Dubrovnik - 'equip'ed

Oscar's Place

After the open coastal road, the streets are far busier and I've no idea where to go, but fortunately the one-way system actually helps as by accident we emerge at Dubrovnik Gruz (harbour) without any sense of location but spy the Budget Car Hire offices nearby. After parting, sadly, with Twiggy, I need to to find non-mobile accommodation and set off towards the centre. 47 steps later, perhaps 48, I hear a voice 'Hello!', and shuffling, a door opens in the wall and a stocky guy, jeans and bomber jacket, emerges, "do you need somewhere to stay?", "yeah I'm looking for a hostel", "just wait a minute I'll get my friend..." Inside there's a small courtyard with apple blossom trees (I think) and an apartment, with a homely bedroom, welcome to Oscar's Place, I think I'm gonna like it here...

Oscar is the owner, a really friendly guy sporting 'Police' sunglasses and his pal Sanil was the 'doorman'. I'm wondering how he spotted me but it becomes clear as they show me the roof terrace overlooking the street and has a fantastic view of the harbour. It's early afternoon and time to "take a coffee". We're driven in Oscar's older model BMW to Lapad, a relaxed part of town with plenty of coffee-shops, and fashionably-dressed, sunsplashed young people attempting to look cool without trying. Here Oscar explains the equip...

The 'Equip' - is basically a group of friends who always hang-out together and look out for each other. Despite appearances, Sanil explains the average income here is around 3,000 kuna, (274 pounds) so these social kinship networks are important. Their Equip includes as its core, Oscar and his younger brother Mario, Sanil, Marky, Perica, and Oscar's girlfriend Anna-Marie, (ages 21-30). We would like to have more girls says Oscar earnestly!

Walls

In the evening I'm invited to join them in the Old Town, a walled city which is Dubrovnik's prime tourist attraction and rightly so. There's a small bar outside the west-facing wall, and Oscar, perhaps betraying his romantic side, engineers to show me just as the sun is setting on the horizon, "this is a good place to bring someone special" he winks, it's hard to disagree.

Marky advises to get up early and walk the walls as this is the best time to experience the old town. Next morning, after waking up and washing the pots from last night's pasta meal, which gives me a warm-sense of home (don't know why, it wasn't erm the most frequently undertaken task, sorry Dave!), I set off in a cheerful mood to explore. It's a gorgeous day, 9am and about 22 degrees, only me and a couple of guys using taking measurements of the walls. There's a spot where staring out across the sea the sun glitters on the waves creating a mirage golden highway towards a nearby Emerald Island, I'm humming "follow the yellow brick road" to myself for the next few minutes.

Pasta Pals

In the evening, the equip are round and it's Sanil's turn to show his flair for cooking with a delicious carbonara dish and a chicken pate and fresh bread hors d'oeuvre (which he can't claim credit for, it was out of a tin, but still tasty!) The conversation shifts between Croation and English and in the background 'Robin Hood Men in Tights' is showing on TV with Croatian subtitles, from which I'm discretely trying to learn some phrases, it doesn't really work although I do recognise 'znam' meaning 'I know'.... "znam..., znam...., znam.............. oooh znam" if you know then why's she bloody well bother telling you... you're right Basil it works better in English!

Good morning sunshine!

It's the low-season and this loosely translates into Oscar and Anna-Marie waking up at midday. I'm up at 8am and on the roof terrace, a chance to relax in the sun, play guitar, write my journal, and read a Misha Glenny's book on 'The Fall of Yugoslavia'. Hours pass without noticing and around noon a bed-headed Oscar emerges. I pass him a freshly made Mancunian cappuccino, a Mancuccino - nescafe (urgh!) with whisked milk and lots of sugar, I'm on about my 4th and feeling tingly!

Baby you can drive my car...

It's a unique experience, one which I'm betting very few visitors to Dubrovnik have, cruising round the town early evening, in a BMW, borrowed sunglasses, windows down, a sound-sensitive ultra-violet light flashing rhythmically to Europop medley remixes of Abba, Elvis and the Beatles, at decibels to turn heads... "I'm all shook-up, I-I-I'm all shook up, uh-huh-huh!"

Landmine landscape

We swop the BMW for Marky's pride and joy, a Citroen convertible modelled on the VW Beatle, and together with Oscar and Mishu drive up to the cenotaph monument overlooking the old town. Mishu guides us to a spot where you can get a terrific view of the city and islands in the distance but warns mischievously to be careful where you tread as there are scattered landmines everywhere, remnants of the war. It's only after watching him skip across the fields and pointing out in fake alarm "there's one!" that I realise he's referring to cowpats!

