BALKAN PENINSULA

We set off from Athens two days across to get ourselves across several countries and into Bucharest by tomorrow night. First stop was Meteora to the "For Your Eyes Only" mountain or column Very neat town.


After that we got as far as Thessaloniki (a seaside town in the North of Greece) by train - in time to have a very late dinner and sleep for a few hours. The next day we were up early doing the Thesssaloniki challenges before we headed out. We had planned to go to Macedonia (a very confusing place since it is what used to be Yugoslavia - and is now called Macedonia - but the Northern area of Greece is also called Macedonia so every question we asked was suitably muddled). After one phone call and a personal visit to the train station, we realized that because of the Easter holidays, we could not get to Stopje and on to Tetovo in Macedonia by the end of the day. So we ended up dumping that entire set of scavenges and headed out instead by bus to Sofia in Bulgaria. We arrived in Sofia about 9 PM - immediately hailed a cab and did some scavenges in Sofia - and then took an 11:30 PM night train all the way across Bulgaria to the Black Sea. We woke up the next day in Varna, Bulgaria. Despite our best efforts, we did not end up with a sleeper car so we had to spend the night laying across regular train chairs. The train was SOOOO cold that about 2 AM I got up and put on 3 pairs of socks, 3 pairs of pants, 4 shirts, my raincoat and wrapped my head in a T-shirt. The train conductor busted out laughing when he came in the next morning to wake us. We stayed in Varna less than 2 hours before we headed out again to Russe - a town on the Danube that is half in Romania and half in Bulgaria. There we went to this really cool monastery that is carved into the hills called the Rock monastery




From Russe we crossed into Bucharest and caught a late afternoon train to Brussov. This is where Dracula's castle (or Dram's Castle) is - and we are going there first thing in the morning. I cannot wait. It sounds creepy and interesting.

The main scavenge points for tonight goes to the team that stays in the the cheapest hotel. We took on the challenge and started asking at the train station for the cheapest hostel or pensione. We were directed to this old man who agreed to rent us a room in his hostel for 15 Euros plus 5 Euros for transport to it. We agreed and headed off in his car (with thoughts of the movie "Hostel" playing in our mind - would anyone ever see or hear from us again). When we arrived we realized that it is his private home and he rents out his second bedroom. It is beyond modest -and in to downright humble. The mattresses are bare and he loaned us one sheet and two hand towels. We share a bathroom with him. As soon as we arrived he broke out the alcohol and sat and talked to for us for almost an hour while he made Rainey drink shots of tuica (luckily a food scavenge anyway - so we killed two birds with one stone). After being on trains and buses for almost two straight days just laying flat will be a luxury but this may be a double Ambien night - if nothing else just to avoid my paranoia about flesh eating parasites living in the bare mattresses.