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AUGUST 1999 - PART 2

First we wanted to carry on to Pamukkale and Efes but the railways were damaged and coaches were bloody expensive so we decided to stay in Istanbul. We saw the Blue Mosque, Haigha Sofia, Topkapi Palace, Galata Tower, Grand Bazaar, Taxim, Asian part of Istanbul, had a cruise on the Bosphorus, ...

The girls (as they talked to each other in French) were caught by a Turk who was born in France so they invited us to their shop. If you don't want to buy anything there just tell them you don't have money or that you're a student otherwise they won't stop persuading you to buy a carpet. They were nice, made us cups of tea and coffee, took us to a typical Turkish pub with Turkish music, food and raki. The point is they did it because they wanted the girls. So we didn't meet them again. The last night I joined some Croatian girls went with them to Taxim which is a quarter with loads of night clubs and pubs. We went to a night club with live music and had lots of fun. 

The following day we left for Athens. Of course we got stuck in Pythion but met there a group of Turks we became friends with. Because they couldn't get to Istanbul the same day they decided to go with us to Thessaloniki.

Anyway, we got to Athens and were really disgusted by it. Just Acropolis and some places around Acropolis were worth seeing and decent. The rest of Athens was so polluted and we were really puzzled. Fortunately, we didn't have to stay the night there and left in the evening. As we arrived to Patras during night we slept in the port. In the morning we started to look for a shower and a beach. The shower was discovered in a hostel about a kilometre from the port but there was no beach. We walked like 6 km but no beach with shower. So, we had a swim in a bay with rather clear water.

On the ferry I met an American guy who I got to talk with as I got a bit cross with the girls and didn't want their company. After we landed in Brindisi we separated our ways and I left for Conegliano to visit my friend Cristina. I spent 2 fabulous days with her and her sister. I really needed something like that. No trains, normal bed, Italian cuisine, beautiful girls, ... ;.) I felt like in heaven.

Then I went to Venice to meet Michal who was with the girls in Roma in the meantime. We tried to find a coach from the Czech Republic in the car park but all the coaches unfortunately had left or went the opposite way. So, we went to Maribor by train and then we were ready for hitch-hiking as our tickets weren't valid for Austria. But we didn't feel like hitch-hiking so we tried a trick on the conductor. We told him that the tickets were bought in France by our French friends and they told you we could get home from the zone the tickets are valid as quickly as we can for free. He said: "OK, then" and we got to Vienna and actually even to Brno for free. We took a short break in Vienna just to see something and then waited in Prater for our train to the Czech Republic. 

The same day we got off in Zajeci and visited our schoolmates from England. And our trip actually finished.

I returned to Turkey once more a year later as a interpretor for a Czech company. You can find the story here.

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