LANGKAWI

We met Rebecca at the airport and flew to Langkawi together - a quick flight and arrived by 9.30am, although without any sleep the night before, it felt like 10pm at least. Our hotel is a bit tired and old but the pool more than makes up for the slightly crusty bathroom. It's hot here of course but not too humid and the afternoon storm is a lovely relief from the heat. We haven't seen much of the island and probably won't either. We occasionally leave the pool to go to the beach down the street and also to take an afternoon nap, life's hard!

 Hope you had great birthdays Emily, Bella and Georgia.

 

FRANKFURT AND SNOW!

Our flight home started in Frankfurt so we spent a night there to make getting to the airport easier and we're gad to have done so. Frankfurt doesn't have a lot to see but it's a nice city all the same. We enjoyed the Christmas markets and Ruby enjoyed the shop window displays in a large department store - like the Myer windows. The best thing however about Frankfurt was snow. It had snowed the night before we arrived so the trees were covered and there was enough on the ground to make a small snowman...just. Ruby didn't mind that it was wet and cold. We're so glad to have seen even a little snow before we left, just made it!

FAREWELL BRATISLAVA

We've come to the end of our time here unfortunately, we've really enjoyed Central Europe and Slovakia in particular. It is starting to cool down, snow is predicted for next week so perhaps our departure is well timed. Today we had one last walk around the Old Town and Ruby had one last run around the fountain.

We had our first look at the Christmas markets on Sunday night. The square was packed with people and stalls selling food and Christmas trinkets. Beside the huge christmas tree a stage had been erected where a folk band was playing. The mood in the square was festive and even though it was cold and dark, it seemed the perfect atmosphere for some mulled wine, roasted chestnuts and crepes. The water in the fountain had been covered with boards and young children were running around and around on the boards. Of course Ruby joined them running.

We leave tomorrw but have a couple of days in Frankfurt before meeting Rebecca in KL for 5 days in Langkawi. We're sorry to leave but also looking forward to being home soon to see you all.

ISTANBUL....NOT CONSTANTINOPLE

A 2 hour flight from Vienna took us to Istanbul for 4 days. After hearing that it was an over-crowded, city we didn't find getting around that difficult. Then we discovered we had arrived on the first day of Id - the Moslem celebration to end Ramadan which explained the quieter than normal streets. At home in Coburg I would have been aware that Id was coming up but we didn't realise from Slovakia. Many shops and sites were closed for the whole 4 days we were there, but on the bright side it  was easier to get around. The huge mosques dotting the city landscape seemed straight out of Arabian Nights and the call to prayer in the Old Town seemd to boom out from every direction. Given the number of mosques, it probably was coming from every direction. There were cats everywhere; chasing cats made a nice change for Ruby from chasing pigeons in Central Europe.



From the ferry, coming back to the European side



The men standing outside the restaurants trying to get our custom became tiring really quickly - a bit Bali-like (or even the city end of Lygon St), but I guess you've got to fight for business in such a big place. We stayed in the Old Town within walking distance of the main sites we wanted to see - Blue Mosque, Hagya Sophia (for the record not Saint Sophia), Topkapi Palace and the Grand Bazaar. We took a ferry 20 min across the Bosphorus - from Europe to Asia all within Istanbul. The Turkish were very friendly and not just the ones trying to sell us something, genuinely friendly and offering help with the pram, directions, ticket machines etc. Children seem to hold a sepcial place in Turkish society, so everywhere we went people tickled Ruby, played with her and gave her lollies. It reminded me of being in Indonesia with Rebecca when she was young. The hospitalty extended to restaurants where you were expected to drink tea, free of charge at the end of a meal and often to engage in conversation with the proprietor.  

The food was great, weather was superb - low to mid twenties everyday, and the people warm and welcoming. Turkey is definately a place we want to come back to and get around the whole country - another trip perhaps.

A quick catch up on postcards and baklava on the hill above Istanbul

HUNGARY

The Danube River continues from Bratislava along the Slovak-Hungarian border before turning southwards, through Budapest and into Serbia. We drove along the border to where the river bends, the area known, not surprisingly, as the Danube Bend, through Szentendre and Esztergom before stopping in Visegrad - a small town of less than 2000 people with very little happening, but with a few huge hotels; it must be a popular summer spot I think. Perched above the town is the actual Visegrad (castle)...another one. Built over the original 4thC Roman fortress, the castle survived the invading Mongols only to be destroyed by the Turks and the replacement castle destroyed by the ruling Habsburgs to prevent Hungarian independence fighters from using it. What remains is still very impressive, strategically set on a cliff on the bend of the river with great views.

