Jordan - Amman

Camel in front of the Dead Sea

Finally the sun!! We arrived in Amman, the capital of Jordan, the 21^th of February and stayed there four days. What a change compared to the wintry Europe that we had just left! 

Our hostel was located downtown, a crowded area full of small shops and crazy drivers. Actually, crossing a street in Amman is a tricky experience!

We discovered that Jordan is quite a tourist country and can become expensive if one doesn't pay attention. Most of the shops and restaurants don't have prices. It is expected to bargain and/or ask for every price.

We met a lot of friendly people on the street, ready to offer their help when they see you lost. By the way, the rate of criminality in Amman is strikingly low!

It is very easy to lose your way in the city. The maps are not at all accurate and can be used only to give an idea of the area you are in. Don't expect to get your bearings in the city with only a map. We couldn’t manage to do so with three of them (all different one from the other, of course!). And if you are looking for a specific restaurant, be careful that its name is surely not written in Latin alphabet in the restaurant window but in arabic! 

View of Amman from the Citadel 

Statues of Ain Ghazal, the earliest statues ever done throughout human civilization, about 8.000 - 6.000 BC (Archeological Museum)

View of the roman theatre 

Fruits and vegetables market, dowtown, very very noisy!

Spice shop on king Talal street

Our favourite restaurant in Amman, Hashem restaurant in Al-Amin Mohammed street, serves only falafel with pita bread, tomatoes and onions salad, fuul (beans) and french fries. No menu, no price, every day the same things to eat! We loved it! :)

From Amman, we did one-day trips. We rented a taxi with two other travelers that we had met at our hostel.

The first trip led us to Ajlun, a Muslim stronghold from the 12^th century perched on a hill. Then we went to the amazing Jerash site (the roman Gerasa), a greek then roman provincial city with remains of the administrative, commercial, civic and religious buildings remarkably well preserved. The archeological site is part of the city center of Jerash. In fact, the modern city is built around this open-air museum.

Colonnade on the Roman oval forum, Gerasa 

South Theatre

During our second trip, we went to the lowest place on earth - the dead sea!! - known for its very high salinity and part of the border between Jordan and the Palestinian territory of Cisjordan. 

We passed in front of Bethany-beyond-the-Jordan, the place where Jesus is supposed to have been baptized by John. But the 15 euros fee to enter the actual site seemed a little too much!!

So we headed toward Mont Nebo and Moises memorial sight. According to the Bible, Moises died there just after having seen the promised land. At the moment, the top of the mont is in renovation. So the only thing to see is.. the landscape!

At about 10 kilometers of the Mont Nebo is located a small christian city, Madaba, famous for its mosaics. A walk tour in this city and its different museums and spots is very agreeable compared to the rushed life and traffic in Amman.  

Street in Madaba

 

Mosaic in Virgin Mary Church, Madaba

Cooperative near Madaba

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Party at the Abbasi Palace Hostel, Amman..

A little less fun, trying to dry my socks!!

Bulgaria - Sofia

 View from Narodno Sadranie square, in Sofia

 Alexander Nevski Cathedral (in the middle) and National Assembly (on the right)

We didn't know that much about Bulgaria (only the yogurts) when we arrived in Sofia, its capital. And we found nothing really noticeable during our first tour in the grey and under renovation city centre. We heard then about a free Sofia tour organized every day by a local NGO at 6pm (http://www.freesofiatour.com) and we didn't regret to do it. Sometimes one just needs a different perspective! ;)

So we discovered more about the Bulgarian History: Slavonic and Bulgarian origins of the country, the creation of the Cyrillic alphabet, five centuries of Ottoman domination, the liberation, the communist period and so on!!! 


The city conserves buildings from its different historical periods and reveals strange similarities between those periods. For example, the Ottomans as well as the communist regime at different level tried to minimize the orthodox religion of the country. The Ottomans converted many churches into mosques while the communists tried to remove churches from eyesight by surrounding them with high buildings. One example of this tendency is located in the courtyard of the presidency building where you can find a beautiful ancient church, Sofia’s oldest preserved building from the roman 4th century. Five different layer of painting are known and visible on the internal walls of this chuch:

 St.George Rotunda

Without any notice board outside, we too quickly passed in front of this building: 

 and didn't notice that the door on the left leads to an underground chapel on three levels. No walls of this church can be seen from the street. And the door on the right marks the entrance of a bank built above the church during the communist time!

Chapel of Sveta Petka Paraskeva 

Since the Ottoman domination, Bulgarians are said to be a very tolerant people towards religions. More than 80% of the population are Bulgarian Ortodox. Islam (12%) is the second most reprensented religion.

From Banski square, you can see four different religious buildings: Sofia synagogue, St. Yosif Catholic chuch, St. Nedelya orthodox church and Banya Bashi mosque!! 
Two other religious buildings of interest:

Alexander Nevski Cathedral

Sveti Nikolay Chudotvorets Russian Church

The first of March, Bulgarians offer red and white bracelets or little dolls - called Martenitsa - to their friends, acquaintances and also strangers in the street! They are supposed to wear the bracelet until they see a budding tree or a stork... A way to ensure that spring arrives fastly and that no freeze troubles agriculture.

