Yesterday was the hell bus ride, it was just so long. Left Sofia at 11pm on Tuesday and arrived in Istanbul at 7:30. After dropping my bags off at the hostel I went for a walk and checked the Grand Bazaar.

I then caught up with Kevin a guy I met in Slovenia earlier in the trip, we went to a coffee shop and played backgammon. We then went for a walk along the water ending up at the fish markets near the main bridge. There we had Fish Kebabs and then went back to the hostel for a few quiet drinks at the hostel bar.

Interesting things about Sofia - They took twenty years to finish their underground rail system because they kept on hitting ancient ruins and had to keep change the direction of the line to preserve them. When you go into the underground it is like a museum because the ruin are integrated into their subway.

Interesting fact about Bulgaria - Though aligned with Nazis no Bulgarian Jews were sent to concentration camps because the people protested and stopped it. The government just kept on telling the Germans they would do it soon until the war was finally over. Also they probably would not have even fought in the war if it was not for Pearl Harbor. So it looked they were actually doing something they declared war on America thinking they would not get involved, but after the bombing the US took them up on their offer.

Had some really good walks around this town and went to some pretty cool bars last night. One is in an old stables connected to a house.

Had an interesting time on the night train to Sofia last night. I had heard a lot of stories of people having bags stolen and also a lot of smugglers being on the train (bringing in Cigarettes from Serbia where they are a lot cheaper).

I was lucky that I found a cabin with a business men and a young couple who seemed harmless enough. I had my pacsafe should bag with all valuables under my jacket and fell asleep holding on tightly to my day bag (the day bag is the main target for he thieves as they are small and relatively easy to grab.

I woke up about 2am when the young couple got off and then the two of us had three seats to stretch out and get some good sleep (with my using my day bag as a pillow). By about 4am the train was getting very cold, the heating was not working so it slowly got colder and colder, so I had to pull my thermals out and put them on.

About an hour out of Sofia I went to stretch my legs when I saw a normal looking lady with a screwdriver removing panels off the train corridor, initially I thought she was trying to steal the aluminum from the train, but then she started unscrewing the roof as well. Next thing you know all these cigarette cartons are falling to the ground.

Sofia seems very nice, but it has been very cold today. I went on a walking tour around the city and did some of my own wondering. I am heading to Istanbul tomorrow night, so I will check out a few more things tomorrow before I get on the night bus (which is a lot safer than a train).

It has been very foggy and chilly today in Belgrade, but still nice enough to walk around. I have got my ticket to Sofia in Bulgaria and taken a risk not to get a sleeper. The trains have not been very full lately, so I am hoping just to sleep in the normal seats - we will see how that pays off for me.

Had a good night last night with a group of French travelers, we went out for dinner at a Kafana, which is restaurant with traditional Serbian music. It was the first real restaurant meal I have had for a while and even though fairly up market it was still only $20 each for two courses and a couple of bottles of wine.

One of the people have some Serbian friends so they came and met us and took us to a bar. In the bucket list of things to do in Belgrade given to me during the free tour was to dance in a club like no one is watching - we definitely did that last night.

Today I went back to the fortress and walked around town. Tomorrow night I think I will be catching the night train to Sofia in Bulgaria, I will stay a night and then catch a bus to Istanbul

Yesterday was my first day of exploring Belgrade, I did a great free walking tour around the city taking you to the different areas of the city. He had some great stories about the city, especially about the recent war when the city was bombed by NATO.

Belgrade has become famous for their clubs which started soon after the end of the war, but during the bombings the people worried the bridges that connect the city over Danu would be destroyed. So rather than go to bomb shelters they would go and stand on the bridges so they would not be bombed. Thousands of people would go there every night, then bands started turning up and people would bring drinks, they say they were the best parties that the city have ever had.

I could not imagine the site of thousands of people on the bridge dancing and drinking while bombs fell over the city.

I am heading back up to the fortress today to really explore it, we passed through during the walk, but it is so big I need to go back today to see it all.

Yesterday I had good walk around Sarajevo wondering the heavily Otterman influenced old town. Went to the spot that trigger world war I when the Austrian duke was murdered trigger a flow on affect that create the war.

In the afternoon I went on the tunnel of life tour that was a tunnel from outside the city to in which kept the town alive through the serbian blockade of the city. The history of the 90's war is so complicated where at different point different groups were fighting.

Spent the day today on a train to Belgrade, left at 11:49 and did not get in until 8:00pm. It is the only train for the day so there was no other option. I have now settled in for the night and just relaxing at the hostel for the night. Getting a load of washing done and preparing for another history lesson from the other side (though I know these guys were the aggressors of the war).

