This page is currently just to share individual posts I’m doing ad hoc, which eventually will be brought altogether. Until I can tart the page up a bit, please click the links below for individual posts. Once completed, this page will include the usual overview stuff such as:
Costs
Hotels
Tickets
Food & Drink (and some tips)
Getting around including airport transfers
But for now, please enjoy the posts I have managed to complete:
Whilst you eagerly wait for new additions, why not check out some other posts I have spent countless hours producing by using the drop down menu above 🙂
Thanks for visiting my blog for what was certainly my most exciting, bizarre and most expensive trip of the year, and what has to be my favourite Wales away trip thus far (Montenegro is a very close second from 2024 – link). Apologies it has taken seven months to deliver!
When the draw for the 2026 World Cup qualifiers was made (during a work meeting in the previous December), going to this game – Kazakhstan vs Wales – was my top priority. I don’t think it was until March though once it was confirmed where the game would be played, either the capital Astana or the largest city Almaty.
Image ^ My favourite photos from the trip!
Only in mid-June the flights and accommodation were nailed down. I looked at countless ways to get to Astana, including overnight stops in Bulgaria or Türkiye. I was extremely close to stopping off for a few days in Kuwait of all places, before finally settling on Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan, which shares a border with Kazakhstan.
The trials and tribulations of the trip will be included in the itinerary but a brief schedule of the trip was:
Day 0 / 1 – Flights from Bristol to Antalya to Ankara
Day 2 – Flight from Ankara to Bishkek and enjoy the city
Day 3 – Bishkek and a day trip to the mountains
Day 4 – Bishkek then flights to Almaty, then onto Astana
Day 5 – Astana
Day 6 – Astana and day of the match
Day 7 – Astana then flight to Istanbul
Day 8 – Flight to London, train to rush back Wales to watch Newport County (lose).
To give you an idea of how much bloody effort goes into such a trip, I’ve included my itinerary document below! I tend to do these for all trips and seldom refer to them on the trip itself, but this one was vital with 7 flights and 3 foreign currencies!
Image ^ A snapshot of the hours invested into planning the trip
Costs
The seven aforementioned flights were the biggest cost coming in at £756. I was satisfied with this, as more direct flights for the match were coming in at £600+.
I could have saved a bit on hotels but given the travel I decided to go for something a bit more comfortable than I would do usually. In Bishkek I stayed at the Smart Hotel, and Hotel Akky in Astana, costing a combined £186 for 2 and 3 nights respectively.
Getting to grips with Yandex Go, the taxi app similar to your Uber and the like, that could be used in both countries, took some patience. But once working was a necessity and so cheap. Astana, for example, is a huge city and everywhere seemed to be 30+ minutes walk, but I can’t remember taking a taxi that cost more than £3. Using public transport seemed a non-starter… if there was any!
For both countries, food and drink was really reasonable. Even in the city centres the prices were slightly cheaper than in the UK. I only drank in Kazakhstan but recall high ABV cider being around £4, lager cheaper and a KFC meal roughly £6. I’ll include other prices in the itinerary, but worth noting that the match ticket was just SEVEN pounds!
Right, let’s get to it…
But not before I moan to you about the stress with flights before the trip! Just 2 weeks before I was due to leave, my Pegasus Airlines flight to Astana was cancelled for no reason. By chance, I looked at the website whilst hoping to check in early, as I didn’t even receive an email notification! I was also on holiday in Madrid at the time. The stress. Luckily, by the end of that day I was able to get the same flight to Antalya with Jet2 at a cheaper price.
It didn’t end there. Three days before departure my AJET flights from Bishkek to Almaty were also seemingly cancelled when trying to check-in. After contacting the airline via WhatsApp(!) and through a language fortress rather than a barrier, I was told that all is OK and that I would just need to check in at the airport. Hmmm…
Itinerary
Day One – Newport to Bishkek!
As prepared as I could possibly be, I departed Bristol at 2pm to catch a four-hour flight to Antalya. The flight arrived on time. All going to plan.
Image ^ View of the earth somewhere between Bristol and Türkiye…
Now one wouldn’t think getting a connecting flight here should to be too much of an issue, yet the fact that I had to change terminal from international to domestic using a shuttle bus I struggled to locate, and being unable to connect to any mobile data, the trip got off to quite a frantic start. Two hours between flights was pushing it somewhat, thankfully I already checked in and had hand-luggage only!
Image ^ Antalya, or maybe Ankara. Perhaps a bit small for Ankara. Who knows?
Antalya to the capital of Turkey, Ankara, was only an hour flight, then I had a brief 90 minutes in Ankara airport before another four-hour flight to Bishkek! I am racking my brains and searching my deleted photos trying to think what Ankara airport looked like but I have not got the foggiest.
Image ^ Somewhere between Türkiye and Kyrgyzstan, closer to the latter given the skyline.
One really valuable addition to these flights was the extra legroom at around £15 each for the longer flights. With this leg costing £327 what was an extra few quid eh?
The flight to Ankara was overnight so I approached the capital of Kyrgyzstan during sunrise. Very nice. After dispensing some cash (called Kyrgyz Som) and obtaining a SIM card, I jumped in a ridiculously cheap Yandex Go (Uber equivalent) from the airport to my hotel to get my first look at Kyrgyzstan – £7 for a 50-minute drive!
Image ^ Does the (Kyrgyz State) circus know I’m here? Probably not.
Day Two – Bishkek on Independence Day!
It was around 10am once I arrived at the hotel, just the five hours before check-in. This was expected so I was ready to get some steps in, already deviating from my strict paper itinerary, which wouldn’t matter so much as I had plenty of free time to fit everything in. Loaded with some cheap juice and dangerously priced cigarettes it was time to explore.
The image above was my first point of interest on my walk near the hotel. The Kyrgyz state circus! Does the circus know I’m here? Probably not. With them ripping up the road in front it didn’t look like it had been open for a little while.
Just around the corner was Victory Square, a lot higher on the many places to see lists I researched. The Victory Monument is dedicated to the victory over Nazi Germany. It was created in 1985, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. The features include a woman waiting for her husband to return home from war, and eternal fire, and three pillars represent a tradition Kyrgyz housing structure called a yurt.
Image ^ Victory monument in Victory Square.
Enjoying the fresh air and the cool-not-cold weather, I did a bit of people watching drinking a coffee and a coke in a Turkish/Palestinian/Kyrgyz cafe and planned my route to the main square in Bishkek.
Image ^ Outside a cafe with planning essentials – full fat Coke, an ashtray and sunshine.
My walk, only around 30 minutes from Victory Square, took me past the National Opera and Ballet Theatre and a good stretch of well-kept park and recreational spaces.
Image ^ The National Opera and Ballet Theatre. Probably not sponsored by Timothee Chalamet…Image ^ Statue of Cholponbek Bazarbayev, a Kyrgyz ballet dancer
Peeking out from the parks towards the main Ala-Too square, it was hard not to be impressed by the focal statue and HUMONGOUS flag and pole that dominated the vista.
Completed as recently as the mid-1980’s to celebrate sixty years of Soviet Socialist Republicanism, Ala-Too originally had a statue of Lenin in the square. Following Kyrgyzstan’s Independence from USSR in 1991, it wasn’t until 2003 the Lenin statue was removed (or moved nearby rather) and replaced by a ‘freedom statue’, only to be itself replaced by the current bloke and his horse installed.
Image ^ Manas statue in Ala-Too Sqaure and a rather large flag.
Christory lesson: The bloke is in fact called Manas, a legendary national hero and cultural symbol. The airport is named after him too. The ‘Epic of Manas’ is a traditional poem that tells of his fight to unite the Kyrgyz tribes against enemies.
Whilst I was a bit miffed that a large stage spoiled the panoramic view of the square that included the National History Museum (will visit on day 4) and some lovely fountains, it soon became apparent that today, August 31st, is their national day to celebrate the aforementioned independence in 1991. How good bloody timing was that?
Image ^ Some lads protecting the flag pole. Coming to a Reform UK council near you soon….
Knowing that I’d no doubt be re-visiting in the evening, I had a quick walk around the guarded flagpole base (didn’t hang around for the changing of the guard as it was only like 5 minutes past the hour) and the fountains.
Image ^ Pretty fountains in the southern area of Ala-Too Square.
I don’t have the watertight-est of bladders so a lap of the fountains soon made me desperate for a wee, hunting down a nearby café to use their facilities. Out of guilt I stayed and had a small lunch on the sidewalk, and bloody hell the stars aligned as it was delicious and for the cost of about £6 including a drink!
Image ^ Lunch for £6ish.
Keen to continue my exploration, I wandered in no obvious direction and ended up at a kind of open space amusement park called Panilov Park a few minutes from the square.
Image ^ The Ferris wheel in Panilov Park (not Chernobyl).
As soon as I set eyes on the ferris wheel I was obviously going to have a go, although my weight made the cycle a little uncomfortable even though I had a cabin to myself!
Image ^ On the Ferris wheel overlooking the national stadium.
The views from the top of the wheel allowed a decent view of the Kyrgyzstan national stadium, which I cannot ever foresee Wales playing at as they try and qualify for tournaments through the Asia route, plus a lovely view of the square, the massive flag obviously, and the Ala-Too mountain range in the background.
Image ^ On the ferris wheel overlooking Ala-Too square.
Walking back to the hotel for a few hours rest before returning for the evening’s festivities, I passed the Lenin statue that once stood pride of place in the main square. It’s new location is actually very close, to the north of the square separated by the national history museum.
Image ^ Lenin statue, “tore down” form Ala-Too Square and moved a few yards behind the museum.
I didn’t stay at the hotel for too long either side of a use of its tiny swimming pool, so enjoyed a 30-minute walk through the parks back to the main square just as the sun was dropping for the day.
Now, countless market stalls had been erected selling everything from toys to clothes to souvenirs, and a heavy security presence and fencing surrounded the main square, yet it still all seemed very peaceful.
Image ^ Ala-Too Square in the early evening for their independence celebration.
I enjoyed probably half a dozen cultural song-and-dance displays on stage. However, I couldn’t shake the obvious scripting of everything. It did feel like everything was pre-recorded, even the host I think was miming! It was a shame to see performers appear so restricted to keep everything in line with what was pre-agreed with the rule makers.
Image ^ Kyrgyz parliament building.
Feeling grateful that I can openly share a difference of opinion of the people in power back home, I walked away from the square to – ironically – the nearby Kyrgyz Parliament building. I can’t decide whether I love or loathe the soviet-era architecture but the fountains, gardens and sunset certainly helped!
Image ^ Kyrgyz parliament building.
Another walk around Panfilov Park to try and get a good view of the stadium was not a massive success, together with an early start in the morning, I grabbed some fast food but decided to walk it off rather than taxi it back to the hotel.
Image ^ My best ground-level view of the national stadium with the Ferris wheel looking less rusty.
It was only the first proper day of the trip but I knew that the week was going to be such a good experience.
Day Three – Ala Archa National Park day trip
I wouldn’t usually book a day trip when visiting an area for 2.5 days, but in this case I didn’t find too many things to visit in the city and whilst Bishkek was hardly the hustle and bustle of your London or New York, it was nice to get out of the city for a few hours, even if it meant skipping breakfast and having to be at the main train station at 7:45am.
A couple of months before the day I had actually booked a longer trip to Burana Tower and the very interesting Konorcheck Canyons (Viator link here). A combination of the £135 cost (£80 each if 2+ people books… boo) and a much longer excursion made me change my mind and book a shorter, closer visit to explore Ala Archa National Park, to the south of the city and on the cusp of the Ala-Too mountain range we seen from the ferris wheel. The cost of this was just £32 and would get me back after lunch. This is the booking on Viator.
Image ^ A quick pitstop on the outskirts of Bishkek.
By the time the couple from Vietnam, the Chinese lady living in New York and I jumped in our tour guide Beki’s car, we headed out of the city and to the entrance of the park, paid a small entry fee included in the booking and caught a shuttle bus that would take us 10 minutes up the road to the start of the walking trails.
Image ^ Animals that can be seen in Ala Archa national park.
In total we probably spent two hours initially walking alongside the cascading river on a small incline, taking in the fresh air. I do love a walk or hike in nature but hadn’t recently done something similar for many months.
Image ^ Ala Archa national park.Image ^ Ala Archa national park.
Once the path opened up into a wide flat area the challenge was to visit “Broken Heart rock” which was a moderate climb.
Image ^ Cable car construction at Ala Archa national park.
The visit to the rock will be a little easier in future as a cable car is rapidly being constructed from nearby the start of the trails. We were able to share the zig-zag path up the hill with huge steel beam transporting lorries. So much for the peace and tranquillity of nature huh…
Image ^ Broken Heart rock at Ala Archa national park.
Nevertheless, once arriving at the rock, with personally a little difficulty as I was so unfit, it was of course worthwhile. The rock gets its name as it used to resemble a heart shape but since broken into two. Bless.
*Starts singing Jason Donovan’s “Too many broken hearts in the world”, which is arguably a banger…*
Image ^ Fatty being very pleased with himself after a climb at Ala Archa national park.
As nice as it was, there wasn’t too much spectacle. It was simply an enjoyable long walk on a late summer morning. We headed back into the city and said our goodbyes. After another long walk (looking at the photo above I obviously didn’t wear my fitbit – what a waste!!) I had a kebab lunch at the Palestinian place I visited yesterday near the hotel.
Having to check out early tomorrow and needing a few more things to see/do, I had a good few hours rest in my hotel room, probably a nap, until I headed nearby to a recommended steak restaurant called Torro Grill & Bar.
Image ^ Apparently they sold out of the tofu salad minutes before I arrived.
I’m not a huge lover of steak so the tomahawk was a bit wasted on me. Asking for such a large piece of meat medium rare was also a learning curve as I’m sure the middle of it was still moo-ing.
Image ^ A very expensive bill in comparison.
I’m not moaning at paying £30 for the meal, it would be a bargain back home, but for Kyrgyzstan this must have been super expensive. Still, a day’s decent exercise and a live band belting out a few well known tunes was all very worthwhile.
Image ^ Live entertainment at Torro Grill & Bar near Victory Sqaure in Bishkek.
Day Four – More Bishkek then to Astana (Kyrgyzstan to Kazakhstan!)
I was looking forward to my first breakfast of the whole trip this morning. After some sensible cornflakes I didn’t know how I felt about having something resembling my Chinese takeaway order at 7am, but hey-ho I’m on holiday and it was nice.
Image ^ Breakfast. Not a slice of toast or pastry in sight.
