Yesterday ArcticTropic boarded a train in Sofia for the 3 hour ride to Plovdiv in the south central part of Bulgaria.

Plovdiv is the oldest continually inhabited city in Europe, dating from 3000 BC. This Roman Amphitheater, was written about in this past Sunday’s New York Times. It dates from 98 A.D.

Street scene in the Old City.

A monument to the Soviet soldiers erected in 1945. They probably were not welcomed warmly since Bulgaria was on Germany’s side.

Saints of Bulgaria.

An Ottoman era house.

Though it is mid October temperatures in Bulgaria are springlike, in the upper 70s during the day.

A view from my hotel, high above the city.

This woman has seen history – has lived under Ottomans,Russians,Germans, Communists and now under a free regime.

Haggling the price down a few Stotinki.

Behind the ancient doors. Quirky wireless connection in the Hotel Lepzig here in Plovdiv makes it impossible to upload more pictures at the moment.

Sofia is one of the most religiously tolerant cites in the world, which would be a more peaceful place if their example was followed everywhere. These pictures are taken within a one block radius of each other.

Prayer Calls 5 times a day.

Alexander Nevsky Cathedral where photos were allowed.

An Oasis of Peace.

The Royal Synagogue.

It is seven hours from Belgrade to Sofia by bus, plus the clocks go ahead one hour. Leaving Belgrade at Noon , we were in Sofia in time for dinner. Bulgaria is only the last 90 minutes of the trip.

THe countryside of Southeastern Serbia is beautiful but somewhat dangerous as there is unexploded ordnance left over from bombing raids in the late 90s.

Every town has several churches.

We changed buses at the Niš bus station which was heavily damaged by American bombs in 1999.

Normally sunny Belgrade was socked in with rain and fog today. Still, the city is always great for an extended walking tour. Above, the steeple of the Belgrade Cathedral.

Orthodox Churches have no pews. They are the closest to Old Christianity. After taking this photo I was told that photography is forbidden.

A house on the Sava River.

Railroad Crossing.

Stalinist Architecture – or Titoist. From there , it was on to Kalemegdan Castle .

Kalemegdan Castle overlooks the confluence of the Danube and Sava Rivers – the most important trade and military corridor in the Balkans. It is also where the Military Museum is located.

Serbia has been at war for almost all of its’ 1000 years of history.

World War II was unimaginably brutal.

In May , 1999 a $ 2 Billion US Stealth Bomber was shot down during the Kosovo War – just outside Belgrade. The pilot forgot to put on the “invisible switch”.China ( their Embassy was bombed by the same plane) then bought the wreckage from local farmers and now have a Stealth Bomber of their own.The Serbians are extremely friendly to Americans considering the rather recent hostilities.

Entrance to the Main Castle.

Kalemegdan Castle from below.

After the ATTA convention in Lucerne, ArcticTropic flew from Zurich to Belgrade via Vienna .

Over Alpine Austria.

On the Dash 8 from Vienna to Belgrade. An extremely hard landing !

On a dark rainy night, it was great to have an excellent Serbian meal for a little more than the cost of a cup of coffee in Switzerland.

Berlin is just 4 hours from Nuremberg on a high speed bullet train across the former East Germany. The Brandenburg Gate, barricaded for years by the Soviets, is now where East and West unite.

The Reichstag is once again the seat of German Power , since the Capital returned to Berlin in 2000.

There is still a 100 meter section of the Wall. East and West are nearly indistinguishable in this area, but becomes more evident further East.

In memory of those who tried to escape.

A Communist World Clock in the Alexanderplatz.

The East German Secret Police, the Stasi, were charged with keeping an unwilling population within the clutches of Communism. All of East Germany was under survellance from everyone else- the watchers were watched by others. The Stasi prison located in Hohenschönhausen is a grim reminder of when the power of the state gets totally out of control. Hohenschönhausen itself, an area of East Berlin set aside for top Party officials and intelligence services did not even exist on maps.

