Georgia trip slideshow

I'm proud to announce that the slideshow from the trip will take place in Herbaciarnia Dzieła Zebrane at Nowolipki 18 on 1st of October at 7pm. Few days after the pictures will be available to see on the blog.

Georgia 2010: HU-SK-PL

Daniel is living soon to the road to Miskolc so I thought about getting back to Poland through Kosice. Bad idea. There was a petrol station nearby which seemed to be a good place but after 2,5 hours of waiting I decided to go the other way through Vac. It was much better. There's no highway there so it was easier to find a good waiting spot. I met on my way a Polish girl, Magda, also a hitchhiker. We travelled a bit together until we found a truck going straight to Poland. I let her go and waited for another one. It wasn't hard and at 6.30pm I was already in Poland. Finally at home! (not literally home but still..) I didn't manage to catch another car and I had to sleep somewhere near the petrol station. I had a great meal in a restaurant nearby. Finally Polish food! Pork chops, potatoes, some cucumbers and cold beer. After almost 40 days of travelling it seemed to be one of the best meals I've ever had! Next day I left to Warsaw and without any problems I got home at about 5pm.

Georgia 2010: HR - HU

Road to Pecs was short and easy. On my way I explored few more mine fields and post war sites. Abandoned houses, completely destroyed, inhabited ones - still with a lot of bullet holes. Even thou a lot was made to restore the damages there was always something reminding about the past. I spoke with some people on the road about the war. I was quite suprised that almost most of them didn't have problems with other balkan countries. They blamed polititians not normal people. I got the impression that now the general opinion was that the war was started on some higher level, somewhere above.

I arrived at Pecs late afternoon so I just had a walk in the old town with my CS host, Zsolt and then we went to his place. Funny thing, he'll be coming to Poland for 2 weeks soon. Propably we'll have some more time to talk then when we met in Hungary.

Next day I got to Budapest. Only 200 km, no problem at all. I had a very interesting driver. Teacher, philosopher, member of some Krishna kind of spiritual community (or whatever it's called). We had a really good conversation and he also invited me to a dinner. Since free food always sounds interesting I went with him and met also few more people from his community. After this I went to McDonalds at Nyugati station. I realized it's propably a place I visited the most times in Budapest. Don't like the food but free WiFi is always good. In the afternoon I met with my friend, Daniel who hosted me for a night. I got some really interesting ideas from him, maybe we'll go travelling together some day :)

Georgia 2010: HR-BA-HR

I didn't have any specific plans for Bosnia. I thought bout visiting Radimlja (old pagan cemetery) and maybe Mostar. Hitchhiking turned out to be a bit easier than in Croatia but still I wasn't going as fast as I expected and instead of Mostar I decided to go somewhere else. I heard bout really nice lake surrounded by waterfalls which was about 30 km further and I decided to spend a night there. Getting there was not easy - I had to walk the last 5 km with my 30kg backpack but it was definately worth it. The place was beautiful, water was clean (and not salty) and also there were just a few tourists visiting it. Apart from me only few people stayed there for a night for fishing. I spent some time with them, we ate together, had a beer - very nice and hospitable people!

Next day again some swimming in the morning and then some more swimming :) Instead of leaving at 6-7 am as usual, I stayed there till 11. I just couldn't leave! Gotta come back next time I'm gonna be somewhere around!

That day I was not hurrying anywhere. I wanted to go as far as possible north cause the next day I had to reach Pecs in Hungary where I had CS hosting. I enjoyed every minute of that day. Waiting by the road, eating fresh pears, apples and grapes I found nearby. Especially the last ones were amazing - the best ones I've ever eaten!

The day I left Bosnia was very interesting also because of the people I met on my way. I drove with a guy from Switzerland working at military mission in Bosnia and a girl from Slovenia who was planning to organize a trip to Sarajevo. I was really glad to finally find some people with a lot of interesting things to say instead of truck-driver-types with whom you could talk like: my name is..., I'm going to.. and discuss whether Turkish/Greek/Croatian/Serbian/other girls nice asses and tits. I don't mind the last one but it's not one of the things that gives you a lot of new experience and helps you develop your personality :)

I finished the day at some petrol station. It was already after 10pm and completely dark. Since the station was close to the road and it was visible from there I decided to go a bit further with some small local road. I followed it till I saw some wayside chapel. I wanted to sleep just after it but then I saw a sign. It was saying that that place was full of land mines and I was in the middle of it. In a second I felt very strange. I was not afraid but in a while everything become different. Croatia, a tourist destination, with its beaches and curorts was no longer the same. Of course, I knew about the war, read about it a bit, saw some pictures but only at that moment it become so real. Walking through the mine field in complete darkness every step could be the last one. Amazing experience. Much better than the seaside..

Georgia 2010: ME - HR

This time the plan was supposed to be a piece of cake but those 100km to Dubrovnik turned to be hard as hell. I waited for all cars at least an hour each, and the whole trip took me 6 hours! Damn! And it could've been a lot easier. I just forgot about the t-shirt I bought before the trip (red & white with "Poland" written on it). Just after I put it on the first Polish car stopped! Nice! :)

Dubrovnik was a bit disappointing for me. The city itself is beautiful but when u add thousands of tourists, it becomes hell. Overcrowded busses, restaurants and the old town - it was a nightmare. And the prices - 3,5-4 euros for a beer...

There were few things bout Dubrovnik I liked thou. I went to see the city walls and wanted to buy the ticket. It was about 10 euros. I asked for a student discount (I'm no longer a student). When they asked for student card I showed them my Polish ID. It worked, I got 50% discount but I told them it's still very expensive and in Belgrad everything was so cheap, I liked Serbia a lot etc. Since the Croats don't like Serbs so much I managed to get another discount (just to prove me wrong). I paid 2,5 euro. Same was the last day - I managed to see an exhibition of photos from Yugoslavian war for free. You just have to know how to talk to people :)

Anyways I'll remember Dubrovnik also because of something else. While walking in the Old Town I met my Estonian friend with whom I studied 2 years ago.. in Georgia. Unbelievable. Come on, what are the odds?!?

In Dubrovnik I slept on some cliffs just by the sea. Not so comfortable but when I woke up at 5am I was about 3 metres from the sea. It was great to swim without million of people around you.

Georgia 2010: MK-AL-ME

I left Macedonia in the morning with Slavche and his grandpa who took me to the boarder. Before crossing it I decided to ask some drivers for a lift. I was lucky again. The first car took me. It was Spanish, I mean Catalan, couple. Turned out they're going exactly the same way as me so it was a perfect start of a day! Albania was an interesting experience. The landscapes are amazing - the road was picturesque - going through the mountains, climbing them, just to go all the way down in a second. About the roads.. hmm, guess I haven't seen worse ones in my life. We say that in Poland roads are quite shitty but comparing to Albanian ones we have only highways. Some parts of national road, which is supposed to be the second best type after motorway, were not made of asphalt at all. I'd like to visit Albania some other time but I wouldn't come there with a car unless it would be a monster truck (or a good jeep at least).

It took a long time to go past Albania due to the quality of the roads. Maybe it's their way to keep tourists in their country? Anyways we managed to get to Montenegro. The views changed a bit, in addition to montains there was a nice seaside. Quite like Croatian one but maybe a bit more dirty. The thing is that it's cheaper there (a beer = 0,5 euro) and there're less tourists. After leaving the Catalan guys I hitchhiked bit to Kotor which was my final destination for that day. The place was very nice, really liked the old town surrounded by city walls with small cafes and restaurants. Also it's not so famous place as for example Dubrovnik which means less tourists and better overall experience.

After seeing the town I went 6-7km further to find a place to sleep. This time it turned out to be a construction site. Somebody was building a house for himself - I just went to the 3rd floor and had there everything I needed: clean and dry place, some refreshing air coming through the windows and a beer which I bought earlier in a shop (the picture of this place will be available in the galleries in the middle of September).

