Hey Zeus! - 17/10/02

Continuing our European adventure we flew from Rome to Athens on Olympic Airlines, landing in Athens late at night. Athens has a bad reputation for being a polluted and dirty city. We found the centre to be ancient, quiet and beautiful, especially the Plaka area around the Agora and the Acropolis. However the urban sprawl around Athens did mar the beauty and acted like a pollution donut. We spent a couple of days wandering around the Plaka, sampling the local snacks and drinks and indulging in some shopping for gifts for everyone at home. Unfortunately we had some trouble in our hotel as a school group had booked rooms that they had spread across the whole hotel, keeping us awake until the early hours.

Agora, Athens

A train ride took us through the Greek mainland and up to the second largest city of Thessaloniki in the north. We found it to be a rather uninspiring stop and we soon moved on to our first experience of the former Eastern Bloc, taking the night train to Sofia, capital of Bulgaria.

I was very impressed with Sofia. Perhaps the most Russian of the Eastern European countries, due to the use of the Cyrillic alphabet as well as the similar architecture, Bulgaria on the whole was a bit of a culture shock as the first experience of the other side of Europe. Sofia is a small city in comparison with other European capitals and almost anywhere in the centre is easily reached on foot. We stayed in a nice family home, living in their converted garage. Sofia has some individual aspects that are exclusively its own, such as the Svetya Nedelya Cathedral, located on a roundabout in the middle of the Vitosha, the main thoroughfare through Central Sofia. Another sight of Sofia is the NDK Palace of Culture and the monstrous concrete park in front of it, Soviet communistic architecture at it worst.

Koprivshitsa is a small village just a couple of hours from Sofia by train. After the usual desk to desk tour of the station we finally got our tickets and all that remained was to quickly translate the Cyrillic signs on the stations in order to find the right stop. The village was very small and seemingly deserted but we soon realised why. Everyone was in the pub. It was obviously too cold a day to walk outside or go to work or school or anything, the day was only good for drinking. The village was surrounded by forest and through the forest streams and rivers with small bridges over them.

Byala bridge, Koprivshitsa

Moving on from Bulgaria and disappointed not to have visited the Rila Monastery we took the overnight train through to Bucharest. Apart from the trip from San Sebastian to Lisbon we have so far avoided paying for sleeper supplements and have instead fought for empty compartments to stretch out on. This has really lowered our expenses and is no problem apart from the freezing temperatures. The next stop was Bucharest where we could not find a hotel but instead warmed up in the waiting room. We eventually found a cheap room and managed to begin our exploration of Bucharest. Romania is often described as the Wild West of Europe and it did feel a little bit dodgy as we walked around, especially after people in the train station and in the hotel had warned us of various risks and dangers. One highlight of Bucharest however was seeing the monolithic Peoples Palace, the second biggest building in the world and the centre piece in a city of communistic monstrosities.

Brasov, the second biggest city was completely different. We managed to get a room with Maria, a famous tourist guide with rooms to let. The town can only be described as “quaint”, a small town square with a black church in the middle and hills and gardens in the background. The area near the train station is bleak but then again, areas near train and bus stations generally are.

Close by to Brasov are the castles of Bran and Rasnov. Set in the middle of Transylvania they couldn’t evoke more images of Dracula if they tried. The castle of Bran is set on a small hill over looking the village and on the October morning we visited was enshrouded in a mist. It was too eerie for comfort! The castle at Rasnov on the other hand is virtually destroyed but far more protected high up on a hill, at least a 45minute climb to the top. Not much is left of the castle itself but the outer walls are intact and the view makes up for any disappointment. There is a third castle at Sinaia but we did not manage to find it.

Bran castle

Following up the Dracula experience at Bran we next visited Sighisoara, the birthplace of Vlad Tepes, otherwise known as Dracula. This small town is the nicest I saw in Romania. The town is exceptionally clean, a lot of the buildings are painted in different colours and even the churches look more exciting!

The next stop on the Eastern European express was Budapest, capital of Hungary. Actually two cities twinned together, those of Central Pest and Buda hill. Central Pest includes the Parliament and Government buildings and the mains hopping area. Buda hill is the setting of the giant castle and inside it the Matthias church and Royal Palace. A culinary highlight of Budapest was delicious falafel packed in pitta bread. We did not stay too long in Budapest as we did not have a great feel for the place and in fact we did not visit anywhere else in Hungary which in hindsight was a bit of a shame, one thing I really wanted to visit was the hot baths, a famous attraction of Budapest, after seeing the photos of old guys playing dominoes in the steaming baths! Nevertheless, this trip was always going to be rushed and I always thought of it as a taster before further trips, therefore perhaps a return to Hungary is on the cards.

A brief visit to Bratislava ended the first leg of our Eastern Europe trip. The capital of Slovakia perhaps it would not receive so much tourism if it was still part of Czechoslovakia. It is a nice city, a really quaint town centre and pedestrianised streets. There were some interesting windows selling warm baguettes and a big supermarket under our Soviet era hotel. We had to get a room in the Hotel Kyjev as there was nowhere else in the town with vacancies. We felt really out of place in the foyer, all done out in velvet as we sat there with our backpacks!

Back to the “West” the next day with a short 45-minute train ride to Vienna, capital of Austria, home of Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms and Schubert and giant grandiose buildings. It was also a return to Western European prices. Austria and Germany however do have great hostel networks and these came in very handy. Walking around Vienna one feels like a dwarf as the buildings all tower over, too big to fit in a camera viewfinder. The other attraction in Vienna is the fairground to the north of the centre, used in the film version of Graham Greenes The Third Man.

Salzburg is another tourism centre in Austria due to its being the home of The Sound of Music and the birthplace of Mozart. The cheesy postcards, souvenirs and bus tours of both famous landmarks from the film as well as famous landmarks from Mozarts life all contribute to the tourism economy. The town also ahs a lovely Christmas feel to it even in late-October, probably due to the proximity of the snowy mountains and the local handicarafts.

Crossing northwards into Germany our next stop was Munich. By day we wandered around the town, main highlights being the Englishergarten and the second-hand clothes shops in the centre and by night we explored the famous beer halls of Munich, drinking our way through the 1 litre mass jugs. And from Munich we turned Eastward once more.