Ljubljana/Bled, Slovenia
I left Croatia on an overnight train in 35 degree heat and no air conditioning, so it was a sleepless journey to Slovenia. I arrived in Ljubljana early in the morning and spent the day wandering the city centre. Ljubljana is not a large city but it has a great vibe about it. Divided in the middle by the Ljubljanica River, cafes and bars line the rivers shore, and there’s a great cafe culture. One of the coolest spots I found in the city, was the old barracks that had been abandoned a number of years prior and had been taken over by street artists and ‘free loaders’ and is now just a collection of graffiti, artists and bars in the evening. Very cool.
I spent the following morning in Ljubljana before heading to Bled. I got off the bus at what I thought was the bus stop, but unfortunately I was a few kilometres downhill from where I needed to be. So I trekked uphill with my backpack and arrived exhausted. I stayed at a great hostel which was basically just a huge house, the best kind, very communal. The first night after dinner I headed out with a few people I’d met in the hostel. We took a few roadies and walked down to the lake where there was a ‘tightrope’ festival taking place, very strange to see, but entertaining. After an evening of watching others defy gravity, I decided to walk home as I had an early morning. I decided to try a different route home, unfortunately I got somewhat lost. However, I found myself outside a large ice rink with crowds of people outside, team buses and beer tents – handing out free beer. I walked up to the door trying to look as at home as possible, and no questions were asked by the doormen as I walked in and discovered it was in fact a professional Austria/Hungary/Slovenia league game. So I joined in the beer drinking and toured the facility until I felt my presence was no longer welcome and headed home.
I met 2 Irish guys (Brian and Dave) in the hostel and had arranged to spend the following day doing a white water rafting and sightseeing tour. So early in the morning we were up and in the car. We went to a series of spectacular spots. Touring through the Slovenian mountains, hiking up a few different mountains, swimming in icy cold emerald green water (8 degrees) and finally landing at our white water rafting spot.
The river was cold, but it was so inviting, the colour was unbelievable. We set off downstream and to be perfectly honest, after a day of canyoning, rafting seemed relatively tame. The most exciting bits were when we stopped the raft amongst the rocks, and either used the raft as a slide/diving board, or climbed up the cliffs and jumped at height. It was a fun afternoon though, and at the right time of year, the river gets to grade 5 maybe even 6 (if the scale goes that high?), but it was a solid 3 so more of a calm paddle down the river than an adrenaline pumping experience. After the rafting we piled into the car with a few beers and started the drive home. We all went out for dinner afterwards, and went to check out the Bled nightclub scene – not so huge. A long day, but a great day, full of laughs.
The following day Brian, Dave and I decided to check out what Bled had on offer, so we walked around the lake, and made our way to the toboggans. Kind of like the ones they have at Jamberoo but so much cooler, we went down twice, and I could have done it 100 more times and not been sick of it. In the evening we went out for dinner, pizza, for probably the 16th time in 6 days. We had a series of drinks again, and it was fairly late by the time I got to bed. I was supposed to be up at 7am for a bus that would take me to my train station, but unfortunately my watch alarm didn’t alarm me out of my sleep. Next train 8pm. So I went back to sleep. I went swimming in the lake and watched the clock tick by. In the afternoon I caught the bus to the station, and caught the train to Salzburg.
Salzburg/Vienna, Austria
I wandered through the streets at midnight in Salzburg trying to find my way to the hostel. I eventually made it and was standing at the check in counter when Alison and Sarah turned up out of the blue. I was supposed to meet them the following day, but they decided to continue their travels to Salzburg from Vienna a day early. So we shared stories, dinner and a beer before heading to bed.
The following day, I was the envy of every man, woman and child when I had the privilege of undertaking the ‘Sound of Music’ tour. We travelled from place to place, learning about where various scenes were shot etc. It wasn’t too bad, the scenery around Salzburg was quite spectacular. Mid-way through the trip the guide announced that the bar on the bus was now open. In unison, 13 men stood up (myself included) and made our way to the front to fight over the beers.
