Mmmhmm yeah, I´m definitely running behind on updates.
Munich, despite the weather, is really good. Yesterday I was on another of those free walking tours, same company as the one I took in Berlin. I took it because I got to 2 in the afternoon without much idea about what to do, and what better way to kill 3 hours than wandering around a city, founding out where the Bierhalles are.
The group was quite cool.. consisted mainly of engineers from Singapore who were in Munich for a conference.
I´m on my last day in rainy Munich, spent 2 nights here. Next I´m heading to Nuremberg, later this evening. With any luck, shortly after that, I´ll head down to Interlaken and meet up with a guy I met on a train from Cesky Krumlov. After Switzerland I´m undecided whether or not I will go back to Slovenia for a 7-day metal festival.
Before Munich I was in Slovenia, before that Italy. In Italy I started in Rome, headed to Palermo in Sicily, then Naples and Florence. Italy was incredibly hot and incredibly expensive. Gelati was had in much abundance, as was pizza, pasta and beer. Palermo was slightly more touristey than I would´ve guessed, but there was still a good atmosphere there.
Naples, the best place in Italy for pizza (aslong as its either a Marinara or a Margherita) and ice cream was also really good. I´ve been previously with the family many years ago, but it was still pretty new to me. Went up Vesuvius again (awesome views up there) and found it incredibly tranquil at the top.
Florence was good, didn´t really stand out for me though. I stayed in the infamous MichelAngelo Camping ground in a 3 person dorm-tent. Really good views of the city up there, aswell as being walking distance from one of the replicas of MichaelAngelo´s ´David´.
Rome was maybe the hottest place in Italy. I took a metro on my first morning to the Vatican and worked my way back, checking out most of the main sights. Did so much walking that day that I reduced my poor feet to blisters. The next day I got a few more stares than usual as I had adopted a stylish limp.
To get to Italy I took a ferry from Split in Croatia, and I was in Zagreb previous to that. Split wasn´t very exciting at all to be fair, 15mins and you saw all the "sights". Just a port really, with a few restaurants and bars. I much preferred Zagreb, a much prettier town.
Budapest came before Croatia aaaand before that Austria (Vienna and Salzburg).. think I´ve got that right.. or near enough. I have a feeling I´ve already spoken about Budapest.
Salzburg I really enjoyed. Despite the shitty weather it was a beautiful city, and my accommodation was at the top of a huge hill, overlooking the town. There I enjoyed hearing Mozart being pumped out of every building (apparently he was born there, but left when he was 24) and pretzels the size of your head. Sadly I passed on the opportunity of a ´