Turkey - 16

When the taxi driver let us at the train station in Veliko Tarnovo, he got his fare and his tip was all the coins we had left with us. The train was another old one but was ok. Even though there were 6 beds on the cabin, it was just the 4 of us which made the whole trip nicer. This time I got a nice surprise at the border. It was the second time that my Brazilian passport was better to be used then the Canadian one. When I applied for my visa to Syria, I found out that it would cost me 142 Canadian Dollars. Then, I asked how much it would cost me on my Brazilian passport and I found out it would be only 37 Canadian Dollars. The second surprise was on this trip. Richard, Sarah and Brendan had to pay 15 Euros with their English and Australian passports. When I was going to pay the entry visa, the guy told me that for Canadians it is 45 Euros! So, I asked him, how much it would cost if I entered with my Brazilian Passport. He said that I wouldn’t have to pay anything! Bingo! I just saved almost 4 days accommodation in Istambul!
Sarah and Brendan had been to Istambul before and they already had a reservation to a hostel. So, Richard and I just followed them through the streets of the city until we got to the hostel. While we walked to the hostel, I felt like a child on Christmas day. As if I still couldn't believe that gift was real! I kept walking with the others and looking at every direction and there was just a single frase going through my mind: “Oh my God! I am in Istambul!”, “Oh my God! I am in Istambul!” It felt totally incredible to be in Turkey!
The hostel is just two blocks from the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia. Probably the two most well known sites in Istambul. Just to be in the city felt almost enough, as if I wouldn’t really need to go anywhere in particular to feel that I had discovered the city. Being so close to two mosques, I could hear the call for a prayer that the Imans announce many times a day. The people on the streets, the colours, the food, the smells, all the views almost always framed by the minarets of the mosques. Everything is so amazing! I was sharing a room with Richard and 4 other guys. In the beginning it was the 2 of us, 3 Americans and an Austrian guy. The Austrian guy reminded me of something I heard a few times in Vienna. Some Austrians don't like to say that they speak German. They prefer to say they speak Austrian-German to make the difference between the German in Germany and Austria. It was funny because many times I also say I speak Brazilian Portuguese to differenciate from Portugal.
The day I arrived I went to the Blue Mosque. Unfortunately they close almost half of the mosque just for the muslims praying there. Still, it is totally magical to be there. I have a muslim co-worker who’s a wonderful person. I wish I could trade my place with her for a day. Just so she could be here. I can just imagine how it would be so special for her. I had to take a picture even of the carpet where people pray to send to her.
At night, I went to the main centre of the city called Taksim Square and went walking on a boulevard called Istiklal. I couldn’t believe the amount of people! If Beograd felt busy at nights, it wasn’t anything in comparison to Istambul! So nice to see so many happy faces in the crowd! Friends chatting, families walking together, the bars getting very busy, etc. I had gotten the address of a club that was supposed to be a good one to start the evening and it was actually easy to find it. I got in and it was just great! A small café or bar full! There was a Turkish guy singing all the songs and walking to all small rooms of the bar. One of the rooms was being used as a small dance floor and the other 3 rooms had tables and chairs. Lovely place and wonderful Turkish music! While I was there, a Russian guy that lives in New York started to talk to me. Nice guy and we decided to check out the clubs together. The first one was so loud, we couldn’t stand it. The second one was pretty empty. Finally the third one was just great! Lots of great music and it was packed. Everybody was dancing to the sound of many Turkish songs.I love to see this kind of brotherhood, of a cultural identity. The club had a very good ventilation system but the smoke inside is dreadful! I had no idea I could turn on my "oblivion bottom" to this extreme! So, I just danced away with Tom, the Russian guy and the other hundreds of people. When the place got too hot, there was some this little breath of cold air and some white things dropping us like confetti. It was something like ice flakes! Quite cool!
When I left the club, there wasn't public transportation anymore around 4 AM. A couple on the club told me that there were some mini vans that worked through the night and I had to walk just a block. Another fun experience! Many mini vans were stopping for passengers but no one spoke English. While I said "Blue Mosque" nobody understood until I realized that I should be saying "Sultan Ahmet". The first driver said no but the passengers inside argued with him and then, they all told me to get in. My guess was that the mini van wasn't going there but was passing close to it. So, there I was, inside a mini van blasting some turkish music, surrounded by 9 other guys that didnt' speak any English, laughing away, chatting to each other and coming from who knows were. I was in the middle of the van just marvelled by my surroundings. The van stopped and they kept talking to me in Turkish and pointing to the direction I should go. When I was going to pay, the older man beside me pushed my wallet away and paid for my fare. I said "Tesekur" (thank you) and he said: welcome to Istambul! Then, I walked the rest of the way to the hostel since I recognized where I was. In fact, to say that I walked to the hostel doesn't seem appropriate. I should say that I flew on the magic carpet that kept levitating my feelings since I arrived in Istambul!
The following day, I met Tom again for dinner and then went back to the same club. It was so full that after one hour I couldn't deal with it anymore! When I came out I found the most torrential rain, just like a tropical heavy rain. I decided to at least run to a bar near by and found this alley full of awnings open and huge umbrellas that kind of protected the customers from the rain. It didn't protect the customers totally and it was just like a mist was falling under the umbrellas. There was a great and charismatic singer and two musicians playing lovelly songs. I asked for a beer and sat down relieved to be away from the crowd from the club. The customers sang along and one of the women went on top of one of the tables to dance. Her friends went wild clapping around her and it went on like this for many songs. The last worry they seemed to have was the heavy rain falling. There I was, with my beer watching this amazing culture. All that heavy, heavy rain, just made it more special somehow. I felt like the happiest fly on the wall watching one more night in Istambul!
Sunday was one of the heaviest days I remember ever seeing. I spent the whole day on the covered rooftop bar of the hostel and since they have food, I had lunch and dinner there too. I took the day to read a bit, check the internet, downloaded some pictures, chatted with other travellers and didn't dare going out. I had already gotten all drenched the night before.
On Monday, Sarah and Brendan came back from Cappadocia after 3 days and they were totally in love with it. Their pictures were so nice that I made up my mind about spending some time there after Istambul. My days in Istambul were quite lazy in a way. I guess the city is so big that I knew I couldn't see everything in a week, so I just walked a lot, saw a few places, etc. If there was a city that I really felt I will come back to, it was Istambul. I took the ferry with Richard across the Bosphorous to go to the Asian side of Istambul, went to the Galata Tower, etc. From the tower, we had a beautiful view of the city and the harbour. The food was also amazing! So many different things to try, kebabs, meat pancaques, fish sandwiches on the harbour and so many other things! In almost every corner you can also get a glass of freshly squeezed pomegranate juice or orange juice and so many others!
Since arriving in Istambul I started to look for a Lonely Planet book for the Middle East since I didn't want to carry one from Canada. It was a difficult task and I was feeling really insecure about going to Syria without one. I didn't have a guide for Turkey either but in Istambul I was fine since other travellers around had a guide. I needed my own to plan my next moves, decide where to go next, etc. Without the guide, I was feeling really insecure. Finally I got it! It was such a relief! Thank God! The one I got, included Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and Israel.
David Franklin, who put me in touch with Siggi in Iceland, also put me in touch with a Turkish "person" called Zeynep. We exchanged a few emails and than arranged to meet for dinner. It was a funny encounter! For some reason, I thought Zeynep was a man and she thought I would be much older. Mind you, she couldn't believe I am 44. It is nice actually, I guess they don't expect to see many backpackers my age and most people seem to be shocked by my age. It is a nice compliment. I do feel as if I was 25! LOL!
Zeynep was another jewel on this trip! An amazing host for the evening and extremelly generous. A fun girl, very smart and I had a great evening! First we had a beer in one of the popular places in Istiklal Caddesi, one of the main boulevards in downtown. Then, we went to a very nice restaurant for dinner and I had one of the best meals I've had in this trip! Grilled chicken that came with a dish of lentils, spinach and cheese that tasted a little bit like feta cheese. Totally fantastic! Then, Zeynep saved the best for last! She took me to the top of a hotel in the centre of Istambul where we drank Raki, a national liquor that tastes like anis a bit, while seeing the most spetacular view. Down there, the lights of Istambul, with its lights, the beautiful harbour with it's bridges and boats passing by, the buzz of a big city with it's traffic moving everywhere. It all, surrounded by the lit minarets and silhuets of many and many mosques watching over Istambul.
After a whole week in Istambul, I took a 12 hour bus ride to Goreme, in the middle of Cappadocia. That's when I found out that there are no toilettes on all buses in Turkey! Mind you, they do stop every couple of hours. The stops are very nice and similar to the nice ones we find in Brazil. There's a clean toilet, a nice restaurant with good food, some stands to buy souvenirs, etc. Very nice! I chatted a lot with a nice American couple that was backpacking through Europe and Turkey after his retirement. There was also an Israeli couple behind me but I didn't talk much with them on the bus.
When the bus arrived in Goreme, we were all fascinated by the most strange, lunar and fascinating landscape! I thought the American couple was getting off too and just when I was outside with my backpack and the bus was leaving, that I realized that they were going on! I waved at them inside the bus but it felt so unfinished! Not to properly say bye! The bus left and I looked around. It was really like if we had just arrived in Bedrock, the city where the Flinstones live in the cartoon! I found out later that there is a hostel and a bar in town called Flinstones! It couldn't be more appropriate! Goreme is surrounded by valleys of a softer kind of rock that have been suffering the actions of the wind, rain, etc and the landscape is incredible! Many mushroom and cone shapped huge rocks in the valley in Goreme and surroundings. Because the kind of rock is softer, people started to carve on them until they had rooms inside the rocks. What you get now, is many houses that are almost entirelly built inside the rocks. Rooms that a man made caves! I had booked a hostel from Istambul based on the information that Sarah and Brendan gave me and the hostel emailed me telling me that they would come and pick me up at the bus station. I called from the information office for free and in 5 minutes there was a nice guy to pick me up. The hostel is on top of the hill and my room was a six bedroom inside one of the caves! Really cool!
After I got my things in the room and decided to go on a hike with some japanese people that were at the hostel. Cool people! Actually most people in the hostel were japanese anyway. We went on a very nice hike of an area called Rose Valley. The sunset wasn't an amazing one but just the hike through that landscape was just beyond words! The movie Star Wars was also partly filmed around Goreme because of it's lunar landscape. After we came back to the hostel, I went to the very top of the hill to have a look at the city in the valley bellow me. What an interesting place! I started to laugh looking down at the city with it's mushroom and cone shapped houses with windows with lights turned on inside. I felt as if any moment I would see the whole Flinstones gang passing by (with Dino of course!) or Fred screaming: Viiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiilllllllllllmmmmmmaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!
The japanese are the kind that wake up early in the morning, do everything and by 8 or 9 they are ready to bed. So, I went downhill to explore the city on my own and decided to check the Flinstones bar. On my way there, the Israeli couple saw me and invited me to join them. A lovelly couple that was travelling together to celebrate 3 years together. We had a great time and they were so important for me! I guess I had some prejudisms against Israel after they bombed Lebanon, which I thought was so awful! Through them, I was able to at least realize it is time to "revaluate my prejudisms". We had such a honest conversation! It was really good for me! This trip is definetelly becoming like a history of mankind for me in the most wonderful way!
The second day in Goreme, I decided to take a guided tour for the whole day to visit some places outside the town. It was a very inexpensive tour that also included lunch. First we went to an underground city. They are tunnels built by the locals hundreds and hundreds of years ago and were used for the whole population to hide from enemies and wars. They are supposed to be miles and miles of underground tunnels that go about 8 floors bellow ground. I wasn't very sure if I would be able to do this part of the tour. Sarah and Brendan told me and showed me some pictures where in some parts you have to duck or it is so narrow that you cannot fit two people beside each other. I always knew that I have a mild claustrofobia but since I "passed the test" going to the salt mines in Krakow, I decided to give it a try. Bad mistake! I made sure I was the last one of our group to go down. This way, I made sure there was some extra space between me and them and nobody behind me. We went down about two floors and I could feel I was getting a bit nervous but I could still control it. We got to one of the caves and while our guide was explaining things, another group came over and started to wait on the cave beside us and then I saw another group coming from the floor bellow. Just like a bunch of ants inside an ant hill. Something inside me just turned! I started to panic realizing that I could not leave that space fast, that even if I tried I couldn't because there were other people in front of me! One of the ugliest feelings I felt until now! I was sweating and shaking and felt suffocating. Just awful! Our group was already going down, so I just asked the guide waiting for us to vacate the cave if she could wait just one minute for me to calm down. She asked me if I wanted to go up and I said yes. She even offered to help me as she saw my panic. As soon as she said it was easy to leave and pointed to a direction I just left. To help my panic, as I walkd up, I remembered our guide telling us to stick to the group because the caves are so huge that people have gotten lost inside them! Thankfully I found my way out and sat on a bench near by, shaking still and trying to dry my sweat and almost crying in happiness to see the sun and feel the fresh air again! While I sat at the bench, I realized I wasn't the only one. I saw many tourists coming out of the caves shaking, sweating or with the most glorious face when they saw day light again. It is exactly like inside a huge anthill. I guess I was really panicking more than the other because few people came to me later to find out if I was alright.
The rest of the tour was lovelly! I went for a hike in a beautiful valley and walked for a while beside a river surrounded by big rock cliffs and by trees loosing their leaves because the autumm was also arriving in Turkey. The trees covered with yellow leafs made the whole place look more beautiful! Then, for lunch, we sat on tables on top of a 8 feet wide island in the river surrounded by a Turkish landscape that could definetelly be in Canada as well. At the end of the tour, we went to a monastery that was also carved inside the rocks. Huge place of many, many storeys, carved on a very slopped hill. So, it looked like this huge cone full of holes like a swiss cheese and each hole was a window!
On my last day in Cappadocia, I met Lior and Joel on the streets and found out that they had gotten engaged. The story about how everything happened was really touching! Joel found out that he couldn't buy roses in Goreme. He waited until Lior took a nap in the afternoon and took a cab to another city near by to buy roses for her. On the morning that I saw them, they had just gotten engaged. Joel called Lior around 5:45 AM and told her that the alarm was going to ring in 15 minutes, she had to get up and follow the roses. Then, he left the room and walked up the hill leaving a trail of roses on the way. When he got to the top of the hill (just above my hostel, where I had seen the sunset), he put a cloth on the ground and brought all the gadgets to make tea for them. She came 15 minutes behind him and according to her, went up hill balling her eyes out. When she got to the top of the hill, there were a few other tourists there who wanted to watch the sunrise as well. Joel told them to give him some space for something really special he was doing. When Lior came over, carrying the roses, Joel asked her to marry him.
They were such a great couple! In Istambul I had seem some ceramic bows that I really liked but there was no way I would carry it all the way to South Africa! Since I found the same kind in Goreme, I bought one for them for their engagement. I can't have it in Toronto but I am happy to know that I got a bow for a house in Israel full of love.
That last day in Cappadocia was a very social one! I had breakfast at the hostel sharing a table with a retired couple from Sweden. They had sold their house in Stockholm and bought a 30 feet sailing boat and had been living on the ocean around Europe for 2 and half years. Just the two of them! Very nice couple in their early 60's. I spent some time chatting with an Iranian guy that is a refugee and is living in Turkey awaiting for the ok from the UN to tell him which country is accepting his request for asilum. Very nice guy! If he comes to Canada, I hope to meet him there. After walking for a while, I met the American couple from the bus from Istambul. It was so nice to see them again! Kim and Reggie were semi retired and just travelling for a few months around Turkey. The tree of us were very glad to meet to have a beer together and then, have a real goodbye before we went our separate ways. Then, at night, just before I boarded another bus to Antakya, at the border with Syria, I had dinner with Lior and joel. They were going to Istambul, the swedish couple going to a city called Konya and the American couple to Antalia. The Iranian guy stayed there, keeping working on a turkish stand, stuck in a country that is just a long stop before he can start his life somewhere else.

