San Sebastián

San Sebastián is a wonderful wonderful city and I love it! It's on a beautiful bay with a paseo and two beaches surrounding it. We went out for pinchos and sidra last night. It was all really good; the best pinchos I've had in Spain. After eating we went were looking for a bar that didn't seen Spanish, and ended up in a clearly foreign bar with the soccer game. Spain beat Italy, then the place cleared out and the bartender put on American music for us. I requested Michael Jackson so Sydney, the bartender, one other customer, and I all sang the entire Thriller album. After that we met some Spanish guys and they took us to a gay club: my first in Spain. It was a lot of fun, they were playing excellent music (Postal Service, Chili Peppers, Bruce Springsteen). Now I have a wicked hangover but well worth it. So, tomorrow we start the Camino!! We're going to try to take it easy the first couple days... I'm excited but I have no idea what to expect! I'm a little sad to be leaving San Sebastián but glad that we'll be in the País Vasco for awhile longer. I think I could live here.

Back in Spain! ...goodbye Eastern Europe.

Ok, we got back in Spain yesterday and now we're in San Sebastián in the País vasco. And it's fucking hot. Like 90 degrees. To the beach soon! It's nice to be able to speak the language again and have a general understanding about what's happening around me, but I'm sad to have left Eastern Europe.

I guess I'll just give a general overview of what I did over the last two weeks or so. We went to Dubrovnik after Mostar, where we met a Finn named Sanna in the bus station (as we were mobbed by people offering us rooms) who asked if she could stay with us because it's expensive to stay alone. So we stayed in a triple (with a tiny foldout bed for Sanna). Dubrovnik is nice but it's incredibly touristy. We walked around the city, went to the national park on the island of Mljet, and went to the beach. The Adriatic is so beautiful! The water was so clean and clear and absolutely amazing. The national park was incredible; it has two lakes, the bigger one has a small island in the middle with a monastery on it. So, it was an island within an island, which is fun. We swam in the lake which was as clean and clear as the sea around the island. There were trees that came right up to the water's edge.

Then we took a ferry to the island of Hvar. Once again, picture perfect and incredibly beautiful. We only stayed one night, which was probably for the best because I couldn't stand all the rich people walking around and all the yachts in the harbor. Rich people!

Then we took a ferry to Split, which is as nice as Dubrovnik but with a lot more life. I really enjoyed the old palace which encloses the old part of the city. We went to the beach one day but the water wasn't as nice as it was in Dubrovnik and it rained midday. Así es. We went to this town on a island, Trogir, one day.

Then to Zadar! Still on the coast. We only spent the evening there but it was still excellent. There is a sea organ there (don't ask me how, the informative brochure was written in broken English) which produces mystifying and magical music. We had a delicious dinner of fish with Sanna and Stefan (a German guy she had met earlier; he had the funniest German accent!!).

The next day we went to Plitvice National Park, which has 16 lakes connected through various waterfalls. It was absolutely amazing. We walked around and down the lakes for several hours. Unfortunately, you are NOT allowed to swim in them.

Next day to Zagreb, the capital of Croatia. We just walked around the old part. Nice, but not terribly impressive.

Then to Budapest to catch our plane the next day. On the verge of sleep I asked Sydney if she had checked the flight time, since we had both thought it was at 1pm the next but I couldn't check myself as I had thrown away my reservation (idiot). She dug out the paper and found that it left at 9:15am. Narrowly avoided catastrophe, I would say. A long day of traveling got us to sweltering Madrid. And now we're in San Sebastián! I can't wait to go to the beach! The original plan was to start the camino on Monday but Sydney is sick so perhaps we will wait until Tuesday... It's just so damn hot!

Bosnia

Wow, Bosnia. We survived the 12 hour train, through amazingly beautiful green hilly countryside, small villages with mosques, 2 border crossings and 6 passport checks. We got to Sarajevo at a little after 9pm, someone from the hostel picked us up at the train station and drove us to the hostel reception, where we were given free welcome beers (one each) and told to follow this guy who didn't speak English, "ten minutes away". It was across the river and up a huge hill, through a unlit sketchy alley to a hostel in a building connected to an abandoned, collapsing building, with a rottweiler in a cage barking outside. I was vaguely afraid we were being led to our deaths. For the first night in our five bed dorm there were only three of us, Sydney, me and a Scottish guy named Mickey. The beds were extremely uncomfortable, with a deep dip in the middle, forcing you to sleep on your back most of the night. The next day we explored Sarajevo with Mickey, in his kilt. We saw the bridge where Archduke Ferdinand was shot, beginning WWI. There are many mosques, surrounded by churches and several synagogues. It was definitely strange to be in a Muslim region in Europe because it has the feel of Europe but with beautiful mosques everywhere. Five times daily the mosques call to prayer: one mosque starts, when it ends, you hear another mosque, and so forth. It's really beautiful and I definitely prefer it to church bells ringing.

