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Train travel in the Balkans may not
be pleasant. I received this message
from an Australian traveler who went
from Istanbul to Sofia and
Belgrade by train. It was not
a pleasant experience:
"Hello Tom,
Recently [late 2008] my girlfriend
and I decided to be adventurous and
book a rail ticket from Istanbul
to Sofia.
At the station there was a language
barrier between us and the person
activating the booking whose english
language was very limited. I would
like to point out a few tips
for any future traveller wanting
to take this course of travelling.
"1.
After speaking to our hotel they
assisted in explaing to the station
personal what was required. We wanted 1st
class tickets and sleeping
compartment.
"Well we paid 1st
class but got what everyone else got
...compartments unclean, no
food/drinks to
be bought on the train and travelled
4-1/2 hours longer.
"2. Be prepared to
alight your train at 3 am for passport
control. You literally had
to climb over rail tracks and climb
up to the platform and wait around
for 45 mins until your passport was
returned and then return to your compartment
to be sighted by the officials before
heading off again.
"3. The Bulgarians
passport control personal came on board
and sighted us in our compartments.
"Once in Sofia beware of
people with ID tags representing "tourist" information
helpers as we found out they were not.
"Again
communication problems with staff in
booking our onward journey to Belgrade,
"1.
1st class tickets really do
not exist but
they are willing to accept the money.
"2.
No heating on the train nor food/drinks
to be bought
"3. Another 3 hours
added on to the original ETA [Estimated
Time of Arrival].
"We spoke to several people from the
train of different age groups and all
of same opinion.
"I am writing to you
just to let you know that the
train from Istanbul to Belgrade is
definitely not the way to travel.
Overall we still had a great trip elsewhere."
(The exception to this sort of experience
is the Dostluk/Filia Express, the nightly
sleeper train between Istanbul and
Thessaloniki, Greece. —Tom
Brosnahan. More...)
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