We arrived in Sighisoara, Transylvia, today. It’s really pretty, the old town is tiny and very cute. We’re going on a walking tour in half an hour. Tonight we’re going to cook in the hostel, which is actually pretty exciting – we can eat whatever we want, without being limited to what’s on the menu.
The food has generally been pretty good, though I’ve had salad cravings. I haven’t had to eat fried cheese and bread once (so far).
If you’re ever travelling around Europe by train, this German railways site is fantastic for timetables, routes, etc – you can’t book tickets in Eastern Europe but the times are always right and it tells you how long and how many changes each option has.

Min and I arrived in Brasov yesterday. The name of this place lends itself to bad puns – bras off, brush off (the two may be related), apparently the town also has something to do with Dracula. However the locals appear not to appreciate bad Sesame Street Count-style laughing.
We managed to get Moldovan visas (transit, but we might have been able to get tourist visas too) and today we bought train tickets from Bucharest to Chisinau, so we’re actually going there! We’ll travel overnight on the 15th and be in Odessa, Ukraine, by the 17th, so it’ll be a really quick visit to Moldova/Transdniestr.
There’s not much on the internet about the visas, so if you’re looking for information on Moldovan visas in Bucharest, Romania, you can get one in a day at the Moldovan Consulate, 8 B-dul Eroilor (very near the corner of B-dul Eroilor and B-dul Mihail Kogalniceanu (Kogaliniceanu?), take the metro to Eroilor or bus 123 from Gara de Nord. There’s a pub on the corner where you can celebrate when you get your visa.
You’ll need a photocopy of your passport to show the bank when you pay for the visa, or they’ll yell at you. They might yell at you anyway, they seem to like doing it.

It turns out that I’m staying right around the corner from the first place I stayed in Istanbul. No wonder it all looked so familiar.
I’ve done nothing so far today but chill out in my room, have a shower, watch stupid TV and relax. I’m going to have a coffee now and figure out what I want to see and do – perhaps pay a visit to the Blue Mosque, one of my favourite buildings in the world. There’s a little kid behind me which is hampering my search for ‘lesbian bars istanbul’.

The train is so much nicer when you’ve got a sleeper. I was incredibly excited by everything – the comfy seats, the bed, the little basin, the little Turkish State Railways soap… I was probably very easily pleased because I’d sent two weeks living with 100 people in a crowded dig house, but it was still all very lovely.
The weather is in the 30s but not as hot as Konya, which has been in the 40s.
My train to Bucharest leaves at 10pm tomorrow night so I’ve got until then to explore Istanbul again.
It’s weird being back, especially around Sultanahmet. Istanbul hasn’t changed much, but I guess I have because a lot has happened in the six years since I was last here.

I leave site tomorrow. I’m hot, dusty, covered in bites (mostly mosquito), tired, and I’m looking forward to a room by myself and food that doesn’t have to serve 100 people, but I’m still really sad to be leaving tomorrow.
I should be in Istanbul by Saturday morning, then on Sunday night I head to Bucharest, passing through Bulgaria. I hope I actually end up in Bucharest, the agency I booked the ticket through seem a little vague about exactly when and where the train goes after Bulgaria. I’ve always wanted to go to Serbia but not on this trip.
It’s been really busy, too much to do as always, but the work is such a brilliant challenge that I’ll miss it when I’m gone. I’ll be working on things after the season finishes but it’s never quite the same.
It’s been quite hot, 40C on the mound. Have taken some photo and video but no idea when I’ll get to put them online.

Hard to believe my first week is over. So much to do, but I was determined to get into Konya to have a proper day off, get some groceries, go the hammam and just generally get off the site.
Nothing unusual to report. Organising stuff to travel around the Ukraine has taken so much more time than I actually have, which is a bit of a bummer. Hopefully we’re getting there now, at this stage I don’t really care what I do as long as I can get to Lviv in time to get to Krakow and I don’t get thrown off any trains for not having the right visa.
I’m going to have lunch with a bunch of people from site near the Mevlana museum then do some shopping. It’s amazing how exciting grocery shopping seems right now! The food on site is pretty good, but I miss variety.

Have a nasty cold but at least I haven’t got the bug that’s going around – it doesn’t last long but it involves nastiness from either end while it does.
It’s hard to believe it’s six weeks until I’ll be back in London. I have my Big Chill flip flops from last year and I’ll try to remember to wear them when it’s on. I think I’ll be back in Istanbul by then, on my way to Bucharest, with any luck.

Marrakech was amazing.
We got lost in the souks, went to the locals hammam, ate some really lovely meals, stayed in a lovely riad (possibly the loveliest place I’ve ever stayed), saw the museum and the madrassa, went on a trip to the Atlas Mountains, and relaxed in the jacuzzi.
Oh, and we totally rocked the Kasbah. We also did the Funky Cold Medina but that’s best left a mystery.

Oh dear. I’ve just discovered there’s a country called the Republic of Dagestan. That explains where my little brother came from.
It would be wrong to want to visit there just because of the name, wouldn’t it? (Says the woman who’s trying to get to Moldova to find the ‘real’ Molvania).