Interrail Trip Report – Brading to Bulgaria

[eastwestdivide]

Same here, but I wondering what the maximum age for interrailing is these days? IIRC it used to be 30, but that was a long time ago.

For the interrail ticket, no maximum age - in fact there's a Senior discount (over 60):
http://www.interrail.eu/interrail-passes/global-pass

 

[Comstock]

For the interrail ticket, no maximum age - in fact there's a Senior discount (over 60):
http://www.interrail.eu/interrail-passes/global-pass

Thanks. 18 years to the discount!

 

[Birdbrain]

Day 16 – Into Vienna
So we left things as when we had just got to sleep. I had managed to get a bit of sleep during the night but seemed to wake up most times that we stopped. I had a peek out of the curtains to the corridor and out of the window and noticed we were only at Villach so I tried to get back to sleep again. There was a man stood in the corridor which was a bit strange but our door was locked so I tired to get back to sleep again. This train was routed via Salzburg and as I woke up there was an announcement to say we were running around an hour late. Soon the attendant arrived with our tickets he had taken last night along with the complimentary breakfast we had ordered last night. This consisted of a hard bread roll, butter and cheese, biscuits and a hot drink. We folded up the lower two bunks on each side to make the compartment seats and the Austrian mother and daughter decided to stay up in their top bunks and have breakfast in bed.

We arrived at Sankt Pölten and the lady who hadn’t really talked all night decided to get off. Maybe this was closer to her home or something. As we spend towards the capital we continued to chat about the sights of Vienna and we were soon arriving at Meilding station where the Argentinian man got off to go and find his hostel. We rolled into Vienna HB about an hour late at 0900. We left the train and headed down onto the concourse. So our first Europe sleeper experience was over and it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. The stock was fairly modern with air conditioning, the staff were friendly with the free breakfast and the room mates were friendly. We decided that here we would buy a travelcard as I had heard that the transport system was good here so we headed down to the U-Bahn platforms and brought a 48 hour pass. We took line 1 south one stop to Keplerplatz where our hostel was located about 2 mins walk away from the metro station. We were staying at the Meininger Hostel Vienna HB. We left our bags in the luggage room as it was far too early to check into the room.

Luckily there was a lidl at Keplerplatz station so we headed inside and brought some snacks for the day and water. We headed down onto the U-Bahn again and took it into the centre of Vienna at Stephensplatz. The Vienna U-Bahn looked like the BR 1980’s system. There are two types of stock and you get a mixture on each U1-4 line. There is newer V stock which like this http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pXILmopYY...AAALI/nX2P0w3I8oA/s1600/vienna+metro_1200.jpg and then the older ‘U’ stock built in the 70’s like this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vienna_U-Bahn#/media/File:U1_Alte_Donau2.JPG . I have also attached some pictures of the signage ect which really did look like an old BR style.

When we arrived at Stepehenplatz we had a look around the cathederal while it was still early and quiet. It was impressive but I think we had been spoiled since we visited the Duomo in Milan. I brought a city map and we followed a walking route of sights within the ring which included the opera house, parliament buildings, city hall and museums. We ate some of our snacks whilst sat in the park watching trams go around the ring. We took U1 back to the hostel and checked into our room. We had a six bed room which consisted of two bunk beds and two single beds which we were able to bag. After locking up ect, we decided to try the tram network and walked to the Columbusplatz stop where we took line 0 the short distance to the HB. We changed here and boarded an older style tram like this http://www.tundria.com/trams/AUT/Photos/Vienna-Normal.jpg on line D which took us into the city and around the ring as far as Schwedenplatz. I would really recommend taking a tram around the ring as a great way to view all the cities impressive buildings. From here we went underground again and took U1 northbound to Praterson. From here we walked into the park which houses Vienna’s wheel. There was also some kind of funfair here and we stopped for an ice cream. There was also a narrow gauge park train called the Lilliputbahn which travelled around the park and was diesel hauled. We took U1 back to Stephensplatz and had a cheapish dinner in the most lavish Burger King you have ever seen.

Finally we headed back to the Hostel and met our Canadian room mate who was very excitable and a young couple from France.

 

[Birdbrain]

Day 17- Vienna Tourist
So last night’s sleep was almost as interesting as the sleeper train! The heat meant we had to have the window open which sadly meant we could hear everything outside. The hostel was located close to a men’s only club and I was woken up in the night to the sound of someone throwing up outside and talking about their evening’s pursuits! I then heard a staff member tell them to come inside ect and the noise stopped. Our excitable Canadian roommate was trying to get to Thailand by Bus by November for his flight home and he left early to catch a bus to Budapest. The French couple, surprisingly in their own beds now, woke up at around half eight and soon went out so we had the room to ourselves so we could have a shower and get ready in peace. This was almost good until the cleaner decided to come in and start work!

