1965: A TRIP BEHIND THE IRON CURTAIN / Fouad Kronfol

It was John's idea....the three of us were having a grilled chicken in the roof-top apartment that we jointly rented and enjoying balmy weather with some cold beers. Late summer in Beirut was always a delightful period and we had spent the day at the AUB beach with other friends. Conversation turned to travelling and John said ; " look Andy and Fuf (my nickname), we have all been in many places but never in communist countries. I learned that some of them are easing up on touristic visitors in order to gain foreign currency. Why don't we explore going together to some of the closest ones like Bulgaria or Yugoslavia? I understand the girls are fantastic!." No sooner said than we agreed and started planning for a spring break in 1965.

The time in 1964/65 was pretty good for all three of us; John started teaching at the AUB, Andy got a job with the "Plan Vert", a semi-autonomous agency attached to the Ministry of Agriculture, and I had just been promoted to National Officer at the UNICEF Beirut Area Office.We were close friends since high school days and all three had graduated from the same faculty of Agricultural Sciences at the American University of Beirut.

Our plan was to drive to Yugoslavia since it was the most convenient way to travel. We agreed that Andy's VW Beetle would be the best vehicle and most economical for the long trip. We also decided that because of the distances involved, the time we had and other considerations, we would focus mainly on Yugoslavia but of course we had to cross through Bulgaria both going and coming. Apart from formalities of visas etc. we managed to buy Dinars and Levs at greatly discounted prices from the Beirut foreign exchange market. We made sure to have some US$ Traveller Checks each. Also we were advised to take with us small items that we could give as gifts such as ball point pens, lipstick, nylon stockings, chocolates, candy,chewing gum etc.

These photos are the few mementos I have retained from that memorable voyage.We were quite intrepid considering no one of us had ever driven that far, we had no reservations anywhere, we had only one general map of Europe that was our guide for the trip, we did not speak the languages of Turkey, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia,and none of the three had any mechanical abilities in case of car trouble. To put a positive note on our endeavor we composed and sang this Ditty during some of the tough moments. It was inspired by a very well known Christmas carol:

We three fellows from the Orient are,

Bearing small gifts we've travelled afar,

Over hill and mountain,

Field and fountain,

In our VW Beetle car !

The first part of our trip was very long but uneventful as we drove through Tripoli north of Lebanon to Lattakia in Syria to Adana in Turkey. After a brief stop over we crossed the Taurus mountains and headed to Ankara which we skirted in order to save time. Istanbul, where we wanted to spend time, was wet and cold so we decided to do it on the way back. The border town of Edirne,Turkey (also known as Adrianopole) was where we would cross the "Iron Curtain" ..Although it is a city of much historical importance we saw little of it as we were anxious to get into Bulgaria. With much trepidation we joined a long line of mostly trucks and waited for clearance. Strangely,despite the lengthy delays, the formalities and especially the search of the car were quite perfunctory and soon we were on our way to Plovdiv. Almost immediately we got the sense that we were in a different world since Bulgaria was one of the poorest communist countries and it showed in the overall environment, the roads, the houses, the villages we passed. 'Shabiness' was perhaps the best description of the places we drove through.

Me, Andre (Andy) and John, on arrival to Belgrade we had a photo taken at the foot of one of the city's nice statues. We were quite impressed with the city and its level of development with a mix of old and new structures. More later....

This is John but he looked so much like many of the truck drivers around us that we couldn't help but laugh at the resemblance. Plovdiv is the second city of Bulgaria and has a long and interesting history. It was built on seven hills (like Rome) and is rich with cultural and architectural structures. In our haste to get through the country, we did not stay long enough to really appreciate all it offered.

We were finally in Sofia, the capital, where we were directed to the Balkan Tourist hotel for lodging. Typical of Soviet era structures it was big and rather severe with basic amenities. But we were able to clean up and have a decent meal after having driven some 2,400 kilometers and stopped at makeshift lodgings on the way.

The next day we went sight seeing with our guide (whose name I forgot) and got a taste of the city. I had a personal inclination for the place since my Mother's name was Sofia. It turned out that over time I visited Sofia a number of times, including for a UNICEF NatCom. meeting.

A very impressive structure, this large building with a tall spire and a star at its end was emblematic of the Soviet era architecture.

Andy and John in front of another humongous building in downtown Sofia. I had marked it as a department store (similar to the G.U.M in Moscow ) but it also could have been a government ministry or other official structure.

That first evening we went to a disco near the hotel and met three local girls with whom we hit it off. Here Andy and I are with (Alia...not her real name). We were good dancers, better dressed than the other boys and we were foreigners with money to spend, which made it natural for us to make a hit with the girls.They took us the next evening to a hill-top restaurant near the city which was obviously way above their means, but which we were able to afford thanks to our imported Levs. It was a bit of a drive up the mountain with six of us in the VW and light snow coming down. We ate, drank and danced in this traditional restaurant and were quite tipsy coming back. Am not sure how we managed and where we dropped the girls that night.

My date (Bella..not her real name) was a graduate student whose parents were both professors at one of the universities. They were definitely among the more privileged as we noted when we were invited to their small apartment for tea. Here we are with the mother of Bella, third on the left, and Bella in the middle.The girl at the extreme right was Andy's date ( Claudia ??). They were very kind and hospitable and we left with heavy hearts .We knew that we still had much driving ahead of us.

Our arrival in Belgrade; Andy and I were waiting for John who was registering us at the modest hotel we found for our stay in the Yugoslav capital,.a big and bustling city with mostly modern architecture. We soon realized that it was quite similar to other European cities, but perhaps a little less luster to it.