We continued into Budapest but didn't intend on going into the city centre so booked a hotel on the northern side. As the GPS directed through an industrial area in middle of nowhere we started to worry. After rechecking the GPS we realised there were two 'Szonyi' streets and the one we were approaching was not near our hotel at all. I should have used the co-ordinates instead of the street name! We got there eventually well after dark (although it's dark at 4.30pm so probably not too late).


The next day we visited "Aquaworld". The Hungarians are really into swimming and water sports, there are lots of pools and thermal baths here. Aquaworld was the most amazing pool complex I've seen. I wish the Victorian Government had built something like this instead of billions on a failed public tranport ticket system!
There was a lane pool, a pool with jets, a wave beach, outdoor thermal pools, water slides, kids pools with slides and a simulated surfing section. Needless to say we were there for hours.

From Budapest we drove to Sopron - almost on the Austrian border. The Turks never got this far so the town had a different feel. Apparently this is a popular spot for Austrians to come for cheap dental and cosmetic work - there were a lot of dentists is town. It was only 90 minutes back to Bratislava.

KAMZIK HILL - BRATISLAVA

Just out of town is Kamzik Hill with a TV tower on top we can see from our upstairs deck. From the top there are about 450km of trails through the forest. The day we visited there were some mountain bike riders making their way up the steep tracks only to fly down again at perilous speeds. Ruby made use of Martin's pack for a free ride.

BYE MAMMA & DADDA

Once the bus departed, only a doughnut and trip to the park could lift Ruby's spirits.

MORAVIA

Moravia is the eastern region of the Czech Republic - Bohemia the western. In less than an hour from Bratislava we arrived at Lednice, a little town once graced by the Liechtenstein family who built a chateau here and established Europe's biggest landscaped garden. We wandered around the part of the garden closest to the chateau - we decided this was as much of the 200 sq km we could manage. Being the off-season, there were few other visitors and we had a peaceful stroll around the artificial lake, across small bridged islands and to the minaret withn the chateau grounds. As this may be our last trip to the Czech Republic, we were keen to get rid of all our Czech Crown, so a trip to the supermarket bought some lunch and bits and pieces, packet at a time until we were left with only a few cents remaining.

TATRAS - SLOVAKIA

The High Tatras are part of the Capathian mountains and are the border between Slovakia and Poland. We drove to Poprad to find that the apartment we'd booked online actually was as good as the featured photo. It was close to the train station and the city centre and was big enough that we could have stayed comfortably for months.

From Poprad we took a train up to a small village on the slopes of the Tatras, Stary Smokovec - not much happening at present but as soon as the snow arrives I imagine it will be a busy ski village. We have generally agreed with the Lonely Planet descriptions, but today was not so successful. On advice from the guide book we took a bus to the small town of Zdiar to look at the painted log cabins. We should have known something was up when the woman in the tourist centre said there was no particular bus stop for the centre of town, the bus route stretched 6km with several bus stops in Zdiar. We checked with the very unfriendly bus driver who sold us tickets to Zdiar then drove straight through without stopping for us. There only seemed to be a few painted houses along the 6km  - glad we didn't get off and walk! We got off at the end of the line in a deserted village, snacked on bread rolls which we filled with salami and some very orange lookinng cheese, then caught the return bus back to where we had started.

Our communication problems continued back in Stary Smokovec when we thought we were ordering a goulash-type lunch and ended up with a huge goose drum-stick served on purple cabbage and partially cooked flat bread. Later that evening we discovered that unless you specify otherwise, the standard beer here is 700ml which costs around AU$1.80. It was a day of lovely sights but terrible indigestion.

The next day we drove back to Bratislava via Banska Bystricia which turned out to be one of those great unexpected finds that make your day on the road, and then on to Banska Stiavnica, a pretty town in a valley which has been mined for gold and silver for over 200 years. The whole town is Unesco-listed.

Banska Stiavnica



Banska Bystrica



INNSBRUCK

With Mum and Dad looking after Ruby in Bratislava, Oscr and I headed to Innsbruck, Austria for 2 nights. The flight took less than an hour and was beautiful coming in over the Alps. Given that we had had chosen Innsbruck as it was on the list of 29 euro flights and somewhere neither of us had been, we weren't sure what to expect. The city was stunning; the view from our hotel window was like a post-card, and the sunny weather made it all the more enjoyable.


The view from our hotel room.


On our second day we took a funicular train then a cable car up Hafelekar peak, the conditions were perfect; nice soft snow and gorgeous sunshine in which to enjoy it all. The views were fantastic so we sat up on the peak in the sunshine having a beer and meal for an hour or so. Just when we thought it was already perfect, two musicians arrived with their Alpine horns and set up on the snow to play.