Georgia 2010: GR-MK

So.. I left my strip-club 'friends' and headed to Macedonia. Getting there was not simple at all. The boarder with Grecce is small and there're not many cars going that direction but I managed somehow. The drivers were very helpful, most of them offered me also some food. Especially travelling with some Albanians was a nice experience. Together with me we were 6 people in the car (and my luggage could be considered the 7th) :)

I arrived in Ohrid early and spend there 2 days. The place itself is quite impressive - very nice lake, clear water, just perfect for some rest. Also the old part of the city is intersting. Nice architecture, pubs - all you need is there. I thought there were quite a lot of tourists thou but later on when I saw Croatia I realized there were just a few of them.. In Ohrid I had a really good host - Slavche. We had some interesting conversations and I found out a lot about Macedonia, it's culture and interesting sights. One of them is Golen Grad, abandoned place full of snakes (that's why nobody goes there). Snakes are one reason I wanna see it - in Poland they're not so common and the second reason is the place itself. Next year I'm gonna go there!

Also thanks to Slavche I had an opportunity to check out some home made Macedonian food. Think the name was Kravche-Tavche (not sure). Yeah, the food is also one of the reasons the place is worth visiting.

The 2 days in Ohrid passed very quickly - I was suprised how fast. The next stop was Montenegro (via Albania).

Georgia 2010: Greece

Well, yeah.. Greece. After 2 years I was coming back. In 2008 I studied for 1 semester in Thessaloniki and it was not a very nice experience. Rubbish everywhere, homeless dogs walking on university's corridors, people who usually like your money more than you. How was it now?

After crossing the boarder I was left by the French somewhere near Kavala and tried to hitchhike. Knowing Greeks I thought it's gonna be hard and so it was. After 1h nobody stopped. Some people were looking at me like I was some kind of a freak. Not so nice feeling.

I was holding a piece of paper with the name of my destination - "Thessaloniki". After 1h I changed it a bit adding "25€". Then it turned out that there're people willing to 'help'. 2 cars stopped. I that people they're cars suck and the standard is not good enough for me (one of them was a brand new Mercedes;)). Anyways the little experiment seemed to prove that what I thought bout the Greeks was right. I decided to search for the shop and hit the road the next day in the morning with the French. Then something strange happened. One guy asked me where I was going and then offered me a lift to Thessaloniki. That was really nice. And also he was the first person I was able to communicate in few days. Turks are great but they speak no languages at all. After getting to Thess. I cought one more car to Chalkidonia. It was night already so I started to look for a place to stay for a night outside of the city. When I was almost outta town I spotted a bar. Inside there was only the bartender. Thought it was closed but I asked for something to eat and to drink. Got it for free :) Another nice experience. After some tome it turned out that the bar was not closed. It was beeing prepared for the opening! Yeah, I found myself in a strip club. After 1h the strippers came. There were no other ppl inside so I had a chat with them (not suprisingly in russian) and also continued my conversation with the bartender. I got a "business proposal" from him: search for some Polish girls willing to work in his club. He was offering 50€ for one. WTF?!? Do I look like a pimp?!? Anyways I guess he thought we made a deal so I got some drinks, watched some strippers - everything for free :P

I left at 2am and slept by the road near the club. Next morning hitchhiked to Macedonia. Yes, Greek people, Macedonia, not FYROM. On my way visited Edessa (it was supposed to have nice waterfalls but it war crappy like hell).

Anyways, Greek people I hitchhiked with were very nice - completely opposite to the ones I met when I studied in Thessaloniki. I left Greece a bit confused about my feelings towards the Greeks. Guess gotta come once again..

Georgia 2010: GE-TR-GR

7th of August, in the morning, I left Tbilisi. I was hoping to get to Europe as fast as possible. First day got to the Turkish boarder and then managed to get to Trabzon. It was the middle of the night so almost impossible to hitchhike but I was determined to try to get as fast as possible without sleeping. I crossed almost whole city by foot (with 25kg backpack) and hitchhiked a bit but at 1pm decided to sleep for 4 hrs on a bench by the mosque. Felt kinda like a junkie but sometimes doing the plan means some sacrifices. When it got a bit brighter I headed to Ankara. Once again hitchhiking was unbelievably easy and I had to verify my plan - I managed to go 400km further, to Istanbul. Arrived there at 2pm. The driver left me in the suburbs about 30 km from the centre. No chance to hitchhike, no chance for a bus. Had to wait 4 hrs at the gas station. As usual in Turkey after 10 mins gas station workers came to me - 'hi', 'what's your name?', 'would u like some tea and something to eat?'. Beeing in Turkey for some time I kinda expected this. It was the same on my road there. Just hang around for few minutes, behave like a lost tourist which has no idea where he is and I can guarantee you'll have as much tea and food as you want. Guess it's not right to expect that treatment but it's just Turkey, you have no choice. At the station they also got wireless internet. It was not possible to use it due to cameras on the station but I just went to the next pavilon, where they were about to open a new bank (under construction) and I connected without any probs. At 6 I left to meet my host Firat. Finally had a shower, some sleep, then I spent some time with Firat and his friends. Very nice ppl, once again I was able to experience some Turkish hospitality. Next day left at 6.30. The plan was Thessaloniki (Greece). The beginning was horrible. Living in the centre of Istanbul I needed more then 2 hrs to get out of the city by buses. Earlier I thought Istanbul is 'huge' but that word doesn't show how big is it. Later on once again had no probs with hitchhiking (cheers for the Armenian team who took me to Silivri). When I got to the boarder it turned out you can cross it only with a car. It was hard to explain the Turkish why I wanna get to their car just before the boarder but finally I managed... to find a French family coming back to Europe from holidays. I went with them all the way to Kavala. So back to Greece after 2 years... Good or bad, the memories had returned...

Georgia 2010: Mkinvartsveri (Kazbegi)

Coming back to Georgia gave me a second chance to try to climb Kazbegi, one of the highest peaks in Georgia - 5047m high. Last time, in June 2008, I wasn't able to do this due to poor weather. Since I didn't have much experience in climbing mountains higher than 3000m, Kazbegi seemed to be an interesting challenge.

It all started on 31th of July. I woke up at 6.30, packed my stuff quickly, left Vaxo's house and headed to Didube bus station. Ate there some chachapuri (Georgian traditional food made of bread and some kind of cottage cheese) and went to find a mini bus (marshrutka) going to Stepantsminda (Kazbegi). It was supposed to leave at 8, but as usual it was late. We left the station at 8:30 when somebody finally filled the last empty place in the car. Even thou it was quite early the weather was very warm and travelling was tireing. Opened windows were not helping much. The bus was moving fast thou and I was hoping that at least it won't take long to reach it's final destination. I was wrong - we arrived at 11, but the road wasn't so horrible at all. The road was nicely situated offering the us some views on the mountains.

In Kazbegi the weather was very nice. It was to warm, as usual in Georgia, but good news was that the mountain itself was not covered in clouds at all. I was hoping that it will remain the same for few more days. My only problem was that I cought a cold the other day and I was worried it will get worse making the ascent impossible.

I bought some medicine at the local pharmacy and went to do some shoppings. Spent all my money but didn't buy enough for the whole trip. Unfortunately it was Saturday and the bank was closed and it was impossible to get any more cash or exchange any euros. I decided to go anyway hoping I'll be able to buy something from other people on the trail.

