IRAN!!!!!!

Estem a un local Irani que tenen internet, pero sembla que els accents i altres simbols, son molt demanar.

No cal destacar gaire del torneig de Magic de diumenge, fora de que l'Alex va aconseguir una meritoria dotzena possicio. Quan varem acabar de jugar, vam sopar, i corrents a dormir. Teniem que recuperar totes les hores perdudes de son.
Dilluns, vam comprar els bitllets cap a Igdir, prop de la frontera amb Iran. Ens quedaven 2 hores, i vam aprofitar per anar a veure el mausoleu de Ataturk, com ens havia recomenat la Marta a l'ultim post. La veritat es que valia la pena.

L'estacio d'autobusos de Ankara es gegantesca, al igual que la de Istanbul. El nostre autocar sortia a les 13:00 amb arribada a desti a les 10:00. El trajecte semblava bastant llarg, pero va ser entretingut:
Venedors entrant a cada parada, a vendre coses versemblants, cal destacar un que va entrar, va deixar un paquet de xiclets amb una nota a cada seient, i quan va arribar a nosaltres, en va deixar un sobre la tauleta de l'Alex i va marxar, ell, emocionat, va preocupar-se de perque no me n'havia dat un a mi. Al cap de uns minuts, tornava el noi..
Tambe hi havia varios nens petits que ens van deleitar tot el trajecte amb boniques melodies. El nostre vei, tambe va decidir fer-nos gaudir dels seus "ronquids". A tot aixo, el conductor va decidir que veiessim tota la emeroteca de "culebrons" turks, cap desperdici. A mig cami, tambe va entrar un soldat per fer la rutinaria inspeccio de passaports.
Com l'angles dels conductors era nul, cada parada miravem d'endivinar el temps de durada, per intentar dinar o sopar quelcom. Tot el que vam aconseguir, es descobrir que half time volia dir mitja hora. Ja haviem passat el dinar amb una bossa de patates, pero vam poder sopar prou be.

Pel mati vam poder disfrutar de un paissatge espectacular, rodejats de montanyes nevades a tots costats, realment precios. Un cop vam arribar a l'estacio de busos de Igrid, un minibus ens va dur fins a un descampat on un altre minibus ens tenia que apropar a Iran. Els minibusos a Turkia, al igual que els d'Albania, cumpleixen dos requisits, portar el vidre trencat, suposem com a demostracio de la pericia del conductor i tenir els cinturons de seguretat per quan s'apropa un control de policia. Aquest segon minibus, que entenem que l'hi diuen minibus, perque hi posen quinze persones, pero que te tot l'aspecte de una simple furgoneta, ens va dur a un poble prop de la frontera, no avans, parant a un control militar, a on una tanqueta i un jeep amb una bonica metralleta, imposaven el seu respecte. El paissatge era tambe espectacular.

Un cop al poble, despres de preguntar al conductor per anar a Iran, i rebre una resposta de: "go east", vam decidir fer cas a un nen i suposem que el seu amic, d'utilitzar el seu cotxe com a taxi fins a la frontera. Un cop a la frontera, el cotxe del nostre amic conductor va decidir explotar, i va comensar a treure fum per tots costats.
L'Alex va fer un amic rapidament a la frontera, que ens va dir que ens faria el millor canvi de divisa, que ens explicaria tot el que necessitavem saber i tota la pesca, i tot, per la nostre cara bonica, i perque erem molt guapos. Despres de canviar una part dels nostres euros amb ell, i creuar la frontera (Es curios el cartell amb angles que posa: WEL COME TO IRAN), vam descobrir que l'amic de l'Alex no ens havia fet el millor canvi precissament, pero aixo ja va be, per a curtir-nos en la batalla.

A Iran hem agafat un autocar des de Bazargan fins a Mako. Hem dinat i estem esperant per agafar un autocar que ens porti a Teheran directament, surt a les 17:30.

PD: Al torneig erem dotze persones.

