Travel journal - Les pérégrinations de Julien

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Monday 30 January 2012

Monday 30 January 2012, 13:11

Another Life In Belgrade

Cours de dessin à l'Inex, Beograd

Another Life In Belgrade — 29th of January

Some quick news, mostly for people who do not follow the facebook page.

Belgrade exploration is underway. The month has been quite busy.
I am living out of the Inex Film squat with Florian, though two nice people from here invite us to sleep at their place everytime they can.
Starting to know quite a number of hidden places in Belgrade. I'm a bit lacking on mainstream ones though.
Looking for a flat in the center. Annoying. Agencies are as much thieves as they are in Paris.
I am working on new graphics for this very website, and maybe some new content as I have things to share I cannot share with this design. Expect it in a few weeks.
Got a job for three months, starting on Tuesday. Will work for groundlink, in Change Management.

So I'm building a life in Belgrade for the next three months, and that is thrill. I would be really happy to make it work. I mean, it is like a challenge, as it will allow me to prove myself I can really do it. Which I think is true, but I have to try for real to be completely convinced.

By the way, I will be able to host people starting from mid-february. So if you wanna drop by, just send me a line and we get that rolling. I'll be really happy to see you, whether I know you from before the trip or I met you on the road.

Travel journal /

Serbie

Tuesday 17 January 2012

Tuesday 17 January 2012, 21:20

Happy New Year, the squat

Inex film, salle graffiti, Beograd

Happy New Year, the squat — 3rd of January

So you thought I was dead? Well, you thought wrong! Though I went through hard times after the rescue operation. I hurt my back and got unable to move or carry anything heavier than a kilogram. We got back on the road on the 26th of December, so we can spend NYE in Beograd,

Where are we gonna sleep, blablabla… Hey what about squatting? Fire up that internet search, follow those links, track down the location, walk for 3 hours, find colorful building, say hi to people, explain your story. Shazam! Ready for the party of the year!

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Travel journal /

Serbie

Tuesday 27 December 2011

Tuesday 27 December 2011, 21:42

End Of An Adventure

Naufrage, Drina

End Of An Adventure — 18th of December

A few hours later, the weather is much more calm and we decide to take on the trip despite the dark clouds: if we don't, we will run out of food this evening. So after drying up and packing our stuff, we load the raft and leave. We won't go far: as soon as we start moving, the wind starts again, and blows laterally, pushing us towards a secondary riverbed. We can see the water current speeding up brutally and blazing through the next 50 meters, before running under a huge stump. We row as fast as we can to dodge it, but the wind is against us, and the stump rushes towards us. 50 meters… 30 meters… 10 meters…

CRASH !

We just crashed into the stump.

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Travel journal /

Friday 23 December 2011

Friday 23 December 2011, 18:26

Radeau en cale sèche, Mali Zvornik

Wide Vehicle — Wednesday, 14th of December

Back to Serbia with brand new stamps in my passport, so as to restart the 3-month timer. We are still looking for some way to get the raft down the hydroelectric plant. Hope is dying slowly and we decide to burn our last cartridge — though not least — before we leave on foot: we remeber that in the police office we had our bags searched at, they told us to let them know if we needed anything. Well, we do and as crazy as it may sound, it is worth a try.

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Travel journal /

Saturday 10 December 2011

Saturday 10 December 2011, 13:45

Descente en radeau, jour 2, Drina

Down the Drina

We eventually get to put the raft in the river. It is much heavier than we expected, and we fear we might have underestimated the required buyoancy. We are already imagining the worst possible scenario, the raft sinking as a stone as soon as we release it. Fortunately, no such thing happens, and we get on without any trouble. People wave at us from the shore. Someone yells: “I can't believe you did it”.

After three weeks in Bajina Bašta, we are on the road — that is, on the river — again.

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Travel journal /

Friday 9 December 2011

Friday 9 December 2011, 21:24

People of Bajina Bašta

Le samedi soir, Bajina Bašta

People of Bajina Bašta

Our stay in Bajina Bašta led us to meeting many people. Amongst them, a few let special memories, and this is about them. Trust me, you do not want to miss Père Castor, last in the article but certainly not least.

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Travel journal /

Friday 9 December 2011, 14:27

Do-it-yourself in Bajina Bašta

Soulagement, Vardište

Do-it-yourself in Bajina Bašta

November 13th, 2011, end of afternoon. Florian and I, having spent a cool night with a sympathetic family somewhere in the north-western countryside of Užice, just realize we took a wrong turn a few kilometers before. We missed the turn that would have led us to the small village called Rogaćica. After a quick talk, we decide to go on and walk to the next town instead, namely Bajina Bašta.

