A quick warning about restaurants in Ireland. They will try to charge you Dollars instead of Euros. Unless you have a ridiculously high transaction fee, do NOT do this. They are price gouging you and making extra money. They are supposed to ask you, but they often don't/. The Bakehouse
I had breakfast here after the red eye from Newark. It was good. I went all Basic and got the avocado toast. It is easy to get to downtown and within walking distance of most bus stops. They had other breakfast options as well when we went there.
Apertivo
This was a walking down the street find. We were hungry after walking for so long after the tour. I got a Vegan VLT and my friend got a vegan pizza. We both thought they were delish! Mine was totally messy to eat, but so worth it. It was tasty and toasty and just what I expected. It was a great snack/lunch item. Not too much food, but good.
Noble House Chinese
This wasn't on the food tour, but it was next to my hotel in Dublin. I had the tofu and veggie sweet and sour here. There were WAY too many peppers and onions and not enough other mixed vegetables for my taste, but the sweet and sour sauce was right up my alley. My friend said they had the best pad thai he has ever had, it was so good, he went back three or four times to the same place while we were there.
The Rolling Doughnut
These were yummy, if you like doughnuts! They have vegan and non-vegan options. I got the little three box that all the Irish liked to carry around. Two stuffed doughnuts (blueberry and raspberry) and vanilla glaze.
Food Tour
On one Saturday, I took a Vegan In Ireland Food Tour, and man did they show me to some great places! We visited 6 stops, but 2 were clothing related.
Cornicopia We started here and had curry and goulash as a main bowl and potato salad and a cucumber/brocolini/pumpkin seed salad. I still dream about the potato salad. I'm actually going to buy their cookbook Cornicopia at Home because their food was so good. After the food tour, I went back twice more (insert blushing emoji here). That's how good it is, and also a take on how often they are open compared to others, especially on the weekends.
Blazing Salads
We stopped here for an egg roll and man I wish I had time to go back. The food is not all vegan, but it is mostly vegetarian. A great place to grab a quick lunch or food to go.
Difontaine
This place had the best pizza I have ever had outside of the U.S. Seriously. It tasted just like a U.S. based pizza- fresh from NYC. It was super salty, but super tasty! I actually went back another time.
Thunder Road Cafe
According to their website, they actually have tons of vegan options here! We went to try the English version of Beyond Burger. If you like Beyond, then you will like this. These types of burgers will taste like meat if you are someone who doesn't like the taste of meat.
Brother Hubbard
All the Irish people loved this stop. But I just wouldn't go back. They were a weird fusion place. When I want falafels, I want them to taste like falafels, and these didn't. They had a smoky eggplant that tasted like pure smoke.
In August 2019, I got the chance to go to Ireland. And surprisingly, it is extremely easy to be vegan in Ireland. Except for breakfast. All allergens (at least the 14 most common) have to be legally available in a list, if not on the menu exactly. So that means that eggs and milk have to be listed as an ingredient. Breakfast is difficult- the full Irish breakfast is meat meat more meat and eggs. They will also have mushrooms and tomatoes. Hotels will probably have oatmeal (there was a really yummy golden syrup oatmeal at my hotel). Below is an overview of the delicious vegan meals I had outside of Dublin. Dublin meals in a different post. I do not subscribe to the vegan alcohol aspect, so I do not know if all of the delicious cider I drank was vegan or not, but it was so fresh and tasty. Howth
We went to the Abby Tavern. It has a good mixture of vegan, vegetarian, meat eater, and all sorts of allergy menus. I had the Stovetop Flatbread (Cherry Tomato Passata, Roast Cauliflower, Chickpea Croutons, and Sweet Potato Fries). And the best part is that it was edible. I personally didn't like it, but it just wasn't to my taste. The chickpea croutons were just dried chickpeas. I also had the Frozen Berries (Warm Vegan White Chocolate Sauce, Raspberry Sorbet, Pecan Vegan Praline). Now the sorbet was delicious! The frozen berries were just that- frozen berries. Odd, but still good. I still recommend this as an option because a place with decent menu options for all is hard to come by.
Malahide
Now this restaurant, was so tasty. It was also 30 euros for my meal. We ate at Siam Thai restaurant. I had the Yellow Curry (without the fish sauce): A mild and creamy yellow curry with coconut milk, onion, potatoes, pineapple and topped with fried onion, it’s very easy to eat, and is the mildest of the curries. I have never had tomatoes and pineapple in my yellow curry. But dang...it was so yummy! Afterwards, we walked to The Fish Shack and got ice cream and sorbet. So yummy! If you like Thai food or sorbet, these are a great place to go!
Athalone
We stopped at the Michelin recommended restaurant called Thyme. They don't upload their most recent menus, but the website and reviews said that they had a vegan option. So when we got there and they handed me the menu. I asked for their vegan options/allergen menu. The server looked at me that I was CRAZY. She said they don't have a vegan menu, but they might be able to make something for me, so she would as the chef. The chef said they could, so I had whatever he wanted to serve! I also finally took pictures of the food.
The three course menu was as follows:
Appetizer: salad with house pickled vegetables. Actually pretty yummy, even though I:m not a big pickle fan.
Main: Some sort of gnocchi and vegetable dish. The surprise- it was cold! The little beet red things around the side were so tasty!
Dessert: 3 types of sorbet- peach, rhubarb, and raspberry?
Shannon Airport
Two words for you here: good luck! You need to investigate the food closely. There was a pasta salad that had ham hidden in it. There was a spicy salad option.
Dublin Airport
Go to Marquette in Terminal 1. They have a hot vegan main option every day and numerous salads that are vegan as well. In Terminal 2, there is a breakfast option that has avocado toast (that you can get without the egg).
Dublin Hilton Airport Hotel
This is where I stayed (they were great while I was there, but they never sent me a receipt). Their breakfast did have the Full Irish Breakfast. They did have oatmeal as an option. They had a dinner with a superfood salad that was so utterly bland that I can't recommend you getting it unless you just need food that is somewhat healthy and don't care about taste.
