as far as the I can see

8.11.11 Farewell my dear sheep

2011-11-15T03:40:00.000-08:00

or few words about the Sacrifice Day…

The Sacrifice Day begins with muezzin’s prayer, which is louder and longer than usually. His voice is present in every house and on every street for about 1 hour from around 7.30 a.m. He announces that one of the most important Muslim holidays has just begun.

That’s what woke me up. And after a while I witnessed death of two animals: my sheep and the cow, which I didn’t like, because it kept on bullying the sheep.

Since the early morning many butchers appeared in the districts of Marrakesh, walking, shouting and offering their services. When one of them approached our house, Yassine and his father called him to come up to the roof-terrace, where the whole sacrifice process usually takes place. A fat guy in wellingtons with military pattern and his young assistant (a boy, about 15 years old) in the same wellingtons and with straw basket full of knives climbed the stairs up to the roof, where the sheep tied to a metal column was already waiting for them. The butcher said a short prayer (actually one word: “bismillah” – in the name of God) and cut the sheep’s throat. My plan to save my sheep failed drastically…

First the head is cut off. Then a piece of the leg is incised and through a little whole some air is blown into the dead victim. That was the assistant’s task and he used his mouth to fill the animal with air. In this way the skin moves away from the bones and it can be removed in one piece. Then the inner organs are sorted out – the heart, lungs, liver, brain, etc. The rest is hung on a special hook, which is mounted on every terrace wall. The muscles of the animal are not eaten on this day, only the inner organs. The body with muscles hangs upside down on the hooks till the next day when the body is cut into parts and some pieces of it are given to the poor and relatives.

When the head is cut off, the terrace turns into a bloody river, covering all around with the royal red colour. Every terrace has water supply and outflow so the cleaning process is quick and easy.

Scarifying a cow takes much more time and a special butcher is needed. Ours was ordered a day before on a phone. He came 2 hours late, dressed in a ragged black jacket and dirty clothes. His eyes were green, to my surprise, and he made a rather scary impression, although I fund him a bit shy. His arms were covered with long scars and he had one scar on his scalp, as well. His waist was tied with a leather belt with 2 big knives attached to it. He entered the house with his skinny assistant and for about one hour he was demonstrating his professional skills. He had killed two cows already before visiting us. It is not so easy to remove the cow’s skin in one piece but he managed to do it in a perfect way. All the family, except of Yassine’s mother, was gathered around him to watch his butchery art and admire his professionalism.

The cow didn’t want to pass away quickly, so it was suffering for couple of minutes on the terrace floor. The butcher and his assistant were pouring cold water on its body. Again it was the head that was cut off as the first element. Then inner organs were taken out and the body was hung on two hooks. It’s still here and waits for the butcher who is supposed to come here again and cut the meat and sort it according to the body parts. The skin of both animals, sprinkled with salt, lies on the floor in the sun. It will be given to a poor lady. The walls are still covered with blood…

As I already said, on the Sacrifice Day only the inner organs of the animal are consumed. Grilled or smoked, with a lot of spices. Sometimes served with a sauce and eaten with handmade bread. I heard that the brain is the most delicious, especially when served with garlic. I don’t know how it tastes. And I don’t want to know. I didn’t eat and I won’t eat any brain or any other part of any animals…

In the evening of the Sacrifice Day the Moroccans go out to visit their families or friends or meet with them in a café. The same happens in the evening the day after, when the meat is already chopped, sorted and located in a special place…

And so in the city bathed in the sunlight all kinds of bleating and mooing suddenly disappear. The sellers of feed, pottery and coil leave the streets. Everything is back to normal.

6.11.11 Waiting for the big day

2011-11-14T05:42:00.000-08:00

or about holiday preparation again…

Today a cow arrived to Yassine’s parents’ house. It inhabited the bathroom together with my sheep and was tied to the wall, so that it does not run away, in case the door (which is just a wooden board and an old satellite dish) is battered down. The animals live on the last, third floor of the house, so it was quite a challenge to drag them up the stairs. The cow is becoming fierce, takes over control in the bathroom, takes away the food of my sheep and pushes my sheep aside, back to the corner and doesn’t let it move. The poor sheep keeps on bleating and every now and then claims humbly its privileges.

On the streets there is another interesting phenomenon: special primitive stands with feed, vessels for meat preparation, coil or knife sharpener appeared in the middle-class or rich districts among beautiful houses or along crowded streets. Next to the stand there’s a small tent for the sellers who come here from nearby villages or poorest districts and stay here for 1 or 2 nights. All the products are placed before the tent, no one even hides them when it’s dark. A customer may appear any time during the day or night. And because nights are cold now, the fire lighten next to or even inside the tent is an indispensible part of the little camp.

In the well-off district people rather don’t dare to kill their animals by themselves or prepare some parts of the animals and take care of their skin. So the sellers stay outside until the Festival and smoke or grill sheep hooves or heads for them. To kill an animal the citizens hire butchers who walk between the houses early in the holiday morning, offering aloud their services. Inhabitants welcome them with joy, very often take them to their families who also need a butcher. It is also possible to phone a butcher a day before the festival, but this practice is not really common.

Poor families have to take care of everything with their own hands, from bringing an animal, to its sacrificing and preparing its meat, whether they’re brave enough to do it (especially sacrifice it) or not…

6.11.11 My first sheep

2011-11-13T07:58:00.000-08:00

or how I become an owner of a scared sheep…

Moroccan sheep madness still goes on. The Festival of Sacrifice is tomorrow, so it’s the last chance to buy an animal.

Since we arrived to Marrakesh I’ve been photographing all the sheep around me: on a terrace, on a street, in a carriage or in the center. I even made friends with a sheep of our neighbour, which is stuck on a terrace. Seeing my fascination with sheep, Yassine’s parents decided to buy me one, as well. They know I don’t eat meat, so I’m not going to consume my sheep after the sacrifice, but they just wanted to see my joy of having a sheep at home… Thus, for two days I became an owner of a little sheep.

The scared animal lives in a small bathroom near the terrace. It received a lot of food and pieces of cardboard to sleep on it. But it ignores the cardboard and stays on cold tiles. I’ve already photographed it (him! Him, him, him! It’s him!), talked with him, fed and I was already about to give him a name, when Yassine stated that’s not a good idea, because I will be emotionally connected with my sheep and then cry when he dies.

Tomorrow the sheep will be sacrificed, and all what’s left, will be just memories, pictures and his meat on other people’s plates. I keep visiting him and convince there’s no reason to be scared. The sacrifice is usually calm and peaceful, but I will write more about it tomorrow.

05.11.11 A sheep bleating in the morning

2011-11-13T07:27:00.000-08:00

or how we land up in Marrakesh again…

In two days Muslims celebrate one of their two most important religious holidays – the Festival of Sacrifice. That’s how they commemorate the day when Abraham was about to sacrifice his son to God, but then a sheep was sent to him to sacrifice it instead of Ishmael.

Many people buy a sheep now to sacrifice it to God, prepare the meat in a traditional way and eat it with the whole family. But this is not so easy at all, because not everyone can afford to buy a sheep or other animal. And that’s what happens in Morocco:

The thinnest and poorest animal costs about 70-80 Euro. If you want to buy a sheep with good quality meat, you have to spend about 200 Euro. If you prefer another animal, e.g. a cow, with a low-cholesterol meat, you need to pay 500 Euro. And an average monthly salary in Morocco amounts to 500 Euro (although there are huge differences between income in villages and cities and between social classes). To save some money on the future victim, Moroccans are ready to travel far away to buy a cheaper sheep. Citizens of Marrakesh go often to Essaouira (about 90 km) and bring an animal from there. But not everyone can afford a cheaper animal, even from another city. Fortunately, the richer people share with the poorest and give them some parts of their animal. Or buy for them a new sheep. On the other side however, the richest families decide soemtimes to spend their holiday outside the country and spend the money on a journey, rather than on an animal and expensive festival.

Since few days sheep or (rarely) cows are transported on the streets of Marrakesh. They travel in a special carriage, barrow, motorcycle, bike or they are simply pulled on a string and forced to enter into a Moroccan house. Usually the animals don’t fight for their freedom, they follow humbly their new owner. They calmly accept their fate and finally end up on a roof, which is also a terrace of a house. That’s why in the first morning after we arrived to Marrakesh I was woke up not by the usual sound of birds but by a bleating sheep. We went up to the terrace of Yassine’s parents house to check how many new inhabitants there are on another roofs but we noticed just one sheep. More will come today.

Waiting for the sacrifice, sheep eat hay that can be bought now on many streets in the city, also in the center. Usually children are the sellers.

The meat of a sacrificed sheep is enough for the whole family for the next several weeks, depending on the size of the family and the sheep. And so, for example, Yassine’s closest family (3 people) will eat their cow even for the next 5 or 6 months and a family of our friend (8 people) will share their sheep for 2 months more.

During this holiday more animals are killed in the whole world than on any other day…

05.07.11 Waterfall family and natural invasion

2011-07-11T13:26:00.000-07:00

or what happens with a beautiful nature during a hot weekend...

The Ourika Valley is a unique place. About 60 km from Marrakesh noble mountains dominate the landscape and hide 7 waterfalls. The routes are not marked, so if you want to see all the waterfalls you need to ask random people for the way, follow your intuition or hire a guide. We used the first two methods and reached 5 waterfalls. The first, most easy to access, was full of Moroccans who came here to escape the heat of the city, singing, playing in the water or just watching. After a short time we decided to escape form the invaded nature and seek peace in higher parts of the mountains, discovering more waterfalls. The further we went, the less people we met, and the last waterfall was for us only. The winding path followed along a river and stones and lead us to a peaceful wonder of the nature Far away form noisy shops and cafe by the entrance to the valley.

The Ourika Valley is especially adored among young couples. It's one of few places in the area, where lovers can spend some time alone. They can't meet their partners at home (according to the tradition), nor show their feeling in public places. So they seek for distant places, far from people. And one a strangers approaches a kissing couple, both of them become red, shy and turn their eyer from newcomers.

06.07.11 Milk, dates and cookies

2011-07-11T13:07:00.000-07:00

or few words about Moroccan hospitality..

During the last 3 weeks in Morocco I visited many Moroccan houses and every time I could witness how welcoming and hospitable Moroccan people are. In Marrakesh Yassine's parents prepare for us delicious breakfasts, lunch and dinners (omelettes, rice, salads, fish, toasts, pasta....), which are definitely to huge for me. When we visited Yassine's grandmother, ill and old, she welcomed us with milk, dates and fresh bread. A visit in a house of Yassine's friend ended up with fresh meal also. The friend's parents, who were also hosting a family from the UK and Ireland, prepared for everyone Moroccan pancakes, handmade cookies, hot milk, dates and other specialities. And when the newly-weds (Yassine's cousin and her Pakistani husband) were visiting the closest family after the marriage (that's the tradition here) and came to Yassine's parents, they were welcomed with the traditional meal for a married couple (milk and dates) and many colourful cookies.

About the cookies – they are really unique! Without chocolate, but always very sweet, in many shapes and colours, sometimes with honey, almonds, sesame or colourful additives.

Coming back to the meal – when eating with more people, you eat your meal usually from one plate,taking the main meal with a piece of bread. This way, you usually end up eating more bread that a salad/meat/fish but no one really seems to care. Sometimes you drink from one glass, also. There are of course meals that are served on separate plates and families or situations where you have to use cutlery instead of your fingers. But sooner or later, at some time during the meal, the traditional way of consuming a meal appears.

Moroccan hospitality is not limited to food only. Very often a host will offer you his best room, someone will take you for a ride around his city with a car, someone will let you stay in his house for many days and someone will give you many presents, when you already have to leave the country. We are leaving tomorrow and we'll have too much luggage for sure, because we got many presents from Yassine's family. I got a Moroccan shoes and dress from his mother and two European dresses from his father, and both of us received a huge bag full of Moroccan spices, olives, cookies and other sweets.

It is really sad to leave such a hospitable country...

04.07.11. Stretchy time and helpful hand

2011-07-11T13:03:00.000-07:00

or few words about Moroccan mentality...

In Morocco I'm spending my time mainly with Moroccans, meeting new people every day: Yassine's family or friends or random people that travel to the same places as we do. The time for Moroccans has a different meaning and a day has more hours. 15 minutes does not mean „15 minutes”, but 30 or 45. „Now” sometimes refers to „maybe in next hour or few more” and „tomorrow” may actually be in few days. In the last minute you realise there's not enough time and something should have been planned before. But the problem is, it is not possible to plan anything, because your friend may call you to meet you right now or you have to help your family or the weather is bad (which means „too hot”) or someone has some other idea. The time becomes stretchy. Plans do not exist. And everyone is fine with it.
Fortunately, there are situations where the time really has the proper meaning: the best trains and buses usually come on time, visits at doctors or business meeting may also be punctual. It's just the everyday life, when the time suddenly seems to slow down and stretch endlessly.

Taxis also have another meaning. In cities there are so called „small taxis” for maximum 4 people, and in small towns and villages you can meet „grand taxis” where even 10 people can fit into a car for 5. The front seat is usually taken by 2 passengers and no one complains that it's too crowded. Motorcycles work similar – very often 4 people fit in one motorcycle and families really don't need a car to travel together.

About families – the family has for Moroccans the highest priority. The older members of the family have to be supported by the younger and family meetings are very important. Family picknicks are also organised quite often. When it's hot, the pickniks start late in the evening, along the streets in the center (parks are too dark) . The houses are too hot, so fresh meal (tajin, melon, Moroccan tea...) can be eaten outside.

The next common Moroccan characteristic is being ready to help any time and anyone. When you are looking for some coins in your pocket while buying tickets, someone will offer you his 5 dirhams, when in crowded bus you can't find a seat, a man will give you his seat (if you're a woman), when you need Internet connection and the only Internet Cafe in the village has no electricity, someone will lend you his mobile Internet, and so on and on. It's easy to make friends here and you know you can always count on your old and new friends. Being stingy is not common at all and those who have more share with the poorer.

Of course, there are exception from all these rules and you can notice different behaviour in cities and different in villages, different among the poor and the rich. But deviations form this rule are not that big and you can always meet a helpful hand and a person that will make you forget about the European meaning of the time.

24. 06 Camels, wild beach and dry landscape

2011-07-11T12:52:00.000-07:00

or how we are discovering an empty and dry landscape.

Behind the new apartments in Essaouira El Jadida there's a wild and empty area. We followed an inconspicuous path, which took us through dry abandoned fields, deserted buildings and boarders between the properties made of stones. There were no people around, jut some goats, a lonely shepherd on a bike and a woman with her son that immediately covered her head by scarf when she saw us.
After a while we arrived to a very little village, with just few houses, where everyone stared at us.
We kept on following a narrow path and arrived to a bigger road, where we met some children that just finished their Saturday lessons in a school. When the children noticed us, the boys started to pose for pictures and shy girls run quickly away, smiling to us from time to time.
Then we discovered a well with a very tasty water, with a handmade leather bucket. When we already left the place, a man arrived there with his camels. So we turned back to take some photos of them. The man asked if we are going to a wild beach and then proposed that he could take us on his camels towards the beach. Soon we were sitting on top of an unruly camel, with a string attached to another camel where the owner was sitting. The trip was quite mundane, because the animals kept on nibbling plants along the path. The owner's comments didn't help and the trip became more tiring when many stones and little hills appeared on the way. After about 30 minutes the camels needed some rest, so we all sat down in a shade of a tree and the camels could finally eat peacefully. The man made a fire and prepared Moroccan tea for us in a little metal teapot. He revealed to us also some secrets from the animal's life: they live about 20 years and can lift up to 400 kilos, the females are much more expensive than males worth about 1000 Euro. After some rest we said goodbye to the nice man and his camels and kept on walking toward a wild beach in big heat.

The beach was also totally empty and because of the low tide many tiny animals were lying on the ground. We tried to put them back to the water, but one of them, huge jelly fish, was already dead.
The empty idyll finished when some tourists on quads and then special tents for the nearby golf field appeared by the coast. It was still peaceful though, with no typical tourist or commercial sites. However, we decided to come back home, walking through unknown path hidden between the trees behind the beach. We arrived to an asphalt road, where a colourful cafe, in which Jimi Hindrix used to spend a lot of time is situated. Walking along a hot and empty road, we approached to a modern and new hotel resort with many sport facilities. A paradise for rich tourist in the middle of nowhere. We tired to hitchhike back home, as we noticed we are to far away to walk, but none of the modern cars wanted to stop for us. Finally, a Moroccan couple saved us from the dehydration and heat and gave us a ride to Essaouira el Jadida, where our musicians and hot meal was already waiting for us.

02.07.11 Metamorphosis, five dresses and tones of cookies

2011-07-11T12:43:00.000-07:00

or how we are spending 8 hours at a Moroccan-Pakistani wedding...

Moroccan weddings last sometimes 2 or 3 days and are very pompous. Fortunately, the wedding of Yassine's cousin was only 8 hours long, which was a very loooong time indeed.

First preparations. As I mentioned before, Moroccan women want to look very nice during a wedding and use this opportunity to show off their beauty and wealth. So it is recommended to wear gold jewellery, visit a hairdresser and put on a lot of make-up. I had to take part in this makeover, too. First a hairdresser in the center of Marrakesh took care of my hair and made me up. Then, at home, I had to wear a Moroccan outfit: pink trousers, long blue dress, long colourful dress, golden belt, golden shoes (and another, blue pair of shoes to wear them later, as I can't really walk on high-heels) and a black light cover that has to be taken off after entering the wedding room. I felt quite weird in my new outfit, as I don't like gold and make-up, don't trust hairdressers and never use high-heels. But after some time I got used to that all and found it comfortable, especially while taking pictures (as I was one of the wedding photographers there).
All Moroccan wedding dress are similar, long and colourful. When you walk, you have to take the dress in your hands, not to stumble over it.

The wedding started theoretically at 8 p.m., but when we came after 10 p.m. we were one of the first guests. Every time when someone walks into the wedding room, live music is played by a group of traditional musicians. Near the entrance there's a table, where welcome milk and snacks are served and you can also leave some money for the couple.About 11p.m. it gets crowded, as a group of Pakistani comes by bus. They all came here from the UK, together with the Pakistani groom. And all of them wear beautiful traditional Pakistani clothes.

The band in the middle of the room plays traditional Moroccan music and there's a special table for the couple and their family. In the other end of the room there's a huge green (later it becomes white) throne for the couple, where they spend a lot of time, to be admired and taken photos with.
First a bride walks in, wearing a green dress, covered with green vale. A group of shouting women leads her to the throne, then they make her sit down and paint her hands and feet with henna. When henna painting is ready, the groom dressed in a traditional Pakistani outfit comes on a white horse. He approaches his wife and takes of the vale. Now it's the time for photographers and all guests to enjoy the view of the beautiful young couple. And everything is filmed and shown directly on 3 big screens, so if you miss some details seating in the other end of the room, you can still catch it up, watching the TV.
The bride is then carried on a special „tray” by four strong men that lift her up and walk around the room to the rhythm of the music. Later, the similar scenario is repeated – the bride changes her dress five or four times, wearing richly decorated clothes and crones, the couple is carried around the room on special „trays” or sitting on the throne.
Food arrives about 2 p.m. and it's meat only. Nicely dressed waiters (men only) bring silver plates to every round table (there's about 20 of them) and put them on the middle.
Everyone eats form one plate, there's also one little plate for bread. in front of every person. I'm waiting for some vegetarian meal, but there's just big bowl of fruit and sweets, which is fine for me.

Many music groups enter the room from time to time and play traditional Moroccan or Berber music. The only performing woman is a singer, who collects money after her show. The only dancers are Moroccan women also, Moroccan men and Pakistani group are mainly sitting at the tables and watching. When for a short time Pakistani music is played from a CD, only Pakistani men are dancing, making all the guest smile. The couple does not dance, and does not mix with the guest. They are there to be admired, carried around the room and eat.
The show ends when the couple leaves the room in white clothes. Pakistani guest are coming back to their hotels, some Moroccan guests stay for the last meal, a hot soup. We are just coming back home to get some rest after 8 intensive hours of colourful and loud show.

01.07.11. Fish, idyll and crazy cars

2011-07-05T05:37:00.000-07:00

or how we are spending few days in a secret village...

The time in singing Essaouira passed by very quickly. We were delaying the day of our departure, but finally it had to come and we left the winding, white streets, where groups of young people used to play instruments, sing and dance. It was high time to leave the city full of nice hippies and rastas, where package tourists where just a minority.
One of our Moroccan friends living with us in Essaouira left to Marrakesh and the rest (8 Moroccans and me) left to a secret fishing village that is not mentioned in any guidebook. I won't reveal the name of the village to keep it secret and untouched by mass tourism. The village, let's call it MS, is situated by the ocean and any newcomer always attracts everyone's attention. The place is known only by few people, mainly by Moroccans, surfers and those who know how to listen carefully. Because you can discover the village only when you listen to the stories of those who visited it.