Cruising the Croatian Coast

It's Friday evening and having arrived in Rejika I make a big decision and hire a car. The plan is to head down along the indentured coastline towards Dubrovnik stopping along the way at any place which seems interesting.

Riding with Twiggy

The car is a small, silver Renault Twingo 1.2, which I affectionately dub "Twiggy", my trusty transport and home as I head towards the Southern Adriatic sunshine! Driving on the right is a bit strange at first but after a few minutes you hardly notice the difference, however observing the speed limit is not a trait which endears you to other Croatian motorists and I quickly lose count of the number of times I was overtaken!

Sleeping ergonomics (part II 'cars')

Finding a place to make camp along the coastal roads is a bit tricky at night, especially with only the moonlight to guide. After 30 minutes unsuccessful trial and error I realise I'm not going to fit across the back seats but discover the passenger seat is fully reclinable (at least after some persuasion i was able to make it go horizontal, to be honest I'm not sure this is a design feature of all Twingos!). In the morning, stepping outside to stretch my legs in the morning I realise I'm only a couple of yards from the edge of a 70ft cliff, (which would explain why it was so windy!)

Alone with thoughts?...

Paklenica National Park is very popular with rock-climbers as the guide notes say "abounds with a wealth of karst features". However, there's no-one about and it's a chance to wander up through the rugged valley and feel pensive, or else it would be but for the wind which is constantly shouting through the rocky-furrows and bare trees like a child demanding attention. Clambering up one of the ridges and looking back the expanse below is austere plains with splintered boulders and occasional thorny shrubs. It seems desolate and lonely. As if to counter this impression I get splashed in the face by a sudden changing direction gust whilst drinking at a water trough, kids!

Split day

Arriving in Spilt at 9.30am, the Hvar Island ferry has gone 5 minutes ago but a very helpful port authority attendant shows me somewhere to park for free and suggests Supetar, Brac Island as an alternative. After a choppy ferry ride, I spend an hour combing the shoreline and afterwards attempt to find an alternative inland route back to the harbour. I happen across the football ground of DVD Supetar with a game in progress. They're playing Split Solin and are watched by a boisterous crowd of 40-50 people. There are no goals in the second half but plenty of miscontrolled passes, tackles and play-acting and posturing, which is surprisingly fun to watch and cheaper than going to Ewood Park! Back on the mainland there's still a couple of hours before dusk and it's a chance to explore the impressive Diocletian Palace and sample my first burek (a kind of cheese pastie, very greasy but filling)

Bathing in the Adriatic

The sun wakes me up around 6.30am. It's much warmer and driving along the road with windows down we're flanked to the left by hills more abundant now with greenery, orange trees and blossoms, and to the right sandy beaches and brilliant turquiose translucent sea. About 30km from Dubrovnik between two small village settlements place where the sand beaches give way to a crop of rocks which can be reached by climbing down a hill from the main road. Having spend two days scrubbing in bathroom sinks, diving into the cool waters is a welcome change and immediately refreshes. Drying on the rocks I think about friends back home and what I would have usually be doing at 8.30am on a Monday morning... :o)

Ljubljana like a rolling stone

Its only a couple of hours from Bled to the capital. Im staying at Celica hostel, a converted prison which proudly claims to be voted the best hostel in the world, which Robbie (the manager of George Best hostel kindly booked for me). Just around the corner is a courtyard and complex of warehouses converted into bars adorned with grafittui and bizarres sculptures. After settling into the dorm I meet Peter, a journalist from Wyoming on a Balkans tour, who tells me Scorceses Dylan documentary "No direction home" is being screened for free in one of these places. I miss the first half an hour because cooking tea is time-consuming on a hob which takes forever to heat!

Inside the bar it is very dark, so much so that you stumble past people looking for a seat. Eventually after a few trodden toes and mumbled apologies, I can't find Peter but discover a free chair and sit down. The film is great, obviously has an OK soundtrack but it's fun watching Dylan in front of journalists with his kind of vulnerable kind of scathing responses. It must've made an impression though as I end up buying a guitar a few days later!

Travel is full of coincidences, during the interval I strike up a conversation with the person sat next to me, Minard, who turns out is a journalist working for a local newspaper with an ambition to make links with other international writers. "Minard, meet Peter... " we spend a good hour or two discussing media and politics.

