Tuesday 18 September 2007

The road finally came to an end. Only for now, though.



We couldn't have ended this journey in any other fashion: 3 days of pure adventure on the road! I'll write you about that later on, but must warn you all there won't be enough words to describe it. Guess only Mr. Magalhães (the Deuch Mechanich) will have a close call after taking a look at the tired little one.

Home, safe and sound. Can hardly believe the journey had finally come to its end. HUGE, HUGE time we had on the road, to say the least! After a long desired portuguese meal with my parents and some of my father mates, talking nothing else but about my journey, a nice long shower and some hours at the office (at least to let them know I still didn't forget where it is), I'm on my way to the big match: Porto vs Liverpool! To make the transitions more gradual, I'll be meeting my brother Luis in 5 minutes, to warm up with some lager. Nhamy, Super Bock!!! Am missing that as well!

The journey is over, but not the adventure. During the returning trip, the Deuch and I already started cooking the next chapter! Ah, the road is over, but not this blog. Keep posted, as there is still many things to share with you!

Love, now finally from my home Porto,
TMA and the surviving Deuch!
!

Saturday 15 September 2007

The return, at last!

All good things come to an end. The great ones manage to live up a little longer, but still are condemn to the same faith.

After streching our adventure further than its own limits, this afternoon we will finally start our way back. To finish in stylle, we have the longest, most challenging and, therefore, most exciting journey on the road. From Bled to Porto, crossing Italy, France and Spain, always through secondary roads. Over 2500 km, to be enjoyed one by one, on a journey where rush won't be part of our vocabulary. In case you are interested in knowing our path more in detail, take a look at the following link:
http://www.viamichelin.com/viamichelin/int/dyn/controller/Itineraires?options=1&strStartMerged=&strStartAddress=&strStartCityCountry=EUR&strDestMerged=&strDestAddress=&strDestCityCountry=EUR#startLocid=31NDIxOTcxMGNORFl1TXpZMk56VT1jTVRRdU1UQTROakk9&destLocid=31NDF4dnIxMGNOREV1TVRVd05UYz1jTFRndU5qRXdNalU9&step1Locid=32NDFvbGU1MzMxMDAxMGNORFl1TURZME9UUT1jTVRNdU1qTXdOekk9&step2Locid=31NDF3NjQxMGNOREV1T0RBM01EUT1jTFRZdU56VTVOVFk9&vh=CAR&distance=km&strVehicle=0&intItineraryType=6&devise=1.0EUR&isAvoidFrontiers=false&isFavoriseAutoroute=false&isAvoidPeage=true&isAvoidVignette=false&isAvoidLNR=false&carTypeHidden=Citadine&caravaneHidden=false&typeCarbHidden=essence&autoConso=6.8&villeConso=6&routeConso=5.6&carbCost=1.3&dtmDeparture=15/09/2007

We expect to be home on Monday, which would mean less than 24 hours delay. But by this time you all know as well as I do deadlines and plans are not exactly binding for us when on the road. As always, we will make it our way: taking our time and no sparing any oportunity to make our adventure even more enjoyable!

Love,
TMA and Le Deuch

Friday 14 September 2007

Two Aussies and The Two Horses

There was this man on a crazzy road trip! who spent too much time with us smart and intelligent aussies, was on this meeting this portugease man had been transformed into a true fair dinkum aussie bloke !!!

One of our great adventures was a road trip to awesome lake Bled. The day started with us all waking up a little on the sick side after a big night out at a house party where a lot of “blowing” went on (editors’ note – just a card game, you sick minds lol).So there we were trying to pack two big backpacks two little ones and all of Tiago’s crap into his little rocket. It took a while but we got there in the end.

The drive out of Ljubljana was awesome. There was so much talent to look at, it was great. I think I fell in love at least 5 times. Bled being a one and a half hour drive took us about three and a half hours taking in consideration that the car was full and we were driving on all the back roads to avoid all the tolls (hey we are cheep ass backpackers ) and we were so hungry. We managed to find a little café, me and Rob ordered a mixed grill and Tiago had to go frogs legs. I’ve never had frog before so I had to have a go and hey it was nice it tastes a bit like fish mixed with chicken. While I, Rob was fast asleep enjoying my restaurant meal, Tiago the sneaky little bugger was filming one enjoying his sleep!

So off we are again me, Luke, Tiago(casper) and the two horse rocket!! Was so amazed this flying machine was at least doing 81! But then it was Portugease music time as we were cruising down to bled and hmmm not sure on this mans taste on music. But don’t worry with a few back fires of two horse rocket we had all the ladies attention. Thank God for that because that music wasn’t doing to much for our mission!

But we arrived in this beautiful place, but then it came to drinking time once again hmmm yep one thing this maan does love is a beer! Can drink beer! And that brings us to the end of our adventure sitting here in cafe looking over the beautiful lake having our last meal together, reflecting on the amazing adventure we have just had.

Ok last words about Tiago, aka casper: CAN DRINK! CAN TALK! CAN PULL! CAN TRAVEL! ~

Thanks mate, we have had a great time and have had lots of fun.

Safe travels mate. Keep the good times rolling buddy and will c u in Porto!!

Hvala,

Luke and Rob

P.S. - Thanks two horses for the road trip!

The third companion has the floor!


After a great journey in the company of two close friends (Tiago and The Deuch), the return to Portugal was the end of one of the most unforgetable trips in my life. One full of adventures and hilarious moments!!

For the record remain the people, the cities, all the places we visited and met. Connecting each place we had the sky right above us, kms and kms of road ahead of us and the guarantee The Deuch was sharing with us the unique pleasure of being on the road. True, we were always dependent on his “humours”: sometimes refusing to “slow down”, “holding” strongly to his will of accelerate, sometimes refusing to make a steeper uphill. Nothing that the right dose of tenderness and imagination couldn’t solve.That journey from Sofia till Pula was “an adventure in the adventure itself”, wasn’t it? :)

I hope you keep on having the time of your life and that the 2cv will show it’s best “humour” along the return trip.

Big Hug and see you in Portugal,
Nuno Casquilho Antunes

Still in Bled...





Ups... Not yet today that we got on the road again...


Met some cool Slovenians last night that literally "forbidden" me from leaving before being given the chance of trying some of the countries finest specialities. So, against my will (lol), I see myself "forced" to stay one more night and lay my fortune on the hands of "Slovenia's finest".


I sense I'm already at the "extra-time" of this adventure. The pressure to go back is growing stronger, no longer by the day, but by the hour. But in the end, this "pressure" only enables me to enjoy even more intensely this sense of freedom, something as strong and as overwhelming as I've never sensed before. By not departing today I do know that, even not putting into jeopardy any major thing, I did neglect some of the many obligations I have back home. I do apologise for it, sincerely. But as sincerely I tell you all: I could not neglect the ultimate obligation in everyone´s life, which is to be Happy. Believe my words. Now, as in the first or any other moment of this roadtrip, I am living happiness!

Don't worry still. I will be back. And much sooner then you might be suspecting by now. I know when that will happen, but won't tell you. Apparently when I make it public, the whole world organises itself with the sole purpose of ruining my plans. As I've already stretched my limits to their own limits, can't take that risk this time.

Love from someone literally having the time of his life,
TMA
P.S. - Luke and Rob just left back to Ljubljana to pick up a car and head to Croatia, just before heading to Munich for the October Fest. You can't imagine how hard it was to resist the call of keep on going along with them. Thank God I had Slovenia holding me back. I leave you with the post they wrote a couple of hours ago, together with the one written by Nuno, who is regretfully back in Porto. All this together with some pictures that can, however, only give you a glance from the incredible moment we shared.

