Slovenia and Croatia

by Tim Grimes

My wife and I, and our 11-year old and 12-year old children, flew into Zagreb earlier this year. We hired a car, and drove around coastal Croatia and Slovenia - and into Italy and Austria.

We had already seen Slovenia and wanted to return, to see more of the former Yugoslavia. We spent two or three weeks there, at the end of July, when the outside temperature varied between 18 degrees at mountain top, and 30 degrees  at the coast. The heat was a good excuse to try the consistently excellent ice-cream - most places sell 15 to 20 varieties at about 25p a shot.

Mt Triglav

We flew into Zagreb by Croatia Airlines. It is an older airport with a “Follow Me” car and a bus to immigration. We were greeted in English and speeded through to the adjacent baggage hall, where the bags were already circulating. As arranged much earlier in the year, we were met at the Airport by our taxi driver, who charged us the pre-arranged fare. So, it all worked efficiently and why shouldn't it? Because, actually, it doesn't always. But here, in Zagreb, we began to notice the unobtrusive efficiency which we saw everywhere else in the country. Most Croatians seem to speak English as a second language - those who don't speak German or Italian.

We spent the first few days at the Palace Hotel, Zagreb, which worked very well. The food reached the excellent standard which we came to expect throughout Croatia. Croatia works: the waiter brought a phone to the dinner table - it was the Budget's Airport franchise asking what time we wanted the car delivered. I left the car parked in a nearby street and collected a parking ticket. The hotel porter took the ticket away for cancellation.

Zagreb is a pleasant and attractive town, dominated by an ancient cathedral with a Nineteenth Century twin-spired facade. The place is 99% Roman Catholic, but we also saw Baptist and Orthodox churches. The old town, accessible by an 1898 funicular, also contains the Parliament in a cobbled square around St Mark's spectacular church. Our visit fell in with an international folk festival, which solved the question “Do the denizens of Zagreb really wander around dressed like this?” Zagreb is a young town seemingly populated largely by teenage boys on skateboards. The guide books say that, by 23, one is too old for the night clubs - and that is believable.

We drove to Porec on the coast, via Opatia, an imperial resort with its elegant villa hotels. The roads are excellent and far from crowded and the direction signs fairly good, despite the absence of road numbers even for the trans-European “E” roads. The route took us through spectacular wooded hills and across magnificent valleys on high viaducts.

Porec was a disappointment. Our research had identified it as a prime coastal resort, but it transpired to be the Croatian equivalent of Weymouth with a few ancient ruins. We had chosen a hotel which turned out to have the feel of an Airtours resort. We moved to the Melia Eden Hotel in neighbouring Rovinj - not a typing mistake, but an enchanting yachting and fishing harbour with labyrinthine stone passages between tall tenements, which radiated from the town square. The Venetian style St Euphemia's church tops the hill which dominates the little town. The newspapers were £3 a shot, but the internet cafe cost pocket change.

The Eden Hotel was renovated in 1999 and bears all the hallmarks of Croatian efficiency. A well-named four star resort with smiling staff, an outstanding restaurant and pool, and all the activities you would expect, is adjacent to a quiet stony beach in a holiday-brochure bay.

As in Rovinj itself, visitors came from Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Hungary, Poland and Italy - there were even a few cars from as far away as Estonia, Latvia and Sweden. We heard few English voices. As in the town, the charm of the place is enhanced by its cosmopolitan nature. We talked to staff and guests in pidgin Croat (recognisably similar to Polish and Czech, which we had picked up on previous trips), and in German, English, Italian and (despite the absence of anyone from France) French.

A short drive away is the hilltop village of Motovun. Just 1000 narrow twisting stone steps up from the car park, in the baking mid-day heat, found us the church, hotel, post office - and an ATM. And breathtaking views of the wooded hills and valleys and the sea some 15 mles distant. An unusual location for an antiquarian bookshop offering a wide range of Russian classical literature, the works of Thackeray, Winston Churchill's World War II and Boswell's Life of Johnson. Again we found St Mark's lion of Venice adorning the architecture.

