Reflections

GENERAL...

It's been quite a trip. We've covered thousands of miles across seven countries who between them use three alphabets, four currencies and six languages. All in seventeen days!

A journey like this is very intense; with a short time in each location you're under pressure to do and see everything. You have to forgive yourself for not doing even the essentials, or you'd run yourself ragged.

Up-to-date information about the place and its attractions is helpful. Our guidebooks were anything from four to fourteen years old, and once or twice we fell foul of changes to opening times and the like. We probably missed out on cool stuff too.

One area where we felt ill-prepared was with the public transport arrangements. Each country has a different system and each has its own way of selling tickets. Bus and metro maps were of variable quality and some seemed to assume some knowledge of the area; these are local systems for local people! Because we were always centrally based, we were mostly able to walk where we wanted to go, but it was something of a constraint. Taxis are pretty much the same all over, and we used them just twice. 

Speaking of transport, the inter-city services we used were very good, but it is prudent (sometimes essential) to reserve a seat. Unless you have a more developed sense of adventure, you should also book your hotels in advance!

...PARTICULAR

We like Athens, though having been there several times we feel we've "done" most of it. The city boasts a fantastic collection of ancient sites which are must-sees, though some are in a poor state.

The traffic is a nightmare, the pavements are an obstacle course and it's not as cheap as it used to be. It looks like the feral cats and dogs are making a comeback, as well. But the people are friendly and most speak English which makes the experience bearable. After a few days the alphabet starts to make sense and you don't feel so disorientated. October seems to be a good time to visit; warm but not too hot.

We didn't get to experience Thessaloniki as fully as we might have done. It's a busy, crowded city with traffic problems which are probably even worse than Athens'. The nightlife might be fun and there are plenty of archaeological sites if that floats your boat. But I doubt if we'll be returning.

We stayed at the Hotel Verginie, which is comfortable and reasonably well-positioned, though if ever we do return we might look for something a little closer to the centre. The wi-fi was not very reliable. Rather than raise the issue with the management, we did without.

We enjoyed Sofia and could have spent more time there. A long weekend would allow us to fit in some visits to the churches, galleries and museums which we only saw from the outside. Sofia is cheap, too. Beer and food are surprisingly reasonable. Foreign products such as clothes and grocery brands are no cheaper than at home, but the local equivalents seem perfectly adequate and much more reasonably priced. This will probably change when/if they join the Euro!

Many Bulgarians speak some English and a lot of the signs are bilingual, but the alphabet takes some getting used to. As with Greece, the pavements are in a shocking state. wheelchair users and those with pushchairs need not apply!

We stayed at the Hotel Maxim which is comfortable and sited about halfway between the stations and the downtown area. It has no lift; rooms are on the 1st and 2nd floor, no bother if you're fit and travelling light. The wi-fi worked well.  The immediate area around the hotel is a bit rough and ready - think Hackney - but we never felt threatened.

Something else that Bulgaria has in common with Greece is the lack of a smoking ban. Katerina (our landlady in Athens) tells us that a ban was in place in Greece, but it is largely ignored. If there ever was a ban in Bulgaria, nobody seems to know about it - these people love their fags. It serves to remind us what life was like in British pubs before they gave up smoking. How did we put up with it? 

The same goes for Romania, although some restaurants have non-smoking areas. Bucharest was a very interesting place and it deserves more attention than we could give it on this tour. It's a city in transition, worth visiting in its current rough-and-ready state.

Budapest is a more modern city with better pavements etc. than the cities we had visited up to that point. We found the geography and transport system a little confusing! We stayed in the Park Royal hotel, very close to the main station, perhaps a little too far from the essential tourist sights.

Vienna is a great place to visit. There is a large industry based on selling Mozart and Strauss-related tat, but there are also plenty of things to see and do. We intend to return, and do justice to all the museums we missed on this visit, and to sample a few more of the city's specialities. We stayed at the Pension Funfhaus, which is a basic hotel but perfectly adequate and in a good location.

Munich is more like London or Paris than the other cities on our trip. Again there are plenty of things to see and do in the city, and it's a base to visit the rest of Bavaria. We would love to see some of King Ludwig's castles - day trips are available and well priced. But we didn't have the time, this time. We stayed at the 1st Creative Hotel Elephant which was the most expensive we had stayed at, but very convenient for the station and the centre of town.

Overall, people have been very friendly and helpful, and wherever we've been it's usually been possible to find someone who speaks at least a little English. We feel guilty that we have failed to master any of the languages on our tour, even at basic tourist level. In our defence, we have spent as little as 30 hours in some countries. Next time, though, we will do our best to order our beers in the local lingo.

Here are some links which might be useful

The Fishermans' Bastion in Budapest
http://www.fishermansbastion.com/

All hotels were booked through
http://www.booking.com/

Free Sofia walking tour
http://www.freesofiatour.com/

The fount of all knowledge about international railways
http://www.seat61.com/

Where to buy the rail pass
http://www.raileurope.co.uk/Default.aspx?tabid=39

 

Four places, three countries, 48 hours

We are travelling from Vienna to Munich on Dec's birthday. Hoorah! The Journey is fast and smooth. No sign of any border crossing guards and the hour or so delay we have experienced elsewhere. Munich station is buzzing with travellers, shops and cafes. We quickly check in to our hotel which is five minutes from the station but on a quiet street.

