Lisdoonvarna/County Clare – September 2019

I went down here for a weekend in September with a few friends. The journey down went relatively smoothly, but because it was Friday afternoon, there were times we were getting snarled up in the traffic around Dublin.

Tolls were a bit of a pain, but it seems a good chunk of europe is like that – I can understand that roads have to be paid for, but there are times when you wonder if its just another money making racket, where the profits are privatised, and the debt is nationalised.

Anyways, we got down to Lisdoonvarna, scenery seemed really nice, but one thing that we prepared before getting there was that there is no atm in it – seems a bit backward, but what can you do.

We were down for the singles weekend, it was very hard to know what to make of it, as it seemed more of a country and western festival for farmers or people into a waltzy kind of music.

Some of the bars were packed out, and I had to leave one as so many people were bumping into each other. We did end up in a decent bar, with decent music, but it had songs on loop. We were told the day we were leaving that the place is practically empty when there’s no festival on.

The crowd seemed generally older too. We had some good meals when we were there, service was spot on.

As for the rest of the area, the cliffs of moher were beautiful – the whole area is worth checking out if your down that direction. Some amount of tourists down at the cliffs though. I’m not sure if I can say much more other than It’s nice around there and on a good day, like the majority of the West coast of Ireland, it would be epic looking.

Bulgaria – September 2019

The last part of the trip was Bulgaria. I got the over night train from Istanbul to Sofia. I was sharing the carriage with two English brothers, seemed pleasant enough, one worked on law, think the younger brother was called Barnabus or something like that. The train and bed was surprisingly comfortable, it was a great service, but…..border control checkpoints are a pain in the hole, especially in the middle of the night.

As daylight broke, the scenery seemed nice, as we got into Sofia train station, parts seemed a bit run down or closed up. I then walked to the hostel, and it seemed a place of many contrasts – part nicely laid out, other parts looked a bit run down and drab.

My turn here was brief. I seen as much as I could. On the Sunday it seemed a bit of a ghost town, Monday a bit busier. There are nice places to see here, and I’d say things have really come on since I was last in Bulgaria (1996).

I even checked out a wee rock bar, where they were having some table football (think some competition was on, got speaking to some Russian dude, and the barwoman gave us free shots – Yeeogh!)

However, although you can get similar things as you can get back home, and the people seem ok, I just couldn’t warm to it. It’s worth checking out for the first time, seemed nice enough, but I wouldn’t be in any mad rush to head back to it.

Turkey – September 2019

The second part of my trip was Turkey. I took the bus from Thessalonika to Istanbul, it took about 11 hours – it was really hot, and it took nearly 1 and a 1/2 hours to get across the Greek/Turkish border.

One of the first things I noticed is that there us a lot of money being pumped into infrastructure and building work on general into Turkey, roads are coming on well. Also, the big sky scrapers on the way into Istanbul were very impressive.

I stayed for a few nights in Istanbul. I got myself a travel card so I could use the various public transport – trams/metro and buses. It was well priced and easy to use/access. The city itself looked magnificent, at least I can now say I’ve stood in Asia.

I think someone told me once that Turkey prides itself on being secular, and I think it was great – plenty of people doing their daily worship, an interesting spectacle, I felt kind if humbled taking it all in.

There are so many sights to see, probably shouldve stayed longer. In certain parts it was a good nightlife, and I can say that Istanbul, although a little crazy traffic wise, is a wholly modern city – highly recommended!

Greece – September 2019

I went for a trip through another part of the Balkans again – this time Greece – flew into Thessalonika. Weather was great, super hot. I done a walking tour of the city, or the upper part of it – very interesting tour, learnt a little about more recent Greek history.

Some epic views to be had from the hills above the city as well. People in general seemed nice enough, no real complaints.

I spent a lot the time walking about, seeing various sights – came across a Serbian war memorial – there were graves for other nations too – kind of showed you the scale and loss of life of war. A bit poignant.

The Greek food seemed pretty rad as well. Local beers – a bit meh.

There seemed to be a lot of cats about the place too. If I hadve known, I would’ve booked to stay for longer, as Thessalonika is a great base to visit other places, such as Olympus, and you could even do a day trip to North Macedonia, this place is definitely recommended. After 3 nights here, it was time to move onwards – 11 hour bus journey to Istanbul in Turkey.