The Croatian coast is full of small towns on promontories. Rovinj was the most attractive which we found, Porec is another and Umag is a small, quiet, town, which probably attracts the yachtie crowd in the evenings.

We had planned to spend a few days based in Trieste, and to see the Slovenian coast from there. We drove out of Croatia, along the spectacular coast of Slovenia and out the other side, into Italy, without formality and in about 40 minutes. We entered Trieste via the heavy industry end of town and through some really run down housing estates. Finding the centre was difficult, not helped by frenetic Italian driving. We spent the next day exploring the city, but only found the Piazza Unita d'Italia to be of any interest. It is a massive square bordered on three sides by romantic Nineteenth Century facades and on the fourth by the coast road. A blizzard of litter and dust swirled around, obscuring visibility. This may account for the Italian habit of trying to walk into a space already occupied by someone else. To be fair, our decision was also affected by the massive traffic jam of Italian cars approaching the Slovenian border at the coastal crossing, on its way south for Italian holidays. It is essential to get out of Croatia before the end of July, when Italians move in.

So we decided to call a halt to Trieste after a day, and moved on to the Lipica in Slovenia, the stud where the Lipizzaner horses of Spanish Riding School were originally bred. Following the “Slovenia” signs from Trieste, we were relieved to be returning to the developed world. We toured the stud and watched a presentation by the riding school (free to hotel guests), but we weren't allowed to ride - because we hadn't brought our riding boots! That's a rather important travel tip to note. We stayed at the Maestoso Hotel on campus; there is also the more reasonably priced Club Hotel, a casino, a golf course and plenty of cafes, bars and restaurants.

International treaties have left Slovenia with less than 20 miles of coast and one port - Koper - approached by an attractive coastal road bounded by trees and cycle lanes and, for a major deep-water container and oil port, a pleasant town centre. Portoroz, the popular resort, is a long, wide, coastal road with hotels overlooking the sea and shops and activities of the mini-golf kind along the shore. For such a resort, it is inoffensive.

Piran

Next door, Piran is a delightful fishing and yachting port. We paid a parking fee at the village checkpoint, which seemed a sensible arrangement The town is dominated by the hill-top Baroque St George's church, its fantastic religious paintings adorning the wooden ceiling and the walls in the closing stages of renovation. The Venetian influence is present again in St Mark's lion cast into the town hall at the circular marble-floored piazza in the centre of the town

On our way to Lake Bled - on even better and even less-used roads than in Croatia - we stopped at the Postojna caves, the largest cave complex in Europe. There are more than a dozen miles of underground passages resplendent with millions of stalactites and stalagmites in passages and huge halls big enough to accommodate the occasional orchestral concert. Entry is hourly by a small train, then by foot, on a 90 minute journey through parts of the caves.

Slovenia is only a small country. A non-stop journey from the Mediterranean coastal resorts to the Alpine lake resort of Bled, in the far north, would take a couple of hours, by well-surfaced and clear roads (mind the speed cameras enforced by police motorcycles!). The lake is surrounded by woods and the foothills of the Julian Alps. There is a small town at one shore, with hotels and campsites dotted around the lake. We stayed at the Kompas Hotel, comfortable with an excellent a la carte restaurant, but breakfast was less than exciting and hot water ran out at a time of day more often associated with Blackpool B&Bs than international hotels. In the middle of the lake is the island church, accessed only by 18-seater boats each rowed by one man. The legendary castle, dating from 1004 stands on a high rock overlooking the lake but, mercifully, can be accessed by road.

An alternative lakeside venue is Velden am Wörthersee, just 45 minutes, and an uneventful border crossing, away in Austria: a much more developed resort, offering all kinds of water sports on a massive lake. Numerous riding stables are nearby; we paid SIT3,000 per hour at the nearest  - the Hippodrome - for a hack though the woods and a canter across fields, and my son an introductory lesson. We spent an undemanding morning white water rafting on the Sava Dolinka  - more exhilarating courses are available from the same operator.

Nearby is the Triglav National Park - thickly wooded mountains and valleys full of crystal clear water, presided over by Mt Triglav 2,864 metres. We had lunch at a recommended pizza restaurant in Kranska Gora and drove up 30 numbered hairpin bends, ascending over 1,000 metres in half an hour - not for the faint-hearted, but fantastic views of the mountain system and its valleys.