Bulgaria - 15

I couldn't really sleep much on the train to Sofia. Maybe the "tlac tlac tlac" of the old train was too much, maybe I was too worried about having things stolen. Specially when I realized that the guy on the cabin beside mine went inside and locked his cabin with a chain inside. Just when I finally fell asleep, we got to the border and the crossing gards for Serbia knocked on my door, saying "passport control". Two guys dressed up in uniform wıth a very official face. I got a stamp on my passport and the train went to the next stop, the Bulgarian passport control. Same thing, same seriousness and uniforms. The train station in Sofia is a big building that looks like it could be an airport. A massive and new building that could also use some care. It looks as if it was built with the best intentions but was left there without anybody paying attention to it. Wıth the map that Mladen gave me, it was very easy to find the hostel. I took a streetcar and in 10 minutes I was at the hostel. A very nice place, with a huge lounge. The area to watch tv and movies is covered wıth a bunch of turkish carpets and pillows and we can not enter with shoes. Three internet computers 24 hours, etc. Also, breakfast and a small dinner included. All for 24 Levas, or 17 dollars. The area where I was staying was ok but didn't really give me the idea that Sofia would offer much as a touristic city. I walked around for a while but didn't get too excited by the city. At night, I found the name of a club that seemed to have good music. I got there and it was pretty empty. I approached a group that was chatting to ask about a place to go dancing. One of them said that they were going soon to another club that would have more dancing. Then, he asked if I wanted to join them. He was the only one that spoke english but naturally I said yes. The other club was also a bit empty but it was fun. The music playing there was Serbian, Bulgarian, Greek and Turkish. Very interesting! I just came back to the hostel around 5 Am. It has been nice to be in strange cities and feel totally comfortable to walk alone in the middle of the night. I wish every country could be like this. When I woke up, I met an italian guy called Rıccardo, from Milan that was just arriving. We chatted for a while and spent the rest of the day together getting to know Sofia. The art gallery, the nice cafe behind the gallery that looked like a cafe in Paris, the area with sofisticated shops, etc. Then, he went out to meet a Bulgarian girl that he had met in Italy and I went on my own to check some orthodox churches. The big orthodox church in Sofia called Aleksandar Nevski, had a flee market just outside. The interesting thing is that they were selling a bunch of Nazi things, like binoculars, cigarrete holders, lighters, compasses, etc. All with the swastika symbol and some of them even with the dates like 1938, etc. On my way to the hostel, I passed by a small russian church. Very charming church surrounded by a nice park and some willow trees that waved their lengthly branches sweeping the sides of the church. When I got inside, there was a woman kneeling on the floor praying. While I walked around seeing the icons and the architecture of the church, the orthodox priest came by. The woman kneeling on the floor got up and walked sobbing towards the priest. He gave her a warm hug full of protection and assurance. She buried her face on his arms and kept sobbing. There was so much despair and pain in her movements! It was such a moving scene that I had to stop on the park behind the church until my tears dried too. I just wished that the priest would succeed in giving her some confort and that God would take away her pain. In the evenıng, Riccardo came back to the hostel and invited me to join him for dinner and then go to a club where he was going to meet the Bulgarian friend again. He said that she was studying portuguese and was curious to meet me. We had dinner in a nice place and then, went to the club. Ana, the Bulgarian girl was amazing! She has never been to any portuguese speaking country but spoke portuguese so fluently that I would never have said that her first language wasn't portuguese! The band though, was a punk rock band and Riccardo and I didn't really like it. So, after half hour of deaffening music and smoke chocking our lungs and eyes, we left. I have a Bulgarıan frıend ın Toronto called Ivan and I wrote to hım sayıng that I was goıng to go to Sofıa. I asked hım for tıps on places to vısıt ın Sofıa and he also put me ın touch wıth a frıend of hıs who lıves ın Sofıa. On Sunday, I got in touch hıs frıend Rado. He had just come back from Italy with an italian friend of his and the 3 of us went out for dinner. I had a delicious cold soup called tarator made of yogourt, dill, cucumbers, garlic, etc. Really nice! After the dınner, we went out for drinks in a wonderful bar, called Budha Bar. Great ambiance, music, etc. It looked more like a bar that you would find in New York. A very stylısh lounge. It was great to meet Rado and his friend Ruggerıo. While I was at the hostel in Sofia, I looked at a guide book about Bulgaria and saw an interesting picture of a city called Veliko Tarnovo. Right in the middle of the country, it used to be the capital of the kingdom of Bulgaria between 1185 and 1396. The cıty has a population of 70.000 people and it is a university city. Most of the city is up on the hills around the Yantra river and the city seemed really special. Since the train from Bucarest to Istambul passes by Veliko Tarnovo, I thought it would be great to stop there just for a day and check out the city. The following day, I had lunch and then, got on a very modern bus for a 3 hour ride to Veliko Tarnovo. All passengers were sitting at the front, there was a couple sitting alone in the middle and I sat on the last row of the bus. I was a bit tired and took a nap on the bus. When I woke up, I pretty much had my own view of a porn movie. The couple in the middle of the bus were doing it right there! I couldn't believe how daring they were! When we got to Veliko Tarnovo, they started to talk to me and gave me all the info on how to get to the hostel. I felt like saying: Please send me a post card in 9 months and let me know how life is! The guy at the hostel was excelent! He showed me the hostel, gave me a map of the city and told me that dinner would be ready in about 2 hours. Breakfast, accomodation and dinner (with a glass of beer) for 20 Leva, or 14 dollars. The hostel is in a quiet area of the the city and it is a lovely place. Nice wooden floors, a big patio with lounge chairs, a barbeque area, gardens, etc. The weather was a mountain like climate. We were using extra socks, extra blankets, extra sweathers, touques, etc. There wasn't a fireplace but the whole decoration of the hostel would give you the impression that there was one around. The need for extra clothıng was at nıght only. The days, on the other hand, were gıfted wıth wonderful sunny skyes wıth a very deep blue. I got a beer and sat by myself on the patio absorbing the new surroundings. That's when I realized that I did need to come to a place like Veliko Tarnovo to fall in love also with Bulgaria. I do feel that I fell in love with every single country I passed by. This hadn't happened with Bulgaria yet. It would have been a shame to leave Bulgaria with the impression it was just an ok country. Veliko Tarnovo gave me that! I sat on the rocking love seat in the patio and felt transported to Ouro Preto or to Tiradentes. Two colonial cities in my state in Brazil called Minas Gerais. They are cities where the mountains and the fresh air cultivate the personality of it's residents and they fill your soul with beauty and a wonderful laziness. As the sun went down, I could hear the sounds of the evening arriving. In that place, the sounds were very distinct. The sounds dıdn't come one on top of the other, never overlappıng each other. It was a place of such a slow motion that every sound came at it's own time. Each sound had it's own personality. While the sky was bringing in the night, I could hear the sounds of Veliko Tarnovo with their own character. The two friends walking their bikes up hill chattıng away, the dog barking in some distant house, the 3 female friends laughing (and I almost could tell their age by their laughter!), the little child crying, the car starting it's engine. Just amazing to be in a place where the sounds didn't overlap! Each at it's own time. The fresh air started to get mixed up with the nicest smell of wood burning. Time for people to get their dinner ready, the smoke of the wood getting mixed with the spices of Bulgaria. It all felt like the most intense and vibrant dance! A slow motion dance of life bringing me the aromas and the sounds of a Bulgaria that I needed to meet! The stars slowly appeared in the sky, the towers of the churches got lit and then Asen, the owner of the hostel came over to say that dinner was ready. When I got down to the dining room, all the plates were ready for us. I sat down at the table with Richard from England, Vincent from England, Sarah and Brendon from Australia and 4 Canadians. We had a nice omelete and got to know each other. Very nice people! After a few hours though, Richard, myself and Vincent started to feel hungry and went out for a second dinner. The restaurant that Asen had recommended had great food!The following morning the 4 canadians left for Bucarest, Vıncent was leavıng for Sofıa and the rest of us went to the train station to buy our tickets together to go to Istambul. This way, we would be more relaxed about travelling together without so much worries on the train. After buying the tickets, we went for an amazing lunch of only Bulgarian meals, including Tarator agaın. While Sarah and Brendan went out to buy pottery, Richard and I took off to walk on the city. Great views of the city, the fortress and the sunset.Our train to Istambul was going to take about 15 hours and was leaving Veliko Tarnovo around 7 PM. When I woke up on my second and last day in Veliko Tarnovo, I couldn't find the other 3. Probably doing their last explorations of the city. I started to talk to Jan, a Dutch guy that was also planning to go to the huge fortress near the hostel and overlooks the cıty. We took off and it was quite a nice hike. It is a huge fortress and it is probably the one that I've seen until now that really gives you a feeling of how it would be to live in that time. Quite interesting! While we were walking by, we found the old skin of a 5 feet snake! We were able to lift the whole waffery skin for a picture! Gladdly, we didn't find the owner of the skin in her new "dress"!After the hike around the fortress, Jan and I went down to the same restaurant that Asen had recommended before. In fact, the food of the restaurant was so good that we all felt like we should stay another week just to try all the amazing meals they had in that restaurant. When we got there, Sarah and Brendon were also having their last meal there too. We just had time to finish our meals, run to the hostel, grab our backpacks and share a cab to the train station. Leaving the hostel, it felt dıfferent. The couple that owns the place make you feel so confortable. It was like living the house of a good friend, a loving relative. What Sofıa hadn't accomplıshed, the cupido of Veliko Tarnovo did. Wıth ıt's trıck, I left that cıty ın love wıth Bulgarıa as well. Ralf - Levoyageurpanamerıcano
Eu nao consegui dormir muito bem no trem para Sofia. Talvez o "tlac tlac tlac" do velho trem tivesse sido demais, talvez eu estivesse preocupado demais de ser roubado no trem. Especialmente quando eu vi que o cara da cabine ao lado da minha entrou na dele e trancou a porta por dentro com cadeado. Quando eu finalmente consegui dormir, o trem chegou na fronteira e os guardas da fronteira da Serbia bateram na minha porta dizendo "controle de passaporte". Doıs caras uniformizados com uma cara bem official. Ganhei o carimbo on passaparte e dai o trem foi ate a proxima fronteira, dessa vez da Bulgaria. Mesma coisa, mesma seriedade e uniformes. A estacao de trens de Sofia eh um predio grande que parece mais um aeroporto. Um predio enorme e novo que tambem poderia ter um pouco de mais cuidado. Parece um predio que foı construido com as melhores intencoes mas foi esquecido la sem ninguem prestar atencao nele. Com o mapa que Mladen havia me dado, foi bem facil de achar o albergue. Eu peguei um bonde e em 10 minutos eu estava no albergue. Um lugar bem legal, com uma sala enorme. Uma area de televisao e videos coberta com tapetes turcos e almofadas onde nao podiamos entrar de sapatos. Tres computadores com internet 24 horas, etc. Tambem, cafe da manha e um pequeno jantar incluidos. Tudo por 24 levas, ou maıs ou menos uns 24 Reais. A area onde eu estava ficando era tranquıla mas nao tinha nada de muito interessante e que me desse a sensacao de que Sofia era uma cidade turistica. Eu andei por perto do albergue mas nao me interessei muito pela cıdade. A noite, eu descobri o nome de um bar que parecia ter musica legal tocando e fui pra la. Cheguei la e o bar estava bem vazio. Vi uns 5 amigos conversando e cheguei perto deles para saber se eles conheciam algum outro bar mais ınteressante. Um deles, o unico que falava ingles, falou que eles estava indo para um lugar mais interessante e me convidou para ir com eles. Eu, naturalmente aceitei. O proximo bar tambem estava bem vazio mas a musica era bem mais ınteressante. Uma mistura de musicas Serbias, Bulgaras, Gregas e Turcas. Muito legal! Eu acabei voltando para o albergue por volta de 5 da manha. Eu adoro estar em cidades estranhas e me sentir totalmente confortavel andando sozinho no meio da noite. Eu gostaria que todos os paises fossem assim. Quando acordei, eu conheci um italiano chamado Riccardo de Milao que estava acabando de chegar. Conversamos um pouco e acabamos passando o resto do dia juntos conhecendo Sofia. A galeria de arte, o cafe atras da galeria que parecia mais um cafe em Paris, a area das lojas caras da cıdade, etc. Mais tarde, Riccardo foi se encontrar com uma menina Bulgara que ele havıa conhecido na Italia e eu continuei explorando a cidade sozinho e fui conhecer as igrejas orthodoxas. Do lado de fora da maior igreja orthodoxa de Sofia chamada Aleksandar Nevski, tinha uma feira de antiguidades acontecendo. O interessante eh que eles estavam vendendo um montao de coisas nazistas. Binoculos, Cigarrilhas, bussolas, isqueiros, etc. Todos com o simbolo nazista da swastica e ate mesmo com datas de 1938, etc. No caminho de volta para o albergue, eu passei em frente a uma pequena igreja russa. Uma igreja bem simpatica e com um parque bem bonito em volta. Haviam uns salgueiros balancando ao vento com umas galhas bem longas e flexiveis que com o vento pareciam que fıcavam varrendo as paredes da igreja. Quando eu entrei na igreja, havıa uma mulher ajoelhada no chao rezando. Enquanto eu andava dentro da igreja vendo a arquitetura e as imagens, o padre orthodoxo apareceu. A mulher ajoelhada levantou do chao e foi em direcao ao padre chorando e solucando. Ele deu um grande abraco nela cheio de protecao e conforto. Ela enterrou o rosto dela nos bracos dele e contınuou solucando. Havia tanto desespero e dor nos movimentos dela! Foi uma cena tao comovente que eu tive que parar no parque atras da igreja ate as minhas lagrimas secarem tambem. Eu fiquei ali desejando que o padre conseguisse dar algum conforto a ela e que Deus pudesse sanar a dor dela. A tarde, Riccardo voltou para o albergue e me convidou para jantar com ele e depois ir para um bar onde ele iria se encontrar de novo com a amiga Bulgara. Ele disse que ela estava estudando portugues e que ela estava curiosa para me conhecer. Nos jantamos em um restaurante bem legal e depois fomos para o bar. Ana, a moca bulgara era impressionante! Ela nunca morou em nenhum pais que fala portugues mas fala tao fluentemente que eu nunca iria imaginar que a primeira lingua dela nao era portugues! A banda que tava tocando era uma banda de rock punk e eu e Riccardo nao curtimos muito. Dai, depoıs de meia hora de musica ensurdecedora e fumaca de cigarro sufocando os nossos olhos e pulmoes, nos saimos. Eu tenho um amigo Bulgaro em Toronto chamado Ivan e eu havia escrito para ele dizendo que iria passar por Sofia. Eu pedi a ele para me dar algumas dicas sobre a cidade, lugares para visitar e ele me colocou em contato com um amigo dele que mora em Sofia. No domingo, eu entrei em contato com o amigo dele chamado Rado. Ele havia acabado de voltar da Italia com um amigo dele e nos 3 saimos juntos para jantar. Eu provei uma sopa fria deliciosa chamada Tarator feita de iogurte, dıll (parece que em portugues eh chamado de endro ou aneto), alho, pepıno, etc. Muito boa! Depois do jantar, nos fomos beber algo em um bar bem interessante chamado Budha Bar. Um ambiente bem legal, com uma musica massa, etc. Parecia mais como um bar que voce iria encontrar em Nova York. Um lugar bem "estiloso". E foi muito legal conhecer Rado e o amigo dele chamado Ruggerio. Enquanto eu estava no albergue em Sofia, eu estava lendo um guia sobre a Bulgaria e vi uma foto bem bonita de um lugar chamado Veliko Tarnovo. Bem no meio do pais, a cidade havia sido a capital do reino da Bulgaria entre 1185 e 1396. A cidade tem uma populacao de 70.000 habitantes e eh uma cidade universitaria. Grande parte da cidade esta nas encostas dos morros ao redor do rio Yantra e a cidade pareceu ser bem especial. Descobri tambem que o trem que vinha de Bucareste indo para Istambul passava por la. Dai resolvi parar la por um e conhecer a cidade. No dia seguinte, eu almocei e depois, peguei um onibus bem moderno para fazer a viagem de 3 horas ate Veliko Tarnovo. Todos os passageiros estavam sentados mais na frente, havia um casal sentado no meio sozinhos e eu no ultimo assento do onibus sozinho. Eu estava um pouco cansado e acabei dando uma cochilada no onibus. Quando acordei, eu praticamente tive um show porno na minha frente! O casal sentado no meio estava mandando ver ali mesmo! Eu nao acreditei como eles podiam ser tao cara de pau! Quando chegamos em Veliko Tarnovo, eles comecaram a conversar comigo e me deram toda a informacao de como chegar no albergue. Eu fiquei com vontade de dizer: Por favor me mandem um postal daqui a nove meses me dizendo como anda a vida de voces!

