When I was planning this trip the only thing I could not do in advance was to book a train from Ptuj in Slovenia to Zagreb in Croatia. Eventually I found out you can only buy international rail trips from Slovenia at a railway station. Apart from wondering why this rule exists I wasn’t concerned, because I was assured by the hotel owner in Ptuj that there were plenty of trains and all would be well. So when we got there I had a chat with a nice lady in the ticket office and obtained 3 tickets for the next trip which had a change in Maribor, the second city in Slovenia. When we set off very early the following day and arrived in Maribor I found a red-capped railway guy on the platform and asked what platform the next part of our trip left from. He looked at the printout I had for quite a while, and finally told me the train it said would go to Zagreb did not exist. This was not good news. In the ticket office, another nice lady was equally bemused as to how a nonexistent train could appear on a printed itinerary, and after a fair bit of fiddling on her computer came up with another way to Zagreb. It meant we had about 5 hours to look around Maribor, which we did, then once on the train went a long way back towards where we started, then waited at a station in a river ravine which existed only because a line went south from there. There was no town and for most of the hour and half we were there we were more than half the number of people waiting. Eventually we made it to Zagreb after 10 hours of travel instead of 3.
Zagreb is a nice city to look around with plenty of history and a very good tram system. Trams are something I like using so we sorted out what was required and bought day passes for the first day which went well. That evening we decided to ride out to the edge of town the next morning and go on a cable car up a mountain. So I went and bought another lot of day passes to avoid having to do it in the morning. But it turned out the next day was a “free travel on the trams” day, and that the cable car was under repair and not working until October 11. There was no on-line advice about the latter and we saw plenty of other mugs arriving after us looking equally surprised. We left the unused tickets on the table of our apartment. In Zagreb we did the usual free tour, the ladies went to a chocolate museum, we all went to The Museum of Broken Relationships which was surprisingly interesting, we climbed up a tower, did lots of walking, and generally got into the mode of being obedient tourists. That was important because next on the list was pure tourism.
The only train to Split left very early and we had to get up at a time starting with 5. When we got outside it was raining, lightly, but enough to count as the first on the trip. Much to my relief we were not the only ones waiting for a tram at that hour, which meant they were running frequently, and without any complications we eventually joined lots of other foreigners on the 6.5 hours journey to Split. It is one of the more scenic train rides I have been on and the sun even came out for the most interesting parts. However, our arrival in Split coincided with a downpour which included thunder and lightning but didn’t last long but long enough to have us drenched. I think we are the only people I know who have not previously been to coastal Croatia so I don’t have to go into lots of detail. We stayed in an apartment in the walls of Diocletian’s Palace and were right in the middle of all the action, although it was around a few corners and up a few stairs so was pretty private. Luckily our host met us at the Silver Gate to show where the apartment was because we would never have found it ourselves. The first thing we discovered was that the price of living had suddenly increased, and secondly there were thousands of tourists just like us. On our second day we decided to take a bus to a little place nearby called Trigor, which was a sort of small Split, and we weren’t the only ones who thought it would be a good place to go to. But it was all old and cute. We had 3 nights in Split which we all agreed is a pretty interesting place, and then went on a Kapitan Luca catamaran ferry to Korcula. It took about 400 people and there was a big queue for boarding with each newcomer asking the ones in front “Is this going to Korcula”, and getting the reply “I hope so”.
Our apartment there was in the old town and ever so easy to find according to the Google map. Our initial confusion was because Google had the ferry landing on the wrong side of the narrow isthmus so nothing made sense until we sorted that out. Then the name of the bar where we had to turn uphill into a narrow pedestrian street had been changed, which neither Google nor the host seemed to know about. Eventually we arrived, were met and shown our apartment. When I had been booking these places I was not aware of how clever some people can be with the photos they show to entice you into their care. This one seemed to clearly show two roomy bedrooms and plenty of space. When we walked into the main living area I was very surprised to see a large double bed at one end, and quickly realised I should have previously checked if it was in a room of its own. We also quickly realised that it was a cleverly done loft conversion and a lot of the space could only be used by bending over, or crawling, and care had to be taken to avoid needing an H.I.A. (for non rugby people this stands for Head Injury Assessment). However it had great views from the few windows and a little private terrace so the 3 of us coped. The restaurants overlooking the sea were a few steps away and we ate at one the first night. It was beside a Michelin starred place that seemed to have more nicely uniformed waiters than guests, and it was fun watching them put down their smokes and all get in line for their food delivery act. In contrast our place had about two staff who never stopped moving. The next day we caught a local bus to a little town called Lumbarda and had a lovely walk along the coast and inland through vineyards. This included a few highly regarded beaches that we tried not to be condescending about, a memorable lunch at a little beachfront restaurant that we had to ourselves, and a wine tasting at a place that sold almost all its production direct from the winery. One of the whites was very good, and I was spot on with my guess that it would cost close to $40 a bottle, but it made a very nice change from the usual quite dry and acidic whites we were being forced to drink. The grape is called Grk because it probably came from Greece originally, and it only grows in this small area. Kay is very fussy about what wine is provided to her and reds are excluded, so for “home” consumption Melanie and I had to conform and white was the usual pre dinner fare.