… and a moment for the view from the outside seating area of the breakfast room.
Image ^ View from the breakfast room at Smart Hotel, Bishkek.
My flight today was not until 7:25pm but if you remember, this was the flight my airline pal on WhatsApp told me to just rock up to the airport. So I think I got to the airport around 3pm.
Beforehand, I had to check out of the hotel and had a few hours left to explore. I was really keen to visit the natural history museum back at the main Ala Too square, again pleased that I walked 20 minutes instead of grabbing a lift.
Image ^ State History Museum at Ala-Too Square in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.
Entry to the museum was an incredible £2.13. It was clean and very modern and one could easily spend half a day here.
Funnily enough, I walked around the first floor for 20 minutes and, thinking that was that, intended to leave. It was only using the loo that I thought “hang on… what about all the Soviet stuff” did I realise that there were another two or three floors that made up the museum! Silly me.
Image ^ Exhibits inside the State History Museum
It was really interesting to learn bout the history of Kyrgyzstan way before, before and during being a Soviet state. I’m a bit disappointed, writing this section four months after the visit, I don’t have a lot of interesting chat from the museum itself, but I do have a fun fact and the all important Christory / Geograchrissy lesson:
Kyrgyzstan, official named the Kyrgyz Republic is located in central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the north then from clockwise; China, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. It has a population of 7 million people. 78% of the population are ethnic Kyrgyz followed by minorities mainly made up of Russians and Uzbeks.
Kyrgyzstan became part of the Russian Empire in 1876 and then the Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic in 1936. As we’ve learned, this ended on 31st August 1991 when it became independent as it remains today.
Fun fact: The flag of Kyrgystan, albeit with some different opinions or variations, features a circular yurt roof in a sun with 40 rays, each representing an ancient tribe that Manas (bloke on horse statue outside) brought together.
Image ^ Exhibits inside the State History Museum – a traditional Kyrgyz yurt.
In terms of more recent history and especially the build up to independence that was celebrated two days prior on 31st August, the below photo from the museum provides a good overview.
Image ^ A snapshot of more recent Kyrgyz history at the State History Museum
Again, a really interesting 90 minutes at the museum and as I’ve just been checking everything is correct I have come across another outstandingly fun…
Fun Fact: Kyrgyzstan is farther from the sea than any other individual country.
Incredible stuff.
Whilst you regain consciousness, let me tell you that next I visited Osh Bazaar, which I believe to be the largest market area in the city. The photo’s here are from rare open spaces, but walking through the narrow streets it was BUSY.
Image ^ Possibly the *main* entrance (there were hundreds) of Osh Bazaar in Bishkek.
The Bazaar was included on many ‘things to do’ lists I looked at and whilst I didn’t have anything better in mind, I did question why I have been to so many of these market types. What am I going to buy? What do I need to buy? How am I going to get a very reasonably priced ironing board back home?
It was however, lunchtime. I must have browsed a good 20 outlets but with the whole place really lacking in any English signage or conversation, chose a burger/kebab van on the outskirts with a seating area. I tried my utmost to ask for no garlic sauce on my kebab wrap (contentious request I know) but it transpired there is no such translation in Kyrgyz and it was dripping so much I still have the stain on my shorts to this day!
Image ^ Inside Osh Bazaar marketplace in Bishkek.
From here it was a long, like 40 minutes, taxi back to the north-east-ish of the city centre and past my hotel for my final stop.
The Bishkek Central Mosque was very impressive. Indeed it is one of the largest in central Asia and if you’re ready for another fun fact: It has the capacity to accommodate 30,000 worshipers! Wikipedia provided that ‘fact’ but I’m questioning it. 30,000 is a LOT of people…
Image ^ The magnificent Bishkek Central Mosque.
I cannot fully remember why I didn’t go inside but almost certain it was because I was wearing shorts. And the massive f***ing garlic sauce stain from lunch would not have helped my case.
A walk back to the hotel to grab my bag and a Yandex Go to the airport, I had a nervy two hour wait until check-in opened and made sure I was first in the queue. Ultimately, I was on the flight list, I checked in, and settled down for tea… a meat and bread option with no garlic sauce in sight for just £4. In an airport.
Image ^ Scran at Manas Airport.
Not sure how I bagged another window seat for the short flight from Bishkek to Almaty but I wasn’t complaining.
Image ^ View outside the plane number…. I’ve lost count
So, although a direct flight from A to B takes around 150 minutes, I also had three hours to wait in Almaty airport.
Christory lesson alert! Almaty is actually the largest city in Kazakhstan with two million residents and lies close to the border with Kyrgyzstan. It was the capital city until 1991 when Kazakhstan also gained independence from the USSR and made what is now Astana its capital. New regime, new me, hun.
The wait gave me enough time to have my first beer of the trip! (and second, and third…) Costing £2 for a 500ml bottle of lager really was irresistible and I don’t even drink lager at home. Less importantly, it was also a good time to pick up some Kazakhstani Tenge cash and another SIM card (still beggars belief why my relatively new phone cannot use an eSim).
Image ^ Almaty airport with a woman who almost certainly has more followers on social media than me.
By the time I landed in Astana and arranged a long cab to the hotel, it was creeping into the early hours of day 5. Yep… day 5 and I’ve only just arrived at the destination the game will be played? Classing this one as a football away trip blog may be a stretch…
Day 5 – Astana
After a good sleep in my hotel room, which was larger than my whole house back home plus an extra bathroom, the weather remained perfectly sunny, clear and cool. Perfect for exploring the city for most of the day.
Image ^ Waking up in sunny Astana at hotel Akky
Sadly, after a made to order breakfast that consisted of pretty much toast and ham due to the language barrier, I also struggled to communicate with the hotel staff to ask whether I bring my laundry out or leave it in the room, or what the craic with the swimming pool was.
Together with these small issues, I couldn’t get my Yandex Go taxi app to work as it kept conflicting with my two SIM cards. This I knew would be a lifeline over the next few days looking at how spaced out the city is.
After an hour being rather miserable in my hotel room, I decided to get out and just walk in the general direction of where I wanted to go and go from there.
Image ^ Crossing a bridge over the Ishim River
My hotel was just north of the Ishim river and it was a delight to walk alongside and over a few bridges. Yet, I couldn’t stop feeling really miserable, and to be honest, a little lonely. The frustration of the language barrier at the hotel was minor, but I was continuing and failing to try and get the taxi app to work. Perhaps the worst thing though was that it was 9am here but 4am back home. The fact that I could quickly pick up the phone and just have a little rant to either my wife or my mother was probably the worst part. Strange, as I had really enjoyed my own company up to this point.
Image ^ Atyrau Bridge, its name derived from the Caspian Sturgeon fish.
Then, somewhat out of the blue whilst I was sat on a swinging bench overlooking the river, a few friends from North Wales messaged about meeting for drinks later in the day. Shortly after a combination of reinstalling the app / adding a different bank card / praying to Joe Allen / headbutting my phone seemed to work and I swiftly obtained a ride towards downtown and the main boulevard.
Image ^ A spot for relaxation. Mad that I was miserable whilst sat here! Grumpy bugger…
Now that my whinging is over… Kazakhstan and Astana info, with a plethora of fun facts:
Kazakhstan is the 9th largest country in the world and the largest that is landlocked, although it does have a coastline along the Caspian Sea. I’m not sure if that means therefore it isn’t landlocked? I dunno. It borders Russia, China, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan. Apparently, a small portion of the country falls into ‘eastern Europe’ which is why they play in the European competitions rather than the Asian equivalents. Bear in mind that Syria, Iraq and Jordan are all further west and are definitely considered Asian?!
As I have mentioned, Astana is the second largest city in the country with a population of 1.6 million. Astana literally translates to “capital city” in Kazakh, and was briefly called “Nur-sultan” between 2019 and 2022 in honour of the first president of Kazakhstan. Since becoming the capital, it has seen rapid growth, a planned, transforming city which is renowned for its futuristic architecture and modern landmarks. I’m reading that there is a metro being constructed to link areas of the city. This is very much needed as the area is for want of a better term; f***ing massive.
Image ^ Nurzhol boulevard looking at the very sexy Baiterek Tower
I exited the taxi near the Presidential palace on the eastern point of the central Nurzhol boulevard. Due to construction I couldn’t get a decent view / picture until a bit later on. At this time of the morning, around 9am I recall, the straight was peacefully quiet.
Image ^ Baiterek Tower as viewed from the singing fountain on Nurzhol boulevard
After a short walk towards the tower I stopped for a coffee by a ‘singing fountain’ that was understandably tame for this time of day. Whilst the tower was in view it took a lot longer than expected to finally reach the base.
Image ^ Baiterek Tower as viewed from near the entrance
But I got there eventually! After purchasing my tickets for 2000 Tenge (£3.12) and a quick security check, there was a short queue for the lift near a café, souvenir stall and restrooms at the base.
A bit of background on the tower… but not quite another Christory lesson… The word “Baiterek” means “Tree of Life” and the tower was commissioned in 1996 by the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev. It was completed in 2002, as a symbol of the transfer of the capital from Almaty to Astana in 1997.
The structure is 105 metres tall, cradling a gold mirrored sphere of 22 metre diameter. The observation area (the gold sphere) is 97m up and has two floors.
Image ^ The view from the top of Baiterek Tower
The views from the globe were absolutely outstanding a gave a sense of how spread out the city is. In the picture above you can see the presidential palace where I walked from, in the middle of two gold towers known by locals as the beer cans. This is probably the favourite image of the whole trip.
Image ^ Wooden sculpture commemorating the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions, at the top of Baiterek Tower.
On the top level of the observation deck rests a wooden sculpture with a globe and 16 spires, commemorating the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions, held several times in Astana.
There is also a handprint of the First President, Nursultan Nazarbayev if you’re keeping up, that welcomes visitors to place a hand in the imprint and make a wish. I did so, but the photo looks like I’m on a Year 4 school trip and my little man-bag did me no favours.
Update: Found it….
Image ^ Making a wish at the top of Baiterek Tower
After picking up a fridge magnet for Mum, I headed west along the main strip to collect my ticket from the designated hotel. What seemed like a 5 minute walk from the top of the tower actually took me over half a bloody hour!
Image ^ My match ticket apparently, I couldn’t understand a world/symbol!
Although I was very much looking forward to meeting friends and a beer, I was sensible enough to grab some lunch at McDonalds. Well, I say McDonalds, it was everything but the name…
Fun Fact: Maccies in Kazakhstan is actually called “I’M”, since 2003 I think. Why? McDonald’s is franchised in KZ and the food supply is owned by Russians. With the war in Ukraine, sanctions meant they couldn’t keep the McDonald’s brand name so were forced to change it.
Let that fun fact ooze through your veins as I taxi back to the hotel, drop off my ticket, then straight back out TO THE PUB.
Image ^ 3,000 miles from home and drinking British cider. I was not complaining, until they ran out.
The pub was called “Bochonok” which is impossible to find on Google Maps, but only a few minutes walk from the tower. After missing both human interaction and beer for a good few days, I was delighted to combine both together as I met up with friends from north Wales and drank 7% cider all night.
And I meant all night. Nothing confirms a good night out than the last photo of the evening (above) was taken at 5pm. Thankfully everywhere looked and was, to my knowledge, very safe so I didn’t worry about a good few beers before a taxi back to the hotel at no idea o’clock.
Day 6 – Matchday in Astana!
This is where the trip kinda unravels a bit, so if you’re getting bored don’t worry there’s not long left.
Basically, I woke up late morning skipping breakfast, had a wash and booked a taxi straight to the pub from yesterday!
Image ^ Me around lunchtime when I really should have had some food.
And that was pretty much it until 5pm until the pub emptied to catch the complimentary busses to the stadium.
Image ^ Complimentary buses to take Wales fans to the stadium. Seen worse bus stops.
Astana Arena is the biggest of its kind in Kazakhstan holding 30,000 fans. There was doubt whether the match would be played in Astana due to roof damage from the snow a year or so back, so I was grateful to visit (the stadium in Almaty looked dreadful).
Image ^ Pre-match walking to Astana Arena
I cannot actually remember whether there was beer on sale or if I had a few pints, which goes to show how much I NEEDED the three hot-dogs consumed during the match, each costing around £2.
Image ^ My first ‘bit’ of food for over 24 hours having a break from the beer. Image ^ Y Wal Goch assembling before kick-offImage ^ Inside the impressive Astana Arena before kick-off
As much as I enjoyed a drink during the day I remember the game really well. We started off OK, not great, and I thought once Kieffer Moore scrambled the ball over the line to make it 1-0 after 24 minutes we’d go on to win easy against a team ranked 114th in the world.
Not the case. For periods of the second half Kazakhstan battered us, hitting the woodwork twice, the latter being the last kick of the game! As results would prove over the next 2 months, it was a vital three points and I left the stadium
Image ^ Moments after Kieffer Moore Ballon D’Or scored the match winner.
After the game, many exchanged pleasantries with the locals (in a nice way) and before long, the buses took as back to Baiterek Tower in the centre.
Image ^ Baiterek Tower at night after the game.
I was delighted to bump into my pals on the bus, so we toasted the three points in a couple of bars nearby. It is worth noting that Wales rarely win away from home. This was the first win in this set of qualifiers at the third attempt and the first I had witnessed since Montenegro the same time last year in 2024.
Image ^ My pals Alan and the Gogledd Girlies: Ceri, Elen and Sian all looking 100% sober.
I recall going to this hipster bar with some live music and drinking cider that was flatter and certainly stronger than required for that time of night.
The pinch moment arrived around 1am when I contemplated going back to the hotel, only to take a diversion into another café bar with a young lad delivering some classic britpop bangers. I think the photo below sums it up, from what I remember!
Image ^ Probably the moment when I ruined my last day of the trip.
Day 7 – Hungover in Astana and the long journey home
Getting in at 4am or thereabouts is not something I do regularly any more, and boy did it hit me for six! I woke up a few minutes AFTER check out time and still had to pack and have a wash – I was not in any rush!
Unbeknown at the time I would look back on that morning with distain as there were several things I wanted to see, but couldn’t, due to pubbing early on day 5 and energy-less today. Nevertheless, here is what I would have done if I were sensible (hopefully there will be a next time…)
Roam around the Presidential Palace and Palace of Peace gardens, on the eastern edge of the main boulevard
Botanical gardens near the stadium
Astana Grand Mosque – I drove past here on the way to the airport. Looked incredible from the air (Google Maps) and again demonstrates how spread out everything is in the City
Future Energy Museum – Astana hosted the international EXPO in 2017 and created a set of buildings to host the occasion. Fun Fact – The Atomnium in Brussels and the Olympic Stadium in Barcelona were also built as part as hosted EXPO. This fascinated me the most, even though it is no longer open to the public and from 2024 houses commercial offices. In the middle of a few blocks is a large spherical building, which claimed to be the largest spherical building in the world. HOWEVER, the Avicii Arena – which I had visited on a trip to Stockholm (link) – is a significant 25 meters wider.
