Rรฉgiolis transfrontalier to #Strasbourg ๐.
Am I going to get a sleeper carriage with a shower ๐ฟ on my #KalmanImre ๐ฉ๐ช Stuttgart - ๐ฆ๐น Salzburg - ๐ญ๐บ Budapest ?
First night train reached. #AzadiRail day & night 1 comfortable an relaxed so far.
I share a wagon-lits compartment in the 
#KalmanImre with a young Hungarian woman traveling by night train for the first time as well as a Romanian woman experienced in night train travels, homeward bound together with her boyfriend.
We sadly got a modern 
WLABmz 123.1 carriage, so sadly no shower tomorrow morning.
My trip today was : ๐ซ๐ท Lauterbourg - ๐ซ๐ท Strasbourg - ๐ฉ๐ช Stuttgart - ๐ฆ๐น Salzburg - ๐ฆ๐น Wien - ๐ญ๐บ Budapest. Btw. an excellently scheduled #CrossBorderRail junction.
After brief breakfast in the #KalmanImre , I still had a long conversation with my compartment mate about travels and the world. Arriving in Budapest, I quickly confirmed : the international counter in Budapest Keleti cannot sell me my ticket to Halkali either.
So far, everything settled for #AzadiRail day 2 : a walk in the city park and relaxing in #Budapest thermal baths ๐โโ๏ธ.
Spotted the 
#ะฃะ #UZ ! Sadly #AzadiRail won't get me to Ukraine (yet) ... After a relaxing day in Szรฉchenyi thermal bath, it's time to travel southbound. The 
#Muntenia will bring me to ๐ท๐ด Craiova, close to the border of Bulgaria.
I caught a comfortable 
1st class couchette. The conductor told me, there are three more passengers supposed to travel from Budapest up to Arad with me but so far they haven't shown up. In any case, I'll have the night alone in the compartment.
I'll take some rest soon since the night will be short and after a relaxed and comfortable day & night 2, tomorrow will be the most exhausting part of my journey.
Good morning Fedi ๐๐ !
Let's check what to do for 1.5 h in ๐ท๐ด #Craiova at 5 a.m. ๐ด ...
Despite a public holiday and 5.30 a.m. in the morning, ๐ท๐ด #Craiova is really vivid. Many people waiting at the station, a couple of people out on the streets.
I spent an excellent night in the comfortable first class couchettes, but since it's a public holiday in Romania, sadly I didn't find any food so far.
Amongst amazing class 41 locomotives, the station surprised me with a vending machine for books. An amazing idea for travelers.
Since everything around the station in Craiova is still closed, I took a seat in the waiting hall, waiting for my advertised #CrossBorderRail train to ๐ง๐ฌ #Vidin .
Now further southbound to ๐ง๐ฌ #ะะธะดะธะฝ #Vidin in a surprisingly empty class 96 Desiro DMU.
I still had a long conversation with a Dutch guy who is traveling to Vidin to meet his wife, now waiting for sunrise and the next 3.5 hours to pass.
Sofia-Istanbul-Express ?
The conductor came back with another scanning device, once again tried to scan my ticket, afterwards tried to enter my ticket number somewhere, tried to enter my passport number somewhere but in the end gave up - there were no letters on their keyboard.
They smiled at me, pointed to their scanning device and complained something in Romanian containing the words "okay" and "international billet" and disappeared. Apparently their scanners were not InterRail benchmarked ...
Wow, a Desiro :
- clean
- only one window broken
- all dors open and close
- friendly conductor
- clean toilet
- towel and toilet paper
- tap water and soap
- comfortable occupancy
This is a dream, is it ?
After three hours of #AzadiRail with 30 - 40 kph on a grass track, we arrived in ๐ท๐ด #Golenti , the last stop before the New European Bridge to ๐ง๐ฌ #ะะธะดะธะฝ #Vidin.
Here, the scenery changes : we leave behind the crappy old infrastructure and the sight on the ruial Walachia region. After an illegal #Schengen passport check (weren't they supposed to end last year ?), we now continue on the brand new, modern and electrified infrastructure bringing us onto the bridge.
The electrified tracks here are a joke : the complete line up to ๐ท๐ด #Craiova is unelectrified and barely capable of holding a train. This station with three tracks, catenary - all in the middle of nowhere. EU funding without any progress towards the existing line into Romania. That's sad to see.
Okay, I *did* get a ticket from ๐น๐ท Halkali to ๐ง๐ฌ Sofia for my way back. I did *not* get a ticket for today. Booked up, they said. I should try asking the carriage attendants whether the still have couchettes left - as usual.
What *really* surprised me after I came back to the railway station after lunch : The staff member who sold me my ticket was waiting for me in front of the train to tell me her vending system was broken - she paid me back my 70 Leu and took my reservation back.
Well, seems like both directions will be at best luck at the train before departing.
