It is the end of two long holidays and very good ones. My wishes for 2008 are accomplished, by travelling and meeting new people and places. For now its hard to find words to express the feeling. I still have dust in my shoes...

This year I've already been to 17 countries, did 14 plane trips, worked with 14 different currencies and tried to communicate in 11 different languages. The places I've been to in my 'Kanguru' trip (the other side of the world): London (transfer), Hong Kong (transfer), Melbourne (+St. Kilda), Philip Island, Wellington, Rotorua, Tauranga, Auckland (+Rangitoto, +Waiheke), Sydney (+Bondi, +Manly, +Cronulla), Blue Mountains, Surfer's Paradise, Brisbane and Singapore (transfer). The places I've been to in my 'Matchka' trip (to eastern Europe): Budapest, Bratislava, Vienna, Krakow, Auschwitz-Birkenau, Wieliczka, Warsaw, Vilnius, Trakai, Riga, Jurmala, Sigulda, Tallinn, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Sophia, Rila, Belgrade, Novi Sad (+Neradin, +EXIT).

After the great trip of Interrail in 2006 I knew I had to do it again. So, in 2007 I started making plans. The "must visit" places were where my brother and my friends are living. So Russia, Serbia, Poland and Belarus were the points I should try to visit. Initially I thought of doing a 2 month trip and to be able to do that I took only 2 weeks (minimum required) of holidays in 2007. But at the end of 2007, a friend started to talk about going to Australia and when I heard that, I joined the team. But to travel to the other side of the world is not easy: because we need time and money. So in the end the team was only with 2 elements. And for Eastern Europe I couldn't find anyone to go with me. Anyway I decided to split holidays in two: 3 weeks for Australia and 5 for Eastern Europe.

Kanguru Trip:
From Portugal there aren't many options available to travel to Australia. British Airways/Qantas seemed to be the best option. We knew that we had to spend a lot of time in planes, so we tried to avoid waiting more in transfers. We ended buying ticket from Lisbon to Melbourne through London and Hong Kong and the way back was Sydney through Singapore and London. My friend had only 2 weeks holidays, so he returned sooner. We also went to New Zealand during those 2 weeks and the 3rd week I went to Surfers Paradise. So, overall I did 10 plane trips: Lisbon - London - Hong Kong - Melbourne. Then Melbourne - Wellington. Then Auckland - Sydney. After Sydney - Gold Coast. And Brisbane - Sydney. And finally Syndey - Singapore - London - Lisbon.

Also had one long terrestrial travel from Wellington to Auckland with overnight stops in Rotorua and Auckland. We used the FlexiPass which is a ticket of trip hours. The minimum was to buy 15 hour with the purchase of the Pass that we could charge with more hours. We spent about 13 hours for the New Zealand, north island trip. No time to visit the South Island. By travelling to the other side of the world we find some curious things like these: the farest point from my hometown was Auckland and from my birthtown was Wellington (Porirua to be more precise - 19700km away).

The time it took since I entered Lisbon airport and exited Melbourne Airport was 31 hours. And it was the same from Sydney to Lisbon, because although the trip time was shorter, I had a two hour delay in London because of the famous Terminal 5 startup. Also because of that my luggage arrived only 3 days later and with missing objects. And by the way: the BT/Qantas plane that took me to Melbourne was the "Longreach" plane that in the month of July had an emergency landing in Manila after an explosion made by an oxygen bottle. So, I didn't got a surprise visit to Manila like those passengers did !!!

Taking into account the timezone: 11 hour diference from Lisbon to Melbourne, we took 31+11 hours to travel. We started at 5 in the morning in Lisbon, saw the sun rise at 6h44 already in the plane for a day that lasted 9 hours (the shortest day of my life) and next a nigth that lasted 7h20. The second day lasted 10h20 and we exited Melbourne airport at around 22h30 localtime of the second day.

The only problem was my stomach because of plane food. On the way back I had no problem with food but got two very big feet. After a few days they returned to normal. They say we should walk in the plane but I was in the window seat and had two nice old people next to me, so I didn't want to bother them too much. As for my weight I gained 2 kg at the end of trip. And instead of having short days and nights, I had a 19 hour night - the longest night of my life.

I also did 5 timezones (Lisbon/London, Hong Kong, Melbourne/Sydney, Surfers Paradise, Wellington/Auckland, Singapore). And when arriving in Portugal it changed to summer time. And the strange detail was to have a 13 hour difference in New Zealand, more than half day difference because of the winter time in Portugal. Also started the trip in Winter to arrive in Summer time in Australia, that changed to Autumn while there and be back to Spring in Portugal.

