Zagreb Photos

Zagreb Photos, a set on Flickr.

Zagreb Blog

I've just arrived back at the hostel after a 7 hour walking day and my feet are killing me! Definitely time for a sit-down so thought I'd write about Zagreb. I actually had no intentions of coming to this city but, as I mentioned in my last blog, it was the easiest way of getting to Slovenia. For some reason I had this preconceived notion that the city would be grey and horrible, perhaps because most of Croatia is on the coastline whereas Zagreb is well inland. How wrong I was and how pleased I am that I came! I arrived here at lunchtime yesterday and, as soon as I'd dumped my stuff at the hostel, I set out walking as it was a beautiful spring day, at last! I called into the information centre and was given a wonderful booklet that enabled you to do a self-guided tour. The city is divided into the Upper Town and the Lower Town so I started with the Upper. You wound your way through lovely streets, gradually climbing to where the cathedral is. I'm at the stage now where I just take a quick glimpse inside, they're all starting to look pretty similar. Most of the churches seem to be in the Upper Town, along with all of the official government buildings. I walked around the Lower Town today and this was mostly about the lovely garden squares and the museums. Back in the 19th century, a municipal engineer by the name of Lenuci designed a horseshoe of garden squares, eight of them in all. They were all beautiful and so well maintained. I am really loving all of the flowers, particularly the tulips. The Botanical Gardens form the base of the horseshoe and they're free to enter. There are some strict rules governing behaviour though. The one that amused me was 'no shouting'. There was quite a large group of school kids there and they obviously hadn't read this rule! They had worksheets with them but most of them were either talking on their mobiles, playing games on their mobiles, listening to music on their mobiles or trying to push each other into the ponds (hence the screaming!) They weren't the least bit interested in looking at a bunch of plants and I don't know that I would have been at their age either. There is a definite cafe culture here, the streets are lined with extremely comfortable chairs and couches and they're occupied all day long. If you have a business meeting, it's done over a coffee, very civilized! It's important to try and fit in like the locals so, amongst my walking, I did find time to sit down twice and linger over a very good cappuccino. I leave tomorrow so it's been quite a rushed visit, but really worthwhile. I would recommend putting this place on your list, for anyone that's intending on coming over this way, but 3 days would be better.

Blogger has changed

Apologies for the way my latest blog looks, with no paragraphs. It's not the way that I wrote it. Blogger has updated its site to a new, streamlined version but it's horrible! Half the things on it don't work, very frustrating. I've written to them to complain!

Pecs & Siofok Photos

Pecs & Siofok Photos, a set on Flickr.

Pecs & Siofok Blog

Leaving the beautiful city of Budapest behind, I headed to a small town called Pecs. According to Lonely Planet, this is the second most must see place in Hungary, after Budapest. Whilst it was quite cute, I'm not sure that I agree with them. Probably because it's not peak season. It was very quiet and there wasn't a helluva lot to see. There is a university here so I did expect it to be a bit more buzzy than it was. Maybe students over here are a lot more studious than at home! The hostel that I stayed in was above a pub but it was very comfortable and not too noisy, again because it's not peak season. They did have a live band playing on the Saturday night, which was really good. Nice to be able to have a couple of drinks and then just drift upstairs to bed. After two nights in Pecs, I headed to a place called Siofok, on the shores of Lake Balaton. I bought my train ticket in Budapest and there were two options. Leave early, at 7.22am, on the train that travelled directly there and arrive 4.5 hours later. Or, catch the 10.20 train but have to change trains 4 times before finally arriving at 5.30pm. I decided that an early start wouldn't kill me so opted for the 7.22 train. After three hours I finally glimpsed the southern tip of the lake and it was a lovely sight. There was still a way to go as Siofok was quite close to the northern tip. So I sat back and read a bit more of my book. After a while, when I glanced out the window, I did wonder why the lake was on my right hand side when Siofok is on the eastern shore. However, alarm bells didn't go off so I didn't think any more of it. But, next time I looked out the window, there was no water in sight! When the ticket inspector came by, I showed her my ticket and pointed to the word 'Siofok'. She had about 3 words of English so it took a while for me to get the gist of what she was saying. There is no direct train to Siofok, I was supposed to have changed trains shortly after I first saw the lake! We were currently half way to Slovenia! She wrote down the name of the station where I was to get off the train, to catch one going back. There was a ticket office at this stop so I explained to the lady that I wanted to go to Siofok. Yes, no problem, the train will be here in 2 hours and you have to change trains 3 times, you will arrive in Siofok at 5.30pm!!!!! Bloody hell!!! I could have had that sleep in! And I had to cough up for another ticket! What a scam! There was absolutely nothing I could do about it though, so didn't spend time stressing, it is what it is. The good thing to come out of this was that I'd booked my own room at a small 'hotel' (no hostels in Siofok) so I had the luxury of my own space for 3 days. I certainly treasured that on my first night cos I was whacked!   The town is apparently the equivalent of Ibiza, in peak season. In off-peak season, it's completely dead! People were just coming out of hibernation and starting to get their properties in order before the huge influx. There was an inorganic rubbish collection today and the pavements were piled high with junk. Most shops were still closed and the ferries hadn't started running. I went for a long walk each day, mostly along the shoreline, and then sat in the main square sipping a cappuccino and reading my book for an hour. By the end of the third day, I'd had enough of my own company and was eager to get back to a busy city. So here I am in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia. I was going to go directly to Slovenia from Siofok, but the train journey was very complicated (and I didn't want another repeat of my previous trip) so I decided on the simpler journey. There is a direct train from Zagreb to the capital of Slovenia so that's the way I'll do it. And now I'm heading out to see the sights!

Budapest Photos

Budapest Photos, a set on Flickr.