Grand tour of Europe - France, Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Croatia!





Loading scrap metal at Newhaven

 

The following trip was enabled by an interrail ticket giving ten days of travel over a period of 22 days, costing about £332 after a promotional discount and delivery charge.

I must say it is a testimony as well to that brilliant little tablet, the Nexus 7, which allows you to surf your way around Europe on a virtual magic carpet, ducking and diving, nipping and tucking through one café, hotel and Airbnb establishment after another as you discover app after app to streamline every train, boat and train time, installing these little gems on your hardware as you slurp through another latte. It's the new one man self travel agency as you sit there with your seven inch screen, gleaming like a multi-coloured mosaic on your coffee table. A conduit that allows you to slip seamlessly (well sometimes) from one travel experience to another!

I set off for Dieppe on a fantastic blue sky day, looks as if the weather in England is going to be good this week. I caught the 10pm ferry from Newhaven due in at Dieppe for 3pm. It was Monday and the world and his wife have decided to travel to France today, especially the cars. there are so many vehicles it looks like a late start and we don't get going until 10.30am. I stand on deck with lots of holiday makers and watch cranes transfer scrap metal with giant crab like hands into the bowels of a freighter registered in Georgetown. My plan was train from Dieppe to Paris at about 4pm, but by the time the ferry arrived late it was too much of a rush and in the end I got the 17.12, changing at Rouen. I overheard a conversation between some women on the ferry to town centre bus in Dieppe and it sounded like they had made the classic mistake of taking the ferry and realising they only had an hour in Dieppe before the return ferry. In the meantime I strolled round central Dieppe looking for an internet connection but gave up and had a coffee at the station.

Cost of ferry - £20 for foot passenger, about the best cross channel price.




Goodbye Newhaven

Centre of Dieppe

You arrive at St Lazare station in Paris, a beast of a station which serves the north west of France. The whole pretty place is seriously massive, as you step off the platform area into a huge mall like frontage. However it was time to find my bed for the night, I had the map in my head courtesy of the web and soon found the hotel which was in a street called Rue du Mont Dore, the name of a hill in the Auvergne familiar to me from early camping days.

The hotel was very pleasing, the room clean and comfortable with en suite facilities. (Hotel de Cabourg). However the breakfast was totally lacking in variety, comprising bread sticks and croissants and coffee. No cereal, fruit, salad or yoghurt.

The highlight of the morning was the top to my contact lens bottle disappearing down the sink. Why don't they have a proper plughole rather than just a gaping hole which could swallow a toothbrush, small soap and razor, and a small baby. The concierge gave me permission to remove the piping and retrieve my bottle top which I did together with someone's used ear bud! I am glad I am not a plumber.

Paris underground

I was heading for Nuremburg so wanted the train to Stuttgart or maybe Frankfurt. It was not to be, both trains were full, this was a Tuesday morning in Paris in August. The receptionist could offer me a reservation on a train to Strasbourg for an eye watering 18 euro. If I keep paying this sort of money a pass will negate itself! However I had to get going as Nuremburg is quite a distance and I wanted to get there before the small hours! You forget just how big a country France is as the journey to Strasbourg on the eastern border took 2 hours and twenty minutes on a TGV which does not hang around!(10.55 - 13.15).

Armadillo station! - Strasbourg rail station

I did not see much of Strasbourg as my connection to Germany just left enough time to have a relaxed coffee and get frustrated trying to download pod casts onto my new Nexus 7. This had already proved invaluable in booking ahead for three nights in Nuremberg for a very competitive price, but the Nexus 7 learning curve is a steep one and there were more frustrations to come.

Time of train was: leave Strasbourg at 14.52, arrive at Nuremburg 19.25.

Soon I was travelling over the border into Germany and the first two women to get on to the train looked very German. I had to make three more connections to get to my destination. After the first connection we sped north on the iconic ICE train, the German high speed express. The second connection saw us crossing very English looking countryside although there were far more tunnels. Stuttgart looked an interesting city, pretty big and also very hilly. Think Brighton but much bigger hills strewn with settlement.

Stuttgart has a big mummy of an in out-rail terminus which meant another change. The countryside between Stuttgart and Nuremburg was very attractive in a green and pleasant land sort of way, with some pretty hilly terrain.

Nuremburg


Nuremburg city walls

Nuremburg hauptbahnhof

Nuremburg old city entrance

 

 Fischbach where I stayed is in the south east part of the city. I stayed at Daucher Hotel Restaurant for four nights for about £28 per night. I had one breakfast which was very good, but rather expensive at about £7. That's why I only had one breakfast!  The overall bill was about £120. There is an S-bahn station (11 minute journey to city centre) and also a bus to the U-bahn or underground, so you have two ways to get to the city centre. You can also get a daily ticket for 5.10 euro which covers train, bus and tram travel over an extensive city transport system.

Tip China Restaurant on Lowenberger Str, 45, just round the corner from Daucher, does good value Chinese food e.g. 11.20 euro for a big chicken and rice dish plus a beer. I mean big, there was more than enough food for one.

