We finished off our time in Bosnia-Herzegovina with a couple of days in Sarajevo. We checked out the spot where Franz Ferdinand was shot (which eventually started WWI) and did a tour of the Tunnel of Hope. The Tunnel was the only way in and out of the city during the siege of Sarajevo in the early 1990s by the Serbs. There's a pretty big party scene in Sarajevo, but thanks to the copious amount of partying and eating on the Croatia cruise our livers and arteries just weren't ready for a repeat in Sarajevo.
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| A random Bosnian man in my lovely picture of a Turkish street in Sarajevo |
We hopped on a train to Belgrade, which is quite close on the map but took over 8 hours by train as the tracks have not been repaired since the war. Belgrade has the best nightlife in the world (according to Lonely Planet) and our free walking tour guide was pretty keen to prove it by providing a free shot of her uncle's homemade rakija - tasting rather like metho than 'plum brandy'. We were also lucky enough to share a hostel with a 40 year old 'Bohemian poet' and 5 Americans who refused to eat so they could get drunk quicker. Lucky us!
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| Damage from the 1999 NATO bombing |
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| Homemade rakija tastes like ass.... at least I caught my sunnies |
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| Tom working on his 'tan' just before being told off by the security guard for being too close to the edge. What a rebel. |
We then started our epic journey to Transylvania with our new awesome travel buddy Hana. 1 bus, 3 trains and 20 hours later, we arrived in Brasov. It was like a step back in time - cobblestone streets, gothic churches and huge mountains and forests surrounding us. The highlight of the trip so far was definitely our decision to hire a 2 door Barina and jam 4 of us inside to go castle-hopping for a day. Tom took the wheel, and I attempted to navigate. We overtook horse and carts, saw shepherds herding sheep and cows (wearing cow bells, of course), saw some ridiculous overtaking maneuvers and drove 120km for dinner in Sighisoara. It was an awesome day and we drove through probably the best scenery we have seen on our trip so far, it was absolutely beautiful.
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| Love a tacky photo op - Rasnov fortress |
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| Tom overtaking his first horse and cart, yeah! We probably had only 2 more horsepower but we owned that horse and cart. |
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| Peles Castle and the fussy stray dog who refused to eat half my sandwich. Probably wanted money for the pokies instead, soz. |
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| Tom and his trusy steed - Doris the Barina. |
We then spent a day in Bucharest before catching our overnight bus to Istanbul. The train station did not give a smashing first impression - stray dogs EVERYWHERE, dilapidated buildings and pushy cab drivers. But we ventured into the old town and it definitely improved. We had lunch at a ridiculously classy restaurant with silver service, a live violinist and pianist and spiral staircases. Dressed in jeans, hooodies and sneakers we totally fit in. Kind of. Not really.
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| Bucharest Old Town |
