Author: Henry

Night Hike

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Invigorated by being in the outdoors at last and feeling like I was in need of a little more adventure I decided to embark on a night hike into one of the valleys whilst in Cappadocia. I fancied trying a bit of night photography and thought this would be a good spot to try. From the town there was barely a star to be seen due to the light pollution and I was curious as to whether the night sky was better when viewed from further out.

I set off as the sun was setting and got some lovely views of the shifting colours on the horizon as it disappeared behind the mountains. I’d decided to head to one of the cave churches I’d come across on a previous walk and I was contemplating exploring the cave by torch light.

Night time arrived and stars started to appear. It got pretty dark. I was not using my head torch as I wanted my eyes to adjust to the light. Taking photos turned out to be tricky. In part because I didn’t know exactly what I was doing but also because it was so dark and my little travel tripod sits only an inch or two off the ground which meant lots of scrabbling around. There was a lot of trial and error.

In the absence of adequate vision you suddenly become acutely aware of the all the sounds around you. I was crouching down trying to set up my camera when I heard a noise close by. I quickly looked up and there was a man on a horse, in the dark about six feet away. He wasn’t using a torch and was just a shadowy figure looming over me. My heart skipped a few beats. It was an odd moment because no words were exchanged he just quietly went on his way and the horse walked off into the blackness of the night. After that I was a little more aware of being on my own in the dark and felt a little scared if I’m honest. I persevered though and ventured a little further to continue with taking some photos.

It’s hard to find the words to describe the scene. The sky was clear and the rocks formed eerie silhouettes against the starry night sky. It was like being in a panoramic 3D photograph that you might find in The National Geographical. I managed to capture a few photos that give you some idea.

The cave church

I stood by the cave church for a while soaking up the views but I did not have the courage to venture into the cave alone. A step too far. I decided to head back. This wasn’t entirely straightforward as in the dark I could not see the paths I’d come along and ended up going the wrong way. I wasn’t exactly lost as I could always see the lights of the town to head towards but it did take a bit time to find my way back with the use of my head torch. A nice little adventure.

The next day, wishing that I’d ventured into the caves I decided to go back for a second go. This time I recruited a few guys from the hostel to come with me, Matthieu from France, Lai from Taiwan and Jonas from Germany. We retraced my steps from the night before. This time we’d gone a little earlier for the sunset. We decided to hike up to a high point whilst there was still a little light left in the sky. Matthieu wasn’t so keen for more hiking so we decided to split the group. It was going to be two and two but ended up being the three of us and then Matthieu staying behind by the cave church. He seemed cool about waiting and we agreed to meet back there. Perhaps not the best plan in hindsight.

The trek was a little longer than anticipated but we eventually got to the top in the darkness to be rewarded with some cracking views. I felt bad about Matthieu waiting so we didn’t linger and headed back down. I estimate we’d been gone around 20 minutes. We got back to the church but there was no sign of Matthieu. At the time no one could remember his name so we just called out ‘hello?!’ For a while and shone the head torch all around. He was nowhere to be seen. We figured he was probably OK and decided to explore inside the cave.

Johan ventured in first. I looked in and could see the light from his phone glowing from the entrance and then heard a voice singing. There was deep guttural chanting emanating from the entrance. There was a split second where I thought I was in a Blare Witch situation but followed in to find Jonas cantillating using the room as an echo chamber. It sounded really cool. Inside the cave was essentially a church with some basic artwork and crosses carved into the walls. We explored the cave a little further and found we could get up to another level. It’s hard to imagine how they built these structures into the rock.

We eventually returned, getting lost again on the way back. Thankfully, upon reaching the hostel we found Matthieu sitting out on the roof terrace. He’d thought it was getting too dark and decided to head back when we didn’t return. He had his own little adventure, getting lost and hearing dogs barking all around him and said he’d been quite scared. Luckily he was fine though.

Thoughts on Cappadocia

HenryLeave a comment

I’d not heard of Cappadocia in Turkey until chatting to Nick and Briony, the English couple I’d met in Sofia. They sold it enough for me to incorporate it into my plans and what a great recommendation it was. I ended up extending my stay and spent 4 nights/5 days.