Apologies to fans of the blog for missing these. I think pinching photos from Google is kinda’ cheating. The blog is aimed at NOT doing things as I do them, remember.
Anyway, back to what I did do that sunny Friday morning. And yet another impressive structure, this time at the western side of the main strip.
Image ^ The outside of Khan Shatyr shopping centre slash beach resort.
Khan Shatyr is a shopping and entertainment centre, and is the largest tented building in the world being 150 high and an area of 127,000 square metres.
In addition to the expected retail shops, food outlets and cinema, what drew me to this place was the fact that it also houses a beach resort, sand included on the top floor! Even when temperatures outside can dop into the minuses, the area is a ‘tropical oasis’ with the water heated to 29°C year round.
Fun fact: The sand used for the beach areas is imported directly from the Maldives! So many questions about why and transportation logistics…
I fully intended to spend a few hours here, just to take a few photos to hopefully capture what a weird concept it seems. Ultimately, I ran out of time / was out drinking too long / too hungover to tick this off the list. If you wish to visit yourself, like I will defiantly do if I visit again, the entrance fee is around £19.
Image ^ The inside of Khan Shatyr shopping centre slash beach resort.
Out of all he offerings for lunch available I ended up with a KFC amongst several visits to the loo. Now still a bit worse for wear any my luggage with me, I decided to call it a day and head to the airport nice and early. The taxi from Khan Shatyr to the airport did take me past the Grand Mosque and Future Energy Museum, making me feel guilty of the wasted opportunities. Looking back though, I experienced more than I imagined throughout the week whilst having an appetite to visit again.
Starting my extensive travel home could not have got off to be a better start, with an empty middle seat and extra leg room for a six hour flight to Istanbul. Probably the most comfortable I have ever been on a plane and I fondly remember enjoying the Tom Hanks film “A man called Otto” among the media offerings.
After this flight though, things got a little bit shit.
Image ^ Never needed an empty middle seat more in my life.
Day 8 – The final stretch home to watch the County!
I’m not a fan of Istanbul airport since accidentally paying over £20 for a McDonalds earlier in the year, but that seemed a mild inconvenience compared to this time.
Arriving in Turkey at 22:10, my flight back to the UK was not until 04:45 the next day. I did intend on forking out $50 or so for the lounge, but I never got the chance. Although I had no hand-luggage I had to check in at the WizzAir desks for my boarding pass, which meant I was sat around waiting, trying to stay awake for hours and hours. When the check-in did open and I eventually joined the queue, I must have been 50th in line and everyone in front of me seemed to have a trolley full of suitcases.
Image ^ The absolutely crushing time hanging around in Istanbul airport.
The process took so long, by the time I checked in and cleared the lengthy security (another reason I hate the airport) I actually had to jog – IN MY STATE – to the gate. No duty free tobacco this time. Surely some people missed the flight who were still at the check in guest – but not my problem, I was nearly home.
Image ^ Back in the UK, but my bus stop was missing my bus.
By the time that I landed in the UK and found out that I missed my FlixBus by FOUR fucking minutes I think I was done feeling sorry for myself. There was always going to be a slight risk that the timing would be too tight and I only lost out on £12. In preparation, I also had a look at the trains whilst clearing passport control and was delighted that Uber were offering the journey for around £45, and I would get to Newport a little earlier than the bus.
Image ^ London Paddington station on leg 45,125 of the trip.
Extending my journey itinerary further, I caught the next available train from Gatwick to ummm… can’t remember the London station, then the tube to London Paddington.
Only once the train departed for south Wales was I confident there would be no other obstacles, so decided to celebrate with a can of cider at 10am, as is customary on a football matchday in the UK.
Image ^ Pre-match beers have never been so necessary – to stay awake.
My wife gratefully joined me at Newport station to offload my luggage, then it was straight to Rodney Parade for the early kick off verse local rivals Bristol Rovers.
Image ^ 3,000 miles and back in time for Newport v Bristol Rovers.
Three thousand miles and a significant extra few quid to ensure I got back for kickoff. A not so fun fact was that I left the game early after we went 3-0 down, only to miss 2 of our goals walking to the pub.
Image ^ WTF am I doing having my last photo as a pint of OJ and lemonade??
After a few more pints everything was catching up with me to the extent I finished the day no later than 8pm with a bloody soft drink. How I wish I did the same after the match in Kazakhstan!
Thanks for visiting my blog for my umpteenth visit to Spain, but a first visit to the Spanish capital!
Introduction
We booked this trip on somewhat of a whim earlier in the year, so that my wife Mikayla could have somewhere to go in the summer holidays (she’s a teacher). We were warned a few times after it was too late, that Madrid is ridiculously hot in August. That was true, in fact it was hotter than usual being 39 degrees one early afternoon, with wildfires not too far away and endless health and safety reminders on public transport. Still, expecting the worst, it wasn’t as bad as we thought. We took it easy around the hours of midday and 4pm and stayed in the shade as much as we could. Given my size and lack of fitness I honestly thought it was manageable, so personally won’t put people off going in the summer.
Anyway, Madrid is the modern day capital of Spain and located smack bang in the middle of the country. No beaches or 18-30 holidays here guys. The metropolitan area of Madrid has a population of around 3.4 million and in my opinion it feels a lot larger than perhaps it is.
Image ^ My favourite photos from the trip.
Costs & Getting Around
Ryanair flights from Bristol were super cheap at £80 each but we required one larger cabin bag that added an extra £60, so £220 total for the flights.
We absolutely loved our little apartment called Garden House Madrid (website link). At just £50 per night for three nights, it was around a 20 minute bus into the central area or a ten minute walk to the nearest metro. The bus stop was right outside the building and there was a huge supermarket with fast food options a ten minute walk away. The small additions in the room were really cute too, such as snacks, plasters, cotton buds… even a small bag of spare chargers!
We purposely didn’t have a breakfast option as we had facilities in the room, so only spent about £15 on Breakfast for three days from the supermarket that afforded enough bread, ham, butter, cereal, milk, fruit, juice, water and some cakes.
Image ^ Our room in the wonderful Garden House Madrid.
Madrid received my top marks for getting around. Total transport costs were just £20 each for 4 days and covered the wide network of metro and public buses, and possibly local trains but we didn’t use these. Buses seem to run every 5 to 15 minutes but note it’s a big city, so from one area to another could easily take an hour! I would add that traffic was never an issue for us. Most of the city benefits from 3-4 lanes available for vehicles in each direction! Google Maps worked well but on a few occasions the metro/bus linking was not to my preference.
You can purchase a tourism travel card at the airport metro station and the card also includes an airport transfer and back. Note the metro station is a LONG walk from Terminal 1, a good 20 minutes.
We had a great day trip to Toledo and Segovia on Day 3 that cost £120 and the tour of Real Madrid’s stadium was £35 each. Apart from that we didn’t really splash out on anything other than food, drinks, the odd souvenir.
We were really shit with food on the trip. Saving money on breakfast was great, but most of our other meals were fast food, which was similarly priced to the UK. We did have visit a Chinese buffet one evening, but the only time we planned to have paella and some local cuisine we decided against it due to not feeling 100%. I had to Google this at the time, but the tap water is safe to drink, I must have had about 10 litres of it during the week with no issue.
In total,without digging too much, I think the whole trip cost around £850 for four days / three nights.
Itinerary
Day One
Flying early morning meant that we made our way into the city from the airport, following the 2.5 hour flight, around 11am. We couldn’t check in until 1pm so visited the pre-planned supermarket to get some breakfast supply.
The supermarket was a real pain in the arse lugging around our bags in the wheelie basket things (top tip, take a bloody trolley key or change!!) and the place was massive, as in, a WHOLE isle just for your fix of ham variants!
Image ^ A section of just the two sides of an aisle of ham in the supermarket.
Once we took the bus three stops to outside our apartment and checked in, we had ham baguettes for lunch, an hour or so rest with the aircon, then negotiated our way towards the north of the centre to visit one of the most well-known sports stadia in the world.
Image ^ Outside the continuing-to-be renovated Bernabéu stadium.
The Santiago Bernabéu, home of Real Madrid has been undergoing renovations for the past few years so the tour wasn’t as complete as it may be in future (can think of no access to dressing rooms or pitch side?) but interesting enough.
I will say form the get go I am certainly NOT a Real Madrid fan, and the plethora of people walking around in £100 replica shirts actually left a bitter taste in my mouth. Oh how my and their cash could have benefitted their local football teams instead. This place was Disneyland for plastics.
Once I managed to get over this, and the cringe at some of the selfie-stick waving giddiness inside, I did try to actually appreciate the tour.
Image ^ A model of the finished article.
There was corridor after corridor of trophy rooms and an informative timeline of how both the club and stadium were formed. I was pleased Welsh legend Gareth Bale had his own space concerning the 2018 Champions League final (the overhead kick goal).
Image ^ Real Madrid’s collection of La Liga (Spanish League) trophies.Image ^ Gareth Bale’s iconic goal accompanied by video highlights of the final.Image ^ Bale’s boots and memorabilia from the 2018 final… done a good job cleaning them… Image ^ Wall of 15 European Cups / Champions League trophies.
After these rooms you got a glimpse of the bowl for the first time, but had to walk half way around the stadium to actually visit the section where you could walk out of the concourse and admire the view from a seating area.
This was always going to be my favourite part of the tour. Perhaps some of you are surprised it was my first time at this stadium, but hopefully won’t be the last as I gazed at the away end imagining the scenes when Wales go 3-0 up in a future qualifying match.
Image ^ Stadium panorama. Nice if the pitch was there but it was pre-season. They played here just a week later though!
I tried to explain to Mikayla how the football pitch, once laid for the upcoming season, kind of folds away underground in a specific environment to keep the grass healthy… but I don’t know how successful I was doing so! However, I did intrigue her with a fun fact that whilst the renovation cost in the region of £1.5 BILLION, they only added an extra 4,000 seats taking the capacity to 85,000, a long way short of rivals Barcelona. No doubt a lot of this renovation is to accommodate more corporate ‘fans’ and outprice the locals further.
Back outside after being forced to walk through the gift shop (HELL ON EARTH) my final observation was how short in height the stadium looked. I reckon at least two of the 5 tiers are below ground level. Anyhow.
After a bus or two we then visited the Puerta del Sol public square for a photo of the “El Oso y el Madroño”, a bronze statue of a bear and a strawberry tree. Somewhat underwhelming given the tourist interest but a very recognisable image many relate with Madrid.
Image ^ El Oso y el Madroño.
As the heatwaves from the direct sunline started to ease off, we visited a stately square Plaza de Mayor on the way towards the Royal Palace and Santa Maria Cathedral.
Image ^ Plaza del Mayor, Madrid.Image ^ Plaza del Mayor, Madrid.Image ^ Plaza del Mayor, Madrid.
A stones throw away from the Palace, I changed my mind about continuing our exploring for the day. We had been awake since 4am and easily passed 20,000 steps. Instead of having a half-arsed flying visit now we’d enjoy our time here better tomorrow.
Image ^ Santa Maria Cathedral from the outside.
Day Two
Before our proposed re-visit to the Royal Palace and Santa Maria Cathedral, we chose to visit Moncloa’s Lighthouse to the north-west of the centre. This place promised great views over the city and at just €4 each to get the lift to the top, once you walked past Moncloa Arch that celebrated Francoist triumphs in the Spanish Civil War, it was well worth the money, especially as I had seldom seen this on things-to-do lists.
Image ^ Moncloa Arch with Moncloa lighthouse in the background.
We spent a little longer up here taking our time to read the information boards that highlighted specific buildings in view in certain directions. The sight of four massive skyscrapers stood out to the north, and there was a one building which had a phoenix on when built buy an old insurance company, which, ironically, has since gone out of business! Another building we were informed was built from the top down (cool but why) and then the more recognisable sights in the historic centre of the city. Apologies for some crap photo’s here it must have been the way the glass was angled!
Image ^ View of four tallest buildings in Spain.
If your squinting to try and see the Bernabéu, it’s actually behind the tall “tower “Picasso Tower” to the right on the horizon… Sorry to disappoint you. I did tell you the stadium didn’t seem very high from the outside!
Image ^ Details about the buildings in the photo above.Image ^ You can just make out the building with a phoenix on top to the left, and the building built from the top down on the right.Image ^ Looking towards the old town and Retiro Park.
Catching the Metro to the Opera station in the centre, we walked past the opera theatre towards the palace.
Image ^ Statue located between the opera theatre and Royal Palace.
Hopefully the photos above and below give an indication to the scale of the Royal Palace. Massive. I prefer not to give royalty any more money than I had to so we didn’t visit inside. A self guided visit was around €15 but note what also put me off were the queues… not too long but stuck in the direct sunshine!
Image ^ The Royal Palace, taken through the gates.
From here we walked around the side of the Santa Maria cathedral that lies adjacent to the Palace. It’s the place I took a photo of the outside for the last photo on day one. We paid a Euro donation to visit and I don’t really know what else to say, not being really into this type of thing. I can tell you I had a nice sit down on a pew for ten minutes though whilst Mikayla explored (shittest blog…).
Image ^ Inside the Santa Maria Cathedral.
From the Cathedral we walked a good kilometre in the midday sun back to Puerta del Sol (the bear statue) and having my first ever Taco Bell for lunch (probably the most Spanish thing I ate all trip) paid a visit to some Egyptian ruins. Nowhere near Egypt. I know…
Image ^ Temple of Debod, Madrid.
The Temple of Debod is set in a pretty park area. According to Wikipedia, The Egyptian government donated the temple to Spain in 1968 as a sign of gratitude for their participation in the International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia. Nubia was a region along the Nile.
The largest building was a shrine. I was really surprised that we couldn’t enter here to have a nose, and even though it seemed quiet, were told that they can only allow so many people to visit per day.
To get here we had to walk for about 20 minutes from the nearest metro and up a few flights of steps. Paired with the peak of heat being close to 40 degrees I did struggle somewhat around here. We did originally plan to play it safe and go back to the hotel, but once we caught a long bus with air condition, we decided to metro and bus jump to the far east of the city and visit another football ground, this time belonging to Atletico Madrid.
