On our own - Austria

We have just two weeks, travelling with Jeff and Jill, so where to go????? When we started planning the trip, the wish list just grew and grew. We just couldn't decide. We had a beginning (Budapest to Vienna, preferably by hydrofoil, and a departure from Paris. What to do in between those is still flexible!!! We have spent a couple of days in Vienna, and have booked accommodation in Paris, at the other end, and a fast train from Stuttgart to Paris.

So here we are in Austria. And loving it. Planning our own travels takes ages, agreeing on destinations, researching and purchasing transport tickets, finding and booking accommodation, and then working out how to get from transport points to accommodation. Loving the challenges. And so far we are doing ok.

Travelled from Budapest to Vienna by hydrofoil. Great trip, navigating 2 locks was particularly interesting. The first one involved a rise of 18m in the water level. Took less than half an hour for a huge amount of water to be pumped into the lock.... or however it happens. So smooth.

Vienna

What an amazing place. Vienna does BIG on a GRAND scale.

It's Summer Festival in Vienna. We found the Film and Food Festival near the Rathaus. Wow, it goes for weeks. It's really amazing how much Europeans make the most of sunshine and summertime. Lots of outdoor eateries, outdoor places to sit and lots of free events too. And lots of really tanned bodies. Sun is hot, but I don't seem to burn like I would with the same exposure in Australian sun.

On our second day in Vienna, we met up with Hannah, a young friend of Jill and Jeff's. What a perfect hostess she was. There's no better way to explore a place than with someone who lives there. Hannah took us on a guided tour of the best of Vienna, and if we thought we'd seen the BIG things, we were soon to be surprised. HUGE.

But the best was yet to come with a trip into the outer suburbs for a Heurigen experience. Heurige is a local wine tavern - wines produced on the property, and only available from there. They serve basic share style food, and although we arrived a little late ( after a tram, bus and an uphill walk) the food was delicious and enjoyed by all. We would not have discovered this place by ourselves. It was some distance out of the centre, on what appeared to be a large house block. Tables were set up in a back room, on decks, and also scattered under apple trees. Such a peaceful setting for an evening on a hillside overlooking Vienna.

A favourite food from Vienna has been pork knuckle. It's like bacon knuckle that we might use to make pea and ham soup, but roasted, although at times it is roast pork as we know it. The meatiest knuckles I've ever seen, full of flavour. Yumm.

 

Salzburg

Relatively short, only 2.5hr, trip on fast train which sometimes reached speeds in excess of 200 km/hr.

Arrived early Saturday afternoon, and decided this time to book the next leg of our journey before leaving the station. So now we have tickets to Innsbruck. Don't have to worry about printing etickets this way. Buses seem to be most common form of transport in Salzburg and luckily there was an English speaking assistant. It soon became obvious there were tourists everywhere!!! Large groups, with a flag/banner/umbrella toting tour leaders. Soooo many people.

Apparently it was the first weekend of the Summer Festival in Salzburg. There were numerous events everywhere throughout the city. We saw lots of people dressed in traditional Austrian dress. What a perfect weekend to visit Salzburg, and without any planning we wandered into some amazing events

Live music events - we watched a Boys' Choir from the UK, two bands, but my favourite was Strings on Fire. Just a fabulous sound in a fantastic setting - small intimate plaza somewhere in the old city centre of Salzburg. How lucky are we.

Earlier in the evening we'd seen a small bridal group arrive at a tiny outdoor bar where we were. A musician appeared, drinks flowed, dancing began.... In the street, and much merriment. But there didn't appear to be a groom in sight. We were told, that this is a local custom, for a group to kidnap the bride. The groom would be waiting, and when she didn't arrive, he would have to locate her, and pay the ransom.... the price of drinks consumed. Lovely idea.

We stayed in a very old hotel on the other side of the hill from the old town. Access to this part of town is via a tunnel, straight through solid rock of the mountain, built in 1760s after they realised the CUT, which was begun in 1670s was too costly. Wow. Tunnels, one for cars and another for pedestrians and cyclists, are not the only things inside the mountain. There's also parking stations, and a series of catacombs: one can only guess what else. There were many buildings attached to the rock face. Fascinating place.

Another gem find was the Augustin Brew Haus. We'd read about it, sussed the location out earlier, and returned late afternoon when it would be open. Quiet street opposite a church, open door leading to London quiet corridor, long flight of stairs, still hadn't seen anyone. Walked through another corridor with lots of food stalls, past some empty beer halls with lots of tables, and out into the beer garten.... full of people. Where did they come from? Later I did notice another entry into the beer garden from a carpark. Beer is the only alcoholic beverage served. Procedure is - buy ticket ( for 1L or 0.5 L), pick up your own stein, rinse at the fountain, queue to get beer- poured directly from the barrel. Food is available from stalls in the beer garden, or back inside the building. Amazing experience.

