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

Prague Street Architecture

Prague Cathedral

 

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

Window in Old Town

Uprising Memorial

 

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

University Square

Vivaldi

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

 

Castle

 

 

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

St. Stephens Cathedral

Parliament

 

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).

 

 

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