Day & night 2 and day 3 so far were : ๐ญ๐บ Budapest - ๐ท๐ด Arad - ๐ท๐ด Craiova - ๐ง๐ฌ ะะธะดะธะฝ / Vidin - ๐ง๐ฌ ะกะพัะธั / Sofia
In total, that's 6 countries in 48 hours of #AzadiRail :
๐๐ซ๐ท๐ฉ๐ช๐ฆ๐น๐ญ๐บ๐ท๐ด๐ง๐ฌ
I hope to be able to add ๐น๐ท Turkey by night ; stay tuned !
Barely time to glance at ๐ง๐ฌ #ะกะพััั / #Sofia since I was successful at gathering a couchette spot in the Sofia-Istanbul-Express โจ !
Time for #AzadiRail night 3 : crossing the border to ๐น๐ท Turkey on my way eastbound.
๐๐ซ๐ท๐ฉ๐ช๐ฆ๐น๐ญ๐บ๐ท๐ด๐ง๐ฌ๐น๐ท
Seems like I once again got a private compartment : reservation no long time ahead and solo-traveling as woman makes this pretty easy : I counted three women (including me) at the platform, the other ones were not solo-traveling.
Anyway, now night number 3 in a train - interrupted by an annoying border check in the middle of the night. After already 55 hours of travels on trains only, still 30 hours of #AzadiRail travels ahead before getting to sleep in a bed without RIC clearance - and most important : finally a cold shower ๐ฟ.
It's crazy to realize a flight from ๐ซ๐ท Strasbourg to ๐น๐ท Sivas only takes about 3 hours - plus 2 hours for boarding and security checks. By train, this route instead takes 85 hours - 3.5 days ; and once again 15 hours (caused by schedule) to get to my last railway station ๐น๐ท Malatya of this trip.
Always when traveling that far in a stout row, I realize how much I keep forgetting what time distance takes ...
The night in the Sofia-Istanbul-Express was very comfortable. After the stressful day, I had some excellent sleep.
Sadly the night was interrupted as usual : border check in ๐น๐ท #Kapukule from 2 a.m. to 3 a.m. - the border check is ridiculous : No one actually checks you follow the rules and walk to the passport check and the X-ray machine. If you wanted to, you could easily bypass it.
Anyways, now relaxed and prepared for spending the entire day on trains. From ๐น๐ท Istanbul Halkali I'm heading eastbound by comfortable YHT high speed trains via ๐น๐ท Ankara to ๐น๐ท #Sivas - my #AzadiRail destination for today.
Arriving in Istanbul Sรถฤรผtlรผรงeลme, time for a breakfast and a quick break. After 1ยฝ h in the old city center, back at the railway station.
Leaving the cute blue HST Velaro behind, I boarded the good old class HT65000 for my way to ๐น๐ท #Ankara.
#AzadiRail day 4 has begun.
The CAF YHT train is really comfortable but I'm honest : After pretty much 72 hours on #AzadiRail travels without any major break I'm really happy to stay in a hotel room. ETA : 7 h.
Also, a pity the new high speed line up to Istanbul isn't open yet. This could highly speed up the 1.5 h it takes at 80 kph to reach Izmit YHT.
After 4 hours, our train arrived in ๐น๐ท Ankara. Time to buy my first ticket for my way back and have a little snack.
Ankara Gar is a tremendous station. The YHT station has 3 platforms but is rather sized like an airport departure hall.
After one hour, time to board my last #AzadiRail high-speed train for a while : a Velaro TR / class HT80000 - most of my readers might feel familiar with its appearance from 
or 
Eurostar.
After four days of travels, I'm honestly looking forwards to sleeping in a bed and getting a shower in ๐น๐ท #Sivas, my destination for today.
Now that I have all Turkish tickets collected, my travel plan home is fixed starting from Turkey :
Day & night 1 : ๐น๐ท Batman - Ankara in the Gรผney Ekspresi 
sleeper
Day 2 : ๐น๐ท Ankara - Istanbul
Night 2 : ๐น๐ท Istanbul - ๐ง๐ฌ ะกะพััั / Sofia in the Sofia-Istanbul-Express sleeper
Day 3 : ๐ง๐ฌ ะกะพััั / Sofia - ๐ง๐ฌ ะะพัะฝะฐ ะััั
ะพะฒะธัะฐ / Gorna Oryahovitsa - ๐ง๐ฌ ะ ััะต / Ruse
Night 3 : ๐จ Hotel in ๐ง๐ฌ ะ ััะต / Ruse
Day 4 : ๐ง๐ฌ ะ ััะต / Ruse - ๐ท๐ด Bucuresti by bus ๐
Night 4 : ๐ท๐ด Bucuresti - ๐ญ๐บ Budapest - ๐ฆ๐น Wien by 
Dacia in sleeper
Day 5 : ๐ฆ๐น Wien - ๐ฉ๐ช Nรผrnberg - ๐ซ๐ท Lauterbourg
Heck, that's once again 5 days of #AzadiRail travels ... But at least unlike my inbound journey I could place one night in a hotel in the middle of the journey rather than at the end.
