08 June 2010

Germany - Romantic road (Romantische Strasse) and Black Forest

We travelled by train to Munich from Salsburg on the slow train - took about two hours but was really cheap - only Euro30 for both of us.

Arrived at 11:30 - talked to the Tourist info lady who was very helpful and then collected our hire car. Again the woman who helped us was great!

Driving in Germany is much more pleasurable than in France - the roads are wider, traffic flows better and Mark was happier!

Friedburg

We went to Freidburg first and had a coffee and look around, there was hardly a tourist to be seen. Prices were cheaper than most of what we have seen so far. After about an hour we moved on to Augsburg.

Augsburg


Augsburg was first established by Augustus Caeser. It's a large town but again no rushing of people. The tourist office found us some accommodation for the night where we could also park our car. It is a nice hotel and seems to belong to a church. The town has Mozart House like every other town in this part of the world. It seems that the only connection to Mozart is that his second cousins housekeeper was born here - no really it was his dad's house.



The town has three fountains running down the main street, it's called Fugger Strasse and the fountains whilst not as grand as some we have seen are very ornate. There is also a Fugger House and a Fugger Bank. Apparently the Fugger's were very prolific.



Tomorrow we are off to the Black Forest to find some cake!!

Schiltach



What a beautiful little town - just like the postcards and without many tourists. Shiltach is on the old Roman road between Salzburg and Rotweil. Buildings are of the "half wooded" style. That means they have a timber frame that is infilled with adobe.





We got a hotel (Gasthof Sonne) in the middle of town. It was hundreds of years old and a great place to stay. The breakfast was good too.







One of the most notable things about Schiltach is that it is the first town we've visited for a week that doesn´t have a Mozart house. Perhaps they haven't tried hard enough to make the connection.





Wolfach



Another beautiful town that we passed through. We looked for somewhere to park, but I didn't like the sound of this street.




Triberg



This was just a brief stop. It is full of tourists and cuckoo clocks. One positive is a waterfall nearly in the middle of town.











We had some Black Forest cake there.










Titisee



We stayed overnight here. It looks a bit like Wanaka in New Zealand - a town on the edge of a lake with alpine sports in winter and water sports in summer. If you think that sounds wonderful, you may be wrong.

Titisee feels a bit like the Gold Coast except with cheap beer and cuckoo clocks and NO surf. It has everything the uncultured mindless tourist could want. After a few hours we wished we had chosen a different overnight stop. We found somewhere to stay by following a sign to a guesthouse near the lake. An old lady swapped us a key for 50 euros. It included breakfast, so sounded like a bargain. We were the only guests, so we left the door open for ventilation while we discussed our travel plans. The old lady told us off for leaving the door open. We couldn´t understand her and she couldn´t understand us, but she got the message accross. Cranky old biddy. Now wonder the place was mostly empty.

On to Wurzburg

We were very happy to see the back end of Titisee as we drove off at high speed (as high speed as one can do in a Fiat Panda). Fortunately we had a GPS to tell us the best way to distance ourselves. The German highways are an interesting experience. Even when I got the Panda up to 150kph, other cars would fly past so fast that it seemed like we were still.

At one stage we passed a massive German army convoy heading east. `Here we go again`I thought to myself.

We found out that on this Saturday there will be a world cup soccer match between Germany and Australia. We are concerned that on the off chance that Oz wins, we may be lynched.

Wurzburg



Wurzburg also dates back to Roman times. Unfortunately our hotel was a bit cheap and crappy. The town is beautiful and friendly. Every time we would consult the guide map, the first passer-by would offer assistance then wish us a happy trip. The church in the photograph was nearly destroyed in World War 2. One spire is original. The other was rebuilt to roughly match.

It is the northern-most town of the Romantishe Strasse. Tomorrow we will be off to Rottenburg ob der Tauber.

Lauder Konigshoven

We found out today what 'einbahnstrasse' means. It explains a lot about why people keep looking at Mark strangely when he drives.

Rottenberg ob der tauber



The main road into the place was closed and we had to work out another way. The GPS was no help at all, we ended up driving around barriers and found our way. It was very nice and worth the mucking around.




Dinkelsbuhl




Drove to Dinkelsbuhl today - it was such a lovely town that we decided to stay for the night. Our accommodation was a bit more expensive than we have planned but it was worth it. It was a hotel called Meiser's. The bathroom was bigger than some of the rooms we had stayed in.







Germany is very serious about the world cup, everywhere you go there are cars with German flags and there are big screens set up in the middle of town to watch the matches. One positive was that they played lots of old Australian music for a few days.








