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.

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

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!!!

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...

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.

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.

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

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!

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

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!

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.

Day 5: Plan of the Day

Off we go again! After a marvellous first stop in Rimini, we are back on the road, this time aiming at the Balaton Lake, Hungary. This is always the hardest part: to leave a place where we were having a huge time, with amazing people, change this cosy feeling for a jump in the unknown, to start it allover again in a new place. Hard indeed, but what makes it so special. There is always something new, something great to be found, somewhere along the way!

The plan for today: leave Italy by its northeast, cross Slovenia, Croatia and almost the whole Hungary. To be truth, we don't really know if we will make it all today, but we were promised a nice house by the lake and a home made meal upon arrival (besides the good company, as well), so, we are definitely trying our best!

See you in Hungary,
TMA

RIMINIIIIII

The guide to a good time in Rimini:

Step 1: Meet a Portuguese guy with a citroen 2CV

Step 2: Get drunk with the Portuguese guy and take a picture with him in the 2CV

Step 3: Get brutaly kicked out your room at 12pm, go to the beach and play volleyball

Step 4: Buy a beer and eat a free buffet

Step 5: Go to one of the top ten most beautifull clubs in the world and watch a transexual heroine addict dj'ing.

We are the happy people and we love the 2CV and thank you for the ride. amazing car!

Andrea, Julien, Helen

P.S. by the french: "je suis à basles! Go to Rimini!!!
Julien the french

Day 1, 2 and 3: Porto – Rimini

The first stage of our journey took us from our home town directly to Rimini, over 2300 km away. Quite a challenge to test the current condition of the true hero this adventure, which started at 20.40 pm, GMT.

I must say the first ours weren’t too promising. Unlike two years ago, the “deuch” failed the first real challenge of our journey: the ups of Marão. Always second gear, 40 km/h… rather painful and, above all, scary. Even afterwards, on flat ground, he could hardly go above 75-80 km/h. Any slight elevation, we would be back on 50-60km/h. Nevertheless, we made it till Spain, crossing the border at the sound of Marco Paulo, already a classic.

On the same pace, we made it till Zamora, where we had our first stop. While my companion was cooling down with bonnet up, I took one “bocadillo” and a coke. Half an our later, we were back on the road with the deuch gave his first signs of life. Till 5 am we kept on going on the fine average of 75km/h.

We made it till Peñafiel, somewhere between Valladolid and Sória, where we stopped and had some 4 hours of sleep. At 10 am we were back on the road and, for my disappointment, as well back on our earlier slow pace. We took almost the whole day cruising the deserted northwest part of Spain, getting hours behind schedule. By sunset we reached the highlight of the day: the Spanish Pyrenees. Breathtaking! After 24 hours under a burning sun, with a burning engine, I can’t put it in words how good it felt to have a bath on the cold water of the mountain river. As well, the mountain roads made the wild spirit of the “Deuch” alive, him having a flawless performance. But the his star didn’t shine for long: apparently, to enter his “home” France didn’t leave him too excited. The French Pyrenees were again a painful experience: dark, dark night, typical French mountain road, going up and down the hill to connect every single little village, with the deuch having a slow engine going up and loose breaks going down. As result, we got back to 40km/h average…

Out plan of making it till Rimini in 2 days seemed ruined for good and our hostel booking wasterd. But like always, the “Deuch” was still to shout out loud the last word. The plan was to remain on national roads and avoid tolls. But between the border and the Perpingnan he was given the chance to ride a two lanes road and I can only say something: he took the best out of it. Great pace, 80-90 km/h, again till 5 am, witch took us close till the “côte d’azur”. We were back on track! Over 1000 km in the second day, making our Sunday a smooth drive till our first destination: Rimini. About it, you will hear it from my Rimini Buddies: Helene, Julien and Andrea.

Ciao bambini, habiamo un belissima sera a Baia Imperiale. DJ Boy George in the mix!!!

KILOMETRES (Total):	2351km
KM SINCE LAST SPOT:	2351km
GAS SPENT(Total):	143.49l

Click here to know all the details of my Legendary Companion

Da Rimini

Hi Everyone!

Just a quick post from Rimini, to let you know I'm already in Italy and the first stage of our journey went according to the plan: two long, long days on the road, arrival to Rimini, great night out with really the coolest crowd of Spanish, Italians and French, hangover in the morning and now a beach session will follow!

