Kiev - Sevastopol - Istanbul

Ok, where to start...

Well, first off, I missed the 1655 to Kiev, as I strangely assumed it would be at the same time the following day, instead it surprised me by being 10 minutes earlier.

It wasn't so bad though, but this is the second time I've missed a train in Warsaw, must be something to do with the streets being longer than you expect, from looking at a map. In the end I was glad to have a train going from very early in the morning the next day (only had to pay the reservation again) as there would have been little sleep anyway.

Which brings me onto the border crossing. 

The passport and Immigration checks, which I have to admit were a little unnerving took the best part of 2 hours. Perhaps it was that I didn't have a return address to give them for my departure from the Ukraine, or the fact that a guy in full military get-up would throw a glance in my room every few minutes. Maybe it was just being the sole English-speaker in the whole train that did it. Either way, I'm sure you get used to it. 

After you were stripped of your passport and the Arrival and Departure Immigration card, the train then went into a huge shed where the train's wheels were replaced from the standard European (4' 8½") gauge to Russian 5' gauge. This was a system implimented to cripple the movement of the Nazis, and hasn't been updated since. Still, it was quite cool being lifted inside the train, maybe a meter or so into the air, while a team of engineers changed the wheels. You understand now, why I was glad that I wasn't fighting to get some sleep while all this was all going on!

So, Kiev then.

When I arrived here, I was faced with lots of grey, beat up Ladas, Babushkas selling fruit and other foods on the corners and even more of the military. This is when it dawned on me that I should've taken the time to learn even a little bit of Cyrillic. In the end, after a lot of running around trying to find anyone who spoke English (and failing) I hesitantly made use of a taxi after a couldn't get a response to "Metro?". 

If you ever get to Kiev, you'll understand when I say it looks better at night. During the day you'll notice the horizons are all dominated with grey apartment blocks, and a very strong Russian influence (as you'd imagine). One thing that did disappoint me though, was how Western the place felt once I'd started to explore outside the doors of my hostel, after my first full night's sleep. There were McDonald's, Starbucks and lots of the other global giants. Funny then, that the only place where you could rely on someone being able to speak a few words of English were restaurants and cafes.

I suppose I was just hoping to find myself in a place with very few similarities at all with home. Maybe I'd have to go into the deepest parts of Russia to get away from all that.

I spent 3 days in Kiev, probably too much as by the end of the second day I felt like I'd seen most of the main sights. There were a good few churches dotted around, some topped with gold domes which looked all the better when the sun shone on them. On the 3rd day, as I was hanging around with a dude from Atlanta who spoke a little Russian, I went along to the Lavra monastery. 

This was all well and good on the surface - some impressive structures and a good view of the surrounding areas. The main attraction though, for me at least, were the catacombs, where you could look at loads of mummified monks. You had to go down with a special candle and the women had to cover their heads. It was quite an intense, almost claustrophobic experience and I felt out of place at times as people were crossing themselves above each monk, when I was just comparing which box of wrapped up bones was the largest. 

We also went to the nearby Museum of the Great Patriotic War, where the Mother Motherland monument dominated the skyline. Sounds a little dull, even to myself, but then Kiev didn't seem to have a mass of things to do. Probably, if I'd have had the same insider knowledge as in Warsaw, I'd have more interesting things to talk about.

From Kiev it was another overnighter train to Sevastopol, the Southern-most part of Ukraine, closed to the public as recently as 1996. This, aswell as being considerably warmer, was more interesting, but the language barriers still remained.

I went to the famous ex-submarine base in Balaklava (yeah, that knitted garment of the same name was first used here), witnessed open-air karaoke and got confused at how quickly it went from dusk to absolute pitch-black at 8 o'clock sharp. 

The submarine base could've been something straight out of James Bond. It was concealed within a mountain and submarines, submerged, would enter, completely undetected from the outside. There were also some amazing views of the port from atop the nearby hill, with the port on one side and the Black Sea on the other. 

As for the karaoke, I don't think I'll be forgetting that any time soon. Something about a woman with a greasy mullet singing Tatu songs in Ukrainian that tends to stick. Cheap beer definitely made it even pass as entertainment. 