We headed out to Lidl and brought some yoghurts for breakfast which we ate before heading down to the U1 which we took to Karlsplatz where we changed onto U4 and took this as far as Schonbrunn. We followed the crowds until we reached the schloss. It was a huge mansion and you can get in and visit the grounds for free as we did. We followed the paths up to the Gloriette which gave great views over the city. You could even see the railway line heading east out of the city. We walked back down the hill and via U4 and U1 to get us back to Lidl at Keplerplatz where we brought our lunch. Next we took U1 to Tuabstummengasse and walked to the Belvedere Schloss, another impressive mansion, we walked through the grounds which brought us out at a tram stop so we took tram line 71 from Untres Belvedere to Burgring. From here we walked through into the city centre and had a look at Mozarts house. We brought a picnic dinner, cheese, bread and meats ect and then took line U1 to Donuisel which is located on an island between the new and old Danube rivers. We sat here and ate our picnic whilst watching the river cruise boats and there were plenty of people out swimming and enjoying the sun. After this we took line U1 all the way back to Keplerplatz where we arrived back at the hostel.
So the next day we leave for Slovenia. Vienna is great as a transport enthusiast. There is old stock on both the U bahn and the trams and a suburban network of rail which we didn’t have time to explore.

 

[Kristofferson]

Epic! Great read - the mountain railway looked stunning, and your time in Vienna sounds lovely

I can only imagine how much this would cost without the use of hostels, mind!

 

[Techniquest]

Proper hotels will have certainly bumped up the cost of a trip like this!

Vienna looks stunning, and the transport system looks more than worth a go. Better than the lot in New York it appears, although I need to visit myself to be sure. I think I have a new holiday to research...

*Heads off to Skyscanner*

 

[Birdbrain]

Thanks for all the comments. We did do it on a budget and when we get to the end I'll do a bit of a cost breakdown for anyone who might be planning a trip like thi next update will be Friday now, across the semmering bahn and into slovenia.

 

[Techniquest]

Sounds like the next part will not disappoint, I'm certainly looking forward to it. Getting ideas for trips from it all!

Certainly the cost summary will be useful for a budget planning purpose!

 

[Birdbrain]

Day 18 – Across Semmering to Slovenia
So the club next door was a lot quieter last night so we had a decent night’s sleep and woke up early to pack our bags and leave the hostel at 7.30am. The reason for this being that the railjet train we were catching either left at 0822 or 1222 so we opted for the 0822 departure (no peak restrictions on interrail). Sadly the lidl opposite was not yet open so we took line U1 northbound for the last time sampling the 1972 U stock once again to the HB. Here we found some overpriced breakfast items but there was nothing we could do as we had to catch the train. The train we were catching was the 0822 from Vienna to Villach where we would change for our destination Bled in Slovenia. We had already passed through Villach on the sleeper train but on that train we travelled to Vienna via Salzburg but this train would go via Semmering.

The Railjet trains are really smart. It is interesting how the Austrians chose to go with a loco hauled option. The standard coaches have the same seating as the GWR HST’s . There are several classes and the top class even have compartments. You can have a look inside by looking here. https://en.rail.cc/train-type-country/railjet/öbb-rj/54#rail . We were lucky to get a seat as we hadn’t reserved but managed to get one facing forwards but the view was slightly spoiled by the railjet branding across the window. We left Vienna and soon arrived at the start of the semmering bahn section.

Like Bernina, this is a UNESCO world heritage site due to its engineering marvel. Between Glongnitz and Semmering there are 16 viaducts and 15 tunnels in just 3 miles! The train snakes around the mountains as it climbs. There is quite a nice ariel video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KDOgilQPiY&nohtml5=False and a picture here https://www.flickr.com/photos/es64u...eXn-AQc921-A6Cw6E-FYehYw-CieLSS-Bh117H-A6CUhJ which gives you some idea. It was hard to take pictures from inside the train that do it justice! Even after the semmering section, the line is really pretty and after Kalgenfurt the train runs alongside a lake for the last section into Villach. We arrived here on time four and a half hours from Vienna and made the quick six minute connection. We left the train and found the EuroCity for Zagreb and boarded.

It was formed of only two coaches and an OBB loco which I thought was very strange for such a long distance journey for some. There was one air-con coach which we sat in and an older coach. As we left Villach the guard appeared and started shouting a load of Slovenian. All we could make out was the word “Jesenice”! After lots of shouting, most of the train got the idea that this train would terminate at Jesenice for a bus replacement to Ljubljana. One rather drunk man kept shouting Maribor, Maribor and the exchange was quite amuzing. We passed through the Karawanks Tunnel for five miles across the border and arrived in Jesenice where everyone got off. We followed the crowd and found coaches on the forecourt. Only problem was there was no signs/destination blinds and we couldn’t speak Slovenian. We went around pointing at the word Bled on our ticket which we had written on it and we boarded a coach and hoped for the best. The scenary on the coach journey was pretty amazing and about five minutes late we arrived at Lesce Bled. This was located quite a way out of town so we caught a local bus, which are more like coaches in Slovenia into the town. We walked up the hill in the main town to find our accommodation called the Jazz Hostel. http://www.jazzbled.com/en/ . We received a very warm welcome from the happiest man on the planet- Jani. He continued to tell us all about Bled and Slovenia and how amazing it all was and how he knew all the towns businessmen and gave us loads of cards with discounts. I would highly recommend this place, amazing value and such a good atmosphere. He had a spare family room so he upgraded us to this for no charge and we had a private room for the three nights we were staying!

We were fairly tired by now and we had decided to come to Bled because of watching other Interrail travelogues on youtube and the place just looked stunning. We had decided to have a ‘holiday within a holiday’. It made a nice change from going from city to city and bashing all the time. We walked down to the lake and had an evening stroll around it. In the middle is the Bled Island which is the only island in Slovenia. Once back in the town we went out for dinner in a place called Gostilia Murka which was fantastic. They had a special slow cooked meat on an outdoor grill which I had and my partner had a huge ‘dukes plate’ which had many meats and potatoes. We returned to our room and looked forward to a relaxing couple of days holiday within a holiday.