I liked many things in this trip and got the feeling there is a lot more to see. Liked Australia more than New Zealand but also because I didn't went to the New Zealands South Island. From Australia I liked Surfers Paradise a lot and Melbourne and Sydney cities. I did a trip to see the 3 sisters but it was a rainy and foggy day, so I only saw one of the sisters and because we could climb and touch it!

One of the great experiences was to spend night in hostels instead of hotels. I had never tried it before and it was simply great and specially there because they are so used to that. Australians are one of the biggest world travelers. They not only travel inside their country a lot but also outside. Hostels area great, because they are cheap, they give a lot of good information and help, many are very well located near the city center or PoI, and we interact with a lot of foreign people, exchange experiences and make new friends easily. And hostels managed by Australians are usually very good, doesn't matter if in Australia or outside.

I had to deal with 3 currencies: British Pound (GBP), Australian (AUD) and New Zealand (NZD) Dollars. And visa was only needed for Australia but was easy because we only need to apply from Internet for an ETA (Electronic Travel Authorization). For New Zealand I got reply from embassy telling we need only to have enough money for the time of stay. But when we arrived we had an inquiry from customs authority that took about 20 minutes. First with me, then with my friend. No special reason at all with questions like "what you came for", "how long you planned the trip", "do you bring laptop", "do you bring business card", "do you bring money", etc. They let as go after a while and didn't give a reason but we know they have problems with immigration and illegal work. I only think he didn't knew where Portugal is, because who would travel half the world to try illegal immigration there?

Besides the visits to the main atractions, we were lucky about holidays: first Moomba WaterFest in Melbourne, then St. Patricks Day Celebrations in Auckland and the Easter Holiday in Surfers Paradise. We got very good weather in general, Australia is a country of blond girls opposite to New Zealands with dark hair more common. Good pubs and good food everywhere. Even in fast food category we can find very good and healthy food. We also listened to good music including aboriginal of course.

And do you know about the draining direction of water in bathtubs being opposite in the south hemisphere as to the north? It is a misconception and you can see more about it in [link] We did experiment and we could make it flow both directions in different trials

It was a very nice trip, took about 1000 photos and brought some very nice souvenirs. Total cost was about 3500eur (167eur/day average), with 1600eur spent in all airplane tickets and 740eur spent in hostels. Many nice events to remember but I will only tell two more: after arriving in St Kildas hostel, we went to find something to eat, so we stopped at a pizza restaurant and stayed outside. Near us, was a fat guy with one huge belly and he was begging for some coins to people crossing by. We stayed at the restaurant like half an hour to eat, and the only thing he sang in that time was
"We’re going to the zoo, the zoo, the zoo
and what we gonna do, a doo, a doo
We’re going to the zoo,..."
and repeat it again, again and again. Of course that for people that were just passing by, they found him funny, more because of his belly than the song and gave some money. After half an hour (even 5 minutes) there we couldn't forget the music. So, it will be something to remember. Although I didn't went to the zoo, I did went to a nice farm were I pet Kangaroos, to a Wildlife Sanctuary to see Koalas and to Phillip Island to see Little Pinguins.

The other episode was in Wellignton to buy the FlexiPass. We went two times to ticket office to get information that day and 15 minutes before closing we went a 3rd time to buy the ticket. The guy was pissed because he wanted to close and also we didn't understand him very well with his accent. He was like "Wheedo you wanttoe go?" And I said "To Rotorua". And he again "Whee do you want to go?" And I again "To Auckland through Rotorua". And he again "WhEEENN do you want to Go?" and then I "Oh! Tomorrow" After he sold the ticket he closed his desk not giving even time to say Thank you, and still 5 minutes from closing time.

Matchka Trip:

I thought of travelling very much to east of europe. So I needed to start and finish my journey with a plane trip from/to Portugal. Also and after getting info about the countries I found out that Interrail pass was not the best option. Many countries don't accept it and bus was usually best than train. An important change to my plan was to give up on Belarus because we need visa but we don't have embassy in Portugal and I needed to send documents to Paris and wait a long time. After having made the selection of countries, I built the route plan. Then I searched for events, and the EXIT festival, was the one that helped my options about the dates. The most far point I can go on plane trip with the national airline is Budapest, so I started and finished there. Because EXIT was in the beginning of July, I did the trip going north, crossing Vienna during the Euro football championship, visiting my friend in Poland when she got there (she was in Portugal but went to Poland for short holidays) and also planning carefully the visit to my brother in Russia because it was the only place where I needed visa. And that was a bit difficult to get but not too much. Thanks to hostel and also Abreu travel agency in Portugal.