Nuremburg city centre

The White Tower




Accommodation in Nuremburg




Funky statue in Nuremburg city centre

The Nazis of course left a black history on the city as for them it was a sort of spiritual
home, this part of Germany being their power base. There is an 11 acre site southeast of the city centre which you can roam which was chosen by the Nazis for their rally grounds. It is now very much a leisure and recreation area as there is a lake and pleasant green spaces and promenades, as there would have been in the thirties. At the hub is the documentation centre which uses the gigantic assembly hall for 50000 people which was never completed. From the outside it looks like a massive twentieth century coliseum but with one side open, left to decay. However a modern superstructure has been cleverly incorporated in the old building as a steel and glass cantilever arrangement which cuts through the old architecture like a dagger through the heart of Nazism. There is a comprehensive modern exhibition in a series of rooms detailing the rise and fall of the NSDAP, with lots of photos, some wall size. A lot of time is given to the development of this area under the Nazis and Hitler's favourite architect, Albert Speer. The end of the exhibition is a summary of the Nuremberg trials.

Documentation centre



The vast unfinished Nazi congress hall - now in the middle of a leisure area

The whole area betrays the (oc)cultic nature of Nazism. The Zeppelin Field is still a substantial construction. You have all seen newsreel from the thirties or Leni Riefenstahl's film, 'Triumph of the Will.' This is where the film was taken. It comprises a rectangular area bordered by grandstands, the biggest being the one on which Hitler spoke. The arena could hold 200,000 people, covering an area of 12 football pitches, and rallies became a major event on the Nazi calendar At the end of the war the American military blew up the huge swastika that topped the main grandstand. I got there in the evening, and now it is just a recreational space, there were girls on a soccer school, and lads practising ice hockey without the ice in front of where Hitler would have spoken, playing with considerable skill.

Interestingly an article has recently appeared in the Daily Telegraph about the renovation of the Nazi party rally grounds and here is the link:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/germany/10283876/Let-Nuremberg-rallying-grounds-be-preserved.html

Congress hall from the inside - after the war there was even a café planted within its upper walls

 

Picture of one of the halls in the Nazi party rally grounds - Luitpoldhalle

Old photo of Nazi party rally

The old town has a very complete looking city wall, very solid with towers and gates. Presiding over this in a very matriarchal sort of way is the castle complex on an ample mighty mound at the north end of the city. Nuremberg was flattened in the war so much of the old centre has been rebuilt, there being only one surviving street from olden times, well worth a visit.

Only Nuremburg medieval street that survived the war bombing

No visit would be complete without sampling the local beer and the ubiquitous bread with spicy sausage which are a favourite of mine. At the bottom of ye ancient street, by the city walls and right on the river is a beer and sausage paradise where you can sit outside and pretend to be a Bavarian with a large tankard of beer and sausage mit kraut.

Medieval Nuremburg

If you have a computer problem in Nuremberg go to Saturn which is near the White Tower in the southwest quadrant of the Old Town. The second floor has plenty to meet your computing needs. They helped me with my new Nexus 7 which had 'died' but had just had a software malfunction. All you do is press the power button for 30 seconds to solve the problem! Another store I used to get an adaptor cable was Conrad, a large emporium just off the U- bahn out west of the city centre.

Nuremburg castle grounds

So far I have gotten along fine with the locals. I think they do say that southern Germany is friendlier than the north. Germans have been very helpful in shops, railway stations, and everywhere else, with directions and advice, sometimes going the extra mile. The train driver at Hof station checked the time of the trains both to Bayreuth and to Nuremburg on his mobile phone, and explained what I had to do to get the connections.

How did I get to Hof? By visiting Bamberg from Nuremburg that very afternoon. Bamberg is a pleasant train ride away from Nuremburg and is the German Bath to Bristol, or Windsor to London, or Burford to Oxford, to give a rough comparison. That is, it is a multi-spired, ancient building dominated, beautiful riverside scene loaded cornucopia of medieval loveliness, capped with copious quantities of Germans dressed in folk dress swilling large quantities of beer. Just the sort of place you might want to take your mum or favourite aunt for an afternoon excursion. I wandered around with my tourist map, trying to cover the main sights, and succeeded quite well in hoovering up the odd large church, the monastery in its rather imposing hilltop spot, and the cathedral and its precincts, a rather scrumptious jumble of architectural gems.




Bamberg - hits you with a bam!

 

Just listening to German radio on the train to Dresden and who should come on but Cliff and 'It's so funny.' Oh, and that was the Bay City Rollers!



I caught the train from Nuremberg to Dresden yesterday. On the inter rail map this is classed as a scenic route and so it proved to be, especially the first part when you travel through some lovely hilly scenery, although still plenty of settlement. You pass a rather large Volkswagen factory at Zwickau.