Thursday 13 September 2007

Bled and than home, this time for real!

Hi Everyone:

No Mum, I doubt I'll make it for the game. Ruca simply knows me to well: the 2 horses are never the problem, the 3rd one is. lol

After a lovely day in Ljubljana in the company of two cool, cool Aussies, followed by a great night out which joined along 3 Slovenians and 3 Belgium, the plan in our mind could be clearer: will make it to Porto's match against Liverpool and change Saturday’s match for a last spot in our journey: Bled National Park, still in Slovenia. In about 20 minutes, me, the Deuch and the 2 Australians will hit the road towards our definitive last destination and big night out. A smooth 40 minutes ride, perfect warm up for the over 2500 km still separating us from home.

To go back home it’s proving to be much harder then we could ever imagined. This alone says everything on how awesome the whole adventure is proving to be.

Love,
TMA

Wednesday 12 September 2007

Change of Plans

Hi Everyone:

We do know the clock is ticking for the end of our journey, but the adventurous spirit remains untouched! Indeed we planned only to sleep overnight in Ljubljana. But after a nice walk through the city center and the sensing both the city’s and our hostel cool, cool atmosphere, we simply feel in love for the place. Therefore, one extra-night is guaranteed.

I have been told nothing but good things about Slovenia’s Capital, but how much my expectations were exceeded. Beautiful city, impeccably neat, everything in place and a cool relaxed bohemian atmosphere, particularly sensed at the many bars and restaurants located along the river. Well, all this to say, we could not leave without taking a proper look, of course.

Still, I plan to go back lol.

Love,TMA

Tuesday 11 September 2007

Day 33: Plan of the Day

Hello Everyone!

After two great days at Osijek, we start the last phase of out journey: the way home. From now on, it will be always coming west till the Miramar, by the Atlantic coast. Tonight we expect to make it till Ljubljana, where we will spend the night. As for the rest, the only expectation is to be in Porto by Saturday evening, hopefully managing to still pay a visit to a couple of friends along the way.

Love,
TMA

P.S. – We are already over 8000 km and the Deuch keeps on running smoother and smoother. Whatever happens little one, these 8000 no one will take away from us!

Sunday 9 September 2007

Post 4 - Romania


Always for different reasons, this was my third visit in Romania. First two were in December 2001 (Bucharest and Brasov) and August 2002 (Bucharest and the Black sea cost). Since then almost 6 years have passed. In the history of Romania, not just another 6 years: over this period, that followed the very agitated 90’ies, Romania took several key steps towards the adoption of a free market economy and a new geopolitical repositioning in the international scene. Just to name 2 of the most instantly recognizable events: the entry in Nato and the EU accession.

I was very curious to acknowledge the impact these last years had in Romania. Overall however, I must confess I was rather disappointed. At a first sight (and that’s pretty much what I was given the opportunity to have, a first glance), investment, both public and private foreign on, had a tremendous boom. Bucharest, even not being a particularly charming capital, remains impressive and growing as an even more cosmopolitan and international metropolis. Every step you take along the country, you feel the reconstruction of the Romanian’s obsolete infrastructures effort. But despite all this, the feeling one has is that Romania still has a long, long way ahead of itself.

“Scares of the communist Era”, here an expression I’ve used in prior posts. Well, in Romania, apparently some of the wounds are still bleeding. 2 are notorious, above all. As mentioned, the large majority of the country’s infrastructures (roads, railway, industrial park...) are simply obsolete or non-existing. The are only 2 highways, both close to Bucharest, with only one being worth the name. Along the country, roads are often in a poor condition, in the north you still can only rely on the ferry to cross the Danube while travelling the main national road and the railway system, even though crossing the whole country, is almost all archaic. I should however say that if it wasn’t for the massive financial support EU, I wonder how different the situation back home would be.

The other still open would, the mentality of its people, still very much shaped by the countries recent history. Don’t get me wrong: Romanians are in fact, kind and warm people. When in need of help, once can only complain of the often over helpfulness of the people you come across, even in the big cities. To have the experience of being hosted by a Romanian family (as I was for two times) gives you a whole new meaning to hospitability: they indeed insist in moving to the living-room to cede you the main bedroom. However, it his very difficult to “break the ice” and often you are constantly disencouraged along the process. In addition, nothing is for free in this country, not even after you have paid for it. I will always recall two statements on this matter. The first made by Iuli, answering to our astonished eyes seeing her fiercely fighting for every penny when infuriating any merchantman at Istanbul’s grand Bazar, though almost always taking her way: “you did not grew up having to fight for every little thing” she simply said. The second, the comment of my dear friend Titus after hearing from me this very same comment a couple of weeks ago: “My friend, here in Romania you need to fight for everything: for money, for a job, for woman, for your day-to-day things, for anything!” This couldn’t be truer. Don’t expect a smile, even when you are being served at a restaurant or a hotel. If you need to move a table or a chair, my advice is not to ask, but to simply do it. Otherwise you will most probably get a no for an answer. Sometimes, one gets the feeling they are still finding someone to blame for the hard life conditions they had to grown up on. Failing to find anyone, they apparently do it on everyone.

After being in the country with 3 very different perspectives, I would say Romania is definitely not the place to go as a tourist. Then your expectations will be very high, particularly on aspects which aren’t clearly the country’s strongest ones. You will end up paying the same fees as in any other western country (sometimes even more) and you will get a much worse service then the one you get back home, this while missing almost completely the many beauties of Romanian tradition. However, it can be a fascinating country to explore, this meaning on a more daring manner. Even though both roads and railway can often drive you mad, to adventure yourself on any of them can be a thrilling experience, as long as you are not on a tight deadline. Don’t miss the Danube’s Delta (paraphrasing Noel “MA-GNI-FI-QUE!!!”), where you can find nature, both fauna and flora, on a setting that will make you believe you are no longer in Europe, but somewhere in Africa. Take your time exploring the north of the country, mainly the lovely province of Moldova, surprisingly barely touched by the “ancient regime” and displaying many orthodox monasteries not to be missed. Then don’t be in a worry again to reach Bucharest crossing Transylvania through the Carpathians Mountains, amazing yourself with some breathtaking natural beauties you’ll find along the way and making a stop over in Brasov. End up with a good night out in Bucharest, where the offer won’t be for sure scarce. Well, make it two!

One final word, something I believe I already wrote before: clock it ticking to visit the Eastern European countries. For the good and (many, many times) for the bad, western way of life is advancing furiously, leaving little behind. That is mostly notorious on the big cities, where self-identity starts to be hard to find. I couldn’t stop remembering the comment my friend Titus made by my second visit in Romania, by 2002: “Life night is still quite wild here. But every year that goes by from the revolution, the fire is slowly cooling down”. Indeed, not only the attitude of people when going out, but life style in Eastern Europe in general is changing quite dramatically. If you still want to experience it, move quickly.

From Zagreb

Hi Everyone!

I'm writing from Zagreb, where I spent the day yesterday, few moments before going on my last incursion "off piste": about 250 km eastern to pay a visit to the many and crazy friends I have in Osijek. From there on, it will be always going west till Porto.

