dinsdag 7 augustus 2012

update one Berlin, Prague, Beograd, Skopje

Okay so i didn't post on friday morning...we decided to take a train earlier to bupapest.
Well what can i say? We're only a 9 days on the road (or should i say tracks?) but already there is so much to tell!
I'm going to start out with a few photos. We started in Berlin (Germany) in this fantastic city we stayed for 3 nights. We arrived on sunday evening, where we chilled a bit and did some sightseeing. Our hostel was close to Alexander platz which is in the center of the city (western part). Day one was spent in West Berlin. We visited all the main attractions including the Reichstag, Branden burger tor, the holocaust monument and the Berlin wall in the evening we cooked a fantastic pasta meal in our hostel and spent the evening with some fellow hostel members. Day two we spent at the eastern part of the city. We travelled all across the different (eastern) districts by bike (a good tip for when you're in Berlin!). We stumpled upon a really nice ethnic and 'hipster' market.

I absolutely love east Berlin.  I honestly could live there. It already was my second visit, but this city never gets tired!

After Berlin we travelled to Prague (Czech Republic) which was a really comfortable journey! In Prague we had yet another amazing hostel, cheap, clean and a nice atmosphere. In Prague we visited all the main attractions as well. But because of the heat we tried not to get overheated by all the activities. Our second day we closed off by a night on the town. We ended up at a place called Tattoo bar. It sounds rough and tough and yes it was! But in a really relaxt, cool and friendly way. It was packed with Czech locals and backpackers of course. We had a great evening!

The following morning we left for another destination: Beograd (Serbia) which was about 20 hours away from Prague! So our first stop was Budapest, where we had a nice meal somewhere nearby the station. At 22.20 our night train to Beograd left the station of Budapest. The term night train doesn't really suit very well. We had to sit (!) all night in a packed 6 persons couchette. Imagine sitting all night with your stuff on and around you...yeah well that wasn't a great night. Thankfully the people in our couchette were really nice, so we had a quick history lesson about Serbia en Beograd. One of the guys even gave us a few tips about the nightlife of Beograd.

Beograd itself was a bit dusty and really hot. Apperently every country we visit has the hottest day of the year. Seems like the sun is following us! In Beograd we walked around for a bit and relaxed as well. In the evening we got to see The Dark Knight Rises, in a typical Beograd cinema. Simple, old and big. One ticket for the dark knight in Holland, would set you back +/- 11 euros. In Beograd it cost about 2,50 euros. Not bad at all don't you think?
8 o clock in the morning yesterday (monday) our train to Skopje (Macedonia) left the trainstation.The trip was 11 hours long. a bit too long if you ask me...it was smoking hot with no airco, no toilet (just a pot with a hole in it...) outside about 40/45 degrees celcius....and sitting in a couchette with 5 other persons directly in the sun, i don't even wanna know how hot it was inside! ;) But we travelled through some beautiful scenery.
In the evening we arrived at Skopje, with no expectations at all! And boy were we surprised!
We had our diner in a lovely restaurant where I had a real Macadonian chicken risotto meal. Skopje isn't that big but the atmosphere is great. It is a fine combination of all different cultures. You can find mosques, synagogs and churches right next to each other. In Skopje there are few tourists and the citizens are very friendly and helpful. Not once during our stay in Skopje we've been bottered by unwanted people/men. Yeah well the do tend to stare a lot, but if thats all ;).
The old part of the town is really cute, it has an old Bazar. Right now i'm sitting on a couch in our fanastic hostel where we spent two nights. A slept liked a baby last night, thanks to a wonderful bed, which reminds me a bit of trucker's bed, it even has curtains to close it of!

So that's it for now! I promise to update more often, since it is so difficult to tell enough about each place ;)
Hope you will enjoy the photos as well!

Berlin











Prague









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