Image ^ There’s a 70,000 seater stadium around here somewhere, honest…
With google AND metro signage making it clear that the stadium stop was not operating, which made sense as it was in the middle of nowhere and not a match day, we alighted from the next closest metro and walked. I find the above photo quite humorous as at this point I had dragged my poor wife to the outskirts of Madrid just to look at a football stadium, that wasn’t even open!
Luckily it didn’t take too long to emerge with a great view of the modern Metropolitano stadium, and luckier still, that Metro station was in fact bloody open, to make our trip back to the apartment for a rest a little smoother.
Image ^ The craply named Riyadh Air Metropolitano. I’ll just stick with Metropolitano...
We knew we had a full day on a trip tomorrow so didn’t place much on the agenda this evening. Just as Kay was obtaining the divorce papers over another football ground visit, she rescinded these once she realised the home of Rayo Vallecano was only a few stops away from our apartment, and we even felt the joy of some raindrops!
Image ^ Estadio de Vallecas, home of Rayo Vallecano.Image ^ Mural outside Estadio de Vallecas, home of Rayo Vallecano.
That evening for dinner we made the questionable decision to visit a Chinese buffet restaurant in Príncipe Pío train station the other side of the city, which amounted to another two hours use of our transport passes.
** Note ** I could probably double the length of the total blog with information on this trip. Reading it back after it’s first draft, I should have maybe put a few more bits in, but you can always google the stated locations for more insight!
Image ^ Outside the Las Ventas bullring.
Our pick-up point, somewhat interestingly perhaps, was outside Las Ventas Bullring, which is active and slaughters bulls on a nightly basis in the name of culture. Whilst it was certainly an impressive structure, I won’t really be saying much more about it. I did laugh at some of the reviews on Google a few weeks prior, many along the lines of “I had a nice time apart from the animal killing etc etc”… *shrugs*
Anyway… Our day today would involve driving south of Madrid for an hour to Toledo, then a two hour drive north, passing Madrid, before a final hour back to base. If that makes any sense.
Although the bus was mostly full we managed to swag the back 5 seats to ourselves and enjoyed wonderful aircon that made the journey comfortable. As we arrived into Toledo we were dropped off for a photo opportunity roadside with a panoramic view of the town. Splendid, that.
Image ^ Viewpoint look out on Toledo.
Before we would start our walking tour, we had a pit stop at a nearby Damasquinado factory (the art of inlaying different metals into one another—typically, gold or silver into a darkly oxidized steel background—to produce intricate patterns).
Image ^ Bloke making a sword.
Some reviews were annoyed at this was a ploy to get you to buy something, but I found the stop short, interesting, and the gift shop had some cool and reasonably priced swords but good luck getting that through hand luggage… Annoyingly I can’t find the name of the actual place as there are a few sword makers around – Toledo is famous in this field – but the place we visited made swords for the Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones series.
Image ^ Swords for sale. Some were as little as €130 I thought that was cheap…
Another short ride concluded and we started off our walking tour of Toledo, kicking off crossing a bridge and a sizeable uphill walk to San Juan Monastery. I’m not going to go in to detail but the tour guide was really informative all day about the history of places visited, explaining back when Toledo was the capital of Spain, Muslims controlled the area but allowed Jews and Christians to live in harmony, ultimately changing when the Catholics gained power.
Image ^ San Juan Monastery, Toledo.
We stopped at a few spots around the Jewish quarter, which was the largest on the Iberian Peninsula at the time, and onto the majestic Catedral Primada de Toledo. Crikey, just noticed how many places of worship are here in such a small area!
Image ^ Outside the Catedral Primada de Toledo.
We paid €12 each to enter here, shaving off our time for lunch but it was a worthy expense. The downloadable audio guide had over 40 points of interest and in 30 minutes we didn’t get to see them all. I put that down to the guide being rather hard to follow but it was impressive nevertheless.
Image ^ Inside the Catedral Primada de Toledo, the main altar.Image ^ Inside the Catedral Primada de Toledo, some outstanding carving on the seats that the choir uses.
Following the tour we had to manoeuvre through the narrow tourist-heavy streets to the main plaza and Royal Alcázar of Toledo for a quick bit to eat before meeting back up with the group.
Image ^ Walking through the narrow streets of Toledo. Those sheets above were a good shout.
To re-join the coach, which was parked back down the cliff face, we used no less than eight escalators. I’ve only just realised writing this that WHY didn’t we bloody start here and get the escalators UP hill and than walk back down hill?!? Never mind I could do with the exercise.
Image ^ Loads of escalators to get us back down to the bus.
Fast forward two hours and we were now north of Madrid in Segovia. Segovia has a rich architectural legacy, including medieval walls, Romanesque churches, a former royal palace and a Gothic cathedral. There is no doubt however, what the outstanding piece of architecture is that brings tourists along… its ancient Roman aqueduct has more than 160 arches and stands above Plaza Azoguejo in the heart of the city.
Image ^ Segovia Acqueduct.
The aqueduct was built way back in the first century and was built to transport water from the mountains over 10 miles away to fountains, public baths and private houses.
Fun fact: This aqueduct was constructed without using cement and still stands to this day, incredible stuff at that time. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere near if one stone was to come loose…
Image ^ Segovia Aqueduct.
After some photos and an ice cream we started another short-ish walking tour through Segovia passing the aforementioned gothic church (another huge and imposing building) and main Plaza del Mayor, where it was explained that many plazas have buildings with balconies surrounding the squares such as this and Plaza del Mayor in Madrid. The guide state this location was prolific in ‘dealing’ with people who refused to convert to Christianity in the allowed timeframe after taking rule of the region.
Image ^ Gothic style Catedral de Segovia.
Our final stop in Segovia and thus the tour was the Alcázar de Segovia, a medieval castle. The tour guide suggested that the castle was what Snow White’s Disney castle was based upon, but considering Snow White is German, I have my reservations!
Image ^ Alcázar de Segovia.
Nevertheless, the castle was in picturesque surroundings and once inside offers superb views of surrounding areas. There were many rooms in the castle that we walked through, but in lieu of any form of guide, and being a bit medieval-ed out at this point I just enjoyed the scenery!
Image ^ View of central Segovia from Alcázar de Segovia.
By the time we were dropped off back in Madrid it was 8pm (eleven hour tour for €60 each wasn’t bad) we didn’t do anything above dinner and travel back to the apartment.
Day Four
Today started off a bit shit. I was due to go to Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan for the football in 16 days time. I looked to see if I could check in for the flights over breakfast, only to see Pegasus Airlines had cancelled my flights without as much as an email! That meant that I was a little miserable today without having access to a PC to properly consider my options. Fear not, just as we boarded the plane home I found similar flights, so the next blog is still a GO! (as of 10 days before my trip!)
Carpe diem and all that… today was a chance to go around at our own pace and see a few things we planned when relaxed or weren’t all that fussed about.
We left our luggage at the apartment and headed to Retiro Park, something we were looking forward to all week. Covering 125 hectares it’s Madrid’s equivalent of London’s Hyde Park. The park was really nice and definitely worth a visit. We managed to do a big circle without being in the sun too much. Not much more to say about the park but I’ll caption the images…
Image ^ Reitor Park, Madrid. Monument to the Álvarez Quintero Brothers (Spanish dramatists).Image ^ Retiro Park boating lake.Image ^ Retiro Park, Madrid.Image ^ The Crystal Palace underoing renovation in Retiro Park, Madrid.Image ^ Rose garden in Retiro Park, Madrid.Image ^ Enjoying the shade in Retiro Park, Madrid.Image ^ Parterre Garden in Retiro Park, Madrid.
Walking from here, past the Puerta de Alcalá arch, Mikayla was keen to visit the Madrid Library, which we did, but it was a bit boring as the public were only granted access to and small exhibition.
Image ^ Puerta de Alcalá triumphal arch.Image ^ National Library of Spain.
Just as Mikayla got over the two hour detour visiting the Atletico Madrid stadium earlier in the trip, I convinced her that we should visit ANOTHER ground, the Coliseum in Getafe, to complete the set of four Madrid-based who play in the Spanish top flight.
Image ^ The Coliseum stadium, home of Getafe football club.
Make your own mind up whether it was worth the trip for the walk around outside and average photograph. It didn’t help matters that Getafe lies just outside the boundary of our travel card, so had to fork out an extra €3 each for the additional two stops on the metro!
At least we had a quiet lunch in a deserted KFC. As our flight wasn’t until 10:30pm we still had the whole afternoon spare. I was pleased to suggest we pay a visit to those 4 tall buildings we noticed at the top of the Lighthouse on day two. The zillionth long transport route later I found it cool to be amongst the four highest buildings in Spain and I don’t think we seen another tourist.
Image ^ 3 of the 4 tallest buildings in Spain.
The Torre de Cristal stands at 249m tall with its three neighbours 230, 236 and the other just 70cm smaller! Gutting that… especially as they were ALL finished in 2008! Fun fact: The 5th tallest building is in bloody Benidorm.
Image ^ … and the other one that was hiding in the last photo!
Although we decided to make tracks to the airport at this point, I did have a hope to see the two main locations that featured in La Casa Del Papa / Money Heist, a Spanish language TV programme I thoroughly enjoyed during lockdown (watch it it’s on Netflix). The two buildings were the Bank of Spain and the Mint. We had already passed the Bank a few times which is near Retiro Park. When researching the Mint however, I found that the show actually used different locations in Madrid to film. Makes sense but I felt a bit daft.
We didn’t bother with our included airport transport using the metro, instead catching the bus for €5 each. It only took about 15 minutes to the airport, and, TOP TIP, it dropped you off outside the terminal of choice rather than a 30 minute walk from the metro station!
Image ^ One final bus to take us to the airport.
I have already told you about successfully rebooking flights for my trip to Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan (touch wood), so that was good. Our flight was delayed by 45 minutes, we got home at 3am and I had to be up at 7am to drive 175 miles for work! But it was a great trip.
Things we didn’t do…
Actually watch a football game in one of the grounds visited. In fairness it was pre-season…
Eat some bloody Spanish food!
A nice dinner or drink in one of the many rooftop bars with a good view
Ride the cable car from Ouest Park to a viewpoint – currently undergoing major reconstruction
If we had loads of time, there’s a Warner Bro’s theme park in Madrid
Thanks for reading! Wish me luck for the next trip, I may just need it!
Welcome to what will probably be my oldest blog to feature on here. It’s summer 2025 so I’m writing this just the NINE and a half years after the event. In the hope of avoiding putting you off reading other posts, I usually write up my travels within a few weeks, complete with a full itinerary alongside photos, costs, accommodation and fun facts!
However, when we visited the US, the blog was not even a twinkle in my eye. Add that to some shoddy photos and naïve cropping decisions, forgive me for something different and of a lesser quality than I’m usually happy with.
Image ^ My favourite photos of the trip.
Before this trip we had only been to Krakow and Berlin as a couple. Interestingly this was only my second trip outside Europe, as I had flown close to the Statue of Liberty six months prior, changing flights at Newark on the way to Colorado for a charity event.
I’m just going to run through what we did each day and dump the photos from that day with captions.
I thought we covered bloody loads in a short space of time. In just 5 full days we saw everything we wanted to see in NYC, plus day trips to Washington DC and Philadelphia, both several hours away in different states!
Day One
Flew from London to JFK.
Managed to negotiate the subway to our hotel, which was a few minutes walk from Times square! Surfacing here for a first view of NYC was pretty cool.
Image ^ Here we goooo.Image ^ The view that welcomed us after emerging from the subway station.
Day Two
Looking back, I’m surprised we didn’t hit the Statue of Liberty straight away, but as a travel amateur at that point I think I wanted to wait until we arrived to book tickets. Don’t worry, we’ll visit later on.
Wandered around Central Park. South to north and back again was five miles! In awe of the size and changing environment within the park. Hard to believe in some spaces that you were in the middle of one of the most densely populated cities in the world. My favourite part of the city.
Had a mini walking tour around Chrysler building, Empire State building, New York Library and Grand Central train station.
Went to the top of the World Trade Centre and visited the Two Towers memorial site.
Image ^ Central Park.Image ^ Map of Central Park, a massive 2.5 miles long.Image ^ Strawberry Fields plaque, John Lennon memorial in Central Park.Image ^ John Lennon memorial in Central Park.Image ^ Central Park.Image ^ Also Central Park. Seriously what is this doing in the middle of New York?!.Image ^ Harlem Meer in Central Park.Image ^ Untermyer Fountain in Central Park.Image ^ Central Park Reservoir.Image ^ Central Park Reservoir. Vividly remember getting lapped TWICE by a jogger walking past here!Image ^ Alice in Wonderland statue in Central Park. Loved this.Image ^ Central Park.Image ^ Ice rink in Central Park.Image ^ Southern Central Park looking at One57 skyscraper and Hampshire House.Image ^ Empire State Building.Image ^ NY Central Library.Image ^ Inside NY Central Library.Image ^ Outside Grand Central Station.Image ^ Inside Grand Central Station.Image ^ Inside Grand Central Station.Image ^ Chrysler Building.Image ^ 9/11 Memorial where the Two Towers stood.Image ^ 9/11 Memorial where the Two Towers stood.Image ^ View from the World Trade Centre looking west (New Jersey over the river).Image ^ View from the World Trade Centre looking north.Image ^ View from the World Trade Centre looking east with Brooklyn Bridge and Brooklyn.Image ^ Top of the World Trade Centre looking down at the 9/11 Memorial.Image ^ View from the World Trade Centre looking south, can just make out the Statue of Liberty.Image ^ Random subway picture of Cortlandt street. Sound the subway very easy to negotiate!
Day Three
Day tour to Washington DC. Travel took around 4 hours each way so a full day blocker. Fun fact: The trip took us through New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland states, so a great superficial tick boxing exercise!
Joined a guided tour in Washington. I think the photos are in order so…
Vietnam memorial… Lincoln memorial… Korean War memorial
I remember being told of all the statues in this area, you can only ever make eye contact with one statue at any location around the site.
The White House (before the nutter had his first term… Madame Tussaud’s Washington
Smithsonian Air and Space museum. No photos from here. A shame but I recall feeling a bit underwhelmed by it to be honest.
And finally, Capitol Hill.
A really good use of a day but a bit limiting in terms of exploring. It was years after when I found out there was a big bloody river nearby… And there’s loads of other memorials and stuff.