We reach the center of Bajina Bašta about two hours later, after an exhausting walk on the main road. We have a quick tea, then go looking for a place with cheap food. This is the time we made the encounter that would lead us to staying in Bajina Bašta for 3 weeks. Igor, about 30, and his son show us a good place for cheap food, and somewhere we can set up our tent at. Having thanked them, we agree on meeting the next day. Then, we go sleeping, for our first night in the town.

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Travel journal /

Monday 28 November 2011

Monday 28 November 2011, 17:56

Serbian countryside

Serbian countryside, November 13th

Back on the road, with Florian. Who is Florian? Well, he's a future businessman or whatever serious stuff he's studying. But he really wanted a break, so he took a year off, to roam through Europe. We should travel together until March or so. Balkan girls beware the two French adventurers!

At the end of the first day, we see the monastery of Dobrun. Time for a break! The initial building dates back to the fourteenth century, but was completely destroyed under the Ottoman empire. Most of what can see today is less than 200 years old.

Anyway, less talk, more pics for that article, here we go.

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Travel journal /

Wednesday 23 November 2011

Wednesday 23 November 2011, 16:57

Višegrad and Sarajevo

Having left Benoît and Alex in Ustiprača, I reach Višegrad alone. It is a nice, small town, though mostly dead once I have seen and crossed the famous Bridge over Drina. I still have to stay there for a couple of days though, as I am waiting for another traveller, with whom I will travel for a while. I use this time to enjoy the slow pace of the town, and talk with the 3, maybe 4 people who speak English. Mostly young people. They are cool, and even help me find a place to sleep at: a former hotel, now slowly rotting on the top of a hill.

I happen to wander around in the market someday, and encounter a woman who asks me what religion I believe in…

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Travel journal /

Bosnie-Herzégovine

Thursday 17 November 2011

Thursday 17 November 2011, 09:47

Romanija, many meetings

Tunnel 0 - 1 travellers

Romanija, many meetings

I leave Sarajevo on Thursday, 27th of October. The weather is gray, and so is the mood as I already miss its shops and streets and… But I am meeting another traveller in Višegrad in a couple of days, and this is a good 120 kilometers walk. Actually, I am a bit scared that after those three weeks in the same place I might not be able to walk all that in time. Also, the weather is getting quite cold, and I have to cross Romanija, a very impressive patchwork of mountains and gorges and small, narrow valleys swept by icy winds. It is said to be really beautiful though, the most dramatic gorge being almost 1000m-high, with the Drina river winding in its depths. I am thinking about all this when someone calls me as I am about to get round a closed tunel.

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Travel journal /

Saturday 12 November 2011

Saturday 12 November 2011, 09:13

Sarajevo – Thursday, October 27th

Sarajevo. This city has somewhat of a legend status to me. One of the main civilisation crossing points, a place that has seen exchange and hatred through centuries. It is also a city I have heard about again and again in throughout my childhood, dreadful news on the tv. Said to be the pearl of the country, it sustained a multiple-year siege, a tremendous 4-million-shell hell backed up by snipers aiming at a simple goal: wiping the city.

Nowadays, the city still bears the scars of the violence in people's mind. They are also present everywhere but in the very center of the town, a dramatic view for the traveller entering the city from its south-western border.

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Travel journal /

Thursday 10 November 2011

Thursday 10 November 2011, 17:28

Mostar

Mostar – October 2nd

A few quick words about Mostar. Unfortunatley, still no photo as I only replaced the batteries in Sarajevo (next post!). Blahblahblah, this city used to be a nice melting pot of the three ethnies of the country, until the war came. Then, massacres and forced population moves built a line, splitting the city in a muslim half and a Croatian half. That's it for the history lecture, I don't want to turn my website into some sort of Wikipedia suburb.

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Travel journal /

Bosnie-Herzégovine

Tuesday 1 November 2011

Tuesday 1 November 2011, 18:27

Into Bosnia and Hercegovina

Saturday, 1st

This is very likely the last entry with using that formatting. It is a pain to write, and I guess it must be a pain to read then. More about that below. Anyway, last entry stopped somewhere around Ploče (say 'plotshey'), in Croatia:

Left near a service station by my driver, I do a quick hitchhiking attempt, but I actualy want to walk so I quit the attemps after less than 20 minutes. Here, the landscape changes slowly: there are less and less cars, and the road leaves the shore to go visit some small villages in the countryside. Then, a bit after Opuzen, it stars climbing up the hills that make the bulk of the natural barrier between Croatia and Neum, the only Bosnian coastal town.
The view is unbelievable.

