Semester in Budapest

Excessive Travel Part II

Ok, so it took more a few days more than expected to update but this was a result of spontaneous excessive travel part III (that will be updated at a later date). For my week and a half I had off for my holiday week here I went with six other students to Bosnia, Serbia and the land of the gypsies (Romania).

The trip began with an overnight train to Sarajevo, Bosnia. The only way it is possible to survive such a horrible experience as riding second class in an overnight train is lots of cards, food and vodka. We arrived in Sarajevo at like 6 am and found a hostel at the train station. We all crashed and awoke a few hours later (noon) to explore the city. We went to the tunnel that was used to supply the city with food when the city was under siege by the Serbians. Most of the city was kind of closed because of the Muslim holiday but what we were able to see and do was very nice. Plus, the food was delicious. The second day we climbed up one of the hills to see the city and some of the buildings that were still destroyed from the war. The view was probably the best I have seen in Europe. The city is absolutely beautiful and has an aura to it that few other cities do. I highly recommend Sarajevo to anyone in the area.

Our next stop on the trip was Belgrade, Serbia. Belgrade is a lot like any European capital but without the must see attractions. Supposedly the parties are fun here but unfortunately I was "sick" and unable to make it out to find out for myself. We were only here for a little over a day. While the city was pleasant it had a lot to live up to after Sarajevo and naturally was a bit of a disappointment.

And then there was Gypsieland. Romania started in a bizarre way. We took the night train to Bucharest and lets just say there was a little problem with the heating (it was hotter than a sauna). So I didn't sleep at all and we arrived in Bucharest a little after 6 in the morning. Again we found someone at the train station who said he worked for a hostel. This time it didn't work out as well. He ended up being a crook who dropped us off in the middle of no where and lied to us about the exchange rate so we ended up paying the equivelent of $250 instead of the $25 for the taxi. It took us hours to find a place to stay and ended up getting a couple hotel rooms. But that wasn't the last of getting ripped off. Romania is the type of place where you always have to count the change to make sure it is right and instead of giving you change they will give you a candy instead. Bucharest was interesting to see once but lets just say I have no plans on ever going back. It was quite entertaining to listen to my European friends complain in complete horror that Romania is about to join the EU. I have heard going to Romania is like going back in time. I don't agree. It is like going to a place where every one including the police are corrupt.

But, Romania isn't all bad. After Bucharest we journeyed on to the land of Dracula, Transylvania. We stayed in the city of Brasov which is very pleasanly situated in between tree covered mountains. Again we got a hostel at the train station but luckily this time it ended up ok. Here we visited an old citadel, Dracula's castle, and the city of Brasov. Dracula's castle was a let down but how could it not be unless a vampire appeared.

We were origionally planning on spending more time in Romania but found that we all longed for Budapest after a week away (the gypsy thieves also had some role in us leaving early). We took a train, stopped in the town where Dracula was born and walked around for a bit and had dinner at the house he was born in (can safely say that this is the creepiest town I have ever been in and it was like walking around in a haunted city but unfortunately I forget its name, it started with an s). Then we arrived at home sweet Budapest at 7 the next morning. And how nice it was to be in a place where I for sure knew the conversion rate, for sure knew how to use the public transportation, and for sure had a bed to sleep in.

posted by Maggie @ 11:22 AM