Advertisement
Published: September 27th 2009
Edit Blog Post
From Zakopane in Poland I headed across to the Slovak side of the Tatra mountains and stayed in the very small town of Zdiar, just on the edge of the mountains. I spent a couple of days there doing some more (much more leisurely) walking. As with the Polish side I managed to avoid all forms of snakes, bears and avalanches, which was a good outcome. I stayed in a really nice hostel there with some great people who won me over upon arrival with chocolate pancakes. Also tried some Slovak food which seems to consist of a lot of meat and cabbage. There were some classic English translations on the menu of one of the local restaurants in Zdiar. My favourite was 'Chicken in the Hunting Way.' Not much on offer for vegetarians though - just three types of fried cheese. The third option was probably the most appealing for the vegos - Cheese fried with bacon.
After Zdiar I got the train down to Bratislava with Alana, one of the girls I met there. Aside from a certain man at the hostel, we had a great couple of nights there. This man jumped the queue and pushed in
front of us to use the internet, trimmed his excessively long nose hairs in the room in front of everyone wearing nothing but his towel, snored (hideously) all night and got up at 6am to sit and do origami. Who the hell makes origami on holiday? Or any time for that matter? Bastard! (He is henceforth known as the man-snoring-internet-stealing-nose-hair-trimming-origami-making bastard!) Anyway, Bratislava was really nice, although you can easily cover it in a day, especially given that the main attraction, Bratislava Castle, is closed for repairs. So after covering the Old Town and posing with all the weird and wonderful statues, we got a bus to the ruins of Devin Castle, about 20 minutes away.
As a day trip from Bratislava - given that it's only an hour away - I got the train over to Vienna. I had far too much fun there spotting all the Wiener-related places. It seems I am somewhat of an inspiration to the people of Vienna. They're named a newspaper after me, as well as a concert hall and various food outlets, amongst other things. Pity they spelled it wrong though! Vienna is a very pretty city and it would have been
nice to spend a bit longer there, but I'm running out of time to get down to Istanbul before meeting Katherine and Justin next week.
Next stop was Budapest - or Budapesht as the Hungarians say it. I stayed in Pest (Buda and Pest are separated by the Danube river) for four nights. It was a great place to spend a few days and is a city I highly recommend. Highlights include:
- A day spent at the Szechenyi baths (Hungary prides itself on its good-quality water), a massive place with stacks of indoor baths, ranging from 18-38 degrees, saunas and three large outdoor swimming pools. Plenty of characters there - a man who kept falling asleep in the middle of the pool only to find himself waking up in the middle of a whirlpool everytime they switched that setting on; some old-timers battling it out at chess mid-pool; and my favourite, the artist in speedos with his silky mullet and oversized belly, who spent far more time parading around than doing any paintings!
- A fantastic city tour with an extremely informative guide who wasn't afraid to criticise or state his opinion. He spoke a lot about the
corruption and other problems which Hungary faces.
- Great views over Budapest from the Castle District and beautiful sunsets from the fort overlooking the city.
- The only incident I encountered in Budapest involved a bit of a cat fight just near our hostel between two 30-something-year-old women who were hurling abuse - and bricks - at each other. Actually, I think only one brick was thrown, but there was plenty of Hungarian insults flying back and forth. Would have been interesting to know what they were yelling.
From Budapest I got an overnight train to Bucharest, with some beautiful Romanian scenery along the way. I was woken early by the cold, to find were were completely blanketed in fog. Every so often the fog would lift enough to see mountains, rivers, forests, little villages and a brilliant orange sunrise. Very nice train ride! My welcome to Bucharest wasn' t so spectacular, however. If you're thinking of going there I'd advise that you don't arrive by train, as the station and its surrounds are the 'the hood.' And not like the fun 'what's up in the hood' type hood. More like the 'who's getting mugged now' or 'who's being
eaten by a stray dog' type hood. (Apparently Bucharest has over 300,000 stray dogs.) Within five minutes of arriving I was accosted by about 100 people as I searched for the right bus to my hostel. One guy tried to convince me to go with his 'special' taxi driver friend, who would take me to a 'special' ATM, despite the fact that there were some just next to me with police offices near them. 'Oh no, they're not safe,' he told me. 'Don't even think about using them.'
The other notable character was a toothless man who proceeded to harrass me in Romanian for the benefit of his friends looking on, but at the end of every sentence would say in English, 'Thank you very much, I love you baby.' Not sure why I always attract such loonies! And every second person would come up to me and say, 'This area is too dangerous, you have to be careful. Don't go near the Roma (ethnic minority in Romania).' Probably about the only time in a month that I've felt uncomfortable being my myself.
Anyway, I eventually found the right bus and headed towards my hostel - ticketless because
I'd been too frustrated by everything else to sort out getting one. At the hostel I was greeted by the very friendly owner who told me that Romania is apparently the safest country in the world, based on a recent UN poll. Clearly not based on the welcome I just received!
Fortunately my impressions of Bucharest picked up once I reached the nicer areas and had a wander round. Bucharest is compared to Paris in terms of its architecture and design, and has lots of nice buildings and areas - some of them are quite rundown, however. The historical area of Bucharest is all very nice, filled with old buildings, restaurants, cafes and churches.
The biggest attraction in Bucharest is the second largest building in the world - The Palace of Parliament. It was built during the reign of communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, and is a monstrous example of the corruption of power. I did a tour of the building (making sure to obey all the rules, one of which was 'It is mandatory to remain clean') and in one hour we only managed to cover 4 per cent of it! Every centimetre is extravagent, from the masses
of marble to the furnishings, such as a crystal chandelier weighing 5 tonnes. All these materials were sourced from Romania, which is how the building got its ironic alternative name - Casa Poporului - The House of the People. From one of the balconies of the 12 storey building, you can see further examples of Ceausescu's excesses, such as B-dul Unirii, a street purposely designed to be 1 metre wider and slightly longer than Champs Elysees. To achieve all this Ceausescu had an entire suburb - including some of the prettiest parts of Bucharest - demolished to make way for his creation.
Anyway, enough of that. Tomorrow I'm getting an overnight bus down to Istanbul to meet the Turkletons, otherwise known as Katherine and Justin, who have been travelling around Turkey for two weeks. Should be joyous!
Ok, peace out
xo
Also, will post Budapest and Bucharest photos when I find a decent computer!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.055s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 8; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0324s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Yvette
non-member comment
How dare the man-snoring-internet-stealing-nose-hair-trimming-origami-making bastard upset you. Love the fight with the two women, must have been fun to watch, but you have to watch Hungarian women, they are known for their tempers!!!!!! (in-laws). photos are great as usual. love to you baby!!