YHT, today's #AzadiRail evening game : hopping into a random bus in hope to be dropped of at my destination. And indeed, the cute bus in ๐น๐ท #Sivas dropped me right in front of my hotel.
#AzadiRail Day 4 was : ๐น๐ท Halkali - ๐น๐ท Istanbul Sรถฤรผtlรผรงeลme - ๐น๐ท Ankara - ๐น๐ท Sivas
Night 4 : finally a bed without wheels ๐๏ธ !
๐๐ซ๐ท๐ฉ๐ช๐ฆ๐น๐ญ๐บ๐ท๐ด๐ง๐ฌ๐น๐ท
Everything settled for today : I asked the receptionist to verify whether I can arrive in my hotel in ๐น๐ท Diyarbakฤฑr at 2.30 a.m. tonight - this is exactly my plan : in order to maximize the #AzadiRail travel time on train, I'm going to take the local train and a bus afterwards - rather than taking the direct bus. Sadly this means that I'm going to arrive in the middle of the night.
Now still a couple of hours to waste before returning to ๐น๐ท #Sivas railway station aka : time for #Vagonweb !
After one more ride in the cute #BlueBus, I'm back at the station waiting for my train to arrive.
The busses are that much overcrowded, it's impossible to access the payment terminal to buy a ticket. Following the behavior of the locals, the solution was to simple hand the credit cards from the back of the bus to the front where the passenger next to the terminal did the contactless payment. Weird but works.
๐น๐ท #Sivas as a city did not really convince me although the station is really beautiful. The friendly officer in the ticket booth noted me my local train will be departing from platform 2, so now waiting for its arrival.
After a short waiting time, my MT30000 DMU arrived at the station. I've never been on this train class before but so far it looks really fine : comfortable, adjustable seats, toilets and definitely enough capacity to carry out the local train service to ๐น๐ท #Malatya.
Sadly in this will be my last #AzadiRail train on my inbound journey. From tonight on I will only take #AzadiBus busses up to my final destination.
Travel recommendation : the 42044 from ๐น๐ท #Sivas to ๐น๐ท #Malatya is an absolute must-travel route in central Anatolia ๐ฅฐ !
The train travels the same route as the Ankara-Diyarbakฤฑr Touristic Express others pay USD 500 for - but as a local train it's cheap as USD 5 or even included in InterRail.
From wide grass lands, little hills up to snowy mountains everything covered ๐๏ธ.
The train is by far one of the most comfortable regional trainsets I have seen so far. Little occupancy.
Some irony in this : from my entire trip so far, this is the first route and first train that was new to me. Both are an absolute highlight of my trip and my railway experience in general. Sadly after 5 days of travels, this is also the last train I'll be taking for the rest of my inbound journey.
So far, #AzadiRail day 5 absolutely appreciated ๐ฅฐ !
Gรผney Ekspresi on its way to Ankara blocked the single-track section ahead. Now back on track towards ๐น๐ท Malatya - already visible at the dark horizon. #AzadiRailAt the end, we arrived with 25 minutes delay on the last #AzadiRail train. Still enough time to make the transfer to the bus stop for my #AzadiBus.
The bus stop looks way more modern and likely also hase dozens of times more passengers than the station - and also more #CatContent !
List of #AzadiRail decisions I will regret : #1 night bus with arrival at 2 a.m. ๐น๐ท #Malatya - ๐น๐ท #Diyarbakฤฑr. Anyways, #AzadiBus number one of many ๐ !
The bus is clean, spacious and has good sleeping seats at least. Four hours of travel time ahead ๐ค.
#AzadiBus stop #2 : Elazฤฑฤ bus terminal ๐.
Half journey done. Bus still comfortable and I'm surprisingly relaxed. There's good supply of drinks and snacks, the air is fresh and cool.
#AzadiBus stop #3 : #Diyarbakฤฑr bus terminal - my destination, arrived 35 minutes late.
The bus terminal was surprisingly calm with low traffic considering the proximity to the ๐ฎ๐ถ Iraqi border. Anyways, I'm tired and immediately headed over to the hotel.
My room presents luxury and comfortable, sadly with street noise. Time to sleep ; work is waiting tomorrow morning.
#AzadiRail day & night 5 were :
- ๐น๐ท Sivas - ๐น๐ท Malatya by regional train with amazing sight
- ๐น๐ท Malatya - ๐น๐ท Diyarbakฤฑr by comfortable night bus
๐๐ซ๐ท๐ฉ๐ช๐ฆ๐น๐ญ๐บ๐ท๐ด๐ง๐ฌ๐น๐ท
Braid in trains 
- solidarity with 
booked the 
JeDi 
Nikkileah ๐ฎ๐๐ณ๏ธโโง๏ธ๐ฌ๐ง
geeeero
Treby