From the Alps, we flew back to Bristol but had a quick turnaround (just enough time to wash all our underwear) before flying back out to Europe the next day. For the next 2.5 weeks, we plan to explore some more of the capital cities of Central & Northern Europe:
- Budapest (Hungary)
- Bratislava (Slovakia)
- Vienna (Austria)
- Riga (Latvia)
- Tallinn (Estonia)
- Petersburg (Russia) (ok, not a capital, but close enough for now)
- Helsinki (Finland)
And yes, we were fully aware that February is not exactly peak season for visiting these places, but this is the time we have off and at least it means things are cheaper and less crowded… We also decided to go hand-luggage only to make the multiple transfers easier and cheaper. Turns out, there’s not many winter layers you can fit in a hand luggage bag, so we had to adopt an ‘agile’ packing strategy – expect to see lots of pictures of us in the same outfit over the coming blogs!
A train to Reading followed by a coach took us to Heathrow, where we flew to our first stop: Budapest.
We had two full days in the capital of Hungary, and wanted to make the most of it, so the first morning we joined a free (tips-based) walking tour. These free tours seem to be quite popular now in many places around Europe, and it does work quite well for both sides – whilst the guides probably earn less per person than a paid tour, they get far higher numbers (90 people turned up on our day in Budapest, split amongst 3 guides) and don’t have the admin faff of handling bookings etc., whilst for us it’s a lower cost way to see somewhere that doesn’t need any pre-planning. Our guide was engaging and funny (certainly aware he’s having to earn his money), and it was a really good way to get a handle on Budapest in a couple of hours, especially as we were starting from a position of effectively zero knowledge of the history of the city or what there was to do! (Embarrassingly, we also only realised on arrival that Hungary, despite being in the EU, does not use the Euro but rather the Hungarian Forint! Doh!) The only problem was that it was -1 degrees outside and so after 2 hours of mostly standing around we were more than a bit chilly, so welcomed a lunch stop. This was where one of the only bits of pre-planning we had done came in useful – Jeni has become mostly vegan since Christmas, and so had found a few well-rated vegan cafes / restaurants in each of the cities we were going to. We started with the ‘Hummus Café’ – which lived up to its name and served 25+ variations of hummus. Delicious and warm!
That evening, after a tactical sleep to refresh (skiing is hard work, and takes time to recover from it seems!), we explored the much celebrated Budapest nightlife. Budapest is known for ‘ruin pubs’, which are pubs in old bombed-out buildings with ‘unusual’ decoration everywhere, and our hotel, in the Jewish Quarter, was slap bang in the middle of them. Whilst some, a product of their own success, have evolved into more of a tourist magnet (they can’t be that hipster if us bumbling tourists have easily found our way in), they are certainly ‘alternative’ and make a fun, quirky night out. Combined with other interesting bars and restaurants in a compact series of side streets, this trendy neighbourhood made for a great (and cheap!) night out which was definitely our cup of tea! Top marks for Budapest.
The next day, in order to efficiently combine sight-seeing with exercise, we went for a long run past the Hungarian Parliament and around Margrit Island. It was once again very cold outside, so we put on all our sports gear before venturing out (2 pairs of leggings for J!). The parliament building was very impressive (modelled on, but even bigger than, the UK parliament – it was built for pre-WWI Hungary so a country 3x larger than it is today), whereas Margrit Island was disappointingly quite dilapidated. It was an attractions park in the Soviet days, but most of the water slides / tennis courts etc. seem to have been left to decay so are now very rundown. There was a lot of rebuilding work going on though so maybe they’re starting to get the money to renovate the island again? One thing they have completed is a 5km running track around the outside of the island, using a proper ‘bouncy’ running surface, which our knees appreciated versus the concrete pavement!
After we’d got back from the run and warmed up a bit, we set out for the final ‘must do’ in Budapest – a trip to the hot baths. There are several different bath houses around Budapest, and we went to the Gellert baths which is one of the most famous. The building housing the baths was beautiful of itself, and whilst we had a few awkward minutes figuring out where you got changed and then how to get into the baths from the changing rooms, it was worth it to experience the multiple hot baths, saunas, cold pools (great ice bath run recovery) and there was even an outdoor pool. (Unfortunately, there was a man looking through the fence by the outside pool, who then proceeded to start taking photos of any girls as they were getting in and out, which ruined the relaxing atmosphere somewhat… super creepy).
Our second and final evening consisted of stopping at a vegan café called Vega City (where Rich continued to discover that vegan food really doesn’t have to be boring!) and an awesome wine-tasting cruise on the Danube, where we sampled 7 different Hungarian wines floating past the Budapest sights all lit up. A pretty special way to spend Valentine’s night, even in spite of the heart shaped balloons and table scatter!
All too soon, it was time to head to our next stop. We had a great time in Budapest – there was a lot to see and do (we could easily have spent a couple more days and many more evenings there!) and so definitely plan to come back in the summer time to experience the outdoor bars and parks in their full glory.
15 – 17 Feb: Bratislava
The next morning we checked out and headed over to the central train station (stopping by our last Bupdapest sight on the way – the beautiful St Stephen’s cathedral). Given how close the capitals of Hungary and Slovakia are, we had decided to catch the 3hr train between the two rather than have the faff of flying – and what a great decision that was as we trundled through miles of pretty, snowy countryside! We arrived in Bratislava around 2pm and again opted to walk the few miles to our accommodation – which was a self-catered apartment type place this time – before spending the rest of the day exploring the tiny rustic ‘Old Town’. Tiny being the operative word – as we probably could have leisurely covered every cobble in less than an hour! However, Bratislava’s compact size meant we spent a large majority mingling with the locals in the surrounding areas – which we loved. Doing this, we discovered an amazing tiny vegan restaurant (that is not even on TripAdvisor! Whhaaat?!) where we had the best vegan burgers yet! SO much yum! For the evening we opted to head back to the flat, via Slovakian Tesco (“No sir, we only accept the Slovak Clubcard”), for a chilled evening watching Arsenal in the Champions league (unfortunately get thrashed 5-1 L).
