Behind the iron curtain

Seven months after the fall of the Berlin Wall, I spent three months travelling through Eastern Europe. It was an unforgettable journey. Free elections were being held for the first time in more than four decades. Hope and optimism were palpable everywhere. However, the region’s dreary socialist infrastructure was still intact and its deep psychological scars had yet to heal. For a brief moment, I witnessed life behind the Iron Curtain before it vanished forever.

At the time, I was travelling with a group from Youth With A Mission (YWAM), a Christian missionary organisation. We travelled through Hungary, Yugoslavia, Romania and Bulgaria from May to August 1990 as part of YWAM's Discipleship Training School, or DTS, course. This was a six-month program, split between three months of practical study and three months of in-the-field outreach, preaching the gospel in the community.

My DTS studies began in Goulburn, an inland city in New South Wales. Several New Zealand friends had recently completed the course and spoke highly of their experience. I flew from Auckland to Sydney to join the course on 4 February 1990. Little did I know this flight kicked off 35 years living in Australia. I was joined in Goulburn by 22 others, plus several teaching staff including Tim, our charismatic base leader.

For three fun-filled months, we studied the scriptures, learned effective outreach techniques and prepared to go out into the wider community to preach the gospel. This included learning a non-verbal street drama, set to music, that presented the story of salvation. Without a hint of irony, I played the part of Satan. In April, I was invited to participate in YWAM’s inaugural outreach in Eastern Europe.

About a dozen of us subsequently departed for Europe on 14 May 1990. We flew to Vienna via Singapore and Amman with Royal Jordanian Airlines. We spent four days making final preparations for our foray into Eastern Europe at the YWAM centre in Baden, Austria. This included fitting out two minivans, preparing two large canvas tents on loan to us, and securing basic provisions to get through our first week.

Our flight to Vienna included a quirky stopover in Amman. Our connecting flight to Vienna departed about nine hours after arriving from Singapore. Royal Jordanian Airlines put us up in an airport hotel for six hours. However, by the time we'd waited for its shuttle bus, checked into the hotel and finally grabbed a shower, we managed less than four hours of rest (or sleep for a lucky few) before it was time to return to the terminal. I've never counted this stopover as my first time in Jordan. The same goes for a brief transit stop we made in Belgrade, Yugoslavia.

These days, with decades of global travel under my belt, I also look back on our arrival in Vienna with amusement. At the time, I recall walking out of the airport terminal and experiencing massive culture shock. We were suddenly surrounded by enormous billboards touting popular products and services. Everything was written in Deutsch. I couldn’t read a word of it. I recall vividly the overwhelming sense of vulnerability and helplessness I felt in that moment. Until that time, I’d always travelled in native English-speaking countries.

For three months, we travelled more than 6600km in our two minivans. We travelled as far north as Vienna, as far south as Porto Koufo in Northern Greece, as far west as Einigen, Switzerland and as far east as Varna on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast. Along the way, we passed through seven countries, although Yugoslavia later disintegrated into a myriad of smaller nation-states. We stopped overnight in, or passed through, at least four of these future nations.

One minivan, the newer yellow one, was on loan from YWAM in Switzerland, while the older, rattlier red one, was borrowed from a church in Austria. I spent most of my time riding in the red van. Our accommodation alternated between camping and staying with local families. Most of the women slept in one large tent, while the men slept in another. The two married couples in our group each had their own two-person tent.

We camped for a week or so in Hungary, throughout Yugoslavia, and for one night in Timisoara, Romania. The Romanian campground was an eye-opener.  The facilities were poorly maintained, and the toilet blocks were filled with human excrement.  It was our first insight into the impact of the Chuscheu regime's economic policies on everyday life. Decrepit, run-down infrastructure, appalling pollution and austere socialist architecture dominated the landscape wherever we went. The opening post, taken in Romania, offers just a hint of the experience.

We also camped several times in Bulgaria, staying in popular resort cities along the country's Black Sea coast. Then, when our outreach program ended, a group of us travelled south to Northern Greece, where we camped on a remote beach on the Chalkidiki Peninsula. It's fair to say that camping kept our expenses under control, and the European summer made it a pleasant experience. European campgrounds were often situated in shaded, tree-filled parks, alongside scenic lakes and other natural beauty spots.

Below is a brief overview of our final itinerary through Eastern Europe. In future posts, I’ll take you on this journey, sharing our adventures and introducing you to some of the wonderful people we met along the way. Follow this link to learn more about time in Hungary.

DAY	DATE	LOCATION	DRIVE (km)
Austria
MON	14 May	Sydney - Singapore	Flight
TUE	15 May	Singapore – Vienna (via Amman)
TUE	15 May	Vienna - Baden (by train)	24
SAT	19 May	Vienna – Czech Border	79
Hungary
SAT	19 May	Czech Border - Balatonfured	293
MON	28 May	Balatonfured - Debrecen (via Budapest)	346
FRI	8 June	Debrecen - Szombathely (via Budapest)	442
Yugoslavia
MON	11 June	Szombathely - Graz (via Vienna)	140
MON	11 June	Graz - Maribor	59
TUE	12 June	Maribor – Beograd (via Zagreb)	516
WED	13 June	Beograd - Timisoara	158
Romania
THU	14 June	Timisoara - Pitesti	454
FRI	22 June	Pitesti - Craiova	121
SAT	26 June	Craiova – Turnu Severin	113
WED	4 July	Turnu Severin - Motru	113
THU	5 July	Motru – Turgu Jiu	42
FRI	10 July	Turgu Jiu - Pitesti	174
SAT	11 July	Pitesti - Varna (via Bucharest)	389
Bulgaria
THU	19 July	Varna - Bourgas	134
TUE	24 July	Bourgas - Plovdiv	254
MON	30 July	Plovdiv - Sophia	149
Greece
MON	30 July	Sophia - Thessaloniki	293
TUE	31 July	Thessaloniki - Porto Koufo	148
FRI	3 Aug	Porto Koufo – Nea Mouldania	84
SAT	4 Aug	Driving through Yugoslavia (all night)	1877
SUN	5 Aug	Yugoslavia - Liechtenstein
MON	6 Aug	Liechtenstein - Einigen	219
Backpacking by Eurail
WED	8 Aug	Einigen - Helmstedt	Train
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