Leer más »

High Way to Hell

It has been first time I let Ferran get the bus tickets. Obviously the 13 years old fooled him and me on the same package. Never again! After paying our eyes out for a coke and a fresh orange juice, just 15 euros or such, we went to get the bus to Aksaray, there we had to move around the bus station and find "a place where the buses blink their lights and stop to get you to Ankara". Sounds kinda easy, right?
So it went as follow. Nobody talked english. They love to confuse "right" with "left" which are among the very few words they know in english. Arrived Aksaray at 23:10, no tickets left to Ankara. Let me enlight you why so. What would you do after a "Ramadan", I mean, not decently eating and sleeping for more than twenty days. You said "Celebrate"? Then you are right. That's what most muslims do after Ramadan, they go visit their families and celebrate. So...it's near an impossible feat to acquire a bus ticket for some place at Turkey right after Ramadan. Solution: take second option, walk and find "that place where buses blink their lights and stop to pick you up". We walked. We found a place...where buses stop, but, awfully, they don't pick you up if they are full, instead they put gas, and clean the windows on a gas station.

That was around 00:10 on sunday. We were lucky, was just a bit cold. We needed 45 minutes or so to learn that we should walk over the road, to that famous place where blah blah, we did. There was colder, darker, more scary. Buses were blinking lights at us, so were some cars and most of the trucks, we understood that they meant "Get out of there, we gonna roll over you if you don't!".

00:50 the backpack was being a hell of weight. A bus to Istanbul stop at gas station and I went ask if they were full. The driver was eating, we moved to the gas station to ask the driver when he'll finish eating if the bus was full. It was. More even, a bus stop at the other side and picked some persons that were waiting inside a car...meanwhile.

We paid one more hour for this nice move. 2:06 a.m. Sunday, like 20 buses have passed "blinking their lights farewell to us", we even had a nice police show, when a police car stop 3 cars and a frigorific van just beside us.

2:06 a.m. Finally a bus blinks and stops. I was begining to wonder if was a dream. There's only 1 free sit...Ja! The bus doesn't stop at Ankara central station, goes to Istanbul..."Hey! We do not mind" We climb up, Ferran was pleasently sit beside driver's so he was able to enjoy a nice turkish conversation. I slept til 4 a.m. or so, then Ferran got moved to my side.

5:15 a.m. Arrived to Ankara. Enough time to find a cheap hotel (Heh) that allows us to check in at 8 a.m. find the magic tournament place, sleep a couple hours and get a shower.

I have to say that Ferran did a good job setting an alarm in the desktop, otherwise we probably have slept til evening. Went to the tournament place, and ate breakfast. I will let Ferran write about it, I'm sure he will enjoy it, and so will magic fans. The cafe, called On-a-on, was placed on a centric street at 3rd floor. It is a rock-metal oriented enviroment, so we spent the day listening Ironmaiden, Judas Priest, Blind Guardian, Bon Jovi and of course AC/DC, whose first song of the day, was, and had to be "High Way to Hell".

Best wishes and two free advices, get your bus tickets with anticipation, check what you have just bought, otherwise you can get involved on a high way to hell.

Leer más »