As we walked around the town, we noticed strange chalk inscriptions on numerous doors. It looked like some kind of secret message that should fit in "The Da Vinci Code". We quizzed some locals. It seems it relates to some sections of the bible. It is written by Christians advertising their faith.



Nordilingen


This town is perfectly circular and surrounded by a complete wall, centered on a massive church. It sits in a massive meteorite crater. It was interesting to spend an hour or two there, but that was enough.











Schwanstein



About 150 years ago, King Ludwig of Bavaria decided to build himself a new castle although he already had one close by and more in Munich. Work on Neue Schwanstein castle progressed for some years before the government declared the King insane then arrested him. He died a day later. It seems he was probably murdered. His castle only has about 15 complete rooms, but they are very spectacular.





The weather was so gloomy, that we could barely make out the castle from the road. Getting to the castle involves parking the car, getting a tour ticket, getting a bus ticket, boarding the bus, waiting for your tour....... You might expect that German effiency would make this a streamlined simple process. Unfortunately that was not the case. Most of these steps involved a long queue, in the pouring rain. If the weather was good, we would probably have been happy to soak in the ambiance, but on this occasion, we just soaked. When we did see the castle, it was spectacular.



Fussen






By this stage it was late and we had no accommodation booked, so we drove around until we found a bed and breakfast. It was comfortable and cheap and had a backdrop of the alps in Austria. The next morning, we walked the streets of Fussen old town. It contains spectacular old buildings and numerous places to get food or coffee.




Schwanstein again


The weather cleared up so we swung by the castles again.


06 June 2010

Salsburg


Our first night in Salsburg, we stayed at a family-run hotel called Bloberger Hof. Its a bit out of town, and has spectacular views of the surrounding mountain ranges. From our room, we could see a cable car that runs up to the mountain so decided we'd have to try it. The day was clear, but unfortunately it was too late.



We went for a walk around the local area to a small town called Glanegg, then back to our hotel. By then we were thirsty so stopped at the restaurant across the road, where we had beer and cider (both huge) followed by a cheese platter(even more huge). Dinner was schnitzel and soup. Delicious.



Unfortunately the next day saw a patch of cloud hanging around the top of the mountain. It was enough to reduce the visibility to near-zero. We were still able to touch some snow (dirty ice), but it was still fun.

We then went off to spend the rest of the afternoon in the city. We went to the old town and went on a furnicular to visit a castle. It was quite steep - the castle was interesting and the views magnificent!






We walked around town for the afternoon and had pretzels with ham and cheese and another with apple - they were great! We also enjoyed one of the best ice creams I have ever tasted - cheap also at Euro1.5



Like Vienna this town has a Mozart house. We didn't visit it though. We walked around town until it was drink o'clock and stopped for a wine and spritzer (orange in colour - tasted like white wine with orange pith and soda water - apparently an Austrian specialty - tasted quite bitter though)

Vienna


We arrived in Vienna earlier than planned since we travelled by train instead of the ferry. The afternoon was spent wandering around the city and checking out the amazing buildings. It seems that every European city is competing to have the biggest and grandest buildings. It would be hard to top those in Vienna. The Parliment house is unbelievable. It has some kind of statue or decoration on every surface.








Signs told us that Mozart lived around here. We also visited the museum of natural history, which has a huge section devoted to Charles Darwin. They have many stuffed specimens of extinct or near extinct animals. One can't help but wonder if some of these creatures might still be around if museums had not stuffed so many.






We spent the rest of our time wandering around and window shopping the unaffordable brand names.

04 June 2010

Bratislava

Today was another travelling day. We went to Bratislava by train and arrived about 4:30, we took the bus to the Ibis hotel. It's only a few hundred metres from the old town. Once we had checked in, we went for a walk around the old town. It was interesting but compact with lots of quirky statues scattered around.

We ended up having dinner in a local Slovakian restaurant which just happened to have live music. The musicians were a violin; a cello; a keyboard and a clarinet player, it was great to have live music while we ate.

Mark chose a meal which was chicken liver and chicken breast, it was delicious. After dinner we went to a cocktail bar and tried Absynthe and then had a cocktail as well.

Unfortunately, we found out when we arrived in Bratislava that the ferry that we were supposed to be catching to Vienna had actually been cancelled for the next two days because of flooding on the Danube. So it looks like we will be training to Vienna instead of boating. At least we have blue sky again!!

