THE BALTIC STATES
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| Fellow Jetsetters |
At the waterfront, people from Finland were arriving in boatloads to do their weekend shopping at bargain rates.Tallinn is just a short journey from Helsinki. The beer drinking starts about 9am (or "beer o'clock!) around town.
On the main square, We enjoyed "Worthy Elk Soup" and "Beloved Pies" but avoided traditional Estonian foods such as "Verivorst -a Sausage made from blood and wrapped in pig's intestines. Verilieb (blood bread) and verikakk (balls of blood rolled in flour and egg with bits of pig fat thrown in. (as described by Lonely Planet Guide page 59)
September 24th: We took a comfortable Eurolines bus and 4 hours later we were in Riga, Latvia. Riga also has a beautiful old town centre with buildings dating from the 13th century. The new town was full of
impressive Art Nouveau buildings built around the 19th and early 20th centuries. It seemed prosperous and people were much friendlier and more relaxed. They had demolished all the soviet era buildings in the old
city leaving just one hideous example which is now a museum housing an exhibition on recent Latvian history, including invasion by Nazi Germany and the subsequent Soviet occupation.
Our chosen abode was the "Dome Pearl" right in the middle of town, next door to an atmospheric old pub, the "Alus Seta", which fortunately for us served great food. You wouldn't starve in this place with its great "Shashlick and Sauerkraut" et al !! We followed the Lonely Planets recommended walk through the "Art Nouveau Quarter" which was spectacular and well preserved. This is what this city is famous for! Stopped for many Baltic beers, many tasty meals and just general pleasanttime-wasting watching the scene.
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| Riga -The Dome Pearl |
in Lithuania are not overly jolly. If you accidently stand in their way they bump you which can be disconcerting.
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| Main Street, Vilnius |
Naturally we really liked our all-too-brief 20 hours in Munich!! We are now BIG fans of AirBaltic.
THE BALKANS
October 10th: We flew on a Lufthansa Embraer 155 to Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina. We stayed at the really nice "Pension Kandilj" right in the Old City (or Stari Grad) Sarajevo itself was interesting and quite a surprise. The old town area was very Turkish, reflecting 400 years as part of the Ottoman Empire. The city is built in a beautiful river valley lined with high mountains that are covered in snow in winter. This was
the city that had hosted the 1984 Winter Olympics. In the northern winter of '84, after an earlier European trip, we had flown right over it on our return to Australia. It had all seemed so idyllic! However its more
recent history that has captured world attention....
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| Sarajevo Downtown |
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| 2 seconds to the start of the fireworks! |
We checked out numerous museums, bastions, citadels and synagogues. Drank at several wacky, zany, out-there Bars, especially the inspired "Zlatna Ribica" We ate non-stop cevapi and drank excellent Sarajevsko beer all over town. What was there not to like abour Sarajevo?
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| Zlatna Ribica |
on! We had to buy new tickets for$24. Travelled through spectacular mountainous countryside, arriving Mostar after 3 hours. Stayed at the comfortable downtown "Pansion Lumbrelle" Mostar had a lot of battle damage that is still visible with wrecks of buildings everywhere -even whole city blocks. The most famous damage was the bombing of the old bridge. Suleymann the Magnificent had this slender stone bridge built
over the river. It had stood for almost 500 years until it became a casualty of the war. It has since been rebuilt using UNESCO and European Union funding and is a beautiful recreation. You can see parts of the original at the bottom and sides of the river!
October 8th -searched for a "breakfast" finally settling on a near-ceramic ham+cheese "toasted" sandwich. Caught the 12.45 bus to Split, Croatia. Along the spectacular Dalmatian Coast, the bus spat Bev's Black
Wolf brand Wheelie Duffle Bag out of the luggage compartment and onto the coastal highway traffic at Markaska at approx 80 Km/H. The bag miraculously survived after tumbling along ithe busy road!! All respect to "Black Wolf" brand travel gear as the thing survived to last out the trip!!!
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| The "Riva" -in front of Diocletian's Joint |
gives it a wonderful colour especially at sunset. It is where the Roman Emporer Diocletian built a sumptuous palace in the 2nd century AD the remains of which can still be seen. It is a very relaxing place to be:
drinking beer and gazing out over the sea at the ferries to-ing and fro-ing from Italy. Climate is perfect !!