As I've been on the road most of the time, it has been hard to keep this blog up to date. I am still missing post on Romania, Istanbul, Sofia, the journey from Sofia till Pula and the Plitvice lakes. I know I write as much as I talk (meaning a lot) and therefore it is pretty much impossible for anyone but my mum to ready everything. I apologise, but this blog is purely selfish: in one hand, my selfish desire of being on the road but keep you all on the "back seat" and, on the other, to leave a diary of my experiences on the road, something I am sure will give me a huge pleasure reading again in some years time.

All this to say, I am writing not only for you, but as well for me. For the sake of the second goal, I can't leave any relevant memory "unposted".

Love,
TMA

Thursday 6 September 2007

From Pula, just the two of us again.

After an incredible journey between Sofia and Pula (close to 1100km) and after a farewell night slept in our loyal companian, Nuno cought his plain home at 11am this morning. The journey till Pula will have to be told in detail, so you can grasp how hilarious it was. For the moment, just the report of another hard goodbey.

Nuno was with us for the past 11 days, traveling through Romania, Bulgaria, Turquey, back in Bulgaria, crossing Serbia and finally Croatia. 11 days I am sure he will sherish as dearly as I will. His mechenic engeneering skills and his ability to profit from the trucks air cone's will be missed by The Deuch, but not as his company by me. Thanks a lot for all these great moments. This time at least, I am saying goodbey to someone who, despite living in a different city, will be sharing with me the same borders for the upcoming times.

My little one, here we are just the two of us on the road. Anyway, this adventure couldn't end up in any other way!!!

Next stop? Still open, but most probably the astonishing Plitvice Lakes, still in Croatia. We will keep you posted.

Love,
TMA

Monday 3 September 2007

Day 25: Istanbul - Sofia


By far, the hardest day so far...

Painful, to say the least. That's how I can describe leaving Istanbul. To see Emin from the Deuch's mirror was by far the worse moment of our journey. The connection we have can never be put into words, can never be understood by anyone else but us. When leaving Isa in Romania, I still had Emin on my sight. This time just the absolute sureness that we will always keep bumping to each other was cuddling my sorrow. To little, way to little.

Poor Nuno had to put up with a mute driver in tears while we faced the cahotic morning traffic of Istanbul. That was so far the sole momment I wished I did not have to go on, that I could just stop and be home. With about 400 km's done, I passed the wheel to Nuno and for the first time in my life, took a nap on my little one, while he kept on his fights with the hilly bulgarian roads. Surprisingly nice, to fall a sleep under his engine's sound and with the fresh air coming from the open top. Just what I needed to recharge bateries and make my mind clear: even though after Istanbul we can only go down, we were so high over there that the valley is still far, farway. Around 18, there we were again on an unknown huge city, without a map, finding our away to the hostel with a smile in our faces. We are getting dam good at it!

We are back in business! Sofia: ready or not, here we go!

Love,
TMA

Sunday 2 September 2007

Day 25: Plan of the day




The first true heartbreaking goodby…As always, Istanbul was everything we were expecting and “çok, çok, çok” more. I’ll need to first digest you before being able to write about it. Right now, about to hit the pillow before “setting sales” to Sofia, I can only say I don’t even want to think how painful it will be to leave Emin once again…

Let’s focus on the plan for the day and leave the heavy crying for the morning. On our 25th day on the road, we will have a challenging test to the fresh new brakes of our little one. A little more than 600 km, till Sofia, starting around 6am in order to beat the awful traffic of Istanbul.


Love,

TMA


P.S. - Emin, as well The Deuch will miss your driving...

Saturday 1 September 2007

Le Deuch Goes Spa!








With over 5700km “on his legs”, Emin and İ decided it was time to spoil the little on a bit. Ok, it wasn’t a turkish bath, but at least the breaks should soon be working normaly (for 2 cheveaux standards, of course). Another Saturday morniıng taking care of Le Deuch, again making the day of everyone who came across him. To the question “do you know anything about the mechanıcs of this car?” we were answered “sure, we had one for repaırement here 10 years ago”. Reassuring enough for us.

We fınally found why Le Deuch wasn’t breaking too well: the breaks were long gone… (see the inclosed picture to understand the difference between the old and the news ones...). So, that should be it. No more talkıng, just enjoy the pics.

Time fort he Grand Bazar!!!!

Optum and Oscakal,
TMA

Friday 31 August 2007

Welcome to the Ali Sami Yem! Welcome to Hell!!!


At last, I was there! The mythic Ali Sami Yem, home stadium of Galatasaray, side by side with Emin, wearing the two shirts offered by him with my name on the back and the Portuguese flag flying on the wind!

This was a moment I was looking forward since the days I’ve lived in Brussels. Every weekend and every Champions League/UEFA Cup match, Emin and I would pay a visit to the Turkish or Portuguese quarter of the town, in a ritual that included 3 of the things both of us most appreciate in life: good food, the two clubs from our hearts and each other’s company. We cried together when Gala was kicked out from the Champions; He was there preventing me from having an heart attack when Costinha scored on the last minute in Old Trafford; we religiously drunk a bottle of Port for each opponent Porto overtook in that unforgettable season, the one we won it all. In the end, my passion for Gala and his for Porto simply became another metaphor of our brotherhood. Last night I was finally given the chance to visit “home”.

The atmosphere lived in the stadium is everything one can expect and much more, absolutely different from the one that can be experienced in Dragão. Full house for the classic of world football between Gala and NK Slaven Belupo. Everyone is standing during the entire match, jumping, shouting, singing, clapping. One can only imagine how massive the impact players feel on the pitch must be. Porto fan’s are the most demanding ones I’ve ever seen. I will never forget the match we won 4-0 and still the team was “boooooed” heavily in the end of the 90 minutes. They are hard to please and the players have to earn every clap dedicated to them. Here, once in the pitch, we are no longer watching 11 man. Driven by sacred chants coming from the throat of Dionysius, the players are elevated to the status of Gods! Massive!

On the way home, I found myself surprisingly having a hard time remembering the match. In Porto I would have the entire 90 minutes movie in my head: every move, every play, everything. But here I could hardly remember how the goals had been. The conclusion seems evident: in Porto, I watch and appreciate the match. But here we are all too busy living the match to do so.

Love,
TMA

P.S. – To carry the Portuguese flag was an “experience inside the experience”. As colourwise our flag resembles the one from Kurdistan, the reaction of people was pretty much always the same: at first, looking with heavy angry eyes, not believing the dare their eyes were witnessing. After realising it was the Portuguese flags, the smiling and warm eyes were back, either joining us by shouting “Portocal, Portocal” and “Portó, Portó”, or just wondering if Gala had bought Postiga after all.

Wednesday 29 August 2007

İSTANBUL!!!! Mıssion Accomplished!

And we made ıt! We are ın wonderful Istanbul, our destınatıon, our destıny. The Deuch fulfilled hıs part of our deal: to take me exactly where I wanted to go. Now ıt ıs up to me to force ourselves back to where I wıll have to be. Love, TMA and Le Deuch P.S. - What a feelıng to shout out loud ''NE MUTLU TURKUM DIYENE'' whıle crossıng the Bosporus and later when huggıng Emın, wearıng my Galatasaray shırt ın the core of Fenerbache Quarter!

Day 20: Plan of the day

Today, crapy net place, so no picture.

We are finally heading to Istanbul. 340 km with quite some question marks along the way, starting with my legendary companion. I am quite curious to see how will he cope with the road today. Usually, after struggling, he always comes in great shape, as if he would be saving his face. Just like he attacks a plan road after a painful steep up: coming after all the cars who overtook us.