From my travel experiences I could carefully plan what to put in the bag. But this time I did something different: I selected a group of clothes and shoes that were old or not so good and choose to travel with them, discarding many on the way. By doing that I was able to travel only with one bag. It was always full, because while I was discarding my clothes, I was buying some new and also some souvenirs. I was lucky also to have meeting points with people I knew in each quarter of the trip, so I could wash all my clothes. But I started my trip with a 12kg bag and finished with 24kg because of souvenirs. As for my weight I lost 1 kg.

Everything that was in my bag I used. I took a travel book "Europe on a budget" from Rough Guide, published March 2008 that I had bought one day before leaving and it was much more useful than I expected. Not only for the points of interest, but helping on arrival and departure from cities/countries, with very good and updated info about local culture, language, currency and also came with city maps. When I finished my trip in Budapest I offered the book to new mexican friend I met there.

Only when I started my trip, I realized that I was going to visit 10 different countries, with 10 different languages and currencies and going through 3 different timezones. I ended speaking more than 10 languages, because I met a lot of foreign people in Hostels: spoke English, German, Spanish, Portuguese besides the local languages, which I couldn't say much. And I ended up mixing languages when I started crossing countries. I ended up doing 11 currency exchanges, because the EXIT festival uses special coins for buying food and drinks. Also in Serbia, I brought Yugoslavia money that is not accepted there anymore, so I had to exchange it for Republic Serbia money.

Because of the Russian visa and also because I was traveling alone, I had to stick to the plan. I visited all places I planned and in the time scheduled for it. Only did some extra visits to places nearby those I had already planned. I never felt insecure in any place. And because it was easy to make friendship in hostels, I went some nights out with people to enjoy the city night. Train and buses were safe but usually buses are more comfortable, faster and cheaper. I used mostly Eurolines and Ecolines. Only traveling in Serbia was uncomfortable because of heat but I also had great chats with people. Although language could be a problem I was able to manage in train and bus stations, specially by finding local people who were helpful to talk in English or German with me and translate to ticket office. In Budapest and Bratislava I bought two way ticket when I only wanted one way, but because they say it was cheaper that buying one way. So I offered ticket to people I met in hostel at destination and that wanted to go to were I had departed.

What I like most to see in cities, its their gardens, specially the big ones, the water streams (rivers, coast), and to see their way of life. From this perspective, all of places I visited except for Sophia were a positive surprise. And Sophia wasn't a good surprise because maybe I was expecting too much. Still in Bulgaria I liked the visit to Rila monastery and also the night life. The Baltics: Riga, Tallinn and Vilnius and also Bratislava I liked a lot. Followed by Moscow, St. Petersburg and Novi Sad. All of these I had the feeling I should have stayed more time, and I know I have to go there again. Sophia, Wien and Warsaw are places I don't plan to visit again. Instead, Bulgarias Dead Sea coast line, Salzburg were I already been and Cracow were I also been, are much more worth a visit and time. Cracow is unique and if you go there you should visit Auschwitz/Birkenau concentrations camps museums and also the Wieliczce Salt mine museum ([link]).

I also like to visit is museums and art galleries. I lost count of the places I've been but here are maybe the most important: Kusthalle (mqw.at) in Wien is a group of galleries and exhibitions including MUMOK and Leopold museum (www.leopoldmuseum.org). The Hungarian Parlament, the House of Terror and Nemzeti gallery in Budapest. The State Hermitage Museum (great, great, great!!!) and Savior on Spilled Blood Cathedral/Museum (also amazing) in St. Petersburg (www.cathedral.ru). The State Russian Museum and Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow. Estonias Open Air Museum with St Johns Day Bon fire (www.evm.ee). The Traku historical museum in Lithuania (Trakai castle). The Keltuva museum in Vilnius. Also in Latvia saw a photo exhibition that you can see here: [link] I liked specially the works of Anete Aramina and Elena Tetushkina. If you search well in books, in Hostels and also near the places you can get some discounts for museums. I got some nice ones and specially one in Savior on Spilled Blood Cathedral where and old lady offered me her ticket when she was exiting and I was able to use it inside

I tried some very nice food specially in places where I met local people who could take me to the best places. Here are some internet addresses for some of the places I've been too and eat well: [link], [link] [link] [link]

