What European holiday would be complete without visiting the biggest beer festival in the world? So we decided to make a day trip to Oktoberfest. Germany had a 4-day long weekend, and it felt like every German was there. Shoulder to shoulder mayhem. What was really cool is that the locals all get into the spirit and wear traditional dress. Hit the beer halls early at 10am and managed to nab a seat, which was lucky. Great festive atmosphere with people happily downing 1 litre steins, and every so often dancing on the benches and tables to the live band. Lined [View Full Entry]

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This blog is dedicated to my Mum who turns 65 today. Officially she can now change her occupation from "housewife" to "retired". Did a tour of Austria yonks ago, so wasn´t keen to re-do the major tourist sights. First stop was Vienna. Visited the Schloss Belvedere to admire some paintings from local dude Gustav Klimt among others. 2006 is the 250th anniversary of Mozart´s birth, so there are performances everywhere. We got some standing tickets to the opera "The Marriage of Figaro" for the bargain basement price of 2 Euro´s each. Then it was onto Salzburg. Really pretty town and easy [View Full Entry]

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Hungary is full of very grim-looking and abrupt people. However they are quite friendly if you make the effort to converse with them. Travelled to Eger (pronounced "A-gair") to sample some Hungarian wines. The tourist signs call the wine region the Valley of Nice Women, whereas the guidebooks refer to it as the Valley of Beautiful Women. I remember some guys telling me that any woman looks beautiful after you've had a few too many. The wine of choice is the Egri Bikaver, known as Bull's Blood, which is a dry full-bodied red wine. Hungarian food is a bit stodgy, but [View Full Entry]

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The beauty about Europe is you can race through a lot of countries in a short space of time. Slovakia is a neat little country which is a bit off the regular tourist trail. Spent a couple of nights in Stary Smokovec in the High Tatras Mountains. This area is riddled with hiking and cycling trails in the summer, which turn to ski trails in the winter; a paradise for the outdoorsy types. Only had one nice day during our stay, so did a 6-hour hike from Hrebienck (1285m) to Zbojnicka Chata (1960m). Totally awed by the rugged beauty and autumn [View Full Entry]

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Very long travel day to Bled Slovenia from Pula via Rovinj and Ljubljana. Totally rooted by the end of it. Bled has beautiful vistas of the Julian Alps with a funky old castle built in 1004 and quaint church in the middle of the lake. Bit of a tourist town, which turns into an alpine resort in the winter. Managed to do a walk around the lake, and through the nearby Vintgar Gorge. Locals are very house-proud with flowers in every windowsill. If you didn't know it you'd think you were in Switzerland. Plans to go onto Lake Bohinj and do [View Full Entry]

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I have to keep reminding myself that I'm still in Croatia and not Italy. Spent my last days exploring the Plitvice Lakes National Park which has stunning turquoise lakes and waterfalls. The guide book says this is the region where the war for independence began, and there are still landmines in the area. No hiking anywhere in Croatia unless on marked paths or without a local. Someone told me they send out some sheep just in case - mmm, mutton stew? Also made the most of the Adriatic Coast by chilling out in Pula on the Istrian Peninsula. Pula's very close [View Full Entry]

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Booked a 7-night cruise down the Dalmatian Coast with Busabout. The ship "Princess Tuna" was operated by Katarina Line. Itinerary was a round trip from Split and ventured to the islands of Hvar, Korcula, Brac, Sipan, Lopud, Scedro and Mljet; plus the mainland towns of Dubrovnik and Makarska. Not enough superlatives to describe the trip. For starters we had great weather every day, unlike the previous week's cruise where they had a bad storm and rough seas for 2 days and everyone got sick. Top crew, great company, and superb food. Every day we went to a beautiful secluded inlet for [View Full Entry]

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After much drama, I finally got to Dubrovnik Croatia. Had every intention of staying at the youth hostel, but got accosted in the laneway by a little old lady called "Mamma Maria" to stay in her house (known as "sobe"). Not a bad deal; got my own room with share bath, brekky and laundry for around $28 a night. She's got a great enterprise going. Up early in the morning to offer brekky to the people from the youth hostel, or corner more travellers like myself in the laneway. If that doesn't work it's down to the main bus station to [View Full Entry]

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Did a day-trip to Mostar in Bosnia & Herzegovina. Easiest border crossing ever, just had to flash your passport to the local police. There now exists a relative truce between the 3 ethnic groups - Croats (Catholics), Bosniaks (Muslim) and Serbians (Orthodox Christians). However there is a pseudo head of state from the European Union who has right of veto over any national matter. The Muslim-Croat forces had won back Mostar from the Serbs, however they could not decide who would lead the town. So started a bloody war in 1993 between previous brothers-in-arms. Mostar is a beautifu [View Full Entry]

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These are just some boring introspective thoughts between blog entries. I would have been away for almost 5 months this week. It's funny the things you take for granted, and the unexpected kindness from random strangers. Simple things like getting a haircut can end in tragedy, particularly if you are speaking in another language. I'm basically too un-co to cut my hair in front of the mirror, so have braved the local salons twice so far. A hairdresser here in Split kindly cut my fringe for me and refused to accept any payment, so I offered her some nectarines I'd bought [View Full Entry]

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