Modern Dresden

 

 

You can see as the train enters Dresden that this place has been some classy watering hole, lots of attractive looking old apartment buildings in various pastel shades. The hauptbahnhof is worthy of such a city with lovely arched roofing and a splendid arcade like entrance hall. However I did notice quite a few weeds on the platform extremities! There are lots of black and white photo displays on the station history and how it was rebuilt after the war. I had arrived at just after 4pm and then hit Starbucks to find accommodation on the now trusty Nexus 7 tablet. I found a hotel and then had to find how to get there. A couple of girls in Starbucks were not familiar with the location. The Deutschbahn desk at the station were definitely not in the same league as the Nuremberg DB desk (they were on a 100 score on the jolliness and cooperativeness index), could not find the address and in the end referred me to a taxi. However a lady at the shopping centre kiosk went way beyond the call of duty in using her computer to find the exact location, phoning up the hotel, and writing down exact directions. She gets my award for most incredibly helpful Teutonic maiden of the trip, and she was not even the information kiosk. It must be my aftershave yet again!

I did manage to look round Dresden in the evening before catching the tram. and mighty, meaty and magnificent it turned out to be. When you get off at the station and head into the centre you are a little underwhelmed at first because it is all modern shopping areas and pedestrianized walkways with a huge hole in the ground just to your left. However, once you get through this veneer of modernity you reach the more classic old centre, expansive and open. That's what hits you, the wide horizons even in the middle of a big city. You traverse an elegant square complete with rock band strutting its stuff, then cross a main thoroughfare and head for the very centre, the spiritual heart of the city with its statue of Martin Luther surrounded by a perfect mix of pastel architecture shimmering in the setting sun. Then you head down to the waterfront through bustling restaurant land and are knocked back by an even more expansive view out over the Elbe, garnished with a plethora of beautiful classical buildings that look as if a master architect has placed them in the spot most guaranteed to draw a sharp intake of breath. Across the river a large open air rock concert is in full flow as its rhythm flows across the waters. I would like to come back here, it was not on my original itinerary but I am privileged to sample even one evening in this beautiful city.

Centre of Dresden

The hotel in Dresden found on the internet was first class (Quality Hotel Dresden West, Zschoner Ring 6, Dresden), I recommend as one of the best I have stayed in for the fantastic price of about £36 including breakfast. Big room with double bed, spotlessly clean and fully en suite plus free wifi. However just bear in mind that it is about 5 and a half miles from the centre of Dresden to the west, so is easy with a car, otherwise you get the no.7 tram (2 euro) from the Hauptbahnhof or the 333 bus (3.80 euro). If you get the tram late as I did you get off at the second to last stop, Gompitzer Hohe, and a taxi costs about 10 euro. The bus stops at Kesselsdorf, a twenty minute walk from the hotel.

Proper wall art!

Dresden riverfront

I have just stabbed myself with the staple on my train ticket and a button has just come off the side pocket of my shorts. Another button from an unmentionable place fell into the urinal at Nuremburg Hauptbahnhof. You can forget retrieving that! My shorts have begun very slowly to fall apart.



Statue of Martin Luther in the centre of Dresden

Got the train today from Dresden at 12.09 to Wroclaw, so my first visit to Poland. There is a marked change of scenery as the terrain has now become much flatter, sometimes through miles of forest but also out on the open plain. It is a 3 and a half hour trip, and the train is pretty crowded. I only really see the railway station at Wroclaw, a pretty impressive piece of architectural kit, all steel arches and massive reception hall. It then hits me like the proverbial ton that Poland is in the EU but not in the euro, so will my euro get me into the WC? It does indeed, but I will have to acquire some zloties pronto. The next train takes me on another 3 and a half hour trip to Katowice, but it is the equivalent of a Southern Region beach train i.e. pretty basic. It is also very crowded and I sit in one of the conductor's seats, anything is worth a try. The young lady opposite me assures me it is OK to sit there, although eventually the guard arrives to claim her seat. You get the feeling as you travel through Poland that it's a step down living standards wise, no surprise having just left the economic powerhouse of Europe. Coming into Katowice what you see from the railway is pretty run down. I see an old industrial works, huge and abandoned on the track side, enclosed sloping walkways like you see in steelworks smashed and rusting.


The railway infrastructure as you travel through Central Europe is phenomenal. Huge marshalling yards characterise the main stations, with innumerable trains and wagons lined up in miles of sidings. Some of these sidings are all overgrown and redundant, especially in Poland where the scent of decay pervades the permanent way. No doubt some of this is the legacy of communism. There are acres of what must have been former sidings completely overgrown and redundant, sometimes track just disappears into undergrowth. What does hit you is the importance of the railways to the Holocaust. Without the commandeering of a highly sophisticated railway infrastructure, the movement of vast numbers of victims would not have been accomplished.