But the little one has over 5300 km since we left Porto. As always, he will be the one deciding our pace. No worries buddy, Emin can wait a bit longer for us. The second and more worrying question mark is the Turkish border. We are again trying to leave EU and this time to get stuck in the border like it happened to us in Ukraine will be much more than a little disappointment. The biggest potential problem is the same: the car is not under my name, but my father's. We have a proxy from him now, but not the original, only a print out. I know by my own experience how much customs officers like shining stamps on the documents, therefore my concern.

But hopefully next time I'll be writing to you it will already be from old Constantinople! Emin, you Turkish bastard, the Christians are back in town! Looking forward so, so much to meet you in spectacular Istanbul, my Muslim brother!!!

Hugs and Kisses,
TMA

Tuesday 28 August 2007

Day 19: Varna - Sozopol

Hello everyone:

I am already writing you from Sozopol, our destination for the day. We arrived about one hour ago, just the time to find ourselves a room to settle down and get ready to "attack" the town. We were expecting a quiet small town by the sea, but so far we are still looking for the first adjective. The streets are full of people from all ages and the bars you can find every two doors are promising a nice night out. No one is complaining, anyway.

We had about 190 km of nice road today, either with the sea as background or fighting with some tuff mountains. We had a calm journey in perspective, but reality proved to be otherwise. For the first time since we left Porto, I saw Le Deuch struggling to keep on going. Since Bucharest, the accelerator was constantly getting stuck, making Le Deuch in constant acceleration. So far nothing new: just a slight kick by my well trained right foot and the engine could rest again. But when we had about 1.30h on the road this afternoon, there was no miracle kick putting the engine to some rest. The accelerator was simply always on.

This happened when we were dealing with a considerably steep hilly road. Going up, no much of a problem, but things were different going down: we had to go always on 4th gear, to make the acceleration as light as possible and, obviously, over forcing the breaks in each turn. With the heat "joining the party", the need for a stop became inevitable, but only possible down the hill. Always at 10/20 km/h, and with the handbrake helping just in case, we had no trouble making it to the nearest village. To save the face of our hero, soon we came across an old truck struggling even more then him. We just had to follow behind, with the truck being the only one to blame for the long, long queu behind us.

Despite his age, Le Deuch has a remarkable regenerative capability. With our guest mechanical engineer overlooking the process, it took about half an hour for the breaks to cool down and be back on track. But the main problem needed an a genious touch of the Portuguese only skill of "desenrascanco" (how to translate this?! remember Mackgiver, always finding a way? let's say he could get a Portuguese passport based on that). For big problems in plain systems, plain solutions, that was the motto for Nuno. With a piece of rubber found on the ground, he managed to oil a piece in the engine's carburator and no more stucking accelerator! Just in case, we stopped at the nearest beach for a nice dive, giving my little one some extra rest.

Around 7pm there we were back on the road. Till Sozopol we finally had the quiet and calm driving we had in our plans.

Time to hit the town.
Kisses and Hugs,
TMA

Day 19: Plan of the Day


After a late wake up, we will be heading this afternoon to the Bulgarian south black sea cost, Sozopol to be more precise. We have ahead of us a little more then 180km, always along the cost line. Always something both me and Le Deush. Bet as well Nuno will be thrilled.

And we are getting closer and closer to Istanbul!!! Run Emin, run!!!

Monday 27 August 2007

From Varna, Bulgaria

Hello!

According to the plan, we are in Bulgaria, where we arrived late last night. Our choice was to come down the black sea cost till Istanbul, so where we are in Varna, biggest Bulgarian coastal city.

After an always funny communication challenge to find the hostel without having the map of the city, we were given the never nice news the hostel was fully booked. So, we were back on the "Hostel 2cheveaux", but this time 2. Surprisingly, and even after two nights spent at the impeccable Marriott beds, I slept like a baby, around 7 straight hours. Not even the heavy rain outside disturbed me. As for Nuno, he was indeed complaining he always has a hard time sleeping in cars. But he was about to finally understand Le Deuche is not just a car: the little one had to be woken up close to 11am. After all, the people of Varna had already enough of a show. You know, Le Deuch stands out a lot by himself. Now imagine parked in the centre of a mid sized town, with two guys sleeping like babies inside.

Varna is surprisingly nice. Not the most beautiful city I've ever been, but I must say I am impressed. I was expecting a city with little identity, shaped by the demands of tourism. No, not Varna. The city centre is neat, with a long and wide pedestrian area, filled with nice restaurants and always full of people. During lunch and dinner time, to find a place at an esplanade is quite a challenge, but one worth to face. For lunch we adventured ourselves on a local meal and were simply delighted! I personally can say I've found the Bulgarian translation of "Francesinha" (for those who don't know it, one of the two Porto's most traditional dishes and my personal favourite). The afternoon was spent at a nice bar by the beach, napping in between a dive in the ocean and a beer. Only a pity the weather, despite hot, is a bit muddy.

All this, as Nuno so well put it, being back on the "escudo" (Portuguese former currency). The local currency, the leva, is ruffly 0.50 cents (1E=1.96 leva). So, when reading prices, you take the "," out and you are back in Portugal before the currency change. Or even a bit earlier: a beer at a fancy bar by the beach costs 80 cents, adding that here they consider the 33cl ones bottles for sissy boys. So we are talking about half a litter. Our amazing meal, at a cool esplanade at the city centre was only 12,5, for both, including tip. But the best are, without any doubt, the people. Always very helpful and smiley, some of the warmest people we have come across so far.

But, and there is always a but, I feel we are not yet "set off" here. It has the makings, no doubt about that. But we are still missing "the event". Hardly a place by itself conquers you: almost always there has to be "the extra factor". Looking forward to come across it!

Kisses and Hugs,
TMA

P.S. - I apologise for a probable messy text, but I'm writing on the clock on a Bulgarian keyboard...

Sunday 26 August 2007

Quick Update before hiting the road again!

There we go again!

After a fantastic weeding party that lasted till 5 am and a great night/morning of sleep, we are ready to go on the lose again. Nuno is already with us and the only thing still to decide is...where to go. Either Sofia, either directly to the Bulgarian Black sea cost, leaving the capital for our way back from Istanbul. Most probably, we will follow the second option, but don't worry. We will keep you posted.

Love,
TMA and Le Deuch

P.S. - After a whole week of intense heat (yesterday afternoon we had 45º...), Bucharest is crying our departure with some heavy showers. Nice and cool for our drive.

Saturday 25 August 2007

Weeding day!!!

Hello everyone!

Indeed, finally the big day arrived: Iuli's (and of course as well George's) weeding! I am just arriving from the ceremony at the church, simply a magnificent "cultural dive": an orthodox ceremony, in which the similarities with the roman catholic church one ends on the outfit of Bride and Groom. Only the inner relatives and close, close friends are invited (what an honour for us!), which creates a much more intimate atmosphere, with the setting, an always cosy orthodox church room just setting the tone.

In the end, just a different ceremony to celebrate the exactly same pure will to share two lives. Most of you know me well enough to know I’m not exactly the one who has marriage as its tops priorities (I believe it won’t come in the right time, but simply with the right person), but I must confess one thing: it is a overwhelming feeling to see a dear one taking forward exactly the step he (in this case, she) wants. Congratulations Iuli! I don’t have any doubts that here I speak as well on behalf of Isa, Noel, Nico and Emin: you will only understand the honour it is to share this moment with your loved ones when you’ll be granted such an honour in one of our weedings (no one pressuring Nico lol).

