A train trip to Greece

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My brother and I have the tradition of going on a holiday together every year and also so this year. Our holidays are never the usual type of "stay at the beach, wake up late and have some good food" - no, we obviously both like a bit of uncertainty and discomfort. So, despite our Danish guide book saying that the only sensible way of getting to Greece is now by flying, we deceided to Greece on a Interrail ticket. Our inspiration was our trip in 2006 where we went on the Sibirian Railway from Moscow to Beijing which was a both fantastic and interesting trip.

I have always flown from England to Denmark when going on holiday but this time, I went to Harwich to catch the boat to Esbjerg. Although the sea was rough this night it certainly for me felt like a more like "the right way" of travelling. The DFDS ferry has different types of cabins and I got my own single cabin en-suite with TV. There are a few different restaurants on board and in the evening, a lady from a wildlife charity told about the whales and other animals living in the North Sea. So all in all is was a nice travel experience and definitely something I would like to do again.

My brother and I started our train trip from our hometown, Ølgod some 45 km north of Esbjerg. The train trip down to Greece was quite straight forward with a few short stops where we changed trains. Altogether we spent two nights and days on the train and changed train six times. We went though parts of Europe we have never been to before, such as Serbia and Macedonia (FYROM). Although our choice of route and ilternaty meant a few border crossing by night, it was only in Balkan that we had to show passport during the night.

Arriving in Greece we first went to Thessaloniki, the second city after Athens. It is a dynamic university city with lots of culture and night life (mainly dedicated the students). Thessaloniki has its share of museums and historic buildings and we saw many of the city's Byzantine churches and the White Tower, Thessaloniki's landmark. The Arch of Galerius, maybe the most significant ancient monument in Thessaloniki, was built in 305 AD.

Meteora in central Greece has one of the most stunning landscapes I have ever seen. For centeries it has been an important place for pilgrimage and today there is still many monasteries you can visit. We walked from monastery to monastery - all in all a long walk but it was a fantastic experience and well worth the sore feet the next day. As well as being well know for its great scenery far beyond Greece's borders, it is a religious and very meditative place.

Delphi was an important place already by the time of Alexander the Great. He came to see the oracle in Delphi to hear how he could achieve all his great plans. Much of the site is today ruins that make it difficult to imaging how it exactly looked like when it was built - with temples, arenas, market, theatre, stadium etc. Despite this it still shows the degree of sophistication the old Greek culture was capable off 2500 years ago.

Athens, the capital city, must have improved a lot the last 10 years. Before we went on the trip we were told not to expect too much of Athens because of its heavy trafic and generally lack of restoration. However, we found Athens very interesting and a lot nicer than we hoped. The Acropolis is the natural main attraction but has also many other interesting sites and buildings.

On the way back we stopped in Sofia in Bulgaria a few hours, enough to see the central city and a few attraction there. We went from there to Beograd in Serbia and changed trains for Vienna. From Vienna, my brother took the train heading for Hamburg and then Denmark. I took a bit different direction - Frankfurt am Main and then to Bruxelles. As the last part of my trip, I went on the EuroStar train to London, the first time I have been on that route.

Travel mission completed! From England to mainland Europe and by train all the way to Greece and back again without putting a foot in an airport! Fantastic ... and an travel experience so much better!!

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Photos

Leaving England
The ferry between Harwich in England and Esbjerg in Denmark.

Arriving in Esbjerg
The four big men wellcoming you to Denmark

Short break in Hamburg
Hamburg has a nice train station with good shopping opportunities.

Tasty wiener steak
The restaurant wagon on board the train from Vienna and Belgrad.

Beograd after dark
We only had a few hours in Belgrad but we would like to go back on day. It should be an interesting city.

Macedonia (FYROM)
The train went slowly though Macedonia. I got surprised by the beauty of the small south-eastern European country.

The Write Tower, Thessaloniki
The Write Tower has a dramatic past close connected to the Greek Nation's history. It is now a museum.

Arch of Galerius
Build by the Romans in the 4th Century, the Arch of Galerius has experienced many changed in Thessaloniki.

The landscape of Meteora
Meteora is famous for its monasteries build on rock pinnacles, the most fantastic landscape I have ever seen.

Meteora monastery
The first monasteries were primitive caves but the existing are all big and well-kept. The atmosphere at the monastries are very calming, a real refuge away from people's hectic life.

Temple of Apollo, Delphi
Ancient Delphi contained the Temple of Apollo as its most important building although it was probably not the site of the oracle.

Tholos, Delphi
The original aim of the Tholos is still not known, maybe it was a meeting place for meeting for important business men.

Parthenon, Acropolis
Parthenon is considered the most important building on Acropolis of Athens. It was dedicated to the city's patron goddess, Athena.

Temple of Olympian Zeus
Athens has ancient ruins of many great buildings but the one I got most fascinated by is the Temple of Zeus.

Tram in Sofia
The main shopping street in Sofia is called Vitosha Boulevard, very cosy street with its shops, restaurants and cafes - and the odd tram.

Sofia Central Train Station
The Central Train Station has an special atmosphere you only will experience in Eastern Europe because of their fantastic railway tradition. You can go everywhere from here.