Kapadocia

Autocar nocturn fins a Kayseri, i un altre fins Görome. Arribem a destí a les 11:15.
Degut a que havíem contactat amb una persona a Ankara, i haviem confirmat que podiem jugar un torneig de cartes de Magic el diumenge, i que segons l'Alex, per la nit sortien els vampirs de les seves coves i històries freaks de les seves, la nostre missió era veure tota la Capadocia avanç de que es pongués el sol.
Doncs dit i fet. Vam llogar un cotxe per a poder arribar a tots els llocs interessants possibles. La veritat es que val la pena veure aquesta zona de Turkia, però realment, amb un dia sencer, sembla que es pot veure tot, sempre i quant no vagis amb un tour de 40 persones, on hagis d'esperar a l'espanyol de torn que s'ha perdut o que està esperant torn per fer-se una foto amb el camell.
Els turcs sembla que estan explotant la zona però no es preocupen de mantenir-la per a que duri molt de temps. Algunes esglèsies de Ihlara Valley es troben en un estat deplorable, i sembla que no hi ha cap intenció de restaurar-les.
Com a cosa a destacar del dia, hi ha hagut un moment, que passavem prop de una espècie de convent esculpit a la pedra, que semblava tenir un munt d'anys. L'Alex, que feia rato que anava amb sobrecàrrega, ha soltat: "Para lo que me queda en el convento.... " i ha desaparegut un moment. Al cap de uns minuts, apareixia bastant lleuger i donant salts d'alegria.
Quan hem tornat a Göreme, ens hem endut la agradable sorpresa de que els bitllets nocturns que teniem a les 24:00, que ens havia venut un noi pel matí a la companyia d'autobusos, realment eren per les 12:00, així que sembla que tindrem que fer auto-stop als autobusos que passen de camí a Ankara, com ens han aconsellat.

Això es tot per avui, ara anem a provar sort al poble del costat. Potser sona la flauta i trobem bitllets que ens estalviïn donar la nota a la carretera.

Leer más »

Slowing the pace

Hello World, we have drastically slowed our pace, we used to cross 3 countries in two days and now we stood at İstanbul for 3 nights!!! Truth to be told the turistic zone of the city can be walked in two days, we got time to get our İran visa in the morning (only valid for 10 days though, so we will have to hurry through İran), and then went to visit the northern side of the city. A couple of catalonian girls doing erasmus told us that there was a nice view of the city from "The Marmara" hotel, so we passed by Galata tower (ticket 10TL, turkish lires) and went to the roof floor of the Marmara. The view, we had to agree, was nice, but we couldn't take pictures of quality.

On our way back to the Old Town we stop at a restaurant beside the Bosforo to eat a fish sandwich. On the evening went to see the Grand Bazaar. İ think it is the best place İ have visited here, but that doesn't count much anyway. İt looks like a small underground city full and full and more full of shops, silver shops, cloth shops, cushion shops. The sellers are not as bothersome as in other places of the world, but they all know "you come from Spain".

We went back to the hostal through a market street that stands beside the Grand Bazaar. This street, like the Bazaar, it's full of shops too, but these ones are for locals, in fact, for every 200 persons walking there, only 2 or 3 were turists.

At the hostal we recognized that "our amigo" and the "amigo of our amigo" is more friendly to females than to males, Gah! That's something we can't do anythiıng about.

No ninja women stalked into our room, so the night passed without any major concern. This morning we went to "Otogar", yea, sounds like "autocar", and that's it, the central bus station of Istanbul, to get a night bus ticket to get to Capadocia...so...another one that bites the dust, the other friend of our friend who prepared a Turkish tour for us is not gonna get anything of value from us I guess. Another comission that goes down the drain, I bet that "nuestro amigo" didn't like that very much.

We spent the most of the day walking up and down through places we already have been on. Also bought a couple small pillows, we expecting many bus night trips now on, and better if we are somewhat equiped.

Now we are making some time before going into the bus that is gonna take us to Kayseri.

Good luck and good night.

Leer más »