O dono do albergue era excelente! Me mostrou o albergue, me deu um mapa da cidade e me disse que o jantar estaria pronto em duas horas. Cafe da manha, cama no dormitorio para 8 pessoas e um pequeno jantar (com uma cerveja) por 20 leva, ou 20 Reais. O albergue esta em area mais tranquila da cidade e eh um lugar muıto legal. Pıso novo de madeira, um patio grandao com cadeiras e um balanco para duas pessoas, area de churrasco, jardım, etc. O clima era de montanha. Estavamos usando meias extras, cobertores extras, varias blusas, toucas, etc. Nao havia uma lareira no albergue mas a decoracao dava a impressao que havia uma ali. A necessidade de roupa extra era somente a noite. Os dias, por outro lado, se apresentaram com um ceu maravilhosamente ensolarados com um azul bem profundo. Eu peguei uma cerveja e fui sentar na cadeira de balanco sozinho para absorver um pouco do novo ambıente. Foi quando em compreendi que eu necessitava de ter vindo para um lugar como Veliko Tarnovo para me apaixonar tambem com a Bulgaria. Eu sinto que me apaixonei com todos os paises que ja passei. O mesmo ainda nao havai acontecido com a Bulgaria. Seria uma pena sair da Bulgaria com a impressao de que la era apenas um pais ok, sem nada de especial. Veliko Tarnovo me deu ısso!Eu sentei na cadeira de balanco no patio e me senti transportado para Ouro Preto ou Tiradentes. (observacao: essa proxıma parte foı escrıta para os canadenses entenderem melhor sobre essas duas cıdades). Duas cidades coloniais no meu estado no Brasil chamado Minas Gerais. Sao duas cidades onde as montanhas e o ar puro cultivam a personalidade dos seus residentes e enchem a alma com beleza e uma preguica maravilhosa.Quando o sol foı desaparecendo, eu pudia ouvir os sons da noite chegando. Naquele lugar, os sons eram bem distintos. Os sons nao vinham um em cima do outro, sem se misturarem. Um lugar tao tranquilo que cada som tinha seu proprio tempo. Cada som com sua personalidade propria. Enquanto o ceu trazia a noite, eu podia escutar os sons de Veliko Tarnovo com suas proprias caracteristicas. Os dois amigos passando atras do muro do albergue empurrando suas bicicletas morro acima e conversando, um cachorro latindo em alguma casa mais distante, as 3 amigas passando e rindo (e eu quase conseguia saber a idade delas pela risada!), a crianca chorando, o carro sendo ligado. Incrivel estar em um lugar onde os sons nao se misturavam! Cada um com o seu tempo proprio. O ar puro comecou a se misturar com um cheiro delicioso de lenha queimada. Hora das pessoas comecarem o jantar, o cheiro da lenha se misturando com os temperos da Bulgaria. Parecıa a mais intensa e vibrante danca. Uma danca lenta da vida me trazendo os aromas e os sons da Bulgaria que eu precisava conhecer.
As estrelas comecaram a aparecer no ceu, as torres das igrejas foram se acendendo e ai, Asen, o dono da pousada apareceu para dizer que o jantar estava pronto. Quando eu cheguei na sala de jantar, todos os pratos ja estavam servidos para nos. Eu sentei a mesa com Richard da Inglaterra, Vincent tambem da Inglaterra, Sarah e Brendon da Australia e 4 Canadenses. O jantar foi uma omelete bem gostosa e tivemos a chance de nos conhecermos melhor. Otimas pessoas! Algumas horas depois, eu, Richard e Vincent estavamos com fome novamente e saimos para um segundo jantar. O restaurante que Asen havıa recomendado tinha uma comida muito boa!No dia seguinte os 4 canadenses viajaram para Bucarest, Vincent estava indo para Sofia e eu e o resto fomos para a estacao ferroviaria comprar as nossas passagens para viajarmos juntos para Istambul. Dessa maneira, iriamos viajar mais tranquilos dividindo uma cabine sem muita preocupacao dentro do trem. Depois de comprarmos as passagens, nos fomos no mesmo restaurante e almocamos maravilhosamente bem comendo somente pratos tipicos, incluindo tarator novamente. Enquanto Sarah e Brendon foram comprar ceramicas, eu e Richard fomos andar pela cidade. Vistas otimas da cidade e do forte e do por do sol.