Not wasting any other ray of sunshine! Will get back to you when the shinning God goes down and the happy hour here at the hostel starts!

Kisses and hugs,
TMA and the "Deush"

P.S. - The car is alive and kicking some asses!

Day 1, 2 and 3: Porto - Rimini

Off we go!


With a delay of 2 hours, my legendary companion and I are ready to set sail. Our first destination will be Rimini, Italy, where we plan to arrive by Sunday evening. But before we will have to face what is expected to be the most painful part of the whole journey: cross Spain and France.

After checking the possible routes, we decided to avoid the tools till Italy. In Spain the choice seems logical, as the roads we will be travelling through will be motorways without tolls. But in France the scenario doesn't look so bright, so we will make it at try and see. As we will cross the French border already by the Mediterranean coast, it might be doable.

Time to leave. Some 2350 km and two sweet night at my 2cv separate us from Rimini.

CU all in Italy,
TMA and the "Deush"

Here we go again! Two years have passed since our first journey,(http://2cvtouringeurope.blogspot.com/). Two years, too much time! Iuli's weeding (a dear Romanian friend with whom I’ve lived in Brussels) made us start thinking. No “u turn”. The snowball was on motion on its way down the mountain and we knew it could only stop rolling in Istanbul. So, finally the transportation company from Porto till the former Constantinople Emin and I idealised back in 2004 is finally going on business!

The ingredients didn’t change much over these last two years. The law student became a trainee at a law firm, the “2 cheveaux” recovered from a crash that threatened both our lives keeping the same will for the road, the time frame is again about a month and the adventurous (some would say mad) spirit remains untouched. But this time we will head eastern. The plan is, as always, merely indicative. We do know we will be in Bucharest on the 18th of August, will leave the capital of Romania on the 26th and on the 30th of August we’ll be at the Alli Sami, with Emin, my Turkish brother by my side, to finally watch live my second favorite team: Galatasaray! As for the rest, we still have to negotiate it with the road.

Till Romania, we plan to stop in Rimini for 1 or 2 nights (can never resist Italy), then the Balaton lake (Hungary) for 1 night and finally Kosice (Slovakia). Here I was promised by a bunch of absolutely crazy natives to be shown some of the most precious national “monuments”, isn’t that so guys?

Romania will for sure be the highlight of our journey. Not only for the country, but mostly for the people, “my people”! Blue Team, the great 4 from the Boulevard Général Jacques, 239, Ixelles part on another mission: Operation Bride in Pink! Isa, Emin and I, together with Nico and Noel, will be spending a week traveling through Romania, before the Iuli and George’s weeding on the 25th. I guess no one but the 4 of us (Isa, Iuli, Emin and I) can understand the connection, the intimacy, the complicity we share. Believe me, we will take profit from it and enjoy every single minute of each others precious company! Can’t wait to meet you all again!!!!!!

After crying a river saying goodbye to “my second family”, we’ll start heading to our furthest destination: the unique city of Istanbul! Nuno, a friend from Lisbon, should join us in Bucharest on the 26th and remain with us till the 5th of September. With him along, we should cross the Romanian and Bulgarian black sea cost, loose ourselves in Istanbul, seduced by its unique and irresistible charm, visit Sofia and cross the Balkans till Pula (Croatia). There Nuno will take off and possibly (and hopefully) Cesar, dear, dear friend and companion of some other crazy adventures, will join us on for the last part of our journey, driving back to Porto following the wind’s blow. Only two spots which can not be missed: Osijek (Croatia) and Trieste. The first will be a visit to an amazing and as well mad group of people we met one year ago in Dubrovnik (a visit with a delay of one year) and the second to fully appreciate one the most surprisingly beautiful cities in Italy.

Well, it’s quite a plan, hey? I hope I’ll have the chance to meet many of you along the way. If you know me around, please, let me know. Besides the good company, I can always use a nice warm meal lol. For those I won’t have the chance to meet, I hope you keep me company through this webpage. I’ll be more than glad to get your comments on my posts. I’ll make my best to find internet corners along the way and keep you updated on our journey.

Cheers,
TMA and the “deusch”

The Legendary Companion

Model : Citroen 2 Cheveaux 6 Club, convertible.
CC : 602, two cylinders
Speeds : 4
Weight : 895 Kilograms
Colour : White
Plaque : SJ-99-72
Construction Year : 1989

Under Construction!

The adventure on the road is starting tomorrow, so should the posts. Keep yourself tunned up!!!