Istanbul

La nostre missió dimarts, era trobar un hostal barat on poder dormir tres dies. Aquest cop era l'Alex quí tenia que negociar. Objectius: barat, amb wifi, amb bany i poc mes. La idea era regatejar una mica a cada lloc, comparar varios hostals, no teniem pressa, així que podiem gastar bona part del matí voltant. Així que arribem al primer hostal, ens donen un preu bastant elevat, ens diuen que la Wifi no arriba a l'habitació, i 'Alex sense dubtar: ENS QUEDEM AQUÍ!!
Després de descobrir que era el final del Ramadan i estaven de festa, així que l'embaixada Iraní estava tancada, vam decidir veure Istanbul. Teniem tres dies per endavant.
Istanbul es una ciutat per on es pot caminar, s'arriba ràpidament d'un lloc a l'altre. Si ets prop del centre turístic, els preus son bastant europeus.
L'Alex, va tenir la brillant idea de preguntar al noi de l'hostal, que com es podien fer petits excursions a diferents llocs de Turkia, ja que teniem uns dies. Casualment, ens va indicar que ell tenia un amic de una agència de viatges que ens faria els millor preus i que era de tota confiança. L'Alex no parava de donar les gràcies per haver tingut tanta sort. Hores mes tard, encara no s'havia donat conta que a tots llocs ens feien els millors preus i erem la gent mes simpàtica que mai havien conegut.
A tot això, cal fer un esment a les "punyalades" que es dedica a fer l'Alex a els nostres contactes.
El seu contacte a Pakistan, un tal Zulfakir, que ens havia aconseguit estància per aquelles contrades, ha sigut traït i abandonat després d'aprofitar la reserva per a treure el visat de Pakistan, amb un simple email donant gràcies pels serveis i desitjant-li bona sort.
L'amic del nostre hosteler, sembla que també rebrà una ganivetada, després d'haver-nos preparat un tour per Turquia amb tot "lujo" de detalls, explicant la hora de sortida de cada bus, els millors hostals, on menjar, contactes a cada ciutat.
El Jacob, el meu contacte a Iran, que ens havia preparat un meravellòs tour per Iran, i que ens havia ajudat a agafar el visat Iraní, també ha estat descartat per l'Alex, això si, amb un email d'agraïment que posa algo així com: "Thank you for your fish".
Buenu, deixant apart aquesta serie de traicions i ganivetades que s'han produït, segueixo amb el viatge.
Dimarts per la nit, després de sopar, l'Alex va decidir anar a comprar uns dolços típics de la zona. Després de repetit-li el botiguer, que un dels pastissets que escollia, portava mes de una semana aborrit a la safata, l'Alex va aconseguir fer-se amb ell. Sembla que no el va disfrutar gaire.
Dimecres finalment, varem aconseguir anar a l'embaixada Iraní. Vam entregar els papers que ensvaren demanar, vam pagar 60€!! per cap, i ens van dir que el dia següent tindriem els visats. Després varem seguir visitant la ciutat. El gran Bazar ens va durar cinc minuts. Tot plé de turistes, samarretes del Messi i el Ronaldo, làmpares, plats i quatre coses mes, això si, multiplicat per 100000.
Per la nit varem sopar prop de l'hostal, l'Alex es va fer amic de un dels propietaris. L'Alex te un petit problema, com que es fa amic de quí vol ser amic seu, i a Istanbul tothom diu ser amic teu, tothom parla castellà, i tothom diu que ets una bellíssima persona, doncs podeu imaginar.
L'altre proplema es que, com ja vaig explicar, no sap ni dissimular ni dir no. Quan passem per un aparador, apareixen dotze turcs de sota les catifes, diuen una paraula amb castellà, veuen la cara de sorpresa de l'Alex i ja el tenen on el volien. Espero que mica a mica aprengui a fer cara de poker.
Ara anirem a l'embaixada de Iran a pels visats i després a veure si queda quelcom que veure a aquesta turística ciutat.

Fins ara.

Leer más »

From Ohrid to Istanbul

A couple days have passed since our stay at Ohrid. It's a nice and turistic citi y at the shore of a lake with the same name. We made a night on a apartment at the old town, the owner of it told us once and again that there were two girls on the room beside ours, and if that meant any problem to us, I still don't know what he meant. Changing the subject, we took a small walk looking for a place to dinner and then moved back to our room since Ferrran wanted to see FCB & A.Madrid soccer match. On the morning we went visit some little monastery on a cliff at the very shore of the lake, then moved up to the city walls and city fortress, was then when we decided to find a place to leave our backpacks, so walked to the bus station at center, bought tickets to Sofia and went back to take another one last look to old town and eat our beloved pizza.