 

[Blindtraveler]

This all sounds fantastic, and whilst not something Id ever do its great and enjoyable reading
thanks for putting so much effort into it

 

[Birdbrain]

Day 19- Lake Bled
Today was a Sunday, and as we were in a small town in Slovenia, we decided to have a pretty relaxing day – no rail moves today! The sun was shining at it was very very hot. We had brought our own breakfast which we made in the huge kitchen. Jani had recommended a walking route for the best view in Bled so we took his advice and walked uphill towards the castle. Instead of going in we found the small path he had told us about and we were at the viewpoint, pictures attached. It really was stunning. We walked down the side of the hill through a forest path down to the lakeside and found a nice place to stop and have a swim.

The water here is so clear when you are in the water you can see the fish swimming by your feet. There is no current so it is pretty easy to swim and not drift away too far. We dried off and went in and out a few times before heading back into town for food. It was almost three already so we found the supermarket which was open 8-5 on a Sunday, result! We had a Börek which was like a filled pastry. We sat watching the tobbogan run which goes down the side of what is usually the ski run. We then had an ice cream before heading back to our room before evening meal.

As everything was getting so much cheaper than it was in Western Europe, we could afford to eat out again. I had some kind of pork, apple and porridge meal which was very tasty! We then headed back after a relaxing day.

 

[Birdbrain]

Day 20- Lake Bled and Vintgar Gorge
Another day being a tourist on our ‘holiday’ so one more day before more rail moves! We had a lay in for the first time in forever and didn’t wake up until 845! We had our breakfast cereal and juice and headed out on a 3km walk to the nearby village of Vintgar which is in the Triglev National Park. We followed the small road which was uphill and soon passed under the other railway line in Bled. Two days ago we had arrived at Lesce Bled station which is on the mainline between Villach, Jessenice, Ljubjlana and Zagreb. However the line we had found now was the other line that travelles between Jessince and Nova Gorica. This line was diesel hauled too but we did not see a train as the service is very infrequent.

After the long uphill walk we arrived at the Gorge. We paid just 4 euros to enter and walked through on the rickety wooden bridges. The gorge was made up of many pools and waterfalls with crystal clear water you could again see the fish. There are more pictures and information here so you can get an idea http://www.bled.si/en/what-to-see/natural-sights/the-vintgar-gorge
When you get to the end, there is a Viaduct which carries the railway line but again no train at the time of our visit. We left the gorge and by now there was a huge queue to get in so we were glad that we had come early. It would have become quite crowded on the small wooden bridges.

Once back in Bled we visited the Merkator supermarket for lunch and ate it in the park. After this we used one of Jani’s discounts and hired a boat so we could visit the Bled Island. You can get a boat across but these are quite touristic and expensive so we hired a boat and rowed ourselves across to the island. We moored our boat and spent some time looking around the small church on the island and even had a special ‘bellringer’ ice cream. We cast away on our boat, and half way back there was a huge rain shower which we couldn’t avoid! After giving the boat back the sun had reappeared so we went for one final swim in the lake before going back to our room for a shower and headed back out to dinner. Steak for me today, we were loving the cheaper prices here.

We had a very relaxing holiday within a holiday and were reenergised for the next part of the adventure. Bled was a stunning place and worth a visit. Next we would head to Ljubjana and then into Croatia.

 

[Birdbrain]

Day 21 – Ljubljana
We packed up our room and ate our cereals before leaving the hostel and saying goodbye to Jani who had been so good to us and every other guest we had spoken to over the last few days. We walked down into the bus station and were able to buy our bus tickets from a young lad who was like a mobile ticket seller at the bus station. We boarded the bus and took the short journey up to Lesce Bled station. Even on the mainline, there is an odd train schedule as there was a 0730 departure on an 1120 one which we decided to catch. I think a lot of people use the long distance bus services here as from Bled bus station they were very popular wheras when we arrived at the station it was fairly quiet. The train was a Slovenian EMU which looked fairly modern but was ridden with graffiti! It was a Desrio series 312 https://www.google.co.uk/#q=sloveni...EfY5nRKy9n49CsUwv7yUKE=&imgrc=iBWckTr3lKm72M:
The route was fairly scenic and followed the river sava at first through a wooded valley before the landscape opened up as we approached Ljubljana. The train stopped at every shack but no one got on or off. We arrived at the main station in Ljubljana which looked fairly run down at platform level but the main booking hall was fairly grand. I popped in here to ask if the train we planned to take to Zagreb needed a reservation which it didn’t. We walked the short 10 minute walk into the city centre and checked into the Hotel Emonec which was located right in the city centre. As things were a lot cheaper now we could afford to stay in cheaper hotels rather than hostels and still stay in my 20euro per person per night figure.

Ljubljana is a small city and therefore has no suburban rail, underground or tram network. The city is served by a network of buses however our free map looked as though everything was in walking distance so we didn’t buy a pass. First we located the nearest supermarket and ate another one of those tasty bureks sitting in the main square. We had a walk over the Triple bridge to the Dotto Train. We decided to take a ride on this up to the castle. The landrover had to work hard up the steep hill on the 15 minute ride up to the top. From here were fantastic 360 degree views over the whole city and surrounding area, pictures attached. Large parts of the castle were free to enter so we spent an hour or so up there looking around the various rooms and exhibitions. The dotto train arrived again to take us back down into the city center.

