Eastern Europe

The point of no return

End of Day 1

End of Day 2

Earlier this month I embarked on an 11 day whirlwind tour of Eastern Europe, taking me from Prague (Czech Republic) to Ljubljana (Slovenia). Below is a brief log of what I got up to in each city and the mini disasters, nightmare journeys, ticketing fiasco's, and other amusing tales encountered along the way.

Day 1 03/09/05 Prague -
It was an early start on the saturday to catch the 8:15 Easyjet flight (5493) from Gatwick to Prague. All went smoothly and checked in to the Clown and Bard hostel around 13:00 local time.

Then in true English tradition dumped off the backpacks in the 36 bed dorm and caught the tram 3 stops to Wenceslas Square in the town centre to find a restaurant to sample the fine local beers and a bit to eat. This was promptly followed by a dash around the centre to find a bar that was showing the England Vs. Wales World Cup qualifier. Surprisingly the task was harder than we had imagined, especially considering the number of stag parties that the city attracts at weekends. However we were not to be disappointed as the Irish bar Rocky O'Reilly's came up trumps. Despite the right outcome (1-0 win for England) the performance was poor, though this was masked a little by the pints of Stella being consumed.

Following the match we went back to the hostel, for a few drinks in the bar, meeting other travellers before heading back in to town to hit the Karlovy Lazne club. Karlovy Lazne is four floors high and each level of the club plays a different set of tunes. Just one entrance fee gets you into all levels, and there's enough variation to keep even the most ardent clubber entertained all night. Which I'm pleased to report it duly did till 5 in the morning.

Hardly a quiet start to the holiday!

Day 2 04/09/05 Brno -
The following day there was no time to catch up on sleep from the night before. Check out time was 10am, and then had a brief walk around the tourist attractions that Prague had to offer. Namely Charles Bridge and the old town square.

Then it was back to the hostel to collect our backpacks before heading off to the train station to catch a 3 hour train ride (130CZK) to Brno (the second largest city in the Czech Republic). Brno is famous for its rich history and a large number of architectural and historic monuments (Špilberk Castle, the gothic cathedral Petrov, the renaissance Old Town Hall and the gothic and baroque Old Brno Monastery).

In comparison to the night before this was a day and night of chilling. Had dinner on the main square, where a local wine festival was nearing an end. Then found a sports bar for a quick nightcap and watched the Brazil Vs. Chile world Cup Qualifier. A sublime performance by Brazil in the first half saw them emerge 5-0 winners. Hopefully not a sign of things to come in Germany 2006.

This day was however was not uneventful, as had mistakenly made the assumption that there was no need to find accommodation in advance. However, this did not take in to account arriving at 17:30 on a Sunday evening. Eventually found a room in a 2 star hotel (Hotel Avion) for 900CZK (c. £20), after trekking around the centre for 45-60 mins. It could have been a lot worse, having to fork out a fortune to stay in one of the many 4 star hotels in the centre.

Day 3 05/09/05 Bratislava -
Caught train (205.00CZK) to Bratislava and made our way to the downtown packpackers hostel in the centre of town. Was lucky as got the last two beds in the hostel. Hostel was quality, and managed to get a reasonable gathering together in the bar downstairs. Don't think the hostel normally gets such a large gathering in the bar at one time, as between us we managed to drink all the bottles of beer they had. That was the cue to move on to a pub in town for a few, before dancing the night away in a floating club on the river danube with the locals til 3am.

Made friends with a group of 3 gals (an English gal, a Scottish gal and an N.Irish gal) that were doing a very similar route to ourselves through Eastern Europe (though they were travelling up from the South, and we were travelling down from the North). Was a good opportunity to find out what the places that we were still to visit were like and what there was to do there etc... Though I did find myself having to resist the urge to reel off a load of jokes about an Englishman, an Irishman and a Scotsman. In hindsight this was probably best as not too sure how they would have gone down, especially as had only just met.

It was one of my least favourite cities of the trip as it did not have as much to offer as the others. Still had an enjoyable 24 hours there though, and a quality night out!

Day 4 06/09/05 Budapest -
Caught the train from Bratislava to Budapest with the 3 gals (just!). It was a little too close for comfort, through no fault of my own I'll hasten to add, and here's why......