Football bringing people together

Tuesday and Wednesday night a large group from the hostel make the 25 minute trek to the only bar in Ljubljana we can find that has satellite showing the Champions League, just near to the swimming baths at the park. It's a tiny place which could maybe fit about 100 people normally but has about double that jammed inside. We lose to Barcelona at Anfield 0-1. My dorm-mate Shinya from Tokyo, who decided to suport Liverpool for this match, is ready to console me and looks very bemused as I celebrate at the final whistle until I explain the two legs and away goals rule.

Photographic memory...?

Unfortunately, (maybe a consequence of coming from Bled, maybe because most days it was gray or raining?), it's only on Friday that I realise I've failed to take a single picture whilst in Ljubljana, hopefully I can remember some of the sights...

In the Bled

The train winds between alpine peaks following the course of the river, every corner introduces an amazing new view I give up trying to take photos and just take it in. Arriving at Bled train station around 7.20pm it is now dark and the place is shutting for the night. A man on a bicycle, breath heavy with tobacco and alcohol, makes a curve motion with his right arm and a whistle cound to indicate I need to walk around the lake to find a "hostel". The evening is warm and I can make out silhouettes of houses and trees. I wander along humming to myself and walk into the first place that has signs of life and venture towards the bar to ask if a place to stay is nearby. I am in luck a bed here is free and a Irish woman with big curly blonde hair offers to show me the room upstairs which is a 4 bed dorm but no-one else is here so I have the run of the place, great!

Once settled in I join Holly in the downstairs bar where a TV is showing Blackburn v Arsenal FA Cup replay, Rovers ride their luck and steal a victory in the last 10 minutes, ha! Holly introduces two local mountain guides, Nejč and Bojan, who will be invaluable guides in getting to know Bled and the surrounds. Its a really friendly bar and soon I am introduced to most people there, including John the owner (Holly s dad).

The view of Lake Bled from nearby hills is stunning. There are easier routes but I choose a near vertical ascent up a rock face for a challenge and soon find myself clinging to a tree route with a 40 foot drop beneath me. I think it cured my vertigo! I spend at least half an hour admiring the landscape and struggling to get a photo that captures what I can see (this is the closest I got). Scrambling through the woodland hills and rocks is great fun and every now and again you are rewarded when the trees clear to reveal an new panorama of mountains and valleys. There is a crack and rolling thunder sounds through the peaks which Im guessing is Austrian cadets practising alpine manouevres although Im later informed that many armed forces from around the world come to train in the mountains here. Oddly, it doesnt really disturb the peaceful feeling you get sitting atop where the wind causes the needles stubbornly clinging to tree branches to rattle as if you are accompanied by someone walking nearby.

Vintgar Gorge

A 45 minute walk from the hostel along pitcuresque country lanes and snaking downhill towards a river is the entrance to Vintgar Gorge. Although not yet open for the new season it is possible to pass duck under the barrier and walk through the valley on the wooden walkways sodden with auburn detritus carpet of leaves and melting snow, occasionally negotitating a broken handrail or missing plank due to a collapsed tree felled from the weight of snow. The scenery is stunning and with no-one around Im very tempted to try swimming but sense prevails.

Swop-shirts and mugged!

Saturday morning Im up at 8am to go visit Mount Vogel, a 2000+metre peak, with a couple and our guide / ski instuctor / all-round adrenalin sports man Luka. However, the weather up there is pretty bad as the webcam shows so its abandoned for another day and we sit for a coffee in the bar instead. (As Daniel, a keen Gunners fan puts it, what better for a living room than a bar! Hes got a point...)

At 2pm Liverpool will give Man Utd the lesson in football they deserve and Im proudly doning my 1996 away shirt in anticipation. A friendly looking bloke sat under a statue of a Liverpool player in the corner asks "how much for the shirt?". Sandy is a local restaurant owner and a big Liverpool fan. I ask if he has a local sports team which I could swop it for, he asks me to wait and disappears for about 40 minutes. He returns with a jersey for the Bled Rowing team, which boasts 2 recent world champions Luka Špit and Istok Čop. Unfortunately the new shirt does not prove to be lucky. After hammering Utd for most of the game they steal a victory with a (non- or as it technically known "a Ronaldo") free kick rebound shanked into the roof of the net. It was jammy no matter what Gregor claims! (Three days later we do the same to Barcelona and still lose 0-1, unbelievable!). The ironic thing is the omens were there after all the place I am staying is "George Best Hostel"!!