At 7 p.m. we start our journey to Sofia, arrived there at the harsh hour of 3 a.m. Ferran slept til 8 a.m. on a coffee shop table and read my eyes out. On the morning we met the most dedicated information girl who showed us where to buy a ticket to Istanbul, then we moved out to discover Sofia. You have to know that one is more man without the bag on his back. it just seems you want to walk right after putting it in a storage. The central bus station is not on the center and we didn't really know where we were, so we walked. Finding the center was not a problem, we did pretty well, even found some mosques, a cathedral, a sinagogue and the central park of the city, which cointained an itinerant photograph exhibition which I delighted, even some local skatters whom showed us some of their skills, maybe thinking that those bearded backpackers were expert on them.
Finding our way to the central bus station was a different task. We were a bit lost at the beginning, and got more lost after a beggar persued us with the shout "Hey! Guys, what's your problem?!" in his mouth. I'm pretty sure we made some 'S's, "The Force" had no idea on what "bus station" was, and if was not but for a boy with a heart shape inflaid motive sun glasses, I doubt we had find it. When we asked him our way back to the bus station, he stared at us half amused half thinking we were crazy and said "By walk?" His directions proved quite accurated, at the end of our journey, maybe 150m. away from our destination, we asked again to a couple of women "Excuseme...the central bus station..." "I don't know...I don't know". Me neither, I don't really know if she didn't want to collaborate or she meant "I don't know english", luckily we saw, at that same standing point, 3 buses going by, so, as we guessed, the central bus station was very near. As our bus to Istanbul was going to depart at 23 p.m. and we still had time on the evening we went see a movie on a Mall, we were expecting a bulgarian one with english subitles, was a chinese one with bulgarian ones at the end. Not very bad at least, probably out of this year top 20 ( : P- )

Back to bus station and journey to Istanbul by night. Started with a request of some policemen asking for our passports. Again they laughed at my picture "Yea, its 3 years old pic, I cut my hair..." (*smiles of amusement*) "Ok, ok, go on.". On the start of the trip we met the great american hero. He even made a show off on his powers smashig his head on the bus and not feeling even a passing faint. The turkish sit beside him was so pleased to have such an important figure at his side seat.

We got to make the visa at the Turkish border. 15 euros per person and 2minutes time. Wow!
We also met a couple of Turkish travelling with their son, whom wanted to go to Barcelona to learn more about water ball sport, he didn't talk a word, but the father told us, with some shiny proud, that his little boy was member of national water ball team. Good night and good luck.

Our arrival on Otogar, central bus station of Istanbul, was a bit chaotic. The buses going there and back, taxis using the horn all the time, people shouting. I was half awake half slept, and Ferran was not much better than me. Too many bus trips in too few nights. We needed some minutes to find a bank, with a bank machine and get some turkish liras to get started. Then headed to a internet cafe we had seen and check for some hostels and Iran consulate here at Istanbul. There, we met a couple of backpackers who gave us a map of the city (they were leaving that day) and gave us some good advices. We got to the metro from Otogar to Aksaray, then the tram to Sultanahmet, the entrance of the old town...

And thats quite enough for a post, sorry jejeje

Leer más »

Montenegro, Albania i Macedonia

Divendres vam deixar Dubrovnik, i a la vegada Croacia, amb destí Montenegro. El primer destí va ser Kotor, una reproducció en tamany petit de Dubrovnik, ciutat amurallada amb bastants turístes. L'Alex, aprofitant que jo anava amb xancles, va decidir aprofitar-se i pujar una muralla que escalava la ciutat fins a una petita fortalesa.. Evidentment no va poder deixar-me tirat.

Quan ja havíem vist tota la ciutat, vam anar a l'estació d'autobusos i vam preguntar com podiem anar cap Albania. Com l'autobús cap a Ulcinj no sortia fins al cap de dues hores, vam decidir tirar cap a la capital, Podgorica, i provar d'agafar un autobús cap a Tirana. Els experiments no acostumen a funcionar, i tal com ens va dir la noia a Kotor, teniem que anar a Ulcinj per travessar la frontera.