Wiser counsel would have returned us to Bled by the less direct main roads. Instead, we took, what looked from the map, like a short cut. It took us up three mountains and down again, around countless hairpins, narrow made and unmade mountain tracks, scary gradients, and remote villages where only hermits, or Sherpa Tensing, might be found.

Ljubljana is Slovenia's tiny but stylish capital. Because the city was largely rebuilt (by nationalist Slovene architects) following an earthquake in 1895, much of the architecture is consistent and what they call the Austrian Secessionist style, reflecting nationalist aspirations - and (after 1918, by Josip Plecnik) nationalist testimony - to the Kingdom of the Slovenes, Croats and Serbs.

The classical tree-lined river Ljubljana contrasts today's “off-the-wall” sense of humour e.g. the skateboard shop where opening the door mechanically raised a brick above a prone Tellytubby. On closing the door, the brick descend with some force, onto the unfortunate creature which shrieked in pain. There is style here, including the roads full of boutiques selling the latest designer-label teenage fashions which, my children told me, are quite a lot cheaper than at home. And where else would the street cleaners dress in white shirts and black bow ties?

Ljubljana is a university town, as we saw from the age of its population and the general ambience of the place. There are so many bars and restaurants to eat and drink, along the riverside and the chic cobbled roads - but the restaurateurs would be better advised to remove “cutlet of foal” from English menu translations.

Why don't the British come to this part of the world? It is so easy - just pick up the phone to the London-based national tourist offices, nick the hotels from the brochures and a browse through WH Smith's travel guides. There's also so much information now on the net although, to negotiate prices, there's no substitute for a phone call. OK, we got a couple of venues wrong. So what - change it on arrival!

And it is so different in central and eastern Europe - each country is so different from the hackneyed and increasingly homogenising France and Spain - and so different than each other. It must be like our grandparents' travels in Western Europe - but easier. Prices in Croatia are a bit lower than at home. Slovenia is a little cheaper again.

It is worth actually buying the Lonely Planet Guides at Smiths. When you arrive (or by internet in advance) the In Your Pocket guides to central and eastern European capitals, written by locally based authors and updated quarterly, give a genuine insight and are cheap.

Hotels quoted us rates in euros, but charged in local currencies. At a push, restaurants etc will accept euros in payment if you are a bit short of local currency. Visa is not as widely accepted as Eurocard, Mastercard, and neither is quite as widely accepted as at home - if in doubt, ask first.

For the idle, a couple of tour operators specialising in this area but, of course, that loses the flexibility of private travel.

First published in VISA issue 48 (winter 2002)

Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro

by James Allen

Today is the day. You go to police station; pay fine. Today the day.’ The young Bosnian policewoman continued to try to hand me a printed sheet showing a car and a date. Fine? Thoughts raced through my mind, for what, how much, where?

‘English,’ I said again, trying not to sound as bewildered as I felt, still unsure as to what I was, or had been, doing wrong, and noticing that she had a gun in a holster on her hip that was pretty much level with my face.

We had been pulled over by this police woman stepping out into the road and motioning me over. There were other cars there, but I wasn’t sure for what reason she was pulling us over. There was a burst of Bosnian (with the word English in it) and a much bigger colleague arrives, and brusquely asks for my licence. Carefully I handed over my UK licence.

‘You; James Allen?’

‘Yes,’ I stammered, and suddenly all was sweetness and light. Literally; we were briefly told we must keep our car headlights on during the day (I mentioned that we weren’t aware of this) and we were then told that today was the first day of the crackdown on drivers not doing this. We were then told by the bigger colleague we could continue – much, I thought, to the consternation of the younger policewoman, and we did; thanking the officers, but with our hearts in our mouths wondering how we got here…

We had not initially planned to visit the old Yugoslavia countries; as we had been considering going to Albania (only because it received a good write up in a book about ‘dangerous countries’!), but the difficulty of getting (cheapish) flights and of driving a hire car beyond its borders made us decide to switch the trip and to go further up the same coast. However, when you see these countries’ names, what’s your reaction?