The way from Essaouira to MS leads through winding road around the mountains, along the argan fields (the plant grows only in Morocco, in this area, and argan oil is a magic cosmetic and a healthy spice), above a cannion and deep water. You can reach MS only by car or a big taxi from Essaouira.

MS is a fish kingdom. The local bars sell fish and seafood and the main source of income is fishery. The small harbour is a home of hundreds of blue boats that set off for fishing every evening. Someone is always working here, sorting out fish or preparing small fish as a bait for huge species. Next to the harbour there's a special fish market, where a lot of men come twice per week to buy the best species on auction. Some little shops, cafes and bars, internet cafe with old computers and small surfing resort – that's the centre of the village. People here are very nice, although the sellers always demand higher prices when they meet newcomers, even if they are from Morocco. The village highlight is also an empty sandy beach and... small electrical cars. A kind of fun fair attraction, merged into the village landscape. In the evening the area with the cars becomes the main attraction and the only illuminated place in the village (at night the streets are totally dark and all lanterns are switched off). The locals (mainly kids and men) keep on watching the little electrical cars for hours. Those who can afford it (5 dhm for 10 minutes) join the car madness and soon become addicted to it. From late afternoon to late night hours the car platform produces loud strange music and slightly destroys the peace in the village.

Somehow we also became a part of this madness. That's what happens if you travel with 8 young crazy Moroccans that can even convince the owner of the cars to open the attractions for us only in the middle of the night and switch on the highest speed...

In the village we could also watch how a tradition Berber bread is prepared. Walking along the village streets late in the evening (about 11 p.m. everyone notices that it is high time to cook and eat something, so the big hunt for food begins), we discovered a dark little street lighten by low light. It turned out that the light comes from a Berber oven, outside a house full of women preparing round pieces of bread. One of the women was sitting in front of the oven, baking bread in a very short time. My Moroccan friends started to sing and play guitar for the women, making them come out of the house and laugh. We bought 10 pieces of bread for our late supper and left to cook a hot meal.

The few days we spend in the village were enough for the locals to recognize us anywhere we went – whether we were driving crazy cars, or playing and singing, or photographing the village with huge lens or just talking to fishermen. We decided to visit the village every year and spend there definitely more time. Unfortunately, our group soon had to split – 2 guys were coming back to Marrakesh for their flight back to France and Germany, another one was coming back to his work in Marrkesh, Yassine and me had to attend a wedding next day in Marrakesh and the rest just stayed there to enjoy the peaceful paradise.

So now we're in hot Marrakesh again (on the way back we went to Agadir also, but just to see that there's nothing to see, just an annoying tourist resort, invaded by commercialism) and we are preparing to attend a Moroccan wedding. It's always very long and pompous. Before a wedding all the women are recommended to go to a hairdresser, even if they don't really need it. I was also sent to a hairdresser, even though I kept on repeating there's nothing you can do with my hair. Anyway, the tradition has to be respected, so soon we are leaving for a big makeover.

25.06.11. Colourful festival and salty wind

2011-07-04T06:03:00.000-07:00

or how I'm discovering attractions of Essaouira...

As I mentioned before, the weather here is different, more bearable then in Marrakesh, thanks to the cool wind with salty taste. The architecture is also characteristic – white walls and blue windows everywhere. Among Moroccans, also some Jews and Senegalese live here. The latter are particularly visible in the centre, where they are selling colourful African clothes.

Old houses, narrow dark streets, cafes and never-ending rows of shops with Moroccan souvenirs – this is the old town. As you are approaching the harbour, the wind is getting stronger, flock of seagulls are hovering just above the ground, working fishermen and blue boats. This week the city has something more to offer – the Festival of Gnawa Music, originating from southern Morocco and northern Mauritania. Most of the festival audience comes from Morocco, but there are many tourists from around the world, too. The performing artists always wear colourful clothes, play exotic instruments, dance and wave with the national flag. And all spectators are moving with the rhythm of the music.
The festival lasts 4 days with concerts from 8 p.m. to 12 p.m. But during the day the centre is crowded as well: with tourists hanging around in cosy cafes, vendors trying to sell pieces of jewellery or clothes and groups of young people sitting on the ground and playing gnawa or traditional Moroccan music.

Music accompanies us also back at home in Essauira el Jadida. Yassine hosts his 5 Moroccan friends (soon more are expected) who brilliantly play guitars and sing some reggae and rock songs every day. One of them recorded his CD and is about to promote it soon. Artists surround us anywhere we go...

23.06.2011 Marrakesh by night and burnt corn

2011-07-02T10:36:00.000-07:00

or how we are discovering the dark charm of the city...

In the evening Marrakesh becomes a crowded, loud and colourful mix of tastes, sounds and images. The main square is full of small bars, snake whisperers, monkey trainers, women designing beautiful henna patterns and many vendors trying to sell anything to the crowds of tourists and locals. The best view on the night life offer cafe terraces (e.g. Cafe France), where the atmosphere is much peaceful and wonderful sunsets paint the city in orange to let it plunge in the darkness again. The city reveals its second face.

Outside the center and tourist attractions life looks quite different. The locals go out of their houses and spent time along the streets, where many benches are placed. Some vendors try to sell their snacks from wooden trolleys and this time their main customers are the locals. We bought some corn cobs from one of them and I could watch how it is prepared. The man put the cobs directly on the coal and was waving with a piece of cardboard just above it. When he decided that the corn is ready, he put it to the plastic bottle with salty water and placed it on corn leaves. Voila! Ready. The cobs where always at least half-burnt, but it doesn't really matter. It's not burnt it's just a dark colour – told me a local Moroccan man. But the dark colour was not tasty at all. At least the half was quite edible.

We left Marrakesh in the morning and came to Essauira. The climate here is different here, with lower temperatures and cool wind from the ocean. Gnawa music festival starts today and we are going to the center to see the concerts as soon as the lazy siesta is over. We are staying here in another house of Yassine's parents, which is actually in Essauira El Jadida, about 10 minutes by taxi form the old town of Essaouira.

Here we are!

2011-06-21T03:53:00.000-07:00

After long and tiring adventures (cancelled flight, journey from Rotterdam to the airport in Bonn, back and again to the airport, searching for another flights in a very last minute .. .) we've finally arrived to Morocco! 2 days later than expected.

We landed in Casablanca and then took train to Marrakesh. Already at the airport, I could experience some typical behaviour of Moroccan people (wrong concept of “queuing”or noisy kids), which were really not a big deal compared to the chaos, rush, colours, tastes and sounds that we emerged in just after the landing.

I can't stop comparing Morocco to India, because of all the chaos, similar mentality and differences in the landscape. It's definitely less slums areas here, less rubbish and less cows, but somehow the overall experience is similar.
Travelling by train from Casablanca to Marrakesh, I could watch slums near Casablanca and then empty, dry landscape, with small hills, covered in burnt grass, red soil or juicy green prickly pears, some lonely shepherds, herds of cows and droves of sheep. And finally vividly illuminated Marrakesh with new railway station and taxi drivers pestering for their services. We walked pass them, went few hundred meters further and jumped into another taxi, where the driver agreed to give us a fair price, switching in the counter. The car passed by typical Moroccan houses with decorated windows or columns and few levels, then along a street, where women dressed in their jelabas and scarves were playing with their kids, then a big bakery and finally we arrived to Yassine's parents home.

And here starts my endless delight. The Moroccan house. Colourful, welcoming, adjusted to the weather conditions. It has three flours (well, actually four, if you count also the big terrace, where another 3 little rooms were built), 8 or 9 rooms, 3 kitchens and 3 bathrooms. Living rooms are decorated in a traditional way with sofas along the walls, colourful carpets, thick curtains, little tables and traditional dishes for bread, tea and other delicious foodstuffs. Amazing! Plus colourful windows, windows on the ceiling, decorative traditional files.

We were also welcomed with tasty food, and unique mint Moroccan tea served in a little metal pot and then poured from quite big height to transparent glasses. Delicious!

Now it's time to discover the city....

Off to Morocco!

2011-06-16T13:12:00.001-07:00

After few months of travelling between Austria, Poland and Holland it’s time to start a real journey!

I’m finally going to Morocco! Well, actually WE. We’re going to Morocco! Tickets booked 3 days ago and the departure is tomorrow.

This time it seems I will have a chance to discover the country with locals: live in their houses, celebrate their events, watch their everyday life. I can’t wait to see all the faces of Morocco, smell colourful spices, taste delicious tajins and experience a real hamam!

I haven’t been there yet but I feel I already like it a lot!

We’ll travel around the southern part of the country, next time I’ll discover the charm of Casablanca and Fez and other cities in the north (yes, next time is coming soon, as well).

Oh, and the festival in Essaouira! That’s our plan, too. And after all, a Moroccan wedding, where I’ll be the main photographer…

Pictures soon!

New Year's Eve in Rotterdam

2011-01-16T12:59:00.001-08:00

or how I discovered one of the most annoying traditions...

Boom! Bum! Watch out! Walking down the streets in New Year's Eve might be dangours. It was for us – my sister and her boyfriend, who visited me and my boyfriend in Rotterdam. The fireworks spectacle began already in the morning and petards were exploding just few centimeters away form us. It's definitely not a good time for a walk along the main street. Enthusiastic kids were throwing all they had just under the pedestrians' feet, under cars and trams. Only some of them were reasonable enough to tell us to wait till a petard explodes before continuing our walk...

The exploding performance had its high point at midnight when fireworks tuned the black sky above the Erasmus Bridge into a colourful scene. Many people gathered around the bridge to celebrate the New Year's Eve and liters of alcohol splashed the streets. We watched the show, shared a bottle of champagne, took some pictures and went back home. Before we organised a nice peaceful evening, with lots of good music, delicious food and many funny games.

Rotterdam again & again

2011-01-16T10:13:00.001-08:00

or how come I became a constant visitor to Holland...

Life really is full of surprises. Since I went to Holland for the first time (in August), I have landed there another five times (in 3 months!).
I didn't really like the city when I first saw it. But it seems, it really has some charm. Spacious parks, the old colourful harbour, and a small old town, full of narrow streets and artistic shops... The most beautiful parts of the city were damaged in the WWII, and afterwards only new, modern buildings were built. Fortunately, Rotterdam is not only about high glass buildings and frightening skyscrapers. There are nice and cosy places, too. The top of my favourits' list are the traditional Dutch houses. I just love them!

But that's of course not the reason, why I keep visiting Holland so often. It turned out sometimes you find the special person far away form your home. And the you suddenly change all your plans. So I'm moving to Holland in 2 weeks!
During my visits I met many locals, although it's not easy to get to know a Dutch person in Rotterdam. The half of the citizens are emigrants or people from emigrant families. Walking down the streets will provide you with a real mix of many nationalities from around the world. And the Dutch language is not the one you here most often. English, Arabic, German or even Polish are sometimes more noticeable then the local language. Together with the mix of nationalities came to Rotterdam also a mix of various cuisines. There are plenty shops with Chinese, Moroccan, Indian or Polish food. Very popular are also shops with traditional wedding clothes from India or Morocco.

Soon I will find out more about the culture and local people, things I like and don't like about living in this country. So far there's one thing that definitely puts me of – the local bureaucracy! If you are a new-comer, you need to wait ages before you get the necessary documents. Queues, complicated forms, multitude of documents that has to be deliver to the local offices... Well, I hope I will be ready with that soon.

Den Hague and Rotterdam

2010-09-10T02:40:00.001-07:00

or about the end of my journey...

That's where I spent my last two days in Holland. In den Hague just few hours, in Rotterdam 1,5 days. And I still don't know which place I like more. Both are quite non-touristic – I mean, there are some tourists, of course, but just a few and walking down the streets in this time of year, you usually notice locals. Both cities are different than Amsterdam – less crazy bikers, less coffee shops, less crowds. Both have Chinese districts and I met a lot of Muslims in the centre. Den Hague seems to be cosier as it's smaller and doesn't overwhelm with its huge modern buildings as Rotterdam does. But what I like in Rotterdam is the Old Harbour with nice cafés and colourful boats, vivid flea market and strange sculptures placed everywhere around the centre. Busy commercial streets and glass skyscrapers destroy a bit the calm atmosphere of the city, but I enjoyed exploring it anyway.

I was also quite surprised with the hostel (Mafkees) where I stayed. It's different than others, with large rooms equipped with plenty of double beds, friendly staff, and quite a big common room. Many guests who stayed there where students looking for a flat in Rotterdam and I didn't really meet there many nice people, as I usually do in a hostel. But I think I liked it.

The country outside Amsterdam attracted me as much as its capital. Time was passing by quite quickly and soon I had to leave Rotterdam to catch my plane from Eindhoven. But the magic of Holland – its special places and special people - has put me under a spell and I'm coming back there next week...

Marken-Edam-Volendam

2010-09-09T04:54:00.000-07:00

or about the world outside A'dam...

As said before, outside Amsterdam the world gets back to normal again. Well, not really, because I still felt like under some magic spell while discovering all the small towns and walking along cute houses with original gardens. When I left the capital I was travelling alone again and could explore more, get to know more people and shot some nice scenes. Again a well-balanced proportion between travelling alone and travelling with a company.
Marken, which is an island, boasts a colourful harbour and an array of original nicely decorated houses. I could walk there the whole day long and wouldn't be fed up at all. But as it was rainy almost all the day I quickly changed my mind and after few hours headed for the next towns. I enjoyed though the peaceful atmosphere of the town, the view of wide empty fields or calm animals grazing near the harbour.

Edam and Volendam were much more crowded although still far less chaotic than Amsterdam. The main attraction in Volendam is the harbour again but I preferred to stroll along its narrow streets, far away from crowds of tourists. I met an Australian couple on the way – a marriage in their middle-age travelling around Europe for 6 weeks, heading for Italy after visiting the Netherlands. We talked for a short time and then our ways parted again.
Both towns were full of souvenirs as well and in the ecenter of Edam there was a huge loud and kitschy fun-fair. But once you got through it, you could discover the real, quite calm image of the town, well-known for its cheese.

Amsterdam

2010-09-09T04:31:00.000-07:00

or about a journey different than others...

I don't know what it is, but IT makes the city very attractive. In a way magic. And you just have to get back there. I spent there nearly one week two weeks ago and... I'm coming back next week. But these are two different stories. First things first!

Before visiting Amsterdam I did want to explore the city as well as possible. Go to all the famous places, walk along narrow streets in the old town, spend some time in the parks and just feel how the city breathes. But you never know what happens once you get to the place. I met some Austrian friends in the city, then it turned out we have no accommodation and the women at those place we were supposed to stay suggested we should stay on a camping. Nice. But no once was prepared for that. I had at least a sleeping bag, but the guys (3 of them, from Austria) had later no choice but to buy some. The camping shop was well-equipped so we shared the price of 2 tents and all in all we spent less money than in a hostel. And when the days got rainy we were lucky again. We could finally move to the old ladies' flat and stay under the roof.
Although it was quite difficult to push yourself and do something else than just visiting coffee shops and enjoying the smoky-crazy-blurred atmosphere of the city, I was really eager to see something more than just the shops:) After few days I had my favourite places – like the flea market Waterlooplein or the Jordan district. And all of us had the same favourite coffe shop – Homegrown Fantasy, which we used to visit nearly every day.
And what surprises me the most are the crazy bikers and the bike decorations, nice 'flats' on the water, creative street artists, exited tourists who enter a coffee shop and behave like kids who have just discovered a sweets paradise. But my paradise is for sure on the Waterlooplein where I got a bit scent of India again – with all its colourful and original clothes, useless antiques and funny souvenirs.
The city somehow embraces you, catches your attention and makes your head spinning around. With all the colours & scents, bikes & bridges, eager tourists & drug fans. But it's enough to go beyond the city boarder to find yourself back to normal again. There's a different world out there, less smoky, less colourful, more down-to-earth. But equally fascianting.

Mulţumesc Romania!

2010-08-18T09:27:00.000-07:00

or my general impressions from the best journey ever.

Every year I say the same: 'it was the best holidays ever!'. And so it is this time. One month in Romania was definitely full of new experiences, surprises and adventures. Travelling alone for such a long time made me open to new people, more self-confident and self-reliant. I'm very grateful to all the Romanians I met on my way, who were very friendly and helpful. Meeting local people is the best part of every journey and never before have I met so many of them as now in Romania. Most of them were friends of my friend, Alex, or friends of her friends or friends of friends of her friends... Most of the young people I met were actually from Brasov. But wherever I went I was really surprised at how friendly and open people were to me. Thank you! Mulţumesc!

Now I feel I need to invite all the helpful Romanian to Poland or to Vienna to be for them such a good host as they were to me... So, feel free to come:)

During the month I managed to learn a bit of Romanian, which doesn't seem to be a complicated language. I think I will add it up to my 'must learn languages' list:) If I could spend few weeks more in Romania, still among people who even if know English don't use it so much, I think I would definitely improve my Romanian at least to an intermediate level;):)

Travelling is more about meeting local people, not only discovering local attractions. That's why Brasov will always be a special place for me, even though the city itself is maybe not the one I liked the most. The most wonderful places I visited in Romania are without any doubts the Danube Delta and Pietra Craialui mountains. Sighisoara and Sibiu belong to my favourites as well. Now my plan is to get back to Romania and visit the northern part of the country and then go to Moldavia. And then visit Brasov once more and maybe some other places in the Danube Delta. I hope to get there in April or May next year, as soon as I graduate from my studies.

Oh, and one more thing. My journey back from Romania, which was a bit exhausting: first 5 hours on a boat (I didn't have to pay for the ticket!!!), then 5 hours by car, then 14 hours by train, which arrived to late and I missed my train from Budapest to Katowice. I tried to get to Vienna and from there to Katowice but it turned out I won't catch the train that arrives the same day in the evening. So I tried to cancel my ticket from Budapest to Vienna, but it turned out it's impossible (?!?). So now I'm in Vienna again, and in 3 hours I'll be heading for Poland. A short break on the way to the family town is not such a bad idea after all. At least I can leave here part of my luggage and go further with a lighter rucksack. Packing and unpacking again... An inseparable part of my life:)

Romanian style

2010-08-16T07:19:00.000-07:00

or what I've noticed while travelling around Romania:

Campings
If the majority is from Romania, loud music is often an inseparable part of a camping. They go to nature, to see a lake, mountains, river but take a half of their home with them. Large gas bottles, loudspeakers or even small TVs are quite common. The most surprising for me was a scene just after climbing down from Pietra Craialui. There were some tents near a peaceful brook and cars playing loud music that successfully drowned out the voice of the nature.

Gipsies
They don't like being photographed. If they notice you taking a picture of them, they start to shout or try to snatch your camera. So it's better not to photograph them at all or do it from the distance.

Dogs
Are everywhere. Especially in Bucharest, where stray dogs belong to the city landscape. One tried to bite me, which was not a nice experience at all.

Colours
People dressed in original colourful clothes are not very common. And if they happen to walk down a street, almost everyone else is staring at them. But almost all my new friends from Romania where like me. Bit colourful and spontaneous so we suited each other well. A visit to a small town or country was like a journey to another world. That's at least how the local people stared at us – as if we were something exotic.

Tourists
Transilvania is their favourite destination, many of them come to the mountains as well. The sea is also popular. What surprised me was that there were not so many tourists in Bucharest. The city may not be attractive, but still – it's the capital and many start their journey throughout Romania in Bucharest. In hostels you can meet foreigners only, the locals usually stay in campings.

Children
Many poor kids are begging for money. But we preferred to give food to them. Usually they're not very pushy and quite friendly.

Parks and cafes
Are usually full of Romanians, spending there their free time. Older people are sitting on the benches in parks, younger ones are sipping their drinks or coffees in cafe gardens. Many people put a chair or bench outside their house and spend their evening there. Time goes by slowly.

Accent
I just love the way Romanians are speaking English with their accent. The intonation usually goes up, conversations are full of emotions, the language becomes more melodic. They speak English almost the same way the Spanish do – with temperament.

Food
I was surprised to see how popular the brand Fornetti is. It's a frenchise with pastry, which was also popular in Poland but about 10 years ago. Fornetti stands are almost everywhere and have always many costumers. Pretzels are very common as well. You can get them in every bakery, in various forms and tastes. And the next surprising thing is that many people on trains or in railway station eat a lot of snacks, crisps or sweets.

Conservation works
Are also everywhere. But the most 'works in progress city' was Bucharest, I think. I got the feeling that the whole city is under construction or renovation. Dug out streets are in every district and rails are being renovated, too. That's why the trains are late so often.

Travelling
Or – the endless expression of surprise when I'm saying that I'm travelling alone. I met quite many lonely travellers from round the world. As I already mentioned, it has many pros and cons but the best way is a mixed style. So a bit alone, bit with someone. Explroing a place alone and then waiting to meet someone you know, or meeting new people and then joining them even for a short time. There's always someone to wait for, there's always time for independence and loneliness.