We had some delicious meals in the Old Town, schnitzels, sauerkraut, venison and strudel. Ruby had enjoyed her time with Mamma and Dadda of course - not sure what she'll do when they return to Australia. 

BOVEC - SLOVENIA

It's already too late in the year to go across the Vrsic pass which made me quite ill last time so I was pleased when the apartment owner confirmed that a road did go through from Bohinj to Bovec without back-tracking. What neither the owner nor the GPS indicated was the kind of road it was. We left Bohinj elated with the beautiful views but were soon faced with 127km of hair-pin turns, blind corners and sheer drops only feet from the road edge. The scenery may have been beautiful if I hadn't been terrified. By the time we got  to Bovec we had shaken nerves and I had a sore foot from where I had applied the imaginary brake on the passenger side.


Of course Bovec  - Oscar's parents home town - proved worth the trip there. We stayed at Stare Kovac again with owners Veno and Nada who were so friendly that each time we saw them we had to stop for a shot of Borovnice (strong blueberry spirit). Mum and Dad pleased to see Veno's car - a Navara just like the beast. Not much was happening in Bovec of course, Mum and Dad set out to walk to the end of  town one day and returned quite soon after they left - they didn't really need to take the day pack! We caught up with Max's cousin Palmira and her husband Franz who Ruby really took to - she couldn't understand him so must have thought he was babbling, she returned the babble and the two of them giggled away together until they were nearly crying. The next day Ruby spotted Palmira up in the choir loft at church and blew her kisses.

Oscar saw his cousin Jani a few times including when Jani found us having dinner at a restaurant on the outskirts of town to return Ruby's hat- they really don't need mobiles in Bovec, everyone knows anyone can be found at any time. The rain started before we left - that and the blocked toilet signalled time to move on. We stopped in Graz, Austria on the way home and had just a touch of snow along the way.

BLED & BONHINJ - SLOVENIA

Not far out of Ljubljana we caught sight of the mountains and headed towards Lake Bled. It was just as beautiful as I remembered, our apartment is up on a hill with a balcony overlooking the lake. We made the compulsory stop for a krem schnit - doesn't sound pleasant I know, but actually like a vanilla slice with more cream.

At the church beside the lake the organist was rehearsing so we stopped and listened for a while; we were in no rush to be anywhere as is the norm here. The 11thC castle here is high above the lake and we almost considered not bothering as we feel a little 'castled-out' but were glad we did. The views over the lake were superb, if a little scary for those who don't like heights, and the information about the castle and surrounding area tastefully displayed. Oscar knew there had been a Kenda who was a land owner in Bled in the past but at the castle we discovered he had actually owned the castle at some point in the 19thC. I wonder if we can claim some kind of inheritance here??

Bled castle

Lake Bled from the castle courtyard

From Bled we drove to Lake Bonhinj, a larger lake with less development along its shores. The autumn leaves set a beautiful backdrop to the water here, my photos don't really show how lovely the colours were.



 


 



Ruby and friends.



LJUBLJANA - SLOVENIA

We set off to 'old country', Slovenia - Oscar very excited. The drive was 450km on freeway all the way, with only one stop at a roadhouse which we left quickly when a tour group descended on the place as if they hadn't eaten for days and as if this was the only place you could buy souvenirs.  By the time we made it into the centre of Ljubljana we were so hungry we had a  late lunch at 4.30pm at a Mexican restaurant - we would have eaten more local cuisine but could find only Mexican or McDonalds serving meals at this time. The next day we walked around the castle perched just above the old town. More interesting was the market oustide the castle selling local produce (and bureks which seem very popular here).

AQUA PARK

Swimming and thermal bathing is big here - we found a great aqua park 25km out of Bratislava. It would be fantastic in Summer - lots of outdoor pools and slides. Indoors were a couple of pools including a hot one with seating around the edge equipped with jets. You could swim from an indoor pool to an outside one where the water temperature was still warm enough to send steam from the surface. There was one water slide which ended inside. I was surprised when Ruby agreed to go down it with Oscar and even more surprised when she wanted to do it by herself. Sorry the photos aren't clear - the camera lense steamed up.