Image ^ Vietnam War memorial, Washington DC.Image ^ Vietnam War memorial, Washington DC.Image ^ Vietnam War memorial, Washington DC.Image ^ Lincoln Memorial, Washington DC.Image ^ Martin Luther King plaque at Lincoln memorial where he delivered his famous and powerful speech.Image ^ Lincoln memorial, statue of the bloke himself!Image ^ View from Lincoln memorial looking at the infinity pool and Washington Monument.Image ^ Lincoln Memorial, Washington DC.Image ^ Korean War memorial, Washington DC.Image ^ Korean War memorial, Washington DC.Image ^ Korean War memorial, Washington DC.Image ^ View from Washington Monument with Lincoln memorial in the background, Washington DC.Image ^ .The White House, Washington DCImage ^ Madame Tussaud’s, Washington DC.Image ^ Madame Tussaud’s, Washington DC.Image ^ Capitol Hill, Washington DC. Scaffolding follows me everywhere…Image ^ View from the Capitol building, Washington DC.
Day Four
Looking at the photos, we didn’t do too much today.
Walked around downtown and Wall Street, then up and over Brooklyn Bridge. Disappointingly we didn’t do anything in Brooklyn apart from a McDonald’s before catching the subway back to Manhattan. That was a shame.
In the evening we had a walk closer to our hotel in Midtown. Rockefeller Centre, the Empire State again, a church I remember from Home Alone 2 (although just found out the scenes were filmed in Illinois!), surely some other things but I’m being guided by the photos nearly ten years on!
Image ^ New York Stock Exchange.Image ^ Wall Steet, New York City.Image ^ Federal Hall, Wall Street, New York City.Image ^ Fuck off Donald.Image ^ Looking out at Brooklyn from Manhatten.Image ^ Brooklyn Bridge.Image ^ Brooklyn Bridge.Image ^ Brooklyn Bridge.Image ^ Brooklyn Bridge.Image ^ Brooklyn Bridge.Image ^ Empire State Building.Image ^ Christmas Tree outside Rockefeller Centre.Image ^ Some random street near the Rockefeller Centre.Image ^ St Patrick’s Church.
Day Five
Strange how we managed to wait until today to visit the top of my list, being the Statue of Liberty. Not an expensive excursion back in the day I don’t think.
Liberty Island didn’t disappoint and neither did the boat ride to take us island hopping. We were too late booking to get tickets to go up to the crown of Lady Liberty, so get them as far in advance as possible!
Fun fact: The statue is supposed to be the same colour as a 2p coin i.e. copper, but the water over the years given it its green colour.
Fun fact: We purchased our first travel Christmas tree decoration on Liberty Island, a challenge we have completed on every trip together since. We’re missing Krakow and Berlin sadly before this time.
After the statue we had a tour of Ellis Island. Can’t remember much from here but we obviously visited the Museum of Immigration. This used to be the first port of call for SO MANY people who made America what it is today.
Back on land, probably one of Kay’s highlights, we visited Katz Delicatessen, famous from the scene in When Harry Met Sally. The lengthy queue was worth the wait. Mikayla ordered some sort of meat platter and I simply said “I’ll have what she’s having….” *smiles at my own cleverness*
Afterwards we had a lengthy stroll back to our hotel stopping off at the Flatiron building. No idea why I haven’t got a photo of this.
Oh yeah! Today was also New Year’s Eve 2015/16, celebrating 7 years being a couple. Even though we were close to Times Square we were too late to be allowed in together with the million or so at Times Square to watch the midnight celebration and famous f’ball drop’.
Fun fact: they closed the subway tracks underneath Times Square for this occasion, for security. Ok not really a fun fact…
We visited a Chinese restaurant that tasted nothing like the UK cuisine (so probably actual Chinese food) and had the fabulous idea to watch the fireworks from the large rocks back at Central Park. Bar the off tree I think we had a much better view than being ground level in Times Square with 7,163 skyscrapers in front of you?
Image ^ Downtown Manhattan view from the boat to Liberty Island.Image ^ Statue of Liberty, New York City.Image ^ Statue of Liberty, New York City.Image ^ Back of the Statue of Liberty, New York City..Image ^ Statue of Liberty, New York City and downtown Manhattan panorama. One of my favourites, this.Image ^ Ellis Island Museum of Immigration.Image ^ Katz Delicatessen, New York City.Image ^ A light lunch at Katz Delicatessen, New York City.Image ^ Katz Delicatessen, New York City.Image ^ Empire State Building on New Years Eve.Image ^ Central Park.Image ^ A rather naff photo of the New Year fireworks to the North of Central Park.
Day Six
Day trip to Philadelphia. Really can’t remember if we caught the train or another Greyhound bus to visit, but travel time was around 2 hours.
First stop was the Liberty Bell with its famous crack, caused by nothing more interesting than over usage.
Nearby was Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution were debated & signed. Just a bit of historical importance!
Feeling active, we would walk miles today, as we headed to our main destination being the Philadelphia Museum of Art… or the Rocky steps as widely recognised. On the way we would pass the City Hall complete with a Welsh plaque commemorating Welsh settlers and the street Benjamin Franklin Parkway, which I’m gonna call the avenue of flags.
Every lamp post on the long street had a country’s flag on it. Hundreds of them. Flags are my specialist quiz subject after Corinthian football figures, so I was super chuffed to impress my girlfriend turned wife with my knowledge.
At the Museum / Rocky steps we had a quick nose at the Rocky Balboa / Sylvester Stallone statue before the MANDATORY run (slow jog) up the steps just like in the movie!
It was a long walk back down flag avenue but we did finally see the Welsh flag before still a mile or so back to the transport station back to NYC.
It was late when we got back but I did take a quick walk to the Disney Store in times square for a souvenir that we still treasure today. And a pizza slice. Had to have a pizza slice.
Image ^ Liberty Bell, Philadelphia.Image ^ Independence Hall, Philadelphia.Image ^ The room where the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution were debated & signed.Image ^ Washington Square, Philadelphia.Image ^ Welsh Society plaque on Philadelphia City Hall.Image ^ Philadelphia City Hall.Image ^ Rocky Balboa statue.Image ^ Philadelphia Museum of Art i.e the Rocky steps building.Image ^ The Rocky steps.Image ^ View from the Rocky steps looking down Benjamin Franklin parkway with City Hall at the end.Image ^ … had to be done, didn’t it….Image ^ Y baner Cymru near Philadelphia City Hall.Image ^ One last trip to Times Square to pick up some Disney souvenires.Image ^ Decent pizza and by far the cheapest meal you get get in these parts.
Day 7
Our last morning as we would be flying back this afternoon. We ticked off the final ‘core attraction’ being the top of the Empire State building, visiting as soon as it opened.
Glad we visited one in the night ( World Trade Centre) and one in daytime. The views were incredible and leaving it until the last day meant we could point out our previous adventures of the trip.
That was it pretty much. For some strange reason we ended up getting the subway to some suburban place and then a public bus to JFK airport?!
It’s been nearly ten years but we still have great memories of our (currently only) visit to NYC.
Image ^ Ground level inside the Empire State Building.Image ^ View from the Empire State Building, facing north.Image ^ View from the Empire State Building, facing south. Just about see Liberty Island.Image ^ View from the Empire State Building, facing south.Image ^ View from the Empire State Building, facing east.Image ^ View from the Empire State Building, rather high up!Image ^ Boarding our plane back to normality.
Things we didn’t do / Things I want to do next time…
If you gave me 24 hours in NYC I would happily just wander around Central Park all day above anything else.
Walk along the High Line, an old rail track converted into an above ground public walkway
Coney Island for the beach and theme park
A day trip to Boston, about 3 hours away
Visit the building where Only Murders in the Building is set (a fave of mine…)
See a show on Broadway
Visit a few sports grounds in NY / New Jersey. Maybe catch a baseball game at the Yankee Stadium
Visit the Bronx and have a better look around Brooklyn
Go see the Guggenheim Museum and Maddison Square Garden, at least from the outside
With a bit of luck Cymru will be at the 2026 football World Cup set in the US, Canada and Mexico, and if so, perhaps one of the games will be in neighbouring New Jersey’s MetLife stadium (also host of the final). I’ve already started saving / trying to get Mum to go so she’ll pay for me.
May it be a future lesson to not wait 6-and-a-half-years to start a blog post. I did write an introduction (all one page of it) in July 2019 which has helped a bit with the costs but apart from that it will be very off the cuff! Thankfully the photographs will do the trip justice, even though I had already edited them years prior and rather peeved that I no longer have the originals to do a better job with them this time around.
Jordan is nestled in amongst some…. more volatile… countries should I say? It borders Israel, Iraq, Syria and Saudi Arabia yet is one of the more peaceful countries in the region. Jordan is a 97% Muslim country although I did see some signs of Westernisation if you want to call it that. Tourists are well looked after and many young girls and women (especially in the modern shopping centres in Amman) can walk around without head coverings. It’s location also means it has close links with Christianity being a stones throw away from Jerusalem and Bethlehem.
This holiday was our first time visiting the middle-east and we have only really visited Egypt that has been somewhat similar. It can be a very big culture shock. Looking back in the summer of 2025, I cannot believe that we achieved so much with loose plans and no pre-arranged travel before we left on 27th December.
The day before (Boxing day watching Newport lose 4-1 with a few drinks), I was terrified that out trip wouldn’t even get off the ground, literally, as we had problems checking in to our flights. Having spent an hour on the phone, half-cut no doubt, the Turkish Airlines rep told us just to turn up at the airport and all will be fine. I must have had more resilience in my younger years as I would melt over the worry today!
Image ^ My favourite 9 photos from the trip!
Costs
We booked the flights and accommodation with Expedia, having been pleased with their offerings for our other annual big trips to New York, Toronto and Hong Kong over the past three years. Their website only appears to hold booking history for five years, but I’m certain we didn’t get much change out of £1,500 for return flights from London to the capital Amman and a really budget apartment for two people. I have looked for the same dates in December 2025 and remarkably (I’m genuinely amazed), the prices are somewhat similar as of August 2025.
This is where the price breakdown gets a bit ropey but I would add an extra £1,000 on to this for spending, trips and activities. You can’t be staying in Amman all week. I’ll include these along the way if that’s alright with you?
Image ^ Outside Queen Alia International Airport
Day Zero… is here just to note that this day was spent flying from London to Amman via Istanbul, which took most of the day!
Day One – Amman
We arrived at the very modern and spotless Amman airport and queued to get our Visas (no need to get Visa’s beforehand in 2018 but check!) paying £20-40 for the privilege, and a very pretty passport stamp.
We pre-booked a taxi costing £30, which was a masterstroke in hindsight as there is no public transport and we exited the terminal at 3am! It was roughly a 30-45 minutes drive into central Amman to arrive at our apartment.
Al Jazeera Hotel Apartments (link) were indeed very cheap and we didn’t expect the Ritz but shower taps hanging off the wall, a broken bed and a portable gas heater were definitely not included in the brochure! I’ve finally turned a corner in terms of accommodation and very much use the “get what you pay for” mantra worldwide.
Image ^ Our… less than luxury… living room at the Al Jazeera Apartments.
After a delayed start due to a sensible lie in, we headed to the number one site in Amman, being the citadel. We were a good two mile away that required a walk downhill, only to be presented with a steep hill to climb to get up to our destination. With no obvious route up we finally gave in to one of HUNDREDS of taxis who drove nearby and honked at the obvious tourists. A quid or two well spent meant we were at the citadel.
Image ^ The remains of the Temple of Hercules in Amman Citadel.
The Amman Citadel towers over downtown and considered to be towards the top of the world’s oldest continuously inhabited places with evidence dating back over 3800 years. There are several structures still visible from the Roman, Byzantine and Umayyad period.
Image ^ Amman Citadel.
The major remains at the site are the Temple of Hercules (the arch thing), a Byzantine church, and the Umayyad Palace. My photo’s here are not very intuitive I admit. Umm what else… entry was around £2-3 each!
Image ^ View of the Roman Theatre from Amman Citadel.
After a good time seeing the scale of the capital, which we really wouldn’t scrape the surface of, we made our way to the Roman theatre pictured above.
Image ^ Roman Theatre in Amman.
There was some exhibition on in one of the two museums but we were more interested in scaling the steps, built in to the hill for a few photos.
I’m not sure what we did afterwards apart from arrange buses and accommodation that would take us to Petra and Wadi Rum on days 3 and 4. The bus company I remember being called JETT, but there was no way to book online or anything like that! We managed to find their nearest outlet, thankfully close to our hotel, and bought our 3 lots of paper tickets and a hand drawn map of where the departure point will be… all of which pre-dated the concept of Race Across the World!
Image ^ The very modern Abdali Mall in Amman.
That evening we visited the nearby very modern shopping mall, complete with Christmas tree, for some food. One of the memories of the trip was the Szechuan chicken and rice dish I had from an outlet that evening, as it would completely ruin tomorrow…
Day Two – Jerash
Back before now where I’ll always carry an emergency Immodium or eight, that evening was terrible with S&D, which would continue to the next morning and a ride to the northern city of Jerash that we arranged with the hotel.
Jerash is 30 miles north of Amman so very accessible for a day trip. Apart from the drive to the ancient Roman city (known as Gerasa) we didn’t visit anything else here. Interestingly given it’s historical importance, I am surprised it is not in the top 10 largest cities in Jordan… a paltry 50,000 inhabitants compared to 4 million of Amman!
Image ^ Hadrian’s Arch in Jerash.
Nevertheless, it is second to only Petra in terms of visitor numbers.
I was really grateful that Mikayla chose to ditch me on a bench whilst she went to explore the site that had I felt more lively, would have been really interested in.
Image ^ Colonnaded Street in Jerash.
The sites to see in the archaeological city include two outside theatres, a well-preserved former fountain, remains of a cathedral, the oval plaza (I’m in the middle of this below), a hippodrome and Hadrian’s Arch (pictured above) built in year 129.
I especially liked the avenue of pillars “Colonnaded Street” also pictured above, obviously looking back not enough to get me to walk any further than absolutely necessary though. As it was, some time during these photos I was sick just out of the way of a coach load of tourists. That’s probably a criminal offense.
Image ^ Oval plaza in Jerash.
We almost certainly cut our trip short via the toilets for way too long. I could not wait to get back to my broken bed quick enough!
That evening, after several hours sleep, I did manage to venture out to the nearby King Abdullah I Mosque and Parliament buildings, delighted not to have any embarrassing experiences.
Image ^ Outside King Abdullah I mosque.Image ^ Gift shop inside the King Abdullah I mosque.
