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Published: July 16th 2008
Italy - Verona
The only thing I knew about Verona before I arrived there was that it was the setting for Shakespeares Romeo & Juliet. What I hadn't realised was that Verona was a very pretty location complete with its own version of the Colleseum and that I had landed right in the middle of the opera festival which was being held in the colleseum itself. I wasn't too keen on seeing an opera but given where I was decided to give Aida a go (I brought my Ipod with me just in case). The show was brilliant - not neccessarily for the music itself but rather the fact that it was an open air concert in the arena under a cear night sky and the stage and theatrics were brilliant while the sound was clearly audible no matter where you were seated. I never thiught that I would sit in the same spot for 4 hours watching opera but there you go ... and all for only 20 euro.
Italy - Venice
On the Monday I set about travelling to Venice but discovered in the morning that there was a train strike in Italy. Myself and a Dutch pal
Verona
Artists at workdecided to go to the station anyway and sure enough 4 out of every 5 trains appeared to be cancelled and the ones going were naturally full. We decided to play silly tourists and boarded the first one available - it worked a treat as the conducters weren't even inspecting tickets and we were in Venice by mid-day. I didn't intend staying overnight in Venice as I suspected that the place would be packed with tourists. It was and to be honest once you've seen St. Mark's square, the Rialto bridge and the inevitable half dozen canlals you've pretty much seen what Venice has to offer (unless of course you're into art galleries and museums), so I was quite glad to be leaving for Ljublana that evening.
Slovenia - Ljublana
At 2am the following morning myself and a few other English/Irish backpackers arrived in Ljublana and found the hostel we were all staying in quickly enough. It poured rain the following day but that was actually OK as I had sleep to catch up on. What a difference Ljublana was to Venice, it was as pretty if not prettier and very relaxed predominantly due to the fact that there
wasn't as many tourists there. I had actually been to Ljublana 20 years previously but to be honest I couldn't remember a single thing about the place - mind you I was only 5 at the time! I did the compulsory sight-seeing that evening and then went for a pint and 24 hours after arriving in Ljublana I got my first lock-in - result!!
The following day I headed to Lake Bled which is about 1 hour by train from Ljublana and after a quick dip in the lake shook off any cobwebs from the night before. Lake Bled was stunning and the weather was just about perfect so had a great day there. Had an early night and the following morning caught the train for the 4 hour journey to Salzburg in Austria.
Austria - Salzburg
The birthplace of Mozart and the setting for the Sound of Music was also v. niceand probably a better choice than Vienna as I didn't want a repeat of the claustrophobia of Vienna. One thing I have noticed is that the same back-packers keep cropping up everywhere you go and Salzburg was no exception. Spent a coupole of days there and
than made a day trip to Halstatt which is famous for its salt mines and beautiful scenery which was great. At 2am on Sunday 13th I boarded a train bound for Budapest and arrived there 7.5 hours later.
Hungary - Budapest
Spent a couple of days there although it did rain a wee bit - didn't stop me from visiting a spa though which was great. Ended up in a bar one night with some fellow back-pckers listening to Karaoke in Hungarian which was a hoot. Got another night train bound this time for Krakow but this time I actually booked a couchette (bed) on the train which was great as it was very comfortable and v. easy to meet people. Arrived in Krakow nice and fresh at 6.30am the following morning.
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