Many nice things happened that I will try to summarize here:
- in Budapest I was in a very good hostel and I was there twice. Met some nice friends from Canada, UK and Mexico. Saw nice events in chain bridge and also sports.
- in Bratislava met two nice american girls and we saw the city together while talking about the trips we did. The city centre is protected of traffic so feels great to walk there.
- in Wien it had the European football championship. Saw Portugal win and bought a nice shirt from the event. Also new shoes because the ones I brought were old and couldn't walk anymore with them because they were hurting. They have a very long street full of shops on each side. Bad to have traffic also.
- In Cracow I met with my friend that is studying in Portugal. She showed me the city and also Auschwitz/Birkenau and the Salt Mine. Eat very good food and had great time.
- In Warsaw I only spent an afternoon but was enough: beautiful centre but very small. The city is not beautiful, the river side as great potential but like abandoned and should have more gardens.
- Vilnius is smal but very nice. Hostel was managed by portuguese. Beautiful churches.
- In Riga stayed in great hostel that is being rebuilt. Town is great, people are greater.Met some portuguese with which I had very good time.
- In Tallinn the the main centre in small but beautiful. The hostel was the best of all I've been to. Had a great time with the people there. Food is great and women are gorgeous.
- in St. Petersburg, was amazed with the Hermitage and the channels. But has also a lot of traffic and half of the city is being rebuilt. Most tourists are russians from other parts of Russia. From here I had to stick with cyrillic writing. Lots of limmos with young people partying their end of studies. It was sad to see Russia be eliminated from european championship. If they had won, it would have been nice to have seen the party in the streets. Also I had the shortest night of my life where night lasted only from 1 to 2h45 in the morning.
- in Moscow met with my brother. Had a great time with him and his girlfriend. The city is very well organized, the centre is very beautiful, the metro stations are amazing (mosmetro.ru). Flower shops are open 24 hours a day - looks like in russia anytime is a good time to offer flowers! Moscow doesn't look too green but it is surounded by forests. That can seen from state university.
- in Bulgaria I was surprised to see a ministry of emergency situations ([link])! The size of the river is just a very small stream of water. The city is dirty and not cared. A taxi driver charged more than he should to take me from airport. And I was hit by the car driving the highest priest in Bulgaria when I was taking a photo of the cathedral.

And Serbia! The friends I have there always give me a good time. Already starting from bus in Sophia to Nis and Belgrade I had a good chat with nice and beautiful girl. Then in Belgrade I went to places I haven't been before and met with all my good friends I knew before. On the way to Novi Sad met another nice and beautiful girl from Montenegro. In Novi Sad also been with with my best friend Jelena and her boyfriend and they took me to see a farm where we had great lunch and also see the EXIT festival. I was able to meet also with other friends, like the twins Sania and Tania that are both artists. I went to museums and river side. Danube has been with me in all this trip having crossed it in Budapest the two times I went there, in Bratislava, in Wien, in Belgrade and Novi Sad.

Serbia was the only place where I didn't had bad weather. In every country I got rain and sun. In Serbia I only had 10 minutes of small rain while I was waiting for my friend in Novi Sad train station, so it doesn't count

When I was talking with new friend in bus, she told me Serbia is changing their Internet Domain from YU (Yugoslavia) to RS (Republic of Serbia). I was sad to know about that because YU is great. There could shirts like "I like YU", "I Love YU", etc. And Montenegro created a new domain for their new country which is ME. And although they are separated, I think YU loves ME and ME loves YU The problem is that although Montenegro can register KISS.ME, Serbia will not KISS.YU. Instead it will be KISS.RS (kiss 'r' ass) And there are many nice asses to kiss there!!!
In Bulgaria I've seen a nice t-shirt that I bought from YU4You.com: Rakia, correcting people (related to Nokia, connecting people)! And I also saw another that for me describes the serbians very well: I'm not only perfect. I'm serbian

About expenses spent a total of 2100eur (54eur/day average). Transports was 630eur with plane trip costing 90eur (by using free miles). Hostels cost 360eur. I had to exchange money into 10 currencies besides using Euro in Austria: HU Forint, SK Koruny, PL Zlotych, LT Litas, LV Lats, EE Kroon, RU Ruble, BG Leva, RS Dinar and EXIT Festival currency.

I had automatic mobile phone roaming everywhere except in Russia. In Serbia I had roaming for the first time. I also collected maps of every place I've been.

I took about 3800 photos. Some of them are published at [link]

In 2006 I took holidays all together from 27th May to 16th July and traveled 9 countries. Been to Porto Santo island (Portugal), Prague, Dresden, Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich, Salzburg, Postojna, Koper, Portoroz, Piran, Trieste, Pula, Zagreb, Plitvicka Jezero, Belgrade, Zlatibor, Novi Sad, Subotica, Córdoba, Granada, La Manga and Toledo.