Caught the morning train to Sarajevo yesterday morning, the scenery was amazing - but you will just have to take my word for that because my SD card in my camera started getting write errors and I could no longer see a third of the photos.

Luckily I have been quite pedantic about backing up the photos so only lost the ones I took on the train trip.

I have carried out my standard walk around at night time to check out the city and am impressed. I really do think you can judge a city by how they display it at night. So today I am doing a walk around town and then in the afternoon I am going on a tour to see the "Tunnel of Life" an 800m tunnel that was used to get supplies into the city during the war and the only thing that saved the inhabitants.

Had a really interesting tour today being shown around the city of Mostar through the eyes of a man who fought in the war defending his city. To be shown around the streets describing the street battle that went on, from one side the Croatians and the other the Serbs. Then there were 60,000 stuck in the middle trying to defend a city both sides wanted.

There are still destroyed buildings next to newly renovated buildings as they wait for funding to get each one completed. It was a very strange and humbling experience especially walking through a cemetery that still exist in the middle of the town with their war dead (at one point the government wanted to move it after the war, but the people objected) as he talks about his friend buried there and where they died.

Had really got tour of the country side yesterday, first we started at Blagaj an old Otterman Monastery inhabited by the Dervishes (The twirling kind) set on the side of cliff where a river comes out of cave.

On our way Pocitelj an old fortress town with a long history of defending the country against invasion we stop off at Radimlja to look at some ancient burial tombs.

We then went to look at the Kravice Waterfalls (which in the summer is popular swimming location) and then to Medugorje where in the late 80's a group of child sited the Virgin Mary and is now a huge religious site for Christians.

This morning I am off to do a war tour around Mostar with the owners husband who fought in the war to get first hand knowledge of what happened to this town and the destruction that occurred. The bridge and the old town are actually only about 30 years old, but have been reconstructed exactly the same as they were before their destruction.

The Birthday drinks for Maria went really well on Thursday night. There ended being around a dozen people turn up (all but one Maria had only met the day before or on the actual night). It actually made her day telling it was the nicest thing any traveler had done for her all season.

On Friday I took the cable car to the top of the mountain over looking Dubrovnik, it gives a great view of the city and has a museum about the city from the war in the 90's. There was a great western media news coverage video playing, showing assault on the city.

This morning I just took another walk around the city and then got ready for my bus trip to Bosnia, the bus was an hour late so I got into town pretty late but still managed to find the hostel and settle into the place before going to find some dinner.

I am doing a day trip with the owners husband tomorrow which takes you to some of the other towns and historical sites in the area.

I have been in Dubrovnik now for two nights, the internet has been very erratic and I have not had much of a chance to upload photos.

I got here Wednesday afternoon and got here just in time to get settle in and then go see the sunset. When I first arrived the hostel manager was not here so had to wait an hour for her to arrive, I am staying in the old city and am very close to the cliff bars. I went down and had a beer while I waited and was very shocked on how expensive the drinks were (nearly $5, so I just put in my head I was paying for the fantastic view).

Once I checked in the manager told me about the other cliff bar which is currently closed but accessible, so with another couple of Aussie guys we went to the bottle shop and sat down there to watch the sunset (much cheaper at $1.40)

The manager then took us on a bit of a tour of town to eat, go to a wine bar and then to a pub. This town is a lot more expensive than other parts of Croatia, but still not too bad.

We found out it was the managers birthday yesterday, since it is getting towards the end of the season most of her friends have already let for the winter, so we organised drinks down at the rock bar (the free one) for last night. We got most of the people staying at the hostel to come down and turned out to be a nice day for her and she was very happy we put in the effort for her.

Earlier in the day I walk around the wall that surrounds the old town and then walk around the small streets. I was planning to go up the top of the mountain today, but it is currently raining, hopefully it does not last all day and I get a chance to go up there later.

Well after a day of wondering around in Split in the daylight I have come to the decision that it is nicer at dusk and evening. Don't get me wrong it is a great city, it is just better in the evening.

So tomorrow morning I want to get up the tower in the palace (I missed it today because it inexplicably closes at 12:00pm) and then do a bit of a walk in the other old part of town before heading to Dubronvik.

Finally loaded up the additional photos from the the Skocjan Caves if anyone wants to have a look.

Had a great first day in Split. Last night I just walked around the palace at night - It has to be the strangest ancient ruin I have ever seen as it is completely inhabited by the locals. You walk around taking photos of this place and you have to realise people live in the place.

It really becomes obvious at night when most of the tourists leave the palace and normal life goes one, kids playing games in the squares, washing hung up across the ally ways and just people hanging out talking to their neighbors on the street. I have been through and taken photos at night and will do the same in daylight and hope the photos show the convergence of a normal town living in a UNESCO historical site.