I decide to stay in Katowice for a while and book a room on the internet, then get the late train to Krakow. I use Airbnb and manage to find somewhere. On the train the guard very helpfully tells me where I need to go when I get to Krakow. The trouble is it is a combination of Polish and pigeon English which is thoroughly indecipherable. However he scribbles some details on my piece of directions paper and advices me to get a taxi. After leaving the station and trying to contact my potential host by phone without success, I flag down a taxi to take me to the street. This time I meet the most honest taxi driver in the whole of Poland! He tells me the address is literally 400m away, so instead of driving me there for a king's ransom, he helps me complete a map of where to go!
To cut to the chase, in the end I do not manage to secure the booking and end up very late in the Ibis budget hotel, which proves to be a good move as it is very modern and right by the rail terminus. For £33 for the night it's a bargain! Great place to stay if you want to visit somewhere like Auschwitz.

Train departure from Dresden 12.09, arrives at Krakow 21.05, although I stopped at Katowice and got a later train.

As for Krakow I can see why Easyjet flights are normally so expensive. It is a bumper destination with lots to do and see. Ideal for a city break and you could spend a week here quite easily.

Krakow city centre

Krakow main square

I did not realise how big Krakow is. We are talking 7 to 8 hundred thousand people, while 8 million people live within a 60 mile radius. The old centre of Krakow is impressive, as much as any city I have seen in Europe. The market square is massive, in fact I'd say more impressive than Prague from memory. It's a humongous size, but full of hidden photo shots and vistas because the Cloth Hall in the middle breaks up any clear view of the whole square. The usual restaurants and cafes ply their trade round the outside, artists display their wares, and a bazaar runs through the middle of the Cloth Hall selling the usual trinkets and some more, like animal skins.


Budapest waterfront



Cloth Hall in Krakow medieval square

 

Ate at a great restaurant tonight eating the recommended spare ribs in a great sauce, fries and a bowl of salad, plus a large beer. Bit of a walk home and nearing my accommodation I really needed a leak big time. That large beer had been a bad idea. I did not fancy meeting my new host at the door jumping up and down like a morris dancer, so found the least conspicuous spot I could find, which was not very, to ease my discomfort. As I did a car swept into my road and whipped past, giving me a thorough scanning . There was no escape. It came to a halt just down the road and someone got out. I just had to hope and pray it was not my host. I think I got away with it.

Wavel castle is a monster that sits south of the old city centre. I wandered up here in the evening and admired the views of the river, there is a nice little cafe where you can sit on the open air terrace.

Wandered a lot through the streets of Krakow today. It's an architect's dream as it's jam packed full of elegant apartment buildings in classical style, tree lined boulevards sometimes with trams going up the middle, and impressive churches and civic buildings scattered through the mix like the best chocolates in a box of Thorntons. The old Jewish quarter, Kazimierz, is just to the south east of the old town, a very significant area as Krakow and Prague were major traditional centres of European Jewry. This area was turned into an infamous ghetto when the Nazis ruled Krakow in the war. Trams were not even allowed to stop when they passed  through this area. Now you can wander past the old synagogues, and sample the fare of a Jewish restaurant, as they still have a community here.

Today I also visited Schindler's factory of Schindler's list fame (ticket 19 zloty). Here there is a very modern and sophisticated exhibition of Krakow in the war years. There is a 35 minute film which is well worth seeing which has first hand footage of elderly men and women who used to work in the factory. Oscar Schindler was a racy sort of character as you will know from the film, an entrepreneur, gambler and womaniser, yet he developed a mission to protect Jews from their persecutors, using them in his factory making pots, pans and even armaments. He was arrested a few times himself by the Gestapo but managed to free himself every time using bribery. The factory is just over the river to the south from the old town and you can walk there although it is a good 20m walk. There is also an art museum there and a cafe where I had to make do with a coffee and a packet of peanuts as I was running out of zloties. Also the girls behind the counter were a bit glum, a bit like those Eastern European girls in the cafe scenes in 'Harry and Paul.' -I hardly managed to raise a smile from them.

A walk up the road from Schindlers factory takes you to an area of parkland tapering up to a fine mound from which you get a great view of Krakow city centre and also for miles around. It's a bit of a puff to the summit but well worth it. Another climber points out Nowa Huta, the glorious comrade's socialist housing project from the communist era.

Wednesday 28th August

Memorial at Auschwitz Birkenau



Auschwitz Birkenau - inside one of the huts

I am at Auschwitz today. A few tlps might help. I'm travelling solo so some of this may not apply to you, but basically if you get here before 10am you can get in for free to the museum which covers Auschwitz1, the first camp you visit. After 10am you have to go with a guide which means paying 10 euro. You do not really need a guide if you have an elementary understanding of the Holocaust, because there is loads of information as you go round to read and watch. As regards getting to Auschwitz, you can get the train or bus from Krakow, but I would recommend the bus. Firstly, unless you are prepared to rise soon after you have retired for the night, the first train at a reasonable hour arrives at 10.59am which is too late to get in free. Also the train sounds a bit like something between Puffing Billy and the Fat Controller, so if you have time on your hands and want to experience Polish railways first hand go for it! I caught the 7.50am bus which is the first bus of the day and took an hour and twenty to get there. You can grab breakfast as I did, like a roll and a coffee at the bus station cafe. You pay the driver of the minibus but beware the bus is quite full and picks up passengers on the way.



