A to Y

We took a night bus from Sofia to Istanbul last night. We made our way to Istanbul because we are meeting my parents here on Monday for a two week Turkish family road trip. We came to Istanbul a few days early to do some "travel errands" (basically apply for Iranian and Indian visas at their respective Istanbul embassies.)

Night buses can either be wonderful or awful. I was surprised when this one turned out to be a little bit of both (there is grey in the world after all.) After many smoky, hot, smelly bus rides in the Balkans, we were happy to have this bus to Istanbul be comfortable, air conditioned (it may have just been a fan but still it was a form of ventilation) and equipped with a candy/coffee dispensing bus attendant. All was well until the "bus attendant" turned on us. He spent the evening ssssh-ing us (only to then turn on the lights and speak very loudly to his friends) and at the Turkey border he aggressively threw our bags around (once while open, spewing our belongings all over the place.) Anyways, it wasn't really a big deal. When is Rome be a jack-ass I suppose. For only the third time in our relationship, I saw the Meaford come out of Zack and thought for certain someone would be hit (or at least shoved.)

Being hot and sleep deprived made for a fun day navigating Iranian bureaucracy and applying for a visa. From what we have seen today Istanbul is chaotic, beautiful and wonderful. Travel buddies have let us know that Turkish people are helpful and friendly but we had no idea they would be this helpful and friendly. Nearly every time we looked a bit lost (Zack hates when I say lost but whatever...we get lost sometimes!!) people would offer help, even if they dıdn't speak English they dıd their best with sign language and a smile. This is a nice change from Bulgaria (where we just departed.) I have never been so frustrated in my life navigating the streets of Sofia. Not only are all the street signs in Cyrillic and the maps in latin letters (go figure) but the people are terribly unhelpful. I apologize for generalizing which is something we both try to avoid but really we asked for help probably fifteen times during our stay and ONE person helped us. Making matters worse, in Bulgaria they nod their heads for "no", shake their heads for "yes" and just generally wiggle their heads for some kind of indecipherable response. Travel confusion/frustration at its finest.

I really shouldn't speak poorly of Bulgaria. It's so beautiful (will post pics later) and our couchsurfing host Svelt was a sweetheart. Also their inclusion in the EU means that things are changing quickly, possibly a bit too quickly whıch leaves theır traditional lifestyles in the past. An example of these changes can be seen ın theır fruit growers who used to sell their produce to hikers and local people at stands on the side of remote mountain roads. Now that the Bulgaria is part of the EU, they can't do that anymore and they have to put their fruit in packages with silly labels saying organic or not organic. Isn't that sad? This is just a small example. I'm such a sucker for dying cultures.

Due to my poor night-bus sleep. I took a nap this afternoon from 5-9:30 which has left me hide awake now (11:55pm). Super. The hostel owner just came into the common room and let me know he's ordering Burger King and asked if I'd like to order too. Such a thoughtful guy.

Given that I'm wide awake, I thought I'd fiddle with google maps and make a master map of our trip so far. Google maps can be a bit of a pain and after an hour of "fiddling" it wouldn't let me add our final two cities.  I've attached the photo of the map. It should really read Z: Sofia, Bulgaria and then Istanbul. Also, google won't let me get a blue line from place to place, ugggh, oh well I suppose finding directions from Lisbon to Istanbul would be challenging for any anyone. I'll let this one slide google. This is a good time to make a summary map. Istanbul represents leaving behind Europe and heading into the East. Also, meeting my parents was the only date/place we "had to make" on our journey and I can't believe it has arrived already.

All for now. Farewell sweet Europe.

Ps. I didn't go for the Burger King.

Ban-ya Luka

Banja Luka (Js are Ys here so really it's Banya Luka) is the capital of the Republika Srpska, the autonomous (but still linked) Serbian part of Bosnia and Hercegovnia. I really didn't know what to expect when we decided to visit Banja Luka. Most people said there wasn't much to see there and it's where the "hard core" Nationalists live. Hopeful to leave tourist-dense areas, Banja Luka sounded wonderful to us.

Upon our arrival we met up with our couchsurfing host, Zeljko, who had with him a Turkish couchsurfer, Boli (who would later become our "perfect" Rakija-shooting travel buddy on our journey to Sarajevo.)  Zeljko immediately gave us a quick walking tour of the city (quick is all you need) and then to get burek and a beer. In true Zack and Kat style we hadn't read Zeljko's profile all that thoroughly. He mentioned that he lived "outside the city" but as we drove out to his home, we realized that "outside the city" was more than we had expected. We seemed to drive forever, down winding dirt roads with no street lights, headed for some raping and murdering no doubt. Since we arrived late at night, we didn't see until the morning what splendor we had stumbled upon. Zeljko's family farm was so gorgeous (literally and figuratively). Zeljko's family were so welcoming and warm and they were clearly very excited to have a stream of couchsurfers coming to stay with them (In 2012 alone, the family had hosted more than fifty guests).

