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Originally Posted by xxxEmma
Anyone done rail travel from Bucharest, Romania into Istanbul, Turkey? That's my next route.
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I went from Istanbul to Sofia, Bulgaria then Sofia to Bucharest. The train trips were pretty sketchy and fairly confusing but if you ask lots of people lots of questions it's no problem.
At the Turkey/Bulgaria border no one told me I had to get out to get my passport stamped (most places the passport people came onto the train). So me and a guy I met from Austria, the only people in our train car, had to get out of the train and walk across the tracks, climb onto the platform and go into the building to get stamped. Not a real problem, and I'm sure they wouldn't have let us go without stamps but it was odd that you're supposed to know to climb across the tracks when you arrive at some random station.
I also was warned about Romanian gypsy's on the trains. A lot of people told me to keep my bags near me, locked and don't fall asleep. For the first few hours a guy around my age joined me in my train cabin and talked and talked and talked. Although, it was pretty much a game of charades because neither of us spoke a common language. I'm guessing this dude was a gypsy but I couldn't be sure. After a long "conversation" he started asking me about my ticket. At this point I became very reserved and made sure to keep it near me. When we got to the border him and his family had to get out of the train in the middle of nowhere and start walking. From what I gather, they were trying to get to Greece, didn't have passports or the proper paperwork and were put on a train to be sent back to Romania. The guy was nice and all but I think he wanted to buy my ticket or something so he could get home.
I dealt with a pretty hilarious group going from Romania to Serbia. I was sitting in the window seat of a train cabin and 2 huge old women get into the cabin and try to get me to move seats. I refused at first cause I wanted the window but eventually they gave me so many sandwiches, cakes, cookies and chocolate that I was cool with moving heh. As soon as I move they start moving package after package into the cabin. Hiding them under seats, in overhead compartments and on the seats. The cabin was literally packed with these packages then they sit down with their huge trench coats trying to cover them up. The whole 11 or so hour ride they showered me with food. Every time they pulled something new out to eat they offered it to me and refused to take no for an answer. Finally we get to the border and the border guard comes in. They start spouting off something to him and hand him a big wad of cash. He looks in the cabin, ignores all the packages and leaves. I then later hear them talking about something in Romanian and the only word I can understand is 'mafia'. Eventually we get to Belgrade and they unload everything and leave. On the way out of Serbia I met a guy on the train from the States who'd been living in Serbia for 15 years and said they were probably smuggling cigarettes.
The trains are pretty shitty but totally worth it for the stories you'll get from your journey. I've attached a picture of the "lightswitch" in one of the trains I was on. These were the first class cars too, I can't imagine what the coach cars were like.
Anyways, I sorta got carried away there. If you have any questions about taking those trains, feel free to PM me.
Jul 30, 06
