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You can lose everything, but nobody will take away what you saw and what you experienced...
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Nov 19, 2021 10:00 PM Annual Meeting of Polish Globies
Greetings from Rzeszów in the south of Poland where I attend the 37th Allual Meeting of the Polish Globetrotters (OSOTT). After a pause in 2020 (because of COVID time) I have again a chance to meet my old friends and to see the presentations from all over the world. In the evening I will be presenting my Kurdistan expedition of this year. I have really good time!
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Nov 12, 2021 10:00 PM Such a nice wedding!
I had the pleasure and joy of participating in the Orthodox wedding ceremony of Ola and Tomek in the beautiful Orthodox Church of St. Nicholas in Gda?sk. Earlier, while traveling the world, I repeatedly attended Orthodox worship services, delighted with choral singing, but I never saw a wedding ceremony. It was an amazing event that I will probably remember for a long time. It was accompanied by an amazing atmosphere created by rows of gilded icons and wonderful singing flowing from the choir. The bride was beautiful like a princess from a fairy tale... May the happiness accompany you uninterruptedly until the end of your days, beloved travellers!
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Oct 30, 2021 08:00 PM Pleasant stopover in Cracow
Early morning in Burgas - Bulgaria. The airport bus (line 15 - storting from city bus terminal costs 1,50 leva in cash - less then a dollar. The bus was almost empty. I understood why studying the departure list: there are only 6 flights per day departing from Burgas. Everything was gooing well until the security control - the people in charge were rude and noisy. Only one line was open and they pressed the passengers to hurry. On the other side of the machine they do not have a single table to put your tray with clothes, electronics, gels - I put mine on the floor... Very bad experience, Mr Director of Burgas airport!
The flight was only half full - we landed after 2 hours in Cracow appreciating sunny weather. City bus took me to the center of the city. I had more then an hour to the departure of the train. I took the walk to the main market enjoying the atmosphere of multilingusl society around and refreshing the best memories.
The train was on time and in the evenig I was already at home. This was the end of the short, but still interesting voyage. Lest's think about the next one! :)
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Oct 29, 2021 08:00 PM Back to Bulgaria
It is time to say goodbye to my Tulip Gueasthouse in Istanbul . This cozy place is worth to recommend. The rooms has nice decor and from the breakfast rooom on the top floor you will see Bosphorus. It is located in Istanbul's safe Gringolandia - the area between Aya Sofia and the sea. I paid 19 euro per night for the room with shared bath. Cash only!
I took a tram to the red metro line. Subway took me then to otogar - main bus station. Nisliki bus to Burgas departed on time - at 8.30.
It was much nicer to travel this route during daytime. They offere some free snacks and mineral water, but there is no WC on board. The only unpleasant event was Bulgarian customs search. They asked to open all luggages on the road asphalt and put their dirty hands into each pack and suitcase. Like in Africa! But we are here in the European Union, are we? In the communist time it was the same, dear sirs!
I reached sunny Burgas in the afternoon (can you see Russian soldier Alyosha on the column?), I was spending the rest of money for food and sleeping in the same "Aria" apartament. I have a flight home tomorrow morning...
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Oct 28, 2021 08:00 PM Cruising the Bosphorus
As you know Istanbul lies at the entrance from Marmara Sea to the Bosphorus Straits dividing Europe from Asia. When I was here for the first time there the only way to cross the straits was a ferry - there were plenty of them. Then they built the first high bridge, then second bridge, then the third one, then a 5,5 kms long tunnel.
Till today I didn't have a chance to cruise 31-kms long Bosphorus. Today one more dream came true. Different companies offer here different cruises. I came to the conclusion that for the backpacker the best solution will be long cruise departing from the ferry landing near Galata Bridge at 10,35. Round trip ticket costs only 25 lira - less than 3 dollars. Locals use it as a ferry, because it is calling few places on both sides of Bosphorus. We were sailing under the the bridges, near the palaces and mansions, looking at the fortress... The turnaround point is Anadolu Kavagi on the Asian bank. The ferry stops here for almost 3 hours, so you have enough time to climb to the ruins of the Yoros fortress overlooking the straits which is 700 m wide only in minimum point. Great view from there and the entry is free! So it was 1,5 h sailing, 3 h visit and 1,5 h sailing back the same way. Great deal and unforgettable day!
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Oct 27, 2021 08:00 PM Walking around fascinating Istanbul
Today I crossed Golden Horn to walk around Galata quarter. Tre huge Taxim Square was full of red flags and police barriers before tomorrow's national holiday. Long pedestrian street - Istiklal has elegant shops. Entrance to the Galata Tower costs hefty 100 lira and there was long line in front of the ticket office... I was wandering quiet long time narrow and steep streets to find the house - museum where biggest Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz passed away in 1855. This quarter has its color with clothes hanging between the houses, porters carrying loads of goods and little workshops. The house-museum is not so impressive, but important for the Poles.