The plan for the first day was to reach the meteo station situated at about 3600m. It was supposed to take 8h to get there. I crossed the bridge and headed to Gergeti village situated next to Kazbegi. From there there are several roads leading to Cminda Sameba church - one of the most famouch churches of Georgia situated picturesquely on the hill above the village. I took the hardest option - the trail through the forest going almost straight up. It was very tireing, especially considering 37-40 C deg. temperature and 15 kg backpack I carried. I wouldn't recommend it for most of the people. The main advantage of it is that it's the fastest one (if you have enough stamina). To find it, when you reach Gergeti, you have to go as much left as possible and then pass a small gate that allows you to cross the fence. Than you just have to climb up. Approximately 45min - 1h. When I stopped at Sameba church for some rest I realized I lost my knife somewhere. Kinda bad news considering I bought a lot of canned meat and fishes and didn't have any other opener. Fortuntely borrowed it from some Israeli tourists visiting the church and after few minutes I was able to head to the meteo station. The road was easy. First it leaded through some trees but soon it went up the hill. According to Georgian people I spoke with, it was supposed to be marked with red&white signs but on my whole way I couldn't find any of them. Anyway, the road easy to spot and there were no problems with finding the right way to go. Soon the trail went up to the pass which offers a nice view on Kazbegi and Ortsveri glacier. At least in theory cause by the time I was there the weather got a bit worse covering it in thick fog. From the pass I went a bit down and crossed the river. Since the visibility was not so good I decided to camp near the river instead of going up to the meteo station. Just after the river there are a lot of good places to camp already prepared to pitch the tent. There's also a drinkable water source. Usually you can meet some other people camping there and so it was this time. I encoutered 3 Georgians who also stopped there for a night. We spoke a bit, ate something together and then I went to sleep. It was 6pm but there was absolutely nothing to do. Of course it turned out to be a bad idea. After sleeping 4,5 hours I woke up at 22:30, then at 2am and few other times. It was a very long night. Finally the sun came out and it was possible to go further. I joined the Georgians and we headed together to meteo station. The road was quite hard. The first part leaded through morena full of loose stones which made the ascent more tireing. After that it was only the glacier we had to cross. There are a lot of small stones on it so it's easy to keep the balance and move fast. The only problem is that it's covered by rifts and you would have to find a way around them. When we finally got to the other side of the glacier we started to search for the best place to get down. There are only few of them and the best one should be marked by a pole (it might be quite hard to see it thou). When we finally found the passage it was only a short ascent in front of us and we already were at the meteo station. We pitched our tents (1 night costs 5 lari) and decided to go see the chapel nearby. To get there you have to climb about 200m up. The trail is visible from the station. Going to the chapel might be quite good idea for acclimatization and getting used to high mountain conditions.

My plan was to climb the top the next day but it turned out that nobody was going then and it was not such a good idea to go alone, especially I wasn't sure how my organism will react to the height. In case it doesn't adjust well it might be a problem to get back without any help and might be dangerous. Usually altitude disease go as follows: first you feel a pain in your head, then you feel you like to vomit. In most advanced stage you might start to lose an ability to think resonably. While standing in the middle on the glacier you may just fall asleep on the snow thinking you're going to sleep in your comfy bed at home. If nobody finds you, you're dead.

The next day I also had problems with finding a group I could join. All of the guides wanted me to pay like 60-150 euros to join their groups. I almost decided to go alone but later on I found 2 girls from Poland and Czech Republic - Bożena and Iva, I could join the next day. I also borrowed some warmer pants from Archi, one of the Georgians I met the ther day, cause mine were not apropriate for the high mountain conditions.

About the guides: it was amazing they didn't allow me to join their groups for free. Is somebody's life really worth those bloody 60 euros. Is it better to let somebody go alone instead of taking him with the group? Especially they were already paid for that day. Unbelievable.

That wasn't the only unpeasant experience there. The person running the refuge was even worse. Me, I came to Georgia hitchhiking, didn't have much money, didn't have enough to eat. When I was borrowing crampions and ice axe I was hoping to get few lari discount or at least something ot eat. But no, that guy was like a vampire trying to suck your blood till the last drop. Every lari, every tetri. Until you have some money it's ok. Later you can die there - he wouldn't care. I love Georgia and it's people but this one was surely not acting like one of them. If you get there some time try avoid him if possible. I got cheated when paying in euros (got 2.00 exchange course for euro instead of 2.40) Also don't borrow any equipment under any circumstances. The crampions I got were missing some parts and they were in really bad condition. Inexperienced person could've died during the ascent (but I guess it's not a reason to buy new ones - some people will take it anyway cause they've no choice and the owner gets 15 lari anyway so everything's ok, right?). If somebody dies, well, accidents happen. If you don't have whole equipment needed to go to the top, better ask some people in the camp. Most of them stay there for one extra day before the ascent to adjust their organism to mountain conditions and they can borrow it for free.

To get to the top you need:
headlight -you start at 2-3 am so at the beginning it's completely dark
crampions - the most important piece of equipment, later on the slope is very steep
ice axe - not a must but you should take it for your own safety
trekking poles - useful for 3/4 of the road to the top, for the final ascent it's better to use ice axe
warm clothes - while it's 40 C deg. in the village, on the top it can be around 0 C deg.
suglasses - a must (unless you wanna get blind)
sun protection creme - even if it's cold
a piece of rope - you can manage without it but better take it for your own safety, there are some rifts on the way you could fall into

So.. the countdown has begun. I was about to get up at 1:30 and leave the station at about 2:15. The problem was my phone run out of battery and couldn't set the timer. I asked the girls to wake me up but I was kinda afraid that they'll forget or I'll just say (while sleepng): "OK, I'm getting up" and then stay in the tent. I woke up myself in the middle of the night not knowing what time it was and decided not to go to sleep again. If I felt asleep propably it would've been hard to wake me up and I didn't know if the girls were motivated enough to spend 10 mins by my tent trying to do so. I waited about 2 hours before I heard Bożena's voice. Uff.. I managed.

It was 1:30. It was bloody cold outside. I put everything I got on me but still I felt cold. My tent was covered in ice. I didn't have warm gloves but fortunately Iva borrowed me her undergloves which together with the ones I had made the cold bearable for my hands. After eating something we hit the road. Direction: Kazbegi. Into the dark.

It was easy to spot the road on te beginning but it turned out to be much harder to stick to it. Although it was marked by some piles of rocks sometimes they were hard to spot and it was even harder after getting to the morena where the path leading up and down and was cut by many rifts. At some point we lost our road and went to the glacier which was not so good idea at the moment. Going up to the plateau you should walk only through the morena. We noticed some other groups walking different way than ours and we decided to join them. It was slowly getting brighter but the temperature wasn't rising. Still bloody cold. We were moving up and soon we managed to overtake a group with a guide. The rest of the path from morena through plateau to the top was marked by footsteps and it was just impossible to miss. From the plateau I recommend to wear crampions - you just move faster (unless they're in similiar condition to the ones I borrowed:)).

The most important thing is that the biggest mountain that you see is not really the biggest one, the one you wanna climb. Kazbegi has 2 peaks and for most of the time you would see the smaller one. To get to the right one just follow the footsteps, go around small Kazbegi almost passing it on your right. You should get to the point where the road will split - on the right you'll have small Kazbegi (wich it not so small really) and bigger one on your left.

The last ascent migh be quite tireing, the slope is quite steep and it's better to change trekking poles into ice axe. We were also using the rope for assecuration but it's really optional. After we climbed the top we had some time for photos.

On the top!

As it turned out later we were the only group that had a nice view from the top that day :) It was quite cold on the top so we started the descent quite quickly. On the pass we had some food and continued to get down. In meantime Iva started not to feel goos showing some sighns of altitude disease. Also the weather conditions were getting worse. In meantime I broke one of my hiking poles and my sunglasses. Damn! We were walking much slower than expected. Also once again we took the wrong path. At least I think so cause it all looked different on our way back. The snow started to melt uncovering the rifts hidden underneath. Or.. not. Few times my feet fell more that 1 metre into the snow. How deep was the rift - I'll never know. Maybe one hour later I'd fall 10-15 metres down. While going back it's recomennded to go through the glacier. Morena might be dangerous because of lots of stones falling down from the cliff released by melting snow. Anyways for me it looked safer than the glacier, at least at the beginning. We started on the morena, then we walked the glacier, then morena again etc etc. We were changing the way very often trying to choose the safer options. The whole descent took us almost the same time as going up making it 14h total. As we heard later the guides also had some problems while going down - this made me think we really made a great job on our way back to the meteo station. First to leave, first to reach the top and first to come back. I was proud of it. I got back tired, with wet shoes and wet socks which meant sleeping without it during the night, cause I didn't have another pair.

I survived somehow and left the station next day at around 8. I went to Stepantsminda with a Polish girl I met at the station. We were not moving very fast - just to make it in 5 hours and catch 1pm marshrutka to Tbilisi. Before I got on, I had a deserved beer. Feeling somehow satisfied I spent the whole road thinking bout next ideas for the trips

Georgia 2010: Sakartvelo!