Every square and metro station in Sofia is already filled with small stalls where those red and white bracelets are sold. 

 Pizho and Penda, the dolls!

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Our tour in Europe stops here and so does our couchsurfing period! So far we have surfed on ten different couches: we were hosted by people we did not know and found on the Internet. Some really nice encounters!! We were amazed by the generosity of the people who let us crash on their couches. And it was really nice to discover the countries through the eyes of some of their inhabitants.

The last three weeks seemed more like some InterRail holidays. Apart from Italy and Romania, we stayed only three days in each country we visited. From now on, we hope to take a different rythm and we will actually spend more time in each single country. Maybe the continent change will help to this rythm change! ;))

The first flight we take during our one year trip is from Sofia to Amman. For us it seperates the holidays from the adventure! Our first time in the Middle East and even in Asia!! A great premier...

Romania - Cluj-Napoca/Brasov/Bucharest

We started our stay in Romania with the visit of two small towns in Transylvania, the central region of the country, that was once part of the Hungarian empire.

Cluj-Napoca, the capital of Transylvania, was our first stop, a university city with charming coloured buildings. Unfortunately, winter time is not the best period to visit this city. Snow is still present in February and a lot of touristic sights are closed or in renovation.

Piata Unirii

In Cluj, the two main squares, separated by 500 meters, host the two main religious buildings: a Romano-Catholic church and an Orthodox cathedral.

Matthias Corvine Statue in front of the Romano-Catholic church

Orthodox cathedral

In front of the Orthodox cathedral, the National Theater and Romanian Opera in a funny baroque-rococo style:

In case you ever wonder what the Ile-de-France region do with the old Roissy buses..

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Then we went to Brasov, the most important city near THE renowned castle: DRACULA’S CASTLE!!;))

Mmh.. in fact, Bran’s castle only may have inspired the Irish author of Dracula. It seems that Bram Stoker have never actually been to Romania but collected many information about Romanian local folk and History. One historical character of relevance is probably a major source of inspiration for Dracula: the Prince of Wallachia, a bloody and punitive tyrant, most known as Vlad “Tepes” (Impaler). He inherited his other nickname, Vlad “Dracula” (meaning “the devil’s son in Slavonian), from his father. But this historical character only stayed a few days at Bran’s castle..

Vlad the Impaler

Anyway, this castle is impressive by its localization, built on a rock. Constructed in the 12th century, the castle have known a lot of successive renovations which have given him a unique cachet. The present interior has been designed for Queen Mary of Romania who lived there for much of the early 20th century. Today it still belongs to some of her grandchildren.

Bran's Castle

Interior courtyard

But the city of Brasov itself deserves the detour:

 View of Brasov from Aleea Tiberiu Brediceanu

Street Apollonia Hirscher

Piata Sfatului

Trying the papanash (Roumanian pastry)!

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Our last stop in Romania, the capital, Bucharest! According to everybody we met in Romania before going to Bucharest, this city would have disappointed us. It is true that with his wild traffic and countless stray dogs Bucharest is not the most welcoming city. However, Bucharest deserves to be discovered.

Piata Victoriei

People's House (Casa Poporului) is the fruit of Nicolae Ceauşescu’s megalomania. Also called “Palace of the Parliament”, this building is said to be the second biggest in the world after the Pentagon. 21 floors (14 floors above the street level and 7 under), 1.100 rooms, etc. Over one million people have participated to its construction started in 1983. And in fact the result is extremely impressive:

View of Boulevard Unirii from the Parliament's balcony

We had lunch in a very special place, a brasserie that looks very chic but is really cheap! ;)

Caru' cu Bere

Hungary - Budapest

We took a train from Zagreb to Budapest. Funny thing: buying a round trip ticket is 20 euros less expensive than a one way ticket!! Thank you travel forums!

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On the Beautiful Blue Danube!! ;)

Budapest ! The view of the Danube is magnificent: on the hill on the left, the Buda castle; on Pest side, the Parliament’s dome and linking them, the Chain bridge.

We did in fact take this beautiful picture ourselves!! ;)

Next to Buda Castle you can find an amazing district that takes you some centuries back. We liked the strange Fisherman’s Bastion, a fortified area where a fish market was held.

Good to know: there are free guided tours of the parliament every day in various languages. Just book it on the Internet (better to have a Hungarian friend! ;) This parliament is inspired by the british Westminster palace for its external structure but the interior brings out the talents of Hungarian craft industries and local construction materials.

View of the Parliament

Parliament's main entrance

Cigar holders in the Parliament!!

The Central market (Nagyvasarcsarnok):

Medicinal baths are reputed in Budapest. Hey the Ottoman empire sprawled all the way to this region!! Szent Lukacs’ Medicinal baths is one of the most important bath complexes in Europe and famous for its outdoor baths. The baths at 38 °.. so relaxing!! :)

Après l'effort.. Enjoying the traditional pastry Kürtöskalacs