The day from here only got better, especially when we got out our 2 liters of duty free russian vodka, we didnt quite make it to the actual match, but were close enough on a massive square with cinema screens... Thousands of supporters and us just taking in the vibe, it was peaceful, up until the point where AC Milan scored their second goal... This sparked some aggresion from Liverpool, suddenly the sky was filled with flying beer bottles, cans, and flares!! Insane! No-one seemed to have gotten seriously hurt though, and liverpool did manage to score a goal, but hey. It did mean that Athems was now filled with 40000 depressed liverpool soccer huligans!
We did our best to find the party, but AThens is bigger than we expected, and only seemed to find the liverpool side of town (apparently the police had made sure the italians and brits were on opposite end of the city), so we made the most of it! We hadnt quite adjusted to the Euro yet, so we were happy when we met some greek girls, who showed us around... they even got us some beers! haha
And so was our first day in Europe, the plan from here is to couch surf, hitch and backpack from city to city until we reach holland, or run out of money which ever comes first.
We never really got around to visiting teh Acropolis... but we did see it all lit up while sipping a beer... the main reason for not going up to the actual site, was the grey skies and the rain, but we got a definite feel for the city! mainly through walking... lots and lots of walking! We did visit the archeological museum, which was really really good! Its about the same size as the Cairo museum, awesome stuff! When the sun did eventually come out, Mattie and I made our way to parreas, and once we saw the Med, al we wanted to do is get a yachting job! Wow! We wondered around all the yacht clubs, had no luck in finding any skippers, but the sights were incredible! We both decided that we will be back in Greece some time, no doubt about it!
The two canadians we met headed over to Santorini, we were seriously considering that, but eventually decided that we rather keep to our original plan and spend 2-3 weeks exploring the balkans, and start working... Once again... We def have to go back to Greece some time! We were there far to short! So... watch this space
Anyway, as you can see from the pics, we had an excellent time while we were there,. and since Lena's place was continually packed with people... we always had good company to get around.
We left Athens on Sunday, by train to head up to macedonia... This is where the real adventure started haha. The train ride up to theselaniki was really great, the only downside was that we didnt quite prepare for it being 8 hours, so didnt have any food besides a packet of chips! So there was some stomach growling going on... When we arrived at the end point, we had 7 minutes to catch the connecting train to Florina (so no time for food)... we ran... and we made it!
We arrived in Florina starving, so the first thing we did was mission over to the nearest food joint and had an amazing Greek meal! The sky was grey, and the search for either a ride to Bitola or a place to sleep started...
So let me tell you a funny story! As you know... we are travelling on a really tight budget... really tight so we try and spend as little money as we can on unnecesary things like... acomodation. The place is quaint, and has an awesome vibe! After asking some people we found out that the busses dont run to the border... Its a pride thing... Greeks and Macedonians (Former Yugoslavian republic of macedonia rather) dont really get along due to the claim to Alexander the great... so we were stuck there... this is roughly the time it started pooring down! So we decided to stay, and thought it would be a good idea to find a cheap hotel or something... but since it was a public hol for all Greeks on monday everything was fully booked - We soon found out tha Florina is a holiday town!!! We were homeless!! Dwelling the streets! haha So we made a call... we could either spend about EUR40 and get a taxi and a hotel in macedonia, or just man it...
We manned it!! We left our bags in a hotel, and started looking for a cool place to chill out. Basically the plan was to hold an all night party! There was a cool vibe, and we had some left over Finlandia vodaka haha, well after a few drinks, it was still gettingcold, and all the party looking people seemed to dissapear and be replaced by old folk. To this day we are baffled by it! We were starting to doubt our decision and slowly run out of steam... So we started to look for shelter... just like a true hobo would! We eventually settled for a cozy construction site!
As you can see... it looks... like a construction site! Where we slept in amongs the rubbish, on a concrete floor!! haha, definetly turing into hardy travellers!! At about 5:30 we couldnt bear the cold anymore, so we retreated to the hotel, where we snuck onto the couches and spent the next 2 hours or so! Way way better! At about 7 we were up and away!! We got some breakfast, made a sign for Bitola and started walking. As I said there are no busses, so its either a taxi to the border... or hitching. We hitched! It wasawesome, it was only about 20km, and we got a ride for about 15 of that! And the sun was shining and our sign was efficient! We were initially picked up by a great old man on his way to church, and after that by a guy cruising along in a Ford. The walk was great... Hitch hiking def has a certain charm! Real freedom! But due to the walking along the freeway, and carrying my heavy camera around, I could claim to getting walking fit!! The ride we got went all the way to Bitola-Macedonia, and from there we couch a bus over to Ohrid... But that will be the next post
Oh let me end this off with matties keeper quote to describe the situation... "The couchsurfing thing is working out really really well, we have only had to sleep in a construction site once..."
