The Balkans Part II

Skopje
The surroundings of Skopje watched out of a train window are stunning. On the edges of the city mountains grow to the sky. After leaving the train Skopje showed its ugly face. Large parts of the city have been rebuild after an earthquake struck Macedonia in the 1960s. Unfortunately they did it in soviet style, the consequence is, that Skopje has the ugliest train station I have ever seen and lots of grey concrete blocks. Fortunately a part of the city center is different. The bazar, fortress and stone bridge are essential parts of that part of the city. In addition several construction sites promise a different look in the near future.
Skopje was the place where I had the feeling to come close to the Middle East, espacially Turkey, for the first time. There is a big muslim community in Skopje, as well as many mosques and former turkish baths.
If someone still feels like going to Skopje, let me tell you, they aren`t prepared for tourists. One of the main sights, the fortress, was closed during my stay and when I attempted to visit a museum, it took several minutes until someone unlocked the door for me. I was the first visitor at around 1 pm.

Sofia
On my way to Sofia I could have filmed a trash documentry called: "Cigarette smugglers - crime scene Bulgarian border". Shortly before approaching the border the smuggler opened the ceiling in different places and started stashing his cigarettes. At the border the Bulgarian border patrol looked in various places, including for kontraband, including the smuggler`s stash place, but couldn`t find anything. After departing from the boarder he started collecting the cigarettes.
At the train station my host Ryo was already waiting for me. After a night of partying for him and a train ride with a lack of sleep for me, we agreed that it would be wise to sleep for a while. In the afternoon we visited a bustling park to have fried fish. The coming day sightseeing in the city was a must. Ryo told me before that there are no outstanding sights in Sofia. After my visit there I agree with him.Nevertheless I had a good time spending my easter in Sofia, mostly because of the good company.
Now I am in a train heading for Istanbul. So my next post will come form the edge of Asia.

Ryo and me at Sofia station

The Balkans Part I

Zagreb
It took nine hours by bus, train and tram to go from my hostel in Venice to my base for the coming days. My first evening in Zagreb had been rather short, tiredness and wine were to blame. The plan for Saturday was sightseeing. Simultaneously many Croatians planed to join a protest rally, dressed mainly in the national colors. At that point I had no idea what the cause of it was, so I continued with sightseeing.
While strolling through town, I thought Croatia seems to be a police state. Around the center of the city parks and squares were inhabited by the police force, wearing their combat armor. Additionally there were several road blocks. I thought there would be riots and the police obviously thought so, too. Fortunately there were no rights as far as I know. While the angry mob shouted on main square, I enjoyed the atmosphere of this beautiful town. You can`t help but think to yourself that the whole population of Zagreb is sitting in the outdoor area of one of the many cafes.
In the evening somebody explained the cause for the protest rally that day to me. Ante Gotovina, former Croatian General and widely considered a national hero, got sentenced to 24 years in jail by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in the Hague. After a couple of beers in the local pub street I called it a day.
The remaining sights were appreciated on Sunday. I took the night train at 23.55, that left me a lot of time to enjoy Croatian food and some beers, as well. The most impressive place to have a beer in Zagreb is a bar in the garden of a museum, where you can drink next to ancient sculptures.

 

 


Belgrade
The next morning I heard last stop Belgrade, at least that is what I think the train attendant said in Serbian. After a couple of hours sleep, Mladen the local hostelowner told me the must sees of Belgrade. In the coming days I went to the fort, the Tesla Museum, the remains of the bombed former headquarters of the Serbian army and to several other sights. As well as Zagreb, Belgrade shuttered my stereotypes concerning the beauty of Eastern European cities. If you like beautiful cities, gorgeous girls and cheap drinks, Belgrade is your destination.
Right now I am heading to Skopje, Macedonia by train. The ride so far has been far from usual. At the station in Belgrade I was able to take a seat in the train quite early, allowing me to watch a group of young men escaping from the police. The majority of them fled to the trains. So four of them took a seat in my compartment in an attempt to hide from the police. They seemed to be nervous till the train departed from the station, I was puzzled how to react. When the train was on the move and with a little help of wine everybody relaxed again. They were supporters of Red Star Belgrade and a bunch of nice guys.

Mosaic on the wall of Belgrade Zoo

Venice

When I started to pick out towns for the European leg of my journey, I thought Venice is a town every European should visit at least once and therefore added it to my route. Nevertheless my expectations regarding it have been quite low. I thought it would be a historical theme park. Like many times before my expectations were far from being right. Obviously there is the theme park like Venice at Canale Grande and St Mark`s square. People try to sell gondola rides, overpriced food and every kind of souvenir you can think of. But still there is another side to Venice. If you get lost in the narrow streets you can see elder people relaxing on benches in the sun, children playing football in the streets or other scenes of daily life.
If you think that you just have to go outside to watch elderly people sitting on benches and children playing football. Then you are probably right, but there is more to Venice. It has a unique architecture, a long history and most of all daily life is different from anywhere else, due to its construction on wooden poles in the middle of a lagoon.
Every kind of transport needs are fulfilled by handcarts or boats. I was amazed how simple daily life tasks got more complicated because of that. Here are two examples for what I mean by that, the garbage man have to collect all the waste with their handcarts andbring the carts to the nearest canal, where a boat waits to collect the waste or the ambulanceboatterminal at the local hospital. I conclude that Venice is definitely worth a visit.
Right now I enjoy the slow way of traveling in a train heading for my fourth stop Zagreb.

The first days

My first stop was Karlsruhe. The amount of sightseeing there was reduced to the most important sight. Due to excellent weather conditions. The only sight I vistited was the Schlosspark behind Karlsruhe castle. There my friend and host Bernd and I had a couple of brews in the sun.

 

 

 

Bernd in Schlosspark holding a beer.

After leaving Karlsruhe I went to my last stop in Germany Munich. Unfortunately the weather over there was bad. Rain, wind and unknown cold after a perfect day in sunny Karlsruhe. After an unpleasent, wet visit of the english garden, I went to the central part of town. During a short visit of the Globetrotter store I could watch the salesmanship of my friend Peter. A relaxing night and an excellent breakfast at the Marienplatz hab been the end of my visit to Munich. Now the train moves to Venice.
Up to now the journey doesn't feel like a long-term, widley unpredictable journey. It felt more like having a couple of relaxed days with good buddies.

European leg

Only one week left to my departure. It’s time to plan the first leg of the route. Seven cities to go on my way to Istanbul, further cities might be added on short notice, as far as the resulting detour is moderate.

Departing in Münsterland it will be a journey of 15 days to Istanbul. The stops on the way are:

1. Karlsruhe, Germany
2. Munich, Germany
3. Venice, Italy
4. Zagreb, Croatia
5. Belgrade, Serbia
6. Skopije, Macedonia
7. Thessaloniki, Greece

Europäischer Etappe auf einer größeren Karte anzeigen

Hints on any of these cities or other sights on this route are most welcome.

Update: Due to the cancelation of the Thessaloniki-Istanbul train connection, I will go from Thessaloniki to Sofia, Bulgaria and from thereon to Istanbul.

The route (rough concept)

The first post in this blog shall give the reader a rough concept of the planned itinerary. The actual itinerary can differ widely from the planned one. But it should be roughly as indicated by the white path in the picture:

In this stage of planning my future route contains the following countries (in chronological order): 

Germany, Austria, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia, Greece, Turkey, Iraq (just the Kurdistan region), Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. 

Forthcoming I will report about the planned journey in detail.