourists. Makes me feel odd, even though I know the locals know I am a tourist. I’m not sure why really…

But! I shared a cabin (is this what you call them?) with this Turkish girl on the overnight train from Budapest to Belgrade. She was really nice and friendly and we talked for a bit before falling asleep. The guy in the next cabin over was from Iran/Turkey and they were able to speak Turkish together. I don’t think I had ever really met someone from Iran before. (I’m sure I have and their original location was just never revealed.) He brought up how the US doesn’t like Iran right now. The funny part of this story takes place at 1:42 am when we cross the border. The train stops and they come around knocking on our doors for our passports. I have mine  ready, but she has to dig hers out. We get stamped out of Hungary and she goes “That was odd. I wonder why they did that.” Thinking that she was just tired, I stated “Well, Serbia isn’t part of the Schengen zone, so…” Her response “*&$! Really?” She didn’t know that! And she had no clue I Turkish citizens were allowed into Serbia. After quickly turning on my cell to see if they were, and finding no internet, she got ready to be kicked off the train when we crossed into Serbia. At this point, I am really hoping she is allowed in because I don’t want to be kicked out for associating with her, or have my luggage searched or something! The Serbian border authorities just glance at our passports and let us in, so we go back to sleep. (I later looked it up and they are allowed in. This is one benefit to being an American- we can go most places in the world without having to worry about if we are allowed in.)

When we arrived in Belgrade, the guy was trying to rush me off the train. But I figured that I had the whole day and I was exhausted, so I took my time. When I went in to check what time the train left for Skopje I found out that there was a day train! Like seriously internet? I know you aren’t reliable, but to be this OFF?! I decided to go ahead and take the day train- that meant I didn’t have to pay anything extra to be able to sleep that night- and I would get to see the countryside. It was so beautiful!

I met some colorful characters on the train.

-the lady whose husband was in the US for some reason or another and she thought my accent sounded good. (which was a nice lie, but a lie none the less)

-the college student who was interested in the book I was reading and how it treated the Balkans. He tried to speak to me in Serbian at first and I had to admit that I had no clue what he was saying. We had a nice hour long conversation about life, politics (he didn’t like the Serbian politics) and the book I was reading.

-the old guy who just sat across from the college student and I and stared when I spoke English

-the old lady who got in the cabin and tried to speak with me and told me I needed to drink a lot of water because it was so hot

I like traveling by train. It was so much more relaxing than the bus. While it takes about 3-4 hours more than a bus, those 6 hours that are the same are vastly different! There is space to move on the train, bathrooms on the train, better seats on the train! And most importantly- leg room! If you are crunched for time during the day- take the bus. But if you are traveling at night- take the train. If you don’t need to rush- take the train. If you don’t want to be fed up by the end of your journey- take the train.

See you around the globe!

Cave-ing!

The next day we woke up early and went to the caves in Slovenia.  We caught a bus to Divacha where we killed some time drinking “coffee” before we started the long hike to the first cave we went to. It was called Skocjanske Caves, and it is an UNESCO World Heritage site.  It was granted this honor in 1972 due to being the largest known underground canyon in the world and as an an example of some really cool things that happened a long time ago (they have names, but I didn’t understand them, so you can just go look at the page yourself!).

Anyway, we started walking, looking at the map and guessing which way to walk. There were some shots needed to document that we were walking along a highway with no sidewalk. We were a little confused because the signs for the cars were saying 5 KM the opposite way from which we were trying to walk. We were also following the directions “Go through the next village, and turn right at the church.” Umm...excuse me? THROUGH THE NEXT VILLAGE?!?!?!?!? There were a few signs that were very little, but once we got into the next village, there were these signs.

It was a muddy, cold, and uncomfortable. Very slippery, but once we got up onto this hill, there were some pretty cool views. It would have been a bit better had it not been cloudy, but oh well.

 

When we finally made it to the caves, we bought our tickets and waited for the tour to start  in about 15 minutes. We were not allowed to take any pictures once we went inside the cave. But here are a few shots of the entrance and exit.