This was finally a chance to get outdoors and also to have some time to relax and recuperate a little. During the day I set out into the valleys and did some hiking. When I wasn’t hiking, I chilled out on the roof terrace of the hostel. There were great views looking out over the town and I spent most of my evenings there gazing out, occasionally in possession of a local beer.

I was really blown away by the scenery. Besides being stunning, it’s unlike anything you’d find in Europe or anywhere that I’d seen before. There are a series of valleys full of unusual rock formations called ‘fairy chimneys’ or ‘hoodoos’. I believe they’re the result of a volcanic region shaped by millennia of erosion. The people who’ve inhabited the area built there homes into the landscape creating caves in the rocks. You can see these everywhere. Some are quite simple and others are huge and multi- levelled. The whole region is full of them. The dwellings date back to the 4th century although they have been used by later inhabitants. You can visit an open air museum, or do what I did and wander out into the valleys and explore them for yourself.

Hot air ballooning

Cappadocia is famous for its hot air ballooning. Literally hundreds of them take off every morning as the sun rises. I hear it is spectacular to go up (sadly a little too expensive for me) but it’s equally amazing to go and watch them all rise upwards against the back drop of the unusual landscape. This does involve getting up at around 5am but is absolutely worth it. Most people in Göreme, the main town climb up to ‘sunset point’ where there are views down towards the valleys. I choose not to do this because they charge you to get up there. It’s only about 40p but I felt you should never have to pay to see a sunrise/sunset. Also, there are hordes of people up there, which for me slightly takes the edge of the magic of it all. Instead, I walked out into the valley and found my own spot. There were a few people there but the view was more interesting and you got closer to the action.

The hot air ballooning pulls in a huge number of tourists, many from China. Thankfully most tourists opt to go on tours where they’re carted around in minibuses to all the key sites and viewing points. This means that if you’re happy to explore yourself you barely run into another soul.

Cappadocia did however, for me, encapsulate much that is wrong with the new trend of ‘instagram tourism’. It seemed like many tourists had come there simply to get the perfect instagram shot of themselves with the backdrop of the hot air balloons. At 5.30am there were ladies dressed up to the nines and made up within an inch of their lives primed to get that photo. I’d just about managed to crawl out of bed spotting a Boris Johnson barnet. There were even couples there getting their wedding photos done. Much time was spent crafting the right image and then they were pretty much out of there. Don’t get me wrong, it’s hard not to take photos, I took plenty myself but that wasn’t my motivation for visiting. I may be wrong but I felt many people were more interested the photo than the moment itself.

In the town there was a Turkish carpet shop that charged £8 for you to take a photo there. I guess this had happened as so many people were coming to get their photo taken for social media and never buying any carpets!

UNESCO world heritage site

Unsurprisingly the area of Cappadocia is listed with UNESCO. Whilst some of the more significant cave dwellings and stone churches are protected in the open air museum a lot of them are not. I felt tourism here was not entirely sympathetic to the integrity of the region. One of the areas in the rose/red valley had been made a playground for ATVs (quad bikes) and motorbikes. ATV tours were led out around the area with up to about 20 in a group, although there were hundreds around at times. Besides the racket they make and the dust they kick up they’ve permanently changed the landscape with all the tracks they make.

It was also sad to see the amount of litter everywhere. There were no apparent restrictions on where you could or couldn’t go and not many set paths. People clearly went out drinking and hung out in the caves. I don’t think I came across a cave that didn’t have litter in it or smell of wee!

Given the uniqueness of the place it was a shame not more is done to look after it.

Göreme

Cave dwellings

My own cave dwelling

Night time view from the hostel roof terrace. I did not get bored of spending time there.

A most uncooperative tortoise

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On my second day in Cappadocia I was out hiking and in spite of my experience I chose to walk in the baking heat of the afternoon with not very much water. I was never very far from civilisation so wasn’t too worried but I had embarked on a much longer walk than expected.

