You find things in the most unlikely places.....

Here we are in Bardejov up the top of Slovakia.  We thought this would be an easy spot to hop across to Poland, but unfortunately not.  It is only a small town so there are no direct buses or trains to take us over the border. We have managed to organise private transport now, so that saves having to backtrack.
Anyway, in this town there is a World Heritage listed square with lovely buildings facing onto it, the obligatory remnants of the old city walls and bastions, a church constructed in the very early 1200's containing carved icons from the 1400's and......
an unofficially renamed 'Johna Lennona' street which has a house with Beatles and John Lennon images on  it, plus a sort of 'rock' garden at the back of the house with Beatles names and also famous album names, on the rocks. Not sure of the background behind it, but it was quite a cute discovery today.
After that my day was made when I went to get the annoying bits cut off the back of my hair (Dave has been trimming it for me with the scissors on his pocket knife!), the girls in the salon had pretty much no English but understood that I just wanted the back trimmed and to leave the rest. The result was better than I had anticipated, all nicely shaped and tapered, not just cut straight across as I would have been happy with, and then the cutter wouldn't accept payment.... They all seemed amused / amazed by the random tourist who had wandered into their salon and that was enough for them.

All in all an interesting and varied sort of a day, topped off by being invited to go for a drink with an English guy staying in the same accommodation as us. He is married to a girl from here so took us to a local pub. I didn't bother going on to the second pub with the boys, so consequently they have just arrived back at 1 am.... a bit of bloke therapy for Dave......  Just as well we haven't got a 6.30 am start tomorrow!

Romania and Hungary

After Bucharest and Brasov we were planning a quick exit out of Romania. Bucharest was full of great looking buildings that we have seen already and Brasov is Romania's tourist area with Bran castle (portrade as Dracular's castle) and Rasnov fortress recreated as a tourist attraction.

Slow trains made us stop off at Sibiu, (3.5 hr trip that took 4.5) a lovely city in Transilvania with houses that have eyes that wink at you. Our accommodation was a old house with two rooms available to rent. This place changed our concept of Romania and therefore we decided to see more.

Next step was Sighi-soara (2.5 hrs turned into 3.5) the birthplace of Vlad the impaler, a small town of 27,000. Quaint old town full of towers, churches and, of course, Vlad's family home. Thunder storms in the evening felt appropriate for Transilvania but all that happened was a clearing of the air making our walk into town bearable.

One night in Cluj-napoca and onto Baia-mare in the north. This is the capital of the Maramures and a great spot to hire a car and check out the villages in the area. The main attractions were the wooden churches and wooden gates only seen in this area of Romania. Plenty of horse and carts on the roads as well as people with sickels and rakes (hay making season). Once again we had thunder and lightning but this time hail was included, we pulled the car over at Sighetu Marmatier and waited for the storm to clear.

The car hire firm took us across the border to Hungary for 66 Euro (cheaper than a bus and door to door) a really good service. Took a bit for the  driver to find our hotel in Nyiregyhaza (these Hungarians have got some weird and wonderful place names, hard to  get your tongue around). Went for a walk into the main  square and found an mall where Barb bought some tops, nice to see her in something else for a change.

Next stop was Miskolc to catch a train across the border to Slovakia and then on to Krakow, Poland.

We have been experiencing 30 plus degree days over the last two weeks, very uncomfortable to travel in. Good food and beer, wine not so hot.

Bulgaria - last week

Destination - Primorsko to see the Black Sea. We had a one night stopover at Burgas before catching the bus to our hotel with a pool. Had a swim in the Black Sea to tick a box otherwise we spent three days eating, drinking and swimming in the pool. This was a hi de hi holiday camp for Russians and Bulgarians.

Next stop was Veliko Tarnovo by train from Burgos, 7 hour trip which included a 2 hour wait in the middle of nowhere. Veliko was a lovely old town with white houses up the hills, very similar to Berat in Albania. A river runs through the town and it is surrounded by bush. Looked at old churches, again, with frescoes dating back to the 13th century. We didn't bother with the old fortress as it has been done up as a tourist attraction.

Next stop was Ruse on the border with Romania. Saw the Danube for the first  time and took some photos. Dodged a torrential thunder storm by having a beer under a huge market umbrella. Great buildings here with some painted to highlight the architecture, apart from that there wasn"t much to offer here.

Next morning booked a bus to Bucharest which turned out to be a seven seater car which had seven people in it including luggage, tight fit.

End of Bulgaria, we spent longer here than we expected to and have enjoyed travelling here. Good food, cheap accommodation!

Bulgaria - Sofia, Plovdiv & Hisar

Had one night stopover in Sofia as the bus arrived at 7pm. Went for  a walk to get breakfast and saw the inner city which was clean and not many people around for 1.3 million population. Must have been holed up in the numerous apartment blocks we saw on the outskirts as we drove in. Unlike Tirana, they have not made any attempts to brighten them up, very grey.

2 hour bus trip to Plovdiv, 730,000 people (more than we expected). We had been looking forward to this destination because of its Thracian history and all the other conquerors that followed. Stayed just outside the old town in the centre of Plovdiv, really good location for exploring. Visited the old town and saw Roman ruins close to their original form.  We've seen a few ruins now, but it still gives us a thrill walking up the aisle steps of an arena or theatre, where you can see the grooves worn in the marble by centuries of footsteps just like ours.  Also an 'Odeon' dating back to 2nd century blocked your walk down the main street of the city. This seems to still be used for outdoor movies, it has a screen hanging in front of the seating area. We were really impressed by the civic pride in the central city, lots of buildings have been freshened up and a large pedestrian area, which is constantly being cleaned, makes it a pleasure to wander around.

Short bus hop to Hisar which is home to Bulgaria's mineral waters and associated health spas, plus the most extensive ruins in Bulgaria, including 7 metre high city walls. Great little guest house where the host could speak Russian, German, Bulgarian, but very little English. When we had dinner in his restaurant, he drove up the road to get a girl to interpret. 

We were going to head to Turkey and Gallipoli next but because of the current riots etc have reluctantly taken it off our itinerary. We are staying in Bulgaria for another few days instead. We are really enjoying the country (they cook up nice chicken livers!)

Have just arrived in Burgas. 8.30 pm so not much exploring tonight. Will do a final Bulgarian blog in a weeks time....

Macedonia

What an unusual country. Skopje is full of statues of past heroes and buildings that do not blend with each other. Lots of new buildings trying to be old and old ruins reconstructed but spoilt by their new perfection.

There is a lot of kitsch in the town, prime examples are Mother Teresa's memorial house (she would roll over in her grave if she could see it), and golden statues of an Olympic theme.

Ohrid is a pleasant enough place but once again lack of thought to restoring old relics has made things look fake. Village on the water, the cities fortress and roman ruins have all been modernised for what they consider tourist attractions. Possibly losing its UNESCO status because of this.

Worth the visit, people are very proud of their country and hospitable but pleased to be going to Bulgaria tomorrow.