Zejecar

An awesome little town in Serbia near the Bulgarian border. I made some new friends, climbed a weird monument, and learned about Yugoslavian cars and hyperinflation. Decorating the wall of a hotel is this collection of Yugoslav banknotes including the infamous 500,000,000,000 Dinar banknote, truly one of most worthless currencies ever.

RallyVida

Crossing through Bulgaria on my way to Serbia I stumbled upon a rally in the town of Vidin. I don't know if this was a super special stage or the whole rally. A doctor who had come to watch his son race gave me a lift to the Serbian border.

The monastery of Horezu

The changing of the bogies

At the border with Romania the trains have to swap bogies from the 1520mm Soviet broad gauge to the 1435mm standard gauge. The same process is also done at the border between Mongolia and China. The cars are separated, lifted up on jacks and the bogies rolled out from beneath us. The new bogies are rolled under, attached, and the cars are reconnected.

Back in the U.S.S.R.

The Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic, aka Transnistria, fought a war of independence from Moldova in 1992. Since then it has existed as a de facto independent state, unrecognized by the UN or any other countries. It makes a fun day trip from Moldova as long as you stand your ground with the border guards and don't give them any money.

day in the life... Special Feature: The world's most worthless money Part 2

Transnistrian Rubles actually are reasonably denominated and suffer from just 10% annual inflation, however they make the list for the simple fact that the country doesn't officially exist! I've been to many countries where the guide books and the locals tell you that their currency is worthless outside the country, but you can always find some trader in Dubai who is willing to buy your Afghanis or your Sri Lankan rupees at a good rate. If you've got Transnistrian Rubles however you are out of luck.

Orthodox Easter

Ever wonder about the real traditions behind holidays perverted by our capitalist consumer culture? A real Easter basket holds specially baked bread and other items to be blessed on Easter Sunday, not plastic eggs and chocolate bunnies.



The cloth covering the basket had been in the owners family for over two hundred years!






Everyone lines up in front of the church before dawn, the contents of their Easter baskets spread out before them.



A procession exits the church.






And the priest blesses the food with holy water



The easter feast.