Subotica is pretty small, which is good because I only have about 18 hours here. It's very picturesque and about 5-10 square blocks. At least all the sights are within that area. The main/only draw is the architecture, which is very pretty. If Candy Land had a city, I think it would look like this. The buildings look like cakes. One of the main reasons I came here was to see the Subotica Synagogue, which is no longer in use, but was the first building in the city to have the Candy Land architecture (the real name is Hungarian Art Nouveau). It was built in 1901-1902. It's a nice building and really different from Synagogues in the States or in the Middle East.
Apparently there are plans to restore the Synagogue and make it into a museum or landmark.
Next time I ask the hostel whether it's better to go by bus or by train, I'm going to get a second opinion.
After a 9 hour train ride (as opposed to a 4 hour bus ride), I made it to Subotica. The train was interesting. It was really really slow, but I got to see more of the Serbian countryside, which I suppose has its pluses. As soon as the train pulled into the station - all 2 cars - I had a feeling this was going to be a long trip. A nice lady who teaches at a university in Belgrade helped me get to the train - she was going to the halfway point between Belgrade and Subotica. Most of the people - especially the younger generations - speak some English which is nice, and they are really helpful or at least willing to be helpful. But all the signs on the train station are in Cyrillic, at least my one day of Russian at Brandeis is coming in handy!
The train is a single gauge train. I have no idea what that means other than it's really, really slow. And it stops all the time to let faster trains go by. Chalk it up to an experience.
I really liked Serbia! I was kind of surprised. From the airport, you drive over the Danube and all the building are lit up at night so it's really pretty. It's also a pretty welcome change from the Middle East. After spending 6ish weeks travelling in a concentrated area, everything started to look the same. Minarets, mosques, roads, apartments, architecture. They all blend together. But coming to Serbia which is really equidistant from Istanbul as Jerusalem, you get something totally different and totally European.
Belgrade has a great walking street and there is a lot of activity with people out all hours of the night. I'm only spending the nights here and going to Subotica tomorrow morning - on the border of Hungary.
Pedestrian Street in the morning - it's usually filled with people.
Kalamegdan Park/Fortress
I did not get to the country on which I based my entire trip. Partly because of my super controlling family. Partly because maybe it was a wise decision given what is going on in the Middle East w/ Syrians, Israelis, Dubai, and the Palestinians. Does it suck that I didn't get to go? For SURE. I really wanted to go, see the Fanji synagogue, and the timing was such that I maybe could have spent Pesach with one of the oldest and most hidden Jewish communities in the world. I guess these things happen. Definitely no ideal. It put a real wrench in my plans and I had to scramble to come up with alternatives because I still have to get to Istanbul by April 9 - which, ironically, has a new travel warning (Syria doesn't) for increased anti-American activities:
U.S. citizens in Turkey should be particularly vigilant in light of the ongoing "Get Out America, This is Our Country" campaign and upcoming significant anniversaries associated with the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C), a designated terrorist organization. Actions against American and/or Turkish-American cultural and business establishments in Turkey are possible. We remind U.S. citizens to maintain a high level of vigilance and to take appropriate steps to increase their security awareness.So to make lemonade out of the lemons, I booked a last minute flight to Serbia. I'll be making may way from Serbia, through Bulgaria, to Istanbul all by April 9. I'm book-less, pretty much information-less with the exception of a series of wikitravel articles that I emailed to myself.
Should be interesting.
Jerusalem is always interesting...
from Jerusalem, I went to Akko...which was sadly disappointing coming from Jerusalem. But it's still picturesque and offered some nice views of Haifa. Haifa and the Ba'hai Gardens were nice. The Ba'Hais have a great sales pitch and some great flower manicurists, but it just seems a little too Stepford Wives. I stayed with my cousin in Tel Aviv. He has a great great location. Right next to Ha'Yarkon Park and the New Port. It was just nice to relax in someplace purely Western...though I still couldn't find Lithium Ion Batteries...and my camera has been EATING batteries
So if anyone is still following this, they can see that it's been a long while since I've updated it. Mostly because for the 2 weeks I was in Israel, I thought I was going to go to Syria, which meant that I needed to hide any connection to Israel, including pictures and blog posts...
Israel is Israel. It was nice to be there as a tourist (for the first time in about 10 years). It was more expensive than I remembered.
In Jerusalem, I stayed in a great place near Damascus Gate. Staying on the borders of the Christian and Arab quarters was interesting, but I didn't really think too much of it. There was tons of security the whole time I was there, which included the opening of the Hurva Synagogue and the "Day of Rage." But all in all it was fine. Just an interesting time to be in Jerusalem.
So I decided to cross the border from Jordan to Israel. Not a problem because both countries get along relatively well and the borders are open. The problem is that to get into Syria, I can't have anything that indicates I was in Israel (or "Occupied Palestine"). No sheckels; no luggage tags; nothing with Hebrew or a made in Israel sticker at all.
A lot of travelers get around this by having immigration stamp a separate piece of paper. This way it looks like you never went into Israel and you can still get into Syria. I was a little nervous because I thought it relied on too many people bending the rules. And I still think so, but it made more sense for me to go to Israel now rather than fly from Turkey to Israel.
So I get to the Jordanian side of the border and hand over my passport making ti very clear that I don't want a stamp. The guy says no problem, and takes out a small piece of paper. No problem.
Then the shift change comes and the new guy takes my passport and has a stamp in his hand. I yell "NO stamp!" We get into a short discussion of why no stamp in the passport, and eventually he just puts it on a piece of paper.
I wasn't too worried about the Jordanian side. I didn't think they would have a problem bending the rules. It was the Israeli side I was worried about. As much as Syria doesn't want people with Israeli stamps headed into Syria, I didn't think Israeli immigration wanted to hear that I was going into Syria.
Once I got off the bus on the Israeli side, I proceeded to tell every single official looking person, whether they took my passport or not, "No stamp." It was kind of absurd. Literally everyone. Once I finally got to immigration, I handed over my passport repeating "no stamp, no stamp."
If I was going through airport security, I'm pretty sure I would have been interrogated. I was that nervous. I signed my name like a 5 year old. I got into a long discussion with Israeli immigration about why I don't want a stamp. About my travel history etc.
Eventually I got through without the stamp, but while I was waiting there, it was pretty nerve-wracking.
