"STEVO" Escapes from Transylvania!

Apologies for any delays with responding to orders and enquiries, etc. during the month of July, but as all regular clients realised, I was overseas for the month visiting Transylvania among other unusual places! The week before I flew out, orders were flowing in thick and fast from new readers of the debut edition of the very exciting "Australasian Stamps" magazine. To those new clients especially, many apologies for appearing to ignore your letters, orders, phone messages, E-Mail or faxes, but being a strictly "one man" business, this delay simply can't be helped. As usual, a mountain of mail and faxes was awaiting here to be processed, but all should be up to date by early August. One of the advantages of working a 100 hour week!

This trip was a typically "Stevo" fast moving itinerary, mostly through the old communist era "Eastern Bloc" and in total visited 11 different countries, many of which I've never been to before - a few of which VERY few Australians ever visit in fact. First the tiring KLM flight to Europe via Singapore, and a short break to recover jetlag in Amsterdam, then flew to Frankfurt, and later headed to BERLIN. The construction going on there is simply massive, getting ready to be crowned the new capital of unified Germany in the year 2000. Gigantic crane booms literally blot out the sky in many areas. A few 100 metres of the old "Berlin Wall" is all that remains of the "Cold War" days. Weeds grow on the mound under where Hitler's bunker lies ... they are not sure what to do about that site, which is very central. What WWII didn't change, this massive rebuilding program certainly will. Buildings on the old "east" side are even now in a generally very dilapidated condition, after 50 years of terrible neglect.

Onwards from Berlin, and one encounters the REAL Eastern Bloc style bureaucracy, when making the road crossing into Poland. A totally pointless 2½ hour wait at a sweltering border post, whilst the bored Poles play (slowly) with their beloved paperwork. Many 100's of trucks are formed up in a separate line, kilometres long, often waiting 2 or 3 days to receive border clearance. On then to WARSAW in Poland, which as many of you know, was largely razed to the ground in the bitter WWII fighting, bombing and recriminations. To see a film of just how obliterated this historic old city was in 1945 is quite sobering. Religion is something the Poles never lost during the ensuing period, unlike most soviet era countries, and the revered "Black Madonna" painting at Czestochowa is a national treasure.

A rather extraordinary underground "city" at the 1100 year old Wielickza salt mine even has a enormous church carved 300 feet underground, with intricate chandeliers, statues, altars, and marble like floors all fashioned entirely from various natural salts. A few hour visit to the nearby Auschwitz/Birkenau Concentration Camp complex was a highlight. The 3 camp complex is truly massive in scale, and well preserved. The ovens, railway tracks, electric fences, barracks, punishment cells, death ledgers, sentry towers etc are all still there. So too are ROOMS full of human hair, spectacles, footwear, battered suitcases, and most chilling of all, a room containing 100's of empty 1940's "ZYCLON B" poison gas canisters that caused the death of at least 75,000 Polish Catholics, and untold numbers of European gypsies, and Jews.

On to KRAKOW Poland, a once pretty city, but which also suffered extensive war damage, and what one sees now is mostly rebuilt. The Polish ZLOTY currency was recently revalued. A 100,000z note purchased a beer, whereas a meal for 2 cost around 1,000,000 zloty. They simply have lopped off the last 4 zeros, so a beer now costs only 10 "new" Zloty, although both types of notes are still in wide circulation. What a system!

Driving from Poland, one crosses newly independent SLOVAKIA en-route to Hungary. Now literally the only "true" Communist governed state in Europe since their last election, the total split from Czech Republic in 1993 doesn't seem now to have been such a bright idea, with high inflation, and exports down dramatically. Slovakia is a mountainous and densely wooded part of the world, and as yet, not at all "westernised". I did however see a "McDonalds" - those places are now everywhere on the globe, even in Romania and Bulgaria. Into Hungary, and to the quite beautiful city of BUDAPEST. The "Buda" town is high on a hill, separated by the Danube from the oh-so-flat "Pest" part of the city.