Weekend holidays in Portugal was with co-workers, Spain was with family and the rest was Interrail trip travelling alone but meeting friends in some of the places. It was my first time in every place except for Serbia (2nd time in Belgrade and Novi Sad), and Spain (2nd time in Toledo, 3rd in Granada, 5th in La Manga).

Traveled by plane from Lisbon to Prague and the way back from Belgrade to Frankfurt then Lisbon. Between Prague and Belgrade did Interrail and besides plane and train I also traveled U-Bahn (metro), S-Bahn (tram), city bus, tourist bus, taxi, car, bicycle, boat and my feet.

Spent a total of 3300€ (77€/day average). About 50€ in Porto Santo (all trip expenses paid by company), 500€ in Spain and the rest in Central Europe: 90€ with ticket planes (bought with free miles), Interrail global pass was 550€, hotels were about 1000€ and the rest: food, other transports, museums, souvenirs, etc. For the time of holiday I think I didn't spent too much but also wasn't cheap. Tried to manage without being concerned about it cause the most important was to have a good time in every place. But maybe next time I'll try not to spend so much in hotels!

I felt safe in every place. Police was present in important public places, specially because of World cup. Taking into account my past experience as a tourist I am glad not to have had bad experience with stolen goods and specialy because I had no previous experience doing interrail and travelling alone.

I met many friendly people which was one of the best experiences on this trip. I made some new friends and had nice chats with portuguese, brazilian, british, german, spanish, bulgarian, french, croatian, slovenian, serbian, italian and norwegian people (uff). That's the good thing about Europe. This is the european year for mobility and I hope it will be easier in future for people to live and work anywhere in Europe.

The Euro currency is almost everywhere but still I had to exchange to other currencies: CZ Koruna, SI Tolar, HR Kuna and YU Dinar. Not a big problem, and what is left can always be a souvenir or useful for next visit. I was able to use my mobile everywhere except in Serbia where automatic roaming didn't work. Also as souvenir I collected some newspapers (maybe one day I can read them) and 24 maps of cities and countries.

I took 1600 photos (3,24GB) - an average of 37 photos/day. These photos are available as Bubbleshare albums ([link]) and some were posted on Deviantart ([link]). Please have a look at it - an image can be worth a 1000 words.

Now my impressions of each place I visited:

Portugal: was good to be with co-workers and not talk about work. Porto Santo is a desert and only good for beach. We did some sports like Kart racing and Slide. And had a good time at night in some bars.

Czech Republik - Prague: The river-side is beautiful. Very nice monuments: the Powder Tower, Old Town Hall, Astronomical Clock, Petrin Lookout Tower (smaller version of Eiffel Tower), Church of St. Nicholas, Old Town Bridge Tower e Lesser Town Bridge Tower. The Strahov gallery and Strahov library are amazing. The Karluv Most (Charles Bridge) is very nice to cross and also to take a rest and enjoy the scene. Good food and drink (beer). A lot of tourists specially from Italia and Japan. Czech women are very beautiful. Walked a lot, felt safe with police everywhere and took many photos. Saw Ferraris (my favourites) and I had the nice surprise of watching the making of movie scenes in front of the national theater. Its a city I hope to see again - its not a big city but takes a little of the beauty of Paris and a little of the magic of Barcelona.

Germany: now I understand why the Deutsche Bahn is "Die Bahn". If all public transportation were like them, we wouldn't need cars. They keep the schedule to the minute, are well organized being possible to get all information we need, nice connections with other cities, surrounding countries and other transport connections. Everything was thought for bikes, disabled people and business travelling. And last but not least its a comfortable ride. Germans also did well with the World Cup preparations and almost everything was ok to receive foreigners. I really liked to see so many bikes in the streets of the cities and also the enormous gardens they have. One detail about cars is that they can choose the plate they want. And good cars they have - also saw some Ferraris but they're more for Porsche. People who have BMW seem like middle-classed

Dresden - I've only been one day. Enough to see what they did for celebration of the 800 years of the city. I had a nice lunch at Försters where you can try a Sauerbraten. The Zwinger Palace is the main monument but there are many worth of a visit. Also they did a wonderful work with reconstruction of the Frauenkirche(church).

