| Travelling With | |
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| Chris Royce | James Neville |
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This section will contain daily accounts of our journey, and hopefully some photos! As we travel we plan to keep a diary of the days events including the highs and lows. No doubt including some ammusing colamities along the way!
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san francisco tracking is now located here http://christravelblog.blogspot.com |
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test |
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We made it! |
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A travel-tastic day to make this journey from the heart of Albania to half way up the Montenegrin coast. This involved finding a bus from Tirana to Shkoder, the gateway to the border. This meant literally finding the bus as there are no timetables or bus stops. We luckily found it and made the two hour jounrey north. From there we got a taxi to the border, a taxi from the border to a town called Bar, then onto a bus arriving in Kotor in the early evening. Saw the town by night. |
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Just a very quick update here. We turned up at our hostel around 05:15, waited until 06:00 then we phoned the owner. He instructed us on how to get in, however we couldn't find a bed so we slept on the floor of a room until 08:30. The owner arrived to start their shift around 09:00, so we finally got checked in. We snoozed for around ah hour then showered and headed out for an explore! Tirana is mental, so different from anywhere else we have been. Noise, confusion, chaos seams to be the general feeling from just looking around the city center. Roads are barely roads, and the drivers clearly have little to no understanding of how to use them. You look out into a potential peaceful square to only be deafened by the constant use of car horns and screeching tyres. Car horns appear to be used leisurely often with vehicles driving along rhythmically mashing them as if to create some sort of rap music beat. People take their lives into their own hands when attempting to cross the roads, as even with traffic lights and crossings it is still dangerous. Red lights mean nothing and a green man simply indicates that your chances of getting run over are only reduced. More update soon. |
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After recovering from a mini-hangover, brought on by a pathetic 3.5pints at "The English Pub" central Skopje we woke around 08:30. I think the terrible tolerance for booze was due to having eaten pretty much jack the day before, not to mention the amount of walking we have been doing in the heat. So anyway, waking up, did the shower stuff, then wandered into the front room. Ok, so there's nobody about literally empty house. Then the phone rings and some guy jumps out from behind a fake wall in a completely zombie like state and staggers to the phone. Perhaps the owners poor kid left with the responsibility of taking bookings and queries from the phone. Before we get a chance to ask him about leaving he disappears into the hidden room, and falls back into bed. We were a little confused, as he surely saw us standing in the room with our bags, yet decided not to conclude that we probably wanted to leave. We knocked on the hidden wall, which almost fell away from the building as it was only made of polystyrene, and clearly some year 3 primary school project, (maybe). We at this point only had 25mins to get from our hostel / family house to the bus station where apparently our ticket to Ohrid could be bought. James headed into the station, whilst I ran around the station itself trying to find a bus with a sign that might say Ohrid, obviously written in Macedonian, with various symbols I'd never even seen before let alone about to understand or pronounce. After a 3 hr ride with annoying kids banging the seats from behind us we arrived in Orhid. Before my foot even touched down I was instantly attacked by various people willing to do literally whatever it took to provide a taxi ride or accommodation. It was absolutely crazy, you said "no" yet that apparently in Macedonian must translate to "I want you to follow me around like some lap dog and pretend that I said yes". Even to the point where some guy followed us a good 5-10mins up the road to the bus stop (to go to Struga) and just stood next to us saying "taxi, taxi". we're like "listen mate, we're standing at a bus stop, what does it look like we're doing?". he then decides to make up some rubbish about the buses being out of service, and tries desperately to convince us that a 10E is the best we're going to get. 10mins or so later bus arrives, 30p each for 15mins ride, bargain. After loads and loads of confusion it turns out that the bus to Tirana doesn't leave until 23:00 in the evening, even though we had heard about 5 different versions of the same story, all apparently confirmed via a phone call, probably to the talking clock. So we've decided to stay in Ohrid for the night as we have spend up until about 17:00 looking around for bus time tables and the like, and we actually want to have a look around this place. So Bus is now for 23:00 Sat night, arriving 05:45 Sun in Tirana. The bus stop is apparently outside a petrol station that we've yet to see, so we're going to try and wing it