There were 3 ticket windows at the train station from which you could buy international train tickets from, we arrived 20 minutes before the train was due to depart. Queued up at one window, got to the front of the queue only for the cashier to decide to close the window. Great! So had to join the back of the queue of one of the other windows. Again got to the front and ask for 2 tickets to Bratislava. Next problem did not have any currency left, so tried to pay on my Visa card. Unfortunately Slovakia (or the train station at least) do not accept Credit/debit cards. Great so faced with the prospect of having to go get cash out of the ATM, I asked the cashier how much the tickets were. She said "412SKK" we assumed she meant total. However it turns out that after getting the cash and joining the queue and getting to the front again that they were 412SKK each. Aargh!! Eventually got our tickets with about 2 minutes to spare. Guess that's what you call cutting it a little too fine!

The rest of the journey to Budapest passed without a hitch!

Checked in to a quality hostel (Prima Hostel). Of all the places I stayed on this trip, they were certainly the most helpful and friendly hostel staff I met, and would recommend this place to anyone. Arrived late afternoon, so had a quick power nap before taking a walk to the impressive parliament building on the banks of the river Danube. Spent the evening mingling and drink with the uni students of Budapest at their Uni bar (when eventually found it!). Again as in Bratislava drank with a few people from the Hostel, couple of Aussie guys and couple of English gals til the early hours of the morning.

Although I can say that if you ever go to Hungary and are offered a drink of Unicum (tastes as dodgy as it sounds), politely refuse as it is without doubt the worst shot i've ever tasted in my life!!! Don't tell you i haven't warned you.

Day 5 07/09/05 Budapest -
After the luxury of a lay in, it was time to get out and explore the vast city.

The mighty Danube divides this city in two: old Buda with its Castle Hill on the one side, and cosmopolitan Pest with its grand boulevards and fine shops on the other.

Firstly explored Pest and went to a number of places including Hero square.

Then it was the turn of Buda. Went to the Gellert Baths (at the hotel of the same name), where relaxed for a few hours in the spa baths and sauna in temperatures ranging from a refreshing 18C, 36C, 38C, up to an unbearable 45C.

Then it was time to hike up to the Citadel on top of one of the hills. Was a tiring walk and definately earnt the beer that had in the cafe at the top of it, but well worth it as you got spectacular views across the whole city. A definate must for anyone that goes to visit this city.

Then it was back down the hill (considerably easier than scaling it, it must be said). Before walking along the bank of the river to the Funicular (650Ft) for getting to the top of Castle Hill. As was not feeling energetic enough to walk up this time.

At the top of Castle Hill had a really nice meal. Tried Goulash for the first time, and was pleasantly surprised. Was knackered after a day of walking so headed back to the hostel, luckily didn't manage to find a bar showing the England Vs. Northern Ireland match. Let's say no more about that match shall we. Best forgotten!

Day 6 08/09/05 Zagreb -
Was the earliest start of the holiday yet, as had to catch the 08:15 train to Zagreb. After the ticket fiasco in Bratislava, we learnt our lesson and bought our tickets the day before just to be safe! However, this would not take in to account getting on the wrong train! The train to Venice (via Zagreb) went from Platform 7. So went to platform 7 and got on the train at the platform. Failed to notice that there were 2 trains on the platform (one in front of the other). We got on the back one (which we found out just in time wasn't going anywhere), so quickly made our way to the Venice train at the front of the platform. Another lesson learnt!

Arrived in Zagreb between 14:00 and 15:00 again with no accommodation booked in advance. Probably not the wisest move seeing as Zagreb only has 2 hostels, and one of them is consistently described as the worst in Europe. Luckily we were greeted at the train station by an English guy who runs St Patricks School of English in the centre of Zagreb. It was still the holidays so he was renting out the beds. Stayed in a room with a couple of Canadian guys (Scott and Greg) that were travelling around Europe for 3 months.

The English guy was very helpful and told us all what was worth seeing and what wasn't, and recommended a cheap place to eat that he eats at regularly. We decided to eat there, and was told if mentioned that we knew Sean and Mike we would get a free shot of a local brandy. Sure enough we muttered the secret code words and voila free shots appeared!

Spent the afternoon and evening with the Canadian guys, sampling the local beers.

One thing I will say about Zagreb is that it is a nice city, and is not given enough credit in the guidebooks. My only explanation for the poor write ups in the guidebooks that I can think of is that in relation to the south of Croatia, it does have less to offer in the way of stunning views, beaches, and crystal clear sea (though it's not Zagreb's fault that it isn't located on the coast!).

Day 7 09/09/05 Split -
Checked out of the School of English, with the Canadian guys (as like us they were heading south to Split and the Islands). Caught the train (151.20Kn) to Split. Fortunately a high speed rail link (tilting trains) had just opened which cut 2 hours off the normal journey time.