O nosso trem para Istambul iria levar umas 15 horas e estava saindo de Veliko Tarnovo por volta de 7 da noite. Quando acordei no meu segundo e ultimo dia em Veliko Tarnovo (adoro esse nome!), eu nao achei os outros 3. Provavelmente explorando a cidade pela ultima vez. Eu comecei a conversar com Jan, um holandes que tambem estava planejando ir visitar o forte que fica perto do albergue e de onde se ve bastante da cidade. Saimos juntos e fizemos uma boa trilha. O forte eh enorme e ate agora eu acho que foi o forte que mais me mostrou como deveria de ser a vida naqueles tempos. Bem interessante! Enquanto andavamos por la, encontramos a pele velha de uma cobra de um metro e meio mais ou menos! Conseguimos levantar aquela pele bem fragil para uma foto! Por sorte, nao encontramos a dona da pele com o “vestido novo” dela!
Depois da caminhada na area do forte, eu e Jan fomos novamente no mesmo restaurante que Asen havia recomendado. Alias, a comida la era tao boa que todos nos ficamos com vontade de ficar ali por mais uma semana so para experimentar todos os pratos maravilhosos que eles tinham no restaurante. Quando chegamos la, Sarah e Brendon tambem estavam la comendo a ultima refeicao la tambem. So deu tempo de comermos, correr para o albergue, pegar as nossas mochilas e dividir um taxi ate a estacao. Quatro passageiros, quatro mochilas que valiam como quatro passageiros e o motorista em um carro pequeno! Saindo do albergue, foi uma sensacao diferente. Foi como sair da casa de um bom amigo, de um parente querido. O que Sofia nao conseguiu fazer, o cupıdo de Veliko Tarnovo conseguiu. Com o truque dele, eu sai daquela cidade apaixonado tambem com a Bulgaria. Ralf - Levoyageurpanamerıcano