Getting to the airport in Irkutsk gets special mention,
because I was able to arrange it myself, because the lady who works at the uni
was on vacation w/o notification. But I did it!!
Also, they tell you to arrive 2 hours early, but the desks
didn’t open until under 2 hours. However, the airport has free wifi! Just so
you know, you check in on the first floor, go up to the second, enter a door,
behind what looks like a desk, go through security (where as long as you drink
from the water you forgot to dump, you can pass with your own bottle full), and
wait for the bus to take you to your plane.
The 3 hour flight to Kharborvosk was fine, they even fed us!
I got a salad, cabbage rolls, and bread. Because you know, vegan is apparently
easier than vegetarian food for Aeroflot. It was yummy, and I got some sleep,
but not much.
Now, Kharborvosk, that was …interesting. I was able to exit and
get my luggage just fine (because apparently checking your bags through to your
final destination when you only have one ticket is a foreign concept). But then
to find the departure hall?
Oh you want to go from a domestic to foreign flight? That’s
a half a mile walk around construction pulling your bags and then when you get
there it is basically closed. But the nice security people let you in. (Oh I
forgot to mention- you now have to scan all of your bags to get into the
airport, assuming it is because of the airport bombing in Moscow a few years
back).
Then they opened the door up, you went through a mini
customs/where they scanned your bag and passport, then got to check in and get
your tickets, then through customs, then through the traditional airport
security. But then there was wifi and seating while you waited for your plane.
Or in this case went into duty free to buy your hosts in SoKo a gift.
The plane ride to Seoul was uneventful, in its 3 hour glory
or continued little sleep. I actually feel asleep just waiting for the food to
come. But the flight attendant was nice enough to wake me up to get the food
(the EXACT same thing as earlier in the day).
Seoul’s airport is MASSIVE. There is a train connecting the
two parts of it. And customs was fun. Beucae they wanted a bunch of info (like
where are you staying) that I didn’t have memorized…but they did have wifi!
Note to readers…get a buggy cart to walk to the metro. It is a long walk.
But after asking a bunch of people I was able to find the
metro/buy a ticket/find the train (thanks old woman who knew I looked lost!).
Kristine even met me at the transfer station so that I
didn’t get totally lost trying to find their house/get on to base. We just
relaxed and chatted until Hyun got home and ate dinner. Since SoKo doesn’t
follow daylight savings time, we were on the same time zone as Irkutsk. Made
“adjusting” easier, although it does get dark sooner there than in Irkutsk.
I began my journey to Irkutsk at 5 am on Thursday, with two layovers in the us and a 12 hour one in Moscow with an arrival time of Saturday.
Everything was smooth, even though we had a delay in JFK for some sort of plane check. (I mean the jokes write themselves...the 'random' plane check that delayed the flight to Moscow is as random as the guy with a turban getting flagged for extra security checks...)
Delta's Economy Comfort was defiantly worth it...for the close to 10 hour flight it was $120. For that you get to board first, after business of course, and you get extra leg room. I also choose an exit row, which meant that I could stretch out my legs and barely touch my backpack under the seat in front of me!!! Now, legit considering purchasing it for the way back too....but that way at least I have a window and not an aisle. Delta is not as stingy as Virgin with the food, but you only get one big meal, then a sand which, and a granola bar.
Getting through customs was easy. However, they had a 'for Russian citizens' line and a 'for diplomats' line. It felt silly to go in the diplomats line, but the other didn't make any sense either. Eventually the nice agent people just said go wherever, it doesn't matter. They were looking at the passport and visa for a long time, but it appears they are doing that to ALL Americans.
Luggage pick up was easy as well. However, figuring out where to go for a connecting flight? Or the capsule hotel I had heard about? Guessing is as good as the signs. I did eventually find the ticket counter and sat down to wait, but I was exhausted. I was trying to figure out how weird it would be in Russia to just sleep on the floor, when I heard an announcement for the 'Baikail Lounge' where for 2,000 RUB you can sleep for three hours, shower, get free coffee and tea, and I was sold. I was starting to get that dizzy you haven't slept enough yet feeling.
After the nap, I felt like a human again. Then the shower really helped!
I am currently awaiting my next flight. It's almost 7 local time and my flight leaves around 10:15pm. It's another red eye....we get into Irkutsk about 9 am local time (it's a 13 hour time diff to EDT, so about 8pm EDT). There will be two others in my program on the flight, but I don't know them, so we will see each other there!
After spending the night in Bucharest, I headed down the
road to Sofia. I wanted to see more of Bulgaria and hit some sights in eastern
MK on my way back to Skopje. It rained all day. Literally all day long. I think
I saw sun for about 2 hours, max. But it was still pretty. I got a pretty good
start and made it to the border with no problems. It was a really weird border
with a long driveway thing and then one stop check point followed by about 1
mile of road before reaching the actual border. Just when I think I have
borders under control, something strange happens.
I pull up to the border control place and hand over my
passport and the rental car papers. That’s all I needed or got at the border on
the way in (see previous post). The lady askes me where this other paper is.
*BLANK STARE* What other paper? The one that you get when you cross the border,
(They gave me no paper) the one they gave you when you bought gas (Like a receipt?
Well…..I through that one away!)…..pull over there. So I pull the car over and
wait. About 2 minutes later I realize I can’t find any of the receipts where I
bought gas (because it only happened once) and I don’t have this paper, and I
can’t speak a word of Romanian to help me out to understand what this paper is
supposed to be! I get my passport and the car papers. I walk back over there
and hand this new lady the paperwork. They inform me that the fine for not
having this paper is 10 Euro a day (total of about 80 euro for me) for all of
the days I was there. But they give me no option to pay it. I keep apologizing,
hoping this will change something. I can’t leave because they have my passport.
After about 5 minutes of “You should have this paper!!!” “You need this paper!”