Walked a lot, over the hill tops, up to the castle, back and forth through the tunnel. We also managed to catch local buses to and from the station.

Innsbruck

Fabulous train trip from Salzburg to Innsbruck. We were getting into the mountains with lots of typical Austrian houses with such colourful flower boxes.

Found accommodation through tourist info centre at the train station, but sadly no wifi. ;-(. Great view of nearby mountains. Real, high mountains.

We wandered through the old town, shared a delicious meat platter for lunch. You'd love that Zac. 6 or 8 different types of 'speck'. Walked to the top of the clock tower to see great views over the town. Some highly decorated buildings, but the flower boxes are the most striking. Just sooooo beautiful.

Took the funicular up into the hills, but didn't continue on to the cable car as it was too late. We would have had to walk all the way down. Lots of amazing sights, but decided to strike out to a smaller village the following day, so we booked accommodation through a very helpful girl at the tourist information centre.

So day 2 in Innsbruck area we headed out of town on a local bus..... to Igls (pronounced Eagles), but only after a visit to the bank. Innsbruck will live in our memories as the place where the ATM swallowed Lex's card. Arrrrrgggghhh. Vision on the security camera will show one aggro Australian shouting at the machine. No, we didn't get the card back. Plan B.

Bus up higher into the mountains to Igls passed the Olympic Stadiums and the ski jump, as well as spectacular scenery. Definitely fels like 'Heidi' country. Took a cable car up higher, and walked along one of the many walking trails to take in some of the stunning scenery. What a privilege to be here. This is such a beautiful place.

We got off the cable car on the way down, walking around the bob sled track from past Olympic Games. It's in excellent condition and seems to be still in use.

We shared a self catered tapas style meal on the hotel patio watching rain clouds gather over the mountains.

 

Bregenz

Late afternoon train to Bregenz, gave us time for a walk to the lake in Igls, opportunity to check the bank again for lost card (;-( and enjoy another speck lunch. The 2hr train trip with spectacular scenery would have been more enjoyable if we had been able to pre-book accommodation. Everything seemed to be booked out. That's a worry. Tourist info centre wouldn't be open after 6pm. We were on our own! Plan B would be to continue on by train to .... somewhere else. Trains we have travelled on recently have power points and wifi, although it doesn't always work too well. Still wifi everywhere, even in the train station is something we have become used too.

iPad maps shows location of some hotels, so arriving in Bregenz, we headed off with direction and purpose, thankful for slightly lighter backpacks (some of us). Three rejections, where we were given little hope of finding a vacancy, before we struck it lucky. One room left, with beds for 4. Perfect. Why so busy? Another Summer Festival, but Bregenz is famous for Opera on the Lake performances. Huge events that last for a month, and only take place every 2 years.

Only a few hours here in Bregenz, we joined numerous others strolling around Lake Constance, looked in amazement at the stage area for the opera. Wow, wow, wow. I had looked these up on the Internet. Huge events, sold out well in advance. This was a bonus to see the stage, and to walk back later, after dark and glimpse the lit up performance and hear it. Spine tingling. "How lucky are we? " Has become a frequent saying this trip!

Anther lucky encounter was a conversation with a waitress at the restaurant about travel to Stuttgart, which she does frequently. Tip. Buy a family ticket. We have been buying senior tickets or group tickets when they are available. Unsure of the saving. But today it is significant. 43€ for 4 of us, on the slower train, which in fact is not much slower, but doesn't have power outlets or wifi, and has one more change. Price difference 218€ against 43€. Mmmm. Train is not bad either, similar seating, but this one has an upper deck. Great for the views.

Along the sides of railway lines, particularly near villages on the earlier part of the journey from Bregenz, we noticed lots and lots of little shacks and gardens. Not sure if people are using the railway land ( beside the tracks) for veggie gardens, or if they live there. Some look very comfortable, and definitely lived in. If so, seems like 'gypsy' style establishments, maybe a good use of land. Just don't know if they have services.

 

 

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Balkans tour - Hungary.

Beautiful, beautiful Budapest. 'You're gonna love it', Louise said. And we certainly did. Wow! Wow! Wow! We arrived in Budapest after a long, and anything but boring, train trip - our final destination for this Tucan Tour for us, and extended our stay by three more nights. Still not enough, we have left some things for another time, this is certainly a place to come back to. It seems destinations on this tour have been more and more impressive as we travelled along, not to say that we didn't like or enjoy Sofia, our starting point. We certainly did that too. Sad to be leaving, but the adventure for us continues in another direction.

The train trip....compartments for 6, perfect for our group. 10 hours. We were told a dining carriage was a 'maybe', not something to be relied on. So in something similar to pre-Xmas panic buying, we added significantly to our pack weights with an assortment of nutritious and not so nutritious treats. Way too much, but we ate and drank from Ljubliana to Budapest via Zagreb. Yep, back through Zagreb, and consequently out of Slovenia and into Croatia, then out of Croatia and into Hungary. Just the way it is this month, apparently.