03 June 2010

Budapest

We got off the train at the Keleti Pu station, not knowing where to go. Numerous people intercepted us on the platform offering us bargain apartments for just 30 euros per night. We listened to their arguments, but still visited the tourist information desk. Unfortunately, its not a government desk, so we were suspicious that they might be only telling us about a selected few of the hotels on offer.

Rather than being locked in to anything, we took the metro and checked out a few hotels for ourselves. In the end we ended up at one of the recommended hotels anyway. Its called the Cosmo Fashion hotel on the pedestrian street Vaci utca. The hotel is in a great location and when we mentioned the tourist info desk at the station, we got it for just 50 euros per night (including breakfast). Its by far the nicest place we have stayed to date.



It has rained most of the time we've been here, but despite that, its been a pleasant stay. The buildings are just as ornate as in Paris and its easier to get around. Also the people are friendly and helpful (that's very unfrench). Because it was raining, we spent almost a whole day inside the Gellert bath house. We spent one day wandering around the flat area(Pest) and another on the other side of the Danube in Buda which is hilly. It has a castle district enclosed by a wall. We also walked up o the citadel (800 steps - Ingrid counted). It is essentially a German bunker, built as the Russians were approaching in WW2. As you walk around the city, you can still see bullet holes in buildings from the war.




Just about every building has two carved lions and a few carvings of topless girls. We had coffee in the grandest coffee shop in the world. It is called the New York coffee shop and was built in about 1896. The coffee and cake cost about 30 euros, but it was worth it.

We originally planned to go to Krakow, Poland next, but there was servere flooding in that area.

For our train to Bratislava, Slovakia, we just rocked up to the station at about 10:00. Unfortunately the next train was not until 13:28.

Dubrovnik

I've wanted to visit Dubrovnik ever since I saw footage of it on TV in 1991. Unfortunately that footage was of it being blasted to bits by Serb artilliary. Almost every roof was destroyed and many buildings were completely levelled. It has now been mostly rebuilt to its former glory.

The streets are made of marble and the buildings of limestone. It is a beautiful place, completely surrounded by a massive stone wall. Unfortunately thousands of others have also discovered its beauty. Each day as man as 8 cruise ships berth nearby and the town can become overrun by tourists. Also, being in Eastern Europe, one might hope it's a cheap town. Not-so I'm afraid. Resturant food was not much cheaper than Australia. Most resturants seem to serve the same fare for the same prices.


Our acommodation (Villa Flora) was in Ulica Palmoticeva, in the heart of the old town. As you see from the street sign, there is plenty of wartime damage still evident around town. Villa Flora was very reasonable at 50 euros per night (including breakfast) and was clean and comfortable. Our hosts provided us with some home-made liquers such as cherry brandy and walnut brandy. All-in-all, it was a very pleasant place to stay.

Ingrid bought some hand-embroidered linen, but there weren't many other locally made things of interest.

On our third day, we visited the island of Lokrum (twenty minutes by ferry). It was quiet and peaceful and free of the hordes. We did a 7km walk around the island before settling into a relaxing bar/coffeeshop. They had an interesting menu.






I went for a swim in the Adriatic. It was clear and cool - so refreshing. When we queued up for the return ferry, a girl in a long dress shoved her way into the queue. I closed ranks , but she just pushed anyway. As she moved forward, I noticed I was standing on the hem of her dress while she tried to step onto the boat. It was comical as she almost bounced back. That's karma.

After three relaxing days, we were driven to the airport. The coastline is rugged and beautiful. Its much like the Amalfi coast of Italy without the chaos.

Just an hours flight later we arrived in Vienna for a brief stop before catching the train to Budapest. The Austrian planes have more room than any other plane we have been in so far.

27 May 2010

Sorrento to Dubrovnik


We had an early start at 5:45 to get to Dubrovnik. Our trip consisted of walking to the train station 20 mins then taking a train to Napoli 1 hour; taking a train to Caserta 1/2hour; taking another train to ?? (unexpectedly transferred to a bus for two hours to Foggia) then boarded the train again to Bari; spent 10 hours in Bari then took a ferry to Dubrovnik at 22:00hrs to 06:00hrs then a bus to the old town and here we are looking around Dubrovnik for three days. A bit worse for wear but after a good sleep tonight will be ready for more site seeing tomorrow.

We got into the Italian port of Bari at 2pm but it was closed. You could have fired a cannon down the street and nobody would have flinched. We wondered if it was a public holiday. As it turned out it was just siesta time. The town came back to life a few hours later. It has a street of all the fashion brands, but without very many tourists.

We bought an ice cream that seemed like a bargain. Unfortunately they were quite bland and the colours didn't match the flavours.