They finally asked what border I came in on (Serbia), they shug and roll their eyes.
I offer to pay the fine, but ask where I can pay it. They look at each other
and hand me my passport and car papers back. Apparently there was nowhere to
pay the fine and thus I don’t have to pay the fine…..(Make this the second time
that I have gotten off of paying a fine for a law that I didn’t know about that
I broke!)
I cross into Bulgaria over this amazing looking metal
bridge- totally surrounded by factories. The Bulgarian border goes off with no
problem (just had to wait a bit longer than normal). In Bulgaria, you have to
have these little stickers on your car or you are driving illegally. I also had
to get gas, so I stopped at the first gas station I saw. While filling up on
gas, I go in and ask for the “vinegrette” for the car. After much discussion, I
have to buy the 7 day one because that is the shortest one they have. Since it
still wasn’t that expensive, it didn’t bother me that much. The drive was very interesting.
The countryside varied so much! From rolling hills to forest to lakes. While
totally rainy- just gorgeous!
I made it to Sofia just fine and stayed at my friend’s
apartment. Got a bit of work done as he worked on his project as well. Then we
headed out to dinner! We went to the Bulgarian restaurant that I went to the
last time I was in Sofia (forget the name, but oh well). The restaurant messed
our food up so bad they gave us free whisky. No joke. After walking home we
both basically went to bed.
As I was typing this, I realized. I have absolutely no
pictures. None. Zero. Zilch. Nada. Wow- way to go Cassidy!
We woke up a bit early to go get lunch at the market. We
found tomatoes, cucumbers, cheese, bread, and sausage. Then we were off! Today
was a big day for me. I was voluntarily hiking up a mountain. Yup, read that
again. Hiking up a mountain by choice.
We were hiking to the Two Lakes View in southern Macedonia.
There are (obviously) two lakes there- Lake Ohrid and Lake Prespa. Between
these two lakes there is a mountain: Galichica. At the top of the highest point
in Macedonia in this mountain range is Magaro at 2255 meters high. At this
point you can see Lake Ohrid and Lake Prespa.
Lizzie is obviously a hiker, but I was the one convincing
her to go! The day started off cold, rainy, wet, and cloudy. But we decided to
try anyway. Off we went. It looked pretty nice until we made it to the stopping
point. But first, as we were driving on this little back road/main thoroughfare
and through villages , we were once
again laughing at what was considered a major road in these countries. This
road was barely able to hold two cars on it. But we got to see Lake Prespa as
we drove by. No pictures sadly because there was no place to stop along! We
kept following this little road up and we came to one part with hiking signs.
It was about where we thought we would have to stop, so we backed up and looked
at the map. While the map and the guide book called them separate things, and
we were a bit turned around, we did determine that we were in the right
location! We hesitated about going up, but in the end decided that we were here
and in 3 weeks we wouldn’t have the chance, so why not? And off we went.
What we should have done was take the car up a bit further
and then walked. It would have saved us about 30 minutes of walking. Which I
would have enjoyed, but oh well. There was a Red Cross Outpost that is more
than likely open in the summer but not in any of the other seasons. There was
also a small weather station. The first part was easy compared to the second
part, but at the time, we didn’t know that. It was steep and wooded and made me
out of breath very quickly! But then.
Then.
We got to this one part that should have been easy, but it
was covered in snow. Yes, snow. In May. Like SERIOUSLY? But oh well, we decided
to try to scale it. Remember that I am in Tennis shoes and have no winter coat
or gloves. But we made it to the center area and then starting half
climibg/half walking up the face of this mountain! We were laughing the whole
way! I lost my water bottle and decided that it would still be there when I
went down, so I waited to go get it (Mostly I didn’t want to have to climb down
to climb back up). So off we went. Grabbing on to grass and rocks and sand,
even snow to be able to keep going up.
The only thing that made it worth going up was what I was
going to see when I got to the top. That is was a great motivator. We made
numerous stops along the way to catch our breath. I was really glad that I had
asked Lizzie to borrow some jeans because I had been planning on wearing capris
and not very warm ones at that! We made it most of the way up when we turned
and saw Lake Prespa.
Worth it. At that moment, everything that we had done was
worth it. IT was totally worth it. The view was breathtaking and almost unbelievable.
Hard to describe. The glistening lake and the mountains surrounding it, washed
with snow and sprinkled with green. Breathtaking. We stopped and just looked
for a bit.
Then it was onward! It got really steep and the trail
markers disappeared. Like we couldn’t see any of them! It was a bit scary, but
we figured we were only supposed to go up, right? And up and UP an d up we
went. We stopped for an apple once, just to get our bearings. We had thought it
would be clearing before we stopped, but then the clouds rolled in, So we sat a
bit longer than we would have otherwise to just see if we could wait them out.
We couldn’t so we started up to see if maybe we could go up while they were
there, but then they would blow over!
This is where it got really interesting. I was grasping snow
and bent over and holding on to anything. But then. Then we got to thetop! (Well almost, I think there was
something that was a bit higher, but oh well. ) And we saw the views. Oh the
views! AMAZING!!!!
After looking around and SEEING BOTH LAKES, we headed back
down. Lizzie was walking it, but I couldn’t get any traction, and then I slid.
Then I decided that I would shoe-ski down the mountain! Like, use my tennis
shoes as skis, and just slide down! If you put your pressure on the back of
your heels and balance with your arms- you slid down a mountain!! SUPER SUPER
DOOPER FUN!!! Like enough fun to make me want to go on a ski trip!
Then we came to an area where we had found a yellow raincoat
that we had decided would work for sledding down the mountain. And then we
sled! Oh so much fun! Like it was amazing! I’m not sure if it was fun because
we were so tired or fun because it was legit fun.
Afterwards we headed to Sv. Naum, which is a famous monastery
in Macedonia where Sv. Naum is buried. If you listen closely you can hear his
heart beating, supposedly. I didn’t, but maybe they would say that it is
because I am not a believer (in Eastern Orthodoxy). But the area around it was
beautiful, as was the architecture. We took a mini boat ride out to view it
from the lake. Oh, did I not mention that it was located on Lake Ohrid?
