Opatija and London!!!!

Well, this is long long overdue. But here is the end of the two weeks prior to London.

Day two in Rijeka began with us checking out of the hostel and incurring another hidden charge, 5 kune to store our bags. As you can tell, I was the least bit impressed with this hostel. But like Troy said, at least there was a hostel to stay at (and the included breakfast was pretty tasty).

After checkout we made our way back to Rijeka and boarded a bus for Opatija. With high recommendations I really did not know what to expect. Luckily, Opatija was every bit as beautiful as it was described. Had we known better it would have been fun to stay our last night in a nice hotel overlooking the Adriatic - maybe next time. Opatija is everything you would envision a cheesy (albeit very nice) European destination spot. There were multiple cafes along the beach, a boardwalk of sorts, many locals pitching boat rides on their glass bottom boats, street vendors selling "authentic" sunglasses and hand bags. Beyond the sights and people watching opportunities there was little of historical value to see in Opatija. That was ok though, after two weeks of sightseeing, it was a nice change.

Below is a photograph of Opatija (once again from Flickr, I will get some pictures that we took later).

We did wander into a fresh food market (it was a Saturday morning after all) and encountered some of the locals. It has been interesting throughout our travels to compare the prices and offerings of local markets and supermarkets. I don't think I blogged about it but we went inside the most amazing gourmet grocery store in Vienna that I had ever seen. Every item was labeled with a flag of its country of origin. They, like most European grocers, pride themselves on the presentation of the food, both prepared and boxed, unlike anything I have seen in the United States.

After a morning in Opatija and a quick lunch we headed back to the hostel to grab our belongings and made it back in town a few hours before our bus to the airport to spend some time updating our friends and families through email about our travels. We then made our way via bus to the airport. The airport in Rijeka is located thirty minutes from town on an island. The best way to describe it would be imagining yourself on a bus ride to a nature preserve on a deserted island and poof there appeared an airport. After flying through Frankfurt, Vienna, Split, etc... the airport at Rijeka was a little bit of a surprise with limited flights daily. The same person who checked us in also took our tickets to board the plane.

Two hours later we landed in London at Luton airport. Finally arriving into London I was somewhat relieved and a little bit anxious. Having not planned nearly as well as Matt and Monica had, I was not quite sure where we were to go. I did know my flat was near Victoria station and I had confirmed our late arrival. We got a bus from Luton to Victoria station for 8 pounds (about $16 USD). I complained when I had to pay $7 USD to get from the airport to town in Vienna, welcome to London and the poor value of the dollar I guess. I will touch some more on this topic later as I have begin to believe the theory that you pay the same price everything is just double is not necessarily true.

Getting off the bus at Victoria I pretended like I knew exactly where we were going, after all this was "my" city... Luckily Monica and Matt both quickly talked some sense into me and I swallowed my pride and asked for a map and directions to the flat (I had an address!) from a nearby hotel. The friendly staff gave me a map and pointed me in the right direction and a few minutes later we were in front of Wigram hall. After checking in we made the way to my room on the ground floor. I was a little disappointed to not be higher, but such is life. My room is tiny and it has purple walls (the purple palace I have so affectionately named it) and gets NO sunlight since I am on the bottom floor of an eight story building facing into the "courtyard." But at this point, we didn't care. It was late, we were hungry and in LONDON!

Without much knowledge of the area or a hostel receptionist to ask, we begin to walk towards the crowds anticipating to find something for dinner. Within literally twenty minutes we had walked by Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, the London Eye, and Trafalgar Square. I quickly realized my location was very central to many of London's attractions (well some, London is a huge sprawling city). We managed to find some food and made our way back to my flat to turn in for the evening. After a full day of sightseeing and travel we were exhausted.

That concludes the two weeks of European "vacation" I had prior to making it to London. More on London soon.... In the meantime, enjoy the picture below of fireworks over the river Thames on my second night in London. This picture is mine. :)

Rijeka (Day 1)

Arriving in Rijeka via the ferry meant we had to get an early start to the day. Having booked a cabin rather than the "deck" as many passengers appeared to have done, we had breakfast aboard the ship included in our fare. Breakfast before unloading at 7:00 a.m. meant we were up the earliest we had been in the past two weeks. It is a good thing we took advantage of the free breakfast - it was great. Nothing like scrambled eggs for the first time in a few weeks. Beyond that, being off the ship so early meant we had a full day of sightseeing ahead of us in Rijeka.