Era tard i l'autobús no sortia fins a les 6:00, així que vam preguntar per un lloc on dormir. Vam acabar dormint a una habitació de la casa de un home que ens explicava amb un inglès bastant deficient, que havia viscut quinse anys als Estats Units. Curiosament vam sopar algo a la "bakery" de la seva propietat, que es trobava just a sota.

Autobús destartalat cap a Shkodra, ja erem a Albania. La veritat es que el canvi es bastant gran. Molta brossa pel carrer i les edificacions bastant pobres. Una gran part dels cotxes son Mercedes antics, entenem que importats de segona ma. Només sortir del bus i caminar cinc minuts, va aparèixer una furgoneta que ens va oferir portar-nos a Tirana. La furgoneta va estar donant unes voltes, incomplint totes les normes de tràfic que coneixem, buscant mes gent. En deu minuts sortiem cap a Tirana.

Vam descubrir varies coses de la conducció per Albania. Les linies continues soc bones per adelantar a les curves, i mes si s'apropa un cotxe en sentit contrari. El cinturó simplement està per a fer veure que el portes posat, quan passes prop de un control de policia. El claxon, està per anar avisant als altres cotxes, que penses passar, i que no t'importa si l'altre vol o no vol deixar-te passar, tu passaràs. Pots canviar de sentit al mitg de qualsevol carrer, això si, amb el detall de vigilar de que no vingui un vehícle per darrera o en sentit contrari, que sigui gaire mes gran que el teu.

Un cop a Tirana, vam agafar un taxi cap a l'hostal, però a mig camí vam decidir que aquella ciutat no es mereixia quedar-nos a dormir. Vam tornar caminant on havíem agafat el taxi, segons l'Alex, l'estació d'autobusos. Finalment era un recinte esportiu. Vam trobar el mateix taxista, que amablement ens va dur a una furgoneta que ens duria a Pogradec, ciutat que fa frontera amb Macedonia. Unes hores mes tard, ens trobavem davant de la frontera. Com que no ens ens oferien un bon preu per anar cap a l'altre costat, vam decidir creuar a peu, i així vam poder veure el monestir de Sveti Naum, on va nèixer el cirílic.

Finalment vam acabar agafant un bus cap a Ohrid.

Leer más »

Training at Dubrovnik

We woke up early and at Ferran's request we look for an exotic place for taking pictures of the old city. You can imagine how many tourist per m2 you can encounter in this place, and you should know that the presence of any tourist in a picture is seen as a taint by Ferran, so...he looked up, and...up, and ...upper, to the tallest mountain around Dubrovnik and decided it could be a nice place for taking pictures.

We bought a bottle of water and started our climb on the old grey stairs inside the Old Town, we got to a road in the bottom of the mountain we wanted to climb, seeing no trail to go up, so after looking right and left and rolling a mental dice we began to make our way to the right, facing the mountain. After some walk we found a stone trail mined with goat detritums, a lovely path, but with amazing views, the higher we got, the nicer the city view.

With the sun at our backs and the gravity pushing our bodies back to the sealevel, we decided to make a stop to replenish strength and joy. We were the only ones walking the trail and, later, the narrow road that drive to the mountain top. Some taxis, cars and trucks went up while we were struggling with the sun, but nobody to be seen. Found some grasshoppers, and the owners of the detritums, the alfa male and the rest of the group stared at us with no friendly face, so we moved on not disturbing the 'pretty' goats.

Our Effords were rewarded on the top, there's nothing like a cold shadow for resting when you are tired, and wonderful views to make pics. Ferran found another trail to go down, we took it and ran our way back to the road.

We ate and decided to get some pics from the inside of the Old Town, but the presence of tourist is so high that changed our minds, so tried to climb the city walls, which we either did, 50kunas was a bit too much for some stairs, and air views we already got from the mountain; instead we sit on the fountain at Pile Gate staring at the rest of tourist and getting some fun
: P-

We'll see what night brings.