Leaving Belgrade towards Zagreb this is the highway we drove...note the heavy traffic !!! It was only about 400 km. without any incidents or interesting places to visit.We were now entering what today is Croatia.

We liked Zagreb which was a pretty town with a lot more character to it than other places we visited with much more charming "European" features.Here is a corner of the flower market.

With many parks around it was a delight to wander about...but also great to find a bench and spread out to relax !

Did I have enough film left? Checking my camera and reloading while Andy is surveying the landscape.

One of the nice things we saw was this open air market where many locals did their food and other shopping.

Another 150 kms. northwest took us to Ljubljana, the current capital of Slovenia.This is a view overlooking the town, one of the loveliest we had visited. It reminded a lot of quaint Austrian towns with a great deal of charming character. For all three of us it was a place we decided was worth coming back to one day.

With John outside the town of Ljubljana where we made a short rest stop.

Everywhere we met locals who told us we must visit Pula, so we decided to venture there. It is a small peninsula jutting into the Adriatic sea but is known as an upscale resort where the "rich" Yugoslavs vacationed. The 200 kms. drive took us close to Trieste in Italy then to Rijeka in Croatia and into Pula. Here I am with Andy in front of a modern mall with restaurants etc. which we enjoyed. Must say that driving around we did see many impressive villas and vacation houses all over the place.

Our next destination was the Dalmatian coast and we drove from Pula back to Rijeka and south to Zadar.We were actually aiming at Split but got captivated by this lovely Croatian sea port. We learned that it is known for its Roman and Venetian ruins and many consider it a less crowded and more laid-back place than Split or Dubrovnik. This is one of the churches we visited.

Another imposing church in Zadar.

Here I am at the outskirts of Zadar...what an unattractive spot to take a photo, when so many beautiful places were in town.!

A nice photo of Andy and I with great views behind us (which unfortunately one cannot see from this photo).

Aren't we enjoying our trip? Looks like we were glad to have made it to wherever we were being photographed.

The waterfront of Split. Our next destination was this lively sea port in the middle of the Dalmatian coast which is one of the busiest in Yugoslavia. We were directed to a newly constructed "modern" hotel which had just been inaugurated. Right on the water it was a great deal because we were among their first customers and got a huge suite with three beds overlooking the sea. All this for the price of about US$ 5 per night using our imported Dinars, of course !.Still it was an actual example of the famous Arthur Frommer travel book, "Europe on $5 a Day" which became the seminal travel document for millions when it came out in 1969.

An interesting tower with an imposing statue in front in one of the town's squares.

Our drive southward along the Dalmatian coast took us next to Dubrovnik. This ancient walled town has become an international tourist attraction in recent years, as the "Jewel of the Adriatic", but back then it was hardly known and not very welcoming. We simply visited the centre and its cathedral.

Next stop...Sarajevo ! What a lovely town it was ! Generally considered one of the poorer provinces Bosnia & Herzegovina has a majority Moslem population and we were pleasantly surprised to see many mosques around the area. In many ways it reminded us of Lebanon with its multi-factional situation. Here is one of the mosques we saw.

Also in Sarajevo we visited this imposing church with its twin towers. We went on to visit the nearby quaint town of Mostar with its famous bridge. The" Stari Most "is a 16th century bridge built by the Ottamans that has become an icon of the town, but I have no photos of it. During the wars that split up Yugoslavia the bridge was destroyed but was later rebuilt as a national heritage site.

Our plan was to drive to Skopje in Macedonia province.However as we neared the Kosovar area we were stopped by police who told us we could not drive further as the whole city had been closed off completely because the July 1963 earthquake had destroyed most of it ( more than 1,000 dead, 3,000-4,000 injured and more than 200,000 left homeless). Because of very poor infrastructure in the area it was suggested to us to drive back north to Belgrade. An interesting thing happened to us then...since we had no indication of directions we drove due north over poor rural roads. At one point we sensed we were lost. We met some farmers who told us that we were actually in Bulgaria ! We had not passed any frontiers or checkpoints, so it came as a big surprise that we had strayed into another country. Eventually we found our bearings and got back to some main roads leading to Belgrade.For some reason we ended up at the national airport in Belgrade where we took this photo.

Time was getting short and we decided to start our trip back home.Here is some nice scenery from Yugoslavia .

With John, driving through Yugoslavia.We did not stop in Sofia to say hello to the three girls we had dated earlier.

An old church in Bulgaria.

Istanbul and the well known vista of the Great Mosque and its famous waterfront.

Istanbul: on the Bosphorus with Andy.

Another view of Istanbul.

Turkey in the boonies...

It had to happen ! My pals could not let a moment like this pass without documenting it for posterity !!

Between Istanbul and Ankara we were caught in a freak snow storm around the village of Bolu.Like hundreds of others cars we had to purchase and install snow chains on the Beetle to enable our continuing towards Ankara, and eventually back home.

The rest of the trip was more of the same with long driving through Anatolia, through Ankara, Adana, to Syria and to Lebanon. We were tired but anxious to return to Beirut after a voyage of close to 7,000 kms. We had ventured into what was for us a "no-man's land" driving into and around communist countries behind the so-called Iron Curtain. We had seen much, met many kind people and learned a great deal of history , culture and especially geography. Most surprising, our friendship actually cemented as we endured the closeness of travelling together such distances and over such a period of time with out any mishaps.

For me, the trip turned out to be a precursor of sorts and a tune-up for the later trip in 1967 when I drove my Fiat Spider from Paris back to Beirut passing along manty of the same roads through Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Turkey ,and Syria. See our XUNICEF article, "A Sportscar Named Annick"...(click here)