Berlin: I never thought of visiting Berlin - thought it wasn't special and would be just noise and confusion. But after talking with a norwegian and two german guys when visiting Russia in 2005 and having asked them where in Germany was the best place to visit and they said "Berlin of course" like I was doing some stupid question. Well, I liked all places I visited in Germany but Berlin is indeed a must-stop-by. Specially for people who like to see museums and (war) history but also good for having fun at day and night. I saw the very nice Art-Center (www.art-center-berlin.de), the great Jewish Museum that besides the usual history of WWII and the Holocaust, had a special "Happy Birthday Dr. Freud" exhibition. And walking around you have always something to see.

By luck I saw the Fan Fest Opening where I had the chance to see Nelly Furtado playing live and also Pet Shop Boys and Andrea Bocelli. Had a nice time with german and brazilian people there. So, it was a good surprise because I didn't knew was going to happen when I planned the trip. The garden is also great and useful for a good rest. After getting the only bad health condition in the trip: a big pain on left achilles heel it was really what I needed. The transports were good but the problem was to find the Hotel which was referenced to be in some "Reinickendorf" street. I thought "Reinickendorf" was already enough long word to be only one street but there were two: "Alt Reinickendorf" and "Reinickendorf" streets. So, look well to the address or you end up going to the wrong street like I did. And before you get used on how to change from U-Bahn to S-Bahn it can take some time.

About U-Bahn (Metro) it was a surprise to see how they check the people who are travelling without ticket. A guy dressing casual like going for skating, just gets up from his seat when the train is moving and shows up is ID asking all people to show their tickets. I don't know if this is usual in other places but in Portugal they are all very well identified and control his usually made on entrances to subway.

So, Berlin is no exception to the rest of Germany: everyone uses bike to travel. But I also saw more people in wheelchair than usual. I can see two reasons: by having more people using bike the number of serious bike accidents might be higher but it also seems that cities are more ready for disabled people and so, they're not afraid of going out.

Frankfurt am Main: it was great idea to put two big screens in the middle of the river facing each margin. They really gave meaning to "am Main". And the english fans completely took over the city. They know how to party peacefully and confraternize. And drink a lot of beer. To be near the river, watching english fans filling completely each side of the margin and listen them singing their national anthem, is something I will never forget.

The hotel sucked. The most expensive I went and besides having the name "Frankfurt Airport" its not close to it (about 2km away). And the closest U-Bahn is still 1km away.

In this town I got fully recovered from pain in foot with a nice rest near the river while watching football and watching celebrations. I saw Portugal against Angola and met two german girls daughter from portuguese. Although there were more portuguese fans, we were the only making some noise but not good enough to shut up the angolan fans - only one angolan women there, true. But around 50 drunk english fans supporting Angola by singing adapted british songs. And they knew so much about Angola that when I showed up my flag, they asked if they could use it until I told them that it was not Angolas flag but portuguese!

And in Frankfurt happened that I was a portuguese in Germany having lunch in an italian restaurant and talking in english with french girls. Europe!

Munique: first place where I should meet a known friend, Boro. But he was in Croatia for an urgency. Still I met Iosuna, his spanish girlfriend and Claudiu, his friend from Romenia. They were very helpful in taking me to apartment and show me the city. I took the chance of copying pictures from camera to flash. Saw the Olympiapark, a students festival (Tunix 2006) and the wonderful and very big english garden. A good example of how cities should be organized.

Austria-Salzburg: so, enough of Germany. The amazing thing about Austria is that it has many resemblance with Germany!! Nice monuments and friendly people. At the WirtHaus Hotel they let me leave the big bag and be able to climb up to the castle. To thank them I had my lunch in hotel where I eat a nice Schweinebraten meal. The castle is the main atraction and souvenirs are also good. I liked the dolls and bought one to offer later. I didn't bring many souvenirs from Portugal because it would be hard to travel with them all the trip, so I went buying and offering on the way. The city is small so you can visit it in one day. At night I had a nice time in a bar with girls from Germany that were studying in Austria.

Then I took the train. The resemblance with Germany stopped here. From a train that I was informed to be from Munich to Postojna, it was from Berlin to Zagreb but arrived in time. Completely full of Croatians that watched their game in Berlin stadium the day before. So, I didn't sleep and sitted on the floor of the train, stopping at Ljubljana and changing train to Koper with stop in Postojna

Slovenia: the nature is amazing and seems to be very good for outdoor sports. Every house is full of flowers on the windows and people are clean although a little unorganized. Many small villages, no walkways and with the good kind of tourism (not too comercial). Better to visit by car or to have a bike (or rent it).