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Travel journal /

Sunday 2 October 2011

Sunday 2 October 2011, 16:41

Avertissement, Stolac

Bad dream

Translation available!

Here, mountains are not green or gray. Here, mountains display a patchwork of browns and ocre, with that occasional green sparkle when a few trees set out on a war against the burnt herbs growing between the rocks. This is not a friendly landscape anymore. Here, the land is wild and proud to be.

I climb a last hill. As I walk through the last few meters, a huge valleys seems to unroll in front of me.

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Travel journal /

Bosnie-Herzégovine

Sunday 2 October 2011, 16:23

Lever de soleil sur Rab, Lopar

Thursday, 29th

Finally a wifi connection that does not drop every minute. I managed to upload my last photos (remember, no more photos 'till I buy new batteries.

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Travel journal /

croatie

Saturday 1 October 2011

Saturday 1 October 2011, 08:35

Basic news of Croatia

Thursday, 29th

Days may come and go, but they all look different, and this makes me forget about updating the website. Not to mention my calera is out of battery and I won't be able to buy new ones before a few days. What about using the bullet list format again? I think last post stopped when I reached Zadar.

The old city of Zadar is a great place. It is a bit too much touristic for me, but manages to keep it organised enough not to sink in the crowd. The heart of the city is made of narrow streets and a couple of large avenues, inside a big city wall that goes around the island. One of the wide sides is left without wall though, allowing for nice walks in the shadows of the trees of a small park. Also, no hotels in the heart of the town only shops and mostly houses. I think this is what allows it to keep its soul despite the tourists.

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Travel journal /

Monday 19 September 2011

Monday 19 September 2011, 09:04

First time, thumbs up

Raising the thumb, September 16th

I already had had a few short lifts, offered by the occasional nice person seeing me struggling with my backpack in the middle of nowhere, under the rain or in unmanly temperatures. Despite those, I still feel quite anxious as I set out to the nearby crossing after two hours of delaying this moment in a small bar of Biograd. My first experience of true hitchhiking, that is state of the art with the thumb up, pointing towards distances for which walking just is not an option, looking for incoming cars.

This is a somewhat elusive moment, like the first time having sex.

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Travel journal /

Monday 12 September 2011

Monday 12 September 2011, 08:30

News from Zadar

Aube sur Rijeka, Opatija

Saturday, 10th

Hey!

Sorry for the lack of news, but it starts being a bit hard to keep up. I have a hard time finding hotspots, especially on the Croatian islands where they are not free. And on the other hand i have so much to tell, I cannot really do much more than a raw list of the latest events:

I met a cool guy in Slovenia, who invited me for a few beers and gave me a lift to the Croatian border.
I had my passport checked 5 times in half a day in Croatia. Looks like the police does not like backpacks or something.
On two of those checks I was offered cannabis. I could not work out whether it is a local business or a trick.

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Travel journal /

Sunday 11 September 2011

Sunday 11 September 2011, 17:44

Sleeping on the Island

Place centrale, Trieste

Tuesday, 29th: Island of Trieste

After I completed my quest at Aurisinia, I met a few inhabitants, who managed to find me a calm place where I could have a nice night: the gardend of the priest's house, where he does not actually live. I then went to the post for a last check. Turned out even them are unable to locate the numbers in the city. Isn't that a real mess? Whatever, let's get to Trieste!

Long road, but nice. Actually, walking to Aurisina led me quite high in the mountains, to an altitude of about 400m. Those 400m now sudddenly unfold in front of me as a big cliff diving to a wonderful view over Trieste. So wonderful and from so far, it took me two hours to get there. Trieste really is a nice city.

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Travel journal /

italie

Saturday 3 September 2011

Saturday 3 September 2011, 15:44

Looking for Laura

Slept well near the road, thanks to the earplugs. Those a really one of the best inventions since the explosion engine! heading to Trieste now, 25km means big day when the thermometer is so high. I leave before the sunset. I'm going at a decent pace when I encounter a yellow exclamation mark in my way! A quest! Well actually, a guy I met on World of Warcraft a long time ago just got in touch after all this time so... Well anyway, I find an id card on the side of the road. Laura M, born in 1979, recently lost her card. She lives in... not too far. Okay, it will get me late to Trieste, but I cannot really get late for I have no schedule so... quest accepted, that's adventure!

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Travel journal /

italie

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