Ilmenau

With big and heavy backpacks we start our journey on a Sunday after lunch. Going by carsharing to Basel.
Basel

First stop in Basel, were we've stayed with my Dad and Mercedes for a few days.
Zürich

Daytrip to this nice city
Geneva

Visited Ali's friends and ex-work colleagues. He showed me around many places and one day we went for a bike and hiking tour to Mt. Saleve
Milano

Couchsurfing in Milano with Guiliano. Visited the World Expo and some great sightseeing spots as well as China town.
Venice

Stayed with Maria from AirBnB in Padova and did a day trip to Venice.
Ljublijana

Even if we just had a few hours to spend in Ljubljana we've managed to see the castle and had a good lunch before going onto Zagreb by bus.
Zagreb

Did AirBnB again with a nice couple. We've visited a Museum for Modern Art which had a slide. The next day we went to the Museum of Broken Relationships. The rest of the time we've walked around a lotRead more
Belgrade

This city really surprised me in a good way. I can just recommend it to everyone to visit. It has a huge fort, busy market and the best ice cream ever!
Skopje

Interesting city with many road traffic constructions. We rented a whole apartment for ourselves and got good help to find it from our carsharing driver :)
Sofia

Here we stayed with a wonderful couchsurfing family. During the daytime we walked around the city and its parks and monuments. In the evening we could enjoy a tasty homemade meal :) The whole cityRead more
Mount Buzludzha

Together with Ivelina and her family we went by car to the countryside. Here we explored an abandonned building from the communist time. We then took a nightbus to go onto the next adventure.
Istanbul

We got the chance to stay in the shared flat with the boyfriend of my friend Elif even though she was in Japan during this time. Istanbul is wonderful, I especially like the less touristy Asian sideRead more
Ankara

Our next stop in Turkey was Ankara. Here we had another great couchsurfing experience with a nice family. It was a little rainy, but we enjoyed the food and sights anyway ;)
Trabzon

Just a small city close to the border of Georgia. We had some more good food and walked around the market streets. Trabzon is famous for its special bread. And this was election time in Turkey...Read more
Batumi

On the bus to Batumi we would meet our travel buddy for the next few weeks: Killian from France.
Actually we all came to Batumi to get our visas for Azerbaijan. This took a week and so after two daysRead more
Kutaisi

Just a quick stop for 1 night in a little hotel. We've tried some Russian food and got hunted by some dogs. I don't know why, but they are always more interested in Ali than in me
Tbilisi

Met up again with Killian with some nice food and drinks. Next day we've walked around the city, where a marathon was going on.
Baku

Went by overnight train to Baku. It was a long ride (4.30pm to 10am), but I slept well.
In Baku we had to wait for our ship to Aktau (Kazakhstan). As we decided not to take the ship on the next day weRead more
Caspian Sea

With Killian and a Russian girl called Lena who we've shared a cabin with on the cargo ship. We were the only tourists there and so the boat crew took good care of us. We got food 3 times a day andRead more
Aktau

Here we've arrived by ship early in the morning and somehow hitchhiked into the city. There we've stayed with our couchsurfer Askar and his father in law, who prepared a tasty plov for us. After twoRead more
Astana

Finally we've arrived in Astana (the capital of Kazakhstan). All was clean and modern and we stayed in a big flat with Ali's brother and his family.
Almaty

After another 24 hours in the train, we were finally in Almaty. Our couchsurfer Ataner provided a whole flat for us, which actually was a guesthouse for clients of his company. The last two nightsRead more