Chilling view of Auschwitz Birkenau entrance

You need a whole day for this trip, I got the 18.20 bus back. First you do Auschwitz 1 which is the original camp which used a Polish army barracks. Then you get a free shuttle bus (half hourly on the hour) to Auschwitz 2 Birkenau, a site which is about thirty times bigger and was used to house Polish, Russian, gypsy and Jewish victims. This is where mass murder was committed on an industrial scale. The site is absolutely vast and in fact the Nazis were in the process of extending the camp but never fulfilled their plans.

One thing that hits you is the meticulous records kept by the Nazis of their activities. Everything neatly and precisely typed out or handwritten, invoices, comprehensive personal details of inmates and recording of prisoners murdered. The ultimate documentation of evil.

Also the Poles suffered greatly under the Nazis and lost millions of people in the war, including many Jews of course. Despite the terror inflicted on them they provided stern resistance and did everything they could to oppose the General Government based in Krakow. An unofficial Polish state carried on clandestinely during the war, woven into the fabric of Polish society., despite the efforts of the Nazis to Germanise the nation. Poles carried on warfare against the Nazis from the forests, and sabotaged the railway system.

I may write a separate piece about Auschwitz as I have not said a lot here.

On my way to the rail station tonight I am accosted by a young Nigerian asking for money. The story goes that he lives in Vienna and has come to Krakow to get some money from his cousin who has let him down and not been able to come up with the goods. He now needs money for a ticket back to Vienna. I know you are thinking this chap had 'Nigerian scam' spelt out with large pink balloons over his head, but in the end I gave him 5 euros after a few questions, including the comment, 'This sounds fishy to me.'

Why is the train between Krakow and Katowice trundling along at Cumberwick Green pace? This must be the slowest train in the world, even slower than Southern region, It was the same the other night when I went the other way. These are two big places! This is the reason why Auschwitz by train might have been a bad idea! However the countryside is quite pretty, the rolling landscape a bit more interesting than the plains of western Poland. Quite a lot of forest as well. Again, the railway infrastructure round here is substantial, with regular sets of sidings, often large, but more often than not unkempt and overgrown.

Now on the train from Katowice to Budapest, just passing over the border into the Czech Republic. The countryside here is very easy on the eye as we pass through the south eastern borderlands of the Czech Republic. A quite beautiful, green and rolling landscape. The railway infrastructure changes too. Still plenty of it , but much neater and tidier all round. The tracks and sidings look clean and well maintained, and the train is cookin' on gas!

Reservation fee Krakow to Budapest - 3.5 euro.

Train now heading across southern Slovakia from Bratislava towards Hungary. Country is dead flat round here. Weather is looking up. It has been surprisingly cool over last few days for central Europe in the summer. There was even rain this morning in Krakow.

I hate to say this but I think the train WC at the end of the corridor is overflowing and has begun to trickle into the carriage. Apart from that it is quite a good train. We are at a place called Sturovo somewhere in southern Slovakia. I have just lost another button from my shorts, that's three so far!

Just entered Hungary at a place called Szob. The landscape has become decidedly more interesting and we appear to now be hugging the mighty Danube. Problem is it is now getting dark! Arrive at Keleti station in the centre of Budapest. I have managed to book a room for the night, but still have to find the place. The information room provides me with helpful advice, a trip on the underground followed by a tram. I need some currency pronto, and use the station exchange without thinking too much about how much I may have lost on the transaction. Anyway I've got some nice shiny coins in my pocket that will pay for the underground. Alighting from the underground I jump on virtually the first tram I find, full of young people. They very helpfully tell me I am on the right tram, and as I confess my need of a ticket, one of them says you don't need one for a tram! though you do for the underground.

Hungary and Croatia



Elegant Budapest

 

Budapest again is a great city break visit. As the capital of Hungary it is different to Krakow, the central area being on a much bigger scale, although Krakow's medieval square is a winner. Budapest is divided into two, Buda on the west bank and Pest on the east bank. The area along the Danube is a world heritage sight and is indeed a sight to see with the very ornate and massive Parliament building and elegant apartment blocks lining the shores. Budapest is jam packed full of classy looking Austro Hungarian apartment blocks, wide tree lined boulevards like Andrassy, and an architectural gem around every corner. Andrassy itself is 2 km long, straight as an arrow, magnificent, commercial and bustling at its southern end with buildings like the Opera House, and more residential at its northern end. You have to pose at an open air café on this avenue, sunglasses perched on your forehead, tablet in hand, pretending to be an international businessman. The Field of Heroes at the north end of Andrassy is Budapest's Trafalgar Square, a vast open area, decorated by phalanxes of Hungarian statues of the great and the good down through the ages. If you head on from here you get to one of Budapest's playgrounds, a park with funfair, restaurants and also the most ornate bathhouse stuck in the middle. Of course if you go to Budapest you must have a Turkish bath, but I declined the opportunity. It was actually very expensive.

