Croatia to the Czech Republic
21.05.2007 - 24.05.2007
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The Big Trip
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This is only quick! As often, we haven't much time.
A few days ago we left Hvar and set sail (via ferry!) to Split, which is another Croatian Port town. We only stayed overnight, so haven't much to report on the place. Next morning we took a train to Ljubljana via Zagreb.
Ljubljana is the capital of Slovenia, Zagreb the capital of Croatia.
The train trip took some 7 hours in total, which was mostly due to the slow train we were on, our three car train dragged itself from the flat and stony southern Croatian coast through to the green mountains and forests of the north. It was all very wonderful and the slow speed of the train was welcomed as it gave us extra time to take in the landscape.
We spent about an hour in Zagreb, waiting for a connecting train. Frances and I went for a short walk and saw a few blocks of the city, and a grand cathedral, but little else, and nothing that has been recommended to us, so there is plenty to go back and check out there.
The train from Zagreb to Ljubljana had us in a little compartment to ourselves (apart from the slovenian man), and the trip was again wonderful, for the most part the train followed a river which twisted around through some beautiful green mountains with the occasional grey and black outcrop of stone. There was barely enough room in the valley to accomodate the train, river and narrow road, but somehow the Slovenians had managed to squeeze in small towns and farms along the edges. It was a really enjoyable trip!
On arrival to Ljubljana we trekked to our hostel and arrived sometime around 10pm. The next day Frances and I wandered around Ljubljana without aim. We sat in a bar on the edge of the river which the city sits around and had some drinks and lunch. It was too hot to take the walk up to the castle, but on the report from Franceses mum, it didn't seem like we missed an awful lot.
Ljubljana is an odd little capital. I had expected a small tightly packed old city, with a slow pace and nothing approximating an office block. What I found instead was a small city, but with a wonderful mix of the old and new. The old town was quite small, hugging a bend in the river, outside of this however was a mix of all kinds of things which gave the city a very modern and exciting feel. The university attracted a lot of young people, so it all had a very youthful vibrant feel. Certainly a place I could stay in for some time.
Unfortunately after we ate dinner, which consisted of too much beer and so much food we couldn't finish, it was into bed to get ready for another day on the train.
Our next train trip took us across Austria from south to north, and into the Czech Republic. It was another great train trip, this time our compartment was all to ourselves and the 8 and a half hours passed relatively quickly. The landscape was a mix of rugged Austrian mountains to wave after wave of rolling hills and small, colourful villages.
We arrived at Ceske Budejovice and encountered a little bit of panic - we could not find a bus station, and then having found this bus station (on the top level of a shopping mall no less) we found that there were no means to buy a ticket. In the end it was discovered that you just buy tickets on the bus, but there was some nervousness until we figured that out. Frances and I generally work well together in a crisis, or mini-crisis, because each of us seems to step up for the other as the circumstances require. It's good like that.
So we took an evening bus from Budejovice to Cesky Krumlov which was a nice ride through Bohemian countryside at dusk.
Krumlov is a wonderful little town. It is beyond cute. I can't describe it because I'm too rushed! A small bundle of a town, with a castle sitting on a hill overlooking the town, which is standard fare really, a small river does a tigh S curve through the centre of town, restuarants and cafes sit on its shore, people in rafts float by. And a trio of bears guard the entrance to the castle. Grrrr. Real bears, eating oranges.
Tomorrow we get another bus to our "final" destination of Prague. But we'll come back to Cesky Krumlov, because it's super!
Oh and to make things better, we're both pretty much over the colds/sickness that has been bugging us for the last week. YAY FOR THAT.
Posted by xkristianx 24.05.2007 06:18 Comments (0)