Very peaceful. We took a walk back to a spring that leads
into the Lake. We even sat on a rock and dipped our feet into the water. Or in
my case my ankle, which was killing me! Then we wandered towards another church
located on the same ground. It was nice, and the lake springs were so
refreshing! The spring ran through the church! I guess the whole lake was
blessed!
Then we were done we headed to Ohrid, where we were to meet
Jen and her parents for dinner. But we had a real MK dinner at about 9pm. It
was yummy! Then they offered to let us stay at the apartment they were renting,
which was nice, because Lizzie and I weren;t sure if there would be any water
when we got back and we wanted to shower! It also ended up being the most
expensive meal I had ever eaten in MK!
On Saturday May 19, I went to pick up a rental car that I had rented for the next two weeks to explore Macedonia and the surrounding countries! Cecelia went with me because we were going to Kosovo for a day trip. I had reserved this car through Interways RentACar because they had the cheapest price and through in a GPS for free! And SURPRISE you had to do everything online! It was so different, when they said, go to our website and make the reservation, I think I looked at the phone like they were crazy! SO I go online and request the Opel Corsa Automatic for my two weeks, get an next day response to the reservation in my inbox and it confirms everything and lowers the price that I was expecting to pay! Way to go. Or so I thought.
We show up at 9am when they open to get the earliest start possible on our day trip since I was driving to Krushevo when we got back. We do all the paperwork, check everything out with the car, and are ready to leave at about 9:30. Then I get in to leave and go to put it in drive…it’s a manual. So back inside I go and tell them I can’t drive that car. When I requested an automatic, and you confirmed that car, I should be getting that car. Well their system is stupid and apparently doesn’t tell them if someone wanted an automatic or manual, even though online I requested Opel Corsa Automatic. That car was also apparently rented out, so they were going to upgrade the car. They said I would have to bring it back in the next day when the other car was available. I told them no, because I wasn’t slotted to be back in Skopje until Tuesday. What I should have said was I wasn’t coming back to Skopje- it was too much hassle and stress later. (wait for that blog post). But the kicker- the other car was at the airport a 30 minute drive from where we were. So out to the airport we go! And then back to the center to drive to Kosovo! We left almost 2 hours after we wanted to leave. VERY upset customer, even though the upgrade was super nice!
We had no problems at the border. And we went off to drive to Prizern, mostly because Cecelia really wanted to see it. I wanted to see Prishtina but the road back from Prizern is scary and you don’t want to do it at night if you don’t have to! We stopped along the way for a few pictures and a video or two.
We also had an encounter with the police!Apparently I was going 55 km/hour in a 40 km/hour zone (34 mph in a 24 mph). They flagged us over and one guy (Cop A) comes over and says “Miredita” which is Albanian for hello. It is also one of the few words I know. He then proceeds to try to tell me something in Albanian, and I have to interrupt him and tell him I know no Albanian. He thinks, then shows m the radar gun (they have radar guns?) which reads 55 and says “40” in English. Immediately contrite, I apologize and wait for him to say something else. He then asks for the car documents and my drivers license. Next there was the word “ticket” with hand motions. He walks away as I go “well crap” to Cecelia. Then we realize that I’m supposed to be over there with him as he writes the ticket. (cultural difference from America!) I go over there and Cop B comes over and tries speaking to me in English. Then I realize something: how much is this thing and how do I pay it? So I ask the guy in English and he tells me that his English is exhausted and he doesn’t understand (roughly). So taking a leap, I suggest that I know some Macedonian. This is a leap since I would be expecting them to know Serbian, which is not as good in Kosovo. Cop B tells me that is fine and we switch to “Macedonian.” Turns out the fee is 35 Euro and I could pay it somewhere else or right there. I do have that on me, so it would be a problem. But this turns into the “Why are you here?” questions. Once I tell him that I am a student in Skopje studying international politics, Cop B tells cop A to let me go because I am a “good student” (never knew that could get me out of a ticket). But Cop A tells Cop B that NO! I will get the ticket. And snatches the papers back that Cop B tried to pull away. Cop B shurggs and goes back to talking to me. Once I tell him that Kosovo is beautiful and that I am only spending one day in the country he tries to tell Cop A that I shouldn’t get the ticket but Cop A insists! Then Cop A calls some one and hands the phone to me, convo goes a bit like this:
Random Person: Hi Me: Hello? RP: What’s going on? Me: I think I was speeding. I think I was going 55 in a 40. But I’m bot really sure. RP: Oh! You’re American! Me: yes RP: what are you doing here? Me: studying in Skopje. RP: oh cool. Well this guy is my cousin, I’ll tell him to let you go. Me: ok….
There was some silence, so I hand the phone back to Cop A and he talks for a bit pretty upset then hands me everything back kind of mad and say “ok go.” I walk back to the car thanking him profusely and apologizing. Then Cecelia asks if she can take a pic of me with them. Cop B says no and Cop A say of course and tells Cop B to get in the picture. I won’t post the pic online to not get them in trouble!
When we got to Prizern, we stopped for some lunch at a restaurant downtown, before just wandering around and taking pictures. And getting ice cream. And getting yelled at for taking a picture of a sign that said no pictures of the church. And then taking another picture of the church later just on principle.
Then we headed off to the capital. We had been told there was an interstate between them. There was not. There was a back county road. Pretty sights, but it took more time than we were expecting, so we got into the capital after all of the museums closed. We arranged to do dinner with Andy at 6:30p, so until then we just walked around. We wandered on the main street, where they were setting up a big screen and viewing area for a futball match that night. Then we went to go try to see some of the mosques listed in Lonely Planet, but they were all mostly closed. We were able to go into one of them and look around- it was very beautiful!