tomorrow, as just want to get a place to sleep now! It's a tour bus so I'm hoping I'll get some good sleep, otherwise I'm going to be seriously shattered. Heading back to Ohrid we got a taxi for 100MDK, about 1 quid, then headed for somewhere to sleep. After wandering around we saw a house with "rooms" in the window, headed in and were greeted by a 10 year old who had very good English unlike the older lady who clearly hadn't had the advantage of being taught English at school. So after checking in for 25E for a very swish room, we're happy, it overlooks the lake, which would even make for some cheesy romantic set for a movie. It looks like a family house, and they are incredibly keen to almost make us part of the family. We almost felt guilty having to turn down coffee with them simply because we're only there for one night, and need to try and get everything in. The best they got was about 5mins with us sitting at the table and politely taking some home-made pastry thing, tasted OK, James took a couple which he enjoyed more than me. Then we're off out to explore, (write this) and possibly a sea side bar. Till next update ;) Chris, |
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Following the last nights dissapointments, we were up early and after much nervous waiting, jumped aboard the bus for Skopje. We were again early to be on the safe side but this does involve an extra amount of worry as we are tapping our feet, every second dragging on wondering where the sodding bus is. We were not looking forward to the length of the bus ride, but were glad to be moving on all the same. Our fears about the bus ride were reinforced when the bus pulled off of a main road for seemingly no reason and just stopped. The driver and his colleagues got off and looked confused. After a little deliberation they made it back on the bus and headed off for a new improved route. Not much further and he bus slowed up to cross a gravel surfaced bridge. After excruciatingly slow progress over the gravel, it again pulled over in the middle of nowhere. This time however, our passports were summoned and whisked away. We were to follow shortly and it turned out to be a train station around the border to Macedonia. It was most confusing as there were only a few of us and even the local looking people seemed bewildered themselves. After a short wait, all was fine and we were ushered onto the train for the remainder of the journey to Skopje. Chris had to rush back to the bus as we had left a few items on there, assuming that the bus would continue. Luckily we had plenty of time before the train left so all items still intact. This train was similar to the decrepit one from the day before except that it had an engine. It shared the lack of safety though, as the back of the train was just openable doors as per any carriage, so you could open them and jump out if you wished. We opted to stay onboard and waited out the Macedonia section. As we started to see Macedonian station names, it became clear that we were going to struggle here - their alphabet of choice is based upon Cyrillic, like Russia. In Greece, i had been able to work out lettering thanks to that Maths degree and all the Greek symbols that are used. For example, what looks like P is actually R... However, we had to start again here. We arrived in Skopje early afternoon and we greeted by a very ugly station, mostly deserted and fairly run down. I had to help a man use an ATM but i think the real problem was that he didn't have any money because i got some fine - five grand! About 50 quid but it made me feel special. Having got on the bus at 8.20 there was no time for breakfast. We rolled into Macedonia after 1 and were literally starving for food so we elected to use the station cafe. The menu was indecipherable s we stuck to the picture of a pizza and plucked out two random choices from the menu. It turned to be ham and mushroom which was fine although the yellow-ness of the mushroom was suspicious. From the station we moved out and got a taxi to our hostel. The car was, well, an old model and hd clearly done a few miles in it's time. The doors might as well have been held on with string and the seatbelts in the back were disfunctional. The driver laughed this off and seemed to feel that it was a luxury for us to be free from the seatbelts. Not convinced. We pulled up outside a shack and were dubious that this was indeed the address we quoted the driver. Then again, the fare equated to 70p so might not be to the highest standard. As disaster appeared to be setting in again, a more explorative look found that our hostel was next door. Relief, pure relief. Especially since the driver swiftly departed, almost admitting guilt. We were further relieved when the hostel owner displayed good English, a selectin of beds and a clean bathroom - it even had a lock! Apparently in Eastern Europe, locks are not considered that important; some do not even seem to require being closeable! He also supplied a city map and reassured us that we were close to the centre. Wandered in to have a look round and settle travel arrangements for tomorrow; our plan being to go to Lake Ohrid and then onto Tirana in Albania. Discovered the Square of Macedonia, Kamen Most (Stone Bridge), the Old Bazaar and a statue of Mother Teresa. Unbeknownst to us, Teresa was born in Macedonia so is probably their most famous export. The square was impressive as a space much like that in