There are many bullet hole-ridden buildings. In Sarajevo, most very damaged places have been restored, but you can still see the evidence of a very recent war. It is such lovely city, with green hills on both sides with houses extending upward. We went to a Muslim cemetery in the rain: it was slightly unreal. Our second night, we went with Mickey to a brewery and ate dinner. The food has been so good, with so much flavor. And the beer. So good. I had a dark beer for the first time in so long, I almost died it was so good.

When we got to Mostar, we were accosted by people offering accommodations at the bus station. We tried to say we had a reservation at a hostel already (a lie) but the offer seemed so good that we agreed to go look at the room. The hostel was perfectly fine and legitimate. We walked around the city (small but stunning), which is situated over a beautiful, clear river between hills. I noticed more damaged buildings here that hadn't been restored, with warnings not to enter. We climbed the minaret of a mosque, with an incredible view of the city and the famous Stari Most bridge.

Some Basque guys in Sarajevo had told us about these excellent waterfalls near Mostar, but they had a car. We asked the people at the hostel, they told us a bus that went out there, and told us later about a tour from a different hostel. We decided on the tour because, though expensive, it seemed quite difficult to get back on the bus from the waterfalls. He picked us up the next morning and we went with a group of 13 or so. Our first Americans since we left Spain! Also, a bunch of Brits, an Australian. Everyone was pretty cool. We started out by going to this old village with a fortress and a mosque that had been largely destroyed during the war. We then went to this strange animal farm with horses, ponies, a donkey, goats, rabbits, guinea pigs, dogs... It was quite weird. Some people rode horses but there were only two that could be ridden so we were there for over an hour. It was fine, though, because there was a cafe nearby. After, we went to the waterfalls. Fucking incredible. You'll just have to see the pictures to understand. We swam in the frigid water, played under the falls for over an hour. It was great. Afterwards we went to see an area where the Virgen Mary was seen 17 years ago or so. Next, to dinner near a huge cliff with a cave and a monastery. It was pretty awesome, the whole tour.

Now, off to Dubrovnik today! I can't wait! But I'm sad to leave Bosnia. The people have been so nice, the food great, the cities wonderful. From meeting all these people and hearing where they've been, I just want to keep traveling forever. Not possible at the moment though... unfortunately.

Budapest!!!

So, we've just finished our second day here in Budapest. It's amazing. I came here uncountable years ago (like 9? I can't be bothered to count) and I really don't remember it from that time. It's so refreshing to be out of Spain; the people, the architecture, the food... The people here generally speak English, at least the ones we have dealings with, and they're all really nice. Even the people who don't understand a bit of English smile and smile and speak to us in Hungarian. I traveled for about 24 hours to get here, from leaving Coria to arriving at the hostel here. Four-plus hours in bus, spending the night in the airport until 6:40am, flight to Brussels, slight layover, flight to Budapest, finding the bus to the metro to the city, finding change for the bus and the metro... But the hostel is excellent as well: we paid 11 euro for a dorm and somehow ended up in a double. The first night, the owner made us some Hungarian soup (delicious) and some sweet bread covered in pancake batter and fried (strange but like French toast). It was very nice. We've also met a lot of cool travelers here. We've just walked around the city a lot, to Castle Hill and Mátyás-templon and the citadel in Buda (nearly caught in a thunderstorm, hiked up two mountains), to Parliament and St. Stephen's basilica, the opera house, and a beautiful synagogue in Pest, where we're staying. All the restaurant food has been really good too. Mmm, goulash.

It's strange to be in a post-Nazi, post-Communist country, now that I understand the significance. Lots of amazing old buildings are covered in grime and some parts of the city just seem dusty. We walked through the Jewish part of town, which used to be the Jewish ghetto during the Nazi occupation. It's a charming neighborhood, and very hard to believe what happened here over 60 years ago. So much history.

It's incredibly hot here, and just way too humid. I feel like I've been sweating constantly, especially with so much walking. My backpack is so heavy at the moment (16.5 kg at the airport, I can't do the math into pounds), which is just too much. I've been planning to drop things along the way but I don't know how much longer I can carry a bag that heavy. Training for the Camino?

Anyway! This keyboard is really killing me. On Wednesday we're off to Sarajevo, Bosnia, on a 12 hour train. I can't wait! I am also having tons of problems with the currency/exchange rate. 245 Hungarian forints to 1 euro. Yeah. And soon I'll have to deal with yet another currency. It's pretty pathetic (yeah, Mom, sorry for making fun about the problems with euros) and Sydney has to tell me how much to pay usually. Ridiculous bills, too.