Postojna - very nice Hotel/Hostel Sport where you can rent bike and get information about sports. Visited the Postojnska jama (the main cave) which is 1km away from hotel and also Pivka jama (5km). The Predjama castle and its cave are 10km away. So, rent a bike and enjoy the nature. You can also rent at the camping near the Pivka jama. Caves are cold.The main one goes down to 8 degrees but you can rent jackets if you don't bring one. The bike track is available in the KMZ link below (for Google Earth).

Koper, Portoroz, Piran - on the adriatic coast, from Koper you can easily go by bus to Trieste (Trst in Slovenian), Piran and Portoroz. In Portoroz was able to rent a bike and visit Piran. Here you can visit the Marko Jezernik Galerija (www.jezernik-sp.si). The slovenians have no problem with other languages and on the adriatic coast everything is in slovenian and italian. You can't say the same on the italian side. I saw the Pandolo traditional game that I haven't seen before (has some resemblance with baseball).

Italy-Trieste: seemed expensive and they don't speak other language. But in hotel the manager was a slovenian women. So, between speaking Italian or Slovenian...bene, puedo parlar un pouquito italiene/espanõl. And I managed well.

The city is dirty and there are a lot of motorbikes. Was lucky to be in Trieste when it was the Festivalbar and saw Moony sing "For your love". Great music. The tickets to the concert were expensive so most of the people were outside the limited area but still could listen to the music, see the stage from a distance and enjoy the seaside.

Croatia: with many natural beauties including women.

Pula: you see the anfiteatre and nothing much. I think its a nice place just to go by or maybe I didn't search well. While traveling by train from Koper to Pula I had a nice chat with 3 norwegian doing also interrail. They traveled more countries and didn't find expensive because to them the rest of Europe is half price their living. Still they did like non-stop travel almost traveling all the time at night. Personally I think its not the best way to take the most of an interrail. Better less and better.

The portuguese singer Sérgio Godinho sings in one music "...à espera do comboio na paragem do autocarro...". This music is about failed rendez-vous and this sentence means "...like waiting for the train at the bus stop...". That almost happened literally to me when leaving from Koper to Pula. Because from Postojna to Koper, the train stopped at a previous station (Kozina) and we had to take the bus from there to reach Koper. The trip to Pula had also to stop in that station so I thought I had to take the bus to get to Kozina station and from there by train. In the last minute I was luckily informed that depending on the day of the week, it can be train or bus and that day was train. So...I almost waited for the train at the bus stop!

Zagreb: in Croatia people work from 8 to 16h which is great. In Portugal that schedule would be good specially in summer time because we still can enjoy the day from 16h to 21h (still sunny). In Zagreb I met my friend Vladimir. We first met in Angola when I was working there. His son works and lives in Munich but we didn't met even in Zagreb because he already had left when I arrived. And later we were both in Spain but oposite places so we didn't meet again.

Vladimir showed me the city and told me about the stories that I had read in a magazine. The oposition between the Kaptol - part of the city with the church power - and Gornji grad - upper city with the political power. The Krvavi most street where once was a bridge, also symbol of those fights. I visited the Dolac market - haven't seen one like that in years and thought they were already inexistent. The Tkalãiçeva street, once a river stream. The "Lenuci horseshoe" group of streets where all buildings are from an urbanistic construction project of XIX century. The Hotel Esplanade - one of the most famous Hotels from the Oriental Express route. The Ilica street - the longest in the city and where the president of Croacia lives in a house like any other house. So, we can learn a lot with a local friend but also he can go to places he didn't went for years just to show it for visitors like it happened

I also saw the Mandusevac fountain that has a legend. It says that once a vice-king with his army arrived to a once dry territory and when he stuck his sword into the ground, water started to come out and he said "Manduso, zagrabi" asking a young lady of name Manduso to take the water (zagrabiti = catch/take). So, the fountain got the name Mandusevac from Manduso and the city the name of Zagreb (from zagrabiti)

The food is also great and if you go there also try the Millenium ice creams. I also felt safe. The house of the president only has one policeman guarding it and I was next to the mayor of the city when watching a philarmonic concert in the main square. It was Vladimir to call my attention because he was dressing completely casual and walking in the middle of the public.

Plitvicka - this journey log is a collection of the things I wrote in my diary while travelling. About the Plitvicka I can only say that an image is worth a 1000 words. Go to [link] or see the Bubbleshare photoalbum and you'll understand what I'm saying. And if you have the chance go there and also do what you can everyday to help have more of this kind of protected nature all over Europe and the rest of the world. Protect, preserve, reduce, reuse, recycle,...