Suffering fairly minimal WWII damage Budapest is quite a pretty place to visit, and is surprisingly tree lined. Then a few days leaving the old eastern bloc areas, and into VIENNA Austria brings home with a shock what the words "hard currency" really mean! The Schilling ranks up there in super strength with the Swiss Franc. A Vienna coffee at an outdoor cafe leaves no change from $10 - that is more than a teacher's weekly wage in nearby Bulgaria for instance. The quite massive Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna covers a few 100 acres of manicured gardens, the world's first Zoo, Butterfly House etc. Quite decadent, inside and out , but a reminder of a grand era and the "glory days" of the Hapsburgs, and the powerful Austro-Hungarian Empire. The efficiency and organisation of the Austrians, especially after spending time in other Eastern Bloc nations is quite apparent, even though these are all adjoining small countries.

From Vienna, the bank manger will be glad to hear it was back to "soft currency" territory again, and into the Czech Republic, across the farmlands of Bohemia and Moravia to PRAGUE, one of the architectural "jewels" of Europe. Largely untouched by wartime bombs, it really has the historical charm of Florence, and grand old buildings to equal those found in Leningrad/St. Petersburg, and old Prague is seen to best advantage on a cruise down the River Vltara. The flight from Prague to BUCHAREST in Romania was on a Czech Airlines russian made Tupelov 134 plane, designed to seat midgets it would appear. It is unfair to refer to Romania as a Third World country ... FOURTH world is far more accurate!! My suite at the alleged "5 Star" Bucharest Inter Continental Hotel would barely rate 2 stars anywhere else.

The quarter century reign of dictator terror by Nicolae and Elena CEAÇESCU came to a bloody end in 1989. Some $US470 million has apparently yet to be located in Swiss bank accounts. Ceauçescu ordered the construction of the MASSIVE "House Of The Republic", literally THE largest building in all Europe, using 20,000 workers and soldiers. It remains empty - no-one ever moved in. The wide tree lined Champs Elysées style boulevards that lead to it required major demolition of miles of historic buildings. I just had to make the 260k round trip to visit the 600 y.o. BRAN ("Dracula") Castle in the Transylvanian countryside, of Vlad The Impaler fame. ( Historical Note: Prince Vlad Tepes -"Dracula" was a REAL 15th Century prince, who rather unfairly got his nickname, simply because he used to greatly enjoy impaling live Turk captives on sharp stakes!) On the way back, visited the very pretty Romanian ski resort area of Poiana Brasov ....... Aussie ski buffs will wince to learn a weekly ski lift pass costs $15, versus $300 at Thredbo or Jindabyne in Australia!

The countryside in Romania and Bulgaria was often rather primitive - terrible roads, and horses, carts and donkeys were commonly used to haul goods and farm produce. The grand idea to catch a train from Romania, to SOFIA Bulgaria sounded good. Bought the ticket which said Platform #5, as did the noticeboard - only problem was they announced (in Romanian!) it was now a different platform, and I missed it. Trying to get a flight on a Sunday was a ½ day battle with disinterested Bureaucracy, but finally boarded a dilapidated old russian made propjet of Tarom Romanian Airlines. None of the tyres had tread, and some even had large patches of CANVAS showing through, so said a prayer or two, and finally made it to SOFIA in Bulgaria.

Took a trip right down to the border of Macedonia and Greece and saw a lot of the wine growing countryside. The 10th Century Rila Monastery is in a superb mountain location. The legal minimum wage in Romania increased the week I was there to $US 5. A typical "skilled" wage is more like $US10. In late July, 180 Lei bought $US1. Only two months earlier the rate was 65 Lei. What a country! Prices rose daily. No-one in the PO was sure what an Airmail stamp to Australia cost, as the domestic rate had just doubled, but overseas rates "hadn't yet been advised." Romania and Bulgaria are in shambles. The people simply do not care and shrug their shoulders. Flying off right across Bulgaria to the Black Sea resort of VARNA was an experience, on an ancient Balkan Bulgarian Airlines russian made Antonov "jet". Varna is a bland, Black Sea, communist created seaside resort, i.e.: "You Vill All Pleez Haf Zee Gut Time On Ze Vyte Beeches Ya" type of place, designed originally for fat eastern bloc types. Now visited by fat Germans & Poms as well. (The fact it is now largely topless bathing is a real stomach turner!)

On the positive side, there are extensive Roman Baths still existing there in Varna, and also Byzantine ruins. In 1972 a world class discovery in a necropolis turned up exquisite gold jewellery some 6500 years old, ( the world's oldest ) from a mystery ancient race that predates the Sumerian and Egyptian civilisations. All these 100's of priceless gold artefacts are housed in a dusty museum that none of the podgy sunbakers apparently bother to visit. The remarkable thing about my stay in Sofia was the quite superb Sheraton Sofia Palace Hotel. One of the finest Hotels I've stayed in anywhere, and that has covered many 100's of top hotels. If Bulgaria put the Sheraton Hotel management in charge of the country, their economy definitely would improve out of sight!