We had a look at the dragon bridge and the cathedral before walking to freedom square where the parliament buildings are and where people celebrated the end of the soviet union. Soon it was time for dinner again and we had found another one of the traditional Gostilia type restaurants similar to the one in Bled. All the waiting staff were in traditional dress and we sat outside in the sun while I took down a ‘Slovenian country feast’ as the dish was named, again more meat! We returned to the hotel and watched some strange Slovenian TV before bed.

 

[Birdbrain]

Day 22- Postojna.
Staying in a Hotel meant that today we were in for another Hotel Breakfast. There was a good selection for the price we paid inclusive with the room. Today we had planned to visit the Postojna cave system in the village of Postojna 30 miles south east of the city. However, I had found out that the line to Postojna was closed due to engineering works. Seeing how disorganised the replacement bus seemed to be, and the sporadic nature of the rail schedule we decided to travel there by local bus.

We walked up to the bus station and went into the ticket hall to buy our tickets. The man behind the counter offered us the chance to buy a combined ticket for bus travel, entry to the caves and a bus to a nearby castle and entry to the castle. We decided to go for it and quickly got the cash out as you couldn’t pay by card here. The clerk told us to wait in lane 11 so off we went. The bus arrived so we boarded and took two seats. The bus was wedged so before we left another bus pulled alongside and the driver shouted ‘postojna’ and pointed at the bus next to us. We got the idea that the bus would be duplicated so we joined some fellow English speakers who were also travelling to Postojna. We changed buses and were soon heading out of the city towards the motorway. The journey lasted around 40 minutes and soon we arrived at Postojna bus station.

The signs to the cave were very visable so it was easy to make this trip on your own rather than as part of an expensive tour. We walked the short distance to the cave complex. There was a huge queue at this point but luckily we aleady had our tickets so could walk straight past. You can’t just walk around the caves however, all visitors are allocated a tour time where you take the train deep into the caves. We were early so we first visited the Vivarium where you can see the endemic olm, the largest trogloditic (cave dwelling) amphibian in the world. After this we headed for our tour. You are first split into languages and then you head for the train.

The train takes you from the cave entrance to an area called the ‘mountain’ 5km in to the 24km cave system. You can see a video of this experience here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ak8aQqqBxo0 It is amazing as you speed underground and the head clearance is very minimal! You can see pictures of the train here https://www.google.co.uk/#q=postojna+cave+train&tbm=isch From here you go on the walking tour which is absolutely amazing, the size of the pillars are stunning and the whole scale of the thing you can only describe once you see it. You climb the mountain and can see hundreds of meters down whilst still being inside a cave! Next is the section down below called the beautiful paradise which sparkled. Next we were taken to the lowest point, 150m down where of course the lights were turned off so we could experience the eerie darkness. Finally we were shown the concert hall where there sometimes have concerts before taking the cave train back to the entrance. The whole thing is amazing and the train element is amazing too!

We had a quick bite to eat before taking the free coach service to Predjama castle, pictures attached. Set 123 meters into a rocky cliff I have never seen anything like it. The castle is completely sealed into the side of the cliff making it very difficult to attack. We had a free audio guide included which took us from room to room and the highlight was the secret castle within a castle located in the cliff which had a secret passage out so the inhabitants could get their supplies whilst under siege. I’m no historian but the whole thing was so interesting. After this we took the free bus back to the caves and spent a while looking at the museum where there was some old locos and some interesting history of the caves and its railway system.

After an amazing day out we returned to Postojna bus station and boarded a coach back to Ljubljana. We ate in the Gostilina again and reflected on what an amazing time we had in Solvenia over the last five days. We would be sad to leave but would recommend anyone to visit, it is really a beautiful country and everything is very cheap. Tomorrow we would head to Zagreb in Croatia and that update will come tomorrow. Hope you’ve all enjoyed and congratulations for sticking with me this far! Only 10 days left!

 

[30907]

Thanks for the update. If you ever go back to Bled, though, don't miss the "other line" at Bled Jezero station, which is the spectacular Transalpina to Nova Gorica and Sezana (and eventually Ljubljana), complete with motorail service through a long tunnel and a regular route for steam specials. Best NOT done on a damp April day as we did though.

Some recent photos (scroll well down) on this post.

http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?p=2524264#post2524264

 

[Birdbrain]

Day 23 – to Zagreb
We awoke early at 650 in order to get breakfast and out before our train to Zagreb. Like the previous section of line there was a strange odd clustered schedule of trains that actually went over the border into Croatia which meant we were forced into quite an early departure. We enjoyed the hotel breakfast one more time before collecting our rucksacks and making the ten minute walk to the station. We quickly found the platform and headed under the subway to the platform. Like I mentioned earlier the station here seems quite run down and quiet although that might be explained by the engineering works that were happening. Soon the train arrived. It was the EuroNight 415, the 2040 deptature the previous night from Zurich going through to Belgrade. It was formed of an OBB loco with an aircon eurocity seated carriage at the front and lots of sleeping coaches to the rear. We found some unreserved seats and settled down for the two hour journey.