Kranska Gora

My mood is significantly uplifted in the evening when I join Nejč and Bojan to go to a big party. Slovenia is hosting the World Ski Championships and Saturday night is a the party which over 15,000 Slovenians flock to for live music and drinking on the slopes! Its pretty nippy and I regret not taking wearing another jumper but despite that supping beer and watching drunk people slide and fall down a hill inforont of you and bounce back to their feet laughing without a drop spilt was fun! I also got to see Slovenias top band Siddharta live whilst above a lunar eclipse was taking place, cosmic!

Schnapps for me, snow for Tito!

On Sunday morning, as a hangover cure Nejč takes me walking up a mountain near his home town, Bohinska Bela. On the way we collect Tito, a 2 year old Labrador which Bojan is looking after for a friend. Tito loves the snow and performs acrobatic leaps to catch snowballs thrown to him, in between diving into drifts and rolling about. After conquering the 1250m peak in 1hour and 20 minutes, 8which is a pretty good pace Im told) we visit Nejčs Cabin in a serene copse. Its customary for Cabin owners to offer guests homemade schnapps and impolite not to drink. One shot is enough to banish any residual fuzziness and add a few hairs to my chest. Bojan has made his way there independently and rustles up the delicious homemade chips and soup.

Half-price Sunday swim!!

My lucky travel streak continues! The first Sunday of every month is half-price on all drinks, which considering a beer is 1.7euro is an invitation to drunkeness, and I dont want offend. Nejč is a bar games King, actually it is official he is a national champion and watching him play table football I can believe it, he is unbeatable!

Bojan is both a sage philospher and a bit crazy. He tells me it is possible in Summer to swim to the island in Lake Bled in 15 minutes and then suggests we try swimming tonight? His timing is perfect, remembering Vintgar Gorge and cloaked in the invincibility of a few whiskies, we enlist the help of a sober driver to take us to the jetty. Clothes are shed rapidly and theres a hesitation to consider the chill and then Bojan disappears into the balckness closely followed by me. It was foolhardy, it was freezing cold, and somewhere the driver has a picture of me standing triumphantly naked and dripping wet having survived a dive and 23 seconds tredding water, but it was great! Usually at this time of year the lake is frozen and even now it was maybe only 3 degrees above zero. On our return to the bar we get applause and laughter and rewarded with warm fruit tea and another whisky, although now Im thoroughly sober, I think...

On Monday I say goodbye to Bled and make a promise to myself I while go back sometime in the future.

Oh Vienna!

Hurray! I am awake before 8am for the first time on my travels (it doesnt count staying up all night) and as if to mock my achievement theres been a power cut in the hostel and no hot water for a shower. Undeterred I shower (shiver!) check out and head for the bus-station. So its winter, its Monday morning, but I am travelling so getting an ice-cream whilst I wait for the bus seems logical, even if I get some odd looks!

Its only a short journey across the border to Endberg and then a metro ride into the centre of Vienna. After consulting the information point and finding a hostel near the Westbanhof station I go for a look round. St Stephens Church is grand but very touristy, it even has a souvenir shop inside! But the weather is too good to stay indoors and I wander about admiring the buildings and plazas, it is definitely the most elegant city I have been to. The Karlskirche Basilica dome stands out amongst surrounding buildings and is almost deserted in the early evening. I sit there for a while and watch a teenager pull wheelies on his bike for about 10 minutes until we both get bored and head off in different directions.

As I wandering I find a street vendor selling copies of English language newspapers and buy the Guardian to find out that Chelsea won the Carling Cup and three people were sent off, excellent! Later in the evening I wander about the Museum Quarter and Parliament buildings which are striking lit up at night-time.

Sigmund & Orsen

Two days in a row!! Im up at 7.30am and out of the hostel by 8.30am. I go to see 19 Bergasse Wien, which is the house where Freud lived and worked until 1938. Standing outside Sigmunds front door I cannot help but feel a little bit inadequate, my door is never that big! The museum has tried to recreate the authentic spaces and has panoramic photo displays across the lower part of the walls which show the rooms as they were. After an hour and a half Im feeling a bit tired, probably due to the unfamiliar early starts, I wonder if theres somewhere I can lie down, a couch perhaps?