Thessaloniki but minus the YMCA band. Again, bars and cafes lined the square, and the river Varder which flows underneath Kamen Most. We could not help but notice that there were an awful lot of people who should be at work just loafing about through the afternoon. They all seem reasonably affluent - well dressed, frequenting trendy bars - but none of them seem to work! The area resembled Mediterranean Europe and could do a hot spot in years to come with heat, cheap beer and a friendly outlook. The stereotype is found in the Old Bazaar, across the bridge, where stall after stall of absolute tat is on sale. Many sell exactly the same tat! We really cant understand how they wll stay afloat when nobody seemeed to be buying anything beyond kebabs. We treated ourselves to a few beers - Skopsko (CkoTcko in Cyrillic)- and a steak with Macedonian salad. Food is fantastic and cheaply priced. For both of us to eat the steak meal and sink 4 beers it came to only 20 quid. What a bargain! The only downside was the showing of Eurovision on a big screen but we managed to avoid listening to anything beyond Israel's entry. Rubbish. Macedonia is definately making a positive impression. |
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Following on from Chris' last entry, we spent the afternoon and evening in Larissa which was clearly a town and far less chaotic than Athens. In fact it seemed to be deserted. It transpired that this is because the entire population appeared to congregate in the one main square and enjoy a cafe/bar area that was actually quite modern. There were still maniac drivers and, for that matter, pedestrians but not to the same extent as in Athens. Otherwise you could the overall style of Larissa resembled the chilled out relative of energetic Athens. On Wednesday morning, we left the train station adjacent hotel and sped to Thessaloniki, further north and on the coast. We arrived and, after getting our bearings, headed for the seafront in hope of a beach. Unfortunately there was a harbour very close by, so there was only a concrete strip between the road and the sea, but it was great to see the water none the less. In the mid afternoon sun, it looked like thousands of flash cameras going off as the light from the sun reflected off waves. Similarly to Larissa, there was a thriving cafe/bar area, this time lining the water front. What was interesting was that these all seemed to be fairly packed throughout the day by people whose age range was 20 - 50. How there were so many people not at work we cant understand. Just off the waterfront, punctuating the row of cafes, is the main square of Thessaloniki. It has a wide open space, surrounded by benches and then more cafe/bar/restaurants. Again, these were all attracting a lot of custom - does anybody actually work more than a few hours a day here? We were served by a guy whose name badge read 'Ninja' although we expect this was not his real name. He could speak some English so chatted to us for a while about Thessaloniki, England and his love of Iron Maiden! There was a brass band in the square who treated listeners to a lovely rendition of the ... YMCA! Unusual, but it made an impression! As we walked inland from the square, there was a section of surface removed revealing some ruins which seemed to have been found accidentally. Surrounding this is many high rise flats, seemingly built before the discovery. It makes a strange juxtaposition that two thousand year old remains of a civilisation are to be found literally metres from something now regarded generally as an eye sore and a poor solution to housing difficulties. Zeus must be turning in his grave. Following this, we made our way up the mountain side - assisted by an English speaker who helped us with the buses - to find what we understood to be an old ampitheatre. However, when we reached the mountain top area, it was deserted. As we walked toward the theatre, we left civilisation behind to wander through the Greek outback, dusty and dry. We did find the theatre but it really didnt seem particularly old as it was built from newer looking materials than other ruins and it was in peak condition. It was now approaching the time for our train to Skopje, Macedonia. We arrived early by 20 minutes and duly waited at our platform. Waiting for us was a decrepit old train which should have been scrap metal years ago. However, time ticked on and nothing was happening. We asked one station official who waved toward the old train and another who barked 'information' at us. We went inside to the information kiosk only to learn that the train had been converted into a bus journey and had left promptly, ie before now. I explained that we had read the platform information to read '5' and hence we outside. He countered to say that the change had been announced, but only in Greek. Apparently our situation was 'unique' but there was nothing he could do until the next train/bus - at 8.20 the next morning! There were many agencies outside the station touting for bus rides to Albania. None of these people could speak any English, but luckily one man offered to speak German so i was able to correspond very simply. It turned to be only 28 euros for this 10 hour ride but we ultimately declined as it would mean missing out on Macedonia for the sake of the overall journey. Instead, we made our way to a cheap hotel and crashed for the night, hoping that the bus/train would appear the next day. |
