Itinerary
- Turkey:
- Nov 17: bus Istanbul-Burgas (9am-5pm, $20)
- Bulgaria:
- +Nesebar (old town on the coast north of Burgas, St. John the Baptist, St. Stefan, Archangels Michael and Gabriel, St. John Aliturgetos, Pantocrator), hotel Mistral ($10)
- bus to Varna (1 hr, $2), taxi to Aladza monastery ($7)
- Varna (seaside city, -Aladza monastery)
- (Veliko Tarnovo, old capital between Sofia and Varna, St. Peter and Paul, St. Dimiter of Solun)
- (Sofia, Rotunda of St George from 4th c, Santa Sofia from 4th c, Boyana Church near Sofia with +chapel frescoes of 1259)
- (Buzludzha)
- (Ethnographic museum "Etar" at Gabrovo)
- (+Rila, monastery founded in the 10th century, 120 km south of Sofia)
- Train Varna-Bucharest
- Romania:
- Bucharest (Palace of Parliament, second largest building in the world, MARe/Muzeul de Arta Recenta)
- train Bucharest-Brasov (2.5 hours)
- +Brasov (Black cathedral, Bran castle, Rasnov castle)
- Sinaia (between Bucharest and Brasov): Peles Castle (former royal residence)
- train Brasov-Sighisoara (1.5 hours)
- +Sighisoara (medieval town)
- train Sighisoara-Vienna
- (++Monasteries in Bucovina (northeastern province, 400 kms from Bucharest, 6-7 hours by train: Sucevita, +Voronet 6kms from Gura Humorului train station, Humor, Moldovita, Putna, Dragomirna)
- (Constantin Brancusi complex at Targu Jiu)
- The trovant stones of Costesti (80 kms west of Bucharest)
- Moldova:
- +Capriana monastery (15th c)
- Yugoslavia:
- Slovenia: Ljubljana (Joze Plecnik's Three Bridges, Joze Plecnik's Slovene National and University Library, Joze Plecnik's Central Market, Joze Plecnik's Chamber of Trade, New Mosque, Ivan Vurnik's Cooperative Bank on Miklosiceva street, Janez Lenassi's monument in Ilirska Bistrica), +Predjama Castle (the largest cave castle in the world)
- Croatia: Zagreb
- Croatia: +++Dubrovnik
- Croatia: ++Split
- Croatia: Krka National Park
- Croatia: +Plitvice Lakes National Park
- Bosnia: +Mostar
- Kosovo: Gracanica (+monastery of 1321, +St John the Baptist of 1321)
- Serbia: Studenica, be reached by bus from Usce (frescoes of 13th c), Mileseva (wall paintings of 13th c)
|
Notes
Trip difficulty: easy to difficult
Season: May to September
Length: 25 days
|
Pictures
$1=30,000 lei and 2.2 leva
Train daily from Sofia to Istanbul takes about 12 hours (21:30-9:00)
Train daily from Istanbul to Sofia takes about 12 hours (23:00-10:25)
Three trains daily from Sofia to Bucarest take about 10 hours (7:15-17:00)
Dubrovnik (2025) has become
the classic tourist trap. A friend told me "It's just a bunch of restaurants". Actually, it's a bunch of expensive restaurants serving low-quality food.
Churches and museums are not worth the ticket price. It is mainly a place for Asian and American tourists who have not seen much of Europe. The ticket for the walls is 40 euros and it's a waste of money.
If you stay outside the old town be aware of staircases.
The bus station is 3 kms north of town. The airport is 20 kms south (10 euro shuttle).
Plitvice (2025) is divided by the biggest lake (Kozjak Lake) into lower and upper lakes. The highlight of the lower lakes is the big waterfall. Galovac Lake is considered the best. Getting there is not easy if you don't rent a car. Basically, you have to get a tour with Gray Line (65 euros) and you will be forced to stay with the guide (which makes it unlikely that you'll be able to see everything). If you get there by bus (all the ZagrebZadar buses stop at Plitvice) be aware that crowds may slow you down significantly. You could walk all 18 kms of trails in 4-5 hours, but some of the lines can be 20-40 minutes long, especially if you want to take the boat across the big lake (included in the ticket). It takes three hours from Zadar an two hours from Zagreb. Split to Zadar takes about 4 hours.
|
