3/6/2003

Greetings all, from Bulgaria. Not too sure what we are doing here in

Sofia...something to do with applying for a Serbian Visa, yet to make it out

of bed early enough to catch the embassy before closing time. I think the

60cents pints here are hindering our progress...hmm maybe tomorrow.

After seven wonderful weeks, we dragged ourselves away from Turkey a few

days ago. Very sad about leaving. Had most of the country to ourselves,

especially out in the east - not a single tourist to be seen.  Turkey in a

nutshell: we had a great time sleeping in treehouses and caves, going for

dips in the med, eating, mixing with the local Kurdish lads in Urfa,

climbing snow-capped mountains, stumbling across ancient sun-worshipping

alters, checking out spectacular monasteries and mosques, eating, playing

backgammon, watching the local shrouded ladies and bearded men conduct their

business, hanging out in little mud houses with Arabic families, eating,

mastering backgammon, learning Turkish, wondering through markets and a bit

more eating. A successful trip.

As mentioned, we are in Sofia now. The beer is cheap and plentiful, and the

coffee is good. Just the ingredients a couple of crusty backpackers need for

people-watching. The 'eighties' fashions are keeping us most entertained -

lace, pvc, perms and mullets are the go. And there's still time to spot a

bulgarian weight-lifter.. if we're lucky.

We are now looking forward to the European leg of the adventure. If we

manage to curb our thirst tonight, we should have a serbian visa in hand

shortly and will be in Croatia before we know it.

In other un-travel related news, Greg popped the question in Oldeniz, a

month ago. Beach, sunset, kneeling, ring. The works really. It was most

lovely. The lucky lad received the answer he was hoping for!

Anyhoos, hope all is well with you. Cheerio Cara X

7/6/2003

hi mumsy- hmm really looking forward to this long weekend - this week has

been a killer!!! To unwind I thought I'd pop over to Croatia and lap up the

sunshine on the islands, this queen's b'day. God bless her.

Hmm that was a bit rude of me, rubbing in the fact that I have 52 week-long

weekend. stop it cara. To tell you the truth this week has been a bit

hard-going - We left wonderful Turkey behind and headed to Bulgaria - Which

despite the cheap beers and good coffee, has not a lot going for it.

However, the highlight was discovering that the Serbian embassy had lifted

the long-standing visa application rules on the 1st of June (1 day before we

arrived). Yes mum, next time you wish to pass through Belgrade you no longer

require an written invitation from a family and a documented itinerary of

where you plan to visit. You can just walk right in . Stroke of luck for us.

I was very happy that we could avoid going through kosovo...

Anyhoos yesterday we passed through Belgrade which is a surprising lovely

city, if you can ignore the buildings that have been blown-up and the

offices with crater holes in them. Bizarre stuff.

Now in lovely Croatia. Zagreb, the capita,l is so beautiful, green and

stately. We are heading down to the islands tomorrow to unwind. We have done

so much travelling in the last few days that it feels odd to fall asleep in

a stationary bed - hmm the sleeper train is a budget travellers best friend!

Besides the occaisonal exhausting day, life on the road is suiting us very

well indeed. Have agreed on a long drawn out engagement - Weddings are

pretty expensive these days and travelling has taken priority here- there's

even talk about moving to istanbul...but i expect we'll become attached to

many places we visit.

This has got to be a quicky, email and other things are pricey here in

croatia - back to fromage, bread and cheap wine for us

Better go $$$$

all my love Cara XXXXXX