In the afternoon I crossed again Galata Bridge with hundreds people fishing from the bridge, some of them had quiet big catch. I walked uphill to the impressive Suleymanije Mosque (free entry) to enjoy again nicely decorated interior. Local people are coming here to pray, but nobody is complaining about the presence of the tourists inside.
Any visit to Istanbul is not completed without crawling the alleys of Kapali Carsi - the big, covered bazaar so I went also there to refresh the memories. Lovely day!
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Oct 26, 2021 08:00 PM Hard way to Istanbul
I always try to avoid night travel. But I hadn't a choice... The coach bus dparted from Burgas at 11 pm. It was hot inside and the staff wasn't polite. At 1 am we reached Bulgarian-Turkish border. They took everybody out of the bus, checked passports and let us go... On the Turkish side it was much worse: covid papers, passports control and pictures out of the bus. Then they asked to take all luggage off for screening. Then our empty bus disappeared for half an hour - they said it was X-rayed... But we were waiting in the middle of the night on the open air... It was cold and depressing. We reached otogar (main bus station in Istanbul) at 5.30 am.
Aha... the subway station is in the middle of the terminal, but the ticket machines accept only local currency... I was forced to go to the bazaar and ask in the bar to change me 10 euro. Then for 15 lira the machine gave me 3-rides card.
It was still dark when I was walking with my backpack to the guesthouse. The shortest way was through the park between Aya Sofia and Blue Mosque. Both buildings were illuminated. What a great, welcoming view! I have been here in 1973. The landscape was poor and grey. It is nice to be here again!
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Oct 25, 2021 08:00 PM Sozopol - ancient Apollonia
Clouds in Burgas in the morning but no rain. It is always nice to meet the countryman while you are on the trail. Imagine that yesterday in the evening I met Mr Pawel from South Poland - he was recently travelling 7 months across South East Asia going as far as New Zealand! We had an interesting discussion about travelling and different corners of the globe. He used info from my website preparing his journeys. Small world!
Today I went by bus to Sozopol - another ancient colony established by Greeks 600 years before the Chiston the coast of the Black Sea. Again the colony of Apollonia was build on the peninsula. It is cozy but doesn't look like Nesebyr. Bizantine churches are very small and poor in comparison to those in Nesebyr. Instead you will find here more traditional Bulgarian stone & timber houses. In the season the place is crowded but today there were only 6 tourists or so...
The bus from Burgas to Sozopol operates every half an hour and costs 5 leva. Tonight I plan to catch tye night bus to Istanbul.
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Oct 24, 2021 08:00 PM Local bus to Nesebar
The South Bus station in Burgas is just near the railway station. There are conductors on the buses, so there is no need to buy the ticket in advance. I am going to Nesebar, It took me 50 minutes on the bumpy asphalt and ticket for 7 leva (they pay 1,94 leva for 1 euro). Bus no. 22 will drop you in the New Nesebar - some 2 kms from the old city. Today's Nesebar was founded on the little peninsula some 500 years before the Christ. It was Greek colony of Mesembria. Then the area was ruled by Bizantium. Many little churches was built here during this period. Some of them survived and you can see them now. They represent special "red brick & white stone" style. There are also typical Bulgarian houses in the narrow streets - first floor is made of stone and second of timber. All together forms unique and picturesque place registered on the UNESCO World Heritage list. I was here some 50 years ago - at the time of black & white photography. Now Nesebar looks better, has less ruins and more color. In the tourist season there are crowds of the people in the narrow streets, but today I was almost alone... Great, sunny day but too much wind from the Black Sea!
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Oct 23, 2021 08:00 PM Low-cost to Burgas...
You know this airline for sure! When we departed from Gdansk at 6.20 pm it was already dark around. For the first time I used an extra service offered by Ryan: transfer airport - city because I expected to land around 10 pm - public transport could be rare at this time. It doesn't cost much in Burgas, because the airport is only some 10 kms from the city center...
There were only 30 passengers on the plane (end of the season!) so we had plenty of space...
We had also unexpected event on board: young man was smoking in the toilet. They discovered that and after landing nobody was allowed to disembark until the police arrived and took this stupid guy...
Burgas airport is small but well organized, first they checked the
covid vaccinations or tests. Then my passport and face was scanned in the automatic gate and I was free... Out of the terminal soon appeared the driver with my name on the screen of the tablet. OK! He took me to my "apartment" in the city. Nice guy on the street made a phone call to get a code for the key box. Yes, my apartment (13 euro per night) is just the flat in the communist-era block. I do not care... Good night from Bulgaria!
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