INTERAIL
TRIP 2004
THE CITIES
This is a record of an Interail trip round Eastern Europe
from the 4th to 25th May 2004.
I am 60, my wife is a little younger.
We like eating, walking round town and a certain amount of culture. We also
like a reasonable degree of comfort.
Although we travelled quite
early in the season, this is actually pretty much peak time, though rail travel
gets busier in July-August. My son took a similar the trip round the whole of Europe
during that time, and found long queues when he came to book seats (see later).
We flew to Prague, and then used rail to Warsaw, Krakow, Bratislava,
Budapest, and back to Prague again. Our favourite was definitely Prague – it is large enough to keep you interested for
several days, but small enough to walk round much of it. There is very good and
cheap public transport; it has a lot of pedestrian areas, good cheap food and
drink, and its just beautiful. Warsaw was interesting, with a lovely old town. Krakow
also had a great old town square, but was incredibly crowded. Bratislava was lovely, but quite small. Budapest was impressive, but on a large scale, and not so
accessible.
After our Cyclades trip last year, we
found it much more like hard work on the trains. Although we travelled light
with a small trolley case each, we had to negotiate a lot of stairs, ramps and
passages at the stations. We also had to book seats on most journeys, so as
soon as we got to a station, we had to tramp around to find where to book them
– sometimes quite a long way, before we could get to our hotel. We also mostly
had to take taxis to and from hotels, since they were some distance from the
stations. Even the train journeys were quite hard going – Prague to Warsaw was 9 hours, and we mostly had to stay in the
carriage with our cases. Plus, as we soon realised, trains through East Europe are mostly through flat territory, with not a lot of interesting
scenery. Poland – like Russia – consists of huge tracts of birch forests with
occasional small settlements. Until you get to Katowice, which looks a pretty grim mining town from the train
tracks. There are some better journeys, but then they tend to be very slow –
(e.g. 4 hours for Krakow to Zakopane), so we didn’t
have time for them.
The weather was
disappointing, with several cold and cloudy days, and quite a bit of rain at
times. One of the many painters touting their wares in Warsaw old town told me that they often have a poor spell in
the first ten days of May.
Hotels. We stayed in 3 or 4 star hotels near the town centre – not
cheap, but it makes sightseeing a lot easier if you only have a few days.
Standards were generally pretty good, with most having air con, fridges and
hair dryers, but not coffee making equipment. We got fresh towels daily.
Several hotels had their own taxi service that would take you to the station,
but they charged for it. Its worth it however, since it avoids the prevalent
danger in these parts of being ripped of by a taxi driver.
Trains. We travelled second class, which
was perfectly adequate. All except the train from Krakow to Katowice were good quality carriages, and
mostly they were not very crowded. Budapest to Bratislava was busy, but Prague to Warsaw was pretty quiet.
As mentioned previously, you
need to book seats for most journeys – though when we tried to book Budapest to Prague, we were told “not necessary”, only to find that
quite a few seats were in fact reserved – but no problem, there were plenty
empty. Language can be a problem in Warsaw and Budapest, so we armed ourselves with a phrase book so we could
write down what we wanted – including “window” and “no smoking”. Stations were
quite big, and tended to have lots of stairs. Prague was quite modern, with
stalls selling sandwiches (though better to buy in town before you get there).
Others were a bit basic, though Budapest, strangely, had an ice cream counter as well as a
coffee bar. Remember too that continental trains have a large gap between train
and platform, which makes it tricky to get your case off and on. Food and drink
on the trains was very limited, so we took snacks on the longer journeys. Even
though the countries we travelled through had all just joined the EC, there
were stops at all the borders, with inspectors from both sides examining
passports. On some journeys we had to show tickets or passports five or six
times. One of the things that struck us was the ubiquitous graffiti visible from
the trains (and also in the cities) – some of quite artistic, but some just a
mess. We wondered if this was the only way the citizens could voice their
protests in the old Communist days.
Buses, Trams, Metros and Taxis. We used trams and metro in Prague, buses in Warsaw and metro in Budapest – partly because these were
convenient for our hotel locations. All are cheap and frequent, but it helps if
you pick up a transport guide from the airport, train station or metro station
as the buses and trams have lots of different lines. You need to buy tickets
from machines, shops or kiosks before travelling, and validate them (at
stations for metro, or on the bus / tram). Taxis are best avoided unless they
are arranged by the hotel – overcharging is frequent, though you can be lucky –
and the basic rate is actually quite cheap. Even the ‘rip off’ rate is not much
more than you would pay in the UK, but it should be a third to a
half of that. We tried to get a taxi from the Holesovice
station in Prague to our hotel - about a mile or so, and were first quoted £12,
then £10, finally £8 – all by different drivers sidling up to us when we
rejected the previous one. We eventually took the metro for 25p each.