There aren’t really any maps for the area. I was given a trekking ‘map’ but it was essentially useless with no detail or scale. I had been using a route overlaid on google maps on my phone but this had suddenly disappeared half way through my walk and with no data I wasn’t able to load it up again. I knew the general direction I needed to go however. Due to the nature of the terrain it was quite easy to see where you needed to go with plenty of landmarks.

I’d done the first part of the hike up to a castle build into the rock atop a hill and had decided to walk back through what’s known as the Love Valley. The walk was incredible and the scenery was like nothing I’d seen before. I realised however that upon entering the valley which had steep rocky cliffs either side I was committed to walking the whole thing until I reached the end as there was no way out. This was a bit of an undertaking given how far I’d already walked. The day was drawing to a close however and mercifully there were now some pockets of shade.

Despite the heat and the lack of water I was really enjoying myself. There was not another soul in sight which felt quite eerie but also made it more of an adventure. After a while I saw some movement ahead on top of a mound. It was a tortoise! This has to have been the most exciting moment of my trip so far. I love seeing wildlife and this was totally unexpected. I didn’t even know that there were tortoises in Turkey. I’ll avoid assigning a gender pronoun for fear of causing offence as I couldn’t exactly ascertain the sex from afar and I wouldn’t want to assume it. Anyhow, there it was just tottering along.

I’d wanted to try some wildlife photography but I just didn’t have the necessary camera equipment for it. But here was my chance. Finally something slow enough to capture. I had the time to reconfigure and setup my camera for the shot. I got in close but almost immediately it retreated into its shell.

I wasn’t very impressed if I’m honest. I tried reasoning with it. I spoke to the tortoise and told it how it wasn’t very often that one comes across a tortoise in the wild and asked if would it mind ever so much coming out for a photo, but it did not oblige. I thought that speaking in a softer tone might help. I told it a bit more about myself so that it might feel more comfortable. After regaling the tortoise with my life’s story it remained steadfastly retired within itself. I followed up with some attempts at serenading it with my dulcet tones, singing some lullabies. I think in reality however, my monotone, tuneless vocal efforts caused it to become even more stubbornly introverted. It turned into a waiting game, and after retreating a distance it’s head finally emerged and then it eventually carried on its purposeful plod. I think we’d come to an understanding. To get a shot It did mean squatting rather precariously on the edge of a steep slope but I felt it was worth it. I’d have stayed much longer but I had a long way to go still and was quite far from the town where I was staying still

My first attempt at hitchhiking

I eventually reached the end of the valley and saw the famous ‘fairy chimneys’ which gives the valley its name. I got to a road and worked out I probably had about an hour’s walk to get back. Tired and with no water left decided I’d hitchhike back into town.

I’d created a bit of a mental barrier to hitchhiking. I’d met lots of people doing it through Eastern Europe, all with positives experiences and wanted to give it a go but had it in the back of my mind that it was somehow dangerous. Now it was more a necessity. My first go went pretty well. I stuck my thumb out on the main road and the very first car pulled over for me. A nice guy, who I think was called Emre gave me a lift back into town. It was only a few miles but I’m glad I gave it a go. We had quite a funny conversation speaking in football teams as neither of us really spoke each other’s language. Something I might try again..

Thoughts on Istanbul

Henry

Istanbul marked a significant milestone on my journey as I’d made it to the edge of Europe and was shortly to leave the continent behind as I pushed on into Asia. Technically I made multiple forays into Asia during my stay as I nipped back and forth across the Bosphorus both by train and on foot.

Istanbul is vast. I barely scratched the surface and focused most of my efforts on the European side in the ‘old city’ where I did see quite a bit.

My first experience of Istanbul, besides arriving with no clue about where I was or where to go was walking down to see the famous Blue Mosque (Sultan Ahmed Mosque) which was very near my first hostel. The Mosque is currently under construction and so has scaffolding up the side. I wandered around and hadn’t realised there was another enormous Mosque, The Hagia Sophia nearby. I found myself stood in a park between the two gazing up at them when the call to prayer started, emanating from huge loud speakers. It’s quite something. It’s extremely loud, and all the mosques go at the same time and so it echoes around the city in a discordant non-harmony. I found it weirdly moving when coupled with the spectacle of these enormous monuments.