 

OLOMOUC

We all drove to Olomouc - in Moravia, Czech Republic, about two hours from here. Autumn is well advanced here with the leaves coloured and beginning to fall. Olomouc is a beautiful small city with a lovely Old Town centre, as nice as any we've seen but on a smaller scale with fewer tourists - this might change in the next few years. We liked the astronomical clock in the town square, the pious saints who came out on the hour had been  replaced in the 1950s with pious workers instead thanks to the Communist Party. The buildings were incredibly well preserved and interesting. We came across St Michael's -a 13thC church with beautiful frescoes and architecture. We were the only ones there and I climbed the bell tower to find the four huge working bells ,and downstairs to the orginal chapel hewn in the rock. Unlike Prague, there was no charge to get in, simply a note on the wall asking us to turn the light off as we left. Once again we had the daily menu at a restaurant which consists of a soup and main course for less than $5 AUD. Since then we have learnt from Miro (whose house we're staying in) that it is legislated in Slovakia (and I'm guessing probably Czech) that employers provide all empoyees with a hot lunch, providing vouchers for such. Consequently, restaurants offer these daily set menus to attract business. we're making the most of it!
From Olomouc, Mum and Dad travelled to Prague and Cesky Krumov and we headed back to Bratislava. We are thinking of you all, hoping you're all well.

PIESTANY

Piestany is a Slovak town in an area known for its thermal spas, about an hour's drive from Bratislava. The outskirts of town are the typical ugly communist-built apartment blocks, but the small town centre was really pretty. Another sunny day, the temperatures are low teens but it feels so much warmer with bright sun and no wind. The thermal spas claim to cure everything, Oscar thought he might lose 15 years and I thought I might get my legs stretched to the length of the average Slovak women, but alas, most of the centres were not taking bookings the day we visited.

"Thermal spas..who cares? look what I found at a Piestany cafe."

BUDAPEST

We set off to Budapest with Mum and Dad for a few days. It's only a 2 hour drive from Bratislava with the real difficulty proving not getting there but squeezing down the alleyways and into car-parks. The apartment we'd booked was on the Pest side - I didn't even know they were two spearate cities, Buda and Pest. Ruby was terribly excited just to have her own hotel bed - wonder how long that will be a novelty! Once again we needed a new currency - so much for the Euro, so far we've had to get Malaysian Ringgit (understandable), Euro, Czech Crown, Polish Zloty and now Hungarian Forint.

Our first afternoon in Budapest was spent wandering around Pest - into the magnificent St Stephens where we saw the relic of St Stephen's mumified hand. For approx $2 you could make it light up.....bit strange really. On our second morning we visited one of the oldest baths at Gellert for a soak in the thermal waters. After much difficulty finding the door, then understanding the electronic system to unlock the changerooms, we hit the pools. There were pools of different temperatures ranging from air temperature to 38 degrees. It was especially lovely in the area with an obvious Turkish influence (the Ottomans were just one of the groups who ransacked then rebuilt Buda). Getting out of the baths was quite a comedy of errors as we  jammed the exit gate with Ruby's pram then Oscar was sent all the way back to the changeroom from the exit to unlock the changeroom door. A hearty lunch of goulash and beer at the central market calmed us again and reinvigorated us for a walk along the Daunbe.

The next day we visited the Castle up on Buda - lots of tourists - but beautiful buildings. The booklets claim this area has been rebuilt completely at least three times - not sure about this, some of the buildings seem older than WWII - I'll have to google it. A shame  they allowed Hilton to build an ugly 70s hotel amidst the castle buildings.

Ruby was disappointed that the princess at this castle was also asleep, although she was pleased to get a Budapest snow dome to replace the Krakow one which met an unfortunate end on the kitchen tiles last week.

KRAKOW

As you can see I'm catching up on a few days all at once. We drove to Krakow and after our experience crossing into the Czech Republic were so careful after getting the tollway sticker only to discover we didn't need one. Thanks to the GPS which has been invaluable we went straight to our hotel on the edge of the Old Town. The square here is huge - approx 200m each side. Krakow is a stunning city. We had three days there but could have filled many more. Rebecca and I went to Auschwitz which was in many ways not what we really expected, i didn't realise the main camp was actually within a town, i thought it would be out in the forest a little way. We had one women in our group at Auschwitz who continued to take photos of everything - even inside the gas chamber, despite the signs and directions from the guide...really rude and odd given the sombre tone of the place. A sobering experience but memorable and thought-provoking.


Oscar and Ruby wandered Old Town and found a huge park with four different playgrounds within. We discovered pirogi (Polish dumplings) - Ruby loved them and ate 10 each night. It was quite cool in Krakow and it's not even winter which apparently can get down to minus 25 degrees. The outdoor cafes in Krakow and the other places we've been to, have blankets on the chairs for patrons - we thought this was funny in Bratislava but we made use of them in Krakow. The drive home was almost 5 hours, a long stretch but lucky for us Mum and Dad were here with dinner ready for us when we arrived. That night Mum, Dad, Rebecca and I went to the opera, Nabucco in the beautiful old Opera House in Bratislava.