Rijeka is an interesting city. From what we had heard prior to our arrival from a few people we had met at various points on our journey was that Rijeka was nothing special in comparison to where we had been. Rijeka is a major port city for Croatia and much of its older architecture and charm has been destroyed to make way for a fledging industrial port city. As a result, tourism is not necessarily the biggest draw to the city and we had only one selection for a hostel, which had just opened the year prior.

Our hostel was very clean and obviously new but lacked the character and charisma of the other locations we had stayed. The receptionist was monotone, the rooms were bare white walls, and everything seemed to have a charge. 5 kune for a towel, 5 kune to use the internet, 10 kune for a Hosteling International card (you were required to have one), etc. After dropping off our bags we were given some insight into transportation around town and directed to the tourist office. Arriving in the center of Rijeka before 9 am allowed us some time at a cafe on the cities main pedestrian street people watching and surfing the internet (the whole city has free wifi) before the tourist office opened. At 9 a.m. we were given a map of the city and some recommendations of things to do. The tourist office, the couple we met in Dubrovnik, and the hostel all made recommendations to visit Opatija, the touristy area of northern Croatia about a twenty minute bus ride from Rijeka. With a full two days ahead of us we delayed our visit to Opatija and decided today to climb to the castle north of the city (via 500 steps) followed by a lazy afternoon at the beach (about fifteen minutes from our hostel).

Matt and I set out to conquer the 500 steps to Trsat castle as Monica turned back to do some sightseeing around the city. With a backpack in tow with laptop and camera the 500 steps seemed to go on for ever. We reached a landing after climbing without stopping and decided to take a break before finishing. Fifteen steps and a long straight landing into our second wind to climbing the stairs we realized we had already reached the top - what a relief. Matt and I toured around a chapel at the top of the stairs and made our way to view the Rijeka port from the vantage point of the castle. While not much to see besides the Adriatic sea and various cranes for loading and unloading cargo ships - we still had a favorable "high" vantage point of our last destination. Walking back down the steps we met Monica for lunch and returned to the hostel to check in to our room and change for a trip to the Adriatic.

The beach was about fifteen minute walk up the road from our hostel. There was no sand, only small rock pebbles, and not much room between the road and the water but we managed to sneak a spot on the rocks to lazily spend the afternoon. Each of us took a dip in the Adriatic (which is pretty cold in comparison to what we are used to) and spent some time taking in the sun. The view from the beach was beautiful across the crystal clear waters.

Having rested from a lazy afternoon we headed back to the city to a small restaurant near the fishing port and fish market that came as a recommendation of a guide book. The restaurant was just as it was described, small, quaint, and a hit with the locals. Our waitress was very friendly and apologized to not have an English menu. It is quite an experience to be in another country trying to make sense of what you are ordering. You sometimes wonder if you are getting a small appetizer or a large plate of food not being able to discern anything on the menu. In exchange for an English menu our waitress brought large platters of fresh fish to our table and attempted to explain our choices. After four large platters we were still overwhelmed with what to order (there was no Alaskan/Atlantic salmon :) ). I settled on a risotto with the "fruits of the sea" which was a fantastic blend of shelled fish with a very tasty plate of risotto. Overall the meal and local atmosphere was a hit.

After dinner we made our way back up to the castle (this time via bus) to inquire about the concert they were having that evening. Unfortunately the ticket price was beyond what we were willing to pay but we did manage a five minute preview at the hands of the gracious ticket seller. After leaving the main venue we spent some time on the grass just outside the castle listening to the muffled concert before returning to the city via the stairs (it is a lot easier to go down then up). We had a few drinks next to the cafe we had earlier had coffee at and called it a day.

Unfortunately I don't have any pictures from Rijeka.... I think I took a few (not too much to see) but for some reason they don't seem to have made it on to the computer and are not on my camera. I will have to get some from Monica or Matt in a few weeks to add to this post, in the meantime I have added a few I found on flickr.