So.. finally in Sakartvelo (Georgia). When I was crossing the boarder I felt like I was coming back home. Hearing Georgian language again, seeing familiar places made me think about the great time I had studying here. The first thing I thought about after getting to Tblisi was finding Rock Club, place where I spent lots of time, place where I had many friends. I was wondering if I'll see some familiar faces there. To my suprise when I got there I saw Istanbul disco club instead.. WTF?!? I met with a friend, Kesha, drank few beers in a park, and went to visit another one - Vakho. I stayed at his place for the rest of the time spent in Georgian capital. Next day we went to the lake outta town with Gio, Denver and a guy with a name I'll never remember :) Whole day doing nothing - swimming, eating mcvadi (shashlyki), drinking beer. Basically the whole time in Tbilisi was quite the same. I was not much into sighseeing - already saw everything. Preferred to spend time with my friends and enjoy it as much as possible.

In the meantime I went to the mountains for 4 days but this is a story for a separate post :)

On 6th of August I left Tbilisi and headed back to Poland. After 2 days I'm already in Istanbul writing from some gas station while waiting for the first bus to the city centre..

Georgia 2010: TR - GE (hitchhiking record!)

On 26th of July I left Bursa hoping to get to Ankara. Plan for next day was Trabzon and later to get to Georgia. Then something unbelievable happened. I was already in Ankara at 1pm and decided to go as far as possible that day. Managed to get to Corum. It was already quite late but I found a truck going to Trabzon (1100 km from Bursa!). Arrived in Trabzon at 2 am, but still I was able to hitchhike further. I was changing cars so often, I didn't even have time to sleep! Turkey should be officially awarded "Hitchhiker friendly country" (or something)

After 33 hours of traveling I was in Tbilisi drinking beer with my friends! I made about 1550 km! Try to beat this! Ha! :)

Georgia 2010: BG - TR

Bloody 600 km from Sofia to Istanbul took me 14h. I travelled most of the way with a Turkish TIR driver. The thing is that he had to stop every few hours and also those huge trucks are not allowed to enter Istanbul before 10pm. The result was I arrived there after 10 and I was left at some shithole far away from the city centre. Istanbul is just unbelievably huge. It's said it's inhabited by 13mln people but together with those living there illegaly it can be 20mln as well. To get to the centre it took me over 1,5h with 2 busses. Most of that time travelling through dark streets of Turkish slums - overwhelming feeling. In Istanbul I was hosted by Ezgi, spent there one day. I don't know if I liked the city. First impression was "wow", interesting people, architecture, but then after some time you realize that that mosques don't differ from each other and everything is not so exceptional. Guess I'd have to spend a bit more to be able to say something more. For sure I hated one thing about Istanbul. Prices of most important things (beer and petrol) are very high. In a shop you have to pay about 3 liras ($2) for a beer, in a pub 6. Petrol prices reach 3,6 liras ($2,4) for 1l of PB98. WTF?!?

Next day I went to Bursa to visit my best friend from Erasmus in Greece. Spent whole day with him and his family. Great experience - very nice time, delicious food, but just one thing about it - if I stayed there for couple of weeks I would propably put on 10 or 20 kilos - there was so much of everything.

Georgia 2010: RS - BG

Getting to Sofia was not that easy, took quite a lot of time and waiting on the road but finally I was there at about 5. Last time I visited Sofia I got the impression it's grey and dirty, people don't speak any languages and they're not friendly at all. I was about to confirm it. I met with my host Zenya and we went out to spend some time in the city with another couchsurfer Steffen from Germany. We sat near Iva Vazov theatre. It turned out to be a great place - quite a lot of people meeting there in the evenings just drinking and chatting. After some time Yvonne from Germany and Pooja from Iran joined us - just from the street. That was nice (the fact they joined us and they themselves) :) They came with us to Zenya's place. That day I went to sleep at 5 and at 6 I was supposed to get up. This time Bulgaria seemed to be completely different country. After 1 hour of sleeping I left the flat and headed to Rila mountains. Spent there 3 days hiking. Climbed highest peak of Bugaria mt. Musala (2925 metres). Quite easy but still nice training before Georgia where I'm hoping to climb mt. Kazbegi. (over 5000 m). Last day slept in the tent at 2300 m near Fish Lake. After that saw once again the Rila Monastery. Once again it was raining like hell and didn't make any nice pics. Came back to Sofia hitchhiking. Right now sitting in Zenya's flat where the rock band of her boyfriend is having a repetition :) Tomorrow heading to Istanbul! Never been to a muslim country so for sure it will be nice experience. Allah akbar, whatever.. try to write somethin' in few days. Cheers!

Georgia 2010: HU-RS

Getting to Belgrade was quite easy. In Budapest there were no good places to wait for a car so I chose a petrol station. Turned out to be a good idea, one of the first drivers agreed to take me to Szeged. My plan to get straight to Belgrade didn't work. I went to Timisoara (Romania) - Deta - boarder RO/RS - some small serbian village - Pancevo and then finally to Serbian capital. After arriving to Serbia hitchhiking was a piece of cake. Serbs are really nice people, very helpful. In Pancevo I found a bus going to Belgrade but told the driver I've no money. He said - Jump in, this is Serbia! Nice welcome! Spent a night at Nikola Denic's place and then moved to Marko Cirovic Next day I stayed at the lake and also explored some of Belgrade's abandoned factories. Found a 1960's map of the city. Cool stuff - I'll try to get it to Poland by post. Hope it works.

Few things that might be interesting about Serbia:
- Serbians are nice, friendly and helpful people
- beer in the shop costs 60 din (~0,6 Euro)
- most of young people have no problems with speaking English (at least in Belgrade)
- Serbian girls have nice tits
- Serbian clubs kinda sucks - people mostly standing, not having fun which is strange considering the above
- it's very easy to hitchhike there

Georgia 2010: SK - HU

Kosice - Budapest part was one of the easiest. Skoda Superb is a nice car and the highway between Miskolc and Kosice is just great! Took me about 5 hours to get to Hungarian capital but since I had only 4 hrs of sleep the day before, I was quite tired. After arrival I just layed on the grass by the Nyugati station and slept there for 2 hrs. Reminded me a scene from Pulp Fiction.

Yeah, I'm a bum and I like it! I did absolutely nothing till the evening when I met with my friend Daniel and CS hosts Bettina and Blanka  Betti CS profile We had a beer, than another one and another one in Szimpla. Very nice place, when u come to Budapest it's a must see. After Szimpla we went home drank some palinka,:) I spent the next day on sightseeing. Usual stuff. Been to Esztergom (nice bridge!), Visegrad and Szentendre. Hitchhiking ofc. Went to sleep early and after 8 hours left to Belgrade.. Cheers from Serbia!

Georgia 2010: PL-SK

As usual I had a strange feeling bout incoming trip. The day before I was thinking if it makes any sense to go and I was wondering if it may be better to make it a bit shorter, but when I woke up on Tuesday I felt I was ready to go. Got up at 4. Listening to You can't stop me by Guano Apes I left my place at 5:30. Left it with the feeling of happiness and freedom (or something). When I watched people going to their jobs early in the morning as usual, I was even more glad I decided to to this trip.Ths kind of life must suck, but I guess everybody has an altternative. Everybody can go hitchhike to Georgia, right? Most of people just make excuses not to.

First day I arrived to Kosice in Slovakia, making bout 600km on my way. In Slovakia I got CS host - Barbora CS profile We spent some quality time together, really enjoyed the stay even thou it was for such a short period.The trip itself wasn't so interesting, maybe apart from waiting in Rzeszów episode. Usually it takes 5-30 mins to catch a car. In Rzeszów it's 3 hours. I don't know what's wrong with this people. Bloody bastards! I almost died standing in the sun in 35 deg. temperature.

Cheers from Budapest!

Offroad (1)

Travelling is like a drug. Abusing it can get u wasted but also once u go into it u can see things other people will never experience. Usual people sit in the office 8h/day, usual people have families, homes. I don't.

Funny thing - I always try to do what I feel I like doing, not caring bout the world and it's expectations about me, but same time I have this feeling that seeing the world and learning it makes me happy and I love it more than anything else (if it makes any sense..)

Ok enough of this crap - time to hit the road! Next target: Georgia. Hithchiking, as usual. Route: Poland - Slovakia - Hungary - Romania - Bulgaria - Turkey - Georgia - Turkey - Greece - Macedonia - Serbia - Bosnia - Croatia - Hungary - Czech Republic - Poland or... else :)

Hope I'll make it - kinda short on money now so any donations are welcome! U don't want me to starve to death on the road, do you? Thanks for any help - really appreciate it!