One of the thing you immediately notice is how the Mosques dominate the skyline of the city, towering above all other buildings. This is something you can see on both sides of the Bosphorus, although further into the Asian side there are a lot of impressive sky scrapers.

I spent a lot of time just walking around the city, exploring and soaking it up. You see so much more on foot.

I actually didn’t visit either of the aforementioned Mosques and instead opted to see the Süleymaniye mosque instead, in part because it was free! (Pics below).

I went to the Topkapı Palace although having seen my fair share of national monuments I’m not sure it was worth the £10 to get in. There were too many people and not enough to see that I found interesting. Far better was the Archaeological museum which housed an impressive collection of ancient artefacts spanning several historical periods dating back to 2500 BC. They seemed to have so much that there was a literal dumping ground for artefacts that didn’t make the museums and even when you visited the toilets there were a load of unmarked archaeological finds littering the corridors. The other place I really enjoyed was the Basilica Cistern.

The food in Turkey came as welcome break from the previous stodge. Whilst still very meat and carb orientated I finally experienced the introduction of vegetables! The cuisine was a lot more varied and I ate very well.

Whilst I enjoyed the city, by the end I was keen to escape. I’d had my fill of cities, especially being in such a busy, hectic and enormous one like Istanbul.

Hagia Sofia Mosque

Grand Bazaar

Balat

A neighbourhood in Istanbul, formerly the Jewish quarter it think. An instagram paradise:

Istanbul by night

The Süleymaniye Mosque

The archaeological museum

What on Earth was going on here??

Looking to Asia from Europe

Fin

Turkish Oliver Reed

Henry1 Comment

I’ve stayed almost exclusively in dormitories in Hostels so far. I’m quite used to it now and for the most part it’s been fine. Every hostel is different. Sometimes they’re a little shabby but the staff are great or the atmosphere is really good or vice versa. I’d not had a particularly bad experience until Istanbul.

I arrived slightly unprepared (as usual). I’d managed to get currency this time and even knew the exchange rate but had forgotten to download a map of the area. I took a free transfer from the train station which was out of town and was dropped somewhere near another station more centrally, I think. Not knowing where I was or having a map was a bit of a predicament. Thankfully, a nice Kiwi couple I’d met on the train actually used their map to find my hostel and walked me there!

The hostel wasn’t very obvious to find as you had to walk into a confectionary shop to go up some stairs, several flights of a spiral stair case. I’d already sweated a considerable amount walking up the hill to get there and wasn’t overly enthusiastic about scaling further heights with my rucksack on. I climbed up about three storeys and saw some dorms but no reception. Sigh. I went all the way down again to the shop only to be told the reception was there but on the very top so up five flights of stairs I went to the roof.

The staff were polite but not exactly welcoming. One guy didn’t really speak English. I was shown to my bed, I wasn’t given a key or anything like that and my under-bed locker’s hinge was broken. It was a ten bed dorm with one fairly grubby toilet/shower. This would have been OK if the rest of my experience had been better. In it’s favour it did have a little roof terrace with some lovely views out over Istanbul.

The common area next to this however acted like a heat trap as it had a tin roof and it was unbearably hot so it wasn’t really an option to hang out there in the day time. When you arrive in a new city you often rely on the Hostel to give you some advice about what to do/see, where’s good to eat etc. The only English speaker at this place was basically a kid and wasn’t very forthcoming.

I’d managed to turn up, after the overnight train with no clean t-shirts and so I asked them to wash my clothes which they said they could do for the following morning. I was so hot and sticky I actually decided to go off and buy a couple of new t-shirts in the meanwhile.

That evening, despite the ‘AC’ it was damned hot in the dorm. They had not provided any top sheets and so it was just a case of stripping to your boxers and making do. I was lying as such in my bed playing on my phone when a guy turned up at about 23:45. I noticed that he needed to pray as he took out a prayer mat. He asked the Hostel worker the direction of Mecca, which rather unfortunately appeared to be me. He laid out his mat facing me, only a couple of feet away and proceeded to pray towards Mecca/a sweaty me in nothing but boxer shorts. Not the holiest of sights. It was a little awkward, although more so for him I imagine.