2010-08-16T02:02:00.000-07:00

Danube Delta
or how I finally find what I've been looking for

I've come to Romania to experience the beauty of its unique nature and explore small towns and villages. Well, the latter was not really successful but I'm really happy that I had a chance to climb the mountains and then to arrive here. To the Danube Delta. It's a unique area with breathtaking nature, very different to other parts of Romania, and totally different form the other seaside areas in the country.
To my surprise Sfantu Gheorghe, a village in the Delta, was not as peaceful as I expected it to be. It turned out that there's a festival of international independent films, so many people came to the village. The camping was full of tents, one next to another, there were large queues to toilets, bathrooms, a bar or shop. Every evening there was a concert outside and few films were presented. At first I didn't like it at all but then I discovered that it's only the camping that makes me want to leave. The village is very quite, with its green, calm riverside, cows and horses breeding along the path to the beach, where commercialism has not arrived yet (so no music, no bars, no other attractions). And when the festival has finished many people left the village and I started to enjoy living on the camping.
I met here some friends that I met in Brasov before and it turned out there's some kind of Brasovian invasion. Many young people came here from Brasov and there are not many foreigners. We spent one night on the beach, lighting a fire, looking at the amazing sky full of stars. We planned to stay until the sunrise, but most of us didn't manage to wake up and see the morning show. I woke up just in time to see the sun climbing up the sky.
Along the village paths you can see nice coloruful hauses, some of them very old, some with small columns. There's an outside bar and few shops in the centre and a stand with watermelons. But the most attractive is the nature of course. To explore it more, we went on a boat trip today in the morning to see pelicans and other species. We had a chance to eat white fruit of a flower growing on the nearby lake. Unfortunately, I didn't understand much from what the boat owner was talking to us and not everything was translated to me. But it doesn't really matter.
The village by the Delta has much to offer if you're looking for a unique, peaceful place, where time slows down. That's why I changed my plans again. I was suppose to leave today but I'm leaving tomorrow. This time for sure. And this time I'll be heading for Poland.

3 days in Constanta

2010-08-12T00:53:00.000-07:00

or how I change my plans again...

I arrived to Constanta two days ago and wanted to stay here for one day only. But I didn't leave yesterday, neither today. I will yesterday. And it's all because of nice people I met in the hostel. There are some Poles, Czechs, Germans, a guy from the Netherlands, some Romanian and Spania. The owner of the hostel is very friendly and every night we gather together by the tables in the yard and have a lot of fun...

I still don't know why I was called a gipsy from Constanta in Brasov as I still can't find any similarities between me and the gipsies from here:) And I also don't know why so many people discouraged me from coming here. It's not so bad. The local beach is very dirty, looks like rubbish bin or a neglected garden (we found small tomatoes there!), the city centre is not very attractive but somehow I like this city. Maybe because of the people I met here.

I'll try to go to the famous Mamaia today – the type of place I really dislike. Full of tourists and commercialism. But I need to see it to have the right to criticise it:) And yesterday I tried to get to Istria with its Romanian ruins and to Corbu with its hippie beaches. But the day was totally unsuccessful. Marybe I'm just too tired or the heat is killing me. I got to late to the bus station, then the bus was late, then in Corbu it turned out that I need another 10 km to get to the beach. And the bus back to Constanta was leaving in 2 hours. Walking to the beach was not a good idea as I almost fainted because of the extreme heat. So I just got back to where I came from. And discovered the city centre, with its mosques, orthodox churches, huge harbour.

And later in the hostel we had a funny international evening again. It will be sad to leave from here but it's time to move on... To Danube Delta finally! Where I will probably meet my friends from Brasov.

Bye bye Bucharest

2010-08-09T10:32:00.000-07:00

or how I finally stick to my plans...

Bucharest didn't convince me to change my travelling plans so I'm leaving tomorrow. Finally. One day is definitely enough. I can't stand it all any longer – heat, overwhelming greyness, stray dogs, staring people, noise and chaos on the streets. Of course there are some nice places like the Atheneum, few orthodox churches, museums or the original building of the Parliament. But it's still not enough to make the city impress me. I hope it's the last place in Romania that makes me want to leave as soon as possible.

Oh, and I forgot to mention about my visit to Sinaia. I went there on my way to Bucharest, spent there 3 hours, visited the famous monastery and palace. Both buildings were really impressive but the invasion of tourists, noisy cars and huge buses were really annoying. Actually it was the first place in Romania where I got lost. Well, I had no map but walking around the city is quite easy. Nevertheless my way back to the station somehow got more complicated as I expected. Anyway, I enjoyed my short stay in Sinaia much more than I'm enjoying Bucharest now. Somehow I really don't feel save using wireless Internet in a park, near the railway station where I am right now. So I'll finish now, go back to the calm hostel and prepare to the next journey. Tomorrow morning I'm leaving to Constanta...

Almost like in India

2010-08-09T05:15:00.000-07:00

or about the first day in Bucharest...

It's hot. Full of contrasts. It's dirty. Full of neglected houses. Stray dogs are walking down the streets (when tried to bite me), poor people begging or sleeping outside, cars driving like crazy, ignoring the red light. And I don't really feel safe walking alone when it's dark. Almost like in India. 'Almost' because I still haven't found anything that would impress me as much as India did. Maybe I just need to explore the city more to appreciate its overwhelming contrasts and find something that would overweight its all bad sides. Or maybe these are not the bad sides at all, just an inseparable part of Bucharest that somehow builds up its charm. I'll find it out soon.

I didn't want to come here as many people said that Bucharest is boring and very tiring. And then I heard I should come there for at least one day, because it is a special city, although a bit dirty, neglected and full of contrasts. So I left friendly Brasov, awaiting new adventures. The train was few hours late, which didn't really surprise me. I didn't book any hostel, as I thought that maybe I would be lucky again and the place I found on the Internet will still have some spare beds. But I was wrong. The Funky Chicken Hostel, which is in a walking distance from the main railway station, was already full. Well, not a problem – I thought. And went back in the extreme heat to the place I came from. The railway station. Near the station there is one more cheap place to stay overnight. And this time I was lucky. A lady from America who owns the hostel welcomed me really friendly and invited to her modest place. It's small but I like it. Although there's no Internet like in other hostels. And the biggest problem is – I couldn't find any internet cafes in the vicinity. I know it's not the most important thing while travelling, but if you try to combine working with travelling you have really no choice but to be online from time to time. And in my case 'from time to time' means almost every day or every few days but for few hours. Anyway, no more complaining:) I'm alone in this huge, hot, confusing city and it's time to let it impress me!:)

Time to move on

2010-08-07T10:14:00.000-07:00

or how come I spent so much time in one place...

I planned to stay in Brasov only 2 days and then move to Danube Delta or Bucharest. But I realized it doesn't make any sense to plan anything for more than 1 day ahead. The week I spent in Brasov (yes! The whole week! Never happened before:) was full of spontaneous visits, trips, events, adventures. I visited nearby places (Rasnov, Harman, Campulung) together with Alex and her friends, met a lot of local young people, many young tourists from around the world and had an opportunity to go for 2 days to the mountains (Piatra Craiului) with Alex' friend and his friend. They both covered this route several times so I didn't have to worry about the way up or down or the place to stay overnight, which was a unique experience for me:) Sometimes it's good to forget about your leadership spirit and let the others lead you the way they want to. But only sometimes;)

The way up the hills wasn't always easy and on the way back I fell down several times, which also has never happened before:) Beautiful nature, wonderful views, demanding climbing and good company made me realize that summer holidays without few days in mountains are not real holidays:) It was high time for me to move away from the cities and touristic places, to go somewhere in a countryside or experience the unique Romanian nature. And the opportunity to do it showed up just on time, as well. It seems that spontaneous decisions rule over a precise schedule, even if it is my own schedule:)

Tomorrow I'm finally going to Bucharest. Not because I don't like Brasnov but I just feel I can't stay so long in one place. All the people I met here and everything I experienced here creates a very friendly image of Brasnov. After a week it's definitely a place to come back, not only a tourist attraction, the next 'must-see' as all the guidebook say.

And Bucharest... Well, I heard it's full of contrasts and not worth staying there for more than 2 days. I'll check it out soon.

The way through mountains and marriage proposal

2010-08-05T04:20:00.000-07:00

or how I became a gipsy from Constanta...

Hey! How old are you? Do you want to get married? Or buy my skirt??

That's what I heard when my Romanian friends took me to a gipsy market in Brasov. Before we got there, I was told that the place would surely be stinky, chaotic and loud. And so it was. But I liked it anyway. Gipsies in their typical clothes (men with cowboy-like huts and women with colourful long dresses and scarves on their heads) were selling second hand clothes and shoes, shouting loud the prices of their products and staring and the potential customers. I tried to take some pictures of this unusual place but a gipsy man started to shout at me and forbade me to use my camera.
By the other stand some women were offering me their long colourful skirts and said I must be a gipsy from Constanta. I guess it was because of my long colourful skirt... And then a gipsy man asked if I want to get married. Well, I had to say 'no' to everything I was offered and soon left this distant and magic world.

Afterwards we visited Harman, a village with fortified church. It was peaceful and empty, with almost no tourist, which is of course a big advantage. And we visited also an old neglected school that is about 100 years now and completely deserted. Only local kids spend their time there, play, listen to music and use the old building as a kind of hideout.
We were also invited to an ethnographic museum with a great variety of local traditional clothes, furniture and Eastern eggs. I was really surprise to find out that Polish and Romanian folklore is quite similar, especially when it comes to the Eastern eggs.

At the end of the day, which was really full of new experiences, I went with Alex and her family to Campulung, a small town in the other county. It's not an attractive place but the way there is very fascinating. High mountains, empty villages, streets leading through fields with sheep, horses, cows walking down a street, wooden churches, old original houses... After two hours we reached boring Campulung and when we where walking down the street (Alex and me) we felt as if we were really exotic. Everyone was staring at us (maybe because of the different, colourful image), which wasn't pleasant at all. And when suddenly a man fell down on a street and needed an immediate health care many people gathered around him, just to stare and feel the touch of sensation. Someone took a photo to a local newspaper, someone called an ambulance, someone was happy to be accidentally captured on the photo and was looking forward to seeing himself in the newspaper the day after...
And what's quite strange is that almost all the kids we met were overweighted.

Coffee future-telling and local attractions

2010-08-02T14:15:00.000-07:00

or how the locals see the city...

I thought I was going to travel alone again when something unexpected happened. My Romanian friend invited me to her place but I already paid for the hostel so I'll stay with her from tomorrow. She invited me to lunch, as well (delicious mamaliga and beans), then offered some ice tea with honey and coffee. Actually, we drunk the coffee to see our future, because Alex' grandmother is a master at coffee future-telling. So I went for it!

And here's what I found out:
The grandma said she had never seen such good dregs before! Saying this she meant that I'm extremely strong, independent and proud (whatever that may mean...). Then she said I'd been climbing up the mountains with a rucksack, I was tired and sad but only for a short time (true!). I should be careful with my luggage because someone may want to steal it and I would be happy with my further journey. And the she said – attention please! - I would be married soon (!!!) and two guys would propose to me at the same time or I would be married twice (???). And there's a sad guy somewhere far away thinking about me a lot (!?!). And there's a lion (maybe a zodiac sign or just a strong person) who's looking after me. And that I would be happy, successful and rich. Well, I wish that at least some of these things were true. I mean, I don't care about the marriage and stuff like that but the successful life would be something nice:)

Together wit Alex we came up with a lot of ideas for the next days. Were could we go or what could we visit. We didn't plan anything for sure but I know we'll see interesting places and experience a lot.
Then we were walking up a citadel hill, then along the narrow streets and we visited a communist-like confectionery, where everything was like in the past: the same selling ladies, same cakes, same decoration. We had an ice cream called 'casate'. Delicious! From 'the past', as well. And then we walked up the hill again to meet Alex' friends. Because that's the place where young people spend their free time when they don't want or can't go to a pub;) We ate sunflower seeds, pretzels and had some other attractions. And then the girls (Alex and her friend only, because the boys disappeared suddenly) took me to an old cemetery with Russian and German graves and then showed me another cemetery with a grave of Romanian poet who wrote the national anthem.

Well, it seems you need to know the locals to see the real life of the city and to get from it as much as possible.
And tomorrow more attractions...

The lake, flood and Polish scouts

2010-08-02T13:45:00.000-07:00

or small disappointment and big luck...

Maybe St. Anna Lake is unique but definitely not the one of the most beautiful places in Europe. Sometimes you shouldn't believe everything you're told, even if it's the locals who claim that a place is a must-see. A Romanian guy that we met by the lake was wandering why we came from such a distant country to see THAT place. Well, maybe THAT place isn't that unattractive but there are definitely much more nicer places in Romania.

But before we got disappointed we had to cover a tiresome way up the hill. After 2 hours we saw a rather strange view. Mountains, green hills and... the kingdom of commerce. There was a camping on the hill near the lake, few shops and fast food stands. And again – almost everyone was from Romania. A lot of cars, colourful tents and loud music took away the charm of the place.

After a while we finally saw the famous lake. I didn't even know how to photograph it. Its unusuality and unattractivity was so demanding that I just gave up. Many sunbathing people, swimming people, grilling people. Oh, it would have been so much better without them...

On a train back to Brasov we had some problems. There was a flood and the train got stucked in the first station. We stayed there for 2 hours and didn't know what happens next. In the last minute we changed the trains and got on to the intercity train because it was supposed to leave earlier. And it did.

In Brasov we were lucky again. We met Polish scouts who helped us find the way to the centre. And they were talking a lot about their crazy journeys. Once a year they organize a scout journey, this year to the Forgas Mountains in Romania. They just came here, found a free accommodation in a church (they always make they trips as cheap as possible), sent there they 8 colleagues and now wanted to buy some food for everyone. Both of them are travelling a lot, one was for example hitch-hiking to Ukraine from Poland, the other one got to Morocco with his friends and then hitch-hiked around the country! My soul-mates! I hope I'll meet them again some day...

We found an accommodation in a one star hotel – three of us staying in a double room for a very low price. We walked a bit in the centre, then woke up early to make a short tour around the centre again because Zofia and Andreas were leaving at 8.30 to Budapest. I saw them off to the station and then moved out to a hostel. And when I thought it was time to be alone again something unexpected happened... But more about it in the next post.

From Sighisoara to Baile Tusnad

2010-08-02T02:30:00.000-07:00

or the next magical place and a strange camping...

From now on I'm travelling alone again. And I have mixed feelings. On the one hand I'm happy to be by myself again, on the other – I'll miss travelling with Zofia, our photo sessions, our conversations, all the crazy and spontaneous things we did...

But before she left we managed to visit few interesting places. As I already said, Sighisoara is as magical as Sibiu. With all the narrow colourful streets and legendary traces of Dracula, with its small houses and photogenic attractions.
Oh, and what's equally important – we found a very cosy and cheap hostel! Actually, the hostel found us. We wanted to go to a camping, near the city centre, but a man on the station approached us and offered a very cheap accommodation. We just couldn't say 'no'. The hostel has a good location and the rooms are just perfect. Modest but very original. The one we stayed in was decorated with puppets, there were paintings with notes on the wall and a guitar cover with a large notes sewed on it. And the beds had silver coverings. A small luxury after or before a night in the tent:)

To get to the St. Anna Lake we had to change a train in Brasov and then go to Baile Tusnad. When we arrived, we were lucky again. I knew there's a camping, but had no idea were could it be. A women we met on the railway station showed us the direction and after 10 minutes we were already there. On a camping with Romanian tourist only, with large tents covered with foil (because of the rain), with many cars playing loud music and grill places. We must have been very unique there with our small tents, small cooking set and no car,
The centre of the town resembles many Polish health-resorts , maybe this one is more old fashioned. We asked how to get on food to the Lake and decided to cover the 6-kilometre tour the day after.
And then langos!! With cheese and then another one with jam! The best langos I've ever had! Even better than the ones I had in Hungary:)

More about the Lake and other attractions in the next post...

Village, festival and new plans

2010-07-30T13:07:00.000-07:00

or how we discover more and want to discover even more...

I need to say I'm enjoying travelling with a company. The journey can be more attractive and funnier once you find people who think in a similar way, want the same you want and have a similar attitude to travelling. And they bring new ideas, as well.

Yesterday we got to Biernat, a medieval village. We were travelling on a mini bus, with some funny drunken Romanians and a nice girl, who helped us to find a camping place when we got to Biernat. Well, it turned out there's a festival in the village presenting local cuisine and culture. That's why a lot of people came there and many campings were already busy. We had a luck to meet a German women who invited us to her garden in the next village, Richis. She and her husband drove us to their home and were very hospitable. We got a delicious honey, tee, coffee, home-made alcohol. They told us a bit about their life and attitude to the Romanians (the man is German, as well, although born in Romania) and in the evening we all discussed various topics, sitting outside and enjoying the peaceful village life. Oh, there were 4 German girls, as well. They've been travelling for about a week now, heading for Istanbul on a small bus. All of them very nice and original. It turned out that Zofia met one of them few days ago in Budapest. Well, the world is small.

The night in the tents was cold but it was a new experience to be woken up by a crowing cock. And a fresh aroma of coffee. Oh, I wish we could stay there longer, in the middle of nowhere, where life seems to be simpler, nicer, calmer, more attractive...

We had to hurry up to catch a bus to Biernat, 6 kilometres from the peaceful village. The place was still bit asleep when we got there, but it was getting louder and more crowded. The festival was supposed to begin at 12 a.m. Some were already preparing their stalls with honey, cheese, bread or traditional clothes, some were still building up a stage for the outside concerts. We met 2 German guys who worked as volunteers, taking care of Romanian kids from poor families. They were with them on a camping for 10 days. And filled up our bottles with fresh drinking water:)

The bus to Medias was suppose to leave at 1 p.m. So we spent a lot of time in the village, trying various kinds of cheese, honey (with cinnamon!), visiting the famous church from the medieval times and just watching the preparations to the first festival in this place.

Now we're in Sighisoara. A must-see!! As nice as Sibiu, attractive and breathtaking. I'll write more about it later. Now – we have new plans again. We're heading for St. Anna Lake – one of the most beautiful places in Europe, as the guidebook says. Well, we'll see if it deserves this description.

Colourful streets and local quisine

2010-07-30T12:34:00.000-07:00

or about our visit to Sibiu and Medias...

It's finally sunny! We stayed one day in Sibiu, which is so far the most beautiful place I've visited in Romania. The old town, full of colourful narrow streets, wide squares, old buildings with wooden shutters and the ubiquitous German language. It used to be an Austrian city, now still a lot of Germans or Austrians live there and even more come to stay here just for few days or hours. Exploring the magic of the old town, we found also old donjons. In one of them there's also a gallery presenting the life of German craftsmen who stay in Sibiu.

Of course we had to capture the unique atmosphere and took many photos. We were lucky to see a large group of young Romanian soldiers taking an oath on the main square in the old town. What surprised me, was the fact that there were a lot of women among them.

Sibiu makes you want to stay there longer, walk more and more, discover more and more attractive streets, watch the local people with more attention and just enjoy your time. With no pressure, no duties, no worries.

Nevertheless, we decided to continue our journey and set off to Medias. This time we got on a train without a ticket, as we reached the station too late. And then the ticket inspector demanded from us only 10 leis, instead of 19 pro person. Gave us no tickets and put the money to his pocket...

Medias is deffinietely not a 'must see'. But a 'why not see'. It's a small town with a colourful old houses and small square. We spent a lot of time looking for a supermarket to buy something to eat for the following day. Finally, we got to Billa and we found also a very cheap bar next to eat with fresh Romanian food. And I tried mamaliga for the first time. Delicious!

Our next destination was Biernat. Still on the same time. More about it in the next post...

Changes

2010-07-28T01:59:00.000-07:00

or how wie visit caves in Turda and walk around Cluj again...

The only problem with travelling is that you have no control and no influence on what's happening far away from you, back home. This time my strength and independence were crashed a bit because of a few unpredicted events. For a short time I really felt I should/need/want to get back, my energy disappeared, my optimistic atitutude vanished, as well. But after a while I regained what I lost. There's no point to give up, to resign from fulfilling your dreams because of a temporary crisis. My independence and strength were rebuilt and I could move on. Hope that this time stronger than before.

But before that happened I met my friends finally. Visiting Cluj with them was a slightly different experience. We climbed a hill with a citadel, were we found many trees with fresh plumps. It as rainy all the time, but we enjoyed our free lunch anyway. And my friends agreed with me - there's really not much to see in Cluj, few hours are enough to see the city.

So today in the morning, before we left to Sibiu, we went to a nearby salt mine in Turda. There's a park down there, with a football pitch, mini golf, boats, bowling and many other attractions. I must say I didn't want to go there but I really liked it after all. Soemthing new. Quite spontanous but fun. And finally in a rather rural area.

Now we're leaving to Sibiu, this time we'll stay in a hostel, as well, because the camping is quite far away and we don't have much time.

Now I'm really happy I'm not alone anymore. I wouldn't have regained my motivation and strength to continue my journey so quickly if I had spent those without my friends. So here's the next advantage of travelling with a company - they make you keep going, whatever happens...