Time to head for the old centre of town. We take our, by now, customary wrong turn and end up backtracking on ourselves but we are soon in the pedestrianised centre and on the look out for one of the city's famous beer kellers. We find ourselves sitting on a wooden bench examining a menu in German with the aid of a dictionary. It becomes clear after a few minutes that we really do need to see an English menu. Some of the dishes on offer appear to contain parts of animals such as lungs, not our cup of tea. The English version of the menu is much shorter with some of the more doubtful dishes being notable by their absence. So we choose sausage and mash with sauerkraut which Philippa decides is much nicer than she remembered, and currywurst with chips. Lovely!

Several of these is PLENTY.

As Dec is now an old man, after a few celebratory drinks, it's another early night.

Our aim on Wednesday was to get some fresh air and avoid the scrum of the shopping district. We headed for the Englischer Garden which is close to the city centre but covers an area larger than New York's Central Park. The weather improved as we walked around and the autumn colours were delightful in the weak sunshine. According to Wikipedia, there is a nudist area in the park but we didn't see it. What did come as a surprise though was the surfing, something not mentioned in Wikipedia.

Surfing in Munich?? Yes indeed. The Gardens contain a fast flowing, man made river called the Eisbach. Just below one of the bridges, the river has been formed into a wave which is now officially recognised as a surfing area for experienced surfers only. They queue up at the side of the river then take it in turns to jump in. Quite a surreal experience but very photogenic.

Sadly we were too early.

The Gardens, which were designed by an American born physicist, Sir Benjamin Thompson, also contain a Japanese tea house and a Chinese pagoda surrounded by a beer garden which can accommodate 7000 people.

We got to the halfway point where the Gardens are currently split by a busy ring road and decided that the northern half would have to wait for another day. It was time for some culture.

Close to the Garden is a group of museums known as the Pinakothek - in essence, one huge museum/gallery split over four buildings. We were heading for these when we spied another gallery in the same area, the Brandhorst. They were advertising a major Andy Warhol exhibition so we changed course to take it in.

The Brandhorst is home to a massive private collection of mostly 20th century American painters. One room contains an impressive sequence of paintings by Cy Twombly, depicting (in a very abstract way) the battle of Lepanto. They have a lot of Twombly's work; the rest of his stuff is less thrilling. Most pictures are "Untitled" and are of a style which gave rise to the phrase "my 4-year-old daughter could do that".

The Warhol stuff was interesting, though. Before his rise to fame as, well, a famous person, he designed and illustrated books, some of his own and some for other authors. To be honest they are not brilliant, though they are typical of their time. The exhibition also included a video comprising about forty 3-minute screen tests, silent black-and-white movies of the various habitues of Warhol's Factory, including Lou Reed and Dennis Hopper, both recently deceased. Three minutes is a long time to be staring at the camera, I'm sure it tells you something about the people in question. But what? As with most video installations, we gave it about five minutes and moved on.

To round off the day, we found another traditional Bavarian/Turkish restaurant for dinner and beers. After our grand tour of the Englischer Garten we were in no shape to stay out late!

 Our last morning in Munich was spent idly, with a big breakfast followed by a wander through the main shopping centre. This leads to Marienplatz where the church has a famous glockenspiel which chimes on the hour while some automatons enact a historic scene. We arrived just before noon and waited for the big moment, which took place about five minutes after every other clock in town had finished chiming. To our unsophisticated ears, the glockenspiel was either out of time or out of tune, or both. The animation was less impressive than we had been led to expect, so overall it was not quite the highlight of our visit.

We headed back to the hotel to pick up our bags then on to the station to catch the train to Paris via Mannheim.

Munich to Mannheim was uneventful; a comfortable trip, if a little crowded - 1st November is a holiday in religious parts of Europe including South Germany and France, so there were a lot of travellers.

Changing at Mannheim was interesting. The station was very busy, signs were inconspicuous and when we found the right platform, there was something of a scrum to board the Paris train. Thankfully we had reservations!

We arrive in Paris about 9pm, and we have a reservation for dinner at 10 with our good friend Frances who has an apartment in the 11th Arrondissement. It's a Kurdish restaurant and the food is not bad. Nor is the wine! It must be said we have become used to lower prices - Paris is way more expensive than, say, Bucharest.

After a restful night we packed our bags for the final time and headed for Gare du Nord and London. This is part of the journey we have done many times and we use the time to read and rest.

Arriving at St Pancras on a Friday evening, and crossing town to Victoria Coach station, serves to remind us how wise we were to move out of town and settle in Devizes! How we ever managed to live - and enjoy living - in such an absurdly busy and crowded environment is a mystery.

The coach to Devizes is also an old favourite. And the best part is arriving in New Park Street! It's 9pm, and with no food in the house we decide to round off our holiday with a traditional British dish from our favourite takeaway - Sweet and Sour Chicken with Egg Fried Rice. 

It's good to be back!