Our female contingent had from the first day of our trip developed a taste for Aperol Spritz, an orange coloured drink, which varies greatly in price depending on the quantity of tourists present. It has the great advantage of looking necessary and apparently tastes all right because it is on the list for our Xmas celebrations. I have been extremely disciplined and mostly been on a diet of Coke Zero until about 5.30 each evening.
We departed the nice and small town of Korcula on another ferry and headed for Dubrovnik. I knew it would be a scrum in the Old City so had booked a place in a nearby suburb. It was very nice with large patio area and not far from the bus stop and everything else needed. (Kay – not sure why D hasn’t mentioned how far it was above sea level and how many cobbled steps we had to ascend to reach it). It was a Friday so we decided to go into the old city in the afternoon and do the cable car up to the top of the hills behind the big attraction to avoid weekend queues. You have to be impressed with the Old City and it looks pretty good from above. Then we ventured in and there were more people per square metre than in Venice. We sat at a table and ordered two iced coffees and my usual – NZ$20 for each coffee and $10 for the smallest bottle of Coke. So we walked through one side to the other of the Old City and went home. Next day we walked around the top of the walls which was almost worth the money, did a bit more internal walking, and decided this time we would go a little way outside for lunch, partly because it was so hot inside. It was very nice and I didn’t look at the prices on the bill so equanimity was maintained. A feature of Dubrovnik not mentioned in any guides is that it has more ATMs per square metre than anywhere else in the world, an obvious correlation with the density of visitors, but even out of the hot spots it seemed over done.
Croatian Air flew us back to Zagreb in a Dash 8 which is a skinny prop plane from Canada and a new experience for me. The next day we wheeled our bags to the main bus station, having done a recce the afternoon before to check for hills, cobblestones and rough paths. All was flat and easy, and we caught our Flixbus for a nearly 5 hour ride to Budapest. Hungary appears to grow a lot of corn and the reviewer of Flixbus who said they didn’t stop for a toilet break was wrong. We got 20 minutes break halfway through with all facilities.
Budapest is a top city for visitors. We stayed in a nice big apartment with a very helpful host. We walked for miles, went across the Danube 4 times, saw all the main sights and a few obscure ones, some of us did some shopping, and we had a variety of meals and of course a few local wines. Our host even took us to an Irish pub to watch the ABs play Uruguay, and won the money for our little bets on the score differential. With Hungarian money you get a lot of 0s for not much value.
I had read a lot about Hungarian history and politics and I think the main thing learnt was that they are good at backing the wrong side in conflicts. The second thing is that they don’t seem to value democracy too much, which is shown in the popularity of the current political leader who is effectively an elected dictator. All the usual tactics of creating enemies to scare people with, getting rich mates to buy up the media, nobbling the justice system, and systemic corruption are being used. I only had a couple of discussions with locals and they understand what is happening, but politely mentioned that less well educated citizens were all quite happy to believe what they are told by the captive TV. Sounds familiar. Having not been beyond the biggest city in Hungary it’s hard to make any more informed comment. There seem to be statues and sculptures everywhere in Buda and in Pest and I doubt you are ever out of sight of one in the centre of the city, and they are not all old men on horses. Our free tour guide also pointed out some very small sculptures that a local artist makes and then surreptitiously mounts somewhere suitable but not easily seen. The guide said how many have been done but he hadn’t found them all. One of us, not me, found two. On a corner just down the road from our apartment was a very ordinary little bar that had the seats outside and did a bit of food. I liked it because it was very local and far from pretentious. Whilst sitting there we noticed people eating what they called a toasted cheese sandwich. It was a thick piece of bread about as long as your forearm and a normal loaf wide, with one side with toasted cheese on the top and the other side au natural. After Kay and Melanie left me all alone, while waiting to go to the airport late in the evening of departure day, I went and ordered one. It had some sort of pate stuff under the cheese and was delicious. When I paid they were happy to take my pile of coins and put the balance on my trusty Wise card. It was a nice way to end my time in Budapest.
I am now in Dubai awaiting my son Paul for the next stage which will be a bit more adventurous. The area I am staying in is interesting and not very flashy. In my brief forays out into the heat today, topped at 40 degrees, I managed to find a bargain pair of shoes I was looking for while in Europe, and had lunch and dinner for an astoundingly moderate price. Being on my own after 5 weeks of company is a little strange, but it does mean I have been able to cross roads whenever I want without being advised that I should not.
Dennis.