Transfers from Poland - bank account number:
70 1140 2004 0000 3102 4201 1435 (mBank)

Tatra Mountains 2010

Since I haven't been to the mountains since Romania it was an obvious choice to go there especially after a trip to the seaside. On 22nd of June I just hit the road. Hitchhiking. Again. Suprisingly even thou the weather wasn't nice, the trip turned out to be a fruitful experience. On my way to Zakopane I met two guys from marketing/PR company who seemed to be interested in helping me find a sponsor for sport competitions I'm organizing and later on I met a guy for whom I might be working in Georgia in some time. Wonder what would've happened if I stayed there longer :)

The weather as mentioned wasn't perfect. First day after arriving at Zakopane I took a mini bus to Palenica and walked to Morskie Oko mountain refugee. I found out it's possible to sleep there for free! Here's how you do it: you gotta look for the biggest room they have - 8-10 bed, dorm-style. Usually it's opened so you move in, choose a bed and that's it! Simple as that! In case they don't have free beds you can just ask your roommates if it's ok for you to sleep on the floor. 

After spending a night in refuge I decided to go to another one in Dolina Pięciu Stawów. Took a yellow route leading through Szpiglasowa Przełęcz. On my way there I stepped of the trail and climbed Wrota Chałubińskiego. The weather was great, so were the views but it got worse when I got to the  Szpiglasowa Pass.  It become cloudy and windy and when I reached Szpiglasowy Wierch I couldn't see anything apart from some clouds and few rocks nearby. The wind was terrible and it was bloody cold so decided to go down to the valley without making  a stop there. The first part of the road down is secured by some chains in order to make it safer. The result of it is that the chains make many people feel like they're climbing Mount Everest and they start to freak out even if it's a piece of cake go past 'em. This time somebody almost got killed by a rock thrown down by some idiot who panicked on the trail. Fortunately I cought it, unfortunately it costed me a knee injury - just a minor wound, some blood, nothin' serious. Even thou there was snow, the way down was easy and after having few stops for photos and chat with some people met on the road, I got to the refuge. Ah and also I went see Siklawa waterfall nearby. Good for photos, not in bad weather. This time I slept for free lke the other night, but it was the floor not a comfy bed. Drank few beers (bought 8 in Zakopane), talked to some people and went to sleep early cause I was about to et up at 4. Plan was to go to Zawrat -> Świnica (2301 m.) -> as far as possible. 

The weather was supposed to be nice in the morning so I wanted to reach Świnica at about 8. So I did, but instead of nice summer sun and beautiful views I got minus temperature at the top, chains and rocks covered in ice and a view reaching 2-3 metres. Nice, huh? Apart from the fact climbing in this icy conditions was dangerous, I couldn't even see the trail markings so I decided to go back. 

On my way to the refuge it started to rain - just perfect. Beeing completely wet makes you don't care about the rain so much so when I reached a shelter I just had a piece of apple pie and decided to head to Morskie Oko, this time taking blue route through Świstówka. Walking with big backpack is never easy but in the rain I didn't feel like I was tired. Listening to the music (Slayer version of Born To Be Wild) I managed to to the way in about half time I was supposed to walk. Then I decided to walk even further. While I've already been in Morskie Oko for a number of times, I chose to sleep in Schronisko w Dolinie Roztoki. Heard it's nice so decided check it out paying 30 zloty instead of free night at MO. Liked it very much (but the apple pie sucked anyway). In the evening played some cards with other people, had some beers (there was nothing left out of that 8), generally nice time. 

Next day at 6 am went to Lysa Polana, hitchhiked to Rabka, then to Kraków, Rawa Mazowiecka and Warsaw. Just in time to have a beer with some friends..

Photos from the trip

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Gdańsk 2010

After Romania I just liked the idea of hitchhiking again. You travel for free, get some couchsurfing accomodation, see new places and spend not more than living home (depends on the number of beers you're gonna drink). So, having few days off I decided to go to Gdańsk since I haven't been to the (Polish) seaside for some time. I also wanted to make some photos of Gdańsk's shipyard and few other abandoned places.

Getting to Gdańsk, took me about 5,5 hours (it's ~330 km). The last 60 I travelled with a Belarussian TIR driver. Funny guy with a lot of interesting stories to tell. During that 1h I found out that Belarus has for example better roads than Poland. I could've believed him, but then he told me their roads are even better than German ones :) Belarus turned to be a beautiful country, a great place to live. All thanks to their president Aleksandr Lukashenka. I wondered why people go to UK, US and other places while the paradise is so close. I almost thought about moving there, but since "almost" can make a huge difference, as we say in Poland, maybe I'll do it a bit later.

I know Gdańsk quite well so I wasn't interested in sightseeing. When I got there I ate something and went to see the shipyard and make some photos. In the evening I met my host - a girl called Marta. Had really nice time and highly recommend you visiting her. If you like absurd sense of humor and talking about abstract things, you'll like her for sure. Link to Marta's CS profile 

Day 2 also about photos, spent it in abandoned factories, railway stations, shipyards and ended visiting Westerplatte, place of a Polish - German battle during the first days of World War II. You can see the pictures visiting a link below or in "Pictures" tab. 

GDAŃSK PHOTO GALLERY

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Getting back from Gdańsk was a piece of cake. 5 mins of waiting for the first car to Elbląg and then 5 mins to catch a car to Warsaw. I was back in less than 4,5h. Before I came home I went for few beers with my driver who came to Warsaw see AC/DC concert. I'm not the biggest fan of them but when I saw all those people in front of the stage I regretted I haven't bought the tickets. Must've been really great. But well... soon the Big Four is comming. Can't wait!

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Romania 2010

*** TRIP STATISTICS ***

Duration: 15 days

Distance*:  4062 km made by all means
1663 km - hitchhiking **
852 km - by train
791 km - by bus, taxi & underground
623 km - lifts from friends ***
133 km - by walk

While hitchhiking:
28 drivers
59,39 km average distance

* estimated value, propably a bit different from reality
** with a random person
*** arranged before

Check out the pictures from this trip at:

PICTURE GALLERY ROMANIA
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Preparations

In the middle of April finally decided to go to Romania. I was about to make a suprise-visit to Ada, a friend of mine living in Bucharest. The plan was to hitchhike there in the end of April so I didn't have much time to prepare myself. Bought a tent, lots of canned meat, torch, road map of Europe, some other stuff and I was ready to go. Just had to stay home till 28th since I had quite a lot work to do at the moment. I was really happy and couldn’t wait the moment I leave Warsaw so the last days seemed to pass like weeks..

 

Day 1 - Wednsday, 28^th of April 2010

Finally the magic date of 28th had come. On that Wednsday I got up at 6 am, packed my stuff and hit the road. I took some public transport to get outside Warsaw and at 8:30 I was ready to be taken by some random driver somewhere south.The beginning was better than I expected. After 15 minutes I was already on the car heading to Dębica near Tarnów. The driver turned out to be a Polish soldier going home for few days. I thought most of soldiers, policeman etc. are morons but this guy was actually a very nice and inteligent person and I enjoyed his company. Before I knew we were already in Dąbrowa Tarnowska where I decided to leave the car. After 10 mins I was heading to Żabno with some lady working there as a doctor. She moved to that shithole from Łódź (3rd biggest city in Poland). Guess it would be nice to do the same some day. Living in a big city is ok but sometimes I just miss countryside - nature, fresh air, some peaceful atmosphere (and the mountains which are NOT 400 km away like now). Żabno was quite disappointing. Not too many cars and I had to wait over 30 min to get 7 km lift and then shortly for another 7 km to Wierzchosławice. From there I hitchhiked to Wojnicz with two old guys - very funny ones. Wish I was like them when I get old. There were acting and joking like there were younger than me. Shame that they could only take me for those 8 km. My next ride was finally better regarding the distance. I travelled with one lady working in PKO Bank and managed to get to Gródek nad Dunajcem by Rożnowskie Lake. Really nice place. Never been there but for sure will come back. Sometimes you don't realize about all the beautiful places around before you don't get there accidentally. It was one of those places. Unfortunately (or fortunately) I couldn't enjoy the view cause almost instantly I cought a car that took me straight to the boarder with Slovakia. The driver wasn't really nice, but at least I got 46km further. I just remember him saying that he hates PKO and people working there are shitheads. Maybe he was angry with my last driver cause she didn't give him a mortgage or something :) I was quite disappointed when crossing the boarder cause instead of lots of TIRs waiting to give me lift straight to Romania I saw really small road good maybe for some bikes but not for huge trucks. Anyway at least the area itself was very nice and soon I got a ride to Stará Ľubovňa (Slovakia). It was getting late and it was quite hard to get anyone to stop. When already started to curse Slovakians in my mind one of them gave me a lift to Lipany. Guy was working for a Polish company so at least there were no problem with communication. Anyway Polish and Slovakian are very similiar so we could speak to each other our own language and be understood. Only sometimes you gotta watch out with the words you're using. For example Polish szukać (to look for) means in Slovakia or Czech Republic to fuck, so if you are a Pole in Slovakia it's better not to say to somebody that you were looking for him. How important good communication is I found later on. Before that I managed to catch a car going to Sabinov and then I took a train to Kosice where I knew a nice Slovakian girl called Zuzka who hosted me for a night. Thanks again! So.. I had a place to sleep, I spent less than 3 euros and travelled almost 500 km. Nice!

