Author Archives: Miss Penny Black

Unexpected Events.

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Luke and I went out for a walk this morning and tried to find the ‘river trail’. How hard could it be? It follows a river! We walked to the other end of town, which is uphill all the way, and crossed the road to the ski fields. We found the end of the forest walk, which we’d tried to do yesterday but failed, but no sign of the river trail.

We struck off across the muddy, grass slopes in what we hoped was the right direction, but I didn’t last long. Water seeped into my shoes and I decided to turn back. Luke keep going but didn’t find the trail and turned back later on.

I really think we’re here too early in the year. The higher mountain trails only open for walking around the first of July and right now every path is full of running water or boggy with mud. Disappointing, but there’s not much we can do about it. Danka, the manager, suggested bike riding to another town and then catching the bus back. But having seen the tiny, packed buses I’m not sure I’m comfortable with the idea of hoping that there’ll be room for two bikes.

Anyhow, the day’s excitement really started when I got back to the hostel to find everyone in a flap. The two Canadian girls had taken Wally for a walk and he’d been bitten by a snake. He’d come most of the way back with them but then disappeared when they got close to the hostel. The girls and Danka went out looking for him and there was no sign for ages. We looked up the snakes (they’d seen two) online and thought that it was probably a European viper, which is venomous but not usually deadly.

Danka eventually found Wally and brought him back. Half his face was swollen and he was shaking dreadfully. We all patted him while we waited for the taxi and now they’re heading to the nearest big town and hopefully something can be done for Wally. If his facebook page is any indicator, he’s a very popular dog who’d be very sadly missed.

Fingers crossed!

Chilling out in Zdiar, Slovakia.

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The last couple of months (I can’t believe we’re 2 months down… 7 to go!) have been pretty hectic and the last month particularly. The longest we’ve stayed in one place in Europe was Cesky Krumlov for 4 nights. I don’t mean to imply that we’re feeling exhausted or are sick of traveling. In fact I’m surprised at how well things have been going and how effortless our journey has (mostly) been.

But you do get sick of having to re-pack the bag every few days and the actual traveling parts, while interesting (or in some cases cramped, stinky and confusing) are tiring and so having 5 nights to relax in a gorgeous alpine village is a welcome break.

To make it all the more enjoyable, the Ginger Monkey has two dogs and a cat. Luke and I are both mildly allergic to cats but it hasn’t been in the bedroom and we’ve felt fine so far. The dogs, Wally and Chuba (I’m just going to call her that because I can’t pronounce her name)) are delightful. I had no idea how much I was missing my own dog until then.

Wally!

We went for a walk this morning up a nearby ridge to take in the view. The ground was very soft and there’s a lot of snow melt running down the gullies, which wasn’t great for Luke as he only has runners and no boots. Wally came with us and wanted us to throw things for him – plastic bottles, too-large sticks, a shoe sole and a rock that was almost as big as a half brick (we didn’t throw the rock). He was pronking all over the place and making us laugh. Then he found a huge stick and kept running past Luke, banging him in the ankles with it, which made me laugh. Luke not so much.

Anyhow, I can’t wait to get to the UK so we can travel a bit lighter after ditching some stuff at Matt’s place. But for now we’re having to live with a bit of chaos.

I blame the fact that there is nowhere to hang anything for the dreadful state of our room.

Budapest to Slovakia

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This morning we found our taxi driver asleep in his car outside our hotel, which was kind of funny. What wasn’t funny was being taken the long way to the station  – about 3 times as far as we’d walked the previous day to buy our tickets. Le sigh.

Early morning light at Keleti station.

Still, we found our train and, after being asked to move seats, realised that there was an allocation system that we weren’t part of so we found some unoccupied seats and got comfortable. Hungarian trains are pretty nice and the toilet was decent too. Unlike toilets on Vietnamese trains, which are full of water. Full on a train. Don’t get me started.

Anyhoo. The hostel website was full of confidently brief directions on how to get there via public transport so we didn’t do all the research we should’ve. Note to selves and other travelers: if you’re taking trains in non-English speaking countries don’t just work out where you’re getting on and off, look at the last stop on your line because that’s what the signs will say. No problem with our first train as it stopped at Kosice on the border. Unfortunately our next stop, Poprad, wasn’t the final stop on that line so in the 15 minutes we had to make the connection there was a bit of stressful hurrying about trying to work out which train we wanted. Not ideal when you’re carrying all your worldly possessions on your back.

