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Welcome to my travellog. Here you can read about my journeys day by day. 
Aug 27, 2007 06:00 PM From Szeged to Subotica
Having only several hours to look around in Szeged, we decided to get up quite early. First, I head to an Internet cafe to check if anyone from Hospitality Club responded to our request for accommodation and hopefully we found a place in Budapest. We start sightseeing Szeged from the New Synagogue and then head to the Votive Church. Surprisingly the woman who was selling tickets there spoke Polish and was so kind to let us in for free.
The train (international) to Subotica leaves at 12:40 so we take our backpacks from the dormitory and go to the train station where we meet a guy from Switzerland. We travel together to Subotica and stay together in a hostel as well. In the afternoon we take a stroll around Subotica and have burek, traditional Serbian food (you can meet it in other countries of the former Yugoslavia and in Bulgaria). In the evening we go out to drink something but return to hostel early as the train to Belgrade leaves tomorrow at 6 a.m.
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Aug 26, 2007 06:00 PM Halaszle (the fish soup)
Our plane departs from the Warsaw airport at the very noon and an hour later we are in Budapest. We were lucky to leave Warsaw on time, as soon after our plane took off there was a bomb alarm on the airport and it was evacuated.
There are three of us: Agata, Marek and me. As we planned we don't stay in Budapest at all (on the way back we allowed three days to spend in Budapest) and go directly to the Nyugati train station. There is a good train connection from the airport to this centrally located train station from which trains depart for southern city of Szeged. The journey takes about 2.5 hours and we managed to find an airconditioned car, but had to pay extra HUF 700.
Without problems we managed to find a place to stay in Szeged. It was one of many dormitories that Szeged has (it's a university city with plenty facilities for students).
In the evening we went to Regi Hidhoz restaurant serving great halaszle (fish soup) and then strolled around in the centre taking some night photos.
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May 19, 2007 06:00 PM Wawel Hill
First association connected with Cracow is the Wawel Hill, for many years the heart of the Polish monarchy. Today we visited the royal castle and the Wawel Cathedral. There are several tours around the castle. Because of limited time we went on two tours that seemed to be the most interesting. The tour around the State Rooms was unguided, but the interior is quite well described and we could have learnt a lot about the Polish past. After that we went on a guided tour around the Royal Private Apartments. It lasted about 45 mins. I can really recommend it. After that we visited the Wawel Cathedral. It used to be the most important church in Poland and the spiritual centre of the country as Polish kings were buried there. In the evening, greatly impressed by the Royal City Cracow, we returned to Warsaw.
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May 18, 2007 06:00 PM The Jewish Cracow
Today we followed the history of Polish Jews. We visited Kazimierz, the Jewish district. This is a very unique place with special atmosphere. There we felt as if many years back. Cobbled streets and old tenements add to this impression. There are several synagogues in Kazimierz, but only two serve as prayer houses now. The rest are museums as the Jewish Diaspora in Cracow is now much smaller than before WW2. The place I liked most was the Old Synagogue housing the Museum of Jewish History. Also taking a stroll along the lanes of the district was a great experience.
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May 17, 2007 06:00 PM Krakow !!!
I have been in Krakow many times but never had chance to devote my stays to sightseeing.
We took an overnight train from Warsaw although there are many Inter City and Express trains (3 hours from Warsaw), but the option we had chosen was most convenient for us and we arrived at Krakow Glowny station early in the morning.
Plans for today were ambitious but we managed to see many things. Generally we focused on Okół (a settlement encircling the hill on which the town was perched in the Middle Ages) and the Main Square. There are many picturesque buildings around the Square as well as along Grodzka street. Churches are ubiquitous and the most famous is Kościół Mariacki (St. Mary's Church) with an altar carved by Wit Stwosz (Veit Stoss).