Afterwards we again visited the shopping mall for an easy dinner. There was no way I was having anything other than a trusty McDonald’s tonight though, with an early bus to Petra waiting in the morning.
Day Three – Petra
Not recalling what time we set off for Petra, we arrived after the three-hour coach trip in the morning. There is a car park by a sizeable visitor centre on the edge of the small town where you get your tickets.
Image ^ Walking through the valley to a wonder of the world.
Upon entry, I think it was a good 25-35 minute walk between the valleys, itself rather picturesque. The walk (or donkey or camel if you prefer – they seemed well looked after) takes little effort knowing what you are walking towards, it was incredibly exciting, I’m surprised I took the time to take the photo below on the approach.
Image ^ Peaking at Petra.
Yes, you do get to see the main event straight off the bat but we spend most of the day walking around the site.
The Treasury is unsurprisingly one of the Wonders of the World, and perhaps the one that is most off the beaten track in terms of tourism. Indeed, looking at a reference way back in 2001 from New7Wonders Foundation it was 7th of seven. As a way of introducing a fun fact – it receives less than 10% of visitors compared to the 10 million per year Great Wall of China from multiple sources I have investigated.
If you were a 90’s kid like me, you probably thought of this photo from the Indiana Jones film The Last Crusade and had no idea it actually existed or where. Jordan wasn’t a country, it was Katie Price’s model name…
It is thought that The Treasury, or Al-Khazneh in Arabic, was built as a mausoleum and crypt at the beginning of the 1st century. Entrance is forbidden but I believe it is just an empty room through the door – that we know of.
Image ^ The money shot – The Treasury in Petra.
From here you take another narrow passageway to the right of the Treasury which eventually opens up to display more of the ancient city of Petra, with a few stalls and facilities.
Image ^ Facilities inside Petra.
As appealing as free Wifi and Gatorade may be, it was nothing compared to the rock faces surrounding the open plain that itself had some ruins. You could probably spend a week here searching every nook.
Image ^ Countless carvings into the rock at Petra.Image ^ Nabatean theatre in Petra.
The Byzantine Church and Nabatean theatre were hard to miss, but we did annoying fail to walk out far enough to visit The Monastery or Ad Deir, which is Petra’s largest monument.
Image ^ Camels waiting for custom inside Petra.
A full day exploring a Wonder of the World will set you back 50 Jordanian Dollars or £60/US$70 each (2025 prices) and worth every grain of dirt or sand you set foot upon.
Following our long day, we had booked a LUXURIOUS – in comparison – hotel in Petra before continuing our trip onwards to the Wadi Rum dessert tomorrow. New Years Eve 2018 into NYD 2019 was spent in the Tetra Tree Hotel for just £54 a room plus £20 each for their New Years buffet and entertainment.
This was also our 10th year anniversary of being together!
Image ^ New Years Eve 2018 sunset in Petra, Jordan.
Magical. And we weren’t done yet!
Day Four – Wadi Rum
I must admit out of the whole trip, this half a day or so is the foggiest six years later. I recall bring very nervous at the Petra bus stop thinking “how on Earth are these coaches all going to arrive/depart on time” and we had very little idea where we will be without phone signal. The transport did turn up, with very little stress, and before we knew (or I remember) we were at the border of the Wadi Rum desert some two hours south of Petra.
A lot of the country is desert but this place did have a different feel about it. Proper in the middle of nowhere. At the border you kinda have to pay a toll to enter the site and in to a small village. I have no recollection of how we managed to get from there to our campsite, but I am assuming our hosts came to pick us up, arranged over a buffet lunch using Wifi.
Image ^ Row of sleeping tents at the Wadi Rum Baudouin campsite.
If you try looking for our camp for the night on Google Maps, don’t bother. There are dozens and the whole place looks the same! And there’s no sodding street address in site! Fun fact: to find this place on Google I used actual coordinates for the first time ever!
One night in the “Wadi Rum Baudouin Campsite” – does what it says on the tin eh? – cost just £64 for a tent and dinner. Looking now it is double the price for NYD 2026 but still so worth it. I’ve managed to find their own website (link) and notice they’ve refreshed the tents since 2018.
One thing we weren’t expecting, was the toilet and washing facilities, but they were spot on and shared with say max 20 other guests.
Image ^ Impressive facilities in the middle of a desert, at the campsite.
With the travel both to the desert, then onto camp, there weren’t a lot of daylight hours left. We climbed the small rock ahead of my very chilled feet on the picture below….
Image ^ Taking the Wadi Rum desert in from our tent.
… before climbing the rock at the rear of the campsite. Fun fact: The photo below is one of my favourite photo’s ever taken.
Image ^ View of our campsite in the Wadi Rum desert.
Here was also the site for this baby-faced partial bonk-eyed photo below. It has been my profile picture on most things for 5+ years I think. And now with much shorter (and silver coloured) hair, I’ll be clinging on to it for as long as I can!
Image ^ My profile picture for about 658 accounts even to this day.
With the sun now rapidly disappearing behind the horizon it was time for tea as we congregated with other guests in a big tent. We actually got to watch them place chicken pieces on racks into a hole into ground to cook and by the time we had some tea and checked our phones it was dinnertime!
Image ^ Our chicken for dinner being cooked underground.Image ^ Inside the communal tent at the Baudouin campsite.
OK, I’m a lot less picky with food nowadays so would now have tried a bit of everything available, but it was still a pleasing offering (don’t worry this wasn’t the only plateful).
Image ^ Dinner at the Baudouin campsite.
After food and a fireside chat we headed back to our tent as daylight slowly faded. One thing I don’t mind not capturing were the stars that night. You can’t see many stars at home because of light pollution. There was no danger of light pollution in the middle of a desert. Nothing like I have ever seen before, so my crap 2018 camera phone would not have done it justice.
Image ^ The last bit of New Years Day sunlight in Wadi Rum desert.
Day Five – Wadi Run & Aqaba
After the second night’s good sleep on the trot, we enjoyed the simple but ample breakfast buffet before arranging a 4×4 tour with the hosts. We weren’t definitely going to do this, but so glad we did. The tour lasted around 6 hours and we split the cost with two Finnish people Netta and Toni that Mikayla still has as friends on Facebook.
Image ^ Me, Mikayla, our tour guide, Netta and Toni from Finland.
Before taking on this increasingly daunting task of this blog, I did often try and research specific places we visited on our desert tour. With Wadi Rum being a protected area covering 720 square kilometres, it is an impossible task that no doubt put me off several times. I’ll just try and blag it using a photo of a map I took at the time, but as you can see, the sights were plentiful, and outstanding.
Image ^ Entrance to Khazali Canyon in Wadi Rum desert.
Firstly we headed into a crevice of a rock formation. I think the photo makes it look more dangerous than it was. At the end there was a little spring with super clear water. I think it is called Khazali Canyon.
Image ^ A rock bridge in the Wadi Rum desert.Image ^ View from the top of a rock bridge in Wadi Rum.
Next was this bizarre rock formation. It might not look it from the photo but it was a good 50 meters up and I was very proud I managed to get up there whilst the rest of the gang chilled in the little cafe.
Image ^ The entrance to Abu Khasaba Canyon.
Bizarre in a different way, next our driver dropped us off here, and told us he’d be waiting at the other side. I’m surpsied I found this on the map and believe it is called Abu Khasaba Canyon.
No problem we thought, until we found out the path actually involved a LOT of rock climbing and descending. Anyone ever watched 127 hours?
Image ^ Rock-climbing to get to the other side of Abu Khasaba canyon.
We met back up with our driver (who was later than us so a short spell of panic ensued!) and had lunch, I forget what it was, next to this mushroom looking rock…. which is called Mushroom Rock. Looking at recent photos online it doesn’t look quite the good nowadays.
Image ^ Mushroom Rock, Wadi Rum desert.
… whilst trying to take it ALLLLL in.
Image ^ Admiring the surroundings in Wadi Rum desert.
Our final stop before the camp return was to Lawrence’s House. Apparently this rock was a base for Lawrence of Arabia which was pretty cool. I took a few photos of these silly rock towers but I recall it was quite a large site with some caves etc.
Image ^ Lawrence of Arabia’s house.Image ^ A view of the desert rocks from Lawrence’s House.
What a view. If you look closely you can pick out two jeeps to the left and at the bottom, our two Finnish pals and my girlfriend-turned-wife. Cute.
Image ^ Admiring the vast Wadi Rum landscape.
After we returned to camp to collect our bags and say our goodbyes, we had one final stop at Lawrence’s Spring. Over the years the locals have created a river down the rock to go into streets that feed the camels. Impressive, but all you get is photo of said camels.
Image ^ Camels having a break at Lawrence’s Spring, Wadi Rum.
And a tree, somehow thriving, in the middle of nowhere?!
Image ^ A sole tree in the dessert., Wadi Rum
Now that our jeep tour ended, we popped in to the village to pay for it (I think it was £50 each for two people, but £40 as we were a group of 4 and prices are similar today on their website).
Another blurry moment now sorry, getting from the desert border and onto Aqaba on the southern tip of Jordon.
Google Maps tells me this is only a one hour drive, which makes sense looking at the shadows in the tree photo above (hark at ol’ Bear Grylls over ‘ere….) as it was night-time once we arrive.
Fun Fact: The entirety of Jordan’s coastline is in the south, either side of Aqaba with a length of just 26 kilometres, but before 1965 their coast was a paltry SEVEN kilometres long. They struck a deal with neighbouring Saudi Arabia to obtain 6,000 square km extending the coast to the current length, handing over 7,000 square km in the trade.
Aqaba was something we had yet to experience, a very touristy hotspot, and not just for Jordanians given there was a Coronation Street themed bar literally over the road from the bus station!
Image ^ Aqaba beach on the Gulf of Aqaba.
I’m baffled as to why I took so few photos, even though we would only be here for a few hours. We had a chance to walk along the beach/promenade and back looking out at the extremely clear waters.
Image ^ The clear waters of the Jordanian coastline in Aqaba.
Perhaps a little embarrassingly, my favourite part of Aqaba was the absolute feast we had in a Turkish restaurant that evening as we hadn’t eaten since our minimal breakfast back in the desert. I can’t recall leaving anything(!) and afterwards we waited for our early morning bus back to Amman and our shithole apartment. Yay…
Image ^ Dinner after a long day in the desert.
Day Six – Sleep and Amman
I reckon our bus from Aqaba departed around 1am and we got back to Amman around 7am.
Today is going to be very short. After the bus we went to bed, waking up early afternoon in search for lunch on Rainbow Street. We chose this street because apparently it was “a vibrant and colourful hub nestled in the heart of Amman”, but in all honesty, it wasn’t that colourful or enticing after we had lunch.
Image ^ Rainbow Street in downtown Amman.
I can only think that we sorted out our trip to the Dead Sea tomorrow with the apartment that afternoon/evening before again choosing the shopping mall for tea (part of me thinks I stupidly had the Szechuan chicken again but I’m alive to tell the tale).
Mad that we did so little in a day, but we more than made up for it across the week.
Day Seven – Mount Nebo and the Dead Sea
Don’t worry folks this is the last proper day! But a good one.
I forget how much we paid for our hosts mate to drive us around today (under £100 I imagine)… whatever it was it was worth it as we’d not only get to visit the Dead Sea, but would enjoy a trip to Mount Nebo beforehand and a relaxing swim and buffet lunch too.
Image ^ Entrance to Mount Nebo.
Mount Nebo is only an hour’s drive from Amman and 700m above sea level. According to the bible, it is the place where Moses was granted a view of the Promised Land before his death.
The place is well equipped for visitors with toilets, café bar and gift shops etc and you can also visit the Memorial Church of Moses here. I didn’t take any photo’s but recall it was kind of a modern external building but with considerable ancient remains inside. We managed to pick up a Christmas decoration here (we collect one from everywhere) and God, or Moses himself, only knows where else we would have been able to find one!
Image ^ The Brazen Serpent sculpture at Mount Nebo.
We were obviously attracted to the towering sculpture near one of the edges. I’m going to unapologetically steal a description of said sculpture… The Brazen Serpent is “symbolic of the miracle of the bronze serpent invoked by Moses in the wilderness (Numbers 21:4–9) and the cross upon which Jesus was crucified (John 3:14)“.
Just alongside the sculpture was a map in front of the panoramic view of said ‘promised land’. I found this really insightful and showed the significant of the area more than just a really good view.
Image ^ The Promised Land…
In total we only needed to spend an hour at Mount Nebo. We then hit the road for 30 minutes to the shores of the Dead Sea. The road was continuously downhill and winding if I remember.
Most accessible areas around the Dead Sea are privatised and for the best experience it is recommended that you pay for the privilege of getting close to the sea.
This area was nothing like I had imagined. I expected streets of hotels and bars etc along the shore but in reality you have hotels dotted around set back from the shore. Our driver played a blinder by choosing the Ramada Resort by Wyndham as this even offered a small bus to transfer you from hotel to sea. I found it bizarre that we had pretty much the whole area to ourselves and was able to “mud up” before washing off in the sea.
A REALLY cool fun fact: The Dead Sea is the lowest point on the Earth’s surface, at 414 meters below sea level. That’s a difference of 1,100 metres from Mount Nebo!
The reason it is called the “Dead” sea is due to the high levels of salt in the water, the highest of any body of water in the world. The result of this is that it is impossible for anything other than bacteria to survive.
During our half-our swim / float it was quite a surreal experience for me as an OK swimmer. If you lay flat on your back or front it is really difficult to move your legs under the water to stand up straight! In comparison, Mikayla, who is a novice swimmer at best, was more than happy to just float around knowing it would have been impossible to sink! Good fun.
Image ^ Swimming… floating rather… in the Dead Sea.
The cherry on top of the trip was having our muddy salty selves transported back to the hotel for an outsider shower and a more normal swim in the swimming pool. Admittedly it was the 3rd January but I expected to share the area with more than two other guests.
Image ^ A relaxing chill in the pool after our Dead Sea visit.
After a relaxing hour here, we moved in to the restaurant for an impressive buffet lunch offering before driving back to Amman.
After we arranged our transfer to the airport tomorrow, I’m really at a loss as to what he had for tea on our last night. It would have been nice to go somewhere traditional and memorable, but we didn’t, and if I had to guess I’d say we headed back to the bloody shopping mall!
Day 8 – Jordan to Home
Today was simply an early morning flight direct back to London via Istanbul. Apparently I didn’t take any photos so can only assume everything went to plan! Having now visited both Istanbul airports SAW is a lot cheaper than IST!