Internet Cafes are in all the towns, plenty in Prague and Krakow, and enough in the others. ATMs are also
commonplace – all the train stations had them, though the one in Budapest was not working. Credit cards are accepted, but not
always in the smaller restaurants, so it is easier to use cash most of the
time.
Toilets were sometimes hard to find, but were generally clean
Food tends to be somewhat solid central European, with
cabbage featuring heavily. In one restaurant we asked what the main course came
with – “potatoes” we were assured, so ordered a mixed salad. When the meal
arrived, sure enough there were the potatoes, also red cabbage and sauerkraut;
and the mixed salad – also red cabbage and sauerkraut. Even Chinese food comes
with a portion of cabbage. Goulash is worth going for, and the pork or veal is
good – my only venture into fish (Carp) was a disaster. For lunch most cities
had plenty of kebab stalls which served quick and tasty kebabs for a pound or
two – not as good as the Cyclades, but not bad. There are also McDonalds and other fast
food chains if you need them. Ice cream stalls varied – good in Prague, not so good in Bratislava. Wine is expensive in Prague, Warsaw
and Krakow, but can be cheap in Bratislava. Surprisingly, it is also quite pricey in Budapest, but then most things were more expensive there.
Beer, of course, is the thing to drink – especially in Prague where the Urquell and Budvar are excellent, but then so is the Radegas and Staropramen – you
can’t get bad beer in Prague. It also costs about 40-50p per 500ml. Beer is also
good and cheap in the other cities.
Prague
Old Town Square
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Prague
Street Architecture
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Prague Cathedral
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PRAGUE
We took the Cedaz van (300k) from the airport
to our apartment – a super location north of the old town square. The apartment
was smart, but a little lacking in some amenities (info@visitprague.cz). I was pleased to
discover that Kolkovna - the top recommended
pub/restaurant on the Prague post web site was
very close by. Super goulash soup and Pilsner beer – try the dark variety for a
change. We took the tram to the castle area as its
quite a climb up there, then walked up through the Monastery and gardens and
took the funicular down to the river and trams. The whole area of the castle
and below (Mala Strana) is
lovely, and not too crowded. The old town square is delightful, as is the Charles Bridge, though both are
crowded. Wenceslas square was a bit of a let down – shops and fast food, but
not very attractive. We went to a ‘Black Light’ theatre – dancers hidden in
black costumes, with fluorescent highlights, a speciality
of Prague and well worth a
visit. There are an enormous number of music concerts
in Prague – several every
day held in halls, castles, churches etc. – mainly for tourists, but still
worth going to. Be warned that the ticket office in the Opera building doesn’t
take plastic, and there isn’t an ATM nearby either (that’s why we never got to
the opera in Prague). Food and transport
are cheap in Prague, but entrance to
Theatres and museums are more expensive.
On our return to Prague, we stayed in the Tulip
near the main station. The room was large and comfortable (aircon,
tea/coffee equipment, heated towel rail) but next to busy road junction, though
with good sound insulation we managed to sleep well. We used the metro and bus
back to the airport – only 16k for the whole trip, though it wound about
through residential areas and country roads.
Warsaw Old Town
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Window
in Old Town
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Uprising
Memorial
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WARSAW
Once we found the booking office upstairs in the station, we managed to
book the next train ok - words on paper helped. A taxi to our hotel (Orbis Europejski –
art deco) was only 10 zl. We were in room 224 (large,
quiet, 60s styling - bed comfy, bath fair, fridge). Breakfast good but not hot.
Service erratic. A capuccino in town cost12 zl. The hotel is a good location, backing onto gardens, and
not far from the old town – a fantastic reconstruction of the original which
was flattened during the war. Our first day was Sunday, and the churches were
full of people. The Royal castle was free on Sunday, and another very
impressive reconstruction well worth a visit.
Took a walk to the Warsaw
uprising monument - very impressive and moving. We thought we would splash
out on a smart restaurant in the old town square for dinner, so tried the Bayzelisk, but it was very
overpriced - £4 water, wine £14, and the food not good enough. We did much
better next day at a ‘buffeto’ near the hotel, with
potatoes pancake, pork Amerikanski, beer and coffee
64 zl for two (about £10), with service from a smiley
lady - excellent value. Also bought a bottle of ‘Bison’ vodka - flavoured
with grass that the Bison apparently like to eat – pleasant, though I’m not
sure it went well with tomato juice. Eastern Europe seems very keen on
fruit and vegetable juices of all kinds – there is a large range in the shops,
and for breakfast there was always carrot juice as well as two or three others.
We took bus 180 to Wilanow (about 20 mins, it stops there at station and turns round near
McDonalds). The Palace was good value with many beautiful rooms. Outside, the
park was limited – the orangery was closed. We took
the bus back to Lazienski park - large but not
brilliant – the palace was being worked on. You can walk right back to the town
centre through the parks. The brown signs on Ujazdowskie
pavement show the distance between places along the way.