Cluj Napoca

2010-07-26T10:39:00.000-07:00

or it's time to change some things...

I'm already fed up with cities, I really want to go to a countryside. But I'm in Cluj Napoca now, waiting for my friends. Zosia's friend (don't know him yet) is coming today, Zosia is coming tomorrow in the morning. Then few more cities in Transilvania and then finally countryside! Can't wait to go there.

Waiting for the guys to join me, I've already explored the city. Well, it's not amazing. Many churches of various religions, crowded streets, more tourists, life going on faster then in the Timisoara or Oradea. Classical music was played from the loudspeakers on the square, where the Orthodox Cathedral and the Theater is. And the fountain show accompanied the music show. You could hear all the most popular musical compositions – the one of Mozart or Beethoven. I stayed quite a lot of time on the bench near the fountain, listening to the music and then reading a book. The walk around the city didn't take much time and I'll have to do it again tomorrow. Oh, well – I want to do it again, to visit the city with my friends this time.

And it's the first and probably the last time when we're staying in a hostel. It is quite nice, with a kitchen, so we can cook, with a small breakfast and many young English tourists. But still – I prefer campings, especially in the summer.

Tomorrow – the boring Cluj Napoca sequel. Or maybe it won't be boring to explore the city again, because this time I won't be alone. And it's high time to do a short break from travelling alone.

Rain, sunflowers and my infallible intuition

2010-07-25T12:06:00.000-07:00

or: how I get to Oradea...

I wrote that I was happy that it wasn't rainy or windy or stormy and… suddenly the weather changed. The evening in Timisoara was quite cold and rainy, windy, stormy. But my tent survived! Which means I'm not so bad in pitching a tent:) Actually, nothing really happened to me or the tent, it just got wet and there was no time to let it dry in the morning. Never mind.

When I got to the station I was quite surprised that I don't have to wait 3 hours for the train to Oradea. There was a train in less than hour but I didn't know that as the online schedule didn't inform me about it. I knew how to ask for the ticket in Romanian, but then I didn't understand the numerals (the hour, price). Of course, I know how to pronounce the basic numbers, but the lady was speaking quite quickly and I didn't get anything. So she had to write it all down, as she didn't know English or any other language, which didn't surprise me at all. I think I need to improve my Romanian:) Or better – just start to learn it more efficiently:)

The train to Oradea passed through many small towns and villages, through fields with corn, cereal and sunflowers. Sunflowers! A crazy amount of sunflowers! (Btw- my favourite flowers:) I read somewhere that sunflowers are quite popular among Romanian and especially in rural areas they tend to eat a lot of sunflower seeds. So far I've noticed only one lady eating the seeds – in a small shop on a train station in Timisoara.

After 3 hours I arrived to Oradea. This time I just had to walk about 20 minutes to get to a school that functions as a hostel in summer. Of course, I didn't book anything or didn't e-mail them to make sure the information written in the guide book is still up to date. And it wasn't. I talked to a man I met in the school (again – Romanian only) and he said there's no chance to stay there overnight. It seems the school was being renovated. Whatever. I just kept on walking. I knew there was one more school but it wasn't on the map. So I asked a girl on the street if she knows anything. Well, she just knew I had to cross the bridge and probably go to the right. Fine for me. I walked down an empty street, looking for anyone who could give me some more information. But here was no one. I just followed my intuition and... suddenly I noticed the school. It was exactly on the street I'd been walking down for the last 5 minutes. Good luck and divine providence were with me.

It seems the place is not popular among tourists. The man at the reception was thinking and talking a lot with another man before he told me about the price (10e) and gave me the key. Well, I don't care. I got what I wanted (I dare say: “as always” :)

About the city itself: I must say I'm bit disappointed. Yes, it's nice, yes, it's quite calm and yes, there are many interesting places. But most of them quite neglected – old palaces that need to be renovated, a damaged synagogue, old tenement houses. There are of course many renovated and colourful buildings and fairy-tail-like palaces but somehow they didn't catch my attention. The main square was quite empty (because of the rain), the cafe gardens were waiting for new guests and tourists that disappeared suddenly. The city seemed to be frozen or rather washed away by the rain. I realized, you don't need more than 3 hours to see everything that is worth seeing here. If I had known that it I wouldn't have stayed overnight here, but it was too late. Anyway – where would I go? I was suppose to go to Cluj Napoca on Monday evening to meet Zofia the next day early in the morning. And there was no point to spend more time in Cluj than 2 days an not enough time to visit other places, bit far away from Oradea. So after all, I was quite happy to stay overnight in Oradea. At least I had my own bed. What a luxury:)

Timisoara

2010-07-24T05:15:00.001-07:00

or all the good sides of travelling alone...

I was quite surprised yesterday when I got off the train. It was 9 pm and still bright:) I found the trolley bus quickly but there was no schedule. So I found some Romanian who could speak English, but they knew only which direction is the centre. Ok for me. It's where my camping is, as well. I got on the bus, without the ticket, as all the kiosks where closed already. There was no information on the bus neither. Only a plan of the lines, but without the stop I needed. Well, nice. I asked two girls if they knew anything about the camping or where the bus stop is. First, they where shocked that someone was speaking English with them, then they finally realized they know where the stop is. Ok. I'm safe.
Well, no really. Didn't really know where to go to find the camping. So I went straight on, looking for the right street. After few minutes I got there.

Now the shock because of the prices (yes, it is only 10 leis, but there's 20 leis for a day for a tourist tax. Madness!!!), then the annoying mosquitoes, then pitching a tent (it was first time when I've done it without any help! Maybe it's not perfect, but it is! I hope it won't be rainy or stormy or windy – then my tent may fly away:), then a shower, shower, nice shower with hot water and a small frog, I don't need anything else! Time to get some sleep. It was a long day.

In my dreams I saw my tent flying away because of the strong wind, I saw it soaked up because of the rain, I saw strange Czech (???) neighbours from another tent who tried to do some harm to my tent (!!!) and many other crazy things... But I slept well.
And here's a good side of travelling alone – I have so much space in my tent, just for me! I can be messy, put my things everywhere and no one cares. There are of course more advantages of travelling alone – e.g. I decide! No need to compromise, no need to ask, encourage, argue... I rule! Of course, I'm happy to meet my friend from Poland soon, and I'm happy to meet my Romanian friend, too. All has good and bad sides. Well, there's one thing I don't like about travelling alone – no one can take a good photo of me:) And I would like to talk to someone from time to time, share my experiences and adventures. Maybe that's why I'm writing so much:)

Oh, I was supposed to write about Timisoara. Yes. It's quite nice. I'm sitting in a centre now, using free Internet. It's Piata Victorei. There's a theater, Orthodox church (peaceful inside, many are praying, many just visiting), too many pigeons, a clown selling balloons, people enjoying their free time on the benches, in the cafe gardens, by the fountains. The time goes by slowly. Few steps further there's a next square, Piata Libreti. It's not so colourful any more and there are more local people than tourist (they invaded the city afternoon, and I've been here since the morning). The next square, Piata Unirii, boasts an array of colourful walls of old buildings. There's a Cathedral, opposite you can find a healthy mineral spring with many people filling up their bottles. There are shops with ice creams, cafes, many banks. And it's hot. Too hot for me to explore the city. That's why I spent the hottest hour in the shade, writing my blog:)

I found a market with fresh fruit (bought some), fond a bakery with fresh bread (bought some) and realized that the life in the city remains me of Banja Luka, a city in Bosnia and Hercegovina. Yes, I like it. And yes, it doesn't make much sense to spend here more than 2 days. So I'm leaving tomorrow.

I didn't expect that many people would speak English or German here. I can't say I can speak Romanian, I can't even say I'm trying to learn it, but I know the basic phrases and so the communication on the street or in a shop is quite successful.

Now it's time to explore more. The hottest hours are gone. So I can move on now.

They say no, i say yes

2010-07-24T04:43:00.000-07:00

or how I get to where I want to get...

I'm in Romania! The next dream comes true. But before I got here...

In Budapest I was told there were no more tickets for a train to Timisoara. Hot do you mean no tickets? Everything booked? I don't believe it! (Pity that the man couldn't speak English very well...). So I bought a ticket to Lokoshaza, the last station in Hungary on the way to Romania.

And I got there with an earlier train, thinking what should I do next, if it comes out there are really no tickets to Timisoara. Go to Bukarest? Arad? Wait and get the train on the next day? Get on the train without a ticket and buy it there?

After 3 hours I got out in a small, peaceful station in Lokoshaza. It was extremely hot on the train, the opened window didn't help much. I asked a women in the cash desk about the train. She didn't speak any language I know, I can't speak any language she knows. But I managed to get all the information. And I got the ticket to Timisoara! She didn't even check if there are still free places or not, just took a pen, a piece of paper, filled it in and gave it to me.
After few minutes I was lucky again. There was no information on the station about the approaching trains. I had to watch carefully the passing trains and then ask several times if it's the one to Timisoara. Again – I can't speak Hungarian, they couldn't speak English or German or any language I know, but it was not a problem!
I was on the train. And it was empty!!! Where, oh where are all these booked seats? Where is the full train the man from the cash desk in Budapest was talking about? Where?
Sometimes it's good no to believe everything you're told.

After a while I got to Romania. According to my plan. And here more adventures happened...

(One more thing - all the posts from Romania will be without pictures. I had to take as little with me as possible, so I left all the cables and a card reader at home. Photos will be uploaded later. More less in the middle of August:)

Before

2010-07-22T01:42:00.000-07:00

or some kind of introduction.

It's high time to begin the next journey! The idea came more less a year ago and in February I decided I just have to go to Romania this summer. And I didn't care if I go there alone or not, I just have to be there:)
So the time has come. And I'm going alone. I don't mind, though with a partner I would hitch-hike there rather than go by train. But well, it's not so bad after all.
I'm leaving from Vienna to Budapest. Then the next train will take me to Timisoara. And I'm planing to buy tickets in each country on the train, so to make the journey bit cheaper:)
After few days Zofia and her friend will visit me in Transilvania and after a week, when they're gone, I'm visiting my Romanian friend. And then the next part of the journey begins. This time towards the Danube Delta, passing through many interesting places. And then – probably alone again – I hope to get to Marumaresh or Bukovina.
It's a bit pity that I have only 4 weeks for my journey. To get everywhere I want to, I would need at least 6 weeks. Well, I'll leave a piece of Romania and Moldavia for the next time. And hope it will come soon...
But for now – farewell Vienna, welcome new adventures!

Apetlon

2010-07-19T08:23:00.001-07:00

or about the local tradition and wild nature...

There was a weekend in May when our crazy trio, Zofia, Magda and me, reunited. And when the next journey took place. This time our plans were changing quickly and intensively. First, we wanted to go to the mountains. But the plan failed because there are no trains on weekends to the town we wanted to get to. Then we thought about going to the Lower Austria or to Graz and the nearby caves or to a lake. All in all, we headed to Neusiedler am See and then by bus to a town called Apetlon. We went on foot to the nearby Landscape Park with a lot of small lakes and wild birds. On the way, we had a chance to see a local wedding with a kind of procession, leaded by the married couple. Their guest were walking behind them and at the end few guys kept on throwing firecrackers on the street, which was actually quite dangerous. Some firecrackers almost hit a car or a passing cyclist, and us, of course. That wasn't nice at all.
When we came back to the bus stop, everyone was still celebrating the wedding. This time in a restaurant. There was also a band playing in front of the building, making a kind of show for all the dwellers of the town. And everyone got a plastic cup with young wine mixed with soda water. Two bit drunk men were serving us the drink all the time, but one shot was definitely enough for us. It wasn't really tasty, but the tradition says that you shouldn't say no when joyful people share their happiness with another guest or random passers-by.

But before that happened, we experienced really unforgettable moments by the lake, on a meadow, where in fact, we weren't allowed to be. After a photo session, picnic and another photo session a park guard approached us, saying it's forbidden to be here. Quite disappointed, we started to pack our things, feeling a pressure from the guard who kept on saying we should hurry up. He drove away when we were on a legal path again and promised we wouldn't do that again. But we did. Because I lost my glasses on the meadow. Well, not the first and not the last time... Unfortunately, we didn't find it, so we just went back to the town and took a bus to Neusiedler am See. After some time we went back to the train station and our next adventure was over...

Sopron

2010-07-19T08:13:00.000-07:00

or a joyful photo session, calm streets and surprising contrast...

Finally, the ever lasting rain was over. And finally we had a chance to leave Vienna. Actually - to leave Austria. After one hour on the train we reached Sopron. I heard that many Austrians come here to visit a dentist or a beauty parlour or just to make some shopping. Because it's cheaper here. Although bit more expensive than in some other Hungarian towns.

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I wasn't surprised when I saw German billboards or German advertisements for dentist cabinets or when a lady in a small shop with kitschy clothes spoke German with us. Actually, I expected to see here more tourists or more Austrian shopoholics. Fortunately, it turned out that the town is really calm.

The Sun was shining all the time, the local people were walking slowly through the town, sitting on a bench or in a café gardens. A small group of German and Romanian tourists was visiting the centre and we were trying to discover and enjoy the real atmosphere of Sopron. What we found was actually quite amazing and inspiring, as well. Neglected walls of old buildings, interesting graffiti, renewed colourful tenement houses, courtyards with old, original doors, reliefs hidden in the walls, elephants on the walls and dug out streets. We also met some wedding guests on their way to a church, dressed in a really strange way. Looking at them, I felt as if we had gone back in time about 20 years. Not surprisingly, our cameras were on all the time, capturing the architectonic contrasts, local people, street art and everything that enchanted us in this inconspicuous Hungarian town...

Market Harborough, Desborough & Rothwell

2010-05-16T04:18:00.000-07:00

or about a short journey to the past and the next nice meeting...

I couldn't leave England without visiting my good friends who live in Desborough near Market Harborough. I went took a train form Nottingham to Market and then Monika picked me up from the station and took to her and Michał's house. Actually, last time I saw them 2 years ago, right after they moved to the new house. Now a lot has changed. It was much more colourful and that's because of their little son, born last year in December. I had an opportunity to find out more about how young English mothers spend their time with kids. There are, for example, many various meetings for mothers and their children where you can learn how to communicate with your kid in sign language. Or the next interesting thing, not really popular in Poland - you can borrow books for kids from a local library. And these are not old copies with popular stories but quite new books with hard binding and colourful pictures. Of course, this was not the only thing we were talking about:) After delicious lunch we went by car to a park in Rothwell. Unfortunately, this time it was rainy and cold. But the landscape around was really nice - yellow rape fields with a green stripe above and greyish clouded sky... And groups of cows and sheep, gathered on a pasture. A calm, peaceful area. We walked a bit through the park but my time was over soon, so we went to Market to catch the train.

Driving through the town made me think about the time I spent there about 6 years ago. I stayed in the town 1 month and tried to find a job, but all in all I had just great holidays. The town hasn't changed much - some new shops and restaurants were opened and the rest remained untouched by the time.
Back in Nottingham I met Ivania again and after a short walk in the centre we were quite fed up with rain and cold, so we just got back home. And there the culinary journey continued - we had a home made pizza, salad made of carrots and beetroot, peanut butter with celery, and mango lassi.
Unfortunately, my journey through the tastes of the world finished the very next day. In the same way... Again the same distance, stopovers in the same places and the same means of communication. The whole day on the way and long waiting time between next connections...

Picnic in Nottingham

2010-05-16T04:16:00.000-07:00

... or about nice weather and barbecue.

It seems that English people love barbecue. So no wonder that instant barbecue set is so popular there. We also joined to the BBQ fans and organised a picnic in one of the parks in Nottingham. The weather was finally really nice, I'd even say it was quite hot:) Everyone (three of us + Ivania's family and friend) brought some food and we had a real feast. There was a vegetarian barbecue, as well, and we had also many other delicious products.

More and more people were coming to the park to enjoy the nice weather, mainly family with kids or rebellious teenagers. The time spent with Ivania's family passed really quickly and when it started to rain we moved to the apartment of Ivania's mother. And we had to eat again...

This time Fabio (from Brasil) prepared tasty cheese bread - a meal from his country. After spending some time playing various games wit 12-year-old Jessica and 13-year-old Nuno, we decided to get back home. And there a small karaoke party started. Actually, it was really small, as it was only Ivania and me...:)

Bakewell and Derby

2010-05-09T10:50:00.001-07:00

... or about travelling by bus and good food.

My friend who lives in Nottingham suggested we should go to Bakewell and on the way back to Derby, as well. So, three of us - Ivania, her boyfriend and me - spent about 2,5 hours on a bus and finally reached the town. The weather wasn't fine at all, which doesn't really surprise me in England anymore.
Bakewell is famous for its local tasty pastries and tarts that can be found in every bakery in the town. Of course, we bought the famous tart and then a carrot cake, as well (I've never eaten it before:). Both were delicious and I'm still not sure which one tastes better.

The town seems to be quite calm, although we met some tourists in the centre. There's an old church built by Normans, surrounded by crooked tombstones. It's quite nice inside and when we arrived there, the wedding ceremony had just finished. Quite a strange time of the day, though (Friday, about 3 p.m.). There are also many narrow streets near the church with colourful little houses. And the river. With swans and ducks and an old bridge made of stone. We made a short photo session by the river side, and then also with colourful huts that we found in one of the shops.
Our visit to Bakewell finished in a pub, quite empty at this time of day, but that was not a problem at all.
After a while we headed for Derby. This time the bus was awfully slow and the driver lost his way once somewhere in the narrow uphill streets. Finally, we reached the city and it started to rain. So, our first stop was in a Chinese bar with quite good food. Then we made a short walk to the centre with a waterfall-like fountain and cathedral. I totally forgot it was Friday night, but the weird dressed party-goers reminded me about it immediately. ('Weird' means according to the style: 'well, I don't need a mirror, I don't care if I'm warm or not' :). And soon we were on our way back to Nottingham...

Nottingham and much more..

2010-05-09T10:22:00.000-07:00

... or about visiting my friends in UK.

It really happens rarely that I can use so many languages (5) in such a short journey (5 days). And it also happens rarely that I cover such a small distance (1500 km) in such a long time (10 hours).

Here's the story:

First, journey by train from Vienna to Bratislava, then by bus from the station to the airport, then flight to London Luton and, finally, bus to Nottingham. Plus waiting for the connections... It all took even a bit more than 10 hours, I'm afraid. In every country I used the local language, which seems quite logical:) But I had an opportunity to speak a bit Spanish with my Portuguese friend, as well and then Polish with my Polish friends.
But first things first.
Well, actually I should start with Nottingham but I'm not going to describe the city once more, as I did it after my first visit 2 years ago. Anyway, I didn't have much time and opportunity to visit the city now, because my friends and spending time with them was more important. We visited few other places, though. What keeps on surprising me, is the huge number of Poles in UK and the ubiquity of Polish food in various shops. Oh, and one more thing: pedestrians tend to ignore the red light and somehow I can't understand the strange dressing habits of teenagers and party-goers. They're dressed as if it was at least 30 degrees, when in fact it's bit above 10. Brrr.... I met a lot of party freaks wearing shorts, sleeveless tops, mini skirts and it seems they don't find it necessary to take a jacket or anything more than summer clothes. Whether it's rainy or windy, freezing or not - party-goers are always on a beach.
What also strikes me, is the omnipresence of emo style followers. And they tend to exaggerate to another extreme - even when it's above 20 degrees they are dressed as if it was 10. But well, styles and tastes are not good topics to discuss, so I will just pass it over...
And now a short story about my visit to other English cities... In the following posts, of course:)

Trakai

2010-04-05T11:51:00.000-07:00

... or about an old castle and frozen lake.

Trakai is famous for its castle from the 14th century, situated near the picturesque lake. We went there from Vilnius by train, covering the distance of 30 km quite slowly. After getting off in the Old Trakai station, we kept on walking by the lakeside, and what I saw around was quite unique. Old boats, sunken boats, frozen boats, colourful and wooden boats, abandoned buildings, children walking on the ice and, finally, the solid walls of the castle. Unfortunately, we didn't have much time to visit the castle inside, because we were asked to leave after 6pm, so after about 1,5 hour... However, we managed to see quite many exhibitions - the one with old coins, information about Lithuanian history and politics, the Polish-Lithuanian Union, the Crimean Karaites, and Tataras...

We didn't manage to climb the highest tower, but we really enjoyed the interactive exhibits, e.g. treasure hunt. Actually, we were almost alone there. It seems that this time of year doesn't attract many tourists, although we met a group of Poles who asked to open the gates of the castle, because they had covered 2 500 km to get there...

Our Lithuanian friends told us that summer is the best time to visit Trakai, because you can swim in the lake, rent a boat, restaurants and bars are quite full. Now everything has come to a standstill, frozen, sunk in the cold lake surface, just like the boats on the lakeside... But I prefer it that way.

3 days in Vilnius

2010-04-04T14:03:00.000-07:00

... or about Lithuanian hospitality, travel innovations and colourful places.