Party time now, another substantial difference from the Portuguese ceremony: we had a close church ceremony early in the afternoon, then were granted a couple of hours to rest/dress up again and at 8 pm will have the dinner party. All happening at the JW Marriot Bucharest Grand Hotel, where (can you actually believe that?) the 5 of us were invited for 2 days by the marrying couple. I’m indeed writing you today with the sound of a wonderful piano as a background… But don’t get to used to it: tomorrow we are back on the road, heading to Bulgaria.

Ciao, ciao! Have half an hour to make myself smart and have the time of my life!!!

Love,
TMA

P.S. - according to the plan, Nuno will join us tomorrow, staying with us till the 6th of September. This equals saying till Pula, Croatia.

P.S. - To meet (and specially drive) Le Deuch again was HUGE! This morning we took both the Mondeo we drove all week and him to the car wash. It’s getting repetitive, but what can I say, it is only his natural charm working: everyone working there wanted to wash him, he was spoiled like to other car. Me, Nico and Emin had quite a time just watching it.

Thursday 23 August 2007

Day 9 till 14: Mission “Discover Romania”

After a first week with many km’s on us, Le Deuch will finally be granted some days of (well deserved) rest, while we join Isa, Nico and Noel (Isa’s boyfriend and mother) on a trip which will take us a bit all over Romania. Unfortunately, Emin, my Muslim brother, will only join us later on this week, as he got stuck in his office. Therefore, for the time being, the poor French will be left alone with me.

The plan we have ahead of us is quite a tuff one. We will depart from Bucharest Sunday early in the morning, heading to the northeast corner of Romania, to spend 1 day and a half at the Danube’s Delta. A natural park, world heritage by Unesco, where, just to give an example, 60% of whole European birds population is located. On the 21st we will start heading west, with our first destination being Piatra Neamt, crossing on the way the cities of Galati, Focsani and Bacau. On the following days we will hit the Romanian region of Moldava, with four highlights on hour schedule: the monasteries of Agapia, Neamt, Voronet and Humor. Thursday, the 23rd should be our toughest day in the whole week: early wake up in Gura Humorului, head north to visit the monasteries of Sucevita and Moldovita and then o south till Brasov (the first town I’ve ever visit in Romania, back in 2000 and from which I keep the best of the impressions). Here we will have a Romanian traditional dinner by 8pm, just before our last night away from Bucharest. On the 24th, on our way to the capital, we should stop at Bran (Dracula’s Castle) and Sinaia (Peles castle). 25th will be the day of the big event: Iuli and George’s weeding! Can hardly believe that only 3 years after Brussels the first one is taking the big step. Congratulations Iuli!
Having the whole week planned in advance is quite faraway from the spirit we have initiated our travel, specially adding that the programme was designed by a travel agency. But what droves to Romania was not the programme, but something that could make any programme the most appealing one: the company of my dear “Blue team”! Just hope Emin will be able to join us as soon as possible.

Kisses and hugs,
TMA

Day 8: Michalovce – Bucharest



My friends, what a ride! To be as faithful as words permit to the “real thing”, this post will have to be proportional to our journey, meaning especially long, even for my standards. To try to make it more “reader friendly”, I’ll structure it in 3 parts: Ukrainian border; Slovakia and Hungary and finally Romania.

Ukrainian Border
Our original plans didn’t include any detour through Ukraine. But neither did they include going as east in Slovakia as Michalovce. As soon as we realised Ukraine was just around the corner and, on the top of that, the shortest way to reach Bucharest was to cross its southwest, our eyes start immediately shinning with the perspective of adding a new country to our adventure. A faraway rather unknown country for Portuguese standards, to spice things up. So, even though strongly recommended to avoid it as much as we could, even though aware we would have to wait at least 3 hours at the border, even though having many doubts whether we fulfilled all the requirements to be granted clearance, we again didn’t really have a choice. At 4 am, 3 hours after arriving from our farewell party in Slovakia, there we were again on the road and still heading east.

It took us a little more then half an hour to arrive to the border. As for quick achievements, we were done for the day. The queue was not too big, but neither was the efficiency of the Ukrainian customs personal. It took us over 3 hours to finally reach the customs, with our problems far from being over. Despite the HUGE success Le Deuch made among the Ukranian customs personal (there were about 6 of them around it, asking me all king of questions, checking the whole car, everything, but…the things I was bringing along with me), we weren’t in the end granted permission to get in, as we were missing a proxy from my father, the registered car owner. But Le Deuch success was impressive: 3 customs officers actually recommended us to go back in Slovakia, find a notary, forge a proxy and then they themselves would let us pass. Hilarious, hum?


Slovakia and Hungary
Ukraine NIET!!! So, back on EU soil, but not before Le Deuch be granted again the possibility to “show off” a little more: back in the Slovakian border, even if in reality we never left the country, we again had 5 customs officials inspecting the car from top down, asking me permission (?!) to open every door, seat inside, open the capot and as well the trunk, but simply to see how big it was. Those were 5 smiling people!

At 8.30 am we were again rolling through the Slovakian countryside, heading to Hungary, where we would finally cross to Romanian (between the Hungarian city of Debrecen and the Romanian Oradea). As always, driving through the Slovakian and Hungarian countryside was amazing. I’m indeed running out of adjectives to qualify it. Astonishing views at any corner. In Slovakia, we have nature on its pure status, with hardly any sign of “human touch”. In other hand, at the more urban Hungary there is a constant concern with the preservation of its many idyllic natural treasurers, always making them easily accessible and providing all the needed facilities to make them much more then a simple amusement to your sight.

Romania
One wouldn’t need to get indication to realise the border between Hungary and Romania was crossed, as the differences from one side of the border and the other are notorious. As soon as you are in, you can immediately understand you are in a very special country, for the good and for the worse.

The whole picture changes. Grey dominates the landscape, the peoples faces become a harder and sadder, as a perfect metaphor of their past and still as well present hard life conditions, but still displaying a proud pair of eyes. But the look on the people is just one of the many scars from the communist Era still to be found in any corner. It’s, to say the least, impressive the quantity of old, massive, partially or completely destroyed building you come across. Factories, Chemical Plants, Mines, Dams… the skeletons of the old communist regime are everywhere, as if still preventing all the surrounding nature to grow greener. The quality of the roads as well decreases substantially: no highways to be found (only two very close to Bucharest), old pavements, maintenance works all over, falling bridges and crossing villages and cities centres every 15 minutes, filled with old (mostly) and new Dacias, the Romanian made car. The cities we crossed on the west part of the country (Oradea, Cluj Napoca, Sibiu, to list the main ones) as well didn’t add nothing too different to the picture. We weren’t able to visit the historical centre of any of them, but its global image is very similar: messy organisation, again high all alike residential apartment blocs, all old and colourless. Another impressive thing is the quantity of people walking on the side of the road hitch hiking, this at any hour of the day or night. Any hour really! This together with the fact that you are constantly crossing with horse carriages, even when travelling national roads.

The landscape only changes considerably after passing Sibiu. Some 15 Km ahead you face your first mountain landscape, with a beautiful course of water always welcoming you on the valley. Beautiful mountain road, we were only sorry to cross already with the night falling quickly.

After a long, long, long journey, we were finally in Bucharest around 2.30 am. But our day was not over before another little adventure: I still needed to find Iuli’s house, in this massive metropolis. The plan seemed simple: to get a cab to drive in front of me till the spot. Easy if not for the fact that speaking English to a cab driver in Bucharest makes his eyes turn into €. Not being up to be ripped off right at my arrival, we simply took it “our way”: asked around, till a man offered to hop in the car and takes to Iuli’s apartment. In exchange of a bottle of Bagaço, our problems were solved by 3:45 am!