My accommodation was another winner, this time a decaying nineteenth century apartment block near the main Nagati rail station therefore near the centre of the action. (Butterfly Hostel and Guesthouse, Csengery utca 57). The apartment was on the first floor and comprised a large kitchen and dining area off which were the bathrooms and toilet, an adjoining sitting room with bedrooms going off the whole unit. The apartment had the tallest ceilings in the world, so closing the curtains in my room was impossible without a ladder. I just had to undress beyond the full glare of the open window, not being an exhibitionist. A great comfortable apartment, but impossible to enter without 4 keys, yes 4, I kid you not. One for the hulking wooden door onto the street, two for an iron grid gate flush with another solid apartment door, and then a key to your room!

Accommodation courtyard in Budapest

Cigar holders in Hungarian Parliament

Now if you are looking for cheap food you could do a lot worse than go to the Chinese buffet just up the road from St Stephens Basilica towards Nagati station. I stumbled on it just before it closed and had a chicken and rice dish with a bottle of orange juice for less than three pounds according to my calculations.

Buda - top of the hill on west bank

Underground on Andrassy - one of the oldest in the world



Buda in the evening

Left Budapest today, and am now on the Budapest to Zagreb train which I just managed to catch. In The end I had to get a taxi. I had checked the map and it did not look too far to the station, but in fact Kelenfoeld, not to be confused with Keleti, is a good distance from the centre. I tried to find the bus or tram without success, having looked up the details on the internet the previous day, and a man gave me directions to the wrong station and did not seem to know of Kelenfoeld. Also I had got talking to our friend at the hostel, another guest, which I should not have done as I would have had bags more time than I did but this guy just does not stop talking and just draws you in. Today's superlative, he is the most talkative man in Europe. Anyway, my remaining Hungarian currency went on the taxi so I will have nothing to eat until Zagreb. Beware if you have to use this station. The two main stations, Nagati and Keleti, are very central. Kelenfoeld is well out of the centre.

Budapest at night

The countryside south of Budapest is pretty bland, flat, slightly undulating. Eventually you hit a huge lake on your left which I can spot on the map. Looks quite nice and a leisure area. I mean this is a very big lake, and there are a few stops along the way. We stop at a large station which I try to pick out on the map, but there is no sign of any name on the platform! Must have missed the one sign.

Lake looks a bit more interesting now with hills in the background, signs of more boats and leisure activities. Lots of bungalows on the lake edge. Yes of course, it's Lake Balaton, a famous Hungarian lake which I should have remembered from school geogers. Just stopped at station called Balatonlelle, yes this station has signs! Now stopping at Balatonboglar, then a whole series of stations on the same theme. Mile upon mile of more bungalows, houses, presumably many are holiday homes, also tennis courts, play areas, etc.

A party of teenagers get on at one of these lakeside resorts, they fill the carriages around me. Just as I start listening to a download audio some of them flow into the seats around me. A teacher comes in and removes one evident rascal as he gets a little boisterous. The teacher seems well in control, patrolling up and down the corridors, and the kids are very well behaved generally. They alight in an orderly fashion at Nagykanizsa, not far from the Croatian border. Nice to see, well impressed!

The weather has turned poor. I must say that generally the weather in Europe where I have travelled has been pretty average for the time of year when you expect baking hot temperatures in central Europe, the old continental climate. As we head south west it is wet and overcast.

The train has stopped at the Croatian border and the whole Croatian police force has descended upon us. First of all I have hit the backpacker crowd for the first time on my itinerary. Budapest is obviously a major magnet and this lot must be heading south to Greece or Croatia itself. Just before the train stops I am told that the carriage I am sitting in is not going to Zagreb! Masses of backpackers pass through having received the same info. The train stops and we have ro get out and move right up the train to another carriage. I squeeze into an apartment with two British lads, a couple of far eastern girls and an Italian looking chap. Then we get the full 'soviet' border guard treatment. We are all checked twice for our passports, first by a man, then by a woman, and they take ages over the girls' passports. My passport breezes through with flying colours.

Now we have got going and are heading hopefully to Zagreb as the train went out in the same direction it came in! The countryside does look a bit more interesting but dusk is fast approaching. The train picks up a bit of speed at last and arrives in Zagreb sooner than I expected.

Zagreb has developed a little since I was here a couple of years ago, unless I totally missed it, which I think I have. There is a shopping mall that goes under the rail tracks that I don't remember seeing where I had a coffee to get my bearings. Lodgings are just south of the river.

Stayed at brilliant Airbnb last night, the best so far on this trip. Just south of the river off Dubrovnik Avenue, on the tenth floor of a sixties communist era tower block (cheap and cozy, Huga Ehrlicha 7, Zagreb). There is a massive new shopping mall just nearby where I partook of KFC. Lovely modern apartment lived in by very nice young couple. I have splendid clean bedroom with big double bed and use of modern bathroom. Free wi fi as well and great view of  Zagreb night and day. Why would you want to stay in a hotel? Next morning the wife invites me for tea. She is the sweetest host imaginable and very sociable. She persuades me to try herbal tea to which you add lemon and honey. I liked it. Apparently Croatians are into herbal tea for its medicinal qualities. American girl also pops in as she is the next guest. She is also travelling, is a bit of a Cold War student and has been to Berlin. If you are travelling on you own Airbnb is a great way of meeting people and having a bit of a social life.
 