Day 1 summary:
Warszawa - Dąbrowa Tarnowska 263 km (hitchhike)
Dąbrowa Tarnowska - Żabno 10 km (hitchhike)
Żabno - Radłów 7 km (hitchhike)
Radłów - Wierzchosławice 7 km (hitchhike)
Wierzchosławice - Wojnicz 8 km (hitchhike)
Wojnicz - Gródek nad Dunajcem 31 km (hitchhike)
Gródek nad Dunajcem - Piwniczna-Zdrój 46 km (hitchhike)
Piwniczna-Zdrój - Stará Ľubovňa 16 km (hitchhike)
Stará Ľubovňa - Lipany 32 km (hitchhike)
Lipany - Sabinov 14 km (hitchhike)
Sabinov - Košice 55 km (train) Total: 482 km

Day 2 - Thursday, 29^th of April 2010

So.. after a great start expectations were even higher. Got up at 6 with hope to reach Romania same day. Zuzka's father gave me a lift to a gas station outta town on a road to SK-HU boarder. Very nice of him - thanks! I waited there for an hour but it didn't look so good. Not so many cars stopping there and most of them going in opposite direction. Decided to catch somethin' on the road and it turned out to be a good idea. I got a ride to the town of Seňa near the boarder with some Slovaks and then to the boarder pass with an asian driver who seemed not to understand Polish, Slovakian or any other language. At the boarder also nothing going long-distance so I went with some Poles going to Hungary to bring back their friends who had a car accident. Weird people. They acted very strangely like I was some kind of murderer or a thief at least. If you can't trust people guess you shouldn't take them into your car, right? Anyways if anybody should be afraid - that would be me. The camera and other stuff I took with me was propably twice more expensive than their shitty car. We crossed beautiful landscape full of vineyards bathed in warm may sun. Got a nice holday-feeling. It reminded me of Tuscany although I've never been there. Anyway, screw Tuscany - go to Hungary! It's better! Finally my drivers left me in some kind of Hungarian "city" I couldn't find on the map (maybe Aszalo - dunno). I got to Miskolc after a short ride with Hungarian guy who spoke no English or Russian at all. We had a nice conversation: Magyarország (hun. = Hungary), Lengyelország (hun. = Poland) and Ege sege dre (hun. = cheers). That's it. Anyway he seemed to be a nice guy. Catching next car was a very tough job. I was standing in a place no car wanted to stop and soon I thought of changing it. I took a look at the map and when I finished I realized that somebody has stopped. Not to take me but just to check the road! I was even more lucky when I saw that the car had Polish registration numbers! Also it was going same direction as me - to Debrecen! The driver turned out to be Armenian living in Spain travelling from Poland to Armenia with a car that didn't belong to him. Does it make many sense? He came from Spain to Poland just to buy a car for his Armenian friend. The ride itself was very nice. And fast one too. We drove like 160 km/h on Hungarian highway (which was of suprisingly very good quality). The car seemed to be made for max 120 km/h, but there are no impossible things for Armenian drivers. Crazy guys! Left at Berettyoujfalu (nice name, huh?) which was already close to Romania and I was 100% positive I'll reach it same day. Waiting for next car I got an opportunity to see some nice girls having a party outside and dancing to some Hungarian-village-disco-music (sucked so hard but at least the view was nice! :)) After 30 mins I was heading to HU-RO boarder. Unfortunately didn't get there. My Hungarian driver propably changed his mind or something cause in one moment he started to drive in wrong direction even thou he said he's going to the boarder city (or I think he said so). I waited for and hour at some car park before somebody stopped. My first Romanian driver! Nice! I asked him if he goes to Oradea - he said yes, so I went to take my luggage. While getting to the car I tried to speak English and Russian with him and then he started to shout at me and threw me away! Guess he thought I'm Romanian and when he realized I'm not, propably told me to go fuck myself in his language. Yeah, welcome to Romania! :) Fortunately next Romanian guys were nicer and they took me straight to the boarder. Also they taught me one of the most important expressions in Romanian. No, not te iubesc (rom. = I love  you). It was of course parcare de TIR (rom. TIR parking). I crossed the boarder on foot - even thou it's EU they still check passports/IDs there. There was quite a lot of cars waiting so I thought it will be easy to find somebody to ride with. Not the first time in Romania I was wrong :) After 1,5h I was still there and all the drivers were saying sorry, we don't go to Bucharest. Also when I tried to ask them some other questions like where are you going then? the answer was always the same: sorry, we don't go to Bucharest. By that time I realized that I have to learn some Romanian cause if I wanted to speak English with someone I would propably have to speak to myself. Finally after waiting 0,5h more I saw a Polish car. They passed me without stopping but then I noticed them at the nearby gas station. I run there asked for a ride and of course it was not a problem to give me a lift. At the beginning I was kinda afraid cause they started to talk about some vibrators (some perverts or what?) but then it turned out that they're some geo-physics going to work near Ploieşti with this equipment (damn, it still sounds strange). Their car was a kinda slow jeep, but it worked for me. We planned to go all the way to Ploieşti but Romanian roads verified our dreams. They turned out to be even worse than Polish ones not comparing to Slovakian or Hungarian. Instead of Ploieşti we reached Rupea where we stayed for a night. My drivers' company was paying for accomodation so instead of tent I got a room in 4* hotel. The thing was that we had a reciept for 2 bed room. So we paid more, got 3 beds and same time got reciept we needed. Guess the guy at the reception got the price difference for himself so also he was happy with that. Afterwards we went for 2 beers (rom. = bere - important word), and went to sleep.

Day 2 summary:
Košice - gas station 8 km (lift from a friend)
Košice - Seňa 21 km (hitchhike)
Seňa - HU boarder 3 km (hitchhike)
HU boarder - Aszaló (?) 41 km (hitchhike)
Aszaló - Miskolc 15 km (hitchhike)
Miskolc - Berettyóújfalu 155 km (hitchhike)
Berettyóújfalu - road to Artánd 17 km (hitchhike)
Road to Artánd - Oradea 6 km (hitchhike)
Oradea - Rupea 370 km (hitchhike)
Total: 636 km

Day 3 - Friday, 30^th of April 2010

Waking up at 5:30 was not nice but this time got some extra motivation. Knowing that I'll see my friends' face same day in the morning (very suprised by my arrival I guess:)) made me more alive. I even decided to pay for a bus from Ploieşti to be in Bucharest a bit earlier. I arrived at my friends' dorm at about 11 but it was me who was suprised. It turned out she was out of the city but she decided to come back and we met in few hours. I spent that time with her friend, Natalia. (Was very nice to meet you! Thanks for everything and see ya in Tibet I guess! :)) The first day was one of the best in Romania. Lots of fun, met some nice people, enjoyed great weather (so much better than in Poland). It all made me very optimistic about following days. Very nice welcome to Romania! Day 4 was supposed to be a trip to the seaside with Alex and Vlad I met same day. Sun AND the beach seemed to be an interesting alternative to Polish 10C degrees and cloudy weather!