Dubrovnik Day 2 and Ferry to Rijeka

Waking up in Dubrovnik and opening the window with our view of the harbor, Croatia was everything I had imagined it to be and more. Having explored the walled portion of the city briefly the evening before, we still felt there was enough to occupy our time within the "old town" of Dubrovnik for the day.

Having taken the bus into town the night before, we decided the morning was nice weather to walk the twenty minutes along the water and up the hill to the walled old city. The old city of Dubrovnik is a walled fortress with city walls that surround cobble stone streets, small alleys, and beautiful architecture. The old city of Dubrovnik is very hard to explain. As recent as 1995 Dubrovnik came under fire by Yugoslavia threats destroying and damaging many of the buildings and roofs within the walled portion of the city. Since the destruction of the 1990's Dubrovnik has flourished as a tourist destination for European's and recently the world. On any given day various tour ships descend on the coasts channeling thousands of passengers through the city on any given day. While we were there we shared the city with tourists from three different cruise lines.

We spent the day exploring the churches of the city, one of Europe's oldest pharmacies, and the coastal views of stunning islands nearby. A major attraction of Dubrovnik is to "walk the walls" of the old city. With many cruise ships in town we waited until the evening to do so. The total time to walk the walls took around 2 hours and provided amazing views of the town, the towns walls, and the Adriatic sea. I would love to someday return to Dubrovnik and take day trips to the various islands on the southern coast of Croatia.

Below are a few pictures of the Adriatic and the old city of Dubrovnik.





After walking the walls we watched the sunset just outside the city before returning for dinner. Earlier in the day we spotted a restaurant that appeared particularly busy that had reasonable prices on seafood. We had a great meal of mussels and fresh calamari. I will never ever be able to have calamari in the States again after this experience. The squid could not have been more than a day old and was lightly fried in a Parmesan cheese batter that was so delicate to not overwhelm the taste of the fish. This was by far my favorite meal of the entire trip.

Below is a picture of Matt with the mussels before we dived in to the fresh seafood.


After dinner we had a few drinks and coffee at a Jazz bar in the middle of the city before grabbing gelato again (can't beat a scoop for one USD) before heading back to our guest house for bed.

The next day we got up and made our way to the Marco Polo, the ferry we had booked from Dubrovnik to Rijeka. The total journey lasted 22 hours with half hour stops at two islands and an hour and a half stop in Split around dinner, before an overnight journey to the port city of Rijeka. The ferry ride was nice and relaxing as we were able to secure a table on the outside deck covered by the wind shade. I enjoyed watching the coast sail by and catching up on some reading of the books I bought to bring with me. The rest of the ferry trip was nothing too exciting and we arrived in Rijeka at 7 a.m. the next day...

Below is a picture from the ferry and a picture of the ferry.

Hungary to Croatia

With an early morning flight to Split, Dubrovnik and an expired rail pass for the Hungary transit system we elected to hire the hostel to transport us to the airport for our flight to Croatia. We arrived at the Budapest airport about two hours prior to our flight allowing us ample time to check in, we were flying Sky Europe (a newer low cost carrier) directly from Hungary to Split, Croatia which is in the central/southern portion of the country.

Our flight from Hungary to Split was uneventful until our approach when we encountered some turbulence. Nothing like getting thrown from a slight daze catching up on some sleep about four to six inches in the air as the plane took the turbulence approaching Split. Beyond that we were on the ground in Croatia a few minutes later. Walking off the plane I could already tell we were in a different climate than our previous travels. I could feel moisture in the air and the welcome sight of sun and palm trees verified we had chosen the right location to end our travels with some relaxation. With a guest room booked in the evening in Dubrovnik we needed to find a bus from Split to Dubrovnik upon our arrival. We were dropped from the airport near the bus terminal and able to book a bus from Split for Dubrovnik within a few hours of our arrival. In the meantime waiting for the bus we were able to book ferry tickets for our return from Dubrovnik to Rijeka (where we were to fly to London).

Below is a view of the Adriatic coast line from the plane.


