Latvia

At the last minute, we decided to take a slight detour and visit Jhenka's hometown of Daugavpils. We were the only people to get off the train there! Thanks to our trusty compass and google maps we were eventually able to naviguess our way to the hotel (which seemed to be on the wrong side of the tracks!) in the dark of night.

The next day after breakfast we headed into town, saw the sights and then enjoyed a feast at the surprisingly gourmet Tex Mex (in the middle of the local ten pin bowling alley), complete with complimentary crème brulee, courtesy of Tatiana and connections.

In the evening, we took in the cold, snowy Latvian countryside from the comfort of the train to Riga.

In Riga we spent our time strolling around the very beautiful old town and relaxing in the last nice hotel we are likely to stay in until Beijing (due to budgetary constraints).

On our last day before heading into Russia, we witnessed some very poor driving skills and discovered how street signs get bent (no prizes for guessing if it was a male or female driver!) - for those interested, there wasn't a scratch on the Lexus!

After the free entertainment, Simo sampled the best hot chocolate in the world – quite literally liquid chocolate! - and Deb, not wanting to miss out, added a teaspoonful into her cup of hot milk and thought hers was the best!!

We boarded the train at sunset and continued on our journey...

Lithuania

Our first day in Vilnius was grey and dark and the place seemed deserted (no one seems to rise before 11am!) but the sun and the people came out the next day and showed us how nice the place is. We walked around and took in some great views of the city from Geronimo's* tower. Then we had a very educational visit (and an insight to what we might expect in Russia!)...at the KGB Museum.

* May not be the correct spelling.

Poland

After an early wake up call (on the train) and an enchanting walk at dawn, we dumped our packs at the hotel in Krakow and headed out to Auschwitz for a sombre reminder of how good we've got it.

That evening and the next day we explored the very beautiful old town of Krakow. The market square and the castle were just gorgeous.

We then stopped in at Warsaw for dinner and a short walk, en route to the next country...

Hungary

The cold, grey, drizzly weather did it's best to spoil Budapest for us but it was still very grand and beautiful and a pleasure to explore - especially the enchanting underground Labyrinth of Buda Castle!

When it was time to move on we caught an overnight train through Slovakia and the Czech Republic and into Poland. Now that we're back in the Schengen Area, we thankfully got to sleep through it all!

Romania

After the bumpy start we had in Bulgaria, we (really just Deb) were a bit unsure of what we would find in Romania but Bucharest was modern and cool and surprisingly easy to like.

Next we headed to Brasov, with another epic train ride through the mountains of eastern Europe.

We visited Bran Castle in Transylvania but didn't spot Dracula anywhere (not sure if it was because it was the middle of the day or because he's not real).

We spent our last day in Romania exploring the lovely town of Brasov, sorely missing those who have been taken away from us but also feeling incredibly grateful that we had them at all. Lots of love to everyone who is following our trip home via this blog. xo

Bulgaria

After a very rough overnight train-bus-train ride, we made it out of Turkey and arrived in Sofia. In our exhausted state, with the dodgey looking train station, Cyrillic script and pickpockets on the tram, first impressions were not as favourable as some other places we've been so far but after finding the friendly and helpful tourist info office we settled in a bit. We spent a lovely morning walking around in the sunshine, through parks and looking at old buildings.

With a very scenic train ride, we moved on to the wonderful little town of Veliko Tarnovo, where we stayed in a beautiful (if somewhat hard to find) hotel, with great views overlooking the Tsarevets Citadel (thanks to Sime and the laptop!).

Again we chillaxed just walking around in the sunshine, checking out the beautiful old town.

Wild Turkey

After a much needed nap we ventured out to explore Istanbul. It was freezing, blowing a gale and snowed for most of our stay. We spent the next couple of days trying to keep inside out of the blizzard as much as possible while still seeing a bit of the city.

We went to the Blue Mosque, the Aya Sofya and Topkapi Palace, none of which seem to be heated, so we stayed rugged up like eskimos.

Getting out of Greece

Time to start heading north again, we were back on the train the next day to Thessaloniki, for a connection to Istanbul. It was actually quite a nice town, although this may not be portrayed in the one photo we took there.

Unfortunately, all international trains from Greece were cancelled indefinitely, for reasons unknown. After an afternoon spent chasing our tails (which probably would have been easier without packs on) and a brief respite to watch Liverpool beat ManU, we tracked down the appropriately named Crazy Holidays bus company, who appear to have a monopoly on transport out of Greece and are trying to keep it a secret. Luckily, they let us in on it and after a 3am border crossing, for which, of course, we had to get off the bus, we eventually made it to Istanbul, seeing another sunrise from the transport vessel (although we would have preferred to be asleep).

Just another short local bus ride and tram ride (tickets courtesy of some lovely Pakistani travellers heading in the same direction), a 15 minute walk in the rain with lots of stopping to ask for directions and we were at our hotel. Phew!

Getting to Greece

The next morning we were up early to begin the long journey to Athens. We had some delicious pastries for breakfast, then boarded the train for the first leg of the journey from Rome to Bari. We had a few hours to spare in Bari so had an Italian farewell party for two with a grande serve of gelati. We then strolled through the lovely little town to the port, catching the sunset just as we boarded the ferry.

We managed to secure three seats each on the ferry and got a great nights sleep. We made a pitstop in Igoumenitsa to see the sunrise (and let the noisy people off the boat), then continued on to the dodgey looking port of Patras.

Next it was a bus to Athens and, after driving past some really beautiful scenery, our driver was kind enough to drop us at the street our hotel was on. We finally made it to the hotel in Athens 33 hours after leaving the hotel in Rome.

The next day, after a great big Greek breakfast and checking in with family back home, we headed out to explore Athens on a beautiful spring day. We had just enough time to visit the Acropolis before the slack Greeks packed up for the day and kicked us out.

We stayed on the hill and took in the views for a while, then wandered down through Plaka and had a magnificent souvlaki feast.

Italia - Part II

The weather caught up with us as we headed south – it didn't stop raining all day. We spent the afternoon in Siena, where they take 'hot chocolate' quite literally! It did the trick and warmed us up though.

The next day in beautiful Florence we visited the Duomo and had a picnic with a view at Piazzale Michelangelo.

We copped more rain in Rome but still had a great time visiting St Peter's Basilica, the Colosseum and the countless other amazing sites the city has to offer.