Having started the tradition in Hungary, we decided it would be fun to go on a run along the Danube in each city we visited, so the next morning we donned all our exercise gear again (!) and set out … into VERY dense fog! So much for the lovely views down the river – we could have been running anywhere to be honest – but a sprinkling of snow on the ground was a novelty at least. That afternoon we ventured up the hill to the castle where one could catch “amazing views of the city and river”. Instead, zero view and extreme cold! Still, we also haven’t yet found the “hoards of day-trip tourists” that they also warn against in the tiny winding streets, so you win some, lose some. That evening, making the most of having a bit of our own space and not having to eat out every night, we had a home cooked dinner of soup, sausages and noodles (haute cuisine), and relaxed with a movie and some (surprisingly good, and astonishingly cheap) Slovakian wine.
Overall, we really enjoyed the small-town vibe of Slovakia’s capital and the ability to quickly get a feel for Bratislavan life (possibly due to the limited formal ‘sights’). Whilst we would have easily enjoyed whiling away more than our couple of nights here, you can certainly get a decent overview in 24hrs, and indeed we could see why many people opt to visit Bratislava on short day trips from Vienna, only a 1hr train ride away – which also happened to be our next stop!
17 – 19 Feb: Vienna
Friday morning, we were up early to get on such a train to hop over into Austria – time to explore the much bigger Vienna! After hearing so much about the ‘Austro-Hungarian empire’ that has heavily influenced the history of the previous two countries – we were looking forward to seeing the epicentre of it all.
After walking from the central station to our hotel on a big shopping street just outside of the main tourist area, we were too early for check in so dropped our bags (with the HAPPIEST Austrian receptionist) and immediately walked over to the Schönbrunn Palace. Again, struggling to find the much warned against crowds and 3hr ticket queues (!!!) we opted for the longest ‘Grand Tour’ option, which involved following an audio guide around 40 of the 1000 rooms in the summer palace, gaining a mind-boggling insight into how opulently the powerful ruling classes lived then. By the time we had wandered around the equally impressive gardens and back to hotel, we had done an insane 30,000 steps today! Great Fitbit stats but certainly appetite inducing, so that evening we went out for a traditional Austrian dinner of …schnitzel! This rare meaty meal for us was compounded by its HUGE portion size, but we were so hungry that we both devoured it all without feeling full… (which certainly says something about listening to your body!) The restaurant itself was a very funny place – sharing tables with strangers and whirlwind waiting staff that didn’t buy in to the notion of friendly service – but utterly traditional in that it was frequented by mostly locals and cheap to boot, so precisely what we were looking for!
Next day, steeling ourselves for some hardcore sightseeing, we ventured into the main tourist area – and started with the Hofburg (Winter palace). This turned out to be very similar to the summer palace in that there were a plethora of historic rooms to see, but it also had the ‘Imperial silverware collection’ (thousands of plates) and an exhibit on the famous Empress Elizabeth ‘Sisi’ (beautiful, reclusive and therefore of infinite intrigue to the Austrians). After all this, our brains were starting to saturate, so instead of parting with any more money (Europe, and especially Vienna, is proving to be a much dearer place to be a long term tourist!), we reverted to our favourite pastime – just wandering around the old town! Now, we probably won’t be able to give you much detail or history on what we saw, but there were plenty of beautiful churches, palaces, cathedrals and monuments that we appreciated as we passed by. On the way back to the hotel, by now in the pouring rain, we noted the Opera house (complete with huge queue, as Vienna is a classical music fans dream), purpose built MuseumQuartier (proudly boasting the “world’s most famous kiss” inside by Gustav Klimt) and famous Sacher hotel (birth place of the shiny chocolate cake – Sacher Torte). That evening, to balance out the meat of the previous night, we had takeaway vegan food and wine. (Incidentally, it was a burger again and I’m only realising as I’m typing this up now that this was the third vegan burger for us in a week! Whilst they were all very different, and not as unhealthy as it sounds, making a mental note to be a bit less predictable going forward!)
To finish up our trio of runs along the Danube, and to finish our time in Vienna, the next day we went on a long run around greater Vienna, including past the Prater wheel (apparently very famous from an old film classic “The Third Man”) and some funny looking, Gaudi-esque flats. After a late, huge breakfast/lunch (making the most of breakfast until 12pm at the weekends!) we checked out and stopped by the Imperial Furniture Museum (probably only recommended for big chair / design fans) and even more sights on the way to the train station to get to the airport. The fact that we have lumped the impressive Belvedere palace under ‘even more sights’ should give you an impression of the sheer number of ‘things to see’ in Vienna – a stark contrast to Bratislava!
There was certainly more to see in Vienna than our brains could absorb – a city for music, art and history fans a-like. It was slightly harder to get a feel for the ‘real’ Viennese way of life, purely due to the size of the city and greater number of tourists (even in the dead of winter!), but we saw pockets of interesting restaurants and coffee shops as we ventured further out that would possibly draw us to return (including an awesome Vegan ice cream shop called ‘Veganista’!). Certainly, if we ever need a culture-fix in the future – we know where to come!
Jeni & Rich go travelling 2016 