Hitch-hiking Back to Balkans. Day Three. Bits of Czech Republic.

Ostrava, Czech Republic 2011

The morning starts just right after 6 AM. We’re having the last coffee together this summer. I have no doubt there will be more, as Europe appears more and more to be an extremely small village, where everything and everyone is connected. Agnieszka makes me sandwiches for the long way, as with hitch-hiking you never know where and when you’ll exactly end your day, as she says, though my destination is clear for today - Ostrava, where Adam is expecting me, so we can continue our journey to Balkans together tomorrow.

We take a tram from Agnieszka’s place (she actually lives quite close to the Old town - at least you can see Wawel Castle on the other side of the bridge, when you come out on the busy street) and get off at the main bus station. We go to the platforms, looking for my bus, or actually the bus, which I’m not taking to Katowice. We wait for the passengers to come, as it’s almost the departure time. We don’t know yet, if our idea of selling the ticket on the bus will work - as everyone appears to have a previously purchased ticket. But we’re lucky - just 1,5 minutes before the bus should leave appears a guy, who is in a complete rush, trying to manage to get on the bus, so that it’s not leaving without him. Agnieszka asks the guy in Polish, whether he needs a bus ticket to Katowice and luckily he really does! He gives Agnieszka 10 Polish Zlots in cash and he’s gone with the wind and the bus. We’re happy to have some benefit out of this morning’s bargain activity, and moreover Agnieszka admits that it was her first time selling the ticket on the bus. Yeah, there always comes the first time for something.

Hitch-hiking Back to Balkans. Day Two. Krakow.

Familiar places with Familiar Faces in Krakow: Agnieszka and Tomas!

Krakow's pride: Medieval Wawel Castle

It’s 7:15 AM and feels a bit weird to be such an early guest, and I am a bit disappointed that I found the house with number 70 so fast and easy. That means I’ll have to wake her up and the whole house too! I sit on a pedestrian sidewalk in front of the house and pay a long observing stare to the house. It's a relatively huge two-storey building that has been build in pre-Soviet era and has survived till this day. It looks pretty unique in this urbanized blockhouse paradise (i.e. neighborhood) built already in Soviet times. Meanwhile I text Agnieszka without a hope that she'll reply immediately, since she's a night-bird like me and this part of the day doesn't really exist for her. To my amazement, she comes out of this beautiful two-storey pre-Soviet building in less that 5 minutes. 

Hitch-hiking Back to Balkans. Day One. Bye Riga!

Hungary, 6 km away from Serbian border

Here I've gathered bit some pieces from my journey to Serbia at the end of June 2011. Although my final destination was Serbia, beside exploring the road stories and people I met on the way in Lithuania, Poland, Hungary and Serbia itself, I also managed to go a bit further to Macedonia, which was my EVS (European Voluntary Service) country in 2009/2010. Each blog post on this journey (with a label Back to Balkans 2011) presents one day on the road and all the details I've managed to grasp on the way in form of people I've met, thoughts I had and sometimes silly experiences that I got myself into. The journey started in my home country Latvia on 23rd June 2011.

Road Trippin' in Serbia

© Marta Podniece 'Morning in Belgrade'

The morning starts early. While other bohemians like me are sleeping I'm already leaving this inspiring place located somewhere near the city center of Belgrade, wishing them to have a great time and encouraging to meeting again in the future. Yeah, you know - this White City is something truly mine! I've reached Slavia and just missed the bus. However, the next bus No.31 should come soon and it does. The bus goes in the right direction (out of the city) but that wouldn't be me if I didn't go at least two stops too far. So I did. But it's not a big deal... a morning walk in fresh air should not be taken for granted. I walk to the bridge with blue railings, then walk down the stairs and here in the middle of two roads the 'hitchin' a ride' starts. 

To my amazement I did not have to wait too long, since the first car that saw me stopped and here my journey continues in a little truck driven by a nice old man in direction to Niš with an average speed of 70 km/h. At the start we engage in a lively discussion in a mix of Serbian-Macedonian sentences about how pretty Belgrade is, where we are from and what we are doing in life at this very moment. However, as the journey to Niš is taking quite a long time, after discussion found its' endpoint the journey continues in a silent mode with occasional exchange of cigarettes and short interruptions on themes of unemployment in the country, recycling and cities in Serbia 'you should definitely see before you die'.