There are hundreds of cells in the facility. Prisoners were held here for years for imagined and real crimes , including thoughtcrimes against the State. Interrogations went on for days at a stretch. The Stasi used very little physical torture , but they were experts at mental torture, achieving complete breakdowns in order to ge the desired confession. While the Berlin Wall fell in November,1989, prisoners here were not freed until Reunification Day on October 3,1990, finding out for the first time that the State for which so much of their lives had been wasted , existed no more.

Commie Hi-Tech.

THe Rubber Room. After several months in complete silence and darkness the victims were ready to confess to whatever crimes the Stasi told them to.

Vanished brand of a vanished nation.

In the former East Germany, on the way north from Munich to Berlin.

As I was getting ready to leave Debrecen, Hungary , I met a  group of backpackers checking into the hotel. When they found out I was going to Romania – from where they had just returned – they warned me to stock up on food – the markets there were almost empty – the only meager supplies reserved for citizens with ration cards. Though the evil Dictator Nicolae Ceaucescu and his vile wife Elena had been overthrown and executed 9 months before, Romania was still struggling to begin a market economy.

I boarded a night train from Debrecen. During the night we were awakened by the Romanian border guards who stamped a visa into my passport. Clocks were turned an hour ahead

Dawn broke over an endless wasteland of factories and slag heaps of coal.

Around 8 AM the train arrived in the beautiful Medieval town of Sighisoara, Transylvania – where Count Dracula once reigned.

My hotel – The Steara .  After walking though the desolate,beautiful streets, reminiscent of 1910, it was a culture shock to see MTV Europe on a satellite TV in the lobby – playing DJ Jazzy Jeff’s  “Parent’s Just Don’t Understand ”  – featuring spoled American teenagers riding their parent’s Cadillac through Beverly Hills.  Romanian kids certainly did not undersand – what they were complaining about.

Dinner in my room that night – with food bought in from Hungary – sardines,bread,cheese,Mongolian Vodka. Currency – Romanian Lei is on the table.

Lining up for meat.  I didn’t see any, but perhaps they were expecting a delivery.

Window shopping behind the recently collapsed Iron Curtain.

A Gypsy Woman selling wooden spoons. I was compelled to buy one after she was about to give me the Evil Eye. Most Gypsy women do not want their picture taken as it  ” Steals the Soul ”  and will cast a curse upon the photographer. I was reprieved.

Many people were reluctant to speak to foreigners. Under  Ceaucescu’s Securitate – all contact with outsiders was to be reported within 24 hours under pain of being sent to a labor camp.

FInally , some food – fresh melons.

Roma in the marketplace – mostly selling off household items for cash.

The most common form of transportation in Sighisoara. 20 years later Romania is a modern market economy, but the evils of Communism will never be forgotten. After two days in Romania, it was time to return to New York. I boarded an overnight train to Belgrade Yugoslavia , where I could not leave the station because I did not have a visa – and then on to Vienna to catch a flight Stateside.

Late on a Sunday night, I boarded at train from Krakow that would arrive in Kosice, Czechoslovakia ( now Slovakia ) the next morning. This Soviet train going from Paris to Moscow, passed by but did not pick up passengers.  I shared a compartment with construction workers – we spoke in broken German while swilling vodka the whole night. Once a bottle was opened, the cap was tossed away.

Kosice was peaceful in the early morning, though there was no place to eat or even have a coffee.

Art Deco Proletarianism.

” Truth ” for the Working Masses.

Punk Concerts – Catching up with the times.

Open discourse. This picture was actually taken in Prague.

Fresh picked harvest.

Late in the morning I boarded another train for Debrecen,Hungary. Finally,I could sit down for an excellent kitchen cooked meal.

On the vast plains near Fuzysabony, Hungary. The flat lands stretch thousands of kilometers eastward to the Urals.