The daily family breakfast (which mom insists couchsurfers participate in) consists of bread, many types of vegetables, a grilled meet of sorts, eggs, cheese, yogurt, a delicious chilli sauce, watermelon, coffee and rakijia (the local liquor that everyone brews). I asked Zeljko if his family buys any food from the store. He thought for a while and then responded with "no but we buy salt sometimes." Imagine that! A completely self-sustaining farm. Images of our grocery stores, with expensive certified organic produce popped into my mind. This is the life. Thanks to Zeljko and his family our time in Banja Luka was full of my favourite type of travel memories...the human kind.

Republika Srpksa 

Old meets new. 

Three languages....suspiciously similar. 

Killing time with a Lithuanian and a Romanian....a playground in a castle will do. 

Life is good on the family farm. 

pigssssss. 

Everyday the whole family (and all the couch surfers) sit down for a big hearty breakfast....shots of rakija with Turkish coffee included. 

Zaaaagreb by Kat

As always, I have a few free minutes and thought I would put up some pictures and comments about a couple of recent stops we've made on our journey. A natural progression would be to put Zagreb (the capital of Croatia) and Banja Luka (the capital of Republika Srpska) together in a post since we did after all visit them both within a four-day period. However, as I began to type and loaded the pictures I started to feel a bit uncomfortable. At first I didn't know why and then I remembered...they really (really!) dislike one another. They dislike one another so much, I doubt they would want to share a blog post on my tiny insignficant blog that pretty much nobody reads....welcome to the Balkans!

So here they are, each city with their own post. You're welcome!

I took very few picutres of Zagreb, I was in a fowl god awful mood that day but I couldn't resist this lego looking church. 

Since we were staying with a couch surfer (the wonderfully sarcastic Tomislav, a big wig at Nestle) we ended up staying in a neighbouring city called Samobor. At first we were nervous to be 20 km outside of our destination, Zagreb, but we ended up enjoying Samabor so much! It was a quaint and charming medieval town where the people were friendly and as charming as the sign.

A local drink called Bermet, made exclusively in Samabor, was too bitter for me but I'm a sucker for "secret family recipes" and drank it anyway. Keep your eyes on Vagabundo Magazine to read Zack's article about Bermet.  

I told you it was charming. 

Plitvice, Croatia by Kat

Want to see a super gorgeous Croatian National Park that we spent a day hiking in?

Truly amazing other-wordly lakes, waterfalls and cascades. We nearly missed out on this experience. We  were feeling annoyed by how "out of the way" it was and what a massive pain it was to get to via bus. We decided to go for it, which meant three different buses and arriving at a campground at 1am in the pouring rain (best for tent assembly.)

I think it was worth it. She's a beauty of a park.

I took the liberty of linking the wikipedia page so you can read about this natural wonder (click here to read about it)

Italy Picture Catch Up by Kat

This past week has been spent falling in love with the Balkans, truly an amazing place to travel, not too many tourists and interesting (but complicated) history. We have been very lucky to meet and spend time with Croatian, Serbian and Bosnian people, who have shared with us stories of growing up (or sometimes fighting) in the war. Amazing to think what happened here on this gorgeous territory.

This morning we took an early morning train from Sarajevo to Mostar. We checked into a brand new family run hostel this morning and are spending the afternoon relaxing, a difficult things to do when you're travelling and spending only a few days in each city. There is always something you feel you "should" be seeing or doing. Zack is nursing a bad cold and a new tattoo. As I type this he is watching (and hating) a Sex and the City marathon. Given our relaxed cable-tv-ed afternoon, I thought I'd take the opportunity to upload some pictures from Naples, Florence and Venice. It feels like ages ago since we were there, but in reality it was only two weeks ago.

When I was 9(ish) years old I watched a Discovery Channel special about Pompei. I remember it very clearly, I watched it at my grandfather's house. I'd like to say I watched it with my grandfather but I doubt that was the case. It was the summer which meant he was likely in the garden. I remember watching it and misunderstanding the facts - I thought the special was comparable to the news (also often on in my grandfather's home) and that a volcano had just recently erupted and covered an entire city and its inhabitants. My 9 year-old self was horrified, amazed and slightly concerned that Manitoulin Island might have a similar fate. Later my father clarified for me that "No, Kathryn that was a really long time ago....like before Jesus and there are no volcanos around here." Thanks Dad.