Got the train from Zagreb to Rijeka at 11.35am. Train leaves from the very same platform that I got the Split train from 2 years ago., platform 5, which instead of being platform 5 across the tracks is reached by walking down platform 1! Countryside is pleasant and becomes more attractive as journey progresses, ending up with the best scenery on the European journey so far, expansive rolling mountains, often thickly wooded, opening up to great sea vistas as we near the Adriatic. By this time for some reason we have transferred to a bus at Ogulun which takes us all the way to Rijeka station. Journey to Rijeka worthwhile just for the scenery!

Airbnb continues to treat me well. This time I have ended with a whole apartment, apart from a double bedroom, for about £13 per night (Rastocine 1, Rijeka),. I am on the seventh floor of an apartment block about twenty minutes walk or bus no 5 (15 kuna) out of the town centre. Living room is vast with great view over Rijeka and out to islands as apartment is quite high up over town. On a blistering morning it's a great way to start the day. As no one else is booked I am rattling around in it on my tod.

Rijeka building with Al Capone connection

Rijeka reminds me of Pula, that mixture of industrial grittiness and workaday hustle and bustle with plenty to keep the tourists happy. It's the third biggest town in Croatia after Zagreb and Split. It's a big shipbuilding hub and port centre, a bit of a transport centre with an important rail connection to Zagreb and then on to Budapest and also via Llublyana to Munich. I'm getting the night sleeper home overnight to Munich to save a night's accommodation. Rijeka has a plum share of Austro Hungarian architecture, the usual ornate and decorative pastel painted builds. This is definitely the best of the architectural heritage. My friend Ivan, the host at the apartment points out one building that was financed through Al Capone! Another art deco building forms a V between two forks in the road. There are also some lovely old mansion type properties along the cliff top, a legacy again of the heyday of the Austro Hungarian empire. This is not to say that Rijeka doesn't have its fair share of unsightly modern urban sprawl.

China Restaurant, Peking Wok, I Jadranski trg 4c is a good cheap restaurant for a fill up e.g. special menu 55 kuna.



Theatre in Rijeka

Croatia continues to be a very good holiday destination as far as price competitiveness goes. The pound kuna exchange rate is good, and you can still get a room for thirteen pounds  a night. How long this will last now that Croatia has joined the evil empire I don't know. .I had two cups of coffee this morning for 22 kuna, that's about £2.50.


Got the bus to Opatica today. That's the grand nineteenth century watering hole built for the satisfaction of the wealthy denizens of the Austro Hungarian empire who would flood here for the health and welfare benefits of being beside the Adriatic. So now it's still got the air of faded glory, although not that faded as the lightly coloured mansions and hotels still sparkle in the Adriatic sun. I got the bus here for sixteen kuna, that's just under two pounds for half an hour's bus ride along the coast north. The bus stops near the sea front and I walk around looking for the information centre without success, then wander along the seafront on the logomare, a coastal path that flights up and down above rocky pine clad bathing areas and through the busy concrete bathing platform, cafe and hotel platform areas of the middle of town. The place is much more obviously given to tourism than Rijeka, with not a shipyard or factory in sight. Ivan tells me Opatica is populated with older people and has nice cakes, but there are still plenty of young people around.

Opulent Opatica

Opatica waterfront

In fact Opatica appears to be a positive mecca for youngsters as when I arrived at the bus stop to go home there was a cityful of teenagers waiting to get on, unfortunately it was the Rijeka bus they were after as well. I wondered if it might be best to wait for the next one but then it could be the same situation. So I got on standing room only. Off we went positively overloaded on a rather large bendy bus. The local bus wardens then got on after a few stops and proceeded to check everyone's ticket, me being virtually the first. I then discovered that Croatian teenagers are not much different from English ones. As they worked their way down the bus, people crammed in like battery hens, a trickle of teenagers came forward to validate i.e. put their ticket in the machine, or to pay for their ticket. The situation escalated when the wardens went back down the bus. I'm not sure quite what was going on but there was quite a bit of excitement, voices were raised and there was some cheering, perhaps jeering from the youngsters. One felt the poor wardens had come off worse. Anyway the bus was at a halt while this was going on. What it really needed was that squad of rather stern looking policemen we met on the train at the Croatian border. Now they would have sorted those young upstarts. Perhaps they were looking for teenagers to stop them entering the country. Whether some of the kids were refusing to pay or had no money I don't know, but we all got to Rijeka safely. What is it with buses and teenagers? Even when I was a lad I remember one of my peers nicking the bus driver's cap, swiping it from his head as he got on. That was Stephen Skillett. Those were the days!