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| Split waterfront with International Gourmand |
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| Click on any photo -they will enlarge! |
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| Accomodation in Zagreb |
Caught the 13.00 EuroCity Express to Ljubljana (2 and a half hours)
EASTERN EUROPE
Slovenia is on the Euro, prices are up on Croatia and Bosnia but still very good value. Living standards appear high here, there are many upmarket shops, and the people are happy and friendly. We have spent a very pleasant three days here -having no difficulty fitting in with the local lifestyle.
October 18th. Caught the early morning InterCity Express to Budapest, Hungary. The journey was disrupted 3 hours from Budapest by countryside contaminated with a huge area affected by red toxic sludge.
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| The Rudas Bath-House in Budapest |
We visited the magnificent Gellert Hotel, "took the waters" at the historic Rudas hot springs bathouse, built by the Turks in the 16th century, visited the Synagogue (largest in Europe and second largest in the world), roamed the Opera House and quaffed doppios at Gerbaued's Coffeehouse
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| A Budapest Pub |
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| A Budapest Rail Station |
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| This joker was apparently deaf as a post -a bit like me |
CENTRAL EUROPE
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| Mediaeval food Fest |
Staying at comfy "Krumlov House" in the Old Town, our choice proved ideal. -picturesque converted bakery with medieaveal rooms sporting heated floors, nice friendly facilities and a casual, welcoming atmosphere. Toilet facilities are thankfully modern, probably the only thing in town that isn't ancient.
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| The River -click to enlarge |
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| Krumlov House in Cesky Krumlov |
We are not the first people to discover this place and are finding the time spent here very easy to take.
The whole town is an artistic treasurehouse with cobbled laneways, restaurants in cellars with barrel-vaulting from the sixteenth century, memorable food in adequate proportions, and a spectacular castle dominating the town (we climbed up the tower even tho' we had nothing to prove to anyone). Easy to relax here over a beer by the river
Eventually took a comfortable ("Student Agency") bus back to Prague and the afternoon train to Berlin (taking 4hrs50mins) Awkward links but easy to arrange. The Student Agency Bus had to be booked beforehand (news to us!)and it turned out that Cesky is actually easily reached from Linz in Austria. Hard to find this out when in Australia. but we managed alright.
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| A light local snack |
October 26th: In Berlin, we stayed at the new Meininger Hostel at Senefelder Platz near all the action of Prenzlauerberg and Alexander Platz in the northeast of the city -an excellent location, a comfortable
room. and a 10 metre walk to the U-Bahn entrance.
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| U2 to Pankow |
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| North Berlin Parkland |
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| South Berlin Graffiti |
Chris has spent quality time in the Berlin Technik Muzeum critically examining vintage steam locomotives' innards, while Bev has been to the hairdressers at Kollwitz for whole a new look. For a change of pace and style, we sampled the fare at local White Trash Fast Food Bar/Cafe in Senerfelderplatz, with Elvisburgers and Barbecued Chicken "western style".
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| Vietnamese snack |
For our last supper in Berlin we chose to lunch at the classy Wintergarten on the roof of the quality KadeWe department store in West Berlin. A big contrast! Generally we found we much prefer the ambience of Prenzlauerberg in the East, to the living style of the west side. One thing's for sure -this city always has something to do or see.
October 31st: After 4 hours on the high speed ICE express we are now back at gritty Frankfurt ready to fly back to Sydney. Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof makes Berlin Hbf seem as busy as a a country rail siding! Frankfurt works like clockwork as expected. Interestingly they are planning hitting long distance flyers with a 45 Euro punishment tax like Heathrow does. Makes you feel valued!Naturally we are looking forward to our upcoming 22 flight-time hours breathing recycled air in an hermetically - sealed aluminium cylinder with tiny windows
November 3rd: arrived home to commence the rest of our lives. Still bewildered that in the last 6 weeks, we have NOT had to drive a car at all to experience what we have done! We have had stress-free and enjoyable travel all the way! -How unlike our travels in back home!
Soon some of our selected travel photos will eventually be uploaded to Picasa (in the fullness of time)