Serbia - 14

The train to Beograd was leaving at 1 PM from Budapeste. I woke up early, walked around the city for the last time, had lunch and went to the train station. It was only me and another guy on the cabin for 6 people. This time it was a newer train car (Austrian, as Zoran, the other guy on the cabin said) and the seats were great! They slid all the way down on both sides so, we basically ended up with two beds on the cabin! Zoran, was another great travel companion. A very smart 24 year old guy that knew so much about the history of the former Yugoslavia and the history of the new countries. As he put it: Nobody in the former Yugoslavian countries thinks they were born and will die in the same country. It has changed so much that people really have this felling that things will keep changing. As an example, he cited himself. He was born in Yugoslavia, grew up in Serbia and Montenegro and now he lives in Serbia, since Montenegro is a separate country now. It was great to talk to him. It felt as a lesson in history and geography of the country I was arriving in a few hours! An amazing and smart professor. He wrote down places I should see, gave me some tips on Beograd and since his bus was close to the hostel where I was going to stay, he walked me to the door! It was very nice because even thought the hostel is a very good location, the train station is not. It wouldn't be so easy to find the hostel around 10 PM.The hostel is called the 3 black catz but the cats are gone already. It is a small apartment with two beddroms that can accomodate 10 people in total. It is on the fifth floor of a dilapidated building that is right in the centre of Beograd. Totally convenient. Mladen, the owner is a very cool guy. Very soft spoken and he spends the whole day glued to his girlfriend, Drajna. Once, I woke up and she was seated on his lap sleeping while he read. As soon as I saw the location, talked a bit with Mladen and felt the athmosphere of the hostel, I knew I wasn't going to stay only two days as I planned. I took a shower and got my dirty clothes for laundry. Then, Mladen offered me a beer and I sat down at the table with the other guests. Ana from Australia, Franz from Holland, Pasha from Belarus and 2 girls and 2 guys from Spain that are travelling together. Mladen put some great music playing, turned off the light above the table and put the lights near a strobe globe turning and we got our own little discoteque. Nobody danced but we just chatted around in that great ambience with great music. The next day, I woke up, went to the Canadian Embassy to vote and then found out that I should have gone to the embassy a week before. Shame! Specialy because I could have gone to any other Canadian embassy on the previous capitals that I passed by. Then, I went to the train station to get information about the train to Bulgaria. On my way, I passed by some buildings that had been bombed by the NATO and the US in 1999 because of internal problems with Kosovo. It is very eerie and sad when you see those buidings all broken into pieces standing there. Showing us the devastation that a war, a bomb can do. Very, very sad!
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At night, I was on the computer when Franz, invited me to go for dinner with him. Ana and Pasha joined in. Pasha is actually studying Serbian and doing a course in tourism. This way, we ended up having a guide for the night. We left the hostel and the streets around were bubbling with people strolling by, in cafes, in bars, etc. Beograd seems to have a very, very busy night life. We walked just three blocks from our hostel and found ourselves in another completely different place. A street of cobblestones, with many bars and restaurants that were more calmer, more romantic, in a part called the Bohemian Quartier. Many musicians playing in the restaurants. It was as if suddenly, we had just been transported to Quebec City or Ouro Preto! We sat down to drink a few beers and listen to the four musicians playing their music. Behind them, the wall of a buiding with it's street signs in Cyrillic and a bit of a dilapidated building. Not rundown, not falling down. Actually, more interesting. The other capitals had everything looking freshly painted, more manicured. This was more naturally weathered, breathing more life, more history. The music sounded like gypsy music and it was amazing. The instruments cried at the hands of the musicians, the acordeonist made his instrument sound like a melodic 'tlac tlac tlac' of a train in an amazing musical trip while the clarinet kissed the evening and the other musicians played the guitar, the bass and sang. When the musicians stopped playing, we kept walking and went to a park south of the hostel where we could see the encounter of the Danube river and the Sava river. It is also the area of the fortress in Beograd. When we got there, we saw about 10 young locals playing drums and singing. We decided to check the views near them, so we could also enjoy their music. Those guys were really having a good time with the drums and their music. From the top of the hill, we could see that Beograd is very spread out but also very polluted. The evening was covered with a haze. The park was nice though. Lots of people around, couples dating on the benches, friends chatting, etc. Then, three police men came by and talked in Serbian to us. Since Pasha was the only one that spoke Serbian, he talked to them. After they left, Pasha told us that the police men wanted to know if the drumers were disturbing us and he said no. They walked over to the drumers and we thought they were going to ask them to stop. They talked for a while, then, one of the guys handed a bottle of liquor to the police men, they drank, talked a bit more, shook hands with the drumers and left. Then, I came over and asked the drummers if they knew those police guys. They said they had seen them before but didn't really know them. I thought it was great! Nice to see some relaxed police like that. When we got back to the hostel, only Mladen and his girlfriend were there. We sat at the table with them, drank a few more beers, Mladen kept putting great music playing, turned on the light for the strobe globe and we had our little discoteque again. Then, he brought a bottle of Rakia. It is as strong as vodka and the evening was nice, the company was wonderful, our beds were on the room near by, so, why not? The problem is: Why don't we remember that there's the day after? I woke up half dead the following day!When I finally had energy to get up, there was a Canadian guy called Francis sleeping on the bed above me. He had arrived early in the morning. I got to the kitchen and Mladen had also put a CD of songs he recorded for me together with my camera. Franz and Ana said bye as they were taking off to different places. When I finally had energy to get up, Pasha and I and Francis decided to go to visit the memorial for Tito, the ex-president and dictador of the former Yugoslavia. It was ok but the best part was that there is a gallery in front of his memorial with some very interesting art exhibitions. There was a very powerful one showing plaster faces of abused women all over the word and their stories. There was another one were the artist asked a bunch of people from different countries to sing songs of togetherness or songs that talked about standing together against evil things in the world. There were about 15 stereos on the floor playing at same time different songs. There was no way you could identify the songs. People were kneeling down to check the songs coming from each speaker. When I passed by, I thought I recognized one. There was a woman singing 'Oh Canada'. After Tito's memorial, we visited the biggest orthodox church in the world. It started to be built in 1935 but since Yugoslavia became a comunist country after, the construction stopped. It is all finished on the outside but inside is a big work in progress. It was cool to see the construction workers carving huge pieces of marble, long pieces of mosaics, etc. Then, time to check another museum of an inventor called Nikola Tesla, the inventor of the remote control and a bunch of other things. It seems that there's a dispute to this day that he should be considered also the inventor of electricity and the radio. Very driven inventor! Just like Alexander Graham Bell.Before heading back to the hostel, I went by myself to a street market and bought some stuff to cook dinner and a big steak. The market was very nice and very similar to the ones I was used to go to with my mother. Both when I was a kid or even later when I would go down to Brazil. Markets like these make me feel really close to my mother. She always knew the names of all vendors that she liked to buy from them. I remember when my father and I went there to buy food for the first time without my mother. I remember the tears rolling down on the face of the lady with very blue eyes at the stand where my mom liked to buy vegetables. So many memories...On my last day in Beograd, Pasha, myself and Francis just walked and walked again. We went to the fortress of Beograd and had a day view of the junction of the Sava river and the Danube river. It was a perfect location for the fortress but it was also a very strategic location and the fortress and the city of Beograd were attacked more than 40 times! At the edge of the rivers, there are lots of boats anchored that at night become restaurants, dance clubs, etc. We decided to go there and on our way down I saw something that in my view, should be considered one of the wonders of the world or at least a world heritage site: The chapel of St. Petka. It is a small chapel but the whole area inside (except the floor, that has normal tiles) is covered in mosaics! Not even an inch on the walls or the ceilings without mosaics! Images of Christ, of angels, of doves and stars, of Ave Maria, etc. All done in this delicate and time consuming art! The windows are also in stained glass. While we were inside and I was totally in awe, a lady came in to talk to the orthodox priest and I could hear him praying. He put a black cloth over her head and then, his hand and started to pray. It was very touching to hear the orthodox version in Serbian of the Ave Maria. Even without knowing the words, I could recognize the rhythm of the prayer.It was time again to pack my bag, say bye to everybody that I had met in another great hostel. My time in Beograd was just packed with wonderful moments. It is specially interesting when we seem to carry the bad memories with us about things that happen in other parts of the planet. What I mean from that is that I still thought of Serbia and many countries in the former Yugoslavia as difficult countries to live. The attacks by the NATO and US, the problems in Kosovo, etc. I know they are still a problem. Yet, I found a city that showed me that life goes on. I think the Serbians are doing a great job at this. Beautiful people, parks that are full of people peacefully strolling in the middle of the night, crowded streets, etc. Before I left, Mladen ofered me a big plate of soup that he and Drajna had made. Some people really touch you just the way they are! Francis was also going to Budapeste and we walked together to the train station. My train was definetelly the oldest one on the plataforms. I am sure it was made before 1950! When I boarded it, the conductor, a very kind but abrupt guy, told me that I was the only one in my cabin. I put my stuff down on the other bed, got the the bed sheets to make my bed and came to the corridor to see Beograd for the last time. It was full moon. As the train left the station, the moon was just above the city. As the train carried me away to Sofia, I stayed at the windown and I was sad, sad, sad. I was leaving a city that had conquered me. Ralf - Levoyageurpanamericano O trem para Belgrado sairia a 1 da tarde de Budapeste. Eu acordei cedo, andei pela cidade pela ultima vez, almocei e fui para a estacao. Mais uma vez eramos somente duas pessoas na cabine para 6 pessoas. Dessa vez, um vagao mais novo (Austriaco, como Zoran, o outro cara na cabine falou) e os assentos eram otimos! Eles escorregavam pra frente ate ficarem quase na vertical e como do outro lado nao havia ninguem sentado, ficamos tendo duas camas na cabine! Zoran foi um outro otimo companheiro de viagem. Um cara de 24 anos extremamente inteligente e que sabia bastante sobre a historia da antiga Yugoslavia e da historia dos novos paises. Como ele disse: ninguem naquela regiao pensa que nasceu e vai morrer no mesmo pais. As coisas ali mudam tanto que as pessoas tem esse sentimento que as coisas vao continuar mudando. Como exemplo, ele citou ele mesmo. Ele nasceu na Yugoslavia, cresceu na Serbia e Montenegro e agora vive na Serbia, ja que Montenegro eh um pais independente agora. Foi otimo conversar com ele. Senti como se estivesse tendo uma aula particular de historia e geografia sobre o pais que eu estava indo visitar em algumas horas! Um fantastico professor e muito inteligente. Ele escreveu o nome dos lugares que eu deveria de visitar, me deu algumas dicas sobre Beogrado e ja que o onibus dele era perto do albergue, ele me levou ate na porta! Foi muito legal da parte dele pois mesmo o albergue ficando num local bem legal, a estacao ferroviaria nao ficava. E o albergue nao seria tao facil de achar as 10 da noite. O albergue eh chamado de 'os tres gatoz' (com z mesmo) mas os gatos ja nao estao la mais. Na verdade, eh um apartamento pequeno com dois quartos que podem acomodar 10 pessoas no total. Fica no quinto andar de um predio meio dilapidado bem no centro de Beogrado. Bem conveniente. Mladen, o dono eh um cara hiper simpatico. Bem tranquilo e passa o dia grudado na namorada dele, Drajna. Uma vez eu acordei, e ela estava sentada no colo dele dormindo enquanto ele lia. Quando eu vi a localizacao do albergue, conversei um pouco com Mladen e senti a vibracao do albergue, eu ja sabia que nao iria ficar so os dois dias que havia planejado. Tomei um banho e separei a roupa suja para ser lavada. A seguir, Mladem me ofereceu uma cerveja e fui sentar na mesa com os outros hospedes. Ana da Australia, Franz da Holanda, Pasha de Belorussia e 2 rapazes e duas mocas da Espanha que estavam viajando juntos. Mladen colocou uma musica otima tocando, apagou a luz em cima da mesa, colocou uma outra luz do lado de um daqueles globos cheios de pedacos de vidro de discoteca rodando e ficamos tendo a nossa propria discoteca. Ninguem dancou mas ficamos ali batendo papo naquele lugar otimo com um astral melhor ainda e com uma musica fenomenal. No dia seguinte, acordei e fui na embaixada canadense votar, pois era dia de eleicao no Canada. So que fiquei sabendo que eu deveria de ter votado no maximo, uma semana antes. Pena! Especialmente porque eu poderia ter ido votar em qualquer outra capital pelas quais passei. Dai, fui na estacao de trem para ter informacoes sobre os trens para a Bulgaria. No caminho, passei por alguns predios que haviam sido bombardeados pela NATO e pelos Estados Unidos em 1999 por causa dos problemas internos em Kosovo. Foi muito estranho e triste ver aqueles predios ali, bombardeados, quebrados em pedacos em pe. Mostrando pra nos a devastacao de uma guerra, o que uma bomba pode fazer. Muito, muito triste!A noite, Franz me chamou para jantarmos juntos. Ana e Pasha se juntaram a nos. Pasha esta estudando Serbio e turismo. Assim, acabamos tendo um guia turistico pela noite. Saimos do albergue e as ruas estavam fervendo de gente. Pessoas andando, passeando, nos cafes, nos bares, etc. Beogrado parece ter uma vida noturna hiper agitada. Andamos 3 quarteiroes e nos encontramos em um lugar totalmente diferente. Uma rua com paralelepipedos, com muitos bares e restaurantes mais calmos, mais romanticos, numa parte da cidade chamada de 'o quarteirao Boemio'. Muitos musicos tocando nos restaurantes. Foi como se de repentes nos tivessemos sido transportados para Quebec City ou Ouro Preto. Nos sentamos para tomar umas cervejas e ouvir os quatro musicos tocando. Atras deles, o muro de um predio com as placas dos nomes das ruas em Cyrilic (o alfabeto da regiao) e um predio meio dilapidado. Nao um predio caindo aos pedacos. Na verdade, mais interessante. Nas outras capitais, tudo estava bem novinho, pintadinho, mais bem cuidado. Aqui, o predio parecia apenas respirar mais vida, mais historia. A musica parecia mais uma musica cigana e era fantastica. Os instrumentos choravam nas maos dos musicos, o acordeonista fazia o seu instrumento soar como o 'tlac tlac tlac' de um trem melodico em uma viagem fantasticamente musical enquanto a clarineta beijava a noite e os outros musicos tocavam guitarra, baixo e cantavam. Quando os musicos pararam de tocar, resolvemos andar mais pela cidade e acabamos indo parar em um parque ao sul do albergue onde poderiamos ver o encontro dos rios Sava e Danubio. Eh tambem onde fica o forte de Beogrado. Quando chegamos la, havia um grupo de uns 10 rapazes tocando tambor e cantando. Decidimos ficar olhando o encontro das aguas e ficar mais ou menos perto para podermos tambem apreciar a musica deles. Eles estavam realmente curtindo a musica deles. Do topo do forte, nos podiamos ver como Beogrado eh espalhada mas tambem bem poluida. O ar estava coberto de uma nuvem de poluicao. O parque era bem legal pelo menos. Muita gente andando por ali, muitos namorados nos bancos do parque, amigos conversando, etc. Dai, tres policiais chegaram perto da gente e comecaram a conversar em Serbio. Como Pasha era o unico que falava Serbio, ele conversou com os policiais. Depois que eles sairam, Pasha nos disse que os policiais queriam saber se os rapazes tocando tambor estavam pertubando a gente e ele disse que nao. Os policiais foram ate os rapazes e nos achamos que eles iriam impedi-los de continuar tocando. Os policiais ficaram conversando com eles por um tempo, dai um dos rapazes passou uma garrafa de bebida para os policiais que tomaram um pouco, conversaram um pouco mais, apertaram a mao dos rapazes e foram embora. Eu fiquei tao curioso que fui la conversar com os rapazes. Eles disseram que ja haviam visto os policiais antes mas nao os conheciam. Eu achei hiper legal ver policiais mais relaxados como esses. Quando voltamos para o albergue, so Mladen e a namorada dele que estavam. Sentamos a mesa, Mladen colocou musica, o globo rodando e ficamos tendo a nossa discoteca novamente. Mladen colocou uma garrafa de Rakia, forte como cachaca, na mesa e comecou a distribuir os copos para tomarmos um liquor tipico da Serbia. A noite estava otima, a companhia hiper agradavel, as nossas camas ali do lado... por que nao beber tranquilamente nao eh? O problema eh que a gente se esquece que existe o dia seguinte. Acordei meio morto no dia seguinte! Quando consegui levantar, havia um canadense chamado Francis, dormindo na cama acima da minha. Ele havia chegado de manha e estava dormindo um pouco. Cheguei na cozinha, a minha camera estava la e embaixo, um CD de musicas que Mladen havia gravado pra mim. Franz e Ana estavam se despedindo pois iriam viajar para lugares diferentes. Dai, eu, Pasha e Francis resolvemos ir visitar o tumulo e memorial do ex-presidente Tito da Yugoslavia. Foi mais ou menos mas a melhor parte eh que na frente do memorial, existe uma galeria de arte bem na frente com umas exibicoes bem interessantes. Havia uma que era uma exibicao bem forte sobre mulheres abusadas no mundo inteiro. Voce via somente a mascara de gesso do rosto de cada uma delas e a estoria delas escrita do lado. Havia uma outra onde o artista pediu a pessoas de varias partes do mundo para cantarem cancoes de coletividade e de protesto que falavam de nos mantemos juntos para podermos lutar contra a maldade no mundo. Eram mais ou menos 15 stereos no chao e cada um tocando uma musica diferente. Nao dava nem para identificar as musicas. As pessoas estavam agachando para ver se conseguiam identificar alguma musica vindo de cada caixa de som. Quando passei no meio delas, eu achei que reconheci uma musica. Havia a voz de uma mulher cantando o hino do Canada. Depois do memorial do ex-presidente Tito, fomos visitar a maior igreja orthodoxa do mundo. Ela comecou a ser construida em 1935 mas como a Yugoslavia virou comunista, a construcao da igreja ficou parada. Ela ja esta pronta do lado de fora mas do lado de dentro ainda eh um trabalho bem inacabado. Foi bem legal de ver os trabalhadores esculpindo pecas enormes de marmore, pecas enormes de mosaicos, etc. Depois de la, fomos no museu de um inventor chamado Nikola Tesla. Ele eh o inventor do controle remoto e um montao de outras coisas. Existe ate hoje um debate sobre a possibilidade dele ser considerado o verdadeiro inventor da eletricidade e do radio. Um desses grandes inventores obstinados! Igual Alexander Graham Bell.Antes de voltar para o albergue, eu fui para um mercado tipo feira e comprei algumas coisas para fazer meu jantar e um bifao. A feira era bem legal e bem parecida com as feiras que eu ia antes com minha mae. Tanto quando eu era pequeno como quando eu ia passear no Brasil. Feiras assim fazem me sentir bem perto de minha mae. Ela sempre sabia o nome dos vendedores e vendedoras onde ela gostava de fazer a feira. Eu lembro quando eu e meu pai fomos pela primeira vez fazer feira sem minha mae. Eu das lagrimas descendo no rosto de uma feirante com uns olhos bem azuis, onde minha mae gostava de comprar vegetais. Tantas lembrancas...No meu ultimo dia em Beogrado, eu, Pasha e Francis so caminhamos e caminhamos. Fomos ate of forte outra vez e assim pudemos ver o encontro das aguas dos dois rios durante o dia. Realmente eh uma localizacao perfeita para o forte mas tambem bem estrategica a localizacao e o forte e a cidade ja foram atacadas mais de 40 vezes. Na beira do rio, existem varios barcos ancorados que a noite viram restaurantes, barzinhos, discotecas, etc. Quando decidimos descer do forte ate a beira do rio, nos passamos por uma capela que eu acho que deveria de ser considerada uma das maravilhas do mundo! Ou pelo menos patrimonio da humanidade: a Capela de St. Petka. Eh uma capela pequena e toda a area dentro (exceto o piso que tem azulejos), ela eh toda revestida de mosaicos! Nao existe nem uma area de um centimetro que nao seja revestida nas paredes ou teto sem mosaicos! Tudo feito com essa arte delicada e que gasta um tempo enorme para ser feita. As janelas tambem sao todas de vitrais. Enquanto eu estava la dentro, totalmente maravilhado, uma senhora entrou e foi conversar com o padre orthodoxo e eu pude ouvi-lo rezando. Ele colocou um pano preto na cabeca dela, depois a mao dele e comecou a rezar. Fiquei bem comovido de ouvir a versao em Serbio e orthodoxa da Ave Maria. Mesmo sem entender as palavras, eu pude reconhecer o ritmo daquela reza.Mais uma vez estava na hora de arrumar a mochila, dar adeus a todos que eu havia conhecido em mais um albergue hiper legal. O tempo que eu passei em Beogrado foi cheio de momentos maravilhosos. Foi mais interessante ainda quando eu penso como carregamos as memorias ruins com a gente do que acontece em outras partes do planeta. O que eu quero dizer eh que eu ainda pensava na Serbia e outros paises da antiga Yugoslavia como paises dificeis de se viver. O bombardeios da NATO e dos Estados Unidos, os problemas em Kosovo, etc. Eu sei que eles continuam sendo problemas. Ao mesmo tempo, eu encontrei uma cidade que me mostrou que a vida continua. E eu acho que os Serbios estao tirando isso de letra. Gente maravilhosa, parques cheios de gente caminhando tranquilamente no meio da noite, ruas cheias de gente, etc. Antes que eu saisse, Mladen me ofereceu um pratao de sopa que ele e Drajna haviam feito. Algumas pessoas tocam a gente apenas sendo naturalmente quem eles sao! Francis tambem estava indo para Budapeste e nos andamos juntos para a estacao. O meu trem era com certeza o mais antigo na estacao! Tenho certeza que ele foi construido antes de 1950! Quando eu entrei no vagao, o condutor, simpatico mas meio carrancudo ao mesmo tempo, me disse que eu era o unico na cabine com beliches para 6 pessoas. Pus a mochila na outra cama, arrumei a minha cama com o lencol e fronha que o condutor me deu e fui para o corredor do trem. Assim, eu poderia ver Beogrado pela ultima vez. Era noite de lua cheia e a lua estava bem em cima da cidade enquanto o trem saia lentamente da estacao. Enquanto o trem me levava para Sofia, eu fiquei ali na janela triste, triste, triste. Eu estava saindo de uma cidade que havia me conquistado. Ralf - Levoyageurpanamericano