Things we didn’t do…
I am glad we hit all of the top sights (Petra, Wadi Rum and Dead Sea) whilst adding a bit of Amman, Aqaba and Jerash, plus the visit to Mount Nebo, which mangled together, made Jordan one of our best trips ever. As I’m writing this in August 2025, it’s even up there with our mammoth South American honeymoon (you can read this here).
If we had another day we would have looked at visiting Israel, but as our itinerary was loosely planned already we didn’t look into this much. This obviously would not be encouraged in 2025 and it’s also worth noting that you may experience difficulties at border control in many middle-eastern countries with an Israeli stamp in your passport.
I would have liked to explore Amman a bit more, which would have been achieved if either our digs were centrally located or I wasn’t ruled out for so long hugging the toilet!
However, if it’s the tribulations of another short Wales away football match you’re after, I hope I can entertain.
Image ^ My favourite photos from the trip!
Costs
As with Macedonia in March, my pal Peter sorted this out. As much as we’re a bit fed up playing Belgium, Brussels has to be one of the easiest places to get to for such occasion.
As we were travelling from London we agreed to take the car and park a 15-minute walk from St Pancras International at a cost of £60 each including fuel. An added bonus was a mini tour of London, going past Hyde Park, Harrods, Natural History Museum, British Library and Piccadilly Circus to name but a few.
Image ^ Piccadilly Circus ft. lady who wants to get run over
We travelled Sunday morning to Tuesday evening and used the Eurostar to get across the Channel. The train cost £108 return which was great value. Prices do go up and down but it’s an enjoyable ride, with the ability to also travel to Paris, Lille or Amsterdam from London Kins Cross / St Pancras.
Image ^ St Pancras International
Our hotel, Hotel Expo was on the outskirts of the city, but importantly across the road from the stadium and cost £205 a room for two nights including breakfast, albeit the rooms were tiny. Can’t be far off a very good deal in Brussels and the location was ideal for after the match.
Other costs, general spending money on food, drinks, beers, luggage storage and the metro I estimated about another £150 so not too expensive at around £450 all in including the £33 match ticket.
Itinerary
Day One
Following on from the drive to London, walk to St Pancras, Eurostar to Brussels and Metro, we arrived at our hotel around 7pm. This gave us enough time for a short rest in the hotel and dump the bags before getting the Metro in to the City Centre for a late dinner.
Image ^ The view from our hotel entrance
I do wonder what brings tourists to Brussels. Obviously it is one of the main centres of Europe and has excellent transport links. I just find the place to welcome people for a day or so before they make their onward travels. The central streets are great for a stroll around for a full day, but activities wise the capital city of Belgium is lacking in my opinion.
Image ^ A typical city centre street in Brussels
For dinner, we cashed in on a reservation I made five months prior in JANUARY following a video from Cheap Holiday Expert! Restaurant Mozart (link) is based a few minutes away from the central square and offers all you can eat ribs for €25. Right up our alley after a long days travel. The ribs come in a variety of flavours and come with fries and the most spectacular jacket potato I have ever tasted, thanks to whatever sauce it was on top.
Image ^ Endless ribs at Restaurant Mozart
After just two and a half racks of ribs I was spent. The restaurant also serves their homemade wine that you pay for by the centimetre, but I passed on that opportunity to be fresh for a long match day tomorrow.
Day Two
I really should reconsider early starts when I have a day drinking ahead of me in future, but today I was up at 6am for a planned bike trip around the Atomium and parks that were nearby. I purposely chose a pushbike to get a bit of much needed exercise in, and spent a good 45 minutes aimlessly following paths around Laeken park, which was pleasant but not as picturesque as I thought. For some reason the whole park is blurred out on Google Maps, but I can assure you it was not Area 51.
Image ^ Proof of exercise, before I swapped over to an eScooter!
Arriving back at the Atomium, I was content with my pedal and, straight back to being lazy, swapped my bike with an eScooter to lap around the park and back to the hotel in time for breakfast. Much quicker and much more fun!
Fun fact: The Atomium is regularly the top of most must-see lists in Brussels and one of Belgium’s most famous landmarks, originally constructed as the centrepiece of the 1958 Brussels World’s Fair. The balls look so small but each has its own museum or exhibition inside. I’m still none the wiser how you actually get between spheres as I simply don’t think I’d fit in those interlinking tubes!!
Fun fact: There’s was this weird copyright law around images of the structure, even if you take a phot yourself. For yours a specific Belgian Association of authors, composers and publishers claimed intellectual property rights of the images, that was only lifted in 2016. How they would police that, suing a teenager on a school trip from I dunno, Massachusetts, for lobbing a photo on his Insta is anyone’s guess.
Image ^ The Atomium in its early morning glory
We did intend to visit the Atomium this morning after breakfast, it’s about £15 to enter, but after a slow start leaving the hotel we decided to head in to the city centre.
Our first port of call was to show Pete where the Mannekin Pis statue/fountain is, along one of the maze of narrow streets. Another one of Brussels most visited spots, of a boy having a wee, which to be honest is completely underwhelming. A fun fact would be that he has over 1,000 costumes, but that pushing fun even for this page.
Image ^ Mannekin Pis
Certainly the focal point of Brussels is the main square “Grand Place” with some incredible architecture on all four sides. In 2018 we were lucky to visit during the a biennial event where the Grand Place is covered with a massive tapestry of flowers, but today we were treated to a few marching bands and selfie sticks galore. The centre piece of the square pictured is the gothic style town hall, and where the above photo was taken was where we settled for a beer .
Image ^ Grand Place
As the waiter brought us our 11am beers, I had an immediate sense of deja-vu and immediately started scrolling through my socials and my 2022 blog post, and as expected, I was having the same beer in the same bar, wearing the same shirt as three years ago.
Image ^ 2025 v 2022 where did it all go wrong…
I did take some consoling over how much older I look in just three years, not to mention my heair (welling up just typing this guys) so the only cure was to pick up our match tickets from a nearby hotel and continue with the beers.
Image ^ Looking out on Place de la Bourse that would soon become party central
As for previous matches, the Welsh fans congregated in Place de la Bourse where there were a few bars and an Irish pub blaring out Cymru anthems. A loud, boozy, but completely friendly party atmosphere that presented no harm to locals or tourists.
After a few pints of Stella, remarkably cheaper than expected at €6 a pint, Pete went for his usual pre-match siesta whilst I met up with a few fellow Newport County supporters. When the queues got too long many people just popped in the nearby off-licences. I recall picking up 4 knock off Desperados and 6 alcopops in lieu of cider as the shelves were becoming increasingly empty!
Image ^ The County massive!
Still, but 7pm it was time to catch the metro to the stadium, a good half an our away plus a walk to our entrance.
Image ^ Metro mingling
Given the queues getting in to the ground with 3,000+ other Welsh fans, I was pleased to have picked up a can of Stella for the commute with still plenty of time before kick off.
Image ^ Cymru fans waiting to enter the stadium
The game itself…. what to say!
There was a lot of confidence in the stands before kick off after an unbeaten start to Craig Bellamy’s introduction to management, although this would be by far the biggest test. Things did not go to plan as we were stuffed 3-0 inside the opening 27 minutes, just for Wales to score through a Harry Wilson penalty before the break to make it 3-1 at half time, a goal I actually missed to get a bottle of bloody water of all things.
The second half, or at least 37 minutes of it, was the most intense and enjoyable away game I’ve had watching Wales, noting I’m still a relative newbie who missed some of the epic matches at Euro 2016. Sorba Thomas and Brennan Johnson scored for Wales to make it 3-3 by the 70th minute – you cannot imagine the scenes and pints being thrown when the equaliser went in (some bloke actually fell from the second tier but had only minor injuries) under Kevin de Bruyne, the poor mans Aaron Ramsey, took advantage of sloppy defending on 88 minutes to give Belgium victory.
Final score: Belgium 4, Wales 3
Image ^ The match at King Baudouin Stadium
After the game the atmosphere within the Welsh fans was one of pride and relative happiness. Looking at the Belgium team with names like Doku, Lukaku, Tielemans and Trossard it was a bloody good effort. I enjoyed a few more pints and some food in bars near the ground before the two minute walk back to the hotel.
Day Three
I’d had worse hangovers but still sacked off breakfast for an extra hour sleep in the morning, so by the time we headed out and popped or luggage in a locker at the Eurostar station I was up for another walk around.
Image ^ Royal-Saint Hubert arcade
There wasn’t much to do but to buy my wife some Belgian chocolates from the very posh looking Royal Saint-Hubert arcade, where if my wife asks they didn’t have anything under €100.
I had steak and chips for a stomach-settling lunch whilst Pete had a bucket mussels (no ta) and via a stop at a waffle shop, and a calorific sugar rush that followed, we made our way back to the station to embark on our journey home.
Image ^ Heart attack trays
Thankfully the journey home was unproblematic and we arrived in Newport by 11pm. A productive 2.5 days.
I have promised myself that I will put more effort in to Brussels the next time. They do have loads of important EU buildings that I’ve only glanced at previously, and if all else fails there are a few football grounds to visit or a day trip to Bruges under an hour away. That’s for next time though.
Image ^ The sign you’re nearly home
Thanks for reading. See you next time for Madrid in August with the wife!
Thanks for visiting my first Wales football blog of 2025! The destination was North Macedonia, which is a new country for me and I think the 49th in total, with the day trip to Kosovo being number bloody five-zero!
Macedonia, officially North Macedonia (we’ll come on to that) is a Country in the Balkans, formerly part of Yugoslavia. It is landlocked and bordered by just the five countries; Greece, Albania, Kosovo, Serbia and Bulgaria. It has a population of 1.8 million with around a third of these living in the capital Skopje. It is not in the EU and has the Denar as its currency.
The trip was Monday to Friday with the football match on Tuesday.
Image ^ My top 9 photos from the trip!
Costs
I travelled with my friend again for this trip who was designated planner (give me a break I’ve already been to 4 places in France and Istanbul since Christmas). He did a splendid job sorting return flights from Heathrow for £212 each. We did have to stop at Frankfurt going and Zurich coming back but that did break up the otherwise 4 hour flight.
The four-star Queens Hotel costs around £150 each for 4 nights including a simple but satisfactory breakfast. It was around 15 minutes walk to the main square, opposite a bus stop and had a supermarket underneath.
Public transport was cheap. The one time we caught the bus it cost about 40p. A ten minute taxi was around £3 but the city sights are all within walking distance of each other.
Food at restaurants was very good value. A bottle of local Skopso beer was £1.50 or £2.50 centrally. Cigarettes £3 a pack. I went a whole bloody week without fast food so couldn’t price up a Burger King or KFC, but that does lead me in to my first fun fact: there are no McDonald’s in the country!
Ummm, what else? We caught Flixbus to Heathrow and the taxi from Skopje airport to centre was 1000 denar, thirteen quid to you and me. The ticket cost for the game were either £4 or £13. What a nice surprise.
Important health update for fans
Avid readers or those who tripped over my recent Istanbul blog in February will remember my foot had been a proper five digit fuckhead since January which almost ruined Turkiye for me. I still struggled the week leading up to this trip but you’ll be delighted to know my right Plantar Fascia was okay. I took my walking stick… FML… with me most days but it was 90% precautionary and in total over the full three days I probably achieved 50,000 steps.
Itinerary
Day One – Home to Skopje
I’ll keep days 1 and 5 short as we’re all adults who know what an aeroplane is and what a twat the whole process can be.
9:30am bus to Heathrow, fully recovered from the electrical outage the Friday before and quieter than my usual experience.
We flew with Lufthansa and had spare seats next to us on BOTH legs. An absolute dream! Just a quick note about Lufthansa. Obviously having a spare seat next to me was paradise beyond the airlines control, but how nice to have a complimentary bottle of water and mini Lindt chocolate bar! I’d be a kidney lighter having that on WizzAir…
It didn’t feel like a long day but we arrived at our hotel at 11pm and there is only an hour time difference. That didn’t stop us bumping into a couple of other Welsh fans who easily tempted us to go for a beer in a bar just up the road. The local lager hit the spot. One turned into three but all very sensible.
Image ^ Testing the local lager after a long day travelling.
I already mapped out that food was unlikely, so felt proper chuffed with myself unpacking a Bombay Badboy Pot Noodle out of my bag for supper!
Day Two – Skopje and match day!
Instead of scheduled rain it was a lovely sunny morning as we enjoyed breakfast on the roof terrace, heading out around 10am to ensure I had ample time for getting drunk after the touristy stuff!
Before we could catch the bus in to the centre we had to get cash from an ATM and then get some change. Easy with a supermarket and soft drinks nearby.
Fun fact: I was horrified that my otherwise fabulous “Nothing” brand of phone was not compatible with an eSIM. The plan was to get a card over there, but as the morning went on I didn’t bother. Then as the week went on it, my point is that it was actually rather liberating not to have notifications every two minutes. I did have the odd catch up in restaurants and Pete had his hotspot for emergencies, but I did honestly enjoy putting my phone away throughout most of the day!
Anyway. Bus. A very old, stinky, busy scrap of metal but did get us to where we wanted to go! Still, it was the first and last of the trip!
Image ^ A very quiet street in the Old Bazaar
The Old Bazaar (kinda like a market area) was a must visit although very quiet first thing in the morning, bearing in mind it was still Ramadan. The plan was to pass through here and walk up hill to Skopje fortress in the hope of some good pictures.
It certainly didn’t disappoint as even before the entrance one could see the stadium in all it’s glory and looked very impressive. We’ll be seeing you again later.
Image ^ Skopje fortressImage ^ Skopje city centre from fortress with Vodno mountain in background
The fortress was not exactly Kings Landing but it was free and useful to map out other parts of the city centre. There was also a small bar here that slowly filled up with Cymru fans having the same idea of a midday beer or two. Lovely.
Image ^ Cymru fans enjoying a midday beer
We continued back through the Bazaar, now much busier, and to the main square, passing not one but two statues of Alexander the Great.
Image ^ Statue 1 of Alexander the Great
Fun fact: Alexander the Great is not Greek. In fact don’t mention the G word. He is Macedonian, at least according to the locals. Apparently the statue upset Greece, which leads me on to another…
The centre of Skopje is truly bizarre! A previous leader had an idea of Project Skopje 2014 and turn the place into a tourist hotspot, by erecting new buildings but making them look old. In total he placed dozens of statues and 13 buildings. This REALLY pissed off the locals given the cost and considering the Macedonian public services could have benefited immensely instead from this cash. If you don’t laugh you’d cry and whilst I don’t think I have any great photo’s, they did indeed look bloody ridiculous. Ten year old buildings trying to look like 100 year buildings!