I’d booked two nights here so decided the next morning to stick it out. To be fair, they put on quite a nice little breakfast spread up in the common room which was nice before the heat of the afternoon kicked in. I arrived there and asked about my laundry only to see it still sat there and they’d just forgotten. Given my lack of clean clothes I was fairly livid, but being British I just found myself saying don’t worry about it. After breakfast, I then had to wait for ages whilst everyone used the bathroom before me and without going into details by the time I got in there it wasn’t the most inviting environment to venture into.

The morning was then spent trying to find a laundrette. This was easier than I had imagined and after trekking down some side streets I found a room full of old washing machines, the kind you’d find in your home. I was greeted by large topless man with an enormous distended midriff proudly on display. He looked like a Turkish Oliver Reed in the later years, top lip adorned with an impressively bushy moustache. I was told to come back at 4pm.

I’ve provided a picture in case your imagination isn’t up to it.

I laterreturned to the Hostel only to find the Hostel owner asleep in my bed! That was the final straw for me and decided to write off the cost for another night’s stay and book somewhere else. I still had to collect my washing so left to see some more of Istanbul in the afternoon. I returned again to the dorm to find it looking like a bomb site, screws all over the floor and power tools lyng around. I went up to reception to try and settle my tab and check out but ended up having to wait for the guy to return and found myself stuck in the heat trap perspiring heavily. There were some others who were still waiting to check in. After nearly an hour I was able to pay up and get out. The decision was cemented when I went down to the dorm to collect my bag and found that someone else had been assigned my bed anyhow!

I did not look back.

Sleeper to Istanbul

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I departed Sofia on the express sleeper train bound for Istanbul. This is the first time a mode of transport has exceeded my expectations. I’d booked a bed in a 2 berth sleeper carriage for 66 lev (about £30) which seemed good value.

Upon boarding, the guard disappeared with my ticket promising to return it in the morning (which he did). I was then led to my cabin and was pleasantly surprised. It was clean, comfy looking with a sink and even a little fridge containing some complimentary water and snacks

It wasn’t long before I met my companion for the next 12 hours or so. I had been a little unsure when booking the ticket as it would mean sharing with a stranger. I met Rus, from Russia. He didn’t speak great English and my Russian was a little rusty but we were able to hold a conversation. We got chatting and he told me that he was a Life Coach and that he had been travelling through Switzerland and Germany where he had some clients and was heading to Turkey before heading home to Russia. One of the things he did was help people with phobias using Buddhist techniques and he proudly told me that his record for curing someone was 25 minutes!

Rus didn’t strike me as a life coach with international clients if I’m being honest. He was travelling only with a tiny rucksack for a month’s travel and there was a moment in the morning when he picked a used cigarette butt from his bag and sniffed it for a while before disposing of it. This wasn’t long before he washed his face with alcohol hand sanitiser, not a technique I’d considered before. He was a really nice and friendly guy though and it was no bother bunking in with him.

I know from previous experience that I find it hard to sleep on trains, even when you’ve got a bed. It was comfy enough but the motion of the train makes it hard to nod off. I managed a bit of sleep but not much. We got woken up at 4am for the Bulgarian border checks and then had to stop and get off the train at the Turkish side a short while later to show passports. It was quite a smooth border crossing compared to previous ones. I was thankful that we were several hours late as this meant a bit more time trying to sleep!

Digs

Me and Rus looking a little haggard after a night on the sleeper train

Badger?

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Arriving into Sofia late, I sought out my hostel and crashed for the night and the next day I went on the free tour. A short while into the tour, our guide was telling us that the national animal of Bulgaria was the Lion, referencing its repeated use in the architecture. He then asked us to say where we were from and what our national animal was. Of course I was asked first. Put on the spot and under pressure I found myself saying ‘I’m from England and our national animal is the badger!’ Not because I thought this was so but in a poorly judged attempt at a joke. I had however, in the moment, been dispossessed of the faculty of humour. I wish I’d said Boris Johnson. Needless to say no laughs and I think most of the international group now believes this to be a fact.