War, bombing, siege, war crimes and more – but it’s just not recently that this has been happening. The whole area has been one huge battlefield for millennia, with various kings, princes, empires and ideologies raiding and empire building – the Romans, Christians, Muslims, Venetians, Austrians, Germans etc, etc. This area has been the site of almost constant turmoil for centuries and much of what happened in the last 20 years has been a result of those earlier battles/wars/raids and religious invaders/enforced conversions. However, this area also has some beautiful countryside, some of the best preserved Roman remains in Europe, UNESCO World Heritage sites and (perhaps surprisingly) wonderfully kind people.

We arrived in Dubrovnik for a six day break. We had booked the first couple of nights in Dubrovnik and had planned a trip from there into Bosnia (Mostar) and Montenegro (Bay of Kotor and Ostrog Monastery). It was to prove far more rewarding and yet far more challenging than we ever imagined.

Our arrival into Dubrovnik was delayed by four hours due to a broken down plane(s). So having rushed to the airport to ensure we were in time for the very early flight, we ended up kicking our heels for over four hours. Still, we arrived safely and were out of the airport and on the bus quickly (they didn’t even look at our passports – though this was to change later). We boarded the city bus and were expecting to pay, but the man taking payments suddenly walked off the coach before he got to us, the coach left and we sat there for the next 40 minutes waiting to be asked to pay, but weren’t – result! The bus dropped us at the Old Town gate, from where our hotel was just a few metres up the road.

We checked in and looked around the hotel. We had been given a room in the annexe, but due to our status (points mean prizes), we had a bottle of wine and some desserts awaiting us; we were also given access to the executive lounge, which offered free food and drink all day. We then headed into the Old Town for a look around.

Dubrovnik was under siege from the Bosnian and Montenegrin armies for 86 days during the winter of 1991/92. During this time, the armies shelled the city and in particular targeted the Old Town. Today some of those scars are still visible, including marks on walls and the pavement from shell fragments. The Old Town is hemmed in by 2 km of walls and is full of narrow alleys in a grid pattern. The main street is little wider than two cars (but thankfully the town is car free), and all the buildings are made of white stone with terracotta red roofs. The town seems to be more Italian than Italy!

We walked out the kinks from all the sitting around the airport by walking through to the harbour and back; getting our bearings and stretching our legs. The weather was warm and the town (at that time) very relaxing.

Sunday dawned warm but overcast and windy. We hit Dubrovnik running – we bought a museum day pass (eight entries to museums and sites in total) and set off. We started by walking the walls, 2 km around and above the Old Town, offering great views both into and around the town. The wind was very strong and the sea was getting rough. However, half way around the walls, we entered the maritime museum which was in the old main bastion of the walls. It was an interesting historical overview of the city which started because of the sheltered port and its geographical position for the shipping trade. By the 8th century AD the town was trading across to Italy and Greece and beginning to move into Turkey and North Africa.

Completing the walls, we went into town and visited the City Museum (interesting collection of photos of the siege, including pictures of our hotel in flames) and modern art gallery before lunch. The gallery was in a house in the Old Town and was empty of people. It was nice to catch our breath and just listen to the sounds of the city outside the shuttered windows.
After lunch (coffee and cake), we took the cable car to the fortress at the top of the mountain. This fortress was the symbol of the defiance of the town during the siege and shows evidence of being shelled. The mountain top was still very windy, but we decided to walk back down the hill to the town. As we started, the path didn’t seem well marked but it improved and then the switchbacks become quite clear. Only then did we realise that on each switchback was a cross (denoting the 12 Stations of the Cross). At the base of each cross people had made stone cairns or left flowers etc; on two were clearly identifiable pieces of old bombs and shells. We made sure we stuck to the path after that.