As sum up of our first journey through Romania, and looking back from the days we have now spent here, one thing stands out: coming in from the west, one would hardly believe the treasurers this country has to offer. But we will get back to that the next time we will be again granted internet access.

Love,
TMA

Hello from Brasov

Hello everyone!

I am writing you from Brasov, a lovely town 130 km northern from Bucharest. Finally, Emin joined us this afternoon, clearly the highlight of a hard day whole spent on the road. Well, his arrival would be the highlight of even the most perfect of the days. So, Blue Team is at last all again the same country!!! No one besides the 4 of us can even grasp what a MASSIVE feeling this is!

I should apologise for the little action that has been going on around here lately. As you were told, we have been travelling through the Romanian countryside and even though staying at the best hotels in town, Internet access is still quite a luxurious thing to find… But a late night today will put us only one post behind: the one about our week in Romania. Will do my best to put it online as soon as possible.

Time to run and “squeeze” every single minute of Isa’s and Emin’s company, leaving you with the posts about our journey till Bucharest and the plan for our stay in Romania.

Love,
TMA

Tuesday 21 August 2007

Spot 3 – Michalovce and Lake …


As soon as you cross the border between Hungary and Slovakia, some differences stand out in front of your eyes, the first one being the quantity of skodas (old and new models) circulating on the streets. But there is more: the scars from the communist era become more present, you sense an economy still struggling to get back on track (with the low prices being its clearer indicator), but nonetheless you surprise yourself with a warm and smiley people, particularly for eastern Europe standards. One thing, though, remains exactly the same: the breathtaking natural landscape.

We have limited our visit to the countries west region, which remains rather rural. On our way in, we have passed along Kosice (west biggest city), haeading to Michalovce (2nd, after Kosice). Even though we were only able to properly visit the second one, the impression gotten from both cities was very similar: the first two eastern, communist type cities we crossed on our journey. The landscape is dominated by tall, all alike, rather old apartment blocks, a couple of greyish imposing skyscrapers and its streets displaying a typical cocktail of rural old citizens and a young urban, more western-like generation, with the ones around 40/50 bridging the gap between the first two. Surprisingly though, in none of them grey is the dominant colour, as one would at first expect. Despite almost all old, the buildings are rather colourful, again specially if one puts things in perspective.

One aspect that as well stands out is the emigration phenomenon: any family has at least someone who is or was an emigrant, sharing, in this particular s strong similitude with the Portuguese: they go abroad looking for better working conditions, but with the solid idea of returning to its homeland. One aspect that caught my curiosity is the attitude of the younger generations, here very apart from the Portuguese ones: all the younger people I met has already worked or works abroad, either just for a summer job (this being one of the most popular means to finance their travelling abroad), or for longer periods, often connected with studying abroad experiences.

Our day and a half in Slovakia were mostly spent at the countries most appealing part: the countryside. My two perfect hosts, Chabi and Peter, invited me to a wonderful cottage, located on a tiny village laying on the banks of the Lake ???. This artificial lake built in the 50’s, the biggest in the country, soon became one of the biggest summer attractions not only in Slovakia, but in the whole east, with its peak on the 70´s. Still today it remains very popular both to the older and younger generations, attracted by the quiet and relaxed days by the lake and the lively nightlife provided by the local pubs and discos.

Right after our arrival in Michalovce, we were driven to Peter’s family cottage, with a short pit stop by the lake for a nice beer (and 70% local plum liquor shot…). Once there, our hard way of life was back: hanging at the swimming pool, having a nice BBQ and drinking. Just the boys: Peter, Chabi, Jan (Peter best friend, as well known as Michalovce’s Justin TimbarlainJ ) and Me. Nice music, nice food, even better drinks and perfect mood. It didn’t take long to get us quite drunk. Beautiful thing: not even midnight and we were all ready to hit the pillow. Surprisingly for them, I’ve decided to delight myself with one of those little pleasures of life I so much cherish: to fall asleep under the stars, on a lovely net balancing gently on the trees. How nice! Just moved under the roof around 5, when I though the insects had had enough of a feast with their “Portuguese Bufet”.

Next morning we woke up at nine, feeling like we have slept till one. This is something we Mediterraneans will never be able to accomplish: party soon, sleep soon and fully enjoin your next day. But of course, the non-Mediterraneans will never grasp the pleasure of the “dolce fare niente” between the beach and a late night out, cheeling out over a drink and degusting a wonderful and long meal. Well, you can’t have it all, right?

After a quiet morning at the cottage, we met another Slovakian friend part of our “London party crew”, Vlado, for a traditional Slovakian meal. Here I highlight the delicious spicy tomato soup, only toped by the company. In the afternoon, I was taken in a tour around Michalovce, followed by another evening full of stress by the pool, again “sacrificing” ourselves into another BBQ. Following the local traditions, at 8/9 we were already hitting the pub for our warm up, followed by a great night out at a local disco. If any further proves would be needed, I was then able to confirm the information I was provided with by a Maltese friend of mine, very keen on numbers in fact:: according to EUROSTAT, 6 in each 5 Slovakian woman are indeed very, very attractive and sensual. At 1am we were in bed, not feeling like we have missed anything. Three hours later, Le Deuch and I were sadly saying goodbye to Peter and Jan (Chabi had already left), starting our crazy journey till Bucharest.

Guys, Thank you for the huge time! You were amazing! March plans to visit Porto have to come true and I only hope that by then I’ll manage to “pay back” on such an hospitable way!

From Piatra Neamt...not with a lot of love

Romania is quite a special country...

I do not want to turn this blog into a philosophical one, specially after my last post! But after such a fuss, I simply can't help it, so there it goes: expectations are, if not everything, quite a lot! Over a week we have been travel literally through wherever the wind was blowing, as fast as he as well was. Besides the gas and the tolls (the few times we granted ourselves that extravaganza), we were only paying for what we wanted, when we wanted and when what we wanted required payment. Conclusion: we had no further expectations then to be adventure ourselves in the unknown and by the end of the day, the feeling was always the same: we got much more then what we were giving back, specially financially. Little room for disappointment on that matter, so to say.

But not this week. Together with Isa, Nico and Noel (3 dear, dear friends and this king of company that makes any context an unforgettable and unique one), we are following a touristical program drawn by a local travel agency. Instead of cheap “to be” crapy youth hostels, we are staying in some of the top hotels in the cities we are crossing by. Thing is, all those “crapy places to be” provided free internet access, while here, in Peatra Neamt, after the pre-paid card you bought at the front desk does not work, they trust they will make you believe they run an Hotel which has no internet connection at all. At least the last two days we were in the Danube’s delta, a remote place where the excuse “we just had a storm” works quite well. To finally be able to give you some news tonight, I had to fight at my hotels frontdesk for about 40 minutes, simply not accepting no was their final answer, till they told me I could get internet from free at another hotel two blocks away…

I’m definitely not the “bitchy” tourist type. In fact, I hate to be played tourist on the first place. But there are some moments in which you simply had to much. Specially when you feel exactly the opposite form what I’ve earlier described: you are far from getting what you paid for… Disclaimer though is required: Romania is indeed a special country, but this "getting less then paying for" feeling is very centred on tonight’s experience. As we will have the chance to soon (so helps us the internet facilities in the hotels we will be staying at in the upcoming days) share with you, this is quite an impressive and definitely not to miss country, both for the good and for the bad.