Hungary - 13

The train from Vienna to Budapeste was going to be only about 3 hours. There was only a young Austrian guy on the cabin with me. He was going to visit his grandparents for the weekend and celebrate his grandfather's birthday. Very nice guy, friendly, funny and nice to chat with. Shame his stop was just half ways to Budapeste. After he left, I just kept reading. It has been very nice to read a lot latelly. I've been able to find some second hand stores in different cities and they usually have an english section too.
The arrival in Budapeste was very interesting. It was already getting dark and the train station looked a bit like a chaotic train station in India. Well, maybe not so chaotic but it was indeed a change from the other train stations in Europe. It was dirtier, all the metal elements seemed rusted and there was a huge number of people arriving and leaving, bags, baskets, suitcases, etc. The other big clue that I was somewhere different was that there were some guys with a bunch of bills in their hands exchanging money for the Hungarian currency, Florins. There was a Western Union office at the station, so I had a look at their rate and saw that the guy was offering a better deal and just exchanged 20 dollars, so I would have some money to get to the hostel. Once I left the train station to walk about 20 metres into the subway station, I saw a different picture. A big square with buildings around with big neon signs advertising Imax Cinema, Zara, etc. I entered the subway station and it looked pretty modern. I bought a week's transit pass, which was just 2 dollars more than a 3 day pass and went to my hostel. It was fairly easy to find it. It is a perfect location, close to everything. The hostel is an old and big appartment that a brother and a sister rent in downtown Budapeste and operate the hostel. It felt very homy as well. The living room was nice and big and most of the Australian guys in the hostel seemed to be taking time off from their travels and were hanging out in the living room watching tv or movies.
When I got in, the girl at the reception offered a small drink tipical of Hungary called Paling, made of grapes, to me and the American guy that arrived at same time that I did. Really good! We raised our glasses and said cheers in Hungarian: "Agashe gadraah!"
I went for a walk and couldn't believe how close I was to the river and a beautiful bridge right in front of the Buda Palace accross the river on top of a hill! Really great location! The sun was just going down and the sunset was a beautiful one! There are two statues of lions at the entrance of the bridge and I sat on o top of a metre high wall and stayed there watching the sun go down behind the lions, the bridge and the castle on top of the hill. The sun painted the sky in a very orange colour while boats passed up and down the river carrying many tourists that, like me, were hipnotized by the beauty of that evening.
Back at the hostel, I decided to check some bars. The Australians kept "hibernating".Then, I met 3 friends travelling together and a great Hungarian guy called Kolos. The 3 friends were from England, Australia and Russia. They had gone to Hungary to get together but I couldn't stand the English woman! She was one of those abnoxious types that should never travel. Everything is wrong for her. The plane, the hostel, the drinks, the food, the attitude of the locals, etc. She would talk as if she was some kind of princess who knew everything and everything out of her life was inferior. Kolos was having the same problem so we ended up going to another bar were they were playing some jazz.
The following day, I spent the whole day walking around the city, went to the museum of fine arts, saw the castle on the Buda side, and walked and walked. Also, I went to the train station to get info about trains to Romenia and to Serbia. In the evening, I was so tired but it was Friday night and I had to go out. I didn't find anybody that wanted to go out since all the Australians seemed to be hibernating in Budapeste. I found a nice club with great music and danced in the middle of the crowd until 5 AM. When I got back to the hostel, my feet were almost on fire! I woke up a bit later with the american guy in my room politelly waking me up to say: "can you please roll over and see if you can sleep in another position? I can't sleep with your snoring". Well, I guess I snore too! I felt so embarassed! The day after, he said I didn't snore anymore but tired the way I was, I am not so surprised.
Budapeste is a city where you don't really need to go to many museums or art galleries. The views you have around the city are so amazing, specially along the river. Just walking around already gives you so much! I went back to the Buda Palace, went to the Parliament and saw a free show that was happening there just behind the parliament. Many different singers singing mostly in Hungarian, some singing English songs and the show lasted for about 3 hours. Nice surprise since I had no idea that I would encounter that.
On Sunday, I went to the thermal baths in Budapeste. There are a few and it was like in Reykjavik. Some pools outside with different temperatures and inside too. Very nice and relaxing! It is a huge spa in an old European style building that looks almost like a castle. The one I went to is called Szechenzyi baths and I think it is the most famous one in Budapeste. I had seen it already in a few pictures of Budapeste with it's yellow walls and white adornations.
After checking the map again, I decided to trade Romenia for Serbia and maybe Greece. Coming back from the baths, I stopped at the train station and bought my ticket to Beograd. The following day, an american guy arrived early in the morning at the hostel and since my week pass was still good for another 3 days, he gave me enough money for a single ticket and I gave him the pass. This time the train station felt like an old friend, since I had been there 4 times in 5 days! Before boarding my train, I just looked around. Then, I just smiled at the view of all the trains ready to leave in their voyages. The coming and going of passengers, the noise, the people and the life of another train station. Another city discovered. Ralf - Levoyageurpanamericano

O trem de Vienna para Budapeste seria somente de 3 horas. Na minha cabine comigo, havia so um Austriaco de uns 20 anos. Ele estava indo visitar os avos no final de semana e comemorar o aniversario do avo dele. Outro companheiro de viagem gente boa, amistoso, engracado e legal de bater papo. Pena que a viagem dele era so ate a metade do caminho para Budapeste. Depois que ele saiu, eu continuei lendo. Eu tenho lido bastante ultimamente. Tenho encontrado algumas livrarias de segunda mao e algumas vezes elas tem uma secao de livros em ingles tambem.

A chegada em Budapeste foi bem interessante. Ja estava escurecendo e a estacao de trem parecia um pouco como uma estacao de trem caotica na India. Bem, talvez nao tao caotica assim mas com certeza bem diferente das outras estacoes na Europa. A estacao era mais suja e empoeirada, todos os elementos de ferro por perto estavam mais enferrujados e havia um numero enorme de pessoas chegando e saindo, sacos, cestas, malas, etc. A outra pista que eu estava em um lugar um pouco diferente eh que haviam alguns caras com um bolo de notas na mao trocando dolares e euros pela moeda local, Florins. Havia um escritorio do Western Union na estacao, eu dei uma olhada e vi que o cambio do cara estava melhor e troquei um pouco e troquei 20 dolares com ele. Assim eu teria dinheiro para chegar no albergue.

Assim que eu sai da estacao de trem e andei uns 20 metros para chegar na estacao de metro, eu tive uma outra impressao. Uma praca grande com predios ao redor com grandes anuncios de neon anunciando cinema Imax, Zara, etc. Eu entrei no metro e comprei um passe da semana tambem ja que o de 3 dias era apenas 2 dolares mais barato. Esse albergue tambem foi bem facil de achar. Uma localizacao perfeita, perto de tudo. O albergue esta dentro de um predio antigo e eh um apartamento bem grande que um irmao e uma irma alugam e operam o albergue. Tem um jeito bem de pensao tranquila tambem. A sala eh bem grande e a maioria dos australianos ali parecem estar "tirando ferias" das ferias deles e passam os dias vendo televisao, vendo filmes, etc.

Assim que eu cheguei, a moca da recepcao ofereceu uma bebida feita de uvas chamada Paling, para mim e um americano que chegou na mesma hora que eu. Muito bom! Levantamos os nossos copos e brindamos em Hungaro: "Agashe Gadra"! Depois de colocar minhas coisas no quarto, tomar um banho, sai para dar uma volta. Incrivel como eu estava perto do centro de da cidade, do Rio Danubio e de uma ponte muito bonita pertinho do Palacio em Buda, do outro lado do rio, no topo de uma colina! Realmente uma localidade perfeita!

O sol ja estava se pondo e o por do sol foi muito 10! Haviam duas estatuas de leoes na entrada da ponte e eu sentei em um murinho de um metro de altura e fiquei ali vendo aquela paisagem magnifica. Vendo o sol sumindo atras das estatuas dos leoes, da ponte e do castelo. O sol pintou o ceu com uma cor laranja fantastica enquanto os barcos passavam para cima e para baixo no rio carregando turistas, que como eu, estavam fascinados e hipnotizados pela beleza daquela tarde.

Voltei para o albergue e resolvi checar uns bares na cidade. Os australianos continuavam "hibernando". No primeiro bar que parei, eu conheci 3 amigos viajando juntos e um Hungaro muito legal chamado Kolos. Os tres amigos eram da Russia, Inglaterra e Australia. Eles vieram para a Hungria para se encontrarem e viajarem juntos mas eu nao dei conta de ficar ouvindo a Inglesa! Ela era uma daquelas chatas que nunca deveriam viajar. Tudo para ela estava errado. O aviao, o hotel, a comida, as bebidas, a comida, a atitude do povo local, etc. Ela falava como se ela fosse algum tipo de princesa que sabia tudo e qualquer coisa fora da vida dela era inferior. Kolos tambem estava tendo o mesmo problema e nos acabamos indo para um outro bar onde havia uma banda tocando jazz.

No dia seguinte, eu passei o dia andando e andando pela cidade. Fui no museu de belas artes, fui no castelo no topo da colina em Buda e andei e andei. Tambem voltei na estacao de trem para pegar informacoes sobre os trens para a Romenia e a Serbia. A noite, eu estava exausto mas seria algum tipo de crime ficar dentro do albergue. Os Australianos continuavam na hibernacao deles e acabei saindo sozinho. Achei uma discoteca perto do albergue com uma musica bem legal e dancei no meio do povo ate umas 5 da manha. Quando cheguei no albergue, os meus pes pareciam que estavam pegando fogo! Acordei algum tempo depois com o americano do meu lado bem educadamente me acordando e dizendo: "sera que da para voce tentar dormir numa outra posicao? Eu nao estou conseguindo dormir com voce roncando tao alto". Eh, parece que eu tambem ronco! Eu morri de vergonha! No dia seguinte ele disse que eu nao ronquei mais depois que ele me chamou mas realmente, cansado do jeito que eu estava, nao era para se surpreender.

Budapeste eh uma cidade onde voce nao precisa de ir em museus ou galerias de arte. As paisagens da cidade enquanto voce anda ao lado do rio, sao tao impressionantes. So andando por ali, ja te da tanto! Eu voltei ao palacio em Buda, fui ate o parlamento e acabei vendo um show gratuito de umas 3 horas atras do parlamento. Muitos cantores diferentes cantando musicas em Hungaro e algumas em ingles. Uma surpresa legal pois eu nao tinha nem ideia que havia um show acontecendo ali

No domingo, eu fui ate para os banhos termicos de Budapeste. Existem varios e sao como em Reykjavik. Varias piscinas do lado de fora e outras dentro do predio com temperaturas diferentes. Bem legal e relaxante. Na verdade eh um spa gigantesco dentro de um predio que parece mais um castelo. Eu fui em um chamado Szechenzy e acho que eh o mais famoso de Budapeste. Eu lembro de ja ter visto fotos dessas termas com o predio pintado em amarelo com detalhes em branco.

Depois de checar o mapa mais uma vez, eu decidi trocar a Romenia pela Serbia e talvez Grecia. Na hora que eu voltei das termas, ja parei na estacao rodoviaria e comprei o meu bilhete para o dia seguinte para Beogrado. No dia seguinte, um americano chegou cedo no albergue e como eu nao usaria mais o meu bilhete da semana, fiz uma troca com ele. Ele me pagou a passagem de volta para a estacao de trem e eu dei o meu passe para o resto da semana para ele. Dessa vez, a estacao de trem parecia mais uma velha amiga. Em 5 dias eu tinha estado ali 4 vezes! Antes de embarcar no trem, eu dei uma olhada ao meu redor. Dai, sorri vendo aquela paisagem cheia de trens prontos para embarcar nas suas direcoes diferentes. Os passageiros indo e vindo, o barulho, as pessoas e a vida de mais uma estacao de trem. Mais uma cidade descoberta!