There is a wall of pictures of the missing or dead from the war with Serbia for independence in 1999 along one fence in the center. It was disheartening. So many faces, so many young boys, so much death. After the mosque viewing we also found a park with older Roman style stones in it with a plea for people to help get the antiquities that were stolen by Serbia in 1998 back to Kosovo. Only one has been returned.
Cecelia and I had a bit of a problem finding the place we were to eat as it isn’t very well marked while being hiding behind an umbrella. But nonetheless, we got there and sat down and waited for Andy to show up. While he promptly did! We enjoyed a delicious dinner of various things while have intelligent conversation. We ate for 1.5 hours if that is any indication. Then Cecelia and I had to leave to head back to Skopje. She drove while I took a cat nap, since I still had three hours to go once I got back to Skopje. That border was an uneventful as well. We were worried a little bit since Cecelia is going through the same process as Erin did in the beginning of me being here. But no worries we were back!
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 mineready, 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.
I hate to start out with the same line of a
slow morning, but when traveling anything after 8 am is slow for me! But this
one was going to be really slow because the museums were all closed this day.
All Mondays actually. There are a few things to do, but not much. I decided to
go to the zoo. It’s supposed to be one of the best zoos in Europe, and I’ve
been to a lot of different zoos while on this trip, so when I have time, I go
to the zoo. There was a ridiculously long line for the zoo though. Like 30
minutes or more. I almost gave up and didn’t go. But there wasn’t a whole lot
else I could do, so I waited. And took notes on what I had done so I could
write these blog posts better. And tried not to get a sunburn, because man it
was HOT! But eventually I got into the zoo, the thing that had caused the most
delays- only one lady working the ticket booth. At the only attraction open on
Mondays. No joke.
This zoo was HUGE! Just look at this map! I started off exploring to
the left and saw a bonsai garden, didn’t realize there were different types of
bonsai trees. They also had this gigantic tropical forest area with sloths, and
lizards and different ecosystems including the swamps of Florida! Then I just
wandered. This zoo was huge and had lots of different animal habitats from all
over the world. They even had a farm exhibit, where a cow licked me. And a high
guinea pig area. Like what is with these guinea pigs and tons of habitats? I
even grabbed an ice cream cone because it was so hot that day. At least they
had free water for us to fill up on. I did see hippos out of the water. Did you
realize how BIG those things are? Like I guess I have always seen them in water
and only their heads. But these things deserve their killer reputation. If that
was running towards me the only thing left to do would be to pray. It was a
really cool zoo, but I was just over it about 2 hours in. I was hot and I was
tired and it was just too crowded. Way too crowded. I like all the empty places
I have explored. (I know selfish- they need the money!) So I finished walking
around to say I walked it and left. Good decision to leave, when you aren’t
enjoying something you won’t have happy memories.
I then hopped in a metro and rode downtown. I
wanted to use the last little bit of my Budapest Card before it expired. And I
made it! I grabbed another slushie and sat in the shade of the statue that I
had no idea what it was and waited for the Communist Walking Tour.I was giving Free Budapest Walking Tours
another chance because this was to be a different guide. But it wasn’t really
any better. I learned about what they say happened during communist times-
about the healthcare, the religion, the politics. But not the building that
they happened around. Very odd to me that a walking tour had more sitting than
walking. So at the end when they were going to backtrack to the center, I
headed off to the hotel. I just wasn’t feeling their version of history- I need
to read up on this and see if they were just some of the people who hated
communist or if literally all Hungarians hated communism this much.
When I made it back to the hostel, I changed
shoes, grabbed my book (that I was very interested in now), and went to go sit
and have a glass of wine before I left. It was relaxing to just sit and read in
Budapest while enjoying wine. I also warmed up the last of the Chinese take-out
before heading out to the train.
The train was an experience in itself. It was
kind of entertaining to try to navigate with the Serbian guy who ran the train
and spoke no English and he didn’t understand my Macedonian. But all in all
good. After a little bit of watching stuff go by, I feel right asleep!
On Thursday April 26,
I hopped on a night train to Belgrade to go off to Budapest! This was to be my
first trip out of the Balkans since September (as well as my first trip alone
since then as well) and I was excited!!!
I had heard that the trains were bad and slow and I
shouldn’t take them-from the locals, but from the internationals, I heard they
were fine and I should take them. The options were either a 10 hour night train
ride or a 6 hour night bus ride. I choose the train- more leg room, actual
sleep, locking compartment door- all major pluses for me to choose the train
over the bus. When I bought the ticket, the lady told me 8pm, but the schedule
said 8:45; I decided to arrive 10-15 minutes before 8pm. Luckily I did because
the train left at 8:10 on the dot (its scheduled time, by the way). I had to
pay a little bit more to have a sleeping compartment, but it was worth it! The
train was really clean, and the compartment steward was really nice.
The train goes north to Serbia, and it takes about an hour
or so to reach the border. When we got there, something that I had secretly
been hoping to happen did! I have been to Kosovo twice, and have three stamps
from there. Now, as you may know, Serbia does not recognize Kosovo as a
country, but rather a wayward province that needs to give up on this silly
independence idea and get with the program. The International Court of Justice
has stated that when Kosovo declared Independence, it was legal, with Serbia
responding that it will Never recognize Kosovo independence. According to Wikipedia,
Kosovo had gained 92 diplomatic recognitions as an independent state (90 out of
193 UN members, 22 of 27 EU members, 24 of 28 NATO members). The US does
recognize Kosovo as a state. Now, I had heard that Serbia would annul the
Kosovo stamps. But this hadn’t happened yet. But this time, they came in and
asked for my passport, glance at my name and went to stamp me in. Then he saw
the Kosovo stamps, flipped back to the front, looked at my name and looked at
me, then back at the Kosovo stamps. Then he said “Just a second, problem with
stamps Kosovo.” I just said ok and waited for him to bring my passport back. They
drew two lines over them and wrote “anule” (which by which I think he meant
annul, but I digress). This ended up striking up a conversation with the guy a
few cabins over, because he was all- “what was the problem with the Kosovo
stamps? I have them?” Then we got to talk in Macedonian for a bit. When I
actually have to use the language, I seem to remember more than I give myself
credit for.[There was also a customs
guy carrying a battery operated drill-I’m not real sure why they needed that,
as there was no where to open with a drill in the cabins. More on this later]
A little bit later, I promptly feel asleep. It wasn’t great
sleep, but better than nothing or what I would have got on a bus! When I woke
up in Belgrade, I went in to buy my next ticket. I thought I was going to have
to wait about 2 hours, but low and behold, the online schedule was incorrect!