Thankfully, there was a British couple in the crowd who when it was their turn backed me up with by also declaring badger our national animal, further cementing the lie. I appreciated the solidarity and this later served as an ice breaker and I got chatting to Nick and Briony who it turns out had also just quit their jobs and were travelling east on a very similar trajectory to myself. This was their day one and so we went for a beer to talk about our travels.

We parted ways when I had to move from my hostel and go to buy train tickets but I ended up walking past them an hour or two later in a restaurant so I joined them for some further liquid refreshments before I staggered back to my hotel. The following day I managed to also walk into the same coffee shop as them which is good going for what is a fairly big city. Hopefully they didn’t think I was stalking them. I’ve a feeling our paths will cross again on the next stage of the journey….

I really enjoyed Sofia overall. Much more to see than I had imagined and I was particular impressed by the many ancient ruins that had been excavated and turned into open museums through which you have to pass to traverse the centre of the city.

A few highlights of Sofia:

The opera House

Old Roman church

Palace of Justice

Old Turkish baths

Some of the many Roman ruins from the old city that are now open museums around the city

Traditional outfit I wish I’d bought. Can’t remember the name but you’re supposed to hang a load of bells off it to essentially scare people

The local teenagers are obsessed with K-pop (Korean pop music) apparently. They get together and practice their dance routines in public.

The slowest train in the world?

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My faith in train travel is somewhat restored.

Belgrade to Sofia

I started the day in style. After a stay in a hotel the night before I decided to just book a car through the hotel to avoid any funny business with taxi drivers. And so I rolled up to Topcider train station on the outskirts of town in chauffeur driven Mercedes, a lot fancier than I had imagined. I did draw some looks from some of the other travellers decamping from the tram nearby as my driver took my rucksack out of the boot and helped place it on my back.

The train was pretty much on time and was just made of two carriages. Nothing fancy.

The seats were basic but unlike my previous journey I ended up having a whole 4 seats to myself to make home for the next 11 hours or so.

This meant I was able kick back, take my shoes off and spread across the seats which was a luxury compared to the previous journey but still resulted in a sore bottom after so many hours.

The only downside was that there was no air conditioning and it did get pretty hot in the afternoon. The windows were all down but the issue was that the train went so slowly there wasn’t any breeze generated even if sticking one’s head out the window. Especially towards the tail end of the journey we can’t have been going more than about 10-15mph. It was so frustratingly slow. The total distance travelled is less than 200 miles but it takes pretty much half a day. At least I could get up and stretch my legs. Even with some Netflix, a bit of reading and writing some postcards it was pretty boring. Thankfully I’d brought a fairly wholesome picnic with me which kept me going throughout the day.

We eventually arrived at Sofia’s central train station just a while before ten, only an hour late.

Beograd

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Arriving in Belgrade early in the morning I went to my Hostel, the ‘Hostel Hedonists’ which all seemed very chilled out and relaxed. I dumped my stuff and engaged in my usual routine of going off to do the ‘Free’ tour. I find this gives me a good feel for the city and is a nice starting point for later exploration. I hadn’t realised what a large city Belgrade is and the centre is much like any modern European city. There is some interesting architecture dotted about with influence from Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian empires as well as some traditional Serbian buildings and older Roman ruins. That being said as the city has been razed to the ground so many times in the past there’s not all that much to see.

Exhausted from my overnight train experience, I spent the afternoon relaxing in the garden of the Hostel making the most of the WiFi. There were a large amount of Brits staying there which was a change as I’d barely met any yet. Unfortunately, there were a couple of real specimens. One over-confident public school ‘lad’ who I imagine wasn’t much older than 21 spent the whole afternoon in the garden loudly phoning his various mates and family members. I wish I could convey the embarrassing nature of his conversations. I was close to recording him at one point. He blabbered on about all sorts of inane stuff and clearly had a very high opinion of himself. Every sentence he uttered ended with the word ‘dank’. The Oxford dictionary defines this as “unpleasantly damp and cold“, although I believe he was using the colloquial version which The Urban Dictionary defines as “Another way of saying COOL or AWESOME TO THE MAX“. I dare say he could work on expanding his vocabulary.