Ralf - Levoyageurpanamericano

Austria - 12

It was time to say bye to my friends in Germany. I also should fix something else here. There were two 'DJs' at their apartment in Erlanger. The first weekend, Peter made sure to put lots of Brazilian music playing, so, I would feel more at home. They have a very good collection of music with them, which is really great.
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Hanna and Peter insisted in taking me to the train station in Erlanger. We had breakfast and left for the station. We got there just in time for my train. In one of the carts of the train station there was a sticker saying something about getting rid of the Nazis. Nice thing to leave Germany seeing signs that are people there that will make sure the nazis don't succeed in spreading their horror again. My train from Nuremberg to Vienna was one of those new ones that look like a Japanese or French speed bullet train. Slick, modern and comfortable. Inside it, if felt more like a plane than a train and even the sound it made as it glided through the tracks. Aside from my trip from Krakow to Prague, where I was dying to have some extra comfort, I love the older trains. The more traditional European ones with cabins that fit 6 people, 3 in each side facing each other, the 'tlac tlac tlac' of the train in it's rythimic voyage.The train took about 5 hours to Vienna crossing the alpes. Once again, the landscape was wonderful! This time, even more! More trees changing and showing more vibrand colours, lots of fields and fields of corn, sunflowers, strawberries, pumpkins, canola, etc. The villages that I could see from my window seemed to be impecably manicured to perfection! Most houses with red clay roof tiles, flower beds in the front, vegetable gardens at the back, flower baskets hanging in the window and roads with signs always freshly painted. There would be usually one or a couple of churches with their tower overlooking the city of village. Just an amazing landscape with the small cities or villages and all the landscape around them changing colours into red, orange, yellow and brown folliage. The hostel Ruthesteiner in Vienna was one of the easiest ones to find from my arrival in any city. Just three blocks away from the train station. The receptionist was a very friendly girl that is studying portuguesese, so we spoke portuguese. She gave me the keys to an 8 bed room. When I got inside, there was nobody in. Probably everybody exploring the city. The room was actually 3 rooms. A locker room, a washroom and the sleeping room with 4 bunkbeds. I stored my stuff in the locker and had to make my bed. I like to make sure I have my bed ready including my sleeping clothes and like to leave the earplugs and my eye cover beside my bed if I need it. Being in a hostel, you have to be prepared for that! In the event I come back to the room when everybody is already sleeping, I know where my things are. There was also a small table beside the two windows with 4 stools. If people wanted to just sit around and get to know each other, that would be possible. On top of the table, there were a few books, a table lamp and a 5 Euro bill and some coins that seemed to be about another 10 Euros. On top of one of the beds, a cel recharging, a guide book for Vienna, some clothes, etc. I just love to find places like this! Here we are, 8 strangers from different countries that feel comfortable enough to leave their stuff around as if they are home! I agree that there's the 'stupidity' side of it but I love it regardless. Life should be always like that! That, we, human beings in general would be just this king of great and respectful people. Anyway, I should stop my utopic views here. LOL!I went for a walk around the hostel, bought a transportation week's pass and came back to my room. Slowly I met the people in my room. The indonesian couple that live in Germany, the English girl that is going to live in Vienna and is looking for an appartment for rent, the English guy travelling all over Europe as well, the Slovenian girl that was going to Vietnam in two days for a conference on social work and the shy Korean girl that lives in New York. I went out to a supermarket near by and bought food to cook dinner. I decided on something easy like pesto pasta and chicken. The kitchen was a busy place! Lots of people cooking at same time, cutting veggetables, preparing the food, drinking beer, chatting, etc. Then, a girl walked in and right away I thought she was Brazilian. Curly hair, darker skin and the whole appearance seemed Brazilian. We started to talk and he is German! Her name is Cristina and her mom is German as well and her father is Portuguese African from an Island off the coast of Africa called Sao Tome and Principe. She lives in London now and is travelling through Europe as well. She cooked some blood sausages with vegetables and we ended up sharing our meals. Cool girl! Being Saturday, we both wanted to find a place to go dancing. The first place we went, was a dump! To get in, we needed to pay 10 Euros! When we got in, it was more like an old pub, with some seats with the leather cover ripped, etc. Naturally they wouldn't give us the money back, so we just lost it. There was no point in staying there. The music was old and tacky. Just a run down place. We found another place that seemed to be better but this time we convinced the entrance people to let Cristina check the place before we paid. She came back and said: This has three different ambiances. The first one sucks, the other two are good. So, we stayed. Perfect! Great music, great environment! We loved it! We had to dance until 5 AM because that was the time the subway would start to run again. We had no problem doing the 'sacrifice'. The club was small but we managed to have fun and dance a lot. Since Cristina's first language is german, she had no problem meeting people there. Nice place but a bit small. Cristina was going to Prague on the following morning and I gave her the info about the hostel I had stayed. We got back to the hostel around 6 AM and said bye right there. She was going to sleep and then take off to Prague. I was going to just take it easy. When I woke up, I decided to check the museums in town. The previous night, Vienna had a special museum night. They would be open until 1 AM and lots of people go to the museums then. It happens only once a year and I think the hype around such an event must be amazing. Still, I could not see myself spending a saturday evening (the only one on that city) on a museum. After all, you can go to a museum anyday, but clubs are usually effectivelly crowded only on Fridays and Saturdays. I decided to check out a museum called Albertina that had a special exhibit of Van Gogh. It was Sunday and it felt like half of the city was trying to see it. A huge line up! I gave up. I just walked around, got more familiar with the city, got lost, found some places I had seen on the map, etc. I ended up in a huge park beside a castle. There were lots of people lying down on the grass catching the last warm rays of the sun. After all, the fall is here and usually you can still do that only in the early fall. I joined the crowd, found a spot on the grass and just dozed off there. I've never been such a vagabond in my life before, I don't think. I love it!I realize now, that being on the go for about two months, is taking it's toll. I am getting tired of seeing so much European beauty! How many wonderful cities can you see? How many museums? They are all very different and have their own character. It is just that I am not so amazed by what I see now the same way I was when I saw things in Norway or Stockholm. I am glad that I am getting close to Turkey, where I think I will experience a big difference. From Norway to Hungary, I think, lies a common thread. An European blood, an European camaderie and understanding and history that trespasses borders. Including Iceland, Hungary is my 13th country. Time for a change!I had bought a week's pass in Vienna and it was great to have that in the city. Mind you, they have such a trusting system that I was there for 5 days and nobody ever approached me to see my pass. On Monday, I went to an area called the Museum Quartier. They have about 4 big museums in one block and a bunch of other exhibition places. In between the museums, there's a square with some odd looking benches. They look like huge Lego pieces. There were about 50 of them lined up on the square and they were almost all full with visitors chatting, reading or snoozing on the big lego benches. Great idea! I decided to check the Leopold museum that shows Austrian art, mostly from the last century. It was probably one of the best art galleries I have ever been to. It had so much! So many works by important Austrian painters, including of course, Gustav Klimt. I thought the museum did a great job at showing the paintings but also inform you on the personal lives of the painters. The one that really caught my attention was Egon Schiele. His paintings were really ahead of his time. Lots of nude bodies in...interesting positions. His paintings also seemed really modern, like they were painted now, not a 100 years ago. On his personal life, he had his trials as well and died at 28. If I ever want to show an example of a life that you can transcribe into quality over quantity (in years), I think he would be the first example to pop into my mind. He was married and his wife was 6 months pregnant. At the time, there was a huge plague of Spanish influenza in Vienna. They both got it and his wife died carrying their unborn child and three days later, Egon Schiele also died. What a loss! This exhibit had a picture of one of his last paintings. It was of himself naked and his wife naked with a child in front of them. The painter looks very proud on that painting. Ready to be a dad, his own family being formed, his painting career taking off. Sudenly it all ended so early!My days in Vienna were very slow. I went to the movies twice, saw a few museums and wondered how Riga can have more art nouveau than Vienna. To it's credit, Riga does have a special art nouveau district but Vienna also has tons of greatly decorated buildings. One of the pictures that I took that l like the most, I took in Vienna. On the second floor of a building, I saw a manequim in underwear through the window. On the outside, in each side of the window, there was a life size statue of a guy 'holding' the weight of the the building but looking through the window. It looks great to see the two statues checking out the sexy manequim inside!I read about a strange museum that is like the cemetery museum of Vienna. It wasn't really worth it but I saw some interesting things. A coffin that can be reused for example. It stays on top of the burial whole and after all the cerimony is done, they open the bottom of the coffin and 'klank', the corpse falls on the grave and the coffin is ready to be reused. It was a king in the 18th century that came up with the idea but after 6 months of protests from the population, they had to change it. Lots of pictures of the funeral of the Archduke Ferdinand that was assassinated in Sarayevo and it started the first world war in 1914, etc. An interesting fact is that Vienna doesn't have private funeral homes. The City of Vienna has the monopoly of funerals. Since I work with death registrations, I wondered how it affect my job. I am glad we do just the paper work, is close enough to 'after life'. The guy at the museum told me that on the special museum night, they had more than 3,000 visitors. I can't even imagine how many people went to the other ones. I kind of regretted then, that Cristina and I didn't even pass by the Museum Quartier. It was probably a very interesting sight and my guess is that they had a huge crowd there. On my last full day in Vienna, I decided to check out the Albertina museum. Once again, there was a huge line up. I gave up and decided instead, to go to the Belvedere museum. I am glad I did. The Belvedere is a huge area occupied by two castles that became museums. The lower Belvedere, that usually has temporary exhbitions and the upper Belvedere, with the permanent collection. There's so much to see in both of them that in between one and the other, I had to go out to look for something to eat. On the lower Belvedere, they were celebrating the 100 years of the Emperor's jubilee in 1908. At that time, Vienna was a huge party with lots of festivities, marches, art exhibits, etc, to celebrate the the Austrian-Hungarian kingdom. One of the highlights was an exhibition of the artists of the time. Based on plans and pictures of the time, the Lower Belvedere tried to recriate the same exhibit down to the last detail. It was very nice. Gustav Klimt had an exhibition room all to himself. The paintings that could not be there, were replaced by reproductions. I got some nice ideas for mosaics and stained glass pieces. I just need to find time when I get back home. Hopefully it is not an utopic idea!To go to the upper Belvedere I had to walk about a kilometre through manicured gardens and fountains in between the two castles. By the time, I got to the upper Belvedere I had a great view of Vienna. Really nice! This museum is even bigger. The castle was built in the 17th century and is lavishily finished in marble, lots of chandeliers, huge doors, etc. The collection is huge too. Lots of paintings and sculptures by Austrian artists. There's also a good collection of works by the whole international 'gang' that you see in every museum:Picasso, Monet, Renoir, Gauguin, Dali, Miro, Caravaggio, Henry Moore, etc. Then, I stopped for a long time in front of the one that meant a lot to me after my days in Vienna. The painting of Egon Schiele with his wife and the child. I hope somewhere, he is able to enjoy all the pride of his family that he transcribed so nicely in his painting. Ralf - Levoyageurpanamericano Ja estava na hora de dar tchau para os meus amigos na Alemanha. Eu tambem deveria de mencionar aqui que nos tinhamos dois 'DJs' no apartamento deles em Erlanger. No primeiro fim de semana, Peter colocou muita musica brasileira para tocar para eu 'me sentir mais em casa'. Uma colecao otima! Hanna e Peter insistiram