Until the mid-1990, Wieliczka Salt Mine, just outside Krakow had produced table salt since the 13th century. Today it's one of the area's major tourist attractions. A four-hundred or so step staircase takes you into the bowels of the mine where a massive underground cathedral sits. Its walls are adorned with carvings that appear to be paintings, but like everything else in the mine they're made from solid granite-like rock salt. The cathedral appears ...

Belgrade is by far the scariest city I've ever visited. We pulled into a train station on the outskirts of town. I needed to use the toilet. The doors to them were locked so I walked into the dining car and asked a gun-toting man in uniform for assistance. Without lifting his eyes from the morning news he started barking orders in the opposite direction. I could tell by the tone and the number of words he was using that much of what he was saying was expletiv...

The escalators into the bowels of Sofia rail station haven't worked for years. You can tell by the thick rust build up on them. Dimly lit, cold and dirty...and scary, that's Sofia's rail station. Ellen and I looked at one another, both wanting to say "Let's get the hell out of here." But there was no point in saying it. Leaving wasn't an option. The northbound train headed towards Budapest that we had gotten off left ten minutes earlier and wa...

Spy movie theme music began to play in my head as I boarded the train at Sirkeci station in Istanbul. My sleeper compartment was just like the one James Bond had in the movie "From Russia with Love". Distinctive red and cream coloured arborite paneling on the compartment walls gave it that swank 60's look. Black and white checkerboard vinyl floor tiles accentuated the atmosphere. And I was on the exact same route; Istanbul to Zagreb. Perhaps the best fight sc...

Lira is the currency of Turkey. There's a big Y on the banknotes and for some reason I started calling them Yentils.On the way to Sofia Bulgaria, I asked Ellen to read a few of my notes. When I finished she asked "Aren't you going to write something nice about Cappadocia?""Well I guess I should." I replied. "Our room nestled in the side of the cave was wonderful. The air was so clean and fresh. And the fairy chimneys were magnificent." I fiddled with pen...