We stayed up on the hill with a couchsurfer called Al Yates, a peace corps volunteer, in a house kindly provided by George W (thanks man).
Our first ride was with two guys about our age who for some reason were on their way to the middle of nowhere, about half an hour drive from Ohrid, where they dropped us off and we waited for ages, listening to music and learning to juggle.
At lunch time, Jelena by this stage severely hungover, her cousin and uncle arrived and we were (force) fed a menu including chicken shnitzels, deep fried cheese and vegetable crouquetes and lobster!! We could hardly resist as Jelena and her cousin Jelena took turns refilling our plates, more and more and more. Just look how happy Pd is
We found the address without any problems, it was a pleasent walk, and were stunned by all the serbians!! The rumours and legends are true! wow!
Just to fill everyone in... Kierans parents moved to Serbia a little while back and currently live in an insane apartment in the city center. You may be asking yourself... what does that have to do with anything?? well.... kieran told his parents we were passing through Belgrade on our Balkan Adventure and they very kindly invited us to stay with them for a few days. So Mattie and I, without any hesitation accepted the very hospitable and generous offer! And are we glad we did! Anne, Phillip and Caroline... thank you once again! mattie and I had a stupendous time!!
Staying in Belgrade was better than we could have imagined! We havent eaten that much, and insanely good, food for about 3 months! So our stomachs didnt know what hit them, we were so hapy :) ! That was part one, we ate so much glorious food! Then secondly, Caroline did everything she could think of to show us the city.! This meant we got taken all over the place during the day, shopping, strolling and cafe hopping! Which is generally what everyone in the city seems to do. Then after dinner we would meet up with Mark, (a party beast who knows every single hotspot in Belgrad) and head out to. Life was good! The first night was pretty relaxed, we had a few beers in a quant little bar with carolines posse, which suited both Mattie and I perfectly, as we had eaten so much lamb that we could hardly walk haha.
We did the tourist thing on day two, with caroline gladly joining, Belgrade has a very cool feel about it. There is a large communist influence, but the center seems to never rest. There are people everywhere, all the time, just wandering the steets and going about their thing. A very young, trendy and happening feel! I could however understand Anne and carolines frustration about the language barrier! haha, all the signs are in cyrillic, a lot of people only speak serbian, making a lot things slightly more difficult than they need to be.
After yet another astonishing dinner, we headed out to Silicon valley, where Mafia meets and girls are pretty, where we were welcomed by a Baileys promotion, and met some enlish speaking guys... one of which is going out with a girl that mattie went to school with, and lived a few houses away from! I forget the name, but wow, what are the chances haha.
The night progressed steadily, and eventually moved over to a club called Amsterdam. A definite party! The pic will give a better idea i guess...
On the second last day mattie and I showed of our skills and spent some time in the kitchen! Sushi!
We even visited the zoo! Where we saw a someone that reminded us of the old days....
we miss you jared
Anyway, haha, I seem to be waffling a bit... so In short, Belgrade is awesome! here are some pics...
We were soon settled in to the apartment and after a bit of a sleep hit the town for a little walk. Its a really interesting old city, and i didnt know this but theres actually two parts, Buda on the one bank of the Danube and Pest on the other, fascinating, info-tainment. We didnt actually find the river that day, but there was a nice other train station which was designed by Eiffel (of the tower fame), and plenty of other things to wow and amaze. We really needed a map, and saw a group of people walking down the street with one, so enquired as to where they got it, and it turned out that they were pretty decent company so we went for a beer with Anne, Nora and Phillipe, a German, Belgian and Chillean in that order.
That evening Béla gave us a wlking tour of the neighbourhood and old Jewish quater, puntuated with stops for beers and some local sorts of food in random little courtyards and rooftops that we never ever would have found otherwise. The night degenerated quickly once we met up with Ferco, the other guy from Lamu and the german girls and friends from earlier. And we ended up at a wicked drum and bass party where eveyone seemed from the photos to have had fun,
Must go - to be continued (soon!!) ....
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