Now as a 28 year-old, I was happy to visit the Pompei ruins with the facts a bit more organized. I'm not too big into ruins but enjoyed Pompei very much. Zack and I both agreed we liked it more than Machu Picchu, way more intact (thanks volcanic ash) which meant we could get a pretty clear image of what life was like for the people of Pompei.

Here are some pics of Pompei.

These little counter tops were all over the city. They were like a "snack bar" or lunch restaurant. 

This was one of the many public baths. These are our two American friends who let us avoid the 8 Euro cost of a ruins map and shared their map with us all day. There is absolutely no information printed in the ruins, so not only would we have learned nothing, we would have gotten terribly lost. Such sweet guys and again the kindness of strangers comes in handy. 

Oh Florence, you knocked my socks off again (more realistically my birkenstocks.) Zack seemed to like it too. The downtown core was like swimming in a tourist soup but I guess that's what happens in beautiful places...people visit them.

We turned a corner and arrived a the Duomo....Zack (the first timer)'s mouth dropped open, that does the Duomo justice....these pictures do not. 

We drank a bottle of champagne and celebrated a our one month trip anniversary while watching this sunset. We also unfortunately met some really obnoxious American's who barked information at us...let's pretend that didn't happen. 

Venice, the first time for both of us. Gorgeous and hot...so so hot.

vino. 

there are a tiny handful of pictures of me on the trip...I hate all of them....Zack says this one is reasonable. 

quiet small canals, free from tourist gondolas and full of everyday life. 

Roma: more than just a tomato by Kat

As it turns out  we are terrible bloggers! We are so far behind on our posting but as my ever-patient sister-in-law said "you're too busy living....just blog later." I suppose she is right, life has been full of living lately.

We made our way from Madrid to Roma via a very cheap Ryan Air flight which landed after the metro was closed. Turns out it's difficult to get to a campground on the outskirts of Rome in the middle of the night without the metro, but as always be survived. From Rome we took a quick train ride south to Naples followed by Florence, Venice, Slovenia and Croatia, where I am currently sitting in a smoky cafe avoiding the rain and drinking a tea. Pictures, ideas, and stories from each of these places will follow soon but for now here are some pictures and thoughts about Rome.

Revisiting a city where I had already been was an interesting experience. It put into perspective how much I had changed since backpacking Europe alone five years ago. The city looked different than when I was a younger/dumber/greener traveller. Also since it was Zack's first time visiting  Rome (or anywhere in Italy for that matter) I played tour guide at times and often I felt like I was walking him through my trip of five years ago. I caught myself starting a lot of sentences with "the last time I was here...." I'm sure it was annoying for him but he didn't seem to mind (he would just pretend to sleep instead). So much has changed since then (personally and generally), it's kind of remarkable. The biggest change I've noticed for travellers is their dependence on electronics. Thanks to the arrival of  e-reading, gone are the days of hostel book exchanges. Hostel/campground quality is often judged based on if their wifi works and backpackers crowd around outlets and drink beer while they charge their iphones/laptops/ipods etc. The romantic in me finds this kind of sad, the modernist thinks "why not?"

Rome is stacked with so many sights and amazing pieces of history that it's easy to become desensitized. Early in the day you can be in awe of the beauty and history, then by the end of the day you think things like "oh those are just some more ruins" or "that gorgeous church is only like 900 years old, no biggy."  My favourite tourist attraction in Rome is probably the Coliseum, mostly because it's about sport and not so much about religion (it's a bit about religion but what wasn't back then.)

As most of you know Zack has landed a gig as a columnist with a travel magazine. He seems to think he'll still have time to contribute to this wee little blog but my gut tells me it'll be mostly me from here on out. His columns will roll out every 10 days starting Sept. 5th. I've had some sneak peaks at upcoming columns and I'll leave it to him to share with you stories of our time at the Vatican. He is a much better writer than I am (he thinks not) but let it be known that visiting the Vatican with a strict atheist can make for an "informative" day!

Coliseum

We had a picnic here...not a shabby view. 

The Spanish steps...covered in loitering tourists.  

St. Peter's...the only part of the Vatican open to tourists. 

More St. Peter's. 

Interesting fact of the day: approx. 4000 euros are  tossed into the trevi daily.