It was a very scenic ride following the Sava river through the Slovenia until we reached the border station at Dobova. Here we encountered our first border and passport check since Harwich! Other people in our coach were asked lots of questions like where are you staying and for how long ect but a flash of our UK passports was all that was needed for us! We saw two people ejected from the train for further questioning. The Croatian police looked a lot tougher than the Slovenians! We had become late as this border stop took longer than expected and soon the new loco was attached – pictures attached too! We arrived at Zagreb just after eleven and watched as the sleeping coaches were detached and shunted away and some seated coaches added for the onward journey to Belgrade. We left the platform and went to the ticket office to buy our reservations for the next leg of the trip to Budapest. The cost for two reservations was 50 kuna which we thought was expensive but when we checked was only about £5! We crossed the street to find the tram stop but couldn’t find any TVMs. Thinking this was strange we asked someone who told us that no one buys tickets anyway but if we really wanted to we had to visit a kiosk. We did and paid the small fee for the ride to the main Ban Jelic square. We didn’t realise buy this point we needed to validate the tickets inside the tram but there is a whole story attached to that later on! We checked into the Hostel Breuru and had booked a private room here for a reasonable rate.

Keen to explore the city we picked up a free walking tour map and headed off. Zagreb is a very historic city with lots of points of interest including a very efficiant tram system and funiciular which we said we would explore tomorrow and buy a day pass. We followed the walking tour to the upper town and visited the cathedreal, the dolac market, and other interesting streets before reaching the top of the funiciular with great views over the city. We visited Marshall Titos square and some more museums before going back to the hostel to get setelled into our room. For dinner, trip advisor had recommended a place called la Struka. We arrived to find a small passage from the main street which led to a courtyard lit with tea lights. The only food on the menu was a Strukli, a traditional Zagreb dish which was similar to a lasagne. We had the special edition involving caremlised onion and paid less than £5 for two including a cup of tea each which we had to explain to the waitress how to make for us! We had enjoyed our first day in Zagreb and were keen to explore more of the city tomorrow.

 

[Birdbrain]

Day 24- Around Zagreb City
We enjoyed a small lay in and didn’t leave the hostel until around 10. There was no breakfast provided here so we headed over to a small bakery and ate a chocolate croissant which was so chocolaty that my partner spilt it all over her top so we headed back to the hostel for a change of clothes. While we were there we decided to make use of the Hostel’s washing service and paid 20 kuna to have all of our clothes washed. We were beginning to smell as we hadn’t done any washing since we left! We left our stinky clothes with the hostel and headed out to Ban Jelic square to find a Kiosk to buy our travelcard passes. We were told we didn’t have to validate the all day passes which was a relief. We headed to our first move which was the Funicular railway. With only 66 meters of track it is one of the shortest and steepest funilciars in the world. We took the trip up to the top station and paid 25 kunas (£2.30!) to visit the museum of broken relationships.

This was a very strange experience as it featured artifacts such as toys, teddies, clothing and anything really with a description of how that item played a part in breaking up the relationship. It was very strange as some were hilarious and some were genuinely quite sad. We headed back down the funicular and visited the Billa supermarket for a picnic which we intended to take to the Lake Jarun to eat. We returned to Ban Jelic square and boarded a tram bound for Jarun. There are eight types of tram in Zagreb with 190 units in service per day.There are newer ones like this pictures at Ban Jelic square http://www.expatincroatia.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/zagreb-tram1.jpg and older one like this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trams_in_Zagreb#/media/File:KT4_Zagreb.jpg . You can read all about them here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trams_in_Zagreb. We of course sampled all the types during this day. So we headed down tram line 17 to Jarun stop and walked the short distance to the lake to eat our lunch. This was a man made lake made for the residents of the city and features a rowing area and many outdoor sports. After a short walk we returned to the Jarun tram stop and took an old tram on route 5 all the way across the city to Maxismir park. A really interesting ride took us through some interesting parts of the city.

At Maxismir park we had a short walk and found Zagreb Zoo. As it was only 30 Kuna (£2.90) to get in we gave it a go. Not expecting much for a small eastern European zoo we were pleasantly surprised. The enclosures were large and there were a huge display of animals to view. We spent nearly 4 hours looking round so it was now 8pm! We took tram 4 a few stops to Kvaternikov Tag where there was a mcdonalds! We both had some kind of special burger and sat outside watching the trams go by as this square was quite a busy junction. We took tram 4 back to Ban Jelic Square and visited the Billa Supermarket to try and part with the last of our Croatian cash on supplies for our long journey to Budapest tomorrow. When we arrived at the hostel our clothes had been washed and they smelt like heaven!

 

[Techniquest]

Wow. Just wow. Some of that scenery is just stunning, and I've become incredibly green with envy at the highlights of your trip so far. You've certainly been to some wonderful places!

Surprised it took that long to get a border check mind!

I'm assuming, by your write-up so far, that you've not had too many issues with language barriers?

Some excellent reads so far, oh how I would love to go to some of these places!

 

[FQ]

Some of those views are just fantastic! One of the shots reminded me of a temperate rainforest that I was walking through when in America in 2014 too!

 

[Birdbrain]

Sorry for the lack of updates, back at work now! Should get the next part written up on Thursday or Friday.

 

[Techniquest]

Looking forward to the next part, I was thinking about this trip report this morning. Pesky work gets in the way of everything!

 

[Birdbrain]

All best intentions seem to have gone to pot! However I have a week off next week so I am planning on getting the last week of the trip uploaded. First we'll head from Zagreb to Budapest then onto Belgrade and Sofia. Sorry for the gap!