Across the way is a secondhand shop and after a few minutes browsing I find a tattered copy of "death of a salesman", great that sorts out my afternoon! Walking back towards the centre I find a stand selling hot chestnuts and end up sitting in the Volkspark munching on these reading Act One. I could do with something more substantial and I find a pretty posh looking place "Cafe Central" that has a daily menu for only 6 euro so I sit down next to the door and spend a couple hours eating and reading, occassionally getting the odd glance from another customer wondering if I am eccentric... well I have just visited Sig...

"Carmen" is on at the Royal Opera House but all the least expensive tickets have been sold. The box-office woman kindly offers the middle range ticket for only 65 euro, I politely decline. However, Im not too bothered because just across the way there is a small cinema showing "The Third Man". Its me and about 3 other people in the place. Watching the film I realise I walked past many of the places used as locations in the film without knowing. The film is excellent and as ever I want to laugh at Welles accent.

Bratislava

The train to Bratislava is in the afternoon and I arrive around 8.30pm. First thoughts, is this Manchester? There are bars everywhere and student-types and teenagers spilling out onto the streets wearing hoodies and baseball caps or sporting piercings and with shaved heads, but its Friday night so what can expect!

Mikalus doodles

The next morning I visit Bratislava castle and have a look round the exhibitions. There is a good collection of coins, an Art Noveau display of furniture, and a very interesting exhibition of Chinese costumes as a significant minority culture in Slovakia. I most enjoy the room with memorabilia relating to the Slovakian composer Mikalus Schneider Trnavsky. There are various books, photographs and clothes from his performing days but it is the cartoon drawings he made for his children of people playing instruments in the shape of letters of the alphabet and carved figurines.

Back at the hostel I meet an Australian guy, Colin, who has been to Bratislava a few times and takes me to the Slovak Pub which despite being the only place serving traditional food is also one of the least expensive. We order a dumpling dish made with goats cheese and bacon which in all fairness looks like vomit but is very tasty!

Freezin Devin!

Sunday morning I plan to visit Devin Castle which is a short 20minute bus-ride from Bratislava. I get a phone-call from Dave (dad) for a quick chat find out what I am up to and let me know he is going to Marrakesh for a few days. (Later on I wish I could swap for somewhere warmer!) Devin has the remains of a hillside castle and other fortifications which are situated at the junction of two rivers, the Danube and Morava (I think?). There are plenty of interesting spots to wander around but the wind is in the minus degrees and I have not packed an extra top so its very cold! Im thankful that I bought a hat in Prague which covers my ears, even if I do look like a raggie-doll wearing it!

In the evening I go again to the Slovak pub with Sam from Michegan who is staying in the same room and some other people he met at the hostel. Colin is there too with some friends and they play this drinking game involving tossing a cigarette packet over your drink and trying to land it on a thin edge. Anyone who fails has to take one gulp of their drink for every person before who managed to land it. Poor old Sam got stung for 11 and finished his beer and a shot glass a fierce Slovakian spirit and was a bit dazed!

Hungary Budda-Pest

My approach to travel has been, so far, less planning more go with the flow and see what happens, it worked brilliantly in Prague, but Budapest gives me pause to think... the journey from Krakow is meant to take 6 hours but it takes 8 due to traffic and we arrive at the Bus Station at 11pm, which is when I realise the small city map I have doesnt seem to have the station on it so I have no idea where I am in relation to the centre and everywhere is closed on Saturday night, what to do?...

After 10 minutes standing staring at various road signs hoping for inspiration I ask a passer by who directs me to the one that says "centrum" (duh!) so I trot off confident of finding somewhere from the city map list. The first place is full and the next four hostels I try dont answer the the intercoms. By this time it is about 1.30am, I must have walked miles and there are no hostels left on the list. I stop for something to eat and sit down in a takeaway. Three options, find a hotel (cost!), stick it out in late night eating places and find somewhere in the morning (tired!), wander around and hope fate is kind (yeah thats worked so far!)

Its almost 3am and I am stood outside a hotel almost laughing (crying?) at the irony of having overcome my "budgetitis" to find somewhere, anywhere, to sleep, the intercom here does not work either. I turn around and a friendly looking guy about my age says "are you lost?", his two friends fall on a parked car behind him. I explain my situation, arrived late, need somewhere to stay, cheap if possible. Unfortunately there is nowhere nearby he knows of... but he offers to drive me to somewhere that might be open. Turns out he is the designated driver for a friends night out. He drives us through the oneway system talking about his time spent working in London recently and pointing out various buildings and sights - are his friends singing Bon Jovi in Maygar? - after 15 minutes we arrive at the place and a group are leaving to catch an early flight so bed spaces have just become available, another lucky break! I didnt get the name of this kind stranger but met him on "Jokai Ter" so I have named him Joe Terry, (a kind of antithesis to the Chelsea captain!)