We found the right train, though, and then got off at Poprad. About 20 minutes before Poprad the view goes from flat fields to OMG! MOUNTAINS! Big, jagged, snow covered mountains. Since this is something I can’t ever recall seeing in such magnitude and at such close proximity previously I was very impressed.

With luck and our last few euros we hopped on the bus to Zdiar and made it to our hostel, the Ginger Monkey. This place was recommended by our friend Ben, who was here a while back. Probably not at the same time of year though – it’s just us and one other guy here at the moment, with a girl arriving tomorrow. I don’t mind a bit of quiet though and it’s a stunning place to have a break.

With no restaurants open during weekdays in the off season, we walked down to the local mini mart with the hostel’s dog, Wally, and bought ingredients for tuna pasta. This will be the second from-scratch meal I’ll have made in two months.

After bringing our food back we took both dogs for a wander, hoping to find the river walk. Miraculously, in a village with two streets, we managed not to find it and lost both dogs along the way. No doubt they’re off greeting all the other dogs we passed – there’s more dogs here than people if our walk was anything to go by.

I’m saving the mountain photos for tomorrow. Tonight will be maybe a movie and then definitely and early night. Hopefully there’ll be blue skies for a nice long walk tomorrow.

Last Night in Budapest.

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I mentioned about a week ago that we’d met two Americans when we were staying in Munich. Daniel and Maggie burst into our dorm room with mugs they’d stolen from the Hofbrauhaus and we knew right away they were our kind of people. Both of them are super friendly and outgoing and told us that if we made it to Budapest, where they are studying, they would meet up with us.

Last night we arranged to meet them at Szimpla Kertmozi, Budapest’s oldest ruin pub and surely one of the town’s most unusually decorated buildings. There is a big central courtyard with all kinds of things hanging from the walls and then there are two stories of rooms and little bars and all kinds of weird and interesting spaces.

We sat down and had a drink and Maggie and her friend Steph arrived first, then Daniel shortly after. We tried some… polinska, I think it was called, a raspberry flavoured liquor that is done as a shot. Maggie recommended it but it turned out to be a different drink to the one she’d known and didn’t taste quite as expected (was strong though!).

From the left, Daniel, Steph, Maggie and Luke.

Later we had a different spirit that was more of an aniseed flavour and that also was extremely strong. Despite the fact that Szimpla had cider on tap (first cider since Melbourne!) I moderated my drinking and was able to get Luke out the door in time to get back to our hotel for 6 or so hour’s sleep before our 5am wake up call.

Luke and Daniel in the uncoveted bathtub couch.

We had a great night with Maggie, Steph and Daniel. Hearing about their travel experiences and how they came to study in Hungary was really interesting. Hopefully we might catch up with them again in the US as they’ll be back by the time we get over there. If you’re reading this, guys, a big thanks from Luke and myself – one of our best nights out so far this year :).

Budapest!

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We arrived in Budapest after a long and sleepy bus ride and found our hotel (not hostel! Hurrah!), the Central City Hotel. It’s pretty basic – a shared bathroom (one shower for each sex) on each floor – but clean and, most importantly, quiet. Well, apart from being able to hear the shower and toilet in the men’s bathroom which is in the next room. This is why earplugs are so important when you travel.

Luke waiting for the bus in Vienna.

We unpacked then headed to a restaurant that was recommended by the Lonely Planet – Luke has the ap on his phone that has proven quite handy. The restaurant was great, just a block back from the sparkling Danube. There were tables outside on the footpath and they served traditional Hungarian food. My creamy chicken and bacon dish was fantastic and the serving sizes were big but manageable. The afternoon was lovely and warm and we wandered back to the hotel feeling very kindly towards Budapest.

It might not look like anything fancy, but it was delicious!

Our first full day here we slept in late then walked a few blocks towards downtown to buy tickets for the hop on, hop off bus we’d seen online. There are at least 3 different bus companies doing the major tourist stops here. The red and yellow ‘giraffe’ buses we’d chosen were a bit rickety and the commentary was average – at one point it mentioned a political leader who’d been executed but didn’t say why, then spent a minute giving us the dimensions of a cathedral in metres – *yawn*.