 

[Techniquest]

Excellent to hear it's on the way Real life has an annoying tendancy to proper get in the way of fun sometimes.

Bring on the read, but equally make sure to enjoy some time off doing whatever you enjoy doing on your week off too!

 

[Birdbrain]

Day 25 – Zagreb to Budapest
So we woke up around 8am and for the first time in over three weeks had a whole selection of clean clothes to choose from! We packed up our room and sat at our table to eat our breakfast we had brought the night before. This consisted of a pingu juice drink?! And a cereal bar each. We also discovered that yesterday my girlfriend had managed to aquire a whopping six insect bites – ouch! We left the hostel and headed back towards Ban Jelic square where we would take the tram back to Glavni kolodvor station. We stopped off at the Billa supermarket to get rid of the last of the Kuna cash that we still had and brought some snacks and yet more bottled water. At Ban Jelic square we headed to the kiosk as before and brought two single tickets and knew now that we needed to validate them on board the tram unlike the day passes we had the day before that were already validated. So we boarded the rear of the tram as it looked the least croweded and tried to work out how to validate the tickets. We tried to swipe them, hold them on the validator and nothing seemed to work. Suddenly all the validators turned to red and two plain clothes RPI’s started to grip from the front of the tram. So much for the not to bother to buy a ticket like we were told when we arrived! So the RPI’s were gripping from the front of the tram and we were at the rear with a ticket that had not been validated. It was a tense scenario for the next few minutes until we arrived at the next stop! In a panic we lept off and luckily the RPI’s didn’t! We boarded the next tram behind us and boarded at the front which seemed to contain the validator, the other machines were just for reading apparently! We validated out tickets and got off at the station a couple of minutes later and who was waiting on the platform, yes the RPI’s! They boarded the train we alighted from and we were at the station after that bit of drama.

We found the platform for the 1008 to Budapest Deli and the stock was already in the platform. We boarded and found our reserved seats in an ex 1st class a/c compartment. The train was mostly formed of MAV Hungarian stock. We left bang on time and were speeding out of Zagreb towards to the border. The tickets were inspected soon after leaving and around an hour into the trip we arrived at the Croatian side of the border at Koprivnica. After the usual checks had taken place, we passed the service going the other way and trundled across a river to the Hungarian border check at Gyékényes. This one lasted around half an hour although again they didn’t seem to bother about us as we had EU passports, others in our compartment were getting stamps. There was a diesel loco stabled in the yard here with a couple of coaches, maybe there is a diesel hauled line around here? After half an hour some more MAV coaches were added and we were on our way again ablit at a much slower speed. By now it was around 1230 and we ate our lunch of creation pastries! The most interesting parts of the journey was the trip around Lake Balaton which is the largest lake in Central Europe. It looked like a good place to stop and explore with plenty of loco hauled services passing us up and down the line. After this were heading for Budapest and passed some loco sheds pictured. After a long but interesting journey we were soon skirting the suburbs at passes Kelenfold station around 1615 and arrived at Budapest Deli at around 1630.

Deli station is fairly small and it looked as though not many long distance services leave from here. The concourse was fairly deserted too! I had booked us into a Hotel right outside Keleti station as I had originally planned to take the later service which arrived there so now we had to take the metro across town. We brought a 72 hour travelcard for 4150ft which is around £10-bargain! We took line M2 across town and after around 10 minutes had arrived at Keleti station. As we rose up from the subway this was the first time we had become aware about the migrant crisis. We had not really read the news since we had been away and we didn’t understand what was happening, maybe there is some kind of special event on or something I originally thought. On the concourse outside Keleti were literally hundreds of people who had set up camps, washing was being dried on the handrails and children were playing, it was a really sorry sight. We crossed the road and checked into the Hotel Hugaria, the largest in Hungary. The room was a fair size with a nice bathroom and TV, we had paid £100 for three nights here. My girlfriend had a shower whilst I read about the migrants and it described about the border problems with Serbia which I decided would be OK for us as we were going against the flow as it were. We headed out in the evening and took the bus into pest. The buses system here is fantastic, more on that in the next post. We found a nice restaurant down a side street and had a three course set menu! We returned to the hotel later in the evening after a quick stop in tesco to buy milk and cereal for the morning, luckily there was a fridge in the room! We were really looking forward to exploring Budapest properly tomorrow

 

[Birdbrain]

Day 26 – Budapest
We woke up and had a lesiurly breakfast at the table in our room with the tesco provisions from the night before. The location of the hotel was so convenient for the station and the bus into town but the noise of sirens all night was quite annoying! We had decided today to visit the rack railway and children’s railway after reading about it online the night before. It was only open on certain days so this seemed perfect. So we took a bus down a few stops to Blaha Lujza ter which is a main crossroads in this part of the city. From here we took tram 4 all the way across the city and across the danube to Szell Kalman Ter which was a major transport interchange on the other side of the city. There was a big renovation going on here so it was a bit difficult to find the next tram number 61 which took us a few stops to the bottom of the rack railway.