Out of curiosity we visited the Palace of art & science – a huge
monument to the soviet era (a ‘present’ from the Russian people – one they
couldn’t refuse). Inside there was an interesting and moving exhibition on the
Solidarity movement.
Krakow Square
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University
Square
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Vivaldi
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KRAKOW
By now the taxi rides had gone up to 20zl – still reasonable and took us
to the excellent Holiday Inn (smart, quiet) on Wielople
St. – another really good location a short walk from the old town square. We
had a pleasant room with aircon. and 2 comfy beds on
the ground floor, though no view. Rrynek Glowny (town square) is very impressive, but for some
reason seemed to be full of school trips and other youngsters (shouldn’t be
allowed, dammit). We also had rotten weather, cloudy,
cold and rainy. Still, dinner at Chopske Jadlo was enjoyable – a free starter of curd cheese and
pork crackling followed by Bigos. Bigos
is a Polish speciality sort of cabbage casserole –
worth trying, once. You might also want to try Pierogi,
which are a kind of large ravioli – typical solid food, but freshly made and
quite satisfying. We had an after dinner drink at Zlota
Pipa – look out for it, an attractive cellar bar where
a coffee, brandy and orange juice can be had for 20 zl.
We saw the Wawel castle state rooms –
impressive but on the heavy side, and for a non Polish dinner went to the busy
‘Sphinx’, where the shoarma, chips, bread (and more
cabbage) were very good.
Our activities were limited by the weather, but our visit coincided with
some kind of festival, with student parades, dances and music, and we happened
by chance to catch a performance of Vivaldi in the
courtyard of the Jagiellonian University. Outside the town
square area there isn’t really a lot to Krakow – we walked round
the Jewish quarter, but were not impressed. It is supposed to be an up and
coming area, I guess its still coming.
BRATISLAVA
The weather improved while we were here, which is one reason why we
enjoyed it, along with the fact that we could walk easily round the whole
centre from the Forum hotel – yet another good location (all that
internet research was paying off). The Forum is a smart, upmarket
place favoured by business suits, but also suited us
very well. They offered cheap massage at the health centre, but the masseur
also doubled up as receptionist, so was frequently interrupted.
Bratislava centre is
completely pedestrianised, and a pleasure to walk
round, with lovely buildings everywhere. We are not opera buffs, but decided we
had to try it here, and went to see Aida (seats about £15, very good
position, plush but not comfortable after 3 hours). The opera building is
lovely inside, very ornate, and the whole experience was excellent.
We crossed over nove most which
gave good views along the Danube, and later climbed up to the
Castle art museum. Dinner at Frankisteni
seemed promising with pleasant live music, but a large group was in progress
nearby, and service was hopelessly slow.
As the weather by now was sunny and almost hot, we took a boat trip up
the Danube to Devin (130k each) - 2 hrs up, 30 minutes back. We
skipped the castle at Devin, but ventured a little way along a pleasant wetland
walk. Later we visited the Municipal museum – a very nice blend of exhibits,
and the Primates Palace with its
impressive hall of mirrors.
BUDAPEST
Across the Danube
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St. Stephens Cathedral
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Parliament
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The station at Budapest was large and busy,
with a long walk to reservations, which we then didn't need. I couldn’t
negotiate a taxi fare, so ATM broken. Taxi 1000-1500? So we took the metro,
which was crowded with very deep escalators. A short walk brought us to the Art’otel - plush, arty, and full. We got the
last room, 209 end of corridor, nice but noise from cooling equipment, and
eventually changed to 301, quieter and lovely view of the castle above. For
dinner the first night we went to a modern Italian place near the metro station
for a pizza, salad, beers and coffee (6000 f). We took a long walk over the
chain bridge and were somewhat surprised that we had to avoid speeding cyclists..
The Funicular to the castle had a long queue and was quite pricey. The
whole castle and palace area was busy and crowded, though with lovely views
over the river and city. Once again we braved the cyclists on the chain bridge
and went over for dinner at the Ambassador by the river - very busy
(wiener schnitzel, medallions, salad, wine, beer coffee 7850f)
St. Stephen’s cathedral is worth seeing - huge, glitzy, dark, and free.
We walked Andrassy street and saw the opera, oktogon, park, castle, baths – pleasant, but a long hike.
The best building was the Parliament (now free for EU citizens, take your
passport, but my driving license did the trick). It was magnificent inside –
far too good for a parliament. In the evening we went nearby to a Folklor show (Hungarian state company) – absolutely superb,
high standard, colorful, very energetic lovely music. We finished up with
dinner at our hotel - busy but good service and good food (duck, steak, wine,
coffee 11000f).