Chopin's piano....well sort of.

Term 4 has started, hope you're all enjoying it.

"go straight to the pirogi shop up here on the left:

MAMMA & DADDA ARRIVE

VIENNA

Rebecca and I spent  a day last week in Vienna, cramming in as many museums, attractions and pastries as we could. Of course we had to have the obligatory Wienner Schnitzel before heading back to Bratislava. After studying the film "The third man" in Literature this year, Rebecca was keen to see the Ferris Wheel and other sites featured in the film. Lunch was at Central Cafe - the favourite spot in the past for Sigmund Freud, Trotsky and Beethoven (not together obviously). We'll head back to Vienna at least once more  - it's only an hour away so is perfect for day trips.

Prague

We drove to Prague - Oscar driving, Emma not feeling confident of staying to the right at 130km per hour. Despite knowing we had to purchase a toll sticker on entering the Czech Republic, we were concentrating so hard on the road that we completely forgot and got pulled over by the police. We thought this was incredibly diligent of them until we realised they were happy to accept cash rather than write us a ticket or have us follow them to the station for a higher fine. This suited us too so Oscar handed over the Euro which disappeared under the policeman's hat. No wonder they do their job so vigilantly! We laughed all the way to Prague.

Prague was stunningly beautiful, particularly the spots on the hills overlooking the city where there were fewer tourists. The castle, the biggest castle complex in the world apparently, was amazing. Walking along the same cobblestone paths that Good King Wenceslas did seemed strange. Speaking of the good king, it seems even though he may have looked out his window on the feast of Stephen and helped that poor lad collecting wood, I'm not sure how good he really was - the Christmas carol fails to mention he also had a priest thrown to his death of the bridge for failling to reveal the Queen's confession. In the origin of Budvar (Budweisser) and pilsner, we did enjoy an ale; the sunny weather was encouraging. 

We visited an 11th century fortress on the hilltop - funny how we think 100 year old buildings in Melbourne are old! Both Dvorak and Smetana are buried at this beautiful spot. I drove back cautiously with Oscar saying "move over, move over" every 800m - it took me a while to feel comfortable on the RHS.

After sunny, T-shirt weather, today was miserable with cold winds and some rain - a nice day to spend at home. Hope you're all going well.

Bratislava

We made it to Bratislava - whata a long trip! The flight from Frankfurt to Vienna was with Niki Lauder's airline, Fly Niki, and when we boarded the plane we discovered Niki was actually the pilot. It may have been my imagination, but it did seem like a fast, smooth flight and landing, obviously a plane is nothing after a F1 car. In typical Austrian style we started to taxi onto the runway even though some passengers were not in their seats - nothing was going to stop the plane from leaving on time. Miro's cousin picked us up at the Vienna airport and drove us to Bratislava - less than an hour. The outskirts of the city are not that attractive - just like any city but with pretty communist looking, big concrete apartment blocks. The apartment we're in is great though, really close to the centre and very comfortable. We walked to the old town centre yesterday, it's really beautiful, so clean and well preserved - we didn't see any litter on the ground all day. The climb up to the castle was steep and on the way down realised we had taken the long route. Ruby was disappointed that we didn't see the princess who she imagined must live in the castle - she was apparently sleeping. On the way back to the apartment we stopped by a new shopping centre and Rebecca and I went to Emily's favourite store, H&M. Our grocery bill seemed lower than it is in Australia - prices do not seem as high as we had imagined. Even at the airport in Vienna coffee was cheaper than in Melbourne. Off to Prague in the next day or so. Dasviedanje!

Kuala Lumpur

Well here we are in KL. The flight was easy - thanks for the lift Mia and Paul. We thought we'd get more sleep than we did but they didn't turn the lights off until 2 hours after take-off and back on 2 hours before landing. Ruby very excited, Rebecca got the most sleep.

Science museum yesterday - really just a propaganda front for the local petroleum company but fun anyway - lots of buttons to push and information about the benefits of draining the earth of its natural resources! Today out to some limestone caves just out of town, up some 280 steps. Oscar carrying Ruby on his shoulders all the way up seemed an attraction in itself - the Chinese tourists loved it.

We are at a HUGE shopping centre now - Oscar and Ruby have gone back to the hotel for a swim. We couldn't find anywhere to see the AFL game last night - we checked the scores at the hotel internet until it went down just before half time - Oscar assumes Collingwood has won so doesn't want the scores.

Hot here of course, not too humid though, easy to walk around - although the footpaths are like obstacle courses - now I'm really glad we brought the off-road pram and not the stroller.

We'll posts again from Europe, xoxo



Noodles for breakfats - Malaysian style