By the way, check this link for the travel pictures :-)


http://picasaweb.google.com/ferranvilaferrer

Leer más »

Split i finalment Dubrovnik

Després de descartar les illes Cornudes, també conegudes com illes Crocanti, per a necesitar un dia sencer per a veure-les i perquè estava mes bona la copa de maduixes amb nata, vam agafar un autocar cap Split, adeu Zadar.

Al arribar al nostre destí, van aparèixer de tots els racons, gent oferint-nos habitacions a casa seva. Com no, l'Alex no podia dir que no i em vaig tenir que imposar. El gat de Shrek, estaria encantat de trobar algú com l'Alex a les seves aventures.

Tot seguint la guia, vam acabar a un piset de unes gitanes, que després de veure que 150€ no pagariem per la seva suite de luxe, ens van enviar a una espècie de hostal deixat de la ma de Deu. Nosaltres erem els únics clients, i teniem internet, cuina i televisió. Ens van dar la clau i van marxar. Tot i les meves queixes, vam acabar veient Dirty Dancing, segons l'Alex, en honor al Patrik.

Van acabar apareixent quatre espanyols mes, una mica extranys, però que tenien clara una cosa, volien veure el partit del Madrid. Quina llàstima que no trobéssin on fer-ho.

Split es una ciutat molt curiosa. La part antiga, està construida sobre un palau romà. Es poden veure encara moltes parts d'aquest. Altres parts, han estat utilitzades com a parets de les cases que s'han anat edificant posteriorment. Es la ciutat que mes ens ha impactat fins el moment.

El dimarts, passejant per la ciutat, l'Alex va estar fent amigues. Unes noies que sortien de l'escola, van estar explicant-nos com es deien varies paraules en croat, os podeu imaginar que la majoria de elles eren menys que útils, i millor no emprear-les en públic. Tot i això, l'Alex va estar preparant camí, per si algún dia decideix venir a fer de professor per aquí.

Autocar cap a Dubrovnik. Després de caminar una bona estona de l'estació fins a la ciutat antiga, aconseguim arribar al hostal que haviem escollit. No tenen habitacions però ens envien a una casa particular, on els sobra una habitació. Deixem les motxiles i baixem a veure el partit del Barça.

Hora d'anar a dormir, demà mes.

Leer más »

Zadar & Co.

We had a nice but hard trip on train from Zagreb to Zadar, nice because we met a couple of californians on the wagon, and hard because we had to do a quick transfer at 3:15am on a little station at Knin, under the rain, to the smallest train anyone can imagine.

We arrived to Zadar at 7:45am or so. The sun just risen over the horizon, well not exactly, but when you are kinda sleep, time flows slowlier. We moved to the city center right after buying some breakfast.

The touristic center of Zadar is surrounded by some old walls and isolated from the land by a 50yards bridge. Since our first step around there we were jumped by locals offering us bysea trips to the Kornatti islands, but we had to decline their offers, since our departure time was sooner than the return from the islands. A pitty. Instead, we walked the old town narrow streets and went rest for some minutes at the Sea Organ steps, a musical instrument that makes use of the propeled air that the waves throw into its pipes to produce a constant and relaxing sound.

After that, we took a look and a further walk around the city old town, eat a delightful icecream and got our way back into the rail-bus station to buy a tickect for going Split. We discovered soon enough that locals offer room hospedage at bus station for cheap prices, but not into the train station, which amazes me, counting that, on this city, both buildings are one next to the other.

Next stop Split. Tomorrow we update it, although we are writting from 'here'.

Leer más »

Leaving Zagreb soon

We are making time waiting for our train to Zadar to depart (at 22:55). We've been walking through Zagreb during hours, although we haven't gone far away from the center. From our point of view there's not many things to be seen. We recommend to have a look from the upper-town, visit the Dolac market and walk a couple of streets around there. The cathedral is under restoration, and beside those main streets and market, the city pulse is not very high. If you are not interested in museums, the city can be visited in few hours.