Unlike it was our intension, it won’t still be tonight that we make our blog up to date. Even so, and besides these (once again) philosophical words, we leave you or post on lovely Slovakia.

Will get back to you very soon (hopefully),
TMA

P.S. – Uuaaaauuu. It was a huge pleasure to read the many and thorough comments made to my last post. Indeed an honour for us to deserve your company along our way. Thank you!

Sunday 19 August 2007

A personal note

18th of August, 05:22 am and here we are waiting the long, long queue at the border between Slovakia and Ukraine, respecting the old tradition of crossing any border at the sound of some top Portuguese “Pimba” music hits (Tony Carreira is “making the honours today). Perfect timing to take a first look back on our first week on the road!

And it’s not hard for me and my Deuch to reach a consensus on the outcome so far: AMAZING!!! Rimini was awesome, Balatonfoldvar sweet and Slovakia as crazy and funny as expected! Besides, the Deuch is simply being the Lord of any road throughout Europe, spreading its charm wherever we go. But, on top of that, a feeling of true happiness I didn’t remember experiencing for quite sometime now. A feeling which grew much bigger then the simple sum up of the events we went through over the past 7 days.

A quiet happiness, built over pure excitement! An intense and apparently contradictory feeling very easy to explain: right now, right at this moment, I am exactly where I want to be, doing exactly what I want to do. This alone is a massive privilege: how often can one say this? For the large majority of our days, we limit ourselves to keep on going, surviving through the day, adding or experiencing little or nothing truly new to our daily routine. Having the life life itself planned for us, but hardly ever the one we planed for ourselves. Well, unlike on the last 365 days (to say the least), if little young Tiago, from 10 or 15 years ago, would be given the chance to, at this moment, take a glance on what I’m doing, on who I am being, I’m sure he would be damm proud! Here I am being as Tiago as I can, in the end, just playing the role I was born to, even though I often forget it. Travelling the world, following my way, enjoying every single time (and they are a lot) people tell me how crazy I am. Open to a complete new world I am given the unique chance of experiencing “on the 1st person”, meeting some amazing people along the way, “walking my talking”, proving every single day one of the main vectors of my life’s Philosophy: “what comes around, goes around”.

But the privilege gets bigger: I’m doing all this, still staying is close touch with all those who are so dear to me, mostly through this meeting point. Speaking of dear ones, I’ll take the chance to say out loud something that, out of my character, I hardly do, even though it should be said at every opportunity: to my parents, a THANK YOU as big as the experience I am going through. Not only for always giving me everything I need and more, not only for having raised me the way they did, but mostly for allowing me to grow up as faithful as possible to myself, something I know is not always easy. Again, THANK YOU!

Battery is running our, unfortunately, the queue is not…Just one last note: life indeed can be easy, simple and beautiful. When we break away from our context, we realise that few real things holds us to what we often see as our inevitable life. To be truly happy, we always have to leave our “comfortable places”, these places being physical, psychological or emotional, even if only to challenge them and realise they are the places where we want to be. But in those “comfortable places”, even though far from true happiness, we are indeed even further from sadness. The choice is therefore very plain: do we want to fight for our happiness or are we ready to settle for avoiding sadness? At this moment, my choice is self-evident. But till when? If, as I wish, for long, will I then know when to stop? Will stay in touch to figure it out together!

Love, an happy one
TMA and Le Deuch

Le Deuch in Slovakia: Chabi's perspective


I still can not believe that Tiago is sitting with us. It was amazing when me and Peter we were waiting for him on the enter-road in Michalovce and we saw him in his amazing car and were not thinking that he would can alone….it was like wwwwwaaaaaaaaaawwwwww . This crazy man hasn´t changed in one year when we met him in London in march 2006. We had perfect night with him.We were drinking Fernet Citrus ‘cause he loves it and at 11 o´clock we jumped in the pool..naked..but don’t tell anybody..please..:). Next days we took him to the town centre and spend our time there and we went to the rollercoaster.We had great time.I always like this guy.He is amazing. I will never forget these days that I spend with him. I hope that next march we will visit him in Porto for one week and then we will join NCM in Lisabon.
I can just say: Thank you Tiago for coming here time and I hope that you have had good time with us ‘cause we have tried our best for you to join your days with us in Slovakia. Thanks for coming here.Take care on the rest of your journey and enjoy it. See you next year…:)

Chabi

Quick update from Bucuresti

Hi everyone!

Just a quick post to let you know we are already in Bucharest, after an endless day (and night) on the road. Drive in Romania is quite an experience, I can tell you. But I'll get back to this on my post about the most challenging and exciting day on the road so far.

Kisses and hugs,
TMA and Le Deuch

Friday 17 August 2007

Day 8: Plan of the day

Tomorrow we will be back to the road marathons. We will leave early in the morning, heading to Bucharest, where we should arrive already at night. Over 800 km through the countrysides of Slovakia, Ukraine (if visa is not required, something we are still checking) and Romania, coutry which will cross from west almost to the its far east. It will be a hard, but for sure as well amusing and beautiful drive!

Blue team, here we go!!!

Day 7: Balatonfodvar – Lake Sirava


Today’s plan would take us from Hungary to Slovakia, close to 480km of road. Not much to say, but to again praise the Deuch. Another outstanding performance! Always on a very steady pace and demanding little stopovers. Altogether we were 7 hours on the road, including a detour by Budapest, where we got a little bit lost. During all this time, only two stops to put some gas. As we both had the feeling our destination was just around the corner (well, what’s 480km for us now?), we just wanted to keep on going.

Again, we drove mostly through secondary roads, through first the Hungarian and later the Slovakian countryside, coming across some great sites and lovely little towns. The way you feel the places you are travelling through is so much stronger when you adventure yourself through the minor roads. And not like we are going to exceed 100km/h anyway.

KILOMETRES (Total): 3656km
KM SINCE LAST SPOT: 484km
GAS SPENT(Total):235,09l

Click here to know all the details of my Legendary Companion

Spot 2 – Balatonfoldvar

Spot 2 – Balatonfoldvar

Lovely, lovely village by the famous Balaton Lake. Once again, we were 2 privileged ones: besides the amazing company of our hoster Réka (a Hungarian friend who was living in Porto over the past year), we had a nice quiet house about 100 meters from the lake.

We have arrived quite late (around 4am) and absolutely exhausted. So, after a nice shower and light meal, I just literally “fainted” on the bed and slept the first 8 straight hours since Porto. How nice it was! Next morning, well, afternoon, I got fed up with myself. Couldn’t find anything in the car, a lot’s of things started missing… The riot was just getting worse and worse and one thing I’ve learned from my first trip: when on the road, the messier it is, the messier it will get! We needed a fresh start.

So, I took one hour to take everything out and rearrange it on a proper manner. The result? If possible (which is not), I was an even prouder 2cv owner. You should see it: everything fits, still lot’s of spare room, only the basic daily things outside the trunk and, the highlight, I’ve even manage to create my own private cellar on wheels, with all the qualities a proper cellar must have: bottle laying down, protected from any ray of light! This car… And by the way, the passport was in the car after all. So, we are only missing the lugage, which should be on its way.

With the Deuch finally sparkling, time to finally get to know the famous lake. After a nice 5 minutes walk along the peaceful village, at last the Balaton. Amazing! Lot’s and lot’s of people, but still the same peaceful and quiet environment, surrounded by a remarkable view over the hills on the north shore. The only downsize is that you have to walk miles to get some proper deepness. Details, details. After the Balaton experience, time for the local cusine: two delicious traditional dishes (one of them prepared by Réka itself after quite a struggle with the kitchenJ) to complete the day we were exactly in need of to recharge batteries. Niiice!