Someone once said if you dont know where your going every road will lead you there, well I think that person should try finding accommodation in Budapest on a Saturday night without a map and with a heavy rucksack on their back for 3 hours, and then stop being a smart arse!

Mandragora Hostel
Waking up around midday I cannot help but smile at my surroundings. The hostel is a small apartment and each room is decorated with warm colours and pictures of the Dalai Lama and other spirtual drawings hang on the walls, there is even a hammock! In the kitchen a friendly looking guy dressed in a tracksuit and slippers is nursing a coffee. He smiles at me and says hello. After about a minute he looks up again a bit bemused and asks if I am the person who arrived late last night, yes I am, Ok he smiles. Another minute goes past. Did I check in? No. Ok, he shuffles towards a cupboard and opens it to reveal an office and I pay for a couple of nights, he hopes I will enjoy my stay and smiles again as if order is restored... er..., anything else I need to know, keys, how to get in / out etc.? Ah, yes, I need a code for the courtyard door, but the front door lock does not work dont need to worry about that, (or do I?) He goes off to bed. Nice man.

Monday 19 Feb

I didnt really do much on Sunday, but I did meet two girls from America, Christine is studying in Vienna to be an opera singer, an Rebecca is teaching in France and has been asked to play professional basketball next season. Christine returns to Vienna today, Rebecca and I go out for a wander and visit the Museum for Fine Arts which has a Van Gogh exhibition. The pictures are fascinating but like a kid I am excited by the James Bond-esque air-lock doors you need to go through to enter and exit the rooms. After a couple of hours gazing we find somewhere for dinner. We find a local restaurant that specialises in Hungarian food and I get something which I think is soup but turns out to be a cold and sweet prune cream dish, interesting! In the evening we meet Don and Em, a couple from Portland Oregon, and go out for drink nearby at a bar that has Frank Zappa murials and menus shaped like LPs.

The Citadel and the baths

Only one plan for today, go and relax in a thermal bath. There are a few to choose from and I find out its cheaper if you go after 4pm so I decide to climb up the hill towards the citadel that overlooks the Danube. There are pathways zigzagging up the hill but its more fun to clamber up some of the rock faces. After a few hours scrambling around finding a perch to admire the river and almost standing on a stray cat, I head for the baths to live like a Roman. The indoor Gellert Baths are impressive with columns sculpted lion-head fountains and a swimming pool, and after two hours I am a well-sauted prune, but very relaxed! Back at the hostel I meet Don and Em again and Josh, another native of Portland, who is spending a couple of months working on organic farms in Europe, which sounds like a good life!

Amory and Me
On Wednesday I head for "Margaret Island" in the middle of the river, which has a running track outlining it and many joggers looking energetic. However, I am not, so I meander for a while getting overtaken by various lycra-clad enthusiasts until I find a spot of the banks where I can sit down undisturbed for a while and finishing reading my book, this side of paradise. A pale fog guards the Danube and although you can make out outlines of buildings its not possible to see more than a 100 yards or so. A coincidence that this matches the mood of the final chapters. Because of the fog, dusk creeps up and surprises me when I pause and realise its got too dark too read anymore. So I head back to the hostel and on the way stop at a kebab shop, cant be getting too cultured!

In the evening a small crowd of guests gather in the hostel kitchen and dining room to watch Liverpool educate Barcelona. After a comprehensive display its only fitting to perform a victory dance and Im joined by Franco, one of the Chilean students staying at Madragora Hostel. I spend the rest of the evening chatting to the Tom and Franco about Chile and their experiences, and watching James, a young guy from New Zealand smoke banana tobacco through a improvised beer-can pipe!

Thursday

I spend most of the day just walking around the city as its brighter weather. Andrassy Ut (Embassy Road) is one of the main streets that leads up to Heroes Square, and has memorial plaques for those killed in the 1956 uprising. The street is flanked with fascinating looking buildings and gardens.

In the evening we get an impromtu gig from Thomas in the hostel dining room with people joining in at various stages. Later on Natalie, James, Tom, Franco and Me go out to a bar / club in one of the underground metro walkways ensuring that I am a bit worse for wear (again) travelling on Friday!