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Showing posts from August, 2014

Of Gypsy, Vampires and Bears

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Current Location: on the train heading towards Zagreb, Croatia When I started planning for my trip to Romania, I was very clear about not missing out on a vampire hunt - mainly to look out for places that were associated with Bram Stoker's Dracula because it was one of my favourite when I was a kid. There was a couple of castles that were either inspired the classic or was directly associated with the real person behind the story but frankly speaking it was all a little disappointing because of the circus surrounding it. Nevertheless I wasn't going to be persuaded to leave Transylvania without experiencing any form of the legend. So from Sofia I made my way to the capital city of Romania in Bucharest and without prior knowledge of the city, I was happy to learn about it's turbulent past, how the kingdoms/districts come together and of course you cannot escape the communist past. Though it was short, the city left some impressions on me and the men, I have to say are ra

Being happy in Sofia

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Current Location: Cluj Napaco, Romania So it was my last day in Sofia, never in my life I'd imagine that I will be there, I don't even know anything about this country. From 4 days, it's been extended to more than a week. I was sad and almost teary eyed to leave all the nice people and this beautiful country behind. And to think that I could have missed all this if I stay put where I was. I could have easily be spending my life inside four walls, typing away on my computer, online shopping and then beer o'clock and planning yet another short trip to compensate for long term employment suffering and boredom. Is that really life? Anyway, I digress - the city was ok though most people don't think too much about it - I like it because it's small and has tons of parks. I also managed to go up to the mountains and visited the Stara Planina which was nice and very secluded. Hiked for two hours with my 10kg backpack alone with virtually no one around will definitely

Where have I been? The story of the Balkans

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Current Location: Village of Valenii, Mures County, Romania Oh my God, time flies and the last entry on my blog was on Santorini and that's like a few weeks ago. Since then I have travelled to Albania, Macedonia, Bulgaria and now currently in Romania. A lot of 'nia's yes. What have I been doing and up to? When I started this trip I thought that I will be having the luxury of time and of course plenty of boredom as demonstrated on my 8 hours ferry ride but after that it was just one bus to another van to another border crossing to I don't know what else. Many adventures I can assure you but to go into the details, I will probably need forever and yet I feel really bad if I have forgotten any details which I am sure I will after time. There were days at night that I think to myself and imagined how will life be on the road, what kind of adventures will I encounter and things that are happening is beyond my imagination. Partly sometimes when you are on the road, you e