There was a train at 6:50 to Budapest (well technically Prague, but it stopped
in Budapest, so who cares!). Hopped on the train, grabbed my seat and promptly
fell back asleep for a bit. I always have this internal debate- do I stay awake
and force myself to see this new scenery or do I take a much needed nap? I
usually choose the nap- because then I won’t be cranky later.
I did get to see about an hour or 2 of scenery in Serbia, it
was flat. No joke, the flattest country I have been in since August! Lots of
pretty fields and small houses. I got some reading done that I had been meaning
to do since last May (sorry Dr. Ely! I promise the book is interesting and I’m
enjoying it, just a bit hard to get into…). All in all a peaceful, easy journey
to Budapest. At some point this little old lady got on and she just gave me the
heeby jeebies. I swear she was trying to smuggle stuff into Hungry. She walked
back to the bathroom with a bottle of alcohol and came back empty handed. The
border crossing took about 2 hours though. SO long, and they turned off the A/C
and didn’t open any windows. Very hot. And they came on with drills again. But
this time I heard/saw them unscrewing the compartments in the bathroom areas.
Then the customs guys walked through with about 6 bottles of hard liquor. So
maybe she was smuggling something…They passed by me with no incident.
When I arrived in Budapest, I went to the Tourist Information
Center to buy a Budapest Card. This came highly recommended to me, but I can’t
do the same to you. Unless you are over 26, the card doesn’t save you any
money. You can buy a travel pass that does the same thing, but lesson learned
later. I also bought a ticket to a folk dance performance and dinner cruise.
Then I adventured off to find the hostel. Let me tell you- Hungarian is a very
difficult language. I couldn’t pick up a single word while I was there. It is
basically its own language family. It is connected with Finnish and Estonian,
but they are not mutually intelligible.All I knew was that I had to look for “Sventi Ivanti” or something like
that to get off this trolley bus.
But there was construction and my directions from the
tourist info center included “Go to the Burger King Street.” I wish I could
make this up. I walked out of the train station (much less the train station
itself), and wanted to just stop. Within eye sight there was a McDonalds, BK,
Mexican restaurant, subway, trolley, tram, buses, people, big buildings and
more. I felt overwhelmed and a bit like a country bumpkin. This city life was
way faster than the Skopje life I had gotten used to over the past 8 months.
But I followed the signs to the trolley bus and using a little guess work found
the right one. I almost got on the wring one, but the guy said something in
Hungarian and pointed at the one in front of me. So I picked that one. It is
amazing to me how much you can understand about a language or communicate without
understanding a word. Gestures and facial features and tone of voice are so
much more important than the words sometimes. I figure this out when there is a
bit of words and then a hand gesture and I think I know what they mean. Even in
a language I have never studied before. I did make it to the hostel after
getting to see a lot of Budapest on the way. The lady was super nice and told
me where the National Dance theater was so I could go try to get a ticket to
the ballet that night.
After unpacking a bit, I headed downtown to try to visit the
National Ethnography Museum. The day was
beautiful- warm and sunny (and it stayed that way the whole time!!!)I got to the museum about an hour before
closing time and asked if it was enough time- the lady said “no, but you can
come back tomorrow.” So I decided to go in. The building itself was
breathtaking.I’m not sure what it used
to be, but I’m sure it was a palace or mansion of some sort. I always get like
a little girl at times like this and picture myself walking down the stairs in
a big ball gown all dressed up for the ball. But the beauty aside, the museum
houses nearly a quarter of a million artifacts, 2/3 of which belong to the
Hungarian collection. “Its primary concern, however, remains to impart
knowledge of traditional Hungarian culture: how the peasants and craftsmen who
formed the bulk of Hungarian society lived under the circumstances typifying
the period prior to the advent of the modern industrial age.” It also shows a
bit of global culture as well- there was a Amazonian and Greenland exhibit. The
lady was right- you needed about 30 more minutes of time to see it all. If I
had possessed a map (which museums here don’t seem to believe in), I would have
picked to see the rest of the Hungarian exhibit rather than the one about the
Amazon and the melting ice caps. But all in all a great museum. And you could
take pictures!
After this, I grabbed an ice cream cone and walked towards
the bus stop to go up to the castle area where the Dance Theater was. We passed
the most colorful church I have ever seen, more on this later though. As I got
off of the bus at where the hostel lady had said was correct, I was lost. There
were no signs to anything. And the national Dance theater was the least of
their concerns. But I had about 45 minutes, so I wandered through this little
handicraft market and fell in love with this way overpriced jacket that I didn’t
end up getting. But I did figure out what I wanted to get from Hungry!
Then I
kept walking in the general direction of the theater and actually found it. I
was able to get a ticket to the performance of Romeo and Juliet for that night!
There was a dance fest going on and the tickets were a bit cheaper than normal.
But I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. This age old story was
totally rethought and very modern. I couldn’t tell who Romeo was until he
killed himself at the end. (I don’t remember that Juliet actually went on and killed
herself too, but apparently she does.) the way to tell these two sides apart
included green kitchen sink gloves, and red arm bands. No joke. And this weird
monk guy who went back and forth. The dancing was beautiful, although modern, and
engaging. You were just watching the stage the whole time, and you couldn’t
take your eyes off of them!
View from the Buda hill to more of the Buda side.