Escaping Bulgaria and their flea bitten Sofia "airport" it was time to risk life and limb on another Balkan Bulgarian Airlines flight to Athens - no safety drill or anything so civilised. These Balkan area people smoke cigarettes like fiends - in planes, in cabs, in airports, in restaurants. It doesn't matter where - putrid low grade tobacco smoke engulfs you at every turn. It is a few years since I visited Athens, but if anything, the traffic volume, and driving "skills" are even worse than last time. How they can seriously suggest they are capable of hosting an Olympic Games is beyond me. Downtown Athens traffic is permanently gridlocked, even though private cars are banned on alternate days, based on last digit of your numberplate. Visiting the major tourist sites is a fascinating walk back in time. The walk up the Acropolis Hill in the city centre to gaze at the huge Parthenon that has survived 1000's of years is still an exciting experience for someone coming from a country where the oldest building is nowhere near 200 years old! I stayed at the famous "Grande Bretagne" Hotel right on Constitution (Syntagma) Square and the room looked right out at the Parthenon - now that is a hotel view to remember!

Last day in Athens was the apparent STATE funeral of Aleki. If that name means nothing to you, join the club. I gather she was a kind of media-type hybrid of Brian Henderson, Rowena Wallace and Joan Sutherland. Anyway, her funeral stopped Athens completely for half a day. Major streets were blockaded. I counted many 100's of armed Police. There were dozens of TV cameras along the long funeral route. Half the flowers in Holland got flown in, helicopters buzzed overhead, and three mournful Greek TV stations showed nothing else for hours on end. All done in the usual voluble, chattering, hand waving, chaotic Greek style. What a send off!

Flying out of Athens airport for the 3½ hour KLM flight to Amsterdam I imagined security would be intense, as USA media had heavily inferred the TWA Airlines Flight #800 bomb may have been loaded in Athens. Greece is literally threatening to sue USA media for "damages" caused by these reports. Sad to say, Athens "maximum" security on an international flight was slacker than a normal Sydney-Melbourne trip. I had a large double thickness, lead lined film bag in my carry-on, that appeared on X-Ray to be a solid black blob. It could have contained a kilo or two of Semtex, or even a few pistols or hand grenades, instead of the 45 harmless Kodak films, but the bored Greek "security" guards didn't know that and ignored it - twice. NOT good enough!

From Amsterdam, I overflew Athens 10 hours after leaving it, making a 30 hour KLM flight back home, just in time to catch the tail end of the Olympics. In most cities visited Olympic coverage was all but nil, and consisted of boring exclusive coverage of local "heroes" like Bulgarian wrestlers, Romanian gymnasts, or Greek weightlifters. The odd 3 day old "USA Today" newspapers I sighted had totally jingoistic American coverage only. Thanks to weekly faxes and calls from Gary Wanstall I was able to keep up with the continuing success of the Sydney Swans football team, which strangely were also never mentioned in "USA Today"!

An interesting trip, and not cheap to make, despite the pitifully "soft" currencies of most places visited. The actual cost of obtaining Visas to these hickdoms was $A400 not counting the vast amount of paperwork, photos and forms needed - hardly something to encourage a family to visit there - five Visas would cost you $2000 alone! Airlines, hotels and tours officially charge "westerners" many times what locals pay. Food and drink in restaurants is the only thing they can't sting you on, as they can't insist on sighting your passport. A quality Restaurant meal with drinks in Romania for 3 people cost $A10 total for instance! A huge ½ Litre stein of beer at a prominent streetside cafe in Budapest cost $A1 etc.

My latest advance "List Number S - 8 " is enclosed. Apologies for it being a bit later in the mail than is usual. Lots of the usual goodies and items and collections here - some of it purchased when on this trip, including some very seldom offered material. PLEASE ORDER RECKLESSLY ...lots of Balkan Bulgarian Airline bills, not to mention the odd $10 Vienna coffee, and million Zloty lunch bills to pay for on the dreaded Mastercard account, which preceded me home!!

Best Wishes To all My Clients,