We only saw three other groups, one going down, two up. The weather got hotter as the sky cleared, making the going sticky and sweaty. We got into the edge of the new town, but found that the walk through to the Old Town was almost as long as the walk down the hillside. As we walked back to the hotel we counted the cruise ship passengers. There were many bus loads of passengers with stickers confirming their names (in case they forgot), the ship (in case they forgot) and the bus number (again, just in case they forgot). These packs ranged around the town following a hand or umbrella held high by the guide and being shouted at, talked to through a megaphone or listening to a commentary on headphones. On passing the bus drop off point, we were stunned to see a long queue waiting to board the buses back to the ships. They were lucky if they got four hours in the town. Indeed the town served these passengers but offering ‘lite lunch’ knowing that the passengers from the cruise ships didn’t have long or need a big lunch due to the food available on board.

That evening we went for dinner in a restaurant across from the hotel. This was a local style restaurant with some great food. However when we arrived the sky was clouding over and it felt that a storm was brewing. While eating we watched as the hillside above town turned red, with the setting sun, quite unnerving our waiter. Then the storm started, with the rain getting heavier by the minute; all the while, we were warm and comfortable on the terrace under cover. Just when we thought it couldn’t rain any heavier – it did. The storm slowly moved across us with, at one point, the lightning and thunder almost together. It was a powerful reminder of how much nature can surprise and awe. We later found out that all flights had been diverted from 6pm that night until the following morning.

Monday was the day we got the car. But we had decided to stay in the hotel and do day trips rather than move around. This meant that our first trip was going to be a trip to the Ostrog Monastery. This entailed a trip through Bosnia into Montenegro and driving halfway up a hillside.

We left Croatia going east, and entered Bosnia. The process of moving between countries becoming very familiar – passports and car documents to border control officer, when leaving first country and 1000 metres later, same documents again for entering (we got eight stamps on this day alone).

Travelling through Bosnia it was clear that the standard of living was much lower than Croatia. It seemed that Bosnia didn’t come out of the war well as well as Croatia; however beautiful the country was it felt poor and there was generally very little traffic on the roads. What we discovered later is that many Croats and Bosnians, when in the other’s country, try to pretend they are English because they refuse to acknowledge the other side following the war. We of course were caught up in that, but at least we were telling the truth... However, the whole episode left a taste in our mouths and we seriously considered turning round and leaving the country then and there. Still we carried on, with the countryside becoming more beautiful as we travelled further from the coast.

Crossing into Montenegro was the same, but the countryside got even more beautiful - wonderful aquamarine blue lakes, under a deep blue sky, the hillside landscape similar to California or southern Spain. It was obvious that the amount of traffic had decreased since Croatia, and the signs on the road become more interesting, often making driving a challenge. We finally turned off the main road onto the ‘mountain road’ to Ostrog. The monastery is built into the side of a cliff face, high up. The switchbacks got worse and the car was becoming hotter, but after many miles, we suddenly found ourselves at the car park for the complex. As we walked into the grounds, we passed many cars that were ticking as they cooled.

The first complex is for pilgrims and includes accommodation and a couple of small chapels in the rock face. We then walked to the second church higher on the cliff face and first entered a small chapel, with a second smaller chamber behind. Here the faithful pilgrims made a sign for the cross at four icons, and along the rear wall was a coffin, with (I assume) a mummified body. Certainly, the body was covered, but we were certain that it was a body. Then we climbed higher into the church which is mainly a façade – another couple of small chapels and that was it. The bathroom facilities were porcelain holes in the floor, but the taps were motion sensor activated. As you can imagine the journey back down the hill was as hair-raising as coming, and we were certainly pleased to get back to the hotel!

On Tuesday we decided to stay in Croatia following the police incident, so we headed north. Here Croatia is the coastal plain, with a small gap about 30 miles north of Dubrovnik where Bosnia comes to the coast before Croatia starts again and expands. We decided to go to north as far as we could, but the first border post was some four kilometres from the border! Anyway, we had seen from the road another road which led onto a peninsula that had a very large walled town While we were travelling back, we marvelled at the clear water which had long lines of buoys. These were oyster and mussel farms, proof of the purity of the water.

The town we had seen was Ston. Ston claims to have the longest stone walls in Europe at over 5 km in length. These go up the mountain and around Ston and on and around Mali Ston over a mile away. It’s also the only remaining location in Croatia for the natural drying of sea salt in large salt pans. The old town is very small but is wonderfully evocative of better times. As we climbed the walls, we saw collapsed houses and also the Nunnery. It was a magical place to which one could retire easily.

