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This was one long, tiring, frustrating adventure, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t amazing. Berlin, Budapest, Sarajevo, Belgrade, Sofia (then back to Belgrade), then to Zagreb, Split, Supetar, and then finally, Dubrovnik. Lots of different hostels, different people, and different experiences.

Berlin

So, Prague was officially over. We said our goodbyes, packed out bags, and headed off to our first destination, Germany. Going to Berlin wasn’t the best starting point in terms of convenience, but it was one of the cities I had to go to, but never had time to during the semester. So, we bought our 50 EURO train ticket to Berlin and headed out.

Backpackin’ Berlin

Upon arriving in Berlin, we were greeted by plenty of people looking for backpackers in hopes of renting rooms from their apartments, but we opted to look for our own hostel dispite the fact that her offer was very fair. Meeting fellow backpackers is a lot more entertaining. On our journey with our filled 60L backpacks, we happened to run into a free outdoor classical music concern, which only obsctructed the direction we needed to go. We eventually found our destination and booked a hostel.

Reichstag

It was odd being in a city thats so new and modern, after being in Prague for so long you get used to seeing buildings older then the country you’re from. Although, there are a ton of things to see in Germany that are still quite old, such as the Reichstag, the Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie, and a couple other monuments that are reminicent of past Germany.

Some of the remains of the Berlin Wall

We stayed in the Meininger hostel, which was a decent place to stay. Clean beds and nice showers, although there wasn’t many people staying at the time, and there wasn’t a common room type of area, just a bar in the building next to the hostel, so meeting travellers wasn’t very easy. The staff were very friendly though (besides the first guy who tried to charge us 24 EURO for a night, we got it down to 18), and they told us where all the good areas to check out during the day were, and where the good bars were at. On one of the nights in Berlin, Tighe and I decided to go out and find some bars, and so as per recommendation, we took a bus to a certain area at around 2am, and although it wasn’t as lively as expected, it was certainly interesting. We found a couple of bars that were recommended, but I believe it was in the middle of the week, and May isn’t exactly the most happening time in Berlin, so there wasn’t too many people out, but we did find THE creepiest bar in all existance (at least the creepiest one I’ve ever been to). The workers inside were doing magic tricks, there were what seemed to be regulars chilling on beers, and there was also another group of people who seemed like they were in the same boat as us. We had a beer, secretly took some pictures, and made an exit.

Wierdest place I’ve ever been to

The next night, we met up with Tighe’s cousin Brian, who is also from Long Island. For half the night I was stuck listening to family recollections of which I had not participated in, but thats alright, since I happily sat and drank Becks, my new favorite beer. We moved from bar to bar, and later on in the night, Horatiu caught up with us, and we continued to drink, and I finally had someone to talk to. Afterwords, while being slightly drunk, we all decided that it was time to get some food, and of course, Horatiu and I were hoping for our favorite donair place of all time to be open (Mustafas Kebab - mustafas.de), but to our disappointment, it was closed for the night. But fortunately for us(well, maybe unfortunately, depends if your asking me, or my arteries), the fast food stand Curry 36 was open. When we went to the stand, we saw a german man ordering something we thought looked quite tasty, so we asked for the same thing. But we are suppose to get two kebabs in it each, but since he only had enough for one and a half for each of us, he threw in a German sausage. The complete meal consisted of one and a half meat kebabs, one german sausage, a bunch of french fries, caramelized onions, all topped with ketchup, barbeque sauce, and mayo. I managed to finish it all without much effort, while Tighe, Brian, and Hora all struggled, but in the end, we finished it off, and afterwords, we went to sleep. It was known thereafter as the heartattack special.

Checkpoint Charlie; A very important landmark from the Cold War

We had a great time in Berlin, and if I was to ever work abroad, I would definitely consider Germany as one of my destinations. Hora stayed in Berlin one more night, and afterwords continued on his journey throughout Germany, while Tighe and I headed to Budapest. If you want to read about Horas travels, check out halmaghi.com

Budapest

Now, for those of you who’ve followed my blog, you know I’ve been to Budapest before, and had an amazing time. Well this time, it wasn’t so amazing, although it wasnt due to the city, it was due to bad choices. We stopped in Budapest for one night just so we could get to Sarajevo on the next, and so we headed for the hostel we booked closest to the train station, and it was one of the nicest hostels I’ve ever stayed in, and by far the nicest shower. The only problem was we were the only ones there, but it didn’t matter since we were only there for one day anyways.

We headed to the baths during the day, which are always a good choice in Budapest, but our first mistake during that stay in Budapest was getting three McDonalds cheeseburgers and an ice tea. I’ve either been cooking in Europe, or going to restaurants, and so my stomach isn’t as good as it used to be for extracting energy from fast food joins as it previously was. Next, we found a bar which we realized was a much older crowd, and on our continued quest for food and a bar, we came very close to our hostel, and were about to call it a night. We also didn’t have much money, so we were going to pack it in, but unfortunately, we saw an ATM, and decided to give Budapests nightlife another chance. We found a club and decided to go in, only to realize it was a bit too sketchy for our tastes, so we decided to have a beer and get the hell out of there. That was our biggest mistake; the menu, which had a dark purple background, had small red hard-to-read writing that said “First drink costs 9000 HUF “. That roughly translates to 40 EUROS, and being in a foreign country thats former communist, and with two big bouncers standing in front of you, we practically had no choice, we coughed up the money. So the next time you go to a club in Hungary, make sure you read the sign, VERY carefully.

Our next destination, Sarajevo.