It's been ages since I last travelled like that. By car, I mean. And with a group of friends. There are of course pros and cons of this kind of travel, but I feel that I prefer travelling in my own old way. Which means: alone or with a very few friends, and definitely not by car. Of course, it was quite amusing when we were all together, but somehow I didn't have time for lonely photographic walks in the city.
But to the point. We (this time we=2 girls, 3 boys, all from Poland) were exploring the city together with our Lithuanian friends. Well, in fact these were Bartek's friends, but soon we made a Polish-Lithuanian Union, as well:) And so, one of the Lithuanian guys let us stay in his student flat and also invited us to a pub for his birthday party, the other Lithuanian welcomed us with hot lunch (unfortunately with meat), was our guide and told us a lot about Vilnius and the country. He said that many Lithuanians go to Augustów (Polish city, near the boarder) for shopping, and that there are a lot of Poles and Russian living in the capital. Our friends prepared for us also a delicious Lithuanian cold soup. Just perfect! Even better than the one we had in a restaurant the day before.

We had also an opportunity to watch how the Lithuanians enjoy they free time in pubs. Well, it's not the way we do it. It seems they weren't so eager to dance, they preferred to sit and talk and drink and just listen to the music. On the dance floor you could see just a few of them, and many were already after couple of drinks.

As for the city - it's full of contrasts. Nicely renovated monuments, clean houses, colourful façades disappear after few steps and give their way to clumsy buildings, walls with graffiti and grey streets. A kind of mishmash. Peaceful and cosy centre and then (e.g in Užupis): alternative, neglected, greyish areas... But it's charming, as well. Old walls covered with graffiti are very photogenic, indeed, and wandering across the changeable landscape is quite impressive.

Vilnius is also a city of churches. Here and there you can see a Catholic or Orthodox church. There's also a synagogue. Unfortunately, we couldn't visit it, because it was already closed. Near the synagogue there's also a huge Easter Egg on a column, but I really couldn't find out why it stands there.

We've also visited the most popular monuments, e.g. the Gate of Dawn, Castle and the Rasos Cemetery, but the most attractive for me were the tiny narrow streets, full of colours. And the square near the Cathedral, which is the main meeting point in the city. It's a place, where skaters and roller-skaters practice various tricks and where young people spend their free time. Some of them also choose the Barbican for their meeting point and transform it in a kind of night local;) Actually, it's a place with a nice view of the city, worth visiting not only by night.
The University is among my favourites, as well. I need to mention it, as I feel it's full of surprises, e.g. you can find there an old room covered with mysterious frescos or a colourful old church, where we met some students working on their drawings.

Vilnius is not a big metropolis and I even didn't get the impression that I'm in a capital city. It's more like a nice, cosy town It occurred funny to me that about 1/6 of Lithuanian population lives here and time passes here quite slowly and peacefully. There are no trams, no metro, no big crowds, no impression of living in a hurry. And the people here are really friendly and hospitable. I will surely get back to Lithuania and Vilnius, as I feel I haven't explored this region well enough.

14-16.08.09 Time to get back

2010-04-03T14:30:00.000-07:00

....or how we changed our plans again and decided to head for Poland...

The least attractive part of travelling is that you have to get back sooner or later. Too bad. I would really love to keep on hitchhiking till the end of August or September, but there were few things that are calling me to Poland (or from Poland, or to get back to Poland, anyway - something was caaaaaaling!) And MIchał insisted on coming back.

We planned to leave from Zabljak by bus and then keep on hitchhiking to Vysehrad Unfortunately, it turned out that there were no more tickets for the bus at 11am, although the bus wasn't full at all. Well, I didn't really regret it and was happy we would hitchhike now. But then it started to rain and no one wanted to drop us, although we kept on changing our standing points and they weren't bad at all. After few hours we decided to get back to the bus station and took the 2 pm bus. With a heavy heart, we had to resign from visiting Vysehrad... After 1,5 hour there was a first break in the journey and no one told us that we have to change the bus now. Other passangers knew it, but we and a group of Polish students - not. Luckily, I noticed that our luggage was being carried to another bus, so I knew what's going on.

Then we arrived to Uzice and spent there 4 hours. It was quite dark already and we decided not to explore the city so much. What was the most attractive there, was the river going through the city centre. In the distance you could see old skyscrapers, poorely lit. But we spent most of our time on the train station. Michał came up with the idea that it's better not stay overnight in the city, but just get on a night train and go through Serbia for a really small amount of money. The train was late, of course, and there was no information about the delay and we landed up in a compartment with 4 other hitchhikers. A Serbian couple and a Lithuanian girl with Czech guy also decided to go buy train instead of hitchhike in the rain. The Serbs were going back home to Novy Sad, the other couple was heading for the mountains. And we were all coming back from Montenegro.

Finally, we arrived to Subotica, early in the morning, and from now on we planned to hitchhike Unfortunately, we couldn't find any signs with direction to other cities, we asked several people about the the way, but finally we landed up on the wrong road.. Actually, we covered a distance of few kilometers and we still hoped that there would be a sign soon with a name of a Hungarian city. But nothing like that happened. None of the cars wanted to give us a lift and then it turned out that it was a wrong direction. So we got back to the station... And to my dissapointed, we covered the whole way back by trains... All in all, there were 10 of them. And we were lucky enough that we didn't have to wait for the next connection, although we did not know about the next train. Just a lucky freestyle:) We also spent 1 night sleeping in a tent near Hungarian-Slovak boarder, in a town called Szob. Then we hitchhiked to Sturovo and when the next car stopped for us, we were dropped only to the train station. The dirver didn't like the idea of us hitchhiking, so he just stopped by the station and told us to go by train. We were too tired to get back on the road, so we just got in the train to Bratislava, then the next one to Zilina, then Bielsko Biala, Katowice, Poznań.... It was actually quite a quick journey and not so interesting as hitchhiking. Anyway. New adventures will surely come soon:)

09-13.08.2008 The mountains

2009-10-24T11:05:00.001-07:00

or about the most beautiful part of Montenegro..

We reached the highest peak of the country yesterday (12.08.09) !! Bobotov Kuk, 2531 meters above the sea level. It wasn't easy, but not that difficult either. Sometimes the paths changed into rows of stones and rocks and we had to use all our limbs, but we've made it! The view was just amazing, weather fine, few tourists and an optimal dose of adrenalin - there's nothing more we need...
And today we've gone on a next peak, called Curovac, which measures 1625 meters only. A wonderful view on the blue Tara river spread from the top of the peak and the route was really nice and easy. First we had to go along an asphalt road, then through the wood and then up the rocky hill. This time we've met much more climbers, but still it was not a large number, quite bearable. And this also proves the advantage of mountains above the sea...

So, now a short time travel...
From Ulcinj we went to Albania for one day, to a city called Shkadar. And I have to admit that the area reminds me of India a lot. If there were more cows, more rubbish, slight smell of urine, more baggers and more temples, then it would be real India:) but now seriously: there are some very neglected places in the city, at every stop you can come across old damaged buildings, stands wit everything and nothing, some baggers sit on the streets here and there and chaotic heaps of rubbish lay almost everywhere. But there are pleasant places, too. A colourful alley with shops and cafés matching the European standards, beautiful mosques and the ruins of fortress from the 13th century situated on a hill, from which a breathtaking view on the city, river and mountains spreads.
Leaving Albania behind, we went towards the mountains. While we were waiting for a car in heavy rain, somewhere in Mojkovac, a man from a nearby house invited us for a beer and long stories about the mountains. He and his friend claimed it was not a good idea to climb the highest peak (Sasha - our new friend, worked once in a tourist office and said that the route to Bobotov Kuk was very difficult and demanding, he even compared it with alpinism and was convinced it must be dangerous), but that didn't discourage us. When we finally reached Żabljak, we were offered a room, as expensive (or rather cheap) as camps by the seaside. So we decided to stay a few days in a flat of a very nice family, at the end of the town. The first evening there was indeed international. Staying in Montenegro not only did we eat Italian chickpea bought in Albania and prepared on a Serbian cooker, but we also talked in English with French speaking Canadians who lived in Moscow...

And tomorrow we're already leaving the small town, which is full of tourists, but it's enough to leave it just a bit behind and go in the mountains to delight the peaceful atmosphere. So - we're leaving. And it seems we're going slowly back home, to Poland. But first we want to stop over in Visegrad, and then... well, the end... All in all it is like I wanted and we're hitch-hiking again. Well, not the whole route, but at least most of it:) So, surely we'll meet many interesting and helpful people again, getting a small insight into their lives....

Still Ulcjni 09.08.2008

2009-09-18T08:25:00.000-07:00

or how we're resting and thinking about the next destinations...

We've been to Ulcinj since 2 days now. I need to admit that outside the centre the city is not so tiring and noisy. From time to time the Muslim prayers leave the white walls of mosques and spread around the city, poor Albanian families cross the street, beggars ask for money, wonderful smell comes from bakeries and a fruit stalls are attacked by flies and other insects:)We still haven't visited the beach and it seems we won't visit it soon. We'd rather go to the coast near the place we live, in the suburbs. I don't think I want to visit the beach in the centre, it's totally unfriendly.

The prices are bit lower than in other cities on the coast, a lot of Poles come here and everywhere near the main road you can meet people advertising their rooms and apartments. Very often they just hold a small board with "Sobe/Dhoma/ Rooms/Zimmer" written on it or they put a board with the word „Apartaments” e.g. near their motorcycle.. And we landed up in a room of a really nice family. The owner knows only few words in English, but we understand each other very well. I was even a translator for our French friends, living next doors who don't know a word in Serbian. (Well, to be honest, I don't speak Serbian at all - it's just a mix of few Serbian words and Russian:). Yesterday the woman (the owner) treated us with fresh figs from her garden and cooked corn, she showed us an hedgehog hiding behind a flowerpot and wanted to give us some tomatoes from her garden . But we had been to a shop before and bought already some vegetables. Then she kept on talking about her sons, Polish friends and were asking about our further journey. So, the evening passed quite pleasantly and maybe today we'll also have a chance to find out more details about Montenegrin life.

(Oh, when more thing. I've just recalled a story that the Ambassador or Consul - cos' I don't really know who he was - the one who took us to Hercegnovi. So, he said that many years ago few Afroamericans came to Ulcinj and till now their descendants live in the city. But sometimes they get White kinds, sometimes not. . So now, when a girl is dating somebody, the family often warn a man that if his child has a different coulour of skin than their parents, it doesn't mean that the mother was unfaithful....)

Today we want to visit the Old Town, but now we're still looking for another places worth visiting. Because our plans have changed again. Michał doesn't want to hitch-hike anymore, especially to Albania. He claims it's too dangerous. So we need to find a compromise. . Tomorrow we 're going to Shkadar by bus and then coming back to Ulcinj. The we're starting our journey back home, stopping by in the Montenegrin mountains, Bosnia, maybe Hungary or Romania. And Michał also doesn't want to hitch-hike back home, so I'm afraid we'll have to travel the half of the way on a train. And the other half - hitch-hiking. We still don't know if we manage to realize our plan and climb to the highest peak in the country. Michał claims we're not prepared enough to do it, I claim we'll be fine :) For the moment we're just resting in Ulcinj, enjoying our time, variety of fruits, possibility to use the kitchen (it's been ages since we last had such luxury) and we're discovering new eccentricity of the Albanian-Montenegrin area...

Peacful Cetinje and Montenegrin/Albanian Ulcinj 07-08.08.2009

2009-08-31T06:43:00.001-07:00

…or how we finally get some rest and plan the further journey.

We spend in Boreti one more day. This time we’re hitchhiking to the first real Montenegrin city. The old capital of the country. Cetinje. And that’s where we find the hidden charm of Montenegro. Peace, silence, signs of history, almost no tourists, normal, not overrated prices… Yes, that’s what we needed. The old embassies in neglected, abandoned houses, churches (also Orthodox ones), calm cafes.
We’re enjoying the local food, because it’s finally here (I don’t know why, but on the coast the country denies to serve anything but omnipresent pizzas, kebabas, pasta, etc.). And when we’re coming back, we meet the same driver, who took us to Cetinje. This time he’s with his friend. But on the way (the road is narrow, leads through the mountains and there’s a lot of phone numbers to emergency road services written on the rocks) we stuck in a huge traffic jam. The driver calls police and finds out that we’ll have to stay in the jam for more than 30 minutes, because there was an accident, so he turns back and goes to the town to spend the time in a café. And we’re going with him. His friend (only she speaks English, the driver speaks only Serbian and Italian and is not eager to talk although I do understand most of what he says) tells us that there’s plenty of accidents of the road, because Montenegrins usually disrespect the traffic regulations. She also says that Montenegrins don’t like to work and compares them to the lazy Spaniards. One we get to a café, the driver offers us coffee and beers all the time, he drinks 4 alcohol drinks, gives money to his friends’ kids, everyone calls him the “King of Budva”, because he’s a parking chef in Budva, comes from Cetinje and everyone knows him here. And finally after 1,5 hour we get back to the car. And we reach Boreti safely.

Thus the day passes quite lazily and pleasantly. In the evening we meet two crazy hitchhikers – Milena and Adam. They’ve been on the way through Europe since 3 weeks now and also plan to go to Albania. Soon we all go to the beach, which is the most beautiful in this time of the day. Because it’s empty and mysterious, although the water is quite cold. But we do swim anyway.
And the next day we leave our camping and 3 cars give us a lift to Ulcinj. It’s supposed to be as an Albanian town. That’s what our last driver said – a student from Kotor, who works as a supplier, drives around the country almost every day and often takes hitchhikers with him. Most of them are from Poland and from the Eastern Europe. He’s surprised that we don’t need visas to get to Montenegro. Here everyone needs one to an almost every country. The exception is Greece, Turkey and the countries that once built Yugoslavia. But from January these restrictions should be over.
But for now I’m disappointed again. Contrary to all the promises there are many tourists in Ulcinj, it’s also dirty and not really interesting. Although we still haven’t visited the old town. On the way to a camping, which was supposed to be 6 km away, we and a French couple are offered a room for a price of a camping. Which is 5 euro. That’s how we stay on a peaceful outskirts of Ulcinj, in a village, far away from tourists.
And now we’re planning our journey to Albania, because we still don’t know much about this country. Oh, and almost everyone who we meet goes to Albania, especially hitchhikers. The Poles are almost storming this country. Usually - the young ones.
And now I want to say hallo to our travel companions – Dorota, Ania, Mariusz and Marcin, who got lost somewhere on the way And to Milena and Adama, who are probably in Albania now And for Alicja and Piotr, who help hitchhikers a lot and treat them with things they haven’t seen for a long time

Bye bye BiH, hello Montenegro! 01-06.08.2009

2009-08-29T08:13:00.000-07:00

Or how long-awaited Montenegro disappointed me and how I came to like Bosnia and Hercegovina...

We hitchhiked to Mostar from Sarajevo with a very friendly driver. He kept on joking a lot, said that Bosnians have usually no sense of humour, rather a black humour. Then he invited us to a cup of coffee, talked about his job (he’s an “ecological policeman”, there’s no job like that in Poland, but surely there’s in Germany) and various nuances from every day life in his country.
And Mostar is attractive, of course. Unfortunately, it’s already attacked by tourists. The old town – especially the bridge from 16th century, damaged during the previous war, and then rebuilt according to the ancient techniques – it attracts crowds of travelers, especially coaches heading to Medjugorie. We spent only 1 day in the city, admiring the omnipresent contrasts. Outside the old town the charms of the city disappear and a new landscape appears: neglected streets, buildings damaged during the war, beauty interlaced with ugliness. Mostar and other cities in the country remind me of the Indian chaos. But we run away quickly from the place and headed to Montenegro, expecting to see even more unusual things...
Unfortunately, Montenegro is like Croatia ten years ago… Oh, and talking about Croatia: we stayed there for one night in an extremely expensive city of Dubrovnik. I went there about 10 years ago and already then the prices were just crazy. Now the city is under the siege of tourists from around the world. Well, maybe it is beautiful, the white walls look quite good, and the harbour by night is quite amazing, but the mass tourism is definitely not for me. So again we run away after 1 day. Oh, and we met an Italian couple, who was also looking for an accommodation. Finally, we stayed all together in an apartment for 4 people, because there was no camping in the city.

And it turned out that leaving the city is not easy at all. Looking for a good place to stand, we walked up the road about 3 kilometers. Finally, a man with a son took us to the nearest town and left us near a shop. Then, we went few kilometers with a Croatian, a road-worker. The next driver gave us a lift to a place near an airport and then a car of diplomatic corps stopped for us. Thus we reached Montenegro with a Slovakian, who works in embassy in Podgorica.
Finally, we arrived to Hercegnovi, or to be precise – to Igalo, because that’s where a camping is. And here we were quite shocked. Crowds of tourists. Camping – a poor image of Poland from 1970s with huge tents, camp kitchens etc. Outside the camping – commercialism at every step, a lot of Montenegrians, few foreigners. But all in all – it was just too much. And camping was quite shoddy, in fact we had to share it with… chickens  We met there also four nice Poles (Ania, Dorota, Mariusz, Marcin), who then went with us to the next camping in Lepetane. But before it happened, we managed to visit the old town of Hercegnovi, full of narrow streets and old churches. We went to Kemenari, and then to the camping in Lepetane by ferry (which was free for pedestrians). This time the conditions were much better. Instead of a shower without light and hot water we had a coeducational bathroom with two showers without curtains or doors. But it doesn’t really matter.

What matters is that there was water. Hot water And under these circumstances we experienced the first rain and first storm in the Balkans. Even our drivers claimed they’re surprised that it rains.

We also visited Kotor – a students’ town, where a carnival is celebrated in summer and winter. The old town is charming indeed, but the crowds of tourists really discourage. (yes, I know, I said that already). We went to few cafes, walked past nice narrow streets, went to the places where there are no tourists, but a bunch of cats and nice nooks and crannies appear…
And soon we hitchhiked to the next town, Boreti. With a friendly driver (well, who was not friendly? the fact that they stop makes them already friendly…), who claimed that a family business is the best business. He used to be a sailor, he came to Poland, where a lot of girls asked him to help them get out of the country. And it was over 20 years ago. He also complained that foreigners and people from the previous Yugoslavia make a huge mess in Montenegro, that Budva – a city close to our camping – is world-famous (Madonna and Rolling Stones had a concert there, this year Tina Turner is supposed to come) but it’s very crowded. There are no parking loots, beaches are overcrowded, and there are just too many people during the high season. Soon, when we went on an evening walk to Budva, we experienced that as well. I couldn’t even take a photo, because everywhere huge groups of people appeared (I think it’s the best to go to a beach in the evening and explore a city in the morning… ). I couldn’t appreciate the beauty of the narrow streets and the old town neither, because it was impossible to walk and look around and see anything… We went quickly through the streets with tacky stalls, funfairs, circus and other commercial “money-exploiters’ and soon we arrived to our peaceful camping…

Oh, and we also hitchhiked to a town called Sveti Stefan. Admired in all the tourists guides because of the island, which hosts a castle. But it was closed. Well, maybe it is charming, but not as attractive as I though it might be. Then we cooled down in the sea and decided to go through Montenegro as quickly as possible and visit Albania and then Bosnia again. But before it happened we also hitchhiked to a town called Perast. It boasts the staggering number of 600 dwellers and is quite interesting. It spreads along one main street, near the harbour. Perast attracts may tourists, though these are not wild crowds anymore. We crossed the calm streets of the town, admired the landscape with the sea and wonderful mountains and then we hitchhiked to the next place…

from Banja Luka to Sarajevo

2009-07-31T05:04:00.000-07:00

We`re really lucky. And we`re in Sarajevo now:)
But first things first.
So, Banja Luka doesn`t offer many tourist attractions, but it`s a nice city anyway. It boasts the ruins of the castle (now there`s a restaurant and playground), huge market place, damaged mosque, colorful orthodox church and a dirty river. Oh, and some parks, many cafes ans other places where the time slows down. It was quite interesting to watch how people spend their free time, we met e.g. a group of drum players who went through the city, dancing and playing nice music and attracting a huge audience.
After 2 days we hitchhiked to Sarajevo, which wasn`t as easy as we thought it might be. We were waiting quite long for a car, because there was no proper place to stand on the road. Finally, we were lucky enough and a mercedes driver took as straight to Sarajevo. More than 200 km. He was really nice to us - talked about his family, his club in Banja Luka, villages that we went through, the nobel prize winner from Travnik and how complicated his country is. He had to take part in the war, now he believes that media show Serbs as bad people, although it is not truth. He called mosques the factories of pencils, invited us to a cup of coffe and gave us a very detailed map of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Although his English wasn`t good at all, we understood each other quite well. Well, mainly because our languages are quite similar.

We found a very nice camping in Sarajevo, 10 minutes away from the centre, on a hill, where all the streets and houses look almost the same.
And I really fell in love with the old town of Sarajevo - with its narrow streets, stands with carpets, cooper tools, clothes, souvenirs, peacfeull cafes and restaurant, mosques and fountains with drinkable water. It`s a city of temples, of various religions, it differs much from Banja Luka, mainly because it`a a muslim part of the country. But outside the old town it`s not so charming anymore. Old buildings with signs of bullets from the war, few damaged cars, poor districts... But I like it anyway. And I will miss it.

