Tuesday: I got into Belgrade, walked past my hostel but stumbled upon an Internet cafe, where I learned that I had to walk back 10 minutes towards the train station. I still had trouble finding the Green Room hostel, since it isn't all that visible from the street (it's only one floor of a six floor building). I found out that Partizan Belgrade was playing against Shakhtar Donetsk the same evening so I decided to go, and one of the employees at the hostel offered to come and buy the ticket with me, which I found incredibly helpful. I had trouble finding the correct trolley-bus, but when I did, most of the people on it were going to the stadium so I just followed them. Although FK Partizan played a good first half, Shakhtar Donetsk eventually overpowered them and won the match 3-0. Number 10 for Partizan, Moreira, was easily the best player on the team.
Wednesday: I did the walking tour of Belgrade, which starts out at the Horse monument (actually a monument to Prince Mihailova, but all the locals call it the horse monument). We walked around and saw the main sights, including a grafiti of the Partizan fan club (called the grave-diggers) in a zone of the city called Alcatraz. This grafiti is actually surveilled 24 hours a day to avoid anyone painting over it. We also saw the only reamining mosque in all of Belgrade, though it used to be under the Ottoman empire and had hundreds of them. We also saw the zoo, which is one of the best in world for the animals, since they mate in captivity. We then walked up to the fortress, which is where Belgrade got it's name (Beograd, beo = white and grad = city, the castle is white and is the first thing you see when coming up the river Danube). The people from the tour stuck together and we kind of wandered around the city. Eventually we came upon a cafe and stopped. I didn't know what I wanted really, so I just pointed to some random item on the menu and it turned out to be delicious mulled wine. I grabbed some Chinese food and ate it at the hostel before heading out for my night-train to Sofia (София).
Thursday: The train conductor woke me up when we were in the station, so I had pack the things I took out quickly and then get off the train. Walked for about 25 minutes to the hostel, and the whole time I was basically trying to actually get my brain to wake up. I got in and relaxed for a while and then eventually went to book my night-train to Istanbul. I came back and started chatting with the people at the hostel. Yana (Яна) and I talked for a bit before I went to bed.
Friday: I did the walking tour which took us around the city to see the main sights, such as some of the remains of buildings built by the Romans. We also saw the changing of the guard, the parliament building, the national theatre, the church of St. Nicholas the Miracle-Maker and a few other sights. I then went to meet Yana at the Mall of Sofia. We had lunch, shopped and eventually we went back to her place since she had to change before going to work. Racheed tried quite a bit to get me to go out with him, a few other people from the hostel and Damien, one of the employees who has to be our guide, but I was feeling too tired to go out.
Saturday: I was walking around the shopping district when I bumped into Phil and Stewart. We walked around a bit and then came back to the hostel to play pool and relax. I eventually had to head out to catch my night-train, though the train station in Sofia is horrible, with some sort of track numbering system consisting of Latin and Arabic numerals. I eventually found my train, good luck another part of the train coming in from somewhere else was late. The Bulgarian border was a normal one to cross, passport control in the cabins, but at the Turkish border we had to get off the train to verify the passport, then buy entry visas (for some reason the most expensive is for Canadians citizens) and then get the visa verified and stamped. All in all it consisted of a stop-over of about 45 minutes at 3AM.