In sympathy, to maybe see where he was coming from, Skopje was flattened in the 1960s by an earthquake, which saw a huge 80% of it’s buildings collapse. I just think the unjustified cost of his plans leapfrogged any good intentions.
Image ^ Vardar River running through Skopje
Walking over the old Stone Bridge, which I believe is older than say, a fortnight (lolz), we bumped into a friend at the main square before collecting our match ticket from a nearby hotel.
Image ^ Great Alex statue two
I left the lunch decision to Pete. I just fancied a burger at most before getting on the beers, I felt rather “meh” about going to a nice Macedonian restaurant but OH MY GOD it was so good I’d end up having exactly the same meal the next day! The place is called Old House (link).
A T-bone pork joint with fries, salad, garlic bread and a drink came to about 16 quid. Just look at the size of it….
Image ^ Light lunch
Miraculously by the time we made the short walk back in to the centre, plus a few Marlboro Gold’s, I could stomach a beer and as Pete went back to the hotel for his regular match day siesta I went in search of some booze!
Image ^ A drop of the local tipple
I was blessed not only to meet up with some fellow Newportonians but also newfound friends from gogledd Cymru and really enjoyed many a beer and a few sing songs before the game. One of the best parts, so I take very few photos!
Roll on three hours. I did lose said pals on the way to the ground in search of some cigarettes, but after 12 pints or so the independent walk to the ground was a mix of an experience, both quite fun and challenging (no mobile data for maps remember). I’m not naming names but if this was another Balkan country or two I’d be shitting myself. It’s a good job my wife never reads this stuff…
Image ^ Minute silence before kick off
Watching the football match was never in doubt and I re-joined Pete before kick off for the anthems, and a minute silence for the poor souls that lost their lives in a Macedonian night club fire just a few weeks prior.
Image ^ Y Wal Goch ❤
The game itself, at the time I thought was very disappointing for a match I took for granted Wales would win.
The game to life right at the end of the game after Joe Allen, the living Jesus, of all people, gifted a Macedonia goal, only for Wales through Dai Brooks to comically equalise in the 90th plus whatever minute (highlight link).
I need to comment on the ABSOLUTELY SHIT hospitality in the ground. No beer, no food, not even bottled water! This was in the posh seats.
Fun (depressing) fact: I STOLE a bottle of open water off a stewards desk at half time, I was that parched. I wonder how such occurrences can be allowed (not the stealing bit) but that’s UEFA for you…
Image ^ Hospitality…
Feeling knackered after a long day, twinned with being trapped in the stadium with zero facilities, loo roll inclusive, I didn’t really have the mantra for beers after the match. Therefore, Peter and I walked back to the hotel in search of food, that was not forthcoming. You’ve got 30,000 people in a stadium and food outlets closed and hour beforehand. FML. 24 hour shop for crisps and chocolate and bed. I could have murdered another Pot Noodle…
Day Three – Vodno Mountain and Lake Matka
After a chilled breakfast we headed back to the fortress before our half-day trip in the afternoon. We had time to kill so wandered around the vicinity. I took a great interest in a nearby caravanserai named Kursumli An, as I had been playing the Assassin’s Creed Mirage video game set in Iraq where they were prominent. A caravanserai is kind of like an old fashioned motel and service station.
Image ^ Outside the Kursumli An caravanserai
This building dated back to the 16th century and had since been a prison before just left to dilapidate. I thought it would make a great hotel and in such a prominent location.
Image ^ A peek inside the Kursumli An caravanserai
What made it more frustrating to allow such a dwelling to fall into disrepair, was the fact that the “Museum of Macedonia lay only 100 metres away, in this concrete eyesore of a building that was supposed to resemble some type of old v modern middle-ground. The museum itself was closed, well, I assume it was because we couldn’t even find it, just a smattering of office workers walking around at lunchtime.
Time to go on our day trip I think.
We booked through Viator (link here) a half-day tour to Matka Canyon and Vodno Mountain. At £25 each, this was great value for money. I think we had to pay about a quid for the cable car (£24 cheaper than Dubrovnik and 3 times longer) and around €9 for a boat trip at the canyon/lake to visit the Vrelo Cave.
Image ^ Cable car overlooking Skopje
The three minibuses was full with other Welsh supporters and it took a good 30 minutes to meander up the mountain to reach the point where we could catch the cable car. The guide was really good too, giving a history of Macedonia, why to them it is NOT North Macedonia and why they are not that fond of the Greeks.
Ooooh, maybe I can introduce a new section. A history lesson, but by me? A Christory lesson if you will. A really to the point, citations probably needed, half-arsed couple of sentences to cover centuries of historical importance.
Christory lesson: Why is Macedonia called North Macedonia and not just Macedonia, or where is south Macedonia?
Well kids, the area of Macedonia is actually a large area that covers North Macedonia and a large section of Greece. Today, Macedonia is a former administrative region in Greece that includes the prominent city of Thessaloniki. In fact, the region is considered to include parts of six countries, namely all of North Macedonia, large parts of Greece and Bulgaria, and smaller parts of Albania, Serbia, and Kosovo.
When admitted into the United Nations in 1993, Greece kicked off about the use of “Republic of Macedonia” which resulted in the place called “Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” before the two sides both agreed on The Republic of North Macedonia in 2019.
I did make some notes about some other interesting bits, but as I’m writing this part in June, I’ve since deleted them. Top blogger.
Image ^ Skopje panorama
The top of Vodno mountain provided a superb panorama of the city and we were told that on a clear day Greece, Albania and Kosovo are all in view. Still no sign of my dignity though after pinching that bottle of water last night.
Image ^ The Millennium Cross on top of Vodno Mountain
Built in 2002, at 66 metres high, the cross is one of the largest of it’s kind in the word according to Wikipedia. What that doesn’t tell you is that you can actually see the cross lit up from as far away as the Kosovo border some 20 plus kilometres away. You’ll see a really shit photo as proof if you keep scrolling to tomorrow…
Image ^ Antenna Tower of the Agency for Electronic Communication under construction.
In progress was a new eyesore next to the Millennium Cross. I was very interested in how on earth they can build such a structure up here. To be honest though, I did think it got in the way of the main attraction. After some research, this monstrosity is going to be the Antenna Tower of the Agency for Electronic Communication, which will be the tallest building in Macedonia at 155 meters. twice the hight of the cross.
Image ^ View to the south of Macedonia
The mountain top views did not end there. Peter called me over to peek over the… peak… towards the south facing side, to be treated with perhaps my pick of the trip photos.
Image ^ Church of Saint Panteleimon, Skopje
Before heading to the canyon we had a quick pitstop at the Church of Saint Panteleimon up in the hillside, a small 12th-century Byzantine monastery constructed in 1164. I didn’t choose to go inside, instead entertaining the sheep outside (not like that lads) but a fun fact is that the Church is on the back of the Macedonian Denar banknotes.
Image ^ Matka Dam
45 minutes drive from Vodno, our drop off location to access Lake Matka was a good mile away and whilst I didn’t necessarily need my walking aid I wasn’t gutted that I brought it with me! The route was flat albeit with an incline to rise to the top of the dam. I don’t see many dams and concluded that I find them rather impressive. Hoover Dam will be ticked off at some point I’m sure, fingers crossed.
Image ^ Lake Matka
As the lake opened up there was an opportunity to take a boat ride to some caves, or stay in the restaurant. Pete opted for coffee and cake whilst I headed out on to the water with most of the other tourists in our minibuses. It would have been great if the weather was a bit nicer but nevertheless the 20 minute ride was quite relaxing, in preparation for undoubtedly some going up and down at the cave.
Image ^ Vrelo Cave off Lake Matka
Once we departed the boat we had to wait for the driver to power up a generator that would light our path in to the cave. There were some 100 steps to the cave entrance, 100 down in to the cave and vice-versa on the way back. The cave was quite cool but something that could be missed if you can’t be bothered with the steps or confined spaces. Whilst a very low budget experience this positional lighting made a difference. 9 Euro was about right.
Image ^ Lake Matka
A relaxing cruise back to the restaurant later and the mile-long trek back to the buses (which felt like three know the fun concluded).
Image ^ Waste of an orange on my Baklava!
Once back in Skopje, my preference was to revisit the restaurant we had lunch at yesterday. I had exactly the same meal, with the addition of some baklava to finish. Two massive plates of food, sharing salad, side of garlic bread, two desserts, one beer, two cokes and a shot of vodka for forty quid. Diolch yn fawr Bois.
Image ^ Glad to be fluent in Macedonian at this point
Day Four – Kosovo Day Trip
27th March 2025 was the day that I reached my 50 country milestone. It was really annoying that I assumed I was on 49 until the journey home to Wales, thinking that my upcoming trip to Kazakhstan or a neighbouring country would take the acclaim. I forgot the wonderful country of Slovenia off my list, even more annoying as it does have its own blog post!
To book our day trip, we used the same company Skopje Daily Tours as we did from yesterday’s trip, albeit by contacting them directly to save a few quid. We perhaps could have squeezed them a bit more as they wouldn’t have to give Viator a sizeable cut, but we were content paying £90 each for the bonus of a tour guide and a comfortable people-carrier, enjoying the day with two other Welsh fans and without my bloody walking stick!
There are several daily public buses/coaches that make the journey to Pristina and I priced these up at £20 each return. If I were travelling alone I would have chosen this option, but the organised trip was significantly less hassle. As a corollary, the tour guide and second stop at Prizren were additions I would have otherwise have missed.
Image ^ Border control between Kosovo and North Macedonia.
Meeting in central Skopje for an early 9am start, we were told the border crossing can get busy at times but thankfully the queue for cars was flowing and it took no more than ten minutes, noticing the queue for 50+ lorries were very close to blocking access to the roundabouts leading up.
Image ^ Kosovo national football stadium
It would have been a wasted opportunity not to get close to the national stadium, should I not come here to watch Wales in the future, so I was delighted when we parked up in the vicinity of the stadium. The tour guide was certainly perplexed over our interest in the paltry 14,000 capacity Fadil Vokrri Stadium.
Next up was, what I believe to be, the number 1 tourist attraction in Kosovo, the Newborn monument. Although it is by far the greatest spectacle, its meaning bears much more weight, being unveiled on 17 February 2008, the day that Kosovo formally declared its independence from Serbia. To give it a bit of jazz the artwork is changed every year on the anniversary. As of 2025 Kosovo is the second newest country in the world (after South Sudan, 2011).
Image ^ Newborn Monument
Just a few meters up the road from the Newborn monument was a statue of Madeleine Albright, Secretary of State for the second term of Clinton’s presidency 1997-2001. She advocated for NATO intervention to protect Kosovo Albanians from the violence perpetrated by Serbian forces under Slobodan Milošević. It’s safe to say without this intervention, the country may not exist today, with over 90% of the population ethnic Albanians.
Image ^ Statue of Madeleine Albright
Next we made a visit to the Cathedral of Saint Mother Teresa. It was only a couple of Euro to visit the left bell tower.
Image ^ Cathedral of Saint Mother Teresa
The next two photos I think show a good contrast of pre and post independence. A cluster of high-rise buildings populate one area of the City with more continuously being constructed, with plentiful American investment. The other picture shows the old town, which is where we’d be heading shortly.
Image ^ Testing
That very strange building to the right of the photo is actually the National Library and not something from a Crystal Maze zone. We did pop in there but unfortunately it didn’t look anywhere near as interesting on the inside. Just past the library is a church that was never finished. It doesn’t look far off I’m surprised it’s just left there, although it was meant to be a Serbian Orthodox Church… so in that case I’m surprised it’s still there at all!
Image ^ National Library in front of the Old Town part of Pristina
Walking to our next stop we passed several mosques, many of which make up the oldest buildings in the City. I did find it bizarre why you would have three places of worship within 150 metres of each other, but then within a half-mile radius of my workplace back home there must be at least a dozen Churches.
Writing this part now four moths after the visit, I had to do some digging to find out where we went to next. Thankfully I’m quite good at using maps to retrace my steps and can tell you that we visited the small Ethnological Museum. In the museum, tools and items related to lifestyle from the Ottoman Kosovo period are on display. It was very St. Fagan’s like and although the ten minute tour was interesting, it was not something I would make a detour for.
Image ^ Ethnological Museum, Pristina
By the time we walked back to the car, through the main street of bustling shops and cafe’s (desperate for a wee, thanks Burger King) it was time to head out of the city. Another peculiar top-tourist spot in the city was a stature of the aforementioned Bill Clinton, that I just managed to snap whilst passing in the car.
Image ^ Bill Clinton stuatue, Pristina
It was a 90-minute drive away to Prizren. This is the second largest City in Kosovo but seemed significantly small when parking up in the old town. The four of us enjoyed a banquet lunch that consisted of a huge meat platter that we couldn’t finish. I recall being quite agitated in the restaurant, the name of which I won’t bother mentioning. I had a nap in the car on the way here, thus groggy, was rushing to make the most of the Wifi and message my wife, both of which were exacerbated by the waiter taking the piss because I didn’t want a beer with my lunch. I know turning down a beer is not my usual mantra but this geezer really wound me up!
Image ^ Old Stone Bridge, Prizren
Resting bitch face been and gone, we walked along the river and a few buildings and monuments important to the history, but truth be told there weren’t a great deal to do. You can see a Citadel at the top of the hill but that wasn’t part of the day. The amount of plastic running down the river certainly took away from the picturesque nature of the area and the weather was now miserable as we made it to a café just in time before the heavens opened.
Image ^ Skopje’s Millenium Cross seen from the Kosovo border.
The drive home was without incident and the tour guide was nice enough to drop us off at the hotel. For our final dinner of the trip, at a place within walking distance from our hotel, I thought I would be a smartarse and order some fish for a change. As someone who prefers their fish boneless, battered or in a tin, it ticked none of the boxes and I’d still be picking the skeleton out now if I didn’t give up half way through. The salad and chips were nice though, as was the live music. For me though, I was ready to go home after a very pleasant few days.
Image ^ The last supper!
Day Five – Skopje to Home
This will be quick. Our flight was at 9am so we were out of the hotel by 6:30am. Two hours to Zurich. Hour transfer. 90 minutes to Heathrow. Zurich airport was a bit shit efficiency wise (thought they are supposed to be good at that stuff??) but no qualms.
Flixbus home. Pint in the local. The end.
Thanks for reading! ANOTHER trip to Brussels awaits in June…
How Not 2 Life 