BALKANS: INTRODUCTION

The first of the balkan series...

I had to rely on my memory in writing this part of the journal, since my travel log is not with me, and i am not sure when i am going to get it back.

It was almost three years ago, when i embarked on my journey to eastern europe for the first time. It was summer months 2003, when the temperature was rather extreme, and hit the highest point in european history of recent decades. Some people may blame it to the global warming effect, but whoever's fault it was, many people, especially elders of the community were affected. some even lost their lives due to the heat.

At that point of the year, i had just finished completing my voluntary warden scheme with RSPB. It was all initiated by my reluctance to pay any rent during the summer months. And after undergoing the necessary conservation work training, i decided to leave and travel to the continental european countries alone.

I still remember questioning myself.. why i am doing this? what do i want to achieve? I have no intention on aswering any of those questions over here.. Many people travel for different reasons, and i have my own reasons..

To cut things short, I arrived in istanbul by plane. It was a rather short and smooth journey from Bucharest. After spending several days in istanbul, i decided to leave by train. There is only one daily train service connecting istanbul with pathios, where one can get connection to thessaloniki or athens. My initial plan was to go to athens straight away, and because of that i boarded this train. Because it was the only free transport for backpackers, the train was literally crammed with smelly-but-can't-be-bothered backpackers.



There were 6 seats in each cabin, and few cabins in a coach of the train. Looking for a suitable seat, i realised that almost all cabins had been taken by one group or another.. I found a cabin, which was occupied by 4 huge white males, and one guitar, which i had to be satisfied with. Later, the cabin was joined by coming and going locals, since the train was simply packed with people.

In this cabin, my friendship with few of these fellows began to nourish. One of them, Rubens is from Denmark, and the other three, Vinko, Dubravko and Tomislav were Croatians. Well, I soon realised that they call their country Hrvatska and not Croatia. This made me wonder, how the word Croatia came to exist and stamped on the Hrvatskans.

Anyway, the journey was troublesome. I think, almost everyone who followed the same Istanbul-Athens route will come out with similar comments. Train services in Greece were rather interesting (i am trying to be as diplomatic as possible here, ok!).. Basically, the Croatians and I spent couple of days together from istanbul to pathios. and then to thessaloniki. slept under a tree outside the train station, later to athens.. walked to the famous Acropolis.. took a night train to Patras.. slept in the fortress park.. had shower from someone's tap outside his gate.. went to the ocean and swim in the blue greek mediterranean water.. took a ferry to Bari.. where in the end we parted..

Over those many days together, we managed to know each other quite well.. or very well.. There's a saying that says something like 'you don't know your friends, until you travel with them'.

After the trip, i managed to keep in touch with them for so many years. Realising that i am going to graduate soon, i decided to pay a visit to my friends across the continent.. and I simply put Zagreb in my place-to-visit priority list.

Soon i realised, that it was easier said than done. I had been planning to visit zagreb in few breaks, but i simpy could not put the plan together. Until few months before the spring break, i decided that if i did not go there now, i will never be able to go there. Taking everything more seriously, i started to work on my plan and my budget.


It was later that i met my uncle who came to London for some business deals in Germany. He advised me to include Sarajevo in my plan.. well, i did not take him very seriously at that moment. However, in the end, i decided to go to Sarajevo, and it was a decision that i would really regret had i not done so.

Well, i came back from Balkans, and the place that i enjoyed most was Sarajevo.. a place far worth visiting than Rome or Paris or any other fancy cities that i have been to before..

to be continued...