So in Istanbul I was warned to be ready for a culture shock. But I was actually shocked by how not shocked I was... However, our travels out of Turkey brought us to bulgaria first. We stopped in the city of Sofia for the night (stayed in a pimpin hotel also FYI). In this city you really started to get the feel that we weren't in the developed part or Europe so much anymore (even though Bulgaria is a part of the EU). there were some pretty cool building in the iconic style that most Russian buildings are so it spoke to it's past influences for sure. On our time to walk around before heading to the hotel, a couple of the girls got approached by a fam of gypsies and one of them got punched in the head. They were just trying to go use the bathroom at McDonalds! Brutal...
Next up was Macedonia. Interesting border crossing situation since by the time we got through the border patrol we'd been sitting on the bus for five or so hours, aka everyone was running to the bathroom once we got to the other side. Worst. Bathroom. Ever. It was a legit squat toilet that i actually had to use. No lights. May have peed on my feet, but i couldnt really tell you. And the worst part of it was that it apparently is usually much dirtier than than and you literally have to step throughh crap if you want to use it. A tree looks pretty good right about then, but you have to be careful where you venture since one of our tour mates was "checking out an abandoned building" and the border police figured he was peeing over there. Needless to say his passport got temporarily taken, and there may just be a nice fine waiting for him upon his return to australia! and here we stopped in it's capitol of Skopie for lunch. Had some amazing Italian since we were ravenous by the time we actually got there. Saw another of the guys on our tour get swarmed by gypsy kids but this time he was actually pick pocketed. Bye bye iPhone. Shitty deals!! This was a camping night again but we were on a lake and had a fire so it felt just like summer at home. It was even just as cold! Had to bust out the sleeping bag for the first time since Florence.
Trekked through Albania today. Gorgeous countryside but I don't necessarily feel the safest here. I felt so paranoid everywhere I went and the language barrier was massive. Oh and btw shaking the head means yes here and nodding means no. VEry confusing when you're trying to talk with sign language. But it's saving grace was our completely awesome rooms. It is pretty much a condo with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, and FOUR balconies. Madness!!
Off to Croatia tomorrow and I am just too pumped to get there and have another little mini vacay :)! Georges boat, part two!
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