Day 3 summary
Rupea - Ploieşti 165 km (hitchhike)
Ploieşti - Bucureşti 55 km (bus)
Bucureşti 4 km (walk)
Bucureşti 16 km (bus/inderground)
Total: 240 km

Day 4 - Saturday, 01^st of May 2010 

Again got up in the middle of the night to reach the beach before the traffics started. It was 1.05. which is some kind of holiday in Romania. Lots of people going outta town, especially to the seaside and especially to places like Vama Veche where we went. All the day it was quite boring, but I guess seaside has to be like this. For me one day of rest, doing absolutely nothing (apart from a few beers), was a great idea. Just sitting, talking, enjoying the sun and swimming in the sea. The last thing maybe could've been cause even thou it was warm, the sea wasn't. Anyway, when I come to the seaside I just have to swim a bit regardless the weather :) In the evening there was a rock concert - guess the biggest event like this in Romania. Bands were quite bad and didn't like it so much. Romanian rockers seem to be still somewhere in the middle ages,  they looked like they never heard of crowdsurfing :| Tried few times but no success.. The day ended nicely thou. I spent the evening with sitting by a fireplace and talking with Alexandra, a friend of Ada, Alex & Vlad. Very nice time - thanks! :)

Day 4 summary:
Bucureşti - Vama Veche 280 km (a lift from a friend)
Total: 280 km

Day 5 - Sunday, 02^nd of May 2010 

Another lazy day. In the morning trip back to Bucureşti, then sleeping in a dorm, a short walk in the city, some time spent in one of the Bucurests' parks and basically that's all. About the dorms. Before I came I was wondering quite a lot how do they look in Romania. Quite different than Polish ones. They consist of 1-room apartments, have 1 common bathroom and not-so-clean. Kinda low standard. For me it didn't really matter. I used to say - it's all about the people, not the places and the people were nice. If you ever had an opportunity to sleep in the forest without any tents and sleeping bags I guess later all places that are not wet and cold would be great. I had so the dorm seemed to me like a palace :)

Day 5 summary:
Vama Veche - Bucureşti 280 km (a lift from a friend)
Bucureşti 15 km (bus)
Bucureşti 8 km (walk)
Total: 303 km

Day 6 - Monday, 03^rd of May 2010 

Sightseeing day. After walking my friend to the station I walked myself through almost whole city. Saw all the major tourist attractions like Parliament (second biggest building in the world!), Ateneum, some churches, monument of giant potato on the stick and many others. For me Bucureşti turned out to be not-so-interesting city. Most of the buildings are in soviet style and I saw this kind of things in Poland, Ukraine and Russia and that's why I was not amazed by it. It's quite interesting that in 1977 some part of the city was destroyed during the eartquake which gave the Romanian gouvernment a good reason to destroy some more and replace it with socialistic architecture. For me it was a good idea to go outside the city centre. Not so crowded, much more peaceful and quiet it seemed very nice and reminded me Georgian capital Tbilisi where I studied for 4 months. Really miss it so much. That day I also visited a church near potato monument. Spent there almost 2 hours wondering about some things that were bothering me at that time. Some sort of a moment of reflection. In the evening I met with my Romanian friends met in Russia last year - Claudiu, Cristina and Tatiana. Was nice to see them again. Got me some advices bout Romania and ideas about some places worth visiting. When I came back to the dorm I met Ada's roommate - Nicoletta who likes pears :)

Day 6 summary:
Bucureşti 10 km (bus/underground)
Bucureşti 30 km (walk)
Bucureşti 7 km (bus)
Total: 47 km

Day 7 - Tuesday, 04^th of May 2010

I was about to visit my friend in Oneşti  this day but in the last minute my plans had to be changed. I threw away the train ticket I had and decided to go to Ceahlău Mountains. Instead of going from Ajud to Oneşti I had to continue my travel to Bacău so I chose to try ancient Romanian way of travelling by train. This means bribing the ticket controller by giving him about 30-50% of tickets' worth. Suprisingly I ended beeing thrown out of the train. It didn't work... WTF?!? Later it turned out that it was the only one time I didn't succeed :) Anyway I was lucky again cause in 5 mins there was another train leaving to Bacău and the price was cheaper than bribing the controller in the previous one! There's more about Romanian trains to be mentioned later.. From Bacău I took a train to Piatra Neamţ, then a bus to Bicaz and hitchhiked to Izvoru Muntelui. Hitchhiking was so much easier in that region than in parts of Romania I visited before. I met a nice couple that took me straight to that place even thou they were going some different direction and then helped me talk to National Park ranger and get some useful information. Really appreciated this. After they left I pitched the tent in the forest, had a beer and went to sleep. There were mountains waiting for me the next day.

Day 7 summary:
Bucureşti 7 km (bus)
Bucureşti - Ajud 250 km (train)
Ajud - Bacău 56 km (train)
Bacău - Piatra Neamţ 65 km (train)
Piatra Neamţ - Bicaz 25 km (bus)
Bicaz - Izvoru Muntelui 8 km (hitchhike)
Total: 411 km

Day 8 - Wednsday, 05^th of May 2010

Finally, I was at the trail. Got up at 6, ate a small breakfast (some Romanian sausages - kinda disguisting but had no choice, could've eaten some grass instead, but after some time I decided to choose the sausages). The path itself was supposed to take 4,5-5h so I could take my time, relax and enjoy the nature. I love spending time in mountains, especially when I'm alone there. Can gather my thoughts, think about some stuff I have on my mind at the moment and by that  time there was quite a lot of this. That day at about 12 I slowly reached Cabana (rom.= mountain refugee) Dochia and after eating mamaliga with cheese (rom. = mamaliga cu brânză ) and having a beer I went to climb second highest peak in the Ceahlău Mountains, mt. Toaca (1900 m). Spent 3h on the peak relaxing and sunbathing in a zone free of communism (especially nice after visiting Bucharest ;)) Apart from Dochia I met 5 people that day. That was what I needed. That time prefered bears, deers and eagles than humans. If you don't understand watch Into The Wild movie. Really great one - it's a must see!

Day 8 summary:
Ceahlău Mountains 20 km (walk)
Total: 20 km

Day 9 - Thursday, 06^th of May 2010

Sometimes everything changes in a second, a great day becomes the worst day in your life, a day full of hope and expectations ends with a feeling of indifference. This was that kind of day. My plan was to get to Lacu Roşu (eng. = Red Lake) and camp by the lake. Started really very well. Got up at 5 to make some pics of the sunrise and after some time I left Dochia with a Romanian couple I met the other day. Really nice people, enjoyed their company very much, They were about to emigrate to Canada and work as national park rangers (real ones, not like those wankers in Romania, like they said). They gave me a lift with their car and then I started to walk towards Lacu Roşu. The road leaded through Bicaz Chei (eng. = Bicaz Canyon). That place was just amazing even thou they put an asphalt road there. Also hated these kind of small markets situated by the road. Lots of sellers selling this cheap chineese shit. That completely ruins the picture - hope they'll ban in in some day. About 1h from Bicaz Chei was already Lacu Roşu, but it was a bit disappointing for me. Quite a lot of tourists, hotels and stuff like that made me go somewhere further. I decided to pitch a tent in the forest and followed the road to Ghorgheni. Couldn't find anything good enough I walked for about 20 km and when I finally wanted to stop it started to rain. Quick decision - hitchhiking to Ghorgheni and then we'll see. The first car stopped. I was lucky again - few minutes later it started to rain heavily. The driver turned to be a Hungarian with Romanian passport. He told me quite a lot of interesting stuff bout that region. About 80% of people living in Ghorgheni are Hungarians and Hungarian is the main language spoken in the city! Later on when he left me at Miercurea-Ciuk I went to the shop. There was a small, bout 12 yrs old girl by the counter. I asked her in Romanian How much is the cheese? (rom. = cât costa brânză?). She answered she doesn't speak Romanian and she called her father. He started to speak to me in Romanian but then I said I don't understand it :) Later on we talked (in Russian) so he found out I'm from Poland. There is this saying in Polish and in Hungarian, that we're like brother-nations. To fight and to drink together. Since the only person we could fight was this small girl, we decided to drink. The owner closed his shop for about 30 mins and we had some wine together. Then I went to the station to catch a train to Bucureşti . This day I found out another thing about Romanian trains. They're never on time (made like 5 attemps and it was always the same; this time it was about 1h delay). Also, they're propably one of the slowest ones in Europe. It took over 6h to travel for about 260 km which meant the train reached amazing average speed of 42 km/h! If you're good at cycling better take your bike with you! It's cheaper, faster and more environmental friendly! From the train part of the day become crappy. I finished it drinking vodka with some Moldavian guys in the dorm. I was told Moldavian people drink a lot but not so long after we started 2 (of 3) were gone. After some time our friend, vodka was also gone and at about 5-6 am we had to go to sleep.