Tomorrow we`re heading to Mostar and then to Montengero. I hope we won`t wait long for a car to take us...

Bosnia!!

2009-07-28T04:52:00.000-07:00

5 days, 35 cars, about 1500 km... Yeah!! I've hitchhiked to Bosnia!!! To Banja Luka.
And I must say I love hitchhiking:)Because of its ups and downs:) I've met many nice and helpful people, experienced many happy and difficult situations, never planned anything, everything was quite spontaneous and all in all it was just great!
I will describe all the details of our trip when I get back home, once I have enough time to do that, because there's so much to say:) Now I just wanna spread my joy and say that I've reached my destination:) Although it's not the end yet. Now it's time to visit Bosnia (Sarajevo, Mostar, some villages) and then I'm going to Montenegro. And I just want to say thank you!! To all the people who helped us on the way, who saved us in hopeless situations, who smiled to us, gave us hope, and talked about various things.

And one more thing. Once we've arrived to Bosnia, I feel I'm losing soemthing:) The way ist the aim, not the final destination. But soon we'll be on the way to Montenegro:)
Oh, and one more thing. Bosnia rules!!!We've never waited here for a car longer than 3 minutes:)
Ok, my time is up.
I'll describe more next time. Now I'm discovering Banja Luka, with its poor and splendorous sites, with friendly people and hot temperature.

Before the journey

2009-07-20T05:45:00.000-07:00

And so it's happening! It's the first time when we (Michał and me) haven't changed our plan for the journey. The idea appeared in February, then it underwent further development and improvement, had its ups and downs but survived till holiday. It was only enriched in more countries. But to the point.
Michał's initial plan was: Montenegro!
I said: why not!
So we started to read about this beautiful country and prepared to the journey.
Then another idea appeared. We wanted to see Bosnia & Hercegovina, maybe also Croatia, Serbia and Albania. Finally our plan looks like that: we're setting off tonight. By train. To Michał's cottage house. We're going to relish the fresh fruit from the garden and relax before the intensive journey, surely full of surprises.
On Wednesday we're going - aha! I haven't mentioned the most important part, how we're getting there - so we're hitch-hiking in the direction of Bosnia & Hercegovina. (now a small remark: reactions to our hitch-hiking idea varied from: "cool! you must be brave" to: "no one's hitch-hiking nowadays anymore", "be careful”, "it must be dangerous" , "can't you go by train?”. We can. But everyone can go by train. Hitch-hiking is not for everyone. And we want to check how our far hitch-hiking journey will work out. Because till now I've only hitch-hiked over short distances. And yes, we'll be careful). And will see what happens. We'll see where we'll stop overnight (camping? private accommodation? in a wood?) we'll see where we get etc. In B&H we want to visit Mostar and some other cities and villages. Then we're going to Montenegro. And we plan to stay there quite a long time and visit many places. And after that we're going to Albania to see Shkoder. Maybe we'll manage to go to Tirana, as well, but I'm not sure if we have enough time for that. Because we're going to travel for about 5 weeks only.
And what's awaiting us? A 40-degree-heat, snow in the mountains, charming nooks and crannies of B&H, Albania and Montenegro that still haven't suffered from mass tourism, a lot of surprises and (I hope) nice meetings. And if we manage, we'll also go to Croatia and Serbia. Oh, and something more- we really want to experience the local colours of the countries, taste local specialities, spend a lot of time in cafe - or whatever they have there - and just relish the foreign culture.

Of course I'm going to keep my blog up to date and inform about our progress - if I find a net café. So it's time to get to work! It's time to do the worst part of each journey: packing...

And then - bye bye Poznań, bye bye Poland, welcome to the world of adventures!

Salzburg (22.11.08)

2009-07-15T12:31:00.000-07:00

A cosy Mozart's town welcomed us with rain and said goodbye with snow.

We've just come back. Spent two days in Salzburg, but it was long enough to feel the unique atmosphere of the city...

First of all - Mozart. The city was totally full of him. And no wonder - the place attracts crowds of tourists mainly because of him. Walking down the main streets you can hear English very often, but many tourists from Asia come here as well. And Mozart... He was born here, lived here for a couple of years, played many concerts. You can visit his birthplace and a house where he lived. There's also Mozartplaz (Mozart square) with his statue, original Mozartkugel (Mozart balls – delicious sweets ) and the less original ones but most popular, omnipresent balls. Popular are also concerts of Mozart's music, played e.g. in the Hohensalzburg Castle and Residence.

The most sights are situated on the left bank of the Salzach river – the Old Town, City Hall, Cathedral, Mozart Square, Mozart's Birthplace, Franciscan Church, Monastery of St. Peter. Residence... Yes, we've been there. And not only there. Because the right bank of the river is also attractive: with Mirabell Castle surrounded by wonderful gardens, and with charming hills over the city. One of the hills is dominated by the Hohensalzburg Castle, the other - by the Capuchins Order and the next one is just a viewing terrace...

Salzburg was presenting its best parts very slowly. The narrow streets of the Old Town were dressed in yellow lights - stars and chains. A Christmas Market with a large Christmas Tree in the middle appeared near the Cathedral. There were also thousands of lights, stands with nice smelling punches, mulled wine, sausages, Christmas decorations, toys, clothes, pretzels...

Unfortunately, the first day was quite rainy, so the admiration of the city finished after few hours. We came back to our hostel (called Yoho) completely soaked. And talking about the hostel - it surprised us very positively. Although it was the cheapest one, it offered auch facilities as for example doors and locks locked wit a special card, tidy and attractive rooms, nice bathrooms (better as in our dormitory), bar, restaurant, Internet, TV-room, resting room... Most of the guests were from English speaking countries, having fun till the early morning hours and making a lot of noise...

By the time we got dry again, it was dark already. But the rain was over, so ... we went to Kapuzinerberg. It's a hill with the Capuchin Order. Probably it's totally crowded during a day, but the evening was the kingdom of calm and silent. And from the hill we saw a marvellous view on a illuminated city...

But the real charm of Salzburg appeared the day after. When the first snow fell! (Well, in fact that day almost the whole country experienced the first snowfall). The white fluff covered the hills and buildings, Christmas decoration gained on beauty and even the market looked much better. We visited the Hohensalzburg Castle and admired the view on the city from its top. Similar view presented the next hill – Monchsberg. We also popped into the Residence to see the magnificent rooms of Archbishops. We could also taste the local specialities - large pretzels and various punches. (My favourite taste is the baked apple with cream and cinnamon. The Vienna Market lacks it.)
Of course we visited also almost all the churches near the centre, because each is unique, historic, surprising...

In fact you could walk down the Salzburg streets without the end, especially in the nice Christmas & Winter atmosphere. Even Getreidegasse - extremely crowded street and full of shops - looked quite attractive. One day is definitely not enough, but in two days you're more than likely to delight the unique atmosphere of this popular city...

Leopoldsberg and Klosterneuburg (16.11.08)

2009-07-12T11:00:00.000-07:00

The autumn is almost over, so it’s high time to make use of the nice weather and stroll a little bit around Vienna.

That’s why we went today in direction of Kahlenberg. The view – much more foggy than last time. But it was not our final destination. From the hill we walked through Wiener Wald to another huge hill, called Leopoldsberg. It’s as much as 425 m high and a wonderful view on the city spreads from its top. There’s also a small church devoted to Saint Leopold. The name of the hill comes from its saint patron.

Then we continued our stroll through the wood and winery till we got to a town Klosterneuburg, about 13 km form Vienna. It boasts an Augustinian monastery, built in 12th century. Later it was rebuilt in a baroque style. The small hill possesses plenty buildings, including a church, chapel with the tomb of St. Leopold and a museum. The ceiling of the chapel is decorated with frescos presenting the miracles of St. Leopold, the church is richly decorated, also with gold, and we didn’t manage to visit the museum.

There were crowds of people today near the monastery, because the day of St. Leopold, patron of Vienna was celebrated. That’s why there was also many stands and a fun fair near the monastery.

A huge pilgrimage came to the church – altar boys and girls and other people. The long procession of boys and girls dressed in albs lasted many minutes. The wind was blowing the white dresses, yellow walls of monastery were proudly soaking the sun rays, sounds of bells were spreading through the whole region…

Our walk finished in a small inn. Everyone (4 people)grabbed huge pieces of meat and I could chose only one vegetarian dish… Well, better this than nothing. At least out tradition of Austrian lunch/dinner was sustained.

Still Jaipur (01.03.08)

2009-07-12T10:14:00.001-07:00

Jantar Mantar. We’ve been looking for it for a couple of minutes. It shouldn’t be far away from Hawa Mahal, according to the map. We’re asking a guide of Canadian trip to show us the way. Ok. Everything is clear. Now we’re passing few vendors and reaching Tripolia Gate. In this part of city is much calmer as in the centre. Well, instead of Jantar Mantar we’ve reached first City Palace Complex. 100 rupees. We’re watching it only from the outside: yellow walls, mosaics, a small cannon next to the main door. A lot of white tourists. We’re resting in the shade, near the entrance and the guard is keeping an eye on us all the time.
Finally, Jantar Mantar. We’re on the way. The Indian Kingdom of astronomy. The biggest and the best preserved among the other 4 Jantars. Wow. Strange buildings, yellow, pink, brown. A lot of information boards. First, we’re going by some yellow round „buildings” – Ram Yantra, which is used to calculate the azimuth. Then we’re noticing zodiac signs in form of triangle constructions, a sundial, measuring the time exact to 2 seconds, complicated tools to calculate the time of solar eclipse and the movements of planets. Stone, marble, the play of colours, crowds of people.
We’re hiding from the sun in the shade, on the grass, near the sundial. Yeah, it is amazing. So it seems that Jaipur can show its nicer face…
I’m wondering if its true, I mean the thing with the sunset. The pink city looks then extremely attractive. Well, let’s check it! We’re going to the main gate of the old city, sitting on a wall near a building opposite of the gate and watching, and waiting. And nothing happens. The sun sets and the colours are still more less the same. Where are all these tones of pink praised in a guidebook?! Or maybe we’ve chosen the wrong place? And we were supposed to see elephants and monkeys… Well, I’ve seen some monkeys but not as much to agree that Jaipur is the city of monkeys. And I still haven’t seen any elephant here.
!!! And here it comes! The elephant! Treading proudly down the main street, carrying 2 Indians on its back. They’re happy that we’re taking photos of them.
Maybe we really haven’t reached the most attractive, over-monkeyed, and over-elephanted and over-pinked parts of the city. Maybe. But anyway we spared a lot of time to let the city show us its overrated image.
We have a train after 10 p.m.. Finally we’ll get some rest and sleep. But at night there’s a real snoring concert. Each of the surrounding Indians is snoring in a different way, making various sounds. A huge dirty sleeping room, rushing through sleepy Rajasthan.

Christmas trees (11.01.09)

2009-07-12T09:21:00.002-07:00

The Austrians are getting rid of their Christmas trees. Very often you can see them carrying a green still not withered tree and leaving them in a refuse damp. And the trees have a special place here. They're sorted as the other types of rubbish. So, a tree doesn't go straight to a bin, but is left near to the colourful containers for glass, plastic etc. But I still don't know what happens with them later. Are they taken with a special car to some special place or they're just laying all together till someone take them as fuel, for example... No idea. Anyway - there's less and less Christmas trees in Austrian houses.

Christmas trees (11.01.09)

2009-07-12T09:21:00.001-07:00

Museum of Art History (11.01.09)

2009-07-12T05:48:00.000-07:00

We visited the other large museum today, the twin of Museum of Natural History. It's almost identical to its twin. The only difference is that it boasts another exhibits and another decoration.
And so again we spent inside about 3 hours, because it was impossible to stay there longer Although it would be useful to spare much more time on careful examination of each exhibit. Because there's a lot to examine. First, the rooms with mummies, statues, sarcophagus - Egypt in a nutshell. Then sculptures from ancient Greece and Roma. (Well, after visiting three different museums with exhibits from Egypt - in London, Berlin and Vienna - I feel that you can visit Egypt without leaving Europe I wonder if that what the founders of museums wanted to achieve or it's all because there's so many precious things in Egypt and they get rid of them so easily and sell to excited collectors...)

The ancient time is over on the ground floor and then on the next floor, the world of paintings begin. From the ancient times to 18th century. There's so many rooms that you just can't see the end of this huge labyrinth. But somehow I've managed to get through the meanders of art and viewed each painting. The most works were the ones of Rubens and Brueghel. Actually, there are most popular Brueghel's paintings, such as: "Tower of Babel", „Children's games”, „The hunters in the snow”, and many many others. I even met two painters that were copying the works of the master. They were standing with their easels in front of the works and painting... just like that. . And many people gathered around to watch them, comment, take a photo...
The last floor is a home of various coins, ranging from ancient times to 21st century The largest coin was devoted to Queen Elisabeth and was made of pure gold, worth about 1 million Euro. As long as I remember - there are only 4 such coins in the world.
And now few words about the decoration...Wow!

More? No problem: in each room there was a different ceiling with floral motives, sometiomes amazing sculptures were looking from behind a corner... And the main hall is just a master piece. Anyway, it's similar to the one in the Museum of Natural History - round ceiling, richly decorated steps, above - a painting, then richly decorated balconies, full of them various sculptures, marble, gold... Or something else that shines so nicely. Well, there's no point to talk about it, you just have to see it. At least on the photographs:)

Museum of Natural History (10.01.09)

2009-07-10T12:03:00.000-07:00

It’s situated opposite the Museum of Art History. Both buildings were grounded in the Habsburg’s days, of course and both of them look amazing. You just don’t know what to admire – the abundance of exhibits or the splandourously decorated rooms.
We were visiting Naturhistorisches Museum (the original name) for about 3 hours, but it still wasn’t enough because the museum counts 39 large rooms, full of showcases. It’s just impossible to stay there longer, so not all the tiny stones, plants and animals were given the same amount of time. There are also rooms of minerals, meteorites, reconstruction of famous caves, prehistoric art, fossils, micro world under the microscopes, stuffed animals (which made me shiver) e.g. birds, fish, dinosaurs’ skeletons, tomb of prehistoric people… It’s about 20 million items…

But even without them the building is extremely attractive – the main hall boasts a huge painting on the ceiling, another paintings are on the walls, there’s also a lot of sculptures of famous people (e.g. Newton, Humboldt). The rooms are also magnificent – with abundance of sculptures, paintings, various decorations.
The most interesting seemed to me the model of earth seen from a satellite. It was revolving around presenting various views – the globe by night, in the day time, with ozone layer, snow cover, sea currents. Another fascinating item was a ‘time machine’ – with a turn of a wheel you could see the shape of the continents in the past and in the future. Oh, and the underwater rooms were quite attractive, as well. I also spent a lot of time in a room with microscopes, watching various tiny creatures, but don’t ask me about their names – neither German nor Latin captions were helpful here.

The museum possesses a separate room devoted to Venus of prehistoric people. There was e.g. Venus from Willendorf, which is already 25 000 years old and the reconstructions of excavations of various Venuses, presenting e.g. a position in which they were found.

Zlate Hory (23.08.08)

2009-04-29T08:26:00.001-07:00

It's a very little town... First, the groove. Or to be precise: its reconstruction. A very picturesque area. Wooden mills on a hill, bridge, stream. It all resembles the Heroes:) Or a similar game:)

Gold was mined here till 18th century, now a lot of tools and machines have been rebuilt, to present how the precious resources were extracted. You can also become a gold-digger, rinsing water from a small container. And each year gold-digging competition are organised here. In 2010 the town will host the World Championship.

The main street of the town is decorated with colourful tenement houses, live revolves slowly around the place, in cafes and little restaurants. There are quite many tourists here, especially cyclists and climbers. No wonder. The area is sourrounded by wonderful cycling routes and trails.

Pomezi caves and Petrikov (23.08.08)

2009-04-21T11:40:00.000-07:00

The Leaning Tower of Pisa, Hindu temple, Roman thermes, Hercules' Club... to see all of this, it's enough to travel to one place only. To a cave in Lipove. A 50-minute-tour surprises step by step with bizarre shapes. Except the mentioned forms, there are also the Fakir Bed, Waterfall Made of Whipped Cream, Small Dog, Rococo Lady, Map of Jesenik with the Praded Mountain, Elephant's Ear, Curtain... There's also a small pond, where tourists throw coins. And a big human heart, which allegedly fulfils our dreams...

The guide said she speaks Polish, but in fact she was speaking a charming mix of the Czech and Polish language.

After the journey deep into the ground it was high time to travel towards the sky. With one word: Petrikov. There' a bobsleigh track in Zlote Hory, which is 800 meters long. First, a lift takes us up, then... plenty of turns through the wood at a high speed. It makes you keep coming back over and over again. So, it's better to buy a combined ticket for 5 drives.

Jesenik (20.08.08)

2009-04-15T04:19:00.000-07:00

About a sanatorium, calm town and the Adrenalin Park.

In fact, live revolves here around the sanatorium, which lies on a hill. There are the only shops open till late, and only there is something that might be called a crowd. It seems as if Jesenik was focused on tourism only. Hundreds of guesthouses and hotels stretch along the town. But it doesn’t strike me at all. There are magnificent mountains around the town, decent bicycles paths, charming landscape and health resorts, of course. The most popular one is called Sanatorium Priessnitz and was grounded in 19th century. It boasts a huge number of water healing procedures, some of them seem quite strange to me.

All in all, the place is worth visiting, even for a walk through picturesque little streets around the Sanatorium.

The centre of the town, however, is pretty calm. But it doesn’t lack attractive places. The town hall, church, old destroyed trains and… This is it.
The centre is a little more vibrant in the evening, when young party fans spring up.

And when you get bored with the sanatorium, mountains and cycling there’s still something extraordinary in the vicinity. The Adrenalin Park. The way to the Park is not marked well enough, so getting there might be a problem. But it’s worth visiting. Once you get to the place called Czeska Ves and find Ranco Orel (the Eagle Ranch) you’ll be able to increase your adrenalin level and have fun at the same time. There’s bungee jumping, line-sliding, paintball, quads race, and a small Wild West…

Karlova Studanka (20.08.08)

2009-04-11T00:23:00.001-07:00

Few words about the charming place.

It’s quite small and lies quite high above the sea level. It heals and attracts tourists. Boasts a great number of sanatoriums. It’s old, captivating and there’s a pump-room in the center. So I decide to try it. Well, the water stinks and doesn’t taste good , but it’s said to have healing properties. So I fill the whole bottle with it, although I’m afraid I won’t be able to drink it all.

The houses here are decorated with red flowers and the buildings present a variety of colours, shapes, materials... Nice.
And there’s a magnificent trail close to the town, but I’ve already described it in a previous post:)

City hall (10.01.09)

2009-04-08T05:53:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we finally visited the Vienna city hall.
There’s a free guided tour at 1 a.m. so we used this opportunity. Actually, I have already been to the city hall, because a reception for foreign students was organized there. But then I only managed to see the ball room and the corridor. What we saw now was even more outstanding…
First the conference room. Quite a small one but richly decorated. There’s a huge chandelier hanging on the ceiling, which weighs several hundred kilos, the walls are decorated with large paintings and windows covered with colourful stained glass.
The next stop was the large banquet room with emblems of all the Austrian Lands on the walls. When we came in, it was being decorated with flowers. And then we went to this part of the building that I already know from the previous visit. Columned hall, stairs with red carpet and finally the ball room. Again we could see people at work, preparing the room for the ball of sport journalists that was to take place in the evening. So the room was really impressive again.
The last room we visited was quite small, with old green fireplace and the paintings of all the previous mayors.

In fact the tour finished quite quickly and maybe the guide did talk about some interesting facts but I was so engrossed in taking photos that I didn’t really listen to her. Well, sometimes it was impossible, because she was speaking too quietly. Doesn’t really matter. Maybe I’ll go there once more and write something more exciting. Oh, and one more thing – the tower is closed for tourists, because it’s too narrow inside. The costs of building it were extremely high, but I don’t remember now how much it was. In fact, the whole building was very expensive - in 14th century the government spent 14 millions Guldens.

One play after another (15.12.08)

2009-03-13T04:16:00.000-07:00

Vienna is a very musical, cultural and opera-full city, so one needs to take advanatge of it as often as possible.
We visit theatres and opera houses quite often and we dont't spend much money on that. Our secret? Well, the cheapest standing places cost even 1,5 euro.
We've been to the National Opera-House (Staatsoper) several times, in Volksoper – once only. Yesterday we went to Raimund Theater to watch a musical “Rebecca”, today we went to Burgtheater to see “Romeo and Juliet”, and on Friday we could finally see “The Magic Flute”. Wa also wanted to go to Volksoper on Saturday, but there were no tickets left.
So now I'll shortly describe the last three plays:
WOW!
One word, so many emotions and meanings.
But now a little bit more precisely.
“The Magic Flute” was unfortunately played in German, which made it difficult to understand the plot fully. Thankfully, there are subtitles on a screen next to your seat, so I could read a little bit. But stil – it's better not to be destracted and watch the scene simply, because it was full of magic colours. Not only the music played a major role, but also the text, which contained many humorous remarks. The costumes can be only described as splendid and the plot as unexpected and riveting.
One of the protagonists – the Queen of the Night – was singing with a very high voice and I have never thought that one can sing so high...