After this, I hopped on a bus. This nice guy tried to tell
me that the bus wasn’t going where I wanted it to go, but I didn’t understand
until it didn’t actually go where I wanted it to go. lol. But that was ok, I
was able to hop on a metro (after finding it- they hide it with the littlest
signs ever!). I tried to go eat at this one vegetarian place recommended by
themap, but it wasclosed, so I headed to the next place only to
find that it too was closed (this time due to the time of night and not the
state of the restaurant. ) This is when I realized that it was 21:45 (or 9 pm)
even though a Friday, most places were closing at 22 (10). I had walked past a
few Chinese restaurants, including a take out one. Since it was so late, I
decided to just grab some stuff to go and head home! I’m also very glad that
other people learn English- because traveling would be so much more difficult
if they didn’t.Note: I don’t expect
them to at all, it is just a nice surprise and relief when they do, especially
in countries where the language is like Hungry!
The next day we woke up before our alarms went off, well Jen
and I did. And off we went to get breakfast. Turned out to be delicious potato
burek with yogurt. I had some of this in Strumitca and wanted it again, well I
got my wish and fill in Bosnia. Apparently, they do it often there. Then we
bought some stamps for our postcards and some books for Jen. Then we hopped in
the car with everyone else and were on our way to Mostar.
Mostar is located on
a river in the mountains and thus developed as a city. It’s basically famous
for its bridge that was built in 1565, then it was destroyed and rebuilt a few
times. So of course we headed straight to the bridge when we got there.
After lunch and souvenir purchasing, we left for a winery or
two. We didn’t really know where they were located, but figured we would see
signs and that we did. We also went up a seriously scary mountain side.I
refuse to call this anything other than a mountain, although, it did look like
it might be more of a plateau while where we were was gouged out of the regular
landscape and made lower. Oh well. We found one winery, but it wasn’t open so
we kept looking for a new one. We found another winery, this one was called Andrija. And normally
they don’t do tasting on Saturday, but they opened up a two bottles for us and
poured us a glass. They gave us one red and one white. And cheese. This cheese
was so good. I wanted to buy the cheese not the wine. The white wine was really
good, but I didn’t like the red. However, the rest of the party thought the
opposite. Then the guy gave us a tour of the winery.
And off we went to find the next winery. This road was
vicious and I almost got sick twice on the way to these wineries. I eventually
had to just close my eyes and hope for the best. The wine made it so much worse!
The next one we found was Brkic.
The guy was super nice. He told us all about his wines and how he makes them.
Then invited us to join this tour that they had arranged for some local embassy
workers (American, Polish, and Norwegian to be exact). We ate some more
delicious cheese and olive oil. I mean this was the best olive oil I had ever
had- it actually tasted like olives! Then we got to taste 3 whites and 3 reds.
One of the whites was called “Moon Walker.” They allow the grapes to get some
yeast on them before putting the whole grape into the barrel. Then when the
moon is young, they churn the wine. When the moon is full, they let the moon
church the wine (with gravity). It was interesting. The last red we had tasted
the best, but it wasn’t for sale sadly.
Then we headed back to Sarajevo. We had
to go down the creepy side of the mountain again. It was a lot less scary going
down. People suggested that it was less scary because I was in front, but I
claim that it was just less fast.
We stopped for dinner in a little restaurant on the side of
the road. It was kind of creepy because I knew out the back of the restaurant
was basically a giant river, but because it was so pitch black dark, we couldn’t
see it! They literally had no veggie food. The guy just shrugged when we asked
for some. Eventually we convinced him that shopska and cabbage would be an acceptable
version. Then he seriously over charged us, but apparently the hunk of lamb was
yummy. We made it back to Sarajevo in time to go to sleep to be functional
tomorrow while exploring!
We all got up bright and early on Friday the 13th
for our long road trip through 5 countries. I have to admit. I was SUPER SUPER
nervous for this trip. Jen and I had it planned for about a month, and invited
Lizzie/Justin/Aryn and others who couldn’t make it along with us. And then they
changed the plans. I get car sick ever since I was 15 if I don’t start out
driving. So we were going to rent an automatic, but a few people refused to do
so and said if I wanted an automatic and the ability to drive I needed to pay
the difference by myself. All 130 euros of difference. Needless to say I was
not happy to be starting this trip. I felt like people were telling me that my
health/comfort didn’t matter and they didn’t care if I was sick for two of the
5 days of our trip. And there were other things involved, but to keep things
nameless, I will leave those concerns out. I almost backed out a few different times.
Every time I thought about it, I got nervous and a little sick to my stomach.
However, with medication and Justin’s driving skills I only got nauseous 3
times.
We started almost exactly at our target time of 6AM in our
tiny Kia Rio towards our first border crossing of the day. We pull up at the
Macedonian side and the guy waves us through. We slow down and look at the next
group of guys and they don’t move or even look at us. We basically stopped and
they did nothing, so we start going forward and Then They Care. So Justin backs
us up and we pass through customs on the MK border. Then we drive through no man’s
land to the Kosovo border. Where he accidently misses one window (because there
were two) and has to back up again! They let us through after laughing a bit
and asking us what we were doing in Kosovo.
The mountains were beautiful. Breathtaking. Even though it
was cloudy.
We stopped once for a bathroom break and then got lost in Prizern.
Apparently signs aren’t as necessary in Kosovo as they are in the US. And a
straight arrow actually means turn left. So after about 30 minutes of driving,
I check on our GPS (aka my US HTC Evo that allows GPS to still work w/o a data
connection), and see that we seriously missed the highway.
bridge we wouldn't have gotten to see if we didn't get lost!
I was worried about
that, but we trusted the sign (not the last time of this problem on this trip,
spoilers!) and got a bit lost. Eventually we found the correct way and made it
to the border. The Kosovo border police literally just waved us through. I have
no idea if Kosovo computers still show me in Kosovo or not. But we actually
stopped at this crossing and they (from inside the office) waved us through,
and there was only one office so we didn’t miss it. The Albanian side actually
had a bit of a bottle neck- many cars waiting to get through. So about 20
minutes later we make it through and our on our way!