The following day wasn’t so feminine. We decided to give Austrian canyoning ago. We travelled into the wilderness with our free loving hippy guide and descended upon a pristine creek area with an enormous dam at one end that looked rather threatening. We made our way down the creek jumping off cliffs, and sliding down waterfalls. It was amazing. Working our way up to larger and larger cliffs. I kept asking for higher and more difficult, and he said it was coming. We made our way to a spot that was tall on both sides and very narrow at the bottom. We climbed to the top of the rocks and were told where we could land – and live. 11m, it was a little daunting but I jumped almost straight away. Sarah hesitated a little more, but she did it. Alison was a little worried that the area we had to clear beneath her, was too far for her little legs to make it. So after a brief hesitation she ran and over compensated. She landed about a foot short of the rock face and was none the wiser. All those looking on were a little nervous to say the least. It was pretty scary and the guide almost had a heart attack.
We made it out alive though, so we headed to Salzburg’s biggest beer garden to celebrate. We had a few beers outside until we were too cold and we returned to the hostel.
The following day we wandered the old town, visited Mozart’s house (and were kicked out for trying to look around without tickets), and wandered through the park where some of the Sound of Music scenes were filmed. In the afternoon we caught the bus to the Bavarian Alps to tour Hitler’s ‘Eagles Nest’. The location of the building is phenomenal, at the summit of one of the mountains, it overlook’s Austria, Switzerland and German Alps. The view was amazing, apparently it was visited only a handful of times by Hitler and hence it wasn’t significant enough to destroy, however the grandeur of the structure emphasised for me, the money and the power that he had – the building was a 50th birthday present. We returned to Salzburg in the evening and boarded a train to Vienna.
The weather in Vienna was less than impressive, but we thought we’d take our chances and hire bikes for the day. We rode around the city ducking in and out of shelter as the day went on and the rain fell down. We came across a large international food market that kept us entertained for a while. We perused the buildings, and tried to stay dry but without much luck. We ate Wiener Schnitzel and sampled some local beers in the evening before retiring.
Bratislava, Slovakia
The following day we boarded a train to Bratislava, Slovakia. We arrived in town and made our way to the hostel. We decided to do the walking tour of the city and find out a bit of information. Bratislava itself wasn’t the most exciting city I’ve been to by any means, the buildings were fairly bland, many built during the communist era, much of the old town was destroyed during WW2, but the walking tour was by far the most interesting I’ve experienced. The aussie guide had a double degree in history and law and he had everyone hanging onto every word. I think I learnt more in a 2 hour tour than I did in 6 years of history in high school.
We lapped up the cafe culture in Bratislava, we relaxed and I once again said farewell to Alison and Sarah and they headed back to Vienna to fly to Greece, and I boarded a train to Budapest.
Budapest, Hungary
I arrived in Budapest and checked into the hostel. Tiger Tim’s – very cool if you’re in the area. They organise outings with the whole hostel every night, every night except the first night I was there. So I took the time updating photos etc, my roommates thought I was a bit of a geek because I sat on the laptop for about 4 hours that night.
In the morning I headed out to do the free walking tour, I was early so I wandered the streets and enjoyed a traditional Hungarian Goulash and a beer before kicking off. The tour was interesting, but it rained, lightly at first and super hard towards the end, which was disappointing, and cold. We saw most of the cities sights in the tour, and I spent a bit of time prior and post tour to continue looking about. I met a few people on the walking tour from the hostel and we headed back to the hostel, had dinner and started pre-drinking. The whole hostel went out to a dingy bar nearby that was absolutely packed with travellers. It was a Monday night, and you can’t move inside this place it was so packed. It was a cheap messy evening. I remember beers being about $1AU which is about as cheap as you’ll find them in Europe. The bar was smoky and the music was triple M’s playlist from 2002, but it was unpretentious and the company was good. Everyone disappeared at different time during the night, but eventually I was the last man standing so I made the walk home.