„Rebecca” was also in German, but this time I understood almost everything. Because it's easier to follow a musical than a opera. Here the msot interesting thing were the special effects – burning scene that moved around or went down, so new platforms with props could appear (e.g. a bad with table). The scene was quite dynamic, the plot gripping, the decoration was a masterpiece – there was even a huge screen that presented a background to various scenes, e.g. underwater scene, fire, railway station. Well, it's impossible to describe it all, you simply have to see it. But it may be problematic, as the musical is played till the end of December only...

Oh, and I forgot to mention that also the actors were totally great. The featuring song is still in my head and I can't get out of it. The audience reacted enthusiasticly, there were even standing ovations:)

It seems that even so widely known play as “Romeo and Juliet” can surprise, amuse and amaze... All that happened in Burgtheater today was really beyond my expectations. I'll start with the decorations: fantastic. There was a real rain, waterfall with stones, moving scene, castles, a lot of blood, funny costumes of the main protagonists. It was humorous as well. Yes, h-u-m-o-r-o-u-s. And even - nudity. Romeo and Juliet suddenly appeared without clothes, although in darkness, but it was quite brave anyway. People covered with blood also came nakes on the scene at the end of the play. There was a strange woman floating around the scene all the time – as if she was a chore, death and narrator at the same time. Scream, tears and perfectly played madness was there as well, And at the end of the play the strange woman got the white huge wings, on which another scene was screened: Romeo and Juliet in 21th century. As always – it's difficult to describe it, you have to see it. It's a pity, that tha audience didn't react enthusiastically enough. The actors deserve much more, more applause, more ovation. But anyway. We're already planning to visit another theaters and we're going to a cinema tomorrow:)

Crowds everywhere (14.12.08)

2009-03-10T05:04:00.000-07:00

Christmas is coming... Which means: there are many people everywhere. Everywhere = shops, streets, the city centre.
In Mariahilferstrasse (the main shopping street in Vienna) people took over the place of cars, as it seems the pavements are not enough for them. Thankfully, the street is closed to the traffic on all the Saturdays in December. Shopping turned into a nightmare: it's almost impossible to enter the small ones, the queues are extremely long, suddenly everyone's realised that it's time to buy some presents. Or stock some food etc. for Christmas.
Thankfully, only some days are that awful and the worse are the Saturdays.
Coming back to the crowds: less christmasy, but equally crowded was our Studenthouse last Friday. There was the biggest party of the year. The whole building turned into a disco, with different music on each floor (rock, house, the 70, 80, reggae, latino, techno...), dining rooms changed into dancing floors, kitchens into a bar and most people stayed in the corridors and staircases. On the most crowded floors (e.g. the 8th with rock music) you had to use your elbows and be a little aggressive to get through the corridor. Great number of students was constantly changing direction, moving between the floors, kitchens and dining rooms became soon very smoky and hot glasshouses, beer cans were lying about the floors. About one o'clock the music went suddenly silent. The police came, which didn't surprise me at all, because that happens quite often recently. But the most resistant ones had a (silent) party till 6 a.m. anyway. Well, why not...
And after the party... It's no use talking about it. I have never seen such a big mess before. Black sticky floors, beer cans everywhere, black kitchen... Rubbish near the entrance, in the lifts, in the porter's lodge... Yeah, students are able to do everything. Thankfully, no one waited till Monday, when the cleaners come and the big cleaning action begun in the morning. After few hours our floor was quite shiny again.

Globenmuseum (12.12.08)

2009-03-10T04:36:00.000-07:00

The Museum of Globes is yet another strange and interesting collection. It is the part of the National Library (Nationalbiliothek) and presents various globes and many multimedia exhibitions.
How the globe looks like – everyone knows... Well, not really. It turns out that the production of globes is quite a complicated process, there are various kinds of globes and their models have been changed throughout the years.
The oldest items are dated back to 15th century and the most interesting ones present the globes of a starlit sky, globes of the Moon, Venus, Mars and Jupiter, pocket globes, umbrella-like globes, extremely old globes...
There are also some huge artistic globes, the ones presenting various illustration rather than the exact model of the Earth, there are also small metal models with a ball, mirror and a candle that present how the Earth revolves around the Sun, and there's also a similar model illustrating the movement of planets in our Solar System.
All these attractions are jammed in three rooms only, accompanied by plenty depictions, descriptions, posters. The screen in the first room presents how the globe turns into a map and a map into a globe. And opposite there are 3 screens informing about the production, history and the types of globes.

The Clock Museum 12.12.08

2009-03-07T08:41:00.001-08:00

There's plenty of small, strange museums in Vienna. One of them is the Clock Museum, which is situated near the centre in one of the oldest buildings in the city.

It boasts a collection of 21 thousand various clocks and watches presented chronologically. So, in the first floor there are items from 15th to 17th century. The oldest clocks are dated back to the end of the 15th century and were originally tower clocks. The second floor presents items form 18th and 19th century, and the third floor shows the most recent ones.
The clocks appear in various forms – standing, hanging, hidden in a painting (e.g. as a real clock on a painted church tower), pocket watches, wrist watches, sundials, artistic clocks, astronomic clocks (they show weekdays, times of year, months, the length of a day, moon phase, zodiac signs...). Some items were decorated with gold, precious wood, surprising paintings and strange elements and most of them didn't work at all. But when 12 struck, all the old standing masters started to boast and shout out at the top of their voice...
And the best thing was that the museum was almost completely empty. There might have been about six people only. And it seems it's always like that – silent and calm. You can hear the time passing by, making its soft steps, treading softly on a colourful and surprising ground...

Poznań

2009-02-13T07:43:00.000-08:00

The most difficult task is to describe and photograph the place you live in. That's why I present Poznań just now. Well, I'll become silent, let the pictures tell their story...

The Market Square:

Around the Market:

Os.Przyjaźni:

More pics in the album "Poznań".

Donauturm (11.12.08)

2009-02-13T07:39:00.000-08:00

On Sunday I went to Donauturm again. It’s a 200-meter-high tower with a viewing point.
There’s a restaurant and several viewing terraces on the top. This time I wanted to watch the sunset, actually, the last phase. The proper sunset begun on the way to Donauturm: the sky became purple, orange and pink rays reflected in the high buildings made of glass... A colourful show in the deserted area.

From the top we saw the city falling into a sleep. More and more dots on the dark map of Vienna became illuminated. The pink aura was hidding behind the horizon. And just a few people saw this magnificent silent performance.

Ernst Happel’s Stadium (11.12.08)

2009-02-13T07:29:00.001-08:00

That’s were the Polish team played football games with Austria during the Euro 2008.

I thought visitors were allowed inside. Unfortunately, I was wrong. It seems no one has come up with the idea of letting tourists look around the place. Well, never mind. I looked at it through the tiny gates and walked around it. One day I’ll go there as a football fun.

And one more thing – there’s a board devoted to Ernst Happel by the main entrance and all the posts are decorated with the names of countries that played at Euro. Poland is quite close to the entrance, so it’s easy to notice it.
I must admit that the stadium is very easily accessible. Metro leads almost to the main gate. “Almost” means about 200 meters...

Interesting things (10.12.08)

2009-02-13T07:17:00.000-08:00

Days pass very quickly and merge with one another. I even don’t remember when, but I did it: discovered new attractive places.

Stubentor
It’s a metro station, built by the old gate of the city, which was called Stubentor. The gate was a part of the city walls, constructed in 12th century. Now it’s one of the walls by the entry to metro station.

The museum of trams
Unfortunately, it’s only opened from May to October, so our Sunday trip was in vain. But the museum seems quite interesting from the outside.

Markets
And we discovered some new Christmas Markets. One on Spittelberg (very cosy, stretches along a narrow cobbled street), the other one next to the Belvedere (nicely illuminated) and a small one on the square am Hoff. It’s not as impressing as the market by the Rathaus, but at least it’s less crowded.

Fleischmarkt (10.12.08)

2009-02-12T09:46:00.000-08:00

One day I discovered a very charming little street. Fleischmarkt.
And there was a richly decorated Orthodox Church. It’s quite dark inside, with burning thin candles, the Saints looking down from the ceiling. From the paintings, I mean. A lot of colours... and a peaceful, serene atmosphere... I think it was the first time I’ve been to the Orthodox Church...

There’s a historic house with an old tower nearby, and a strange figure dangles above a narrow street...

And a few hundred meters further a Unist’s Church emerges. But I could visit it only through a glass door.

Albertina (04.12.08)

2009-02-12T09:34:00.001-08:00

It’s third time lucky, they say. That’s what we thought on the way to Albertina. Unfortunately, this time the queue was too long, again. So we went there this morning.
The queue was still quite long, but we waited about half an hour only..
Albertina has been under a great siege recently. And it’s all because of the Van Gogh’s exhibition, which is open only until the 8th of December. So people from around the city (and the country and world ) come here. Everyone wants to see the works of the Master – schools, tourists, the young ones, elderly, everyone..
It’s easy to guess – viewing paintings, even the most wonderful, becomes a difficult task when you have to get through the crowds of people, looking for a tiny space, just to read the caption on a little piece of paper. But somehow I’ve survived. Van Gogh’s paintings and sketches are placed in several rooms, in a chronological order. So, first there were “the dark times” – workers performing some exhausting tasks, dark colours. Then more and more colours appear, a lot of landscapes, fields covered with grain, trees, gardens and golden paths. There are more and more people on the canvasses, including the artist itself. Unfortunately, there were no sunflowers. Pity.
Oh, and one more thing. I forgot to mention what Albertina really is. It’s a museum, situated in the palace of Prince Albert Casimir August of Saxony, Duke of Teschen. It contains 65 thousands works from various times, including Kokoska, Michelangelo, Monet, Picasso, Rubens, Da Vinci, Bruegel... Plus, one entire floor is devoted to the modern artists.

There are also large ceremonial rooms in Albertina, designed for the Habsburgs. Because they finally got the building in their power in 1919. So, it was the next time that we could see how modestly the Habsburgs lived... with all the painting, chandeliers with jewels, golden decoration, velvet clothes on the walls...
We spent about 3 hours in the museum and I’ve noticed that only the Van Gogh’s exhibition was so extremely crowded. As if the visitors didn’t want or didn’t know how to discover the secrets of another floors...
I was surprised to see a lot of groups of small kids. They weren’t bored at all. The guides talked about paintings in a very interesting way, organising some competitions, asking riddles and generally it was very... interactive...

The first metro party in Vienna (3.12.08)

2009-02-12T09:02:00.001-08:00

It took place yesterday, on the line 6.
It was advertised on facebook, the news spread quickly and at 11.04 p.m. a few hundred amused students met on the metro station and got into the last two coaches.
The driver didn’t object us having a party, nobody called police and for 36 minutes the coaches were incredibly jammed. There was an excess of everything – cry, noise, singing, alcohol, laugh...
It was as crowded as in an Indian bus or Mumbai suburban train or in a fast tram in Poznań early in the morning. And as noisy and joyful as in a tram full of Lech’s fans (in Poznań). Everyone was singing, knocking at the ceiling, jumping. But we behaved quite well, all in all:) A lot of photos were taken, passengers on the stations were rubbing their eyes in disbelief, smiling at us, taking photos of a dancing train. When the train arrived at the last station, we started clapping our hands, saying thank you to the driver. But the party wasn’t over yet. Most of us had to take the same train back to get back home or to the center. So this time the last coach transformed into a smaller, more peaceful party room.
Luckily – or unluckily – I didn’t have my camera with me. Luckily – because it might have been squeezed or spilled with a drink. Unluckily- because I don’t have my own pics now...

Titra (03.12.08)

2009-02-11T09:08:00.001-08:00

Instead of subtitling classes we had a short trip yesterday. We visited Titra, a subtitling firm. It’s said to be the most popular and the best one in Austria. So I expected huge rooms and crowds of employees, but it turned out that Titra is all about huge machines, several people, small rooms and cooperating translators.
Titra creates mainly German, English and French subtitles, but there are few exceptions. First, a translator gets a film and a dialogue list with suited frames. When the subtitles are ready, the spotting begins, done by someone else. Other firms choose a different strategy: translators do both spotting and subtitling.
There is a separate room for translation quality check, and a separate for spotting quality check. When everything is done, huge machines burn subtitles on reels. And each film is usually split into several reels, e.g. 6.
The machines produce strange smell and a lot of heat. And it’s said that one such machine costs about 2 000 euro.

The Treasury (30.11.08)

2009-02-11T08:44:00.001-08:00

Again we failed to visit Albertina. The queue was even longer than last week, so we didn’t want to waste our time. We decided to come back here during the week and we went to The Treasury in Hofburg.
That’s where the imperial jewelers, clothes, relics and various religious items are presented. To the most attractive items belongs the crone of the Caesar, accompanied by the scepter and orb. Very interesting is also a cradle of Napoleon, treasures of princes of Burgundy, relics with thorns from the Christ’s crone and a piece of His cross.
All the rooms were poorly lit but the items placed behind glass were quite good visible. The walls were decorated with paintings of the imperial family or illustrating Caesar’s coronation. There were also knights’ clothes, Caesar’s coat, a lot of candlesticks, crosses, chasubles...
All in all, I must admit that the Treasury is overpriced (7,5 e), but if you want to take a short trip into the abundant past that’s the proper place. Shiny jewels and gold sparkle on the crones, velvet glitters on the clothes and richly decorated swards are deep in hibernation...
And when we left the Treasury we came up with a new Sunday-tradition: Austrian dessert instead of Austrian dinner:) We went to Starbucks to make use of or last discount voucher. Latte with toffee and nuts and the croissant bought in Anker perfectly suited the atmosphere of lazy, serene Sunday....
It was the next time that I’ve discovered that Vienna really is beautiful. That it is ideal for short and long walks, even when it’s full of tourists...

UNO (28.11.08)

2009-02-11T08:16:00.001-08:00

Vienna is one of four cities that houses the office of UN. You can visit it only with a group (minimum 10 people). So, we went there with our friends .

Our guide, from RPA, started the tour in a big hall decorated with 193 flags. There he told us about the main responsibilities of UN (human rights protection, environmental protection, striving for peace) and about the countries that belong to the UN (192 + Vatican that expresses its opinion only about the issue of nuclear power). Then we went through a X-ray check in, as in the airport, and finally we entered the extraterritorial zone. Unfortunately, we were shown only few rooms. The first one was the conference hall ,where we were told how the UN strives for equity in every respect, even when it comes to the seats order. So, normally it’s an alphabetic order, but the representatives of the particular country take one seat further to the right at the beginning of new session. Otherwise, Afghanistan would be always seated as the first one and Zimbabwe would be always at the end...

The hall is equipped in 8 cabins for simultaneous interpreters. The languages appear in alphabetic order: Arabian, Chinese, English, German, Russian, Spanish. Last two cabins are reserved for representatives who wish to have their own interpreter of their language. But they use this possibility very rarely.
When the big story finished we began quite a long photo session. Everyone wanted to have a picture on a chairman’s seat.
At the end we headed downstairs, to the ground floor, where a model of UNO stands. And there we heard another interesting details, e.g. that the building belongs to Austria but UN pays for the rental symbolic 7 cents each year. And Austria earn around 4 millions euro per year thanks to the UNO.

Recently, a new UN conference center was opened here. It’s very modern and, for example, when you leave the room and enter the toilet, the air-condition starts working and thus the costs of energy usage are reduced. The first meetings are planned for January, and the visitor will be able to enter the building few months later.

Ice-skating (28.11.08)

2009-02-10T07:06:00.001-08:00

Two days ago we went to the ice rink, a few metro stations from our place. It’s cheaper in the evening, so more people come there. The ticket is 3 euro, and skates rental– 4 euro. And if you want to leave your staff in a cloakroom, you need to spend one euro more...
The ice rink is situated outside and resembles the one in Poznań, with one exception: there’s a stall with hot drinks on the rink. And everyone’s skating around in one direction only. There’s good music, though, and you can also admire the professional hockey players on the rink nearby. Now and then a red cleaning machine appears and cleans the ice. And everything would be just fine if there was no cold wind, blowing in my face...
In January a new temporary rink will be build near the City Hall. That must be cool! I can’t wait to skate there:)

Registered (28.11.08)

2009-02-10T06:53:00.001-08:00

In October we had to register in the district office, and then, during next three months we had to do the same in the main Registration Office. And this time all the formalities cost 30 euro.
The process of registration didn’t take much, but I had to wait very long in a queue. So, first you get a number (mine was 74), then take a lift to the proper floor (mine was 6th) and then all you need to do is to wait, wait, wait... In the meantime you can, or actually – should, copy all the attachments to the application. That means: confirmation that I’m a student, proof of sufficient financial means, registration from the previous office, ID and European Health Insurance. And then you keep on waiting. Finally, the proper number appears on the table and you can enter the room. Oh, yes, and then a short walk to the cash point and back again with the confirmation of the payment. One stamp, signature and... I can stay here for ever:)

Punsch (20.11.08)

2009-02-10T06:06:00.001-08:00

So it happens that at the Xmas Markets Punsch plays the leading role...

It is more less the same as mulled wine. But a little bit more like a stewed fuit mixed with alcohol, served hot. It can be found in several tastes: strawberry, cherry, rapsberry, blueberry... And it’s about 3 euros + deposit for a cup. The best part is that you can keep the nicely deocrated Xmas cup, often with the name of the Market written on it, as a nice souvenir.

The Punsch tastes really good, so far I’ve drunk only the cherry one.
Near the Punsch stalls there is always a lot of people, drinking, talking, savouring the taste...

Leopoldsberg and Klosterneuburg (16.11.08)

2009-02-10T05:53:00.001-08:00

The automn is almost over, so it’s high time to make the most of the nice weather and hike around Vienna.

That’s why we went to Kahlenberg today. The view from the top was more foggy than last time, but it was just the begining of our trip. After a while we headed towards the Leopoldsberg through Wiener Wald. The hill is only 425 meters above the sea and on the top you can admire a nice view of the city. There’s also a small church devoted to Saint Leopold – and that’s the reason why the mountain is called Leopoldsberg.

Walking through the wood and vineyard we finally reached a village Klosterneuburg, situated 13 km from Vienna. It’s famous of the Augustinian Monastery, built in 12th century. There are many rooms inside, including a church, chapel with the grave of St. Leopold and a museum. The ceiling has been decorated with frescos depicting the miracles performed by the Saint and the church is richly decorated, e.g. with gold. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to enter the museum. There were a lot of people near the monastery today, because the day of St. Leopold, the patron of Vienna was celebrated.

And just e few steps from the monastery emerged quite a big market with a small fun fair, not as attractive as the one near the City Hall.
Many people visited the church today, the mass started with a long procession: altar boys and servers dressed in long albs, the wind was blowing in their white clothes, the yellow walls of the monastery were proudly reflecting the sun, the sound of the bells spread across the land..

Our trip finished in a small inn. Almost everyone (4 people) grabbed some meat and I had to order the only one vegetarian meal. Better this than nothing. At least our sunday-austrian-dinner tradition was sustained.

It’s already Christmas in Vienna (16.11.08)

2009-02-10T05:06:00.001-08:00

Yesterday the first Christmas Markets were opened. The most popular is situated by the City Hall.

A lot of people came there, of course, to see the grand opening. The trees and the whole square suddenly became extremely light. There were hearts, snowmen and Santa Clauses hanging on the trees and opposite the Burgtheater a huge Advent wreath appeared. A small orchestra played, as well and “The Blue Danube” was played from above the City Hall’s window. The scent of langos, sweets, punsch and mulled wine filled the air and the stalls were full of Christmas items, bags, cups, toys, flavouring soups and candles and plenty other less or more useful stuff.

Pushing through the crowds was neither easy nor pleasant. Plus, taking photos was a bit difficult task in such conditions but I managed to get some. I’m going to do the next photo session soon, because that’s the Vienna I really like – colourful, sweet, shiny, happy...

We also plan to visit all Christmas Markets, each day a different one. Maybe they will be similar, maybe not. We’ll see.

Christmas is coming (12.11.08)

2009-02-09T14:21:00.000-08:00

Although it’s still one month left, Vienna is ready for Christmas time.