Opatica

Friday 6th September

Last day of the trip. Decide to pay a visit to castle monastery at top of hill above Rijeka. There are a special set of steps which take you up from the harbour area, another superlative coming up, the longest staircase in the world. It's a bit of a yomp, up through old settlement clinging to the side of the hill, but the climb is worth the view at the top. The last but one pope, Karol Wotlya, visited Rijeka as a very old Pope, and there are big colour photos of the event in the cloisters of the rather fine church as Catholic churches go. It's light and airy, not dark and oppressive like many old catholic churches. It has adjoining gardens which have modern  bronze statues tracing the stations of the cross on a winding path up to a viewpoint of the city. Across the road from the church is the castle, just down a little lane. This is worth a visit if only for the 360 degree views of the Knarver bay, out to the islands and of course over the city. It's free to wander around the castle but if you want to visit some galleries you have to pay extra. I met a man with his wife and a friend who had emigrated to Canada years ago and was coming back to visit. He wondered if he had made the right decision but said that Canada was a good country.

Decided to beach it in the afternoon and got the bus to Bivio west of the town and 10 kuna away. There are little rocky spots and bays you can nestle in but in the end I went to the beach at Ploce which is a city beach especially set up for the punters. It's a very nice beach backed by a modern watersports complex, swimming pool and Olympic size diving area with bleachers for spectators, a pretty impressive piece of infrastructure.  The beach itself has two flanks with a bit in the middle and certainly where I was it was ideal, the water being shallow to enter but pretty quickly you're out of your depth.

Got the bus back to accommodation and then packed to go. Arrived at the station in good time and bought some provisions, then proceeded to the train which was rumbling ominously as if it was desperate to get going. Once I got on it was a simple thing to find my sleeping compartment. It was empty, six spaces and I was at the bottom but this was not to last. A German lady turned up and very nicely asked if her father could go on the bottom bunk as he was eighty two. The mother was also there so being the gallant knight I agreed to swop bunks. It was difficult enough getting up top myself, but made a little easier when the father found a ladder. Then another two Germans turned up, a younger couple, and we were complete. They were in a bit of a tizzy because they had left Krka island in a rush to get the bus and he had discovered his wallet with 90 euro, identity card and money cards was nowhere to be found. Soon after the train got going on boarded the Croatian border patrol to check passports. With a face set like flint the young Croatian policeman was in 'get off the train if you don't have a passport' mode and would have none of it with our German friend who he sent towards the exit. Meanwhile the identity card of one of the other Germans had expired. This was all enough to turn our young Croatian apoplectic. He'd probably not had this much excitement all year.

Reservation for sleeping compartment - 99 kuna, about £11.

In the end they let him stay on the train. I don't know whether he offered them a bribe or a bottle of schnapps, but off the train trundled and it felt like we were labouring through the mountains as it was too dark to see. A little later the Slovakian border guards got on to check and the German chappie had to explain it all again. This time he was able to wave his German Deutschbahn card under their noses. These police seemed decidedly more laid back than the Croats, and let him off.


I caused my own little drama as I tried to remove the top from a Schweppes bitter lemon. Not wanting to use my teeth I tried to lever it off using a fixture attached to the inside of the compartment, consequently spraying the surrounding area. There was a cry from one of the German girls, 'My shoes,' as they were given a bitter lemon coating and she pushed them out of sight. I voiced my apology and the older German couple came to my rescue. The father extracted a bag and proceeded to look for a bottle opener in the side pocket. Out came forks, knives and all sorts of bits and pieces, and finally he produced a plastic contraption. I then proceeded to remove the lid with it and immediately broke it. This was getting embarrassing. First I had force flavoured a German woman's shoes, now I had committed the cardinal sin of breaking a German's appliance. Thankfully they were very understanding and the father proceeded to empty his side pocket again to finally reveal a metal bottle opener.

So off we went into the night and soon we were all bedded down with lights off. It was a totally forgettable night with hardly a wink of sleep. It wasn't that the couchette was especially uncomfortable, but there was a fair amount of bumpiness, especially early on when it felt like we were traversing the Balkan and mid European mountains. Then the carriages would push and pull almost incessantly, although later on the journey was somewhat smoother. I did manage one or two snatches of sleep, in fact I even had a dream, but my real dream was not fulfilled, to have a decent night's sleep.

Scheduled to get in at 6.15, we were considerably later. By the time I had been to the washroom and checked the trains at the Deutschbahn office time was moving on. Trying to get to Calais for the ferry was my goal, and I started off at 7.50 with the ICE to Koln. The ICE is a pretty impressive piece of kit and you see these trains everywhere in Gernany. The journey was still 4 and a quarter hours arriving at Cologne at 12.14.

Unfortunately my gallop to the coast was not enough to get me to Calais to cross as a foot passenger (they won't take foot passengers after about 8.30 in the evening), so I ended up getting a eurostar ticket from Brussels to London, as I did not want to spend another night abroad, given the time it takes to find a place to stay and my overnight journey. It was 90 euro including a discount for inter rail pass holders, so I did quite well there.