Day 9 summary:
Cabana Dochia - road to Bicazu Ardelean 4km (walk)
road to Bicazu Ardelean - Bicaz Chei 20 km (a lift from a friend)
Bicaz Chei - (near) Ghorgheni 30 km (walk)
Gheorgheni - Miercurea-Ciuc 60 km (hitchhike)
Miercurea-Ciuc - Bucureşti 260 km (train)
Bucureşti 8 km (taxi)
Total: 382 km

Day 10 - Friday, 07^th of May 2010

I don't think drinking vodka helps to solve your problems and this time it also didn't but maybe it's just easier to reach the bottom and then bounce back rather than staying underwater all the time. I felt pretty bad the other day and I decided to get back to Poland. Feeling some kind of indifference just couldn't enjoy travelling and meeting new people as much as I used to. Song of a day 10 (and 11):

I spend the whole day mastering my time-wasting techniques (which are already of finest quality) and in the evening I packed my stuff and went to meet Alex and Vlad (propably the best future couchsurfing hosts in Romania - highly recommended *****) Considering my mood I had a really great time and the next day I was a bit sad also because I was leaving. Was very nice to meet you guys and hopefully I'll see you some day!

Day 10 summary:
Bucureşti 8 km (bus) Bucureşti 4 km (walk)
Total: 12 km

Day 11 - Saturday, 08^th of May 2010

In the morning made some shoppings and went to the station to catch a train to Brasov. It was supposed to leave at 11 but it was cancelled due to lack of passengers wanting to travel it. Damn, in civilized countries you just don't do that! If you can't make a proper schedule based on traffic analysis go work in McDonalds instead of railway company! (no offence to McD staff - appreciate your work). I was in Braşov around 17:30 and decided to stay in one of the hostels. Needed proper rest before nex day travelling. Guess the city itself was beautiful especially the old part but for me nothing was beautiful that day. Didn't enjoy it but if somebody asked me about it I would surely recommend visiting it. That day just made some pics to know I've been there, got a chat with some American and Finnish guys at the hostel and went to sleep.

Day 11 summary:
Bucureşti 10 km (a lift from a friend)
Bucureşti - Braşov 166 km (train)
Braşov 8 km (walk)
Total: 184 km

Day 12 - Sunday, 09^th of May 2010

Got up at 5:30. Fresh, relaxed and ready to go. No, not really. Had an awful breakfast (some Romanian canned meat; bought 2 types of those - later found out the second one was very good). Also missed 1st bus to the railway station. At 7:30 I was already on the road to Oneşti  with some people going to a funeral. Maybe I looked kinda like them and that's why they took me. We were driving about 140 km/h what on Romanian roads can be quite suicidal. At that moment I really felt like I'm going to a funeral but luckily we managed to stay in one piece. In Oneşti I took a car to Bacău and then hitchhiked to Suceava. I travelled with a guy in 1969's Dacia. At the beginning I thought it will take ages to reach Suveava but actually the car was renovated and in very good condition easily reaching 120-130 km/h and not falling apart. The driver was collecting old cars like that and he knew how to make them work smoothly. Dacia turned out to be even better than Mercedes :) That one we were riding was worth around 14000 euros (at least I was told so). We got to Suceava at about 13:15. Over 300 km in less than 6h in total so it was about 1h faster than taking a train and free of charge! In Suceava I found the Polish House and thought I might be able to stay there for a night but it was not opened on Sunday. Then I got lucky again. The other day I wrote some messages to Couchsurfing members in Suceava asking for a place to stay and one of them, George, replied he could host me that day. I went with him to a small village 20km from Suceava. I liked his place very much. Countryside, lots of animals, peaceful and quiet atmosphere was what I needed at the moment. Lack of running water wasn't really a problem :) Spent there some nice time chatting also learned to play backgammon and watched Celtics - Cavs game (almost whole - I felt asleep somewhere in 4th quarter I think). Propably next time I'm also gonna drop by. George CS profile

Day 12 summary:
Braşov - Oneşti 125 km (hitchhike)
Oneşti - Bacău 45 km (hitchhike)
Bacău - Suceava 140 km (hitchhike)
Suceava - some village nearby 20 km (a lift from a friend)
Total: 330 km

Day 13 - Monday, 10^th of May 2010

It was a good day. Got up not so early, took a shower at gas station George was working at and hit the road (with problems but solved with a little help from my friends :)). Got a lift to the boarder with George and his friend. Bought some beer (souvenirs for my friends) and tried to hitchhike. It was hard - there were almost no cars crossing the boarder and propably nobody was going anywhere further than Chernivtsi so I decided to go there. Then I got about 15 km out of town but later on I couldn't catch anything. I got quite pissed off that nobody was stopping so I took a marshrutka (minibus) to Sniatyn and then a bus to Ivano-Frankovsk (costed about 4 euros in total). I got a friend, Przemek, who used to live there so there was no problem with finding a place to stay for a night. I met some friends of his - Hrystia and Nigel Ukrainan-Canadian couple living there. We had some beers ate very nice Bochka at Bochka restaurant at the town square (gotta try it - 2,5 euros only!). Spent really nice time with them. Later I also met a Turkish guy Firat - at his place I was about to stay for a night. Yeah, it kinda didn't work that way. We decided to go to the club and I stayed there till they were closing. Had a great time, had a lot o fun, met four nice Ukrainian girls and was back home at 6 am.

Day 13 summary:
To the gas station 2 km (walk) Gas station - Siret 15 km (hitchhike)
Siret - RO-UA boarder 5 km (a lift from a friend)
RO-UA boarder - 10 km north :) (hitchhike)
to  Чернівці (Chernivtsi) 28 km (hitchhike) Чернівці (Chernivtsi) - Лужани (Luzhani) 12 km (hitchhike) Лужани (Luzhani) - Снятин (Sniatyn) 20 km (bus) Снятин (Sniatyn) - Івано-Франківськ (Ivano-Frankivsk) 105 km (bus) Івано-Франківськ 4 km (walk) Івано-Франківськ 15 km (taxi) Івано-Франківськ 4 km (walk)
Total: 220 km

 

Day 14/15 - Monday, Tuesday, 10-11^th of May 2010

Was kinda hard to get up after 2h of sleep but I had to. Got some hangover but it disappeared very soon after 1h walk with 25kg backpack. Left luggage at the station and went to see the city. Didn't do anything worth mentioning, haven't met anybody interesting, just enjoyed the city, great weather, spent some time relaxing in the park etc. Also bought some foreign beers for my friends which together with romanian ones made it 11. Left from the bus station at 17:50. The bus was slow and shitty but cheap as well. For 12h trip to Warsaw paid 20 euro. Later it turned out that 4h of those I was about to spend at the boarder. First you wait in a huge queue, then they check your pasport, then you get out, again passports, they check your luggage, then they check the bus. Nice welcome to your home country, huh? People treated like animals going to be slaughtered and nobody cares bout it... What's more after all this stuff they let almost all smugglers get their cigarettes and alcohol to Poland. Don't believe they couldn't find anything. Bloody wankers! Wasn't it easier to let everybody cross the boarder without all this bullshit? 5:30 was in Warsaw, at 6 got home, repacked my stuff and went to sleep. Hibernating till the next journey which will be...

Day 14/15 summary

Івано-Франківськ (Ivano-Frankivsk) 15 km (walk) Івано-Франківськ  - Warszawa 500 km (bus)
Total: 515 km
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