We carried on up the peninsula and entered into the wine region. This was obviously a hardship! We stopped a couple of times and brought a bottle to bring back (in these days of luggage weight restrictions and liquid restrictions, two bottles is a maximum in checked luggage). The wines were surprisingly good. Finally, we found a beach. A very good beach, with shallow water, sandy beach and sandy bottom, sunny, warm (hot!); we stayed an hour, enjoying a dip. On our return to the hotel we meet up with some new arrivals and went for dinner at the restaurant we had used Sunday night, the food was still as good and the weather was better! One of the arrivals, who may well be reading this, was the retired chair of English at Virginia Tech University.

We decided to head south into Montenegro and the Bay of Kotor. One of our friends from the night before joined us for the trip and we headed to the border and on to the bay through the modern town of Herceg Novi. The inlet from the sea is at its narrowest less than a kilometre. This makes the bay very calm and it was a centre of shipping and a safe haven on the coast for many centuries. Indeed there are two islands, one natural with a church and a second that it’s claimed is the product of sailors dropping a stone overboard as a ‘thank you’ to the Virgin Mary, following a claim of a rescue and sighting of her. The bay has high mountains surrounding it, which makes standing at the water’s edge give the feeling of being hemmed in.

We started on the north side of the bay and headed around, passing through places that we would stop on our return; however, we stopped at the Roman Mosaics. This villa was only a few metres from the shore and would have had commanding views across the bay. The mosaics were good but the whole thing felt very much unloved.

We carried on round to Kotor. This is a small, walled town, dating back to the 13th century with new buildings right up to the 19th century. The walls circle the Old Town and again it’s very much narrow streets and churches. We went into the cathedral and saw the saint’s relics. Mainly it was small parts of bone, some on display, some in silver and gold caskets. We then went on the walls, and a smaller church and a post office for stamps. We then stopped for a coffee, before heading back around the bay. Kotor is claimed to be the next Dubrovnik with many coastal cruise ships stopping here. We then stopped at Prestat, a small (now) village on the shore. It was in the 14th/15th century quite a large port and shipping centre (don’t they all seem to be). The village is car free (well, tourist car free) and is about 1.5 kms long. The water here, as everywhere, is crystal clear. The sun and the white walls made it very hot, and as elsewhere, we went around and selected the house that we would have if we could... Prestat is like Ston, a place to retire to.

Finally, as we headed back we found the prehistoric petroglyphs (ancient rock art). We saw the sign and after much missing of turnings found ourselves at the end of a narrow road. The locals indicated that we should follow what seemed to be a stream bed. I think the three of us were surprised. Normally ancient rock art is preserved and managed in careful detail with specific requirements as to how close you can get to the actual art.

We walked up the stream bed and found ourselves at the cliff wall, in a smallish amphitheatre. Here outside on the rocks were the carvings, a series of horned animals (reindeer, moose, elk?) running from left to right in an inaccessible location on the cliff side. No covering of the art, no payment, no ‘interruption board(s)’, no other visitors. Just us; walking up a stream bed, with nothing but the sounds of birds and insects. What a great feeling!
We eventually retraced our steps and headed back to the hotel.

Thursday was the day to return home, which began worryingly with reports of a French air traffic controllers strike. We walked around the old town before heading for Cavtat. This seemed to be a boating area, with again a wonderful bay and old town. After a long walk and coffee watching the boats, we headed for the airport, where the plane was on time arriving, but we left 30 minutes late, arriving the equivalent 30 minutes late in the UK.

Other than the issue in Bosnia the holiday was without fault, it was wonderful, warm sunny and beautiful countryside. We never made it to Mostar and yet we found great sites from prehistory to modern day, restaurants, beaches, pristine countryside, and had a varied yet interesting time. It was difficult to leave but certainly a country to return to.