The bus ride to Dubrovnik was very scenic, following majority of the trip along the Adriatic sea. The bus ride took us through a portion of Bosnia and Herzegovina, upon which our passports were checked both upon entrance and exit of the country (having strolled into Vienna without circumstance the different policies for differing countries on identification interests me). The weather quickly turned from sun to clouds and rain as we approached Dubrovnik. We had little directions to the guest house we had booked and I had just managed to send an email informing our host that we intended to be on the 1 pm bus from Split and would need directions upon our arrival. The plan was to check an internet cafe and hope they had responded. Luckily, as we pulled into the Dubrovnik bus station, a very nice lady was standing with my name on a sign. Apparently she had received my email and had been awaiting our arrival for a few hours. It was quite the relief. When we inquired about the weather, our hosts said this was only the second day of rain all summer but tomorrow looked better - just our luck.

Our guest house was close to the train station, thirty minutes walk from old town, and a few minutes to a bus stop. The view was amazing.

Below is a photo of the view from our guest house (notice the overcast skies, sunny pictures of the view to come later).


Exhausted from the day we headed into old town Dubrovnik to find dinner and look around a bit. After pizza dinner (with fruits of the sea - we had to have some seafood) and gelato for dessert we made our way back to the guesthouse and went to bed early.

Hungary Day 2...

Our second day in Hungary was much more relaxed than the first. We had only a few plans for the day and needed some recovery after a few days of rain and traveling amongst the European cities. As a highlight of our research of Budapest we became interested in the traditional Hungarian hot springs and baths. With the recommendations of Olga and other tourists we made our way to the main bath near the city park in Budapest. Budapest has approx. 7 - 8 thermal baths each with unique qualities and characteristics. We were told tourists generally choose either the baths at the Hotel Gellert or the Szechenyi Bath. The baths at the Hotel Gellert are slightly costlier than the others but provides a very luxirious experience but does not have nearly the selection and range of pools as the bath in the city park. As such, we chose the Szechenyi Bath for our visit.

The water portion of the bath reminds me of Glenwood Springs in Colorado. The water is naturally heated from the nearby hot springs. There was a series of both indoor and outdoor baths. The outdoor baths were treated with chlorine and did not retain the sulfur smell of most hot-springs. Additionally, the outdoor baths featured various fountains, whirlpools (imagine a lazy river that goes twice as fast in a much smaller circle), and bubbles. The inside baths are much more of the formal variety and what you would compare to a normal recreation center pool style. There were four to six baths inside with varying temperatures and size (from a hot tub to small pool size). Over a three hour period at the baths we spent half of our time inside and half of our time outside. The experience was very relaxing and makes me want to return to the hot springs in Colorado sometime in the near future.

After the bath we made our way towards the Danube river to book an evening dinner cruise on along the river. After changing from our bath attire to dinner attire (read another pair of jeans that I had probably worn five times prior) we made our way back to the river to board our ship. Running a bit behind schedule, we cut down to the river road from the main street a little earlier than we had earlier in the evening. We were surprisingly greeted with the flooding waters of the Danube. Matt, being the adventurous Boy Scout type, hiked his jeans and treaded the water. Monica and I had no other choice but to follow his lead. As we approached the ship our feet were 4 - 5 inches deep in the river and we became the subject of many photographs of tourists observing the river overflow from dry ground on the street above. So much for saving time by cutting to the river early - our feet were soaked but we had a great laugh.

Below is a picture of the Danube.


The dinner cruise was a great experience and we were able to see many of the sights of Budapest. The food was tasty as well. The company was... a little surprised to see a few college age students on their dinner cruise ship it appeared. The party next to us from Spain decided to take the entire dessert tray back to their table and managed to finish all the Hungarian delicacies before we were able to get any and then proceeded to stare at Matt, Monica, and I for the rest of the cruise. Not really sure if we offended them or what but the company made for an interesting experience.

Below is a picture of our boat.


The evening ended early as we repacked our bags and headed to bed anxious for our flight to Split, Croatia in the morning.

Catching up... looking back at Hungary (then Croatia, then London)

So... it has been awhile since this blog has been updated so here is my feeble attempt to recollect the experiences I had in Hungary and in Croatia before arriving in London. Thankfully, I have a journal and some pictures to rely upon to recollect my memories. So here comes Hungary... (Croatia will follow in separate posts).