 

 

In the cave, we followed the river backwards. There were only about 10 of us on this tour. We even saw this really cool bridge over the river. It was really cool, and totally scary if you are afraid of heights. But, we don’t have pictures because we weren’t allowed to take any. However, there were some lines where the first explorers made their entry into the caves. They were oh about 300 feet off the cave floor. But I guess if you couldn’t see down, it wasn’t that bad. Maybe. In the large chamber, where the really cool bridge was (the huge one, the reason that they got their UNESCO recognition) has flooded in the entire cavern. That is interesting, at least when you see how high that cavern was.

Then we went off with a ride with some new found friends to the city center of Divacha (they left and we stayed). There we ate some lunch and caught a bus to Postojna, where we were going to our next cave. When we got there, there was no real signs about how to walk there, so we stopped and asked a tourist agency which way to go. And about how to get to the castle. It turns out it is 10 mk away from the caves. It would be nice if that would have been in the brochures. Anyway, in case you wanted to know, you turn left out of the bus station towards the town, then take the first street on your left, follow it to the right and keep walking past the curve in the road. Then there will be signs. It is about 1 KM away from the bus station. More info about the caves can be found here.

 

We walked around a bit, then bought tickets for the caves and the aquarium. The aquarium thing was rather interesting with some info about the caves, the “human fish” salamander, and even an exhibit about butterflies!

 

Then we took the 3pm tour. There was a train ride, where we were took a 2 KM ride into the caves. Then it was an hour walking tour through the caves with a English guide. When we got off the train there were these signs with “German” “Italian” “English” and “Slovenian” where people were waiting for the tour to begin. THERE WERE A LOT OF PEOPLE! We of course joined the English tour.

 

 

It was rather interesting, but in the end, it was a cave. There were different named rooms, Spaghetti, Red, Blue room, etc. There was one interesting fact to me. There was this little bridge that they built to cross from one side to the other. It was built by Russian POWs in WW1. It was sad for me to think of it in that way, with history. I know that is a dark period in history, but to think of POWs doing forced labor just because they happened to be enemy soldiers is disheartening.  Here is an illegal movie of the inside of the cave. Sorry for the shaky camera/weird angle.

When the walking tour was over, we caught the train back to the entrance, and went souvenir shopping.

No Running After the Train?

Then we walked back to the bus station, where we sadly had a 45 minute wait. A very boring cold and lonely wait for the bus.  Then a longer bus ride back to the city because we went through the villages rather than the direct route.

Then we went to this little market to pick up some goodies for snacking on while we were there for the week.

All in all, a decent day. This is really not my thing. And the fact that we had no real plans or things decided before going, or knowledge of how to get there, was extremely aggravating to my planning self. Not to mention that I had twisted my knee some how and every step was extremely painful. I wasn’t in that good of a mood. And then when none of us together can make up our minds about anything = more wasted time and increasing aggravation. But we are still friends and we still traveled together the rest of the trip.

 

 

 

Sofia, Bulgaria, Day Three

So on Wed I decided to have a museum and church day and go explore all the churches we passed on the Free Sofia Tour and to the three maybe four museums I wanted to go to.

One problem- they were all closed for remodeling! Well, the museums that is. The churches were open.

I started my day leisurely, waking up around 8-9am, eating breakfast and then leaving to go explore. I wandered past the Alexander Church

Then tried to go to the ethnographic museum and National Art Gallery, but they were closed for restoration. So onwards to the City Art Gallery.

They were closed for remodeling (putting up a new show). So on ward to the other churches in the center: Sveta Nedelya Church and Church of St Petka of the Saddlers.

Sveta Nedelya Church was beautiful and lovely both inside and outside. St. Petka- only beautiful on the outside. They tried to extort money from me, but ALL churches are free in Bulgaria- they only charge tourists. St. Petka is a small room about the size of my hostel room here, with some open tombs (no bodies) and very little light.