Feeling less than gracious, I awoke at about 10am. With 2 English guys (Alex and Will) from the hostel, I walked to one of the famous Budapest thermal baths. The baths was a series of pools/spas at varying temperatures, from 16 degrees to 40 degrees, plus saunas and steam rooms that reached 100 degrees. We spent the day moving from pool to pool, relaxing and unhangovering. We spent a majority of the day in an outside pool sitting in the warmth, the cool rain falling on our heads – the best hangover cure. When the pool was closing and with skin like mushrooms we wandered home, went out for dinner and prepared for the next evening on the town. We headed out this time to a club that somewhat resembled a jungle. There was vines and flowers hanging from the ceiling, along with a variety of other bricka-brack mounted on the walls, floor and ceiling. Much more chilled vibe but more expensive.
Again I awoke in the morning feeling not so sharp. Unfortunately I had to check out. Our dorm room had 6 people, 4 of which had been staying for the 3 nights I was there, 1 had been there 2 nights, and the other was me. Everyone was relatively friendly with everyone, so we weren’t too concerned with keeping our stuff contained in a locker, or in our backpacks. I had stuff hanging from 3 different beds, I found shirts on top and beneath other peoples bags, I even found some of my things in the fridge. It took 1 and half painful hours to organise myself and finally have everything packed. It was a real struggle, and I think I learnt a few life lessons, temporarily. I’m sure I probably lost some things in Budapest, I haven’t worked out what yet though.
I had already missed 3 trains by the time I was ready to leave the hostel. I was almost out the door when an English guy chucked on a DVD of Summer Heights High, so I had to stick around for at least one episode. I’d missed 4 trains when I arrived at the train station. I had 20minutes to catch the next one, unfortunately it seemed they had the ‘Special Ed’ class controlling the ticket booths that day, and so I missed that train, and had to wait another hour and half. I caught train number 6, farewelled Hungary and headed back to Austria briefly in an attempt to get to the Czech Republic.
I arrived in Vienna hopeful of catching a bus or a train to Cesky Krumlov. Unfortunately it wasn’t as easy as I’d planned. I visited the train ticket office first, they said that the next train leaving for there, was a night train – it left at 2:30am and arrived at 5:00am. I argued with the man that this was in no way a night train, rather just an extremely inconveniently timed train. So I opted against that train. I thought I’d follow the Lonely Planet’s instructions and catch a bus, so I followed the handy map, which led me on a wild goose chase around Vienna. 2 separate bus stations were shown on the map, and I couldn’t find either, and when I asked various people, they told me that there was no bus station in either area. Awesome. So it was 9pm and I was getting a little frustrated that it had taken 3 hours to get that far. So I wandered back to the train station, bought tickets to the 6:00am train and checked into a hostel.
It was like death waking up at 5am, especially because I hadn’t had a decent sleep in a number of days. However it was going to be an easy journey. 5 hours, on 2 different trains, I could sleep on both. It didn’t turn out that way though. Half way through the 1st train leg the conductor woke me and started prattling on in German, I couldn’t understand a word but the hand gestures indicated I had to get off the train. So I got off and he pointed to a single train carriage with only a driver on board. I showed him my ticket, a single nod, and I climbed aboard. We drove one stop, maybe 3min, and the driver stopped, and said ‘boose’. ?? Excuse me ??’ Boose, boose’. Bus? ‘Yes, boose’. So I got off the train, walked around by myself and eventually found a bus, and hopped on hoping it was the right one. Luckily it was, and the journey was back on track. I arrived at the next station. I boarded yet another train and finally after 5 hours of non sleep, I arrived at Cesky Krumlov.