There was a dining car, but it had no power so services were limited. Lucky we were well catered for, but they had alcoholic beverages. So we passed the time with a few drinks, and much merriment.

A unique transfer to the hotel followed our arrival at the station. Having a tour leader really makes this part of a trip stress free. She bought tickets, luckily as none of us had local currency ( forints... Around 200 to Aust dollar, so back to big numbers again). So a suburban train first, get off at the fourth stop ( train was quite crowded by this stage), follow the leader up and down through the station to a different platform and onto a small 2 carriage train/tram. Instructions this time.....' Spread out along the platform, and when it stops, get in quick. It only stops for 7 seconds. Push. Get off fast on the third stop.' Yikes!!

Our last night together, a farewell group dinner followed. We were in two minds about a tour following closely on our amazing camino journey, but it certainly didn't disappoint. We visited incredible places, met some wonderful new friends, laughed a lot and shared the adventure with family members, ensuring that this trip will be relived over and over again. So many highlights. We really didn't know much about Eastern Europe before this trip, and although we have learned a lot about the places we visited, we have both discovered a thirst to know more. It's like a tasting tour.

Beautiful Budapest.

Firstly, a confession. I carried an airline magazine from our flight to Sofia 4 weeks back, solely for an article about Budapest that I wanted to read, and a stunning photo of the Parliament - a site I really wanted to see, and something that symbolised Budapest to me. Sadly, I only read the article this morning, as we were about to leave. Oh well, next time.

We had 3 full days, walked a lot, and used the Hop On Hop Off bus tickets to advantage. Our ticket gave us 2 days ( extended to 2 and a half days) on two different bus routes taking in many of amazing sights and a boat trip along part of the Danube.

Architecture here is so impressive. There are so many stand outs, both inside and outside buildings, but my favourite places were the Parliament buildings, and the Fishermen's Bastion. Both have so much detail and are almost fairytale-like. Would love to see them lit up at night, maybe a different season next time.

We did a tour of the Labyrinth, under the hill near the Fishermen's Bastion. Brrrr, very, very cold deep down under the ground, and very creepy. Such a maze of tunnels and rooms, dimly lit, damp and cold. You could imagine what it would be like to be imprisoned down there. Apparently Dracula was..... For 10 years. Can't imagine anyone surviving that long in those conditions.

The opulence of the New York Cafe has to be seen to be believed. So stunningly grand! We enjoyed a superb coffee, just to be there.

Souvenirs here highlight local craftsmanship. The embroidery is incredible. All hand done apparently, although I cannot imagine doing all that embroidery by hand. Lou observed someone doing exactly that, so ..... Such big displays, and so, so beautiful.

We met some people from Hungary on the camino, so we had some tips.... Places to see, food and drinks try. Sorry Krisztina, we didn't get to the baths, for which Budapest is so famous. No swimsuit this trip, next time for sure.

Tried local food, beers and wines, but avoided the STRONG szilvapalinka Laszlo told us about - mmmm 40-50% alcohol might be a tad too much. At this moment, we are still to enjoy the wonderful gifts of the finest Hungarian wine and chocolates Laszlo left at our hotel for us. So sorry we weren't able to get together and share camino stories. Another time. Feel very blessed to have met such wonderful people.

 

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Balkans tour - Slovenia.

Train trip to Slovenia this morning. Exit and entry checks took place at the one train station.

Lovely Ljubljana. Such a pretty place, and a wonderful peaceful vibe. The centre part is pedestrian area, although you do need to watch out for cyclists. I think this is a place I could come back to. We didn't have any expectations of Slovenia, didn't know anything about the country at all, so it's a real surprise.

We did a tour of the city with a local guide, Martin - very knowledgeable. Ljubljana has been affected by 2 significant earthquakes, enabling significant reconstruction to take place. Importantly, it wasn't involved in conflicts - that's a huge advantage.

We visited a church in the city, large, but not outstanding from the outside, except the doors. Both were magnificent brass doors, with 3D sculptures. Martin pointed out elements of one of the doors - the history of the bible. The inside of the church is stunning - beautiful frescos and huge organs.... three of them!

Took the funicular up to the castle on the hill above Ljubljana. Great views.

Day 2 - bus trip out to Lake Bled. Again, beautiful scenery. A really peaceful place. The oldest castle in Slovenia sits high on a hill above the lake. Lots of steps. There's a small island in the middle of the lake, and a church on the island. Lots of things to do both on the water and around the lake.

Bled is famous for a particular style of cake, so we had to try that.

 

There's such an amazing outdoor eating/ drinking culture in Ljubljana. So many outdoor restaurants, and all really busy, even at 11pm. What a great place to spend Friday night.

 

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