Again arrived with no accommodation booked in advance (you beginning to spot a pattern developing yet?). Not a problem this time as there are very few hostels in Croatia, and as soon as you step off a train/bus/boat you are immediately greeted/pounced on by local people offering you their spare rooms. After bidding off a couple of Croatian's against each other we accept this old lady's offer of her two rooms which were only 5 minutes walk from the train station.

Dropped backpacks off, then headed in to Split’s old town and the former palace of Roman emperor Diocletian in the centre of the city. Did a short walking tour around the old town, before finding a café along the modern harbour front for a beer and a bite to eat.

Partied the night away on a beach front club with the locals til the early hours.

Day 8 10/09/05 Hvar Island -
Woke up on Day 8 to find it was chucking it down outside. Hardly ideal, but at least it was the first rain I had seen since I left the shores of England.

Caught the Catamaran from Split to Hvar island, (1 hour boat ride at a cost of 22Kn).

Again as soon as you stepped off the catamaran was immediately hounded by local people offering you their spare rooms. We accepted the offer of a young gal from Split who was working on the island for the summer. The apartment was only a minutes walk from the harbour.

Was immediately taken aback by the island, with it's cobbled street, harbour and many shops, bars and restaurants down the narrow side streets.

Walked up to Hvar Fortress (10Kn) to experience the phenomenal views over looking Hvar old town and harbour.

Carpe Diem

Day 9 11/09/05 Hvar Island/Split -
Caught the only Catamaran (35Kn) of the day back from Hvar Island at 13:00, and then spent the rest of the day willing away the hours in the town, until our night train (22:20) to Zagreb, where was to catch connecting train in morning to Ljublana. Managed to sleep for 5 or 6 of the 8 hour train ride. Managed to find an empty compartment and quickly proceeded to draw the curtains, reclined the seats and laid across them to deter others from joining me in the compartment.

Spent the last few hours in Split having a few beers in a bar along the front. About 19:30 noticed the bar was suddenly filling up. Turned out that it was the biggest match of the season in Croatia. Dinamo Zagreb Vs. Hadjuk Split. Finished 0-0, and I’ve no idea how both sides managed to finish the game with 11 men. It was probably the most physical game I’ve ever seen!

Was going to get the overnight bus from Split to Ljubljana, however this turned out not to be an option as the last bus of the summer left at 6pm the day before. No major problem though and in hindsight for the best because we would have been amongst 3000 Hadjuk Split fans travelling up to the match in the capital!

Day 10 12/09/05 Ljubljana -
Next mini disaster (well more of an inconvenience I guess) of the trip! First thing I needed to do in Slovenia (as was in any other country I entered) was get some money out of the ATM machine. Went to my wallet to find that I had managed to lose/misplace my Visa debit card. Great!! A quick phone call home and a visit to the local Slovenian police station to report it, then proceeded. Fortunately it was the penultimate day of the holiday, so could borrow money of my mate.

Student Bar/Union (housed within an old tobacco factory) with some people from the hostel. One of whom had lost her passport in Krakow, Poland and then had to take a trip to the UK embassy in Warsaw (the story kinda cheered me up a bit and put the loss of my cash card in to context, at least I could cross the border).

When checked in to the Alibi hostel in the town centre, experienced a weird déjà vu moment. Realised that I had met three of the people staying in the hostel 4 days prior at Budapest train station.

Day 11 13/09/05 Ljubljana -
Less than ideal bus ride - 890SIT - to Ljubljana airport (though not sure how they can say it is in Ljubljana as it is 23km outside of the city).
Caught the 14:10 bus to the airport (they were hourly and wanted to allow myself plenty of time to get there to avoid missing flight home. Which was increasingly important on this occassion as I had no cash or credit card to pay for another one). The bus was absolutely packed, by a combination of tourists (complete with luggage) needing to fly back home, and local school kids....Aargh!! The bus was then held up at 2 level crossings, then had to navigate around a road traffic accident and a diversion due to road works. Turned what would have been a 45 minute journey into one last over an hour!

Good news was that plane took off on time and landed back at Gatwick on schedule at 19:45.

A few closing comments:
Punctuality of Eastern European public transport
Eastern Europe beer sold in 0.5litre glasses/bottles instead of pints
Disappointed that only had my passport stamped when entering Slavakia and Croatia.

I'm sure the next adventure won't be too far away, and will be in the planning in the near future!