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Well we were originally going to be heading to see this Mt Olympus but decided that it was probably highly over-rated and we needed to save some time to make sure we made it to the other countries we plan to visit. After wandering around the last bits of Athens that we hadn't seen we finally headed for the train station. That in itself turned out to be much more of a mission than we originally thought. We asked several people for directions yet they all looked very confused at the thought of a train moving above the surface! We were aiming to get to the train station for around 12:00, instead at around this time we were still wandering around looking for the darn thing. You wouldn't believe the difficulty we had in just explaining what is was we were looking for, only to be eventually told that they didn't even know where it was. After masses more confusion we eventually found a station, annoyingly this turned out to only be a tube station, much like the one we'd left the other side of the city 2hrs ago. Problem being is all the stops are in Greek (obviously) and we can't read it. Finally when we had pretty much given up we strolled into a pharmacy which boasted a sign "English speaking staff here". Again though the staff didn't really know what we meant, fortunately a customer came in with near perfect English, and gave us directions. Turns out you need to take the tube to the metro, then the metro to the train station. Painfully we were at the metro about 2.3hrs ago, but couldn't read the word for train station!!!! There was plenty more confusion with something as simple as seats on the train. Who would have known that there is some cryptic logarithmic algorithm to calculate which seat you are supposed to be sitting in. So we / I spent a good couple of hrs having to move around the train every 20mins or so when someone came to kick me out of their seat! By this time there was no chance of making the mountain so we booked into Larissa, quite a simple place, hardly a touristy place. We found accommodation literally 100m from the station, sounded good to me! Till next update. ;) |
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Again, to expand upon Chris' entry earlier. We awoke to find that we were sharing the room with a Canadian girl who is undertaking a Classical Studies course as part of her degree. She has arrived from Rome and is on her way to the Greek islands shortly to see some more classical stuff. She was very outgoing and friendly and so we exchanged the obligatory traveller opener conversation. Chris and I decided to head off to check out the Acropolis after stocking up on some basic supplies, particularly the sun tan lotion - factor 30 for me! By a complete coincidence we stumbled across her again when dropping our toiletries off. She expressed a desire to go to the Acropolis too and act as a pseudo tour guide. As we bustled through the streets of Athens, i was overwhelmed with the culture shock - it honestly felt like we were in the third world, or at least my uneducated view of the the third world. It certainly was not westernised even compared to Slovenia. It was so hot, so stuffy and cluttered in the extreme. There were just so many people hurrying to somewhere, so many motorbikes nearly crashing over the bonnet of a car just to get slightly ahead, so many street stalls with endless tat. This is how i imagined Buenos Aires or Rio de Janeiro, not one of the major cultural players of modern Europe. We made it up the hillside to the Acropolis and i was overwhelmed in a more positive manner - i had seen pictures before but did not realise exactly how majestic it was going to be in the flesh. If anything, the fight through the crowds made the Greek ruins even more impressive; being released from the intensity below up to one of the worlds greatest testaments to human accomplishment. The famous structures atop the mountain enjoy a supporting cast of smaller remains on each of the four 'slpoes' which lead to and from the summit. This included the original ampitheatre which we sat in and felt history whizzing by our ears. A poppy had emerged between two marble slabs and would have made for a fantastically arty photo had i not been on the brink of collapse from heat exhaustion. We also took in the temple of Zeus in the light and by night and have some great footage. Readers will have to wait until we return for this. |
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To add my slant onto the earlier post from Chris now that we have a little more time. As noted, we encountered various forms on transport on this first day: Rail replacement bus, train to London, underground in London, Airport connection from London, Airport shuttle bus, airplane, Greek airplane shuttle bus and finally, a long walk unfortunately away from as well as to, the hostel. My colleagues at work may enjoy an anecdote from the plane journey; before take off i let out a mighty sneeze which the face ache in front of me was lucky enough to receive a shock wave of. Only he seemed aghast. He was angered further when Chris and i 'talked over' the safety instructions - we were discussing a great idea for a film, so he can sod off! As soon as we exited the airport, a wall of humidity hit us. Bear in mind that it was 21:00 local time! By 11:00 the temperature was still registering at 22c in the street; i think that the heat simply doesn't leave