To get to Plitvicka I went by bus from Zagreb. Traveled with a very beautiful woman of name Kora. Her name was given from the river Korona that crosses near Plitvicka and is very clean. On the way back I met an english guy and his croatian girlfriend. We almost had to spend the night there but were lucky to have a bus to come back because it was holiday that day (anti-fascist day) and there were almost no buses to Zagreb.

Since June, Portugal has 3 weekly flights from Lisbon to Zagreb. This is very good news for someone like me that fell in love with the former Yugoslavia and would like to see more of eastern Europe. For an outsider, it is for me sad to see a nation splitted in so many pieces when the people have more in common than in difference. I love YU all.

Serbia: the most friendly people. Nice hospitality and nice food.

Belgrade: the first time I was in Belgrade I just stayed for a few hours. This time I was several days with my good friend Natasa that besides letting me stay in her apartment, showed me the city also with the help of her friend Danijela. Also had the chance to take photos from her work which is one of the tallest buildings in Belgrade. We also spent one weekend in Zlatibor where we had nice walks and chats. In Belgrade I'd recommend the Plato cafe specially at night when you can listen some music bands. There are many good restaurants like Dorian Gray and Sesir Moj and maybe you'll listen to Cesária Évora songs while having a meal. Or maybe a traditional band will play at your table. From the fortress you can see the Danube and Sava rivers. And don't forget to visit the main monument which is still under contruction but already beautiful: the Sava cathedral. In the tourist shops or bookstores try to find the map of Belgrade with the cover shown in my photo album - its not just a map but a work of art.

In Belgrade I met Danijela, friend to Natasa, and Jelena, friend to Danijela. Jelena wanted to meet me after knowing from Danijela that there was a portuguese guy visiting. She likes very much the portuguese people because she's also been to Angola and Portugal. We talked in portuguese because she learned it by herself very well. And here's another wonderful story. On January, 2004 I was working in Angola and one Saturday I needed to go to work in a different place from usual. So I took my camera and on the way stopped in the marginal of Luanda to take some shots. After locking the car, I crossed the street and took 6 photos. Then went back and when inside noticed that my bag was stolen. That bag had a laptop computer and after talking and dealing with the kids in the street and searching for 7 hours in places where no foreigner would think of going to, I recovered my laptop in exchange of 800 usd to the thieve and the people who helped me find him. So, those were the most expensive photos I took and you can see two of them at [link] and [link] In Belgrade I found out that although me and Jelena never met before, Jelena had already seen me before: because she lived on the top of a building near the marginal where I parked the car. And she saw everything: me getting out of the car and crossing the street to take photos and the guy ripping the rear cover of the jipe and stealing the bag. What a coincidence!

Novi Sad - this city is small but its magic for me. Because there lives my best friend Jelena and because I always have a good time with her and her friends. This time met new friends Sania and Tania, twin sisters and also great artists. Went to see the fortress once again but now with preparations for the Exit Festival (www.exitfest.org), one of the most important events in Serbia that happens yearly and with the visit of many foreigners. The center Kuda.org is always with nice exhibitions and this time had one about computer virus named "I Love you". Novi Sad has one new chinese restaurant and it was surprise for not looking like traditional ones. For example doesn't have chinese employees and decoration reminds more of a mexican restaurant than of chinese!

This time I also had the chance to travel to towns around Novi Sad and also to visit Subotica which is also a very beautiful town.

I'm happy for having taken many nice photos. Only a few times I didn't travel with camera when visiting places. and I regreted. A friend already had told me that we should always be with it cause we never know when a beautiful moment happens. And she was right. I learned a lot about photography but not only technics but how alive a photo can be.

Spain: probably you've heard about siesta hour. The time between 14h and 18h when spanish stores close because its too hot outside and so people stay at home, have lunch and rest/sleep a while. Córdoba, Granada and Toledo are towns worth of visit for their monuments and their singularities. If you meet local people it will be best because they can tell you the hidden secrets of those cities. So, I'll tell you a secret: in Granada go to bar Huerto del Loro and listen to a nice Flamengo.

In La Manga it was my 5th time there. If you like beach and nothing else, then its all you need. I always have a good time there for pure summer holidays. But I did something I didn't do since I was in Angola: to kill a big cockroach in the middle of the night. But don't be bad impressed. La Manga is a nice place: a 17km long extension of land into the mediterranean sea. Good water temperature, good beaches and many hotels and restaurants to choose.

Finally, here is a list of points for those who have GPS. These were marked mainly for orientation purposes and not necessarily touristic points. You can download file for Google Earth at [link]