The rack railway is designated as tram line 60 so normal travelpasses can be used. The railway is of course very steep and provided good views of the city as we headed up into the Buda hills. We soon arrived at the terminus at Szechenyihegy and walked the short signposted walk across to the children’s railway terminus. This is where the surreal experience started. We walked into the ticket office and were sold a ticket by a small Hungarian child who could speak perfect English! He asked us weather we wanted a single or a return. The diesel hauled narrow gauge line is fully operated by children aged 10-14 apart from the loco drivers themselves and owned by state railways MAV. It is the largest children’s railway in the world. We boarded one of the open carriages for the scenic ride. The 10 year old guard gave the driver the green flag and we were on our way. Soon after departure our guard clipped our ticket. At every intermediate station on the 11km line the station children gave the train a saluate on departure. The loco’s themselves were very loud and I took many videos of the sound effects being produced. It was a bizarre experience but fair play to the children for being able to operate the busy line. We passed the other train and many people alighted at one of the stations to take a chairlift to the top of the hill. We stayed on board and alighted at the end of the line Huvosvolgy which is also the base of operations. We had a quick look around the children’s railway museum which contained many artefacts from the communist era when the railway was built. Luckily many displays had English text with them so we were able to read about the children’s jobs and a typical day for a worker on the railway (picture attached). After this experience we left the station and found the main Huvosvolgy transport interchange and took tram 61 all the way back to Szell Kalaman Ter and then Tram 4 across back into pest. We walked down the main street in pest and found a quick lunch stop and brought a baguette and ate it down by the river. The sun was out by this point in the day so we walked across the famous chain bridge and back. We continued along the river and walked around the impressive parliament buildings and a museum about the Hungarian revolution which was chilling to say the least. We then had a look around the Basilica which was very grand inside. Tripadvisor then directed me towards a burger restaurant which was very tasty indeed! We walked across one of the other bridges at sunset before taking a bus back to Keleti. We were glad we booked longer here as we were yet to look around the buda historic part of the city.

 

[Birdbrain]

Day 27 – Budapest
After a less disturbed night we woke and enjoyed our tesco breakfast once more. We first headed to Keleti station to buy some reservations for tomorrow’s trip to Belgrade. The Europe rail planners had told me that reservations were compulsory for this service we we took a number from the international ticket counter and waited. And waited and waited. We must have been there for at least 45 minutes keeping a constant eye on our personal belongings as there were some interesting characters about! Finally we were called to the window to be told that we did not need to make a reservation and it was not even possible! What a waste of time! Keen to finally get on with the day we took a bus to Blaha Luzja ter and brought some lunch from a local supermarket. We continued by bus across the river and then took tram 41 along the banks of the river to the base of the funicular and castle hill. We sat here and enjoyed our lunch whilst admiring the views across the river to pest and the parliament buildings. We had originally planned to take the funicular up castle hill but the queue was so long and we had already wasted time at the station we chose to hope on a tiny ikrus bodied bus on route 16 which took us right up to the funicular’s top station. We alighted in a cobbled street and walked around the castle area. There were amazing views across the city. We then viewed the changing of the guard ceremony with some interesting drum playing. We walked across the hill to the fisherman’s bastion and Mathias Church. We brought some tickets to go inside and were not disappointed by the amazing architecture and beautiful decorations inside. Part of the tour included a trip to the top parts of the church with again amazing views. We then took a 16a bus back down the hill through the one way system to the bottom of castle hill then onto tram 41 back to the bridge and the last bus up to Keleti station where we headed back to the hotel.

As it was such a hot day we decided to try out one of Budapest’s thermal baths. We sorted out our bags and left all our belongings in the safe in the hotel, we didn’t trust the changing rooms! We walked to the bus station next to Keleti station and took bus route 30 to a road near the part where the Szchenchcy Spa is located. This route is served by very old Ikurus bodies trolleybuses which was hellfire! The variety in the transport system in Budapest is amazing and I would recommend any enthusiast to visit here as well as Vienna! We alighted and walked through the park to the spa. As it was late in the day now it was less busy and we got a discounted rate for entry. This is the largest in the city and features 15 indoor pools and 3 outdoor pools. We spent a few hours here sampling the different temperatures and even spent 30 seconds in the sauna before it became too much for me! After we had finished here we took the historic Metro line 1 from Schenzi Furdo to the terminus at Vorosmarty Ter in the city centre. This line is the second oldest metro line in the world behind the London Underground. This line does feel old though with stations restored and fairly old rolling stock .https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_1_(Budapest_Metro)#/media/File:Underground_Budapest_M1.jpg
From here we decided to back and eat at the same place as the first night and enjoyed three different courses. We then went back to the supermarket to buy provisions for the longest journey of all the next day! We were sad to leave Budapest as it had so much in a destination to visit both as an enthusiast and otherwise. Next post will be Monday for the trip into Serbia.

 

[D841 Roebuck]

Just found this thread.

Its a most interesting and enjoyable read, encompassing (for me) nostalgia for places like Bruges and Bern which I have visited, and great interest in places like Venice and particularly Slovenia, which I haven't.

Looking forward to the rest when you get a chance to post it.

 

[Techniquest]

3 amazing reads, made lots of mental notes for a potential holiday!

Some excellent photos too, helped to visualise the trip!