First published in VISA 94 (Dec 2010)

Eastern Trekker

by Maxine Bates
Don’t believe everything you read on the internet! Having landed in Prague at 9.30pm and researched how to make our way to Plus Prague Hostel beforehand, my partner Andy and I were dismayed to find that information was wrong and the airport bus into the city centre actually stopped running at 9.10pm and the night service didn’t start again until midnight. Not understanding a word of the local language we managed to find a bus that went to an underground terminus then purchased a 24 hour travel card that enabled us to take the metro to within a few minutes walk from our accommodation. The journey took longer than expected, but saved us huge amounts of money as Czech taxis are expensive and public transport is not.

Using our travel card the next day, we explored all the famous sights of Prague. The astronomical clock in the Old Town Square chimes on the hour when the apostles perform a little show, but beware your possessions as you watch as this is prime pickpocket territory. Wenceslas Square can be difficult to spot on a map as it’s actually a boulevard rather than a square! The statue of King Wenceslas on his horse sits at the top end and now overlooks the numerous souvenir shops and fast food outlets that line the square. We lunched on traditional Czech food and drink at the Peklo restaurant which is located in a 12th century wine cellar near St Vitus cathedral. Despite its religious location the name translates as “Hell”!

In the afternoon we walked to Petrin Hill and climbed Petrin Tower which was built in 1891 for the Jubilee Exhibition and is a 60 metre high replica of the more famous Eiffel Tower. From atop the tower, there are wonderful views over the whole city and beyond. Well worth the 299 steps up and 299 steps down! The tower is open from 10 am daily but closing times depend on the season, as early as 5pm in mid winter and as late as 10pm in midsummer.

Joining our tour the following morning, we departed Prague and our first stop was the UNESCO listed town of Kutna Hora. The Sedlec Ossuary in the town is nicknamed the “bone church”, as inside there are up to 70,000 human bones which have been arranged into chandeliers, coats of arms and vaults. Somewhat of an interesting but creepy tourist attraction! Then eastward to the university town of Olomouc which is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site and also has an astronomical clock. As part of our walking tour we visited a wine bar, where the local wine was ridiculously cheap at only a few pence per glass.

Next we crossed the border into Poland and spent half a day visiting Auschwitz. I suspect a concentration camp is not high on most people’s holiday highlights, but it was a moving experience. It is well worth paying extra for a guided tour. Photos are not permitted inside the buildings in respect of the thousands who died there. Some buildings have exhibitions, others huge displays of shoes, hair, glasses and other items that were confiscated from the Jews. You are allowed to walk through the gas chamber – which prisoners were led to believe was a shower room with mock shower heads in the ceiling – in silence and where an eternal flame glows. The tour also included a visit to nearby Birkenau (Auschwitz II), which was a much larger operation where prisoners entered via a railway line and were sent straight to the gas chambers.

We spent two nights in the beautiful city of Krakow, although not shown at its best on a Saturday night as the place is now a stag night capital of Europe, and it was embarrassing to see British guys getting completely drunk and being taken away by the police. For this reason the cost of alcohol is gradually rising to try to deter the drunkenness. The two main squares both had live music, but luckily we managed to find a quiet Italian restaurant. By now we were getting a little fed up of copious amounts of meat and dumplings at every meal! On a sunny Sunday morning the city appeared in a whole new light and we were able to explore the castle, river and Jewish quarter either on a guided bike tour or walking at leisure. In the afternoon the majority of our group caught a mini-bus to the Wieliczka salt mines which lie 10 km to the south east of Krakow, another UNESCO World Heritage Site. Tours in English depart at 10.00am, 11.00am, 11.30am, 12.30pm, 1.45pm, 3.00pm and 5.00pm and cost 63 zlotys. The chapel of St Kinga is the largest subterranean part of the mines carved out of rock salt with salty statues, including one of Pope John Paul II, where the temperature is a constant 15C. Although our group found it all impressive I personally was a little disappointed as a Polish friend had led me to expect more.

We travelled south to the town of Zakopane in the Tatra mountains but unfortunately the planned hill walking was off the agenda due to heavy rain, although some of our group got wet at the indoor water park opposite our hotel instead. In the evening our guide had arranged a visit to a traditional restaurant. Like the rest of Eastern Europe the menu consisted of hunks of meat with potatoes and dumplings. One of our group was a strict vegan. I suspect he returned home to Ireland much thinner after his travels, as Eastern European countries do not really cater for vegetarians, let alone vegans!