After a two-day ferry from Sevastopol (handy having someone Ukraine book tickets for you. Was impossible to get anything more recent than 7 years ago on the Internet in the way of information) I am now in Istanbul. The ferry wasn't bad at all. Meals were included and there were at least some English-speakers to keep me company. 

I'm only going to be here for tonight, heading to Greece tomorrow with any luck on yet another overnight train, spending a week island hopping, then looking toward a solid month in and around Turkey. 

Prague - Gdansk - Warsaw

The Prague to Gdansk journey wasn't so bad.

Sometimes there'd have be a compromise made on the Polish trains, however - open the window to avoid being poached in your own sweat, or close it and be able to hear yourself think. I don't think Polish trains are the most up to date in the world, but then, they are incredibly cheap. They have the charm of a knackered old shed on wheels.

Onto Gdansk then..

Well, being brutally honest, I'm unsure if it was worth the 15 hour journey, but the Old Town was good to go around. After that, though, there was little else. I took a look at some of the places in The Tin Drum and that definitely added to the experience. I had a hearty meal of pork neck, boiled potatoes, and a salad for something approaching 4€ (with beer) in the covered market and just leisurely walked around without stress, taking a picture or two. 

The 'Lucky-Hostel' I stayed in was ok. I'm never overly keen on these places where you're staying in the cellar of a real, family home, but it wasn't as bad as it could've been. It was quite funny being shown to your bed by the owner's son, who can't have been much more than 15. 

Also, the hostel was located miles away from anywhere, so unless you wanted more kebab as an evening meal, there was only the petrol station nearby. If, like me, you forget to buy food from the supermarket when it's actually open, sometimes you have to make do with a large bag of crisps until morning.

So, after a bit of thinking, I'd settled on heading to Kiev in the Ukraine. The general plan was to get an overnight train from Gdansk to Warsaw, then get a second night train direct to Kiev. In reality two night-trains in a row would've been too much, so I reconsidered and decided to spend a night in Warsaw.

That was until I bumped into a cool character called Graham on the platform to Warsaw. I was glad of the company on the train. It turned out to be one of the most uncomfortable train rides so far - 5 hours... stood up, with barely enough room to turn around, let alone swing some felines.

Hanging around with Graham, I've been in Warsaw since Friday, and I'm really glad I did. Because the 1655 to Kiev was full by the time I wanted to buy a ticket, I got to know a small portion of the 'real' Warsaw. Now my opinion of this city is much greater, it has many hidden gems that you'd never get a sniff of if you didn't have the local, insider knowledge. This, Graham had, because he knew a few people around the city.

We met up with some of his friends in the centre on the Friday, who all turned out to be really cool too. But, the really cool places were discovered when the group dwindled down. It's a shame they couldn't all come along, but some had to attend a wedding the next day.

We went round a few corners, which, unless you're really paying attention (or have some kind of GPS) you'd take forever to be able to retrace, and ended up at this surreal set of bars. It's difficult to describe how cool these tiny rooms were, but basically there were rows of seemingly lifeless doors and barred up windows. The place had no signs, and there were no names to any of the bars, but after opening one of said doors, it all started to become clear.

Behind each of the doors was a dark room (most had a downstairs aswell) decorated in its own unique style. One had a room full of vintage chairs, some leopard print, some leather, some wicker, some you'd maybe find in a skip. There was one with walls overloaded with mirrors, another with varieties of 1950's wallpaper, complete with some wireless radios and classic lamps, like a living room straight from that era. Another one had dildoes for door handles and a giant paper mache penis on the ceiling.

I couldn't have guessed there'd be somewhere like this, but I'm so glad it was shown to me. A good part of it was that there was pretty much no other tourists in this place, as with Warsaw itself (most apparently flock to Krakov). Here you won't find the massive tour groups, bus trips around the sights, or swarms photographing the same square inch. It's as if it's a city undiscovered or overlooked.

So anyway, after plenty of interesting little finds, including a tiny vegetarian restaurant, and free music bars in the Palace of Culture (apparently nothing at all to do with Lenin, as said in my previous post on Warsaw) and coming to understand how great Warsaw is when you look past the surface, I have my ticket to Kiev.

It's at 16:55 later on, so I'm going to kill a few hours and prepare for a very bumpy ride. I'll make a new post before too long, including a mention of the things you have to endure on the border of Poland / Ukraine.