I was orignially planning on getting to the Slovakian side of the High Tatra mountains, but the logistics of getting there from Krakow were too much of hassle, so I settled for a day in Zakopane (on the Polish side) instead. I was up at the crack of dawn and as we drove further, Read More
We had a lazy last day in Krakow. In the morning we visited Wawel Hill and toured the castle, the royal staterooms and catherdral there. In the afternoon we walked through Kasimierz, the old Jewish quarter of the city. I guess I was expecting more, like a scene out of "Schindler’s List", but there, Read More
We caught the train down to Oswiecim, which is (unfortunate for the locals) better known by the German translation Auschwitz. We first visited Auschwity I, the original concentration camp set up to house mainly Polish political prisoners. It saw its fair share of deaths however – thousands were summarily executed by the Nazis and, Read More
We made a day trip out of Krakow to the town of Wieliczka, famous for its Heritage-listed salt mine. We took a tour through about 3km of the mine, which is only around 1% of the mine’s length – it’s been mined for several centuries and in their "spare time" the miners have made, Read More
I’m now in Krakow and enjoying it so far. Everyone we spoke to said most of the action in Poland is in and around Krakow, so we made a bee-line for the city after we left Bratislava behind. Krakow really is a delightful little city. A bit too touristy for my liking, but it, Read More
We left Budapest early this morning and headed north-west to Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. This wasn’t really on our "to do" list, however it conveniently broke up our journey to Krakow in Poland. Who knows, maybe I’m already city-d out, but I didn’t think much of Bratislava. Sure there were some lovely renaissance, Read More
No ladies, I’m not talking about the Hungarian boys strutting their stuff at the thermal baths – and sorry but no photos of that either! But I am talking about the small city of Pecs (pron. "Paich") in southern Hungary. I felt like getting out of Budapest for the day and took a liking, Read More
I’ve spent the past few days exploring more of the city, and I like what I’ve seen. Budapest has done a great job of keeping with the old while embracing change. Greg and I caught a ferry up the Danube one day to the small village of Szentendre, to see what life is like, Read More
Neal, Greg and I spent the day exploring the Buda side of Budapest, which is on the western bank of the Danube. Atop Castle Hill, an imposing citadel covering a decent sized hill, we explored the old Royal Palace, walked past many government buildings along the cobbled streets, saw a few impressive churches and, Read More
After a long night farewelling my friends in Baden I caught a 6:30am train to Munich. I decided to add on the side trip (originally I planned to go direct from Zurich to Budapest) to take up an offer from a Brazilian mate Marcelo to join him and a bunch of his friends from, Read More