 

[Birdbrain]

Day 28 – To Serbia
So we woke up around 8am and finished off our makeshift breakfast items in our room with a view. We relaxed for a bit and checked out in time for the short walk across to Keleti Station. The train we would be taking is named the ‘Ivo Andric’ and leaves at 1005 arriving at Belgrade at 1802. This is reputed to be one of the slowest connections between neighbouring capital cities in Europe and we were about to experience the slow pace first hand! We arrived the station at 945 and took up position flat against the wall in front of the departure board. The train was on the board but no platform. Time passed and still no train and we were beginning to get worried. We almost thought we were back at Kings Cross when at 1002 the platform was given and there was a surge towards the platform. The train was formed of two Serbian second class open carriages at the front and then five or so Mk1 style Hungarian coaches behind. On the opposite platform was a migrant train which was given the road ahead of us and we departed around ten minutes late. This is was the carriage looked like inside https://blog.rail.cc/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/zs-serbian-second-class-carriage.jpg It smelt of smoke and the toilets would not lock! Also if you take this train there is no catering available, luckily we had brought our own supplies. After trundling through the Budapest suburbs, the train crosses the great Hungarian plains with scenery that looks like this for miles and miles and miles https://blog.rail.cc/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/through-the-great-hungarian-plain.jpg . Finally at around 1pm we had arrived at the Hungarian border point at Kelebia and were about to leave Schengen for the first time on the trip. The Hungarian authorities took around half an hour to do their check on the two carriages whilst a loco appeared to detach the older Hungarian coaches on the rear of the train. The loco on the front of our section was replaced and we were pulled the short five minute ride across the border to stop just short of the platform at the Serbian town of Subotica. We were held here for another half an hour while the Serbians did their border check and we were given a passport stamp, although it was unreadable in the Cyrillic alphabet. So around an hour and 15 minutes since we arrived at the border we were moved the short distance into the platform at Subotica for local passengers to board. However no more local coaches were added so we would go forward with just the two coaches. Departure from Subotica was at 1430 and we then proceeded across the Serbian plains at a very very painfully slow speed. I had a look on my phone’s GPS and it said we were doing around 22mph! A nice touch was that at Subotica the tourist people had given us leaflets and maps of our route in Serbia which made an interesting read and at about 5pm we arrived at Novi Sad. Here we crossed over a river and after the police had walked through the train a few times we sped up considerably on the approach to Belgrade. Here is a video of the train entering the Belgrade Suburbs showing the type of Serbian loco we were being hauled by and the coaches. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1eOkv91kc0 . We crossed the bridge over the river Sava and arrived at Belgrade’s historic station 10 minutes early at around 5.50pm. As we pulled into the station it looked as though we had arrived at Vic Berry’s scrapyard in the 80’s! There were rows and rows of graffiti ridden coaches and locos. We had again booked a hotel close to the station and set about finding it straight away. We were staying at the Hotel Rex http://ucd.hwstatic.com/propertyimages/3/31973/1.jpg which although looks run down on the outside was very nice on the inside and we had only paid £50 total for two nights including breakfast. We checked into our air conditioned room with a big tv and large bed and then headed off to dinner. We were very tired from sitting around all day so headed to McDonalds. We walked past a park and the bus station and again there were hundreds of migrants set up camp on the streets. We found McDonalds and again even in here we were asked to give money. I think the staff were taking pitty by giving out free vouchers for food. We were given one too! We headed back to rest after this and were looking forward to exploring the ‘White City’ tomorrow.

 

[Birdbrain]

Day 29 – Belgrade Tourist
When we were researching the trip we knew that Belgrade wasn’t exactly known as a tourist destination although after visiting it is hard to understand this. We found it was a very interesting city with great tourist potential. We slept very well and headed down after 8am to our Hotel breakfast. For the cheap price we paid, it was quite reasonable with a large selection of food and drinks on offer, Breads, cheeses, meats, egg, sausage and hot drinks. It was very hot today and we had two days here so we planned to take it fairly easy. We first headed back to the main station to try and book our couchette reservation for the following day’s night train to Sofia. We queued up at the international ticket window for a little while until it was our turn. Man in seat 61 had told me that only 6 berth couchettes were available on this service so it was a very pleasant surprise to be offered a 4 berth cabin. Having read many horror stories about this train (just google Belgrade to sofia night train) I decided it would be worth spending out on this. So reservations in hand we set off to explore Belgrade. We walked up to the city centre along the Knez Milaiova street which is the main street though the city. This leads to the Kalemegden Fortress which is a huge park and fortifications which overlook the coming together of the Danube and Sava rivers, both of which we have followed during this trip. The fortress tells the story of the cities varied passed and we walked along the walls looking out for the many lizards living there. Next we visited St Micheals Cathederal which was small and I was made to wear a tea towel over my legs! We brought a baguette for lunch and sat in Republic Square to eat it. Surrounding the square is the National Museum and National Theatre. We then walked down to an area called Skadalja which was the oldest surviving part of the city, a cobbled road lines with cafes. We continued towards Tasmajdan park and spend some time relaxing here before moving onto one of Belgrade’s must see sights, the St Sava temple. It is the biggest Eastern Orthodox churches in the world. Although complete externally, internally it is still a construction site although you are allowed to enter and have a look. Construction has been ongoing since 1935. We headed back to the city to find something to eat for dinner. We found a restaurant called manufaktura which has an outside area with a cool water spray and has umbrellas hanging from ropes across the street. We had a three course dinner each with alchohol and spent £15 total! Yes, £15! Everything was cheap in Serbia! To end the day we walked back to the fortress and sat with an ice cream while we watched the sunset. So if you get the chance, don’t overlook Belgrade! It is a very interesting city full of friendly people. Tomorrow we would spend the day here again before taking the night train to Sofia.