Shkoder Lake
We get to pass through a 5.3 KM tunnel, and as we are coming
out, we get flagged by the police. In this part of the world, the police stand
on the side of the road and flag people over rather than follow them with
lights and sirens on. So we pull over. (I’m going to tell you as it happens
rather than how I found out, which was after we left the cop.) He walks over to
us and tries talking to us in Albanian but only Aryn speaks it and she is in
the back seat behind the passenger side. So she starts speaking to him in
Albanian (he speaks a slightly different dialect and the car is beeping so she
can’t hear him all that well). But he tells us that it is illegal to pass a
truck coming out of a tunnel (which we were inadvertently doing) and asks for
Justin’s passport (I had to look through about 5 of them to find his! All of
ours were just in the glove box for easy border crossings.). Then he looks in
the car and through the passport a bit and asks Aryn what Justin’s name. And
she blanks and has to ask Jen what it is! Then she calls him over to her side
of the car so she can hear better. The conversation goes something like:
Cop: Are you the only one that
speaks AL in the car?
Aryn: Yes
Cop: Can anyone else understand?
Aryn: No
Cop: Are you being trafficked?
Aryn: What? No!!!
Cop: So you are really American?
All of you?
Aryn: yes
Cop: Then what are you doing on
this road? American’s don’t take this road!
We were all glad that he was concerned, but it was
HIRLARIOUS in hindsight! He let us go, and we then had a good laugh when Aryn
said “He thought we were being trafficked!” We continued on the road until we
got to Shkoder we ate lunch. We ordered salad, and the waiter had to go get the
veggies from the market! I had pilaf with yogurt and salad. After walking a
bit, we got back in the car and were off. This is where the day got
interesting. Up until this point the word “highway” meant the same thing in
every language. Not so from this point on. Highway in Albanian can apparently
mean ½ finished highway with gravel connecting the parts that aren’t finished.
And to stop you from going over the bridges that aren’t finished there is rocks
placed across them. It made for some interesting roads and stories! Like this
video! (The video is not as scary as it was!)
We then made it through both the Albanian and Montenegro
borders with no incident. (or any funny stories.) But the “highway” in
Montenegro was a one car lane road up a steep hill. We stopped because Justin’s
nerves were on edge by some goats, and this car come careening around the
corner at breakneck speed!
it was raining and I didn't have my umbrealla out, but I had just straightened my hair and didn't want it to get ruined by the rain!
We had thought that this was a one way street and
were a bit freaked out. So he drove extra careful until we got to a real road.
(which was a bit far away, by the way…we had a fun time following the “highway
signs”) We drove through a few towns and some mountains with no eventful
happenings. Then we stopped for coffee. (That sounded more eventful than it
was. We just stopped for coffee at a lake. Had coffee. Got some pictures of the
lake. Left.) Then we drove through some breathtaking scenery. Like wow. Gorges and
lakes and rivers. That you can apparently raft. There were a lot of guard
rails, and some of them (like literally every single one) had been hit in some
way. We figured that most of them were from snow plows since they were the
first part of the rail.
these were taken byholding the camera out of the car window and snapping as fast as it would let me!
When we made it to the itty bitty border crossing in
Montenegro and handed over our passports. Then the guy proceeded to talk on his
phone, talk to whomever stopped by, joke with the other workers, and generally
just try to show off his border crossing power. About 20 minutes later (we were
the only car on this side, so no blaming it like the Albanians with actual
people there) we cross through no man’s land over a rickety one car bridge and
in Bosnia (and the Repulika
Srpbska)!
said bridge and view. Juston drove slow so I could quickly snap this picture before we got to the other side
It was odd that the EU was supporting a border creation/joint
post. But the Montenegrins were in a fancy building, and the Bosnians were in a
shack. But off we went on our last border crossing. If you are counting that
was 8 (if you count them as leaving MK (1) entering Kosovo (2) etc…)! This road
was a bit scary. We knew what the mountains looked like off the side, but this
time there were no guardrails and it got dark, and there were no lights, and
there was mist. But we didn’t really see any cars, so we were lucky.
Then there were signs. Gloriously big signs with big arrows!
And we were on our way to the capital! When we got within the city limits,
suddenly the radio started working. Literally, we crossed the sign and suddenly
there was radio. And we got pulled over by the cops again. This time one he
realized we didn’t really speak a lot of Bosnian, and we had US passports he waved
us on. We also told him we were tourists. It was a tad difficult to find the
hostel. We drove around in a circle and then parked while I went to find the
hostel. I guessed a few streets based on how we had drove around and where we
thought the hostel was. And you know what? I literally came out at exactly the
right place, like next to the hostel! No joke! Ran inside and checked us in,
then the guy was showing me where the parking was, and I asked him how to get
back here and he said he would show us. So I walked him back to the car and dropped
him off with the crew then walked back to hostel. It was nice to be out of the
car and walking around.
Aryn, Justin and I were actually hungry (did you notice the
complete lack of food throughout the day?) so we went to find dinner. Note that
it was 12 AM at the time. There was a place open and we got pizza! We ordered a
veggie pizza and it came with tomato, corn and peas. And wine. Then back to the
hostel to discover that there was no hot water. Well not for me and not any day
was there hot water, ever. Not even lukewarm water. But other than that it was
ok. But I do not recommend this hostel. It's called Hostel Tito by the way.
Saying of the day that will only be funny if you were there:
“It’s not about you Cassidy, it’s about David.” These will get no explanations. None at all!
We started here and had curry and goulash as a main bowl and potato salad and a cucumber/brocolini/pumpkin seed salad. I still dream about the potato salad. I'm actually going to buy their cookbook Cornicopia at Home because their food was so good. After the food tour, I went back twice more (insert blushing emoji here). That's how good it is, and also a take on how often they are open compared to others, especially on the weekends.