There were thankfully some more tolerable people staying there and I did meet some interesting people. Following a barbecue there was a little party in the hostel before everyone was heading out to the Belgrade beer festival. Deciding this wasn’t my sort of crowd and following a lengthy and heated debate with a Polish man about gun control I opted for an early night.

The next day I checked into a nice hotel as I needed a bit of a comfort and some privacy after a month of living in dormitories. Before checkin I decided to visit the Serbian Museum of History which was excellent, apart from skipping out any 20th century history which I most interested in finding out about. When I finally got to the hotel I realised that I’d left my small rucksack with my DSLR camera and most of my valuables at the museum! A slightly heart stopping moment but thankfully I later recovered it with ease and without panic.

Later in the day I had to buy tickets for the train to Sofia which involved an hour long trek across Belgrade in the heat to Belgrade Centar train station. Not the prettiest of stations I’ve ever visited.

It wasn’t a very scenic route either. Once there and to my great frustration the ladies in the office told me to buy the tickets at the departure station (Topcider) the next morning before getting the train. I had to point out that I’d walked for an hour to get there and that I was very much going to purchase them then and there.

It wouldn’t have been a decent visit without checking out the city walls, my new favourite pastime. From the fortress and walls there were great views out to the confluence of the River Sava and the mighty Danube and you really got a feel for how much the city sprawled outwards.

Statue of ‘Victor’ installed following the First World War but intended to celebrate victory from the Ottomans (I think). He was considered to be too indecent to go in the city centre as he may corrupt the young women of the city. More likely make the men insecure.

The confluence

As I was coming to the end of my time in the Balkans I thought it only proper to have one last meal of Çevapi in the evening. The restaurant was a little dubious with some interesting options on the menu. They also kept a managerie of small animals inside including rabbits and various rodents. Not exactly what you’re really looking for in a restaurant. What I got was a and over-priced and overcooked meal but with all the walking I was hungry enough that it didn’t matter.

Night train to Belgrade

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I took the sleeper train from Podgorica in Montenegro to Belgrade Im Serbia. In large part my reason for doing this was that I couldn’t stomach another long bus journey and I also would then be able to take trains all the way to Georgia.

When booking the train there weren’t any places left in the sleeper cabins, only seated. There was a day train but I impulsively bought a seat on the overnight train instead thinking I would save the cost of a night’s accommodation. This turned out to be a poor decision. What unfolded was my most crazy journey so far.

Boarding

Taking a train is not inherently a difficult task, nor should it be daunting. When you’re on your own in foreign lands, don’t speak any of the local language and are the only non-native waiting to get on the train it can feel so however. Mainly because you don’t know what you’re walking into.

The train arrived.

I managed to get a guard to point me in the right direction from the platform and then spotted my carriage and got on. There were lots of people on the platform and it was a bit of a scrum. The train was already packed and upon reaching my seat which I’d paid €3 to reserve there was a large grumpy man parked there. I tried to show my ticket and gesture but was quickly ushered down the aisle by the irritated people behind me. It was clearly a free-for-all and so I walked further down and managed to bag a seat next to another enormous grumpy man who didn’t seem pleased to have me next to him. He insisted on having his short stocky legs fully spread encroaching on a good deal of my leg room. I decided it best to just let this go as he was a stern and serious looking gentleman.

This photo doesn’t really show the full extent of the situation (I was a little worried he’d see me take the photo) but I had to sit at an awkward angle for most of the journey.