Cesky Krumlov/Prague, Czech Republic
Cesky Krumlov is a small town, they call it a mini Prague, and I think it’s a very fitting name. I stayed in a hostel nice and close to the edge of the old town, which was awesome, as it meant I didn’t have to walk too far. I crashed for a few hours in the room and explored the town in the afternoon. I was super excited by the bears they had in the mote outside the castle, so I sat and watched them go about the lives for quite some time. I took it easy in the evening, I was drained.
The old town is split by a winding running river, and part of the attraction of visiting Cesky Krumlov is the pub crawls that they offer – with a difference. A group of people from the hostel were driven upstream 4 or 5 km’s and let loose in a small inflatable raft, the idea is that you then bar hop down the river, stopping at several of the bars set up along the shore. It was dangerous, mixing alcohol with boats, especially when a flowing river is involved. As the day rolled on, people got more and more confident. The pinnacle of that being when myself and 2 other lads built up the courage to paddle our little raft off a 6 foot waterfall, because I had mentioned that I did a canoe course and had done it many times before (10% of which was true). We paddled hard and had quite an audience built up on a nearby bridge. As we neared the edge of the waterfall I could see the submerged rocks below arranged in an extremely hazardous manner. I saw my life flash before eyes, as we nosed over the edge. The front just escaped nose diving and digging in, and we landed safely and professionally. We continued paddling downstream without missing a beat to a plethora of applause. Dutch courage can make you do bizarre things. The day continued with more and more drinking before we made it home. We changed and all went out for dinner and partying. The rest of the night more or less blurs together, but I remember it fondly and so did everyone else, so that’s positive.
A number of the people (all except me and one other guy) at the hostel were from busabout, and they spoke flippantly about the ‘busabout bug’. I dismissed it as purely myth. The cold, poor diet, lack of sleep and constant inflow of alcohol may have contributed to my immune system failing me and I was hit with this so called ‘busabout bug’. Unfortunately it took longer than I’d like to admit to shake it. However, the morning after the raft crawl, I slept in, then walked about the town again before boarding a bus for Prague.
I checked into the hostel, inquired about a suitable place to eat. They directed me to a place that was an absolute gem. Huge pork knuckle served on a chopping board with several types of mustard, a starter and a beer = $8AU. I loved Prague straight away. They say Prague is a city where beer is cheaper than water. My bug sent me to bed early.
I woke in the morning and headed into town to check out some sights. I wandered the old town checking out the sights. I was lucky enough to catch the Astronomical Clock strike 12:00pm – wow, what an anti-climax. I wandered across the Charles Bridge and there was a small market going on, complete with miming clown, so I was entertained silently for as long as a miming clown can hold your attention. In the afternoon I visited the Salvador Dali exhibition before wandering back to the hostel. I was supposed to meet Diana and Monique at the hostel at about 3:00pm, unfortunately their flight was delayed and they didn’t get in till about 6:30. So we settled in and headed out to the same restaurant as the previous night. The girls were tired and the bug was draining me, so we called it a night early.
The following morning we all went for breakfast before heading into town, checking out some more of the sights, heading up to the Prague castle and then doing the free walking tour. After the tour we visited the Communism museum, got in some shopping and returned to the hostel. Again we headed out to the same restaurant then we headed to a couple bars/clubs in the evening. The first was one that was recommended to me, and it was a bar made entirely from junk yard scraps. Very interesting. I think we caught it on a bad night though, it was hardcore rave night, and we didn’t quite fit the demographic. So we headed to another bar in town that was recommended, however I don’t think we found the right place. this bar was a little more ‘risqué’ than I was used to, and again myself, Diana and Monique did not really fit the demographic – older married men. However we pushed on and drank the night away and had a number of laughs.
The following morning I had to checkout, I hate 10am checkout. I had breakfast with Diana and Monique before bidding them farewell and catching a train to Frankfurt. I checked into a hotel near the train station, and crashed. The following morning I went and saw the sights of Frankfurt (nothing) before I headed to the airport . I left 11 degree and rainy Germany and flew to Turkey where it was 28 and bitchin’!
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