We got off at the castle, from which there was a nice view and a bunch of little towers and walkways that looked like they were made from sand. We stopped for a piece of cake at the little cafe where a string quartet was playing. The violinist wandered over and asked if we had any requests so we gave a few and they played them, then we bought their CD so Luke could use the music for our videos.

We wandered around the balconies to look at the view and saw a bunch of teenagers leaning over the edge and dropping coins, and then bottle tops and who knows what else onto a lady who was busking below. We went over and I told them off, even though they didn’t understand most of what I was saying. A couple of girls in their group pulled them away and we hung around for a few minutes to make sure they didn’t come back. I wish I’d seen their teachers so I could’ve told them what I thought of their students.

We hopped back on the bus and then off again at the Citadella, which has, perhaps, the best view of Budapest – you can certainly see the broadest panorama from there. The bus was supposed to stop there for 10 minutes for photos so we got off but missed getting back on before it left. The next bus, half an hour later, drove right by us, which was both confusing and annoying as we had no idea why it didn’t stop.

Turns out there were two possible stopping places for buses and we’d waited at the wrong one, despite the fact that this was where our bus had stopped. Grrr. When I complained, when we finally got on the next one, the girl said ‘Yeah, that happens,’ and advised me to ring their office. Um, no. I’ll just complain about it on Tripadvisor, thanks. Then other people are more likely to avoid this problem (and possibly this company).

We headed back to the hotel for a break and to pick up our swimmers because we were going to the public baths.

Budapest is set on natural thermal springs and the city is dotted with public baths. We headed to the nearest, Szechenyi. This is the only one that is open after 6 or 7pm and it has 3 large outdoor pools as well as other smaller indoor ones. We took our own towels as it costs money to hire them, and jumped in the pool that was about 34 degrees. It was perhaps 18 degrees outside at that time of night so the water temperature was lovely. In the middle of our pool was a horseshoe shaped enclosure which sporadically turned on jets that made a whirlpool effect. It was fantastic! Luke really liked it and went around lots of times.

Lots of the locals went around too – we’d chosen a really good time to go because there was only maybe 20 other people in the pool with us. I can imagine that in summer or on weekends it would’ve been a crush.

There were also lights in the pool underwater that changed colour. Along with the Victorian architecture the whole scene was very lovely. The sky was clear so we could see the almost-full moon in the sky too. I wished I’d taken my camera, as no one seemed to mind people taking photos but we took a few with Luke’s phone, which will have to do.

I forgot to mention that we had dinner at a very nice outdoor cafe on our way to the pool. It was full of people smoking shisha pipes, which is a much more pleasant smell than cigarettes. The place smelled like jellybeans, actually. I had a raspberry schnapps and apple juice drink with frozen raspberries in it. Delicious!

Today we’ve slacked off – we had an unplanned sleep in til 11am. Which is what you get after staying up til 1am watching Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (I have to watch them all before we get to the UK as I want to go to the exhibition because I’ve heard it’s good), which, btw, is pretty creepy. I’m not sure I’d be letting children watch it, what with all the stuff that happens in the lake.

Anyhoo, we realised that we hadn’t actually bought our train tickets and whatnot to Poprad for tomorrow. When Luke got online it turns out you can’t order them the day before through Europe Rail. Lucky for us, because we walked to the station and got the tickets for half the online price! Apparently being disorganised does pay off occasionally.

Most of the rest of the afternoon has been spent buying enormous blocks of Milka to keep us sustained on our 6 hour journey to the Ginger Monkey in Zdiar and catching up with online stuff. Tonight we’re going to a ruin pub named Szimpla Kertmozi with our American connections, Daniel and Maggie from Munich. Well, really they’re from Budapest since they’re studying here. Daniel has already been super helpful with suggestions of things to do here, and I feel that there’s a great deal of interesting stuff that we’ve missed and I’d definitely like to come back.

The range of Milka you can get here is another reason to come back.My favourite so far: nougat and toffee – *swoons*.

I think that, for our 9 weeks or so later in the year that we have to jump around Europe, I’ll definitely be trying to budget at least 3 full days everywhere. Feeling that you’re rushed, or are missing out is far worse than having a spare day or half day to spend relaxing or on the net if there’s not much to do. It takes at least one full day to get orientated and work out where things are and how to get around, which doesn’t leave much time in a three night stay to see much else. The benefits of such a long trip, I guess, are being able to learn lessons like this and then have the time to apply them.

Next stop, Slovakia!