Sunday: Got into Istanbul. I had walking directions to get to the hostel I had reserved, but had no inclination of walking, especially since the streets in Istanbul are all about 200 meters long, so a 20 minute walk consisted of about 12 streets. I finally found out that a tram led to the Sultan Ahmet (Blue) mosque, which was very close to my hostel. After having looked around for a while and being unsuccessful at finding the hostel I had reserved, I stumbled upon the Orient hostel, which Phil had recommended. I walked in and they had room so it was a done deal. I walked into the room and was greeted by four extremely friendly roommates, who told me the story of one of the other previous roommates who actually got kicked out of the room for extreme snoring. They were headed out for some sightseeing, so I decided to follow them as I didn't really have a plan for the day. We walked along the highway that runs along the Bosphorus from the southeast to the northeast of the Fenerbahçe neighborhood and we saw the lighthouse on the way. We visited the spice market, and then went inside the New mosque (Yeni Cami). We then tried to go to the Grand Bazaar, but it was closed. I headed back to the hostel to nap while the others continued sightseeing. In the evening we all went out for kebabs and came back to a bar across the street from the hostel to smoke hookah. In the bar we saw the final minutes of the Galatasaray v Beşiktaş game, both neighboring districts on the Northern European side of Istanbul. The away team, Beşiktaş won 2-1, and since we were on the Southern European side, we didn't really hear any kind of street rioting or whatnot happen.
Monday: I went for a haircut and a shave, keeping only my Movember mustache on. I then went to join the rest of the group at the Blue mosque (Sultanahmet Camii). We then headed over to the Grand Bazaar (Kapalıçarşı), which happens to be one of the oldest and largest covered markets in the world, and basically the inspiration for shopping malls, where, as everyone else, we got lost and came out at a different exit. We saw a pizza delivery man that looked completely clueless as to where he was supposed to go. To give you an idea of the size, the West Edmonton Mall has an area of 570,000 square meters, whereas the Grand Bazaar has an area of 307,000 square meters. We had a great fish sandwich by the river as a snack. Greg and I went over to Üsküdar, the Asian side of Istanbul for a little more than an hour. On our way back, before getting onto the ferry, we had a french fry sandwich, which I think is just about the definition of junk food. I had a typical meze plate for supper, which consists of four different sauces. I'm quite sure one of them was aubergines, another one very similar to tzatziki, some salsa-like sauce and hummus. It also had rice-stuffed vine leaves and is eaten with a bread similar to pitas. I then went to a bar next door to watch the El Clasico (one of the biggest derbys in the world, the game actually has a name), Real Madrid CF visiting FC Barcelona. To give you an idea, it's much more than about just the football. It's a time when the ideology and culture of two very distinct regions of Spain meet. The capital and where all of the decisions are made, against the the capital of Catalonia, a region that has long wanted independence from the central government. Real Madrid is the rich club, the New York Yankees of Spanish football, the club that considers players as stock, to be bought and sold as much as possible. Always buy the best players, that's their ideology. Barcelona is the complete opposite. They have a very good youth development program, with many of their current stars having gone through it. They consider their players as an investment that will bring them victory and thus money. There could never be two more different clubs. All of this in a country that is mad for football. Barcelona ended up winning 5-0 and you can be sure that Barcelona now has bragging rights, until the next El Clasico is played.
Tuesday: I woke up to find my cellphone wasn't working, so I spent part of the day trying to unsuccessfully fix it. I guess that will have to wait until I get back. In the evening I went out to supper with Greg and David, had manti, a type of Turkish ravioli. We then smoked hookah for the rest of the evening.
Wednesday: I went up to the Topkapi palace, though I didn't actually want to go inside. I crossed the Galata bridge, and found a used book store. I then went to a barber to get a shave, including the mustache this time. I then walked up to Taksim square, where a bombing took place about a month ago. I took a historic tram back to the edge of Galata, then an underground train to get closer to river. I had to walk back uphill to see the Galata tower (the train passes underneath it). I then went to the spice market and the Grand Bazaar to do some Christmas shopping. I came back to the hostel to drop off my stuff before heading back out to take a Turkish bath, which consists of a guy throwing water at you (no small exaggeration, he literally throws it at you). Then he peels your skin with a special glove, and gives you a foam massage. Afterwards you rinse and you're as good as new. I had a beef McTurco for supper (folded pita bread with a beef patty inside). After that I was quite relaxed and set for the night-train, which again consisted of getting up and going outside at the Turkish border for passport control.
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