On the other hand there are 5 trains that go South every day, we are taking the night one, so we expect to arrive early in the morning to Zadar. I'm still struggling with Ferran about visiting the islands there or not. We'll see.

Food prices are cheaper than Spain, half more or less; the hostel was a bit more expensive than we expected, but we do not doubt prices will go down as we go east.

Leer más »

Un poco de tren y otras cosillas

Hola a tod@s! No puedo creer que todo esté saliendo tan bien. Me gusta ir con Ferrán porque le gusta apurar, y siempre nos ponemos en situaciones divertidas. No voy a empezar a desmentir lo que digan sus posts porque no acabaría nunca, digamos que no os creáis todo lo que él diga, ni tampoco todo lo que yo diga :P- (para los neófitos es un smiley con piercing)

De momento lo más interesante es nuestra carrera pizzera para no perder el enlace en Cerbere y lo parecido a "feel-lucky" que puede sonar "Villach". También nos están llegando los emails del visado de Irán, es como una contrareloj ¿Qué pasará?

Hoy estaremos dando vueltas por Zagreb y por la noche tren hacia Zadar. En nuestras primeras correrías hemos encontrado la casa de Tolkien, un rinconcito que haría las delicias de los más freakies, aunque sólo fuera por el nombre.

Seguiremos informando. Si hay algún request, no dudéis en preguntarlo en los comments; por mi parte estoy pensando en hacer los posts en inglés ¿Qué os parece la idea? ¿O sigo con el castellano?

Leer más »

Ja som a Zagreb

Ja som a Zagreb. Vam sortir el dissabte de l'estació de Sants.

Cerbere, Strasbourg, Stuttgart, Villach HBF, i finalment Zagreb.

Tot ha anat prou be. L'Alex tenia un "antojo" a Cerbere i anant justs de temps, vam baixar al poble a demanar unes pizzes. Al pobre Ferran l'hi va tocar tornar corrent al tren amb les xancles, mentre escoltava l'Alex demanant-me la camera per a fer-se unes fotos.. en fi..

Vam arribar ahir a l'estació de Zagreb ahir a les 23:30 i va manar al primer youth hostal que haviem mirat a la guía. Tot perfecte, avui hem deixat les motxiles a una taquilla de l'hostal i hem sortit a veure la city.

Leer más »

Comienza el traqueteo

Después de la extenuante batalla contra la burocracia en las distintas embajadas, empezamos a vislumbrar el inicio de nuestras andanzas. Las prisas no son sólo malas consejeras, además son bastante inefectivas para conseguir los visados de según qué paises. ¿Habrá un día en que podamos cruzar las fronteras fraternalmente? ¡Sigh! ¿Cómo preservar la belleza y riqueza que suponen las distintas culturas sin necesidad de bloqueos y frenos?

Pero basta de tonterías, esta tarde, noche, madrugada, ...hmmm, mañana, tarde y noche jejeje tren hasta Zagreb!

Leer más »

Visat Pakistan Ok

Finalment hem aconseguit el visat de Pakistan. Una embaixada que feia por, molts paquistanís mirant-nos amb curiositat i una reserva d'hotel de lo mes sospitosa han sigut els protagonistes.

Aquest dissabte per la tarda, agafem el tren amb destí Zagreb. Comença l'aventura.

Leer más »

S'apropa el dia!!

La cosa comença a prendre cos. S'apropa el dia.

Jo, llest de mi, he decidit passar per el dentista, ja que tenia algunes molèsties. El dentista m'ha soltat, mmm, tens una caries, una gran caries.. Una hora mes tard, sortia amb un dent menys per la porta.

Com a grans previsors que som, fa mitja hora, hem decidit que anirem amb avió a Madrid, aquest mateix divendres, sortint a les 8:00 a.m., per aconseguir els preciats visats de Pakistan.

Teniem previst aconseguir els visats de camí, però sembla que està la cosa bastant difícil. En principi, això farà que posposem la sortida de Barcelona al dissabte.

A dormir, que toca matinar.

Leer más »