Suddenly Chritmas Markets appeared in many places: near the City Hall, by Museumsquariter, Schoenbrunn, Belveder... The real craze will start in a few days, once the markets are opened. Now the stalls are being decorated and slowly the sings of Unbelievable Things emerge. The work begins early in the morning - a short walk towards the center about 7a.m. will prove it.
The City Hall has been transformed into an advent calendar. 24 windows are covered with purple cloth with the digits 1 to 24 written on it. I wonder if there’s chocolate inside...
The trees around the City Hall are decorated with huge glass balls in shape of snowman, Satna’s stick, seahorses...They’re not lighted yet, but the big show will begin soon. The Christmas Tree near the City Hall already shines. In a blue colour.
The streets are ready, as well. Decorated with Christmas lights and various Christmas-like items. You only have to rise your head. And wait. Because the magic of colours hasn’t started yet... The last preparation, last strokes of brush, last fittings... Great waiting for a shiny city. Another attractively decorated places might be Kohlenmartk, Graben and Mariahilferstrassse. Each steps brings closer to the upcoming Christmas...
I hope that there will be some snow. Even for a few days. Just to wrap the burning city in a soft velvet...

Party time (7.11.08)

2009-02-09T13:28:00.000-08:00

They say that Erasmus Exchange is all about having parties. Hm, maybe there is a grain of truth in it, but I must admit that our life here is not extraordinarily party-like. Of course, when compared to our neighbours and another Erasmus students.
If you want to use all the discounts that come with the Erasmus Card, you will find yourself spending the first days of week in the following pubs:
Monday: party in Ride Club
Tuesday: meeting in Down Under
Wednesday: party in Loco
Thursday: party in Prater Dome
Plus lots of parties organised by students in Student Houses, at your friends’ friends place, meetings in various pubs and other events organised by Erasmus Exchange Office. I know people who spend each evening at a party. There are some who always go to Ride and Loco, each week. There is a cheap trick that attract them – from 7 to 8 p.m. free drinks are served. And then the prices are not as high as in other pubs. But the place is overcrowded. Uncomfortable lack of space. No way to dance, no way to talk. But you can sing – there’s Karaoke in Loco.
I visited both pubs once only. And I don’t think I’ll come back there in the nearest future.
All the parties and almost all the Erasmus Events have one in common. Photographers from various agencies take photos of people having fun. They give them a card with web site and then you can browse your pics in the net. Or download them for free. Quite a good idea.
Our party life started a month ago with Erasmus Welcome Party. In Palace Aschenbach, which was built at the times of Joseph II. Now it houses a pub, full of magnificent paintings and gorgeous chandeliers located in three rooms. The dancing floor is in the biggest one. Of course – the place was overcrowded again. But it doesn’t really matter. It was my first party in such an unusual decor. Almost like in a museum, with all the columns, golden decorative items... nice.
The next strange party place was a ship. It is situated on the Donau Canal and has been transformed into a pub. This time – without fancy paintings and extravagant decoration. But it was quite attractive anyway.
However, nothing compares to the parties thrown in Student Houses. So far I’ve been to four. In most cases they’re organized in special common rooms, but a kitchen is a good place, as well. And playing music extremely loud is a routine, too. So that even those, who don’t want participate in a party are somehow forced to attend it. And then the awful mornings come... With an extremely filthy kitchen. Recently our neighbour slept on a kitchen sofa, after the party of course. And he failed to smell the burning toasts that he had prepared for himself before falling asleep. Well, nothing will surprise me anymore.
The best party room in our Student House is the floor number three. And in the whole Pfeilheim (3 Student Houses on Pfeilgasse) the building nr 3 is said to host the best parties. Well, I don’t know, haven’t been there yet.
And I haven’t visited any non-Erasmus pub.I mean, the one when avarage Viennese spent their time. But one day I’ll catch up on that, too.
The top of the tops was the yesterday party in the city hall. Organised by the mayor for the exchange students. To get there, we had to collect special invitations from the Erasmus Office. And of course, we had to wear smart clothes. But it was really exciting. The ball room is gorgeously decorated with columns , chandeliers, paintings. What’s more – there were two tables full of delicious food. But it was gone quickly. As soon as the mayor finished his welcome speech. Unfortunately, the menu didn’t include much vegetarian food, so I had to limit myself to few salads, sweets and fruit. Anyway, there was a real fight for food and soon only drinks were left. About 10p.m. it seemed to be over – dishes and tables were being collected, and cleaned, the music was gone, as well. The time passed really quickly, I met a lot of friends, which was not easy, as there about 800 guests came.

Jaipur, day two (01.03.08)

2009-01-21T13:44:00.001-08:00

It's Friday, 15.02.08. At 9 the hotel owner knocks to our door. He says we need to leave, because he wants to clean the room. Ha! No way! Check in is at 10 – that's what says the writing on the wall near the entrance. And he said so yesterday, as well. Several times. Ok, all we can do is to hurry up.

Soon we leave the hotel with our luggage. In the way towards the Old City we pop in... McDonald's. To use the normal toilet. At this time there are tourists only. The Indians usually visit McD in evenings.

It's time to discover the hidden charm of Jaipur! It might be difficult as I'm still ill, the sun is spreading its arms even further and the backpack is getting heavier with every step. Doesn't matter. Fortunately, the traffic is not so bad as last night. Although the air is still full of dust. That's normal.
We enter the gate of the Pink City and walk towards Nehru Bazaar, which is connected with Bapu Bazaar. Small shops are situated in old buildings with orange walls. Neglected. Damaged. Everywhere similar products are sold – jewelery, scarfs, saris, punjabis, bags, spices and “European” clothes. Almost each shop keeper presents us their goods, block our way with scarfs and push them in front of our eyes.
„Look madam! Just look! Looking is not buying!”
Yeah, right. I've heard thousands times. Well, I think I should buy some gifts for my family and friends. But there's really nothing that would be appropriate. All right, there are few things. But the worst thing is, that even a few-second-stay in front of a shop window means that you'll probalby be pushed inside the shop. And now the ceremony starts. The shop keeper make us sit down, shows us a variety of colours and patterns. When Paulina buys tiny hindu clothes for his god-child, the seller persuades me to try sari on. Well, all right. Trying on is all I can do. In fact, I thought I would leace India with beautiful new sari. But now I changed my mind. Where would I wear it back in Poland? Anyway, I just try it on. Wow. The long blue piece of clothe is being wrapped around me. Cool. It costs 600 rupees. It's not about the price. I just don't want to. Although it look gorgeous.
Next shops, persuasion, and pestering to buy next goods again. We were supposed to go sightseeing. But before I reach the first monument I'm already equipped with new scarf, tunic an masala... Paulina's also bought many things. Maybe even more. I think I'm already fed up with this city. Maybe it's because of the fever. I need to escape this colorful labirynth, this mazy street full of stalls, see something more attractive. But it's not that easy. hawa Mahal - the place we want to reach - is situated near the bazaars.

It's the next time that I'm completely astonished by the Indian pavements. If they do appear - they're completely blocked by motorcycles, baggers, full of
rubbish, damaged or being modernised/built. And the next thing - the pissing Indians. I notice them in every city. They're squirting on the streets, everywhere, always, in any time of the day. I know, I have written about it already.
Finally, having lost our way in the labyrynth of streets (the map was useless again), we reach Hawa Mahal, the Palace of Wind. The entrance costs 50 rupees. On the way to the building we met an Israeli couple. The man comes from Poland, he had two Polish wives, now he's married to an Israeli woman. He speaks Polish a little bit. Nice. We talk with them shortly and then we split, quite accidentally. Each of us visits the Palace in a different way.
The building has 5 levels, the walls are pink, orange, white or pink, and it's full of cosy nooks. The Palace was built by Maharaja Sawaj Pratap Singh. He did for the ladies-in-waiting, so that they could watch the city life through the beautiful windows. Oh, so generous it was.

We climb to the last floor. There's a tiny terrace and a wonderful view of the whole city. I've found it! The charm of Jaipur is right here! Far away from noisy streets, annoying sellers, pestering rikshaw-men. I don't mind the sun anymore, either. There are mountain hills far away in the distance, tiny bicycle underneath, little shops, orange-pink walls of the buildings. And everything would be just fantastic if the group of Indian boys stopped gathering around us. Anyway. We ignore them and continue our trip around the Palace, walking through the white arches and up to the next terrace. This time without the view. It's time to relax. Stuff myself with plenty of medicines. The fever doesn't make the sightseeing easier at all...

Through the White Opava Valley towards Praded (20.08.08)

2009-01-18T09:22:00.000-08:00

The Czech Sudetes and picturesque nature...

There is an amazing rout where Karlova Studanka finishes and gives its place to a wonderful waterfall land. It leads towards hill Ovcarnia (1300 m above the sea level) through a very picturesque region. Unfortunately. I crossed it in fog, so the charm of the valley was hidden behind the thick curtain. But on the other hand... the real beauty doesn't get scared even of the fog!

The rout is full of fallen trees, here and there a wooden bridge leads upwards, a waterfall falls down a rocky wall. Sometimes a bridge is replaced by a tiny footbridge, the rich green attracts your sight, yellow, purple and blue flowers ask shyly for attention. Ohs and ahs everywhere and a big regret that the weather doesn't emphasize the beauty of wonderful views.

After 5 km we finally reach a mountain hotel Ovcarnia. There's a bus stop opposite, one more hotel and a view of Pradad! On the highest mountain (1491,3 m above sea level) of the East Sudetes a RTV tower. It's covered by fog but still it seems to be quite close. But it's not. Te asphalt way doesn't lead straight to the mountain. The signs mislead, as well. Once they say 1,5 km ad then, after 0,5 km they claim it's still 1,5 km to reach Praded. The peak seems to be far away, the again quite close. It must be there, over the next turn! Quite the opposite. The fog is getting thicker and surrounds the hills around. Maybe a short cut? What about getting out of the asphalt and go through the grass...?

Ok. I stick to the rout. Finally the last stretch. I see the tower in front of me. The wind blows strongly and it gets cold. Visibility: quite poor. But I reached the peak! Welcome Praded.

Normally, you could climb the tower and view the surroundings from its top. But there's no point in doing that today. You wouldn't see anything. What you can also do is to hire a scooter and drive down towards Ovcarnia. No, thank you. The way back seems to be even whiter. For few minutes I can't see more than 10 meters ahead. Maybe less. Hm, it would be cool to play hide and sick now!

The asphalt isn't nice at all. It's almost like way towards Morskie Oko. Almost...

Warsaw (10.08.08)

2009-01-17T13:11:00.000-08:00

The only problem with Warsaw is that I don't really like it. But visiting it for the umpteenth time I finally found some charming places...

Firstly, the Lazienki Palace:

And now The Palace of Culture and Science:

And the view from the 30th floor of the Palace:

And my favourite option, city by night:

Ankeruhr (7.11.08)

2009-01-17T12:52:00.001-08:00

There is a strange clock on the oldest square of Vienna (Hoher Markt). 12 various figures go around its face during the day and at twelve all of them move to the rhythm of music attracting well-orientated tourists.

The clock was built in 1911 and shows the figures of following people: Marcus Aurelius, Charles the Great, Leopold VI, Walther von der Vogelweide, King Rudolf, Hans Puchsbaum, Maximilian I, Andreas von Liebenberg, Rudiger von Starhemberg, Prince Eugene of Savoy, Maria Teresa with her husband and Joseph Haydn. Dressed in smart clothes, they proudly show minutes and during the midday parade they move around slowly. Music changes from time to time – suitably to the age in which a particular person lived.

It seems it's my Viennese substitute of the Poznań's goats:)

Müllverbrennungsanlage Spittelau (04.11.08)

2009-01-17T08:29:00.000-08:00

It's the next Hundertwasser's project, realised in 1971.

This time it's not suitable for flats. It houses a refuse destructor. It sparkles with many colours, the walls are decorated with strangely shaped windows and it's surrounded by golden columns...

Few tricks and a usual refuse detector transforms into a piece of art...
Plenty of students pass it each day, because it's close to the University of Economics.

Wienerwald (02.11.08)

2009-01-17T08:13:00.000-08:00

which means the Vienna Woods. The terrain spreads along the west and south-west city's border and attracts a lot of people, especially cyclists and hikers.
And it attracted me, as well. My first visit lasted only 4 hours, but it was enough to evoke positive impression.

The autumn has already settled down here. The paths are covered with thick layer of colourful leaves, the trees lose their green shine, fog is hanging above the hills and mud appears under your feet from time to time. Brave cyclists keep on pedalling through the hills and knolls, hikers cover the marked paths. And only the birds' warbling is missing...
But the young scouts are loud enough to notice them. They're not everywhere, but still – they do appear here and there.

We covered a rout around the hill with a viewing tower, through a flat paths of Riegelhuette and towards a mountain Exenberg, where a high radio tower stands. None of the hills was higher than 500 m above the sea level and the climbing wasn't really steep. But the view from the hills over the city was really magnificent.

The All Saints Day (01.11.2008)

2008-12-31T06:46:00.001-08:00

The atmosphere wasn't as nostalgic as it usually is in Poland. But a little bit of it was floating somewhere in the air...

The cemeteries weren't as crowded as in Poland. In fact not many people come there. And the graves weren't really decorated, only here and there a candle or two or some flowers appeared. But this is it. Zentralfriedhoff – one of the largest and most beautiful cemeteries in Europe – seems to be the favourite destination for Poles today. Many of them were walking through it, many of them came just to visit the cemetery. Because it's full of monuments. It's were the most famous Austrian composers rest, e.g. Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms. There are also graves of painters and singers. In the middle of the cemetery stands a huge secession church, which houses few gravestones underground.

There is a separate part for small children on the cemetery. The graves are decorated with flowers, toys (e.g. small windmills) and angels. The Zentralfriedhoff is full of eccentric and interesting graves, some are quite modern, others neglected and forgotten.
The area near the church and the Beethoven's grave seem to be the most popular, as the greatest number of people come there. And, of course, there are some food stands in front of the cemetery that attract many people, as well. On the contrary, the stalls with flowers and candles don't attract so many customers.

In the evening I visited the other cemetery, called Hietzinger Friedhoff. This time there were just a few people, maybe because of the time of the day. It's a place of rest for many secession artists, the graves and statues take the various shapes and the whole area is divided in several groups marked with signs. But the order is completely illogical. So if you want to find a grave in a particular group, you may fail to do it.
The candles were a rarity here, silence reigned all around, the day was plunged in darkness...

Details (31.10.08)

2008-12-28T09:26:00.001-08:00

You can look at something and fail to see it. Admire, without perceiving...

Few weeks passed before the continuous admiration for the beauty and size of Vienna diminished to such an extent that it revealed a great number of tiny details that form a brilliant unity.

You only have to look up, separate single stimuli and this is it! Done! The city changes in the twinkling of an eye.

These are my discoveries:

More in the album Vienna 2.

26th of October (26.10.08)

2008-12-28T09:14:00.000-08:00

... is the National Day in Austria. On this day, in 1955, the Austrian State Treaty was signed and the government declared permanent neutrality.
The main celebrations took place on Heldenplatz. Military equipment was presented, the President gave his speech and an orchestra performed, as well. The most impressive was a possibility to ride down a special line, hung 35 m above the ground, across the Heldenplatz. I really wanted to do it, but I had to give up because of the huge queue.

A lot of people took part in the celebrations and suddenly a large number of food stands appeared on the square. There were stands with Sturm, as well.
What’s the most attractive about this day are the museums. Many of them were free of charge or at reduced price. So, two weeks after the Museums’ Night we had a Museums’ Day.

We used the unique opportunity to visit the chancellor’s office, which was especially attractive because of its green room. That’s were the ministers debate. Each seat was signed with a name, so many visitors sat on the place of a famous politician and took plenty photos. We did it, too.
Then we headed towards the National Library. One of its rooms, the Prunksaal, has been very richly decorated – with columns, frescos, statues, old books. The spirit of history floats in the air. The rich decoration attracts visitors’ attention.
At the end we went to Museum of Technique. But to be honest, to visit its all rooms, you’d have to spend there at least two days. Because there’s everything. From engines of ships, vacuum cleaners, and toilets to food. Why not. It presented variety of interesting details, a lot of old machines, instruments and devices. But you really need a lot of energy to register each detail.

What struck me the most was the... chocolate show. We had a possibility to try various kinds of chocolate (e.g. with chili) and watch the complicated process of preparing sweets (e.g. truffles). Of course, there were plenty interactive exhibitions, but they were not so impressive as the ones I saw in the Museum of Science and Technique in Las Palmas. Anyway, the old telephones, cameras, coffee machines, coaches, cars and bikes alsohappen to be interesting...

Zelezny Brod (22.05.08)

2008-12-23T08:24:00.001-08:00

The town is situated near Liberec, was built in XI century and it is modestly hidden in the shade of surrounding mountains. Walking through Zelezny Brod, you will come across slight rises and ascents.
The town is famous for the glass production and wonderful green areas. There’s gallery and theater in the center, there are also 2 schools, empty church, few shops. It’s a good idea to visit the Museum of the Town, which is situated near a historic rout “Travniky”, full of old wooden houses. The museum presents the history of the town and depicts it with various minerals, school furniture, models of a bakery and civil houses...

Zelezny Brod is especially charming in winter, when snow covers the serene town, the Old Market id decorated with a huge Christmas tree and the peace floats in the air...

Prague (16.05.08)

2008-12-23T08:04:00.001-08:00

They say: the most beautiful! The most charming! It’s described in hundreds various magazines and guidebooks around the world. It attracts tourists from distant places.

Prague. I will always perceive it as silent, modest, not affected by mass tourism, full of charming and interesting spots. I discovered it about 10 years ago, spent there two weeks, living in a student house on a Petrin hill. I visited various places, less and more popular and I breathed the artistic atmosphere of the city. And I did go back there. This time only for few hours, to look at Prague from different point of view, from different height and perspective...

It’s the most beautiful when the sun rises, in a clear, winter morning...

It seems that 8am is not a painfully early hour, even if you need to climb a steep narrow lane and lean forward above the high wall to catch sight of a waking city...

And this is already after the sunrise, but still very charming...

And now my favourite fountain:

Kahlenberg (26.10.08)

2008-12-23T06:16:00.001-08:00

That’s the hill (484m.a.s.), from which Sobieski gave instructions to his army in the battle with Turkey. Now there’s a church with an information board on it. It says that the king prayed here before the battle. The Pope Jon Paul II also visited this church, as the board informs.

The hill is situated on the outskirts of the city. The journey from the center took about 1 hour by underground and bus. But it was worth it. The view from the top is marvellous! The next place to admire the panorama of the city. Well, it is somehow affected by mass tourism – there’s a hotel, cafe and a souvenir shop on the hill. At least it wasn’t crowded, as it is not the most popular time of the year for visiting such places. It was quite cold, foggy and windy, but I enjoyed it.

On our way down from the hill, we visited an old cemetery, which was quite neglected, by the way. The autumn played for us a colorful, silent performance, showing its beauty and pride. But it failed to dispel the fog, so the panorama pics weren’t that impressing.
The path lead us to a winery, which presents a wonderful view on the Donau River. The nearby Heuriger (a special wine house that sells its own young wines, Heurigers are very popular in Austria) sells good wine and grape juice. We ordered a delicious apple cake, even two kinds of it.
Leading the path, we finally reached the sign with the writing „Wien”. So we entered the border of the city. Nice and charming homes stretched along the narrow street and the whole area was mysteriously silent. Then we arrived to Kahlenberger Strasse and discovered the statue of Beethoven from XIX century. Few meters further we found a composer’s home and then... the next composer’s home.

More and more Heurigers emerged on the street and finally we reached the 19th Bezirk (district) and got on a dreamy tram that took us back home...

Mariahilferstrasse and Haus des Meeres (25.10.08)

2008-12-22T10:16:00.001-08:00

Almost like in Oxford Street and almost under water...

Mariahilferstrasse is famous of the huge number of shops. You’ll find everything here, each brand that has its shops in other places in the city. Very often the street is described as an equivalent of Oxford Street in London. Well, it’s a bit too much, if you ask me, but whatever...
Of course, the shops attract crowds of tourists and the street is especially crowded at weekends and in afternoons. Near Mariahilferstrasse there’s Haus des Meeres (Oceanarium), which is situated in a very strange building. It’s a kind of high tower that was used to protect the city during Nazi times. There were rockets inside, too.

The Oceanarium consists of 11 floors. The top one is a viewing terrace that presents a wonderful panorama of the city. Next 3 floors house an exhibition of security towers in Vienna and then on 8 floor the real Oceanarium begins (well, it begins on ground floor, of course, but it’s recommended to visit the building from top to down and that’s the order in which I describe it). In fact, the decent number of floors doesn’t mean there is a huge number of animals. The floors are quite narrow and, for example, the biggest aquarium stretches through 2 floors. But it’s a home for many various fish. There are sharks, colorful small fish, huge turtle. Other floors are dwelled by colorful birds, butterflies, insects and reptiles. Not very “oceanic” as for an Oceanarium.

But it is worth visiting, even if it’s only to see how the animals approach people. We had a real close encounter with a bird with orange beak and a small monkey that was staring at us for a long time...
And one more interesting thing about shopping. Neubaugasse. It connects Mariahilferstrasse with our neighborhood. And it’s an Indian-Paradise: Indian shops, restaurants... but it lacks temples:) And the real Indian prices:)