We passed through Slovakia stopping for a picnic lunch – purchased in Poland - in the Donovally area thus eliminating the need to exchange local currency. Then onward to the capital of Hungary for a two night stay.

On my last visit to Budapest I had found navigating the city very difficult, due to the lack of English speakers, and remember walking miles back to our hotel as there was no ticket office at the underground station, and the machines only accepted exact coinage which we didn’t have. On this visit things seemed much more tourist friendly and we were able to purchase a day travel card which made life much easier. A sign at the ticket office was in English so we just had to point! Again we had done some research beforehand and found there were guided tours of the parliament building at 10am, 12 noon and 2pm which are free to EU citizens (otherwise 2640 Hungarian forints). Remember to carry your passport as proof. The tours last 45 minutes and cover three rooms including the main debating chamber and the Magayan crown jewels display. The parliament building has very similar architecture to Westminster, minus Big Ben, and tour tickets can be obtained from gate X which is at the rear i.e. the side furthest from the river.

In the evening our group visited the Szecheyni thermal spa. There are dozens of spas in the city, though several are men only or ladies are only admitted at certain times or some are a hang out for gays. Having read how difficult the spa system can be, it was good to have our guide show us the ropes. You pay an admission fee (approx. £8) and if leaving within two hours you can claim a small refund which decreases every hour thereafter. Both the male and female changing rooms are downstairs with dozens of locker areas, so remember your locker number. The complex has outdoor pools of various temperatures; one for swimming, one for lounging, and one with a current to float around in and fountains to splash under. The elegant baroque building contains whirlpools, steam rooms, plunge pools (very cold) and saunas (very hot). You can even play a floating game of chess! 

Next stop was Lake Balaton where we were supposed to go for a dip, but only the foolhardy did so as it was raining and cold and the lake was rather choppy. Our final country on this whistle-stop tour of Eastern Europe was Croatia. There was a brief stop at the open-air Balkan War Museum to see planes and tanks. Not really worth a detour, but it was free and we got a great group photo climbing all over a tank.

We stayed overnight in tiny wooden chalets near Plitvice National Park meaning we were first to enter this UNESCO site the following morning. This beautiful park contains 16 lakes ranging in colour, due to the quantity of minerals in the water and the angle of sunlight. The lakes are surrounded by beech, spruce and fir trees and are connected, due to their various altitudes, by a series of cascading waterfalls. The park is also home to at least 126 species of bird. A regular ferry links the two major lakes and you cross over others via specially constructed wooden walkways. The entrance price increases from 55 kunas in winter to 100 kunas in peak summer with the money being used for the upkeep and protection of this natural wonderland.

Our final destination was Split where we were able to relax. Although a coastal resort, there is really only one beach within easy walking distance of the town centre and that was littered with cigarette ends, although there were ample opportunities to laze on rocks along the sea. Apart from the 4th century Diocletian’s Palace – another UNESCO site – there was not really much else to see in Split. There are plenty of bars and restaurants and a lively nightlife with lots of people-watching along the lovely harbour. The airport bus costs 30 kunas and doesn’t appear to run to a timetable unless you are connecting with a Croatian Airlines flight. It’s definitely worth checking buses with the tourist board if you have an early EasyJet flight like us.

It is always worth trying to learn a few words in the language of the country you are visiting, but we were told many Eastern European languages are similar and saying “nice driveway” means “cheers” in the places we visited!¦

 Eastern Trekker is a company now entering its fourth season of operation and does exactly what the name implies; specialising in tours of Eastern Europe. The tours are aimed at the 20-40 age range and the majority of travellers are young people from Australia and New Zealand taking a year out to live and work in Great Britain. Depending on the itinerary, the company use 8, 15, 32 or 52 seater mini-buses or coaches all with panoramic windows, comfy seats and an on-board bar. My partner Andy and I took their Classic Rhapsody Trek in July 2008.

First published in VISA 83 (Feb 2009)