Today was my big walking day, I spend four hours walking up the mountain to the west to their national park and walked all the way to the end. It was very nice just wondering all day and never intended to spend most of the day out there considering I had not really seen the town in daylight yet. Gives me something to do tomorrow.

Will probably spent one more night here, but depending on how the day goes I might need to spend another. I looked into diving while I was here, but everything is pretty much shut down for the winter, maybe I will have more luck in Dubrovnik.

Slow the lowest travel (other than the flight) is now finished and even though it was a hard day it was rewarded by me now sitting outside enjoying a beer in a t-shirt. When I got to the hostel there was no one there to check me in so I went out to do some exploring.

I think it will take a couple of days to wander around this place with all the little ally ways, but I think it will be a good place to recharge the batteries.

I am aiming to be in Istanbul by the first week in December, so once I go through Bosnia I need to work out what else I can fit in to hit that date. The trip has always been about middle east, so I don't want to shorten my days in Jordan. Now I am doing a tour in Egypt it is a set date in the calendar and everything is working around being there by the 21st.

At least work has come to the party and I can spend a couple of days home before having to fly back to Tasmania for work.

Got back in Ljubljana last night and great night out barracks that were taken over by squatters and turned into a series of pubs and clubs.

Went for my final walk around town today, checking out the park and the old town which I had not been to yet.

Tomorrow is a big travel day, going all the way to split - 2.5 hours in a train and then 6 hour bus trip.

Had a big day yesterday, go up early and did Bled castle, fantastic views. After a bit of lunch we went off and walk the Vintar Gorge in Bled.

We then did the nightly pub crawl, starting at Georges Best Bar (Greg the owner is fantastic) and then onto Bled 1004 Bar. These guys just won't stop at the moment. We had another lock in and they literally would not let you out to go to bed.

I finally got out of the place at 4am and am now try get out of this place and at the moment just keep on saying I will catch the next bus.

Bled has to be the best town ever. The scenery is amazing the people are so friendly. It is the off season and it seems like everyone is letting their hair down and partying.

We went drinking at Georges Best Bar (that is the name) and we Greg the manager closed up we all went to the next bar with him. He only charge me 8 Euro for all the drinks we had and the next bar which stayed at until 3am would not even accept any of my money. It was half full of back packers and half of locals and they just wanted to keep going. It was a great night.

I have woken up to a beautiful morning in Bled, it is cold and cloudy but I am sitting here watching a spectacular fog roll of the lake while I sip on my coffee

Went for a final wonder around Ljubljana this morning and got caught in a massive hail storm. Caught a bus with Anna and Melissa this afternoon to Bled. Did not get much of a chance to see anything today, going to get up early and go for a walk around the lake.

Met a group of guys on Monday night and we all headed off to the Skocjan Caves for the day. It was an hour and half train trip and then we had to catch a small bus to the caves.

The caves were absolutely amazing and well worth the trip out to see them. You can't take photos inside, though one of the girls Anna had here camera going the whole time so you may see some photos post soon. For now here is a link to their photo gallery - Photo Page

We then came back to town and went out for dinner and then did a bit of a pub crawl. I am heading off to Bled this afternoon.

Finally left Zagreb and onto Slovenia to Ljubijana. I could not check into the hostel until 3pm, so I just dropped off my bags and went for a walk up to the castle. The weather wasn't great so I didn't bother going up to the lookout. Walk down the castle hill to the town center which is on the river. Walked past a bar and the Formula 1 was on so ended up sitting down with another Aussie to watch the race.

We are off to the cave tomorrow which I am really looking forward too, but apparently you can't take photos inside the caves which is a bit of a bummer.

Last day in Zagreb today, finished off the last couple of things I wanted to do. Pretty cruisy day and just laze around in the afternoon recovering from the big day of walking yesterday.

Have an early start to Slovenia in the morning.

Thursday was a bit of a none event being a public holiday (they still run by the policy everything closes) and it was raining all day.

I spent the day planning the time i needed for all essential things I want to do at the end of the trip. So I now have a date I want to be in Istanbul to give me time in Jordan, relax on the coast at Dahab and make it to Cairo in time for my tour. I have ensured I have plenty of time in Jordan and if I get through it quicker I can just beach it a bit longer.

I have also discovered there are some good wrecks in croatia down near split, actually all along the coast but split seems like the local spot to dive - hopefully the dive operators are still diving

Yesterday I went off to the Plitvička jezera Nacionalni park which is a UNESCO listed site. It was a long day leaving Zagreb at 7:30 and arriving there at 10am. I then walk around all the park until 4:30pm and did not get back into Zagreb until 8pm.

It is a beautiful park and was well worth the day trip out there even though it was a bit out of the way.