Once seated, some people were trying to enforce their seat reservations. Arguments were erupting everywhere. It was chaos. I thought that maybe I should have tried harder to sit my reserved seat and I was now waiting for someone to come and yell at me for being their seat. Aware of my inability to communicate this was an uncomfortable twenty minutes or so. Thankfully I came out of it unscathed. The train conductor arrived amid the fracas and made a half-hearted attempt to resolve the matter before giving up and telling everyone to sort it out themselves, at least that was my interpretation. It did eventually die down and the seats were filled. The train departed at 8.10pm

The train, empty

The toilet party

The area in between the carriages where the toilets were quickly became a smoking area despite the no smoking signs. The automated sliding door kept opening due to the sensor and so the whole place stank of smoke. By 9pm, this area was starting to fill up and people were drinking and chain-smoking in there. This was about 15ft from my seat. By 10pm after some rushing back and forth, a wireless speaker emerged, and the space then effectively became a temporary bar/nightclub where an increasing number of people were joining. The music was terrible. Some sort of high tempo, local ballads. By midnight, the music was blaring, there was dancing and the singing had started the volume was getting much louder. The door sheltered us from a lot of the sound, but every time it opened, which was often we got a fresh blast of stale smoke, music, singing and shouting. Between me and the door were two families with several very young children. The parents seemed to put up with it pretty much although one of the dads tried in vain to get them to keep the door shut. The children occasionally woke and burst into tears. One child who must have not been more than one was quite sick and had a rough time.

In the four hours whilst this was going on we made two stops for the Montenegro and Serbia border agents to board the train which took about an hour each. This didn’t deter the revellers who partied on. When the stern looking squad of Serbian Border police finally reached me on the second stop and checked my passport I heard one of them say ‘UK!….Brexit’ and then laughed.

The Drunkard

Somewhere in the middle of all this, a couple of hours into the journey, a young chap appeared in the carriage, heavily intoxicated swigging from what looked like a medicine bottle. You have to imagine how an Orang Utan walks when it’s on two feet. This is how I would describe his attempt at getting down the aisle. In fact, it would be more accurate to say that he fell down the carriage, although in truth he never actually hit the ground. This caused much amusement to everyone including the children.

He was closely examining the luggage in the overhead storage compartments as he stumbled along. I think he’d either lost his bag, or more likely was lost himself and didn’t know where to return to. He then started shouting and starting loud arguments with anyone he could. He disappeared and then returned wearing glasses but this sadly did not help him in his task. He continued to roam up and down the train for a good few hours, with intermittent outbursts, occasionally being berated by the conductors. I don’t know if he ever found what he was looking for.

Rave

By 1am, there was a full on rave taking place at the end of the carriage and it showed no sign of letting up. The train guard had a couple of hours before told them to stop but when they didn’t he just opted to make friends with them. I can say I wasn’t feeling great about my prospects of any sleep at this point but I somehow managed to eventually drift off around 2.30am. My sleep was regularly interrupted by pains in my neck and back due the angle I had to sit at and a fear of falling asleep onto the large Balkan man beside me which I did do once.

Wild West

At 4.20am the man to my side woke me to leave his seat and it looked like he was leaving the train which he eventually did. This was an uplifting moment as I could now move to the window seat and attempt some proper sleep and the party had ceased. I did this until about 10 minutes later all hell broke loose.

The man in front of me suddenly leapt from his seat toward a young lady who had been drinking heavily with the revellers earlier. He grabbed her and was yelling. I can’t be sure, but from what I saw I think she was trying to take a blanket that had been placed over the young children who were asleep under it. Understandably he was not best pleased about this. She gave back as good as she got however. People were jumping out of the their seats and shouting at the top of their voices and holding each other back. It was mayhem. I had no idea what was being said but it wasn’t pleasantries which were being exchanged. The guards turned up and threatened for the police to be involved. I had to laugh at this point.

Things eventually settled down and I even got a little sleep before the train rolled into the station at 7am, only one hour late. It’s hard to know if the seating area on the sleeper train is always like this or whether I had rather rotten spot of bad luck. It certainly wasn’t a boring journey.

The train arrived at Topcider station which is an old station several miles out of the main city. You basically hop straight off the train and walk across the tracks to get out. Once out, I Immediately paid massively over the odds to get a taxi to take me straight to my hostel. I was quite happy to be ripped off in this instance.