A huuuge thank you to Réka, the perfect host! Hope we will have the chance to meet again very soon!

Thursday 16 August 2007

Day 7 - Plan of the Day


Hi everyone!

We are off the calmness of the Balaton, heading a bit further north to Slovakia. We will cross Hungary till the country's northen border, heading to Michalovce, a village close to Kosice. Almost to 5oo km separate us from my London party crew. Get that citron ready, guys!

Day 5 – Rimini – Balatonfolvar



Finally, the real adventure started! We had a tuff day ahead of us: over 800 hundred km and (initially) 4 countries separating us from our destination, Balatonfoldvar. But before that, I had quite a tuff night out myself, so we only hit the road after 12.

The first part of our journey went by as smoothly as possible: nice inner close to the coast road between Rimini and Venice, not a lot of traffic (rather surprising, considering that would be the “ferragosto” night) and the Deuch keeping an extraordinary performance. We therefore made it till Trieste with only two stops: one to put gas and another one to rush out of the car and put the top back on as it started raining cats and dogs!

We made our first long pit stop at the last gas station before the Slovenian border. This way, while the Deuch had his more then deserved rest, I could delight myself with the only “gas station food” I’m actually looking forward to: “uno panino Icarus”: bread, smoked ham, Philadelphia cream cheese and ruccola. Nhamy, nhamy, nhamy!!! Soon, the Icarus, the coke and the “café fredo” were over and together with them, so were our quiet and relaxed mood. With the border just some kms away, it was time to contemplate the huge mess the Deuch’s interior had become over the past days and find my passport. It shouldn’t be that hard: it was on the pocket of my shorts, which would themselves be on my cloth bag. Easy if not for a little detail I only then, some 300 km’s away from Rimini, noticed: I had left the bag at the hostel… Major, major “Ups”!

Two possibilities: Mohamed would make a u turn and pick up the mountain, or the mountain would have to move its ass back to Mohamed, wherever he would be. As unlike Mohamed, the mountain wasn’t travelling on a tight budget and with many, many spots yet to be explored, not much of a choice. I called up Julien, who was still in Rimini and asked him to take the bag with him back home (Paris), later send it to Isa (Lyon), who would then take it along till Bucharest, where we will meet already on the 18th (I manage to treat my own luggage worse than the Portuguese national airline or Alitalia do…) . Till then, I would only have to keep my ass within EU territory and everything should be ok.

Should, but still wasn’t. Besides the missing cloth and passport, my ID was nowhere to be found. Only after an obviously failed attempt to cross the border only with my driving license, I dug again through “above mentioned mess”, found the ID and was able to keep my journey. Only with my ID, however, we couldn’t leave up to our original plan, as that would mean crossing the Croatian border. So, we were forced into a detour, which actually proved to be as challenging as exciting and fun. Instead of going through Zagreb, we went up north in Slovenia, passed by Maribor and then took an inner road till the Hungarian border close to Lenart. By this time we were driving through roads who were not significant enough to actually be shown in the Michelin’s “Atlante Stradale e Turistico”, so we had a huge time simply guiding us by the name of each village we were crossing. With the feeling that we were never on the right road, but, nevertheless, always moving in the right direction, we reached Hungary around 1 am. From there till Balatonfoldvar were another two delicious hours driving deserted national roads through the Hungarian countryside, under the most amazing sky. I must confess that at a certain time, while going through a long, long straight, I did not resist to kill the light for a couple of seconds and just look up through the open top of my Deuch. What a sight!

Around 3.30 am, we were finally at our destination, after quite a full day, hum? Once again, praise to my Deuch. Another top, top performance, all day (and night) long!

KILOMETRES (Total): 3172km
KM SINCE LAST SPOT: 821km
GAS SPENT(Total):192.76l

Click here to know all the details of my Legendary Companion

Spot 1 – Rimini


What a perfect choice to kick off our trip!

We arrived to our hostel exactly 48 hours after leaving home, at 09:20 pm. Being completely filthy after two days in the car under a burning sun, I jumped to the shower as soon as I was given my room keys. The only pleasure of not showering for such a long time is how amazingly a long shower then feels. Finally clean and wearing a new change of cloth, it only took me to have a light meal at the hostels esplanade to get me started. I’ve immediately met a cool bunch of Spanish guys from Madrid on a bachelors trip around Europe. Soon, we met Helene, Julian (both French) and Andrea (Italian) and in no time we were a big international crowd having the most interesting conversation, while having a huge time in the process. Of course, the night ended with me, Julien, Andrea, Helene and “El sin patillas e sus muchachos (lol guys, couldn’t resist it) heading to the seaside disco clubs, for a nice night out. Not before the already reported photo session with the whole gang fitting inside the Deuch! By the way Dad, that “Bagaço” of yours has already made some victims, me included.

The next morning we were literally “shouted out” of the bed around 11, with everyone still only trying to remain alive. Painful… But after a nice shower and a good pasta, I was again able to keep amazing myself with Rimini. What a spectacular atmosphere this city has. Together with Andrea, Helene and Julien, I spent the whole afternoon at the beach, the first ever in the Mediterranean coast to overwhelm me. Long sandy beach, impossible to get over crowded and very, very well organised and equipped. Beachvolley, tennis and futvolley nets all over, showers, changing rooms, sparkling toilettes, you name it. Whatever you may need to amuse yourself by the sea, it can be found. Only, though obvious downside is that you have to pay to get in (cost us 5 euros each for a umbrella and nice bed close to the water). But wait, it actually gets better: by 6.30 pm, the nearby bars invite you on a free all you can eat buffet of light pastas and risottos, as long as you buy something to drink. Free food, a concept any Portuguese can never believe in till actually seeing it with his/her own eyes. So, after the stressing beach session (should we play volley or football? Swim or lay in the water? Toast my back or my face?...too many decisions, I need holidays…lol), we walked along the pier to a perfectly located bar and seated down for a beer and some nice Italian food. Of course we ended up paying €5 for a pint, but here goes a scientific fact: no southern inhabitant complains with anything while being feed for free, specially on a “all you can eat” basis!

The highlight of the day was though yet to come: giving the two French their first ride ever on a Deuch. I had to actually see their passports to believe they were really French. I could hardly remember a funnier ride to the supermarket: top (and almost always at least one head as well) off, Carla Bruni and Bob Sinclair on the radio to make it a true French experience and leaving no one that crossed with us indifferent. While on the first times mood, Julien took the weal and I was finally given the opportunity to ride my Deuch seated on the top of my back seat, with my head to the light night breeze. Even the Carabinieri greeted us!

The day ended at Baia Imperiale night club, watching Boy George (former pop start, now a DJ) at what is considered to be one of the top 10 most beautiful night clubs in the world. Quite impressive, I must say, but not as impressive. Massive, with an awesome location on a hill by the bay, it somehow disappoints you by having all the dance floors indoors… A real pity. Not wanting to sound too Portuguese, Casa do Castelo, in the Algarve, is still the most beautiful night spot I’ve ever been to.

To sum it up in short, a place not to be missed. Lives up to the huge expectations one always brigs to a place with such a strong name and aura and still finds a away to surprise you by giving a whole new meaning to the "dolce fare niente" way of life. In Italy, I always feel myself one step closer to reality. In Rimini, I felt at least two.