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May 08, 2007 06:00 PM Again in Odessa
Early in the morning we arrived to Odessa after 12,5-hour long journey on a train. The city is beautiful at dawn. It's the best time for photographers as everything is lit with unusual light of rising sun.
Mind the date, it's the 9th of May the Victory Day in all countries of the Soviet Union. The city is prepared well for the holiday but from the very morning we can still observe people tidying up the streets. They even wash the pavements and all rails and kerbs were freshly repainted. Yes, in some places they pain kerbs.
In the city centre there are many veterans walking around. All of them have lots of medals attached to their lapels. Some of them even more than 20. It must be quite heavy. While walking they jingle. We had a lot of fun about it.
It seems that the holiday haven't hanged even a bit since the Soviet times. It's the quintessence of the Soviet Union.
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May 07, 2007 06:00 PM Veteran's Parade
Today we leave Bakhchisaray for Simferopol and then set off to Odessa. But in the morning we went again to the Khan's Palace to see if the Khan's Cemetery is open (as it was closed last time we visited the palace). Fortunately it was open, although they hang a no-entry label. But my desire to see this unique place was stronger than the ban.
It also turned out that there was going to be a parade in Bakhchisaray as the Victory day was coming. I heard about such parades from my parents as they were very popular in Poland under communism. Watching the parade was really exciting and unusual. Children from the nearby school were greeting Veterans with lilac twigs. I felt as if I had moved back into the Soviet times. Unforgettable.
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May 06, 2007 06:00 PM A lazy day
Our trip to Crimea is drawing to an end we haven't even had a bathe in the Black Sea. This is the day. Our hozyayka (hostess, landlady, this word has a broad meaning) recommended to us Peschanoe, a small village near the seashore within an hour-long bus ride from Bakchisaray. The name suggests the beach is sandy, but actually it was stony and gravelly and on top of that covered in litter. There were many medusas in the water but most of them were dead. Fortunately beautiful cliffs made up for this inconvenience. The water wasn't warm yet but we managed to have a short swim along the shore.
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May 05, 2007 06:00 PM Cave towns
We decided to devote the whole day to visiting Crimean cave towns, especially the Chufut-Kale, the best preserved one. Near Bakhchisaray there is also a cave monastery with a tserkov (an Orthodox church) cut in a mountain. Orthodox monks still live in these cells without electricity and heating. A guided tour around the complex is free of charge (donations are appreciated) but only in Russian. A monk told us the history of the monastery and Crimea making a lot of political comments.
Then we went to Chufut-Kale. There are many cave towns in the Crimea, but this one is the most famous. We also visited Tepe-Kermen, another cave town but not as impressive as the first one. Tepe-Kermen is also the name of the hill on top of which the cave town was cut in rocks. There are breathtaking vistas from the top and we could see platoes of Crimean Mountains as well as lavender fields. Crimea is known from it's lavender oil. Trying to find the way to the Tepe-Kermen we met our compatriot who has been deported there by the Soviet authorities many years ago. He was very moved, although he meets people from Poland from time to time. Thanks to him we finally got to the Tepe-Kermen.
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May 04, 2007 06:00 PM Sevastopol and Khan's Palace in Bakchisaray
It's 5th of May and only four days to the Victory day - many towns in the Ukraine are being cleaned up. The same is with Sevastopol. We visit this main harbour of the Black See Fleet to see the ruins of Chersonesos, an ancient Greek settlement. The ruins are quite well preserved (for Ukrainian standards) and we could walk along the lanes of Chersonesos. It is located close to the seashore and we had an excellent view of the harbour.
After returning to Bakchisaray we visited the Palace of the Crimean Khans. For European culture it's an exotic place. The palace is well preserved and was renovated some time ago. All the tours are guided (in Russian) and cost 10 grivnas (students). A very interesting place was the cemetery, where the Khans are buried. The tombstones are different for men and women and their shapes are very unusual. Unfortunately the gate to the cemetery was closed and we could see it only from a certain distance.
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