em me levar na estacao de trem em Erlangen. Tomamos cafe da manha e fomos para a estacao. Chegamos la bem na hora do trem. Em um dos carrinhos de carregar mala na estacao havia um adesivo dizendo algo sobre acabar com o nazismo. Achei otimo sair da Alemanha vendo um pequeno sinal que existem pessoas la que irao tentar fazer com que os nazistas nao consigam mais espalhar o terror deles novamente. O trem de Nuremberg para Vienna foi um desses trens novos que parecem um trem bala japones ou frances. Moderno e confortavel. Dentro dele parece mais um aviao do que um trem e ate mesmo o som dele parece mais com o de um aviao enquanto ele desliza pelos trilhos. A nao ser a minha viagem de Cracovia para Praga, onde eu realmente queria mais conforto, eu adoro os trens mais antigos. Os trens Europeus mais tradicionais, com cabines para 6 pessoas, 3 de cada lado de frente para o outro. O 'tlac tlac tlac' do trem na sua viagem ritmica. O train gastou 5 horas ate Vienna cruzando os alpes. Mais uma vez, uma paisagem maravilhosa! Dessa vez ate mais. Haviam mais arvores mudando de cor, mostrando cores mais vibrantes. Campos e campos de plantacoes de milho, girasois, morangos, aboboras, canola, etc. As vilas e cidades que eu conseguia ver da janela, estavam impecavelmente bem cuidadas. Muitas casas com telhas bem vermelhas, jardins de flores na frente e nas janelas, canteiros de vegetais nos fundos e estradas sempre com as faixas e as placas recem pintadas. Sempre havia uma ou mais igrejas no topo de uma colina com uma torre ou mais, como que tomando conta da cidade. Uma paisagem muito bonita com essas vilas ou cidades e toda a paisagem em volta delas com as folhas mudando de cores para vermelho, laranjado, amarelo e marrom. O albergue Ruthensteiner em Vienna foi um dos mais faceis de encontrar na chegada de qualquer cidade ate agora. Somente 3 quarteiroes da estacao de trem. A recepcionista era uma moca muito simpatica que esta estudando portugues, dai podemos conversar em portugues. Ela me deu as chaves do meu quarto com 8 camas e quando cheguei la, nao havia ninguem. Provavelmente todo mundo explorando a cidade. O quarto na verdade, era composto de 3 quartos. O banheiro, um quartinho menor com os armarios e o quarto maior com 4 beliches. Eu guardei minhas coisas e fui arrumar minha cama. Eu gosto de deixar minha cama preparada antes de sair de manha. Ja deixo a minha roupa de dormir, os meus tampoes de ouvido e o meu tapa olho do lado da cama. Assim, se eu chegar tarde e todos ja estiverem dormindo, eu ja sei onde esta tudo e nao preciso acender a luz do quarto. Ficando em albergues, a gente vai aprendendo esses truques para facilitar a vida da gente. No quarto havia tambem uma mesinha entre as duas janelas do quarto com 4 tamboretes. Assim, se o povo quisesse ficar por ali mesmo batendo papo, se conhecer melhor, podiamos estar ali no quarto mesmo. Em cima da mesa, haviam alguns livros, um abajour, uma nota de 5 euros e um montao de moedas que deveriam de dar mais uns 10 euros. No topo de uma das camas, um guia de Vienna, um celular recarregando, roupas, etc. Eu adoro encontrar lugares assim. Aqui estamos nos, 8 estranhos de paises diferentes que se sentem confortaveis o suficiente para deixar as coisas deles a vontade como se estivessem em casa! Eu concordo que ha um elemento de 'estupidez' mas eu adoro isso de qualquer maneira. A vida deveria de ser sempre assim! Que nos, seres humanos em geral poderiamos ser esse tipo de pessoas especiais e respeitadoras. Mas deixa pra la, vou parar com as minhas ideias utopicas por aqui. Eu sai para dar uma volta perto do albergue, comprei um passe de transporte para a semana e voltei para o meu quarto. Aos poucos eu fui conhecendo as outras pessoas no meu quarto. O casal da Indonesia que mora na Alemanha, a inglesa que vai morar em Vienna e esta no albergue procurando apartamento para alugar, o ingles viajando tambem pela Europa, a moca da Slovenia que em dois dias iria para uma conferencia sobre servico social no Vietnam e a koreana timida que mora em Nova York. Depois sai para ir no supermercado comprar coisas para fazer meu jantar. Acabei escolhendo uma coisa simples. Macarronada pesto com frango. A cozinha deste albergue eh bem cheia! Muita gente cozinhando, cortando vegetais, preparando a comida, falando, bebendo, etc. Logo em seguida uma moca chegou na cozinha e na hora eu achei que ela fosse brasileira. Morena, de cabelo enrolado como Clara Nunes. Comecamos a conversar e ela eh na verdade da Alemanha! Ela se chama Cristina, a mae tambem eh alema mas o pai eh portugues africano da ilha de Sao Tome e Principe na costa da Africa. Ela mora em Londres e tambem esta viajando pela Europa. Ela fritou chourico com vegetais e acabamos repartindo as nossas refeicoes. Bem legal ela! Ja que era sabado, nos dois queriamos sair para dancar. O primeiro lugar que fomos foi pessimo! Para entrar, ainda tivemos que pagar 10 euros! Quanto entramos, parecia mais um buteco, com alguns assentos meio rasgados, etc. Naturalmente eles nao devolveram o nosso dinheiro mas nao dava pra ficar la. A musica tambem era velha e barangue. Acabamos achando um outro lugar melhor mas dessa vez, conseguimos convencer a moca da entrada de deixar Cristina dar uma olhada antes de pagarmos. Ela voltou e disse que haviam 3 areas la dentro. Uma era bem ruim e as outras duas eram boas. Dai, ficamos por ali mesmo e foi perfeito. Uma musica excelente, um ambiente legal! Adoramos! Tivemos que ficar por ali dancando ate 5 da manha pois era a hora que o metro iria voltar a funcionar. Nao tivemos problemas em fazer o 'sacrificio'. O lugar era pequeno mas deu pra gente se divertir e dancar bastante. Como a primeira lingua da Cristina eh alemao, ela acabou conhecendo bastante gente ali. Cristina estava indo para Praga assim que ela acordasse. Eu passei para ela as informacoes do albergue em Praga e dos lugares que eu gostei de visitar tambem. Chegamos no albergue as 6 da manha e nos despedimos ali mesmo antes de irmos dormir. Quando eu acordei, eu resolvi checar os museus da cidade. Na noite anterior, Vienna teve uma noite especial de visitas aos museus e todos ficaram abertos ate 1 da manha! Eh uma coisa que acontece apenas uma vez por ano e parece que eh um evento muito especial e que uma multidao enorme vai aos museus. Deve ser bem legal mas eu nao conseguia me ver sabado a noite (o unico sabado na cidade) indo a um museu ao inves de ir para uma discoteca. Afinal de contas, as discotecas normalmente sao boas nas sextas e sabados. Ja um museu, eh bom qualquer dia. Eu resolvi checar um museu chamado Albertina que estava tendo uma mostra especial do Van Gogh. A fila estava tao grande que desisti! Acabei so rodando a cidade, me perdendo, achando alguns lugares interessantes, etc. Eu acabei chegando em um parque enorme ao lado de um castelo. Havia muita gente deitada na grama aproveitando os ultimos raios de sol ainda quentinhos. Ja que o outono esta aqui, isso normalmente so eh possivel no inicio do outono. Eu acabei me juntando ao povo ali, achei um espaco vazio na grama e dei uma cochilada ali mesmo. Estou sendo um 'vagabundo' tao grande nessa viagem como nunca havia sido antes na minha vida, eu acho. E estou adorando! Estou percebendo que depois de 2 meses viajando pela Europa, as coisas estao mudando. Estou ficando um pouco cansado de ver tanta beleza Europeia! Afinal de contas, quantas cidades maravilhosas eu vou conseguir ver? Quantos museus? Eles sao todos diferentes e tem suas proprias distincoes. So acho que ja nao estou tao maravilhado com o que estou vendo como foi o caso na Noruega ou Suecia. Estou ficando contente que estou chegando na Turquia. Acho que la as coisas vao ser bem diferentes. Da Noruega ate a Hungria, eu acho que existe um denominador comum. Um sangue mais europeu, uma camaradagem europeia e uma historia mais comum que ultrapassa as fronteiras. Incluindo a Islandia, a Hungria ja eh o meu 13 pais. Ja esta na hora de uma mudanca! Com o passe da semana que comprei em Vienna, deu para ir da cidade de ponta a ponta, conhecer muitos lugares legais. Ao mesmo tempo, eles tem um sistema que confia tanto no povo que durante todos os dias em que fiquei la, inspetor nenhum me parou para checar o meu passe. Na segunda feira eu resolvi ir ate uma area chamada quarteirao dos museus. Sao 4 museus bem grandes no mesmo quarteirao e varios outras areas menores de exibicao de arte. Entre os museus, existem uns bancos enormes e diferentes parecendo pecas gigantes do brinquedo lego. Sao uns 50 bancos que ficam cheios de gente batendo papo, lendo, tirando um cochilo, etc. Uma ideia bem legal! Eu resolvi ir em um museu chamado Leopold que mostra mais artes de varios artistas austriacos mais do seculo passado. Provavelmente foi uma das melhores galerias de arte que ja visitei ate hoje! Tantos quadros maravilhosos! Tantas pecas de artistas importantes, incluindo naturalmente, Gustav Klimt. Eu achei que o museu fez um trabalho muito interessante em mostrar nao so a arte dos artistas mas tambem nos informar sobre a vida dos mesmos. Um que me chamou muita a atencao foi um pintor chamado Egon Schiele. As pinturas dele eram bem modernas para a epoca em que ele viveu. Muitas pinturas de nus em...posicoes interessantes. Pareciam ser pintadas hoje em dia, nao ha 100 anos atras. Na vida pessoal dele, ele teve suas atribulacoes e morreu com 28 anos! Se algum dia eu quiser mostrar um exemplo de uma vida bem vivida e produtiva, com mais qualidade do que quantidade (de anos) eu acho que vou sempre me lembrar dele. Ele estava casado e a esposa dele estava gravida de 6 meses quando houve uma praga de Influenza espanhola em Vienna. Os dois ficaram doentes. A esposa dele morreu com o bebe e 3 dias depois ele tambem morreu por conta da mesma coisa. Que perda! Esse museu tinha a foto de um dos ultimos quadros dele. Um quadro dele nu e agachado, com a esposa tambem nua na frente dele e na frente dos dois, uma crianca. O rosto do pintor parece um rosto bem orgulhoso naquela pintura. Pronto para ser pai, tendo sua propria familia se formando, a sua carreira de pintor dando certo. De repente tudo terminou ali tao cedo! Os meus dias em Vienna foram bem sossegados. Fui no cinema duas vezes, visitei alguns museus e me perguntei como Riga pode ter mais predios em estilo Art Nouveau do que Vienna. Na verdade, Riga tem um distrito Art Nouveau, mas Vienna tambem tem muitos e muitos edificios bem decorados no mesmo estilo. Uma das fotos que mais gostei ate agora, eh de uma janela no segundo andar. Uma vitrine com uma manequim usando langerie. Do lado de fora da janela, duas estatuas em tamanho natural de dois homens 'segurando' o peso do predio. Mas as duas estatuas parecem que estao olhando para dentro da vitrine como se estivessem admirando a manequim la dentro! Eu havia lido sobre um museu estranho que eh o museu dos cemiterios de Vienna. Nao valeu muito a pena ter ido la mas vi algumas coisas interessantes. Um caixao que pode ser reusado por exemplo. Ele fica em cima da cova e depois da cerimonia, eles abriam a parte de baixo do caixao e 'klank', o defunto caia dentro da cova e o caixao estava pronto para ser reusado. Foi um rei no seculo XVIII que teve essa ideia mas depois de 6 meses de protesto da populacao, eles tiveram que trocar de ideia. Haviam tambem muitas fotos do velorio do Arquiduke Ferdinando que foi assassinado em Saraievo e com o assassinato dele, comecou a primeira guerra mundial em 1914, etc. Uma coisa interessante foi que nao existem funerarias privadas em Vienna. A prefeitura de Vienna tem o monopolio dos funerais. Ja que eu trabalho com registros de morte tambem, fiquei me perguntando se isso afetaria o meu trabalho. Ainda bem que trabalho so com a parte burocratica. Ja esta perto o suficiente do 'alem'. O cara do museu me disse que no sabado especial dos museus, eles tiveram mais de 3.000 visitantes. Nao consigo nem imaginar quantas pessoas devem ter ido aos outros museus. Eu fiquei meio chateado entao, que eu e Cristina nem ao menos passamos pelo quarteirao dos museus so para dar uma olhada. Provavelmente deve ter sido bem legal ver o montao de gente por ali No meu ultimo dia em Vienna, resolvi ir no Albertina. Mais uma vez havia uma fila enorme. Dai, resolvi ir em um outro museu chamado Belvedere. Ainda bem que fiz isso. O Belvedere eh uma area enorme e na verdade sao dois museus dentro de dois castelos. O Belvedere de baixo, com exibicoes temporarias e o Belvedere de cima com uma exibicao permanente. Tem tanta coisa para se ver nos dois que entre um e outro, eu tive que sair para comer algo. No Belvedere de baixo, eles estavam celebrando os 100 anos do jubileu do Imperador que aconteceu em 1908. Naquela epoca, Vienna se transformou em uma festa enorme com varias festas, paradas, exibicoes de arte, etc, comemorando o reinado Austro-Hungaro. Uma das exibicoes especiais, foi dos artistas da epoca. O Belvedere de baixo tentou recriar a mesma exibicao a partir de fotos e dos planos da epoca nos minimos detalhes. Gustav Klimt teve um salao so para as pinturas dele. As pinturas que nao puderam estar la agora, tinham reproducoes no lugar. Eu peguei tambem umas ideias bem interessantes para mosaicos e vitrais la nessa exibicao. Agora so vou precisar de achar tempo para quando eu voltar para casa. So espero que nao seja uma ideia utopica de achar tempo! Para ir para o Belvedere de cima, eu tive que andar quase um quilometro entre jardins tipicos de castelo, todos bem podados e bem cuidados e cheios de fontes. Quando cheguei la, eu pude ter uma vista muito bonita de Vienna. Muito legal! Esse museu ainda eh bem maior que o outro. Um castelo do seculo XVII, ricamente construido cheio de marmore, de candelabros enormes, portas enormes, etc. A colecao tambem eh enorme! Muitas pinturas e esculturas de artistas Austriacos. Tambem existe uma colecao de pinturas da 'gangue' internacional que a gente acha em quase todos museus: Picasso, Monet, Renoir, Gauguin, Dali, Miro, Caravaggio, Henry Moore, etc. No final eu parei em frente a uma pintura que depois desses dias em Vienna significou uma coisa especial pra mim. A pintura de Egon Schiele com a esposa e a crianca. Espero que em algum lugar, ele tenha sido capaz de ter a alegria e o orgulho de ter uma familia que ele colocou tem bem naquela pintura. Ralf - Levoyageurpanamericano