My last blog (besides the photo's) was composed on the train en route to Budapest from Vienna. After three days of rain in Vienna, arriving to a sunny Budapest was quite a relief. We arrived to the train station and took a metro line to our hostel, the Budapest Bubble. I have yet to share much about our accommodation's as hostel's vary in experiences, people, amenities, etc. but the Bubble was something special. Our host, Olga, whom recently opened the hostel greeted us upon our arrival and showed us around. From the other travelers who had been at the Bubble for a few days, it was apparent the "family" atmosphere in the main room watching football was a common characteristic of the hostel. It was nice to be in a friendly place with individuals from all over the world who were interested and welcome to share stories, suggestions, and experiences. I blogged a bit before about the first evening so I will skip now to the second day.

Our second day in Budapest we set out to explore the city. Our travel allowed us one day to walk "aimlessly" around a location and one day to explore the museums and sights we had seen on the first day. Thus, today was the day of aimless wandering. We began with a quick metro ride to the Hungarian houses of Parliament. The buildings were beautiful although quite touristy, we decided not to go on the guided tour. From Parliament we wandered through a park and found lunch at a very quaint coffee bar/cafe. After lunch we made our way to St. Stephen's Basilica. St. Stephen's is in a beautiful location in the city with a large street opening leading to the front of the building. As we have done in every European city, St. Stephen's provided the prefect "high" vantage point for seeing Budapest. A quick walk up some stairs and we were 100 m above ground, able to walk around the crown of the building, exploring the beautiful sights of the city and the River.

Below is a view of St. Stephen's and a view of Budapest from our vantage point.


Back inside St. Stephen's we made our way to an exhibit detailing the construction and various development phases of the building. I was amazed that original plans and development lasted nearly 15 years prior to construction. Additionally, the building was only completed approximately 100 years prior. Matt and I both commented on how we are not certain that today's "modern" society could complete a construction as ornate and specific as many of the older buildings, monuments, and locations we had seen - St. Stephen's was no exception.

Leaving St. Stephen's we headed towards the Dohany Street Synagogue, the second largest synagogue in the world. The synagogue was a central component of the Hungarian Jew's refuge from persecution during the second world war. Only in post communist Hungary has the synagogue been restored to its original splendor and is currently used by the Hungarian community. In remembrance of the Hungarian Jew's who perished during the second world war and during communist reign of the country, a portion of the grounds has been dedicated as a memorial park. Overhearing an English tour guide speak of the terrible chambers of death and destruction against the property and disregard for human life towards the Jewish population of the area was moving (we overheard a tour group).

Below is a photo of the memorial dedicated to those lives lost in Hungary during WWII.



From the synagogue we returned to our hostel to gather our belongings to move down the street a few block's to a new hostel sadly leaving the Bubble (we had a mix up with the booking system online and the hostel was overbooked so we offered our spot). Olga arranged us accommodation at the Aboriginal Hostel but was sad to see us go. After settling in we headed to dinner before beginning to retire early for the evening. On our way back to the Aboriginal we crossed paths with a group from the Bubble (all the residents of the hostel and our host Olga, whom can only go out when everyone does since she does not hire a staff). We could not pass up the opportunity to spend time with our Bubble "family" and headed to a local bar / club in an abandoned building nearby. The character of the location and the company with travelers from Spain, Ireland, Australia, Brussels, and beyond made this one of the most memorable evenings of our trip.

Day two in Budapest in the next post either tonight or tomorrow... (this was getting a little long)

A Lazy Evening in Budapest

Here is one of those majority photographs blog entries I mentioned when I began. We arrived yesterday afternoon in Budapest via train from Vienna. With sunny weather that we had yet to see in a few days we made our way to Rady street, a pedestrian walking mall with countless numbers of restaurants. It’s really interesting how each restaurant sends a waiter on to the street to act as a “salesman” of sort attempting to get patrons into the restaurant or seated on the patio. We sat on the “patio” area of a restaurant, which happens to be on the street across from the restaurant. After enjoying a great meal we headed out for a quick walk along the Danube. While I am still learning how to use this new camera I bought before the trip, a few of the 100 or so pictures I took turned out to be “blog worthy”. I hope you enjoy them.