the city and retains an ambient heat that is more suitable to Lou and Bridget than my snowman self! From the airport, a ridiculously long journey ensued to reach Athens central. This is not because the choice of airline carrier was motivated by price alone and therefore dropped us off at a disused military base. It would appear that Athens is simply a spralling city, particularly when we had only a limited idea where our hostel was. Our instructions were from Omonia Square, which is where it seemed that we had been deposited by the airport shuttle bus. Our map showed the entire city in half a page of A5 so only had room for precious few road names. From what was masquerading as Omonia Square, we absent mindedly walked in what would have have been the wrong direction anyway before eventually realising the mistake. It did, however, present an opportunity to observe the Egyptian embassy and many other grand buildings of unknown name, all of which including as standard a security guard weilding a sub machine gun. This was nothing compared to the 'guerilla in the mist' guard donning full camouflage in a hedge within the fenced compound of one building! Back at 'Omonia Square' we saw a huge sign saying Syntagma Square and edited our position on the map. From there we fairly easily found the real Omonia Square and followed the directions from there. What was touted as a '10 minute walk' was in reality a 20 minute hike. We struggled against the temptation to call it a day and figure out a new plan and were eventuall rewarded by the sight of an oasis going by the dubious name of Zorbas. |
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Woke to some other random guy leaving who we'd spoke to the night before. Then heard a voice from the bunk underneath. Turns out if was some Canadian girl who was over for a course of some sort, apparantly school or something? Anyway, she seamed pretty cool so she ended up joining us whilst we wandered around Acropolis. After spending about 5hrs hanging around James and I realised that we didn't even officially know her name, and it was far to late to actually do introductions now. After heading back we discovered / drew our own colclusions that she may be sleeping / have slept with the porter. Who apparently was named "Jordan". We branded Jordan a bit of a playa having seduced her in literally one day, but what made it even funnier was the carving under James' bed warning others to beware of his charms. "Beware of Jordan", unfortuntately it would appear Cassie was not! Athens - stupid amount of motorbikes, with literally no fear! Loads of street sellers, all selling the same thing apparently, yet some how surviving to stay afloat. Feels very cluttered and not as westerenised as we'd have thought! James described it more as a shanty down than anythign else, I'm sure the Greeks might have something to say about that though! We saw some other cool old Greek stuff, including the temple of Zeus as well as others! Till later! |
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Awake 07:00 to head to the train station for around 08:45. James was pretty shattered due to starting his packing at 00:00 that very morning, preparation, that's for losers! The trains were wrecked, so we had to get a bus from Colchester to Ingatestone. Ingatestone appears to be very primitive much like something out of "The Village", somehow sheltered from the rest of the 1st world. We then finished up with the train from Farringdon to London Luton, where a shuttle bus was provided to connect us to the airport. There was a unusually strange girl who could have been mistaken for being dead on the train. Although one guy took it upon himself to answer this very question by shaking her violently and waking her up. Instead all he got in return was a zombie like mumor, and it was only then we realised he didn't actually know her personally. Most left the train, except her who probably remained there until the end of the line. Loving customs, as having nothing to check in sped up both departure and arrival. Although my bag technically was too big for overhead baggage no one seamed to double check, so all was good! Athens first impressions: - Absolutely loads of stray dogs! Literally everywhere just wandering around, using crossings etc! - Getting completely lost on the way to the hotel, walking about 1hr out of our way (we did see some nice old buildings tho, including a army guy armed with a rifel hiding amoung some trees. Scary! Near the point of turning back again for fear of taking yet another wrong turn, we luckly found the hotel. Woo hotel Zorbas! |
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All good, update this eve, no idea why the last one didn't work. cheers |
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Well here we are the night before the mission begins. We are set to leave London Luton to arrive at Athens for around 20:25. Having successfully managed to pack 2 weeks worth of clothing into a small rucksack I feel prepared. Annoyingly about 1/4 of my bag is full of camera related equipment, and the related chargers for everything. From Athens we are planning to work our way up through Albania, Serbia, Macedonia, Bosnia, Montenegro and eventually finishing in Slovenia. Without a return flight booked and only our first 2 nights accommodation arranged things are definately going to be interesting! Chris. |
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