Ibought some souviners on my way to the next stop: I decided to check out the National Palace fo Culture. It’s on a bunch of maps as huge and on a bunch of postcards. About after an hour of wandering and an interesting postal experience I arrived. Only to find that it is a conference center, but it has free wifi. So I sat there for about 30-45 minutes using their wifi and eating a granola bar.

Then I decided to try to go to the Polytechnic museum. But I couldn’t find it. I apparently literally just walked right past it because I was so exhausted and tired and worried about breaking an ankle on their streets.

So I gave up and decided, well, I’m close to the bus station, why don’t I go look at it to find where I will catch the bus to Skopje on Monday.

Finally SUCCESS! I found the carrier, where to buy the ticket, and when they leave, how long it takes, etc., etc.!!! It will leave at 7am local time on Monday. So I plan on catching a taxi (well, calling a taxi to come pick me up) at 6am and then getting the ticket and waiting. Hopefully I get a whole 2 seat row to myself. Bus seats are really small and I have long legs.

Then I caught a tram downtown to try to find one of these two restaurants that our Free Sofia Tour guide had pointed out only to find that they weren’t there where he pointed them out. At least not that I could find.

But I found the farmer’s market and bought some fruit and veggies to make sandwiches, since I realized I hadn’t been eating correctly. (like basically no lunch except for granola bars. :/ )

 Then wandered past a book market, trying to find my way back home. Well, I had apparently taken a wrong turn and ended up downtown.

So since I was hungry, I decided to go to Happy, a bar/restaurant downtown. I figured I was going to go anyway and might as well do it the day I needed some happy.

Bad mistake. Horrible mistake. Worst $10 I have ever spent on food. When I arrived I was seated. 10 minutes later the first waitress walked up to me and brought me a menu and silverware and took my drink order. 10 minutes later she came back to take my food order (note- you need to close your menu to place and order, the waiter/waitress won’t come back to you until you do). I ordered rice and veggies and some fried cheese. I got the fried cheese within 10 minutes. Ate a few, saving room for the rice and veggies.

 And waited. And waited. And waited. 30 minutes later I figured they weren’t serving me the rest of the food and I was no longer that hungry- just fed up and wanting to go home. SO I wrapped up my left of cheese things, put them in a bag and waited for a waitress to come over. She asked if I wanted my check or dessert, and I told her check. When she brought it to me, it had the rice and veggies on it- so I asked her to take them off since I had never been served them. (however, the guy behind me who had also ordered the exact same rice and veggies was served within 10 minutes of having his order taken). That took 10 more minutes. Finally I paid and left, wandering back to the hostel.

 Funny postal story: I walked in and asked for 5 stamps to America. I knew she understood me (I know that much Macedonian!/Bulgarian) But she gave me “one” stamp to America. In the form of seven 0.05 leva stamps, one 0.65 leva stamp and one 0.40 leva stamp to add up to one 1.40 stamp. I didn’t try to explain that I wanted 4 more, I just smiled and took the stamps, laughing in my head.

 Also, when I was walking home someone stopped me to ask directions in Bulgarian, and I had to admit I didn’t understand. But the stopped me, I guess I had passed the “look” test that day.

 Now gang, I don’t want this to just tell you all the happy stuff and none of the bad stuff, because that is just not life.

 I was tired, sore and homesick.

 I’ve never really been homesick before I gather. I just wanted to be home. I would have rather been home in my small town than in Sofia this day. And I love traveling, but I missed my fiancé, mom, and pets. So I cried and called my fiancé to talk for a bit.

And uploaded photos and wrote for the blog a bit. I also was able to talk to another Fulbrighter in Moldova about the experience.

It was tough, guys. I was sad. I was crying, it wasn’t pretty. I just watch TV and finally tried to go to sleep because I wanted to go to Plovdiv tomorrow, hoping that it would be nice to get out of the city for a day.

But I couldn’t sleep.  About 1.5 hours later, I put on my “sleeping/calming music” and finally fell asleep.