enroute

PS. I second Lvov, and don't think Chernobyl is a good idea. It is still a contaminated area, fenced in by a wide margin.

I have many friends from Kiev who have lost and keep losing family members (e.g. a friend's father, an army general who supervised the clean up, no longer with us). Several cases of melanoma and thyroid cancer among immingrants from the Chernobyl area now living here.

You will be playing with fire.

TylerTraveler

Thanks again everyone! I love these responses!

"Why not St. Petersburg? Have you been?"

Well that was the original plan but we decided that after getting the invitation and going through all of the Visa fees and hastles a week in St. Petersburg probably wasn't worth it... as much as I'd love to go there. I think we may just save Russia for when we have a month to burn in the country and just do it right. I wish more countries would open up for tourists (*cough U.S. cough* haha)...

"Use your map and note the UNESCO sites...National Parks"

Oh that's a good tip! That seems like a good way to find good ideas on what to do if you are having trouble finding ideas for what to see in a country. I'll defintely be doing this... thanks!

Thanks for the cave tips thursdaysd... Aren't there a LOT of caves in that region? All the way into Italy in fact? I'd love to see that cave with the big bridge inside. I just remember leaving Slovenia during my last trip wishing I had more time there to explore around.

Yea Belarus Ukraine and Moldova are all newly opened up to us... yay!

Why not Chernobyl? The radiation? While looking into it it looked as though the tour groups all take you to safe places and claim that the radiation is about as low as what comes from your microwave. A day there can't hurt? Right?? hehe

That http://www.bahn.de/international/view/en/index.shtml is invaluable wow! Thanks for the link!

bkropf

Thanks for the tips everyone, I second what Tyler was saying relating to Russia. I want to go to Russia badly but only having one week seems to not do it justice, especially with the visa headache. I hope to make it back at a later date when I can stay longer.

Great links and tips all around though. Thank you so much for your suggestions.

Sharane

what about MOntenegro? or will you do that from Dubrovnik since you have so much time there?

TylerTraveler

We'll be in Montenegro but not for very long sadly. Though if there are still crazy protests in Belgrade a month from now maybe we'll just go to Montenegro instead haha. I'd probably be inclined to force more time in Montenegro but perhaps I'll save it for when we are there in better weather. Sunny seaside location are at there best in, well, sunny weather.

I'm sure as the day of our trip approaches ever closer I'm going to have many more questions for you guys... man I love this website! =) Everyone is so helpful.

MilenaM

I just looked at your Bulgaria-Romania-Ukraine segments and have some answers to your questions. The train from Sofia to Brasov makes a change in Bucharest if you want to travel at night. There are direct trains but only during the day. One stop and all, it takes almost 14 hrs to Brasov, getting there at 9:23 am, leaving plenty of time to visit Brasov.

Continue by train to Sighisoara, then to Cluj, decide where you want to spend the night.

Cluj to Suceava is another short night on the train, only 6 hrs. or so, allowing you to have a full day of visiting the famous monasteries like Voronet, Sucevita, etc.

Take the train to Iasi, spend the night or the day, then the train to Kiev is actually a 23 hour segment with a change in Chisinau. Iasi is a nice city to visit and spend a night in.

Hope this helps a bit. Happy travels!

TylerTraveler

MilenaM thank you so much and this makes me really curious now about the Romania segment.

Since I wrote this all I did some searching for train schedules and had kind of decided that no matter what we did I would have to do some backtracking in Romania because it looked like all of the trains to get to Moldova went through Bucharest... and I wasn't finding any trains from Cluj to Chisinau at all. If there was a good night train from Cluj to Moldova that would be really nice and save some backtracking back to Bucharest. How do you look for train schedules in Romania other than the bahn.de site?

MilenaM

I looked at cfr.ro but that did not allow me to find trips to neighbouring countries, so I ended up using the German Railways like you did.

I realized you had to go through Chisinau, that is why I suggested you go Cluj-Suceava-Iasi and then on to Kiev via Chisinau. Both Suceava and Iasi are in the region of Moldova, Romania. You would not want to just cruise through Romania (from Cluj, that is) without seeing something, a monastery, a village, a city, something.

TylerTraveler

Thanks again Milena! It had crossed my mind to piece together the little trains from Cluj to Moldova... and the rail maps I'm finding definitely say that there are trains running the entire distance... I'm just a bit worried about getting stuck somewhere because we didn't anticipate train schedules and end up sleeping on a bench in some tiny town with no hostels or tourist facilities at all. My travel experience tells me that I shouldn't have to worry about that but then again, I have the still small voice that says "play it safe" haha. I've been left standing on a train station plenty of times before after missing the last train of the day. =)

thursdaysd

Also, there's a bus from Iasi to Chisinau - at least I rode one in the other direction.

Clifton

If you're not driving yourself, Sighisoara may not be your best bet for your 4 days in Romania.

Don't get me wrong, it's a cool place, but pretty small. And it's a great base for seeing some of the local walled churches of Transylvania, esp Biertan. But a transportation hub it isn't. Actually, Romania doesn't really have a great network. But maybe think about splitting the time between Sighisoara and Sibiu (which I think is about the most interesting city in RO)

Oh and since you got all that time on your hands, do some reading on Bucovina and the Painted Monasteries. See if they suit you. Probably the most unique thing in Romania, but pretty far away from the Brasov-Sighisoara-Sibiu train line loop.
Maybe Maramures too, if you want to see people still dressing from the middle ages while they farm with wooden rakes and horsecarts and it not be a gimmicky, made for tourist put-on. But I have no idea how to get up there by bus. I am pretty sure there's no train.

Clifton

Ah, just read some of your replies. So it's not a new idea, so I'm seconding or thirding the Bucovina/Suceava area/monasteries reco.

viking

Don't rush from Hvar to a long stay in Dubrovnik... do island hopping by at least overnighting in Korcula. You may think this messes up your infrequent ferry schedule, but there are little known minor ferrys that you can link together (or even stitch part by bus). Or take one of the many small boats that do a leisurely several day cruise between Split and Dub.

Don't shortchange Diocletian palace in Split!!!! A good chunk of time there is a must <b>especially off peak uncrowded times like dawn</b>. Do not be diverted by folks with little imagination who were put off by the superficial touristic overlay in the thick of a day. Also Korcula has more historic &quot;meat&quot; than Hvar town (which is a small yuppie port, not as &quot;hip&quot; as reported).

MilenaM

Both Suceava and Iasi are cities, Iasi being the city where the royalty went during the war, also housing a large University. In both of these cities you do not run the risk of sleeping on a train station bench, since there are varied accomodations, some even expensive. Look at the daily train schedule and have it with you when you go from place to place. If in trouble and lucky enough to find a young Romanian who speaks English, you can ask them to call the train station for you, they all know the number.

TylerTraveler

I finally finished all of my updates from the last 2 months in Eastern Europe and Ireland so I thought that I would stop in and say thank you so much for all of your awesome help! I cannot tell you how much easier you guys make travel planning!! I love Fodorites! =)

I have pictures and reports up from Ireland now too.

Enjoy!

Trip reports:

http://tylernofziger.com/messageboar...forum.php?f=32

Pictures:

http://tylernofziger.com/messageboar...forum.php?f=33

lostinlatvia

I think 2 days for lithuania are perfect. Make sure you take the little trip out to Trakai when you're in vilnius. Even if you don't go inside the castle, just being there is beautiful.

Tallinn's nice - 1 day is enough for me though.

And good choice on 1 day in Riga - there's really nothing to see in Riga that you won't already see in Lithuania and Tallinn.

irishface

Tyler, really enjoying your report. Unfortunately, I will have to wait to finish reading it, but treats always get better with waiting.

Thanks for your comments about all the silver in the Vienna museum. &quot;like being in an antique shop&quot;. I have always disliked displays of silver or housewares all lined up in cases, but could not explain it as well as you did.

saige

I also highly recommend the painted monestaries of Bucovina, an incredible and unique UNESCO world heritage site. We've been to Romania twice, renting a flat in Brasov for a month as a travel base on the second trip. If you have specific questions for this part of your trip, I'd be happy to respond.

TylerTraveler

Thanks for your comments!

Yea I was really impressed with Vilnius. If Tallinn was a small Prague, Vilnius is a small Vienna... though I think that both of those comparisons are a stretch. We had a few nights in Tallinn and while I think that it would have been too much if we didn't know anyone there, it was perfect because we had met a Couchsurfer there to spent some time giving us a fantastic tour of the city.

We did make it out to Trakai and really enjoyed just relaxing at the lake. The castle wasn't open but we didn't really care... it was still nice to spend hours just wandering around.

I like Latvia and think it has a lot to offer... I've spent about 2 months there over 3 trips... but just cannot recommend Riga. I you do go to Riga though, there are a couple fun day trips and a really interesting, and massive, indoor/outdoor market.

Thanks Irishface! Yea I'm just not a huge fan of gawdy shows of gold/silver/wealth... After seeing so much poverty in all of these countries and in Cambodia it just makes me angry to see hoarded wealth.

You know, Romania is still kind of special in my eyes... I see it as a very unique country with SO much to see and so much to experience, but it seems like they aren't really capitalizing on their potential. The whole Dracula thing is a gold mine but they half-heartedly promote that aspect of their tourism. I do agree that there are a million things to see beyond the Dracula stuff, but I still think that it's underutilized. Romania might be a good spot to rent a car in retrospect. We had a great time with our car in Ireland!

Clifton

The car did make things a lot easier in Romania now that you mention it.

Don't get them started on the Dracula thing too much though. There were plans to build a Dracula themed amusement park in Sighisoara... not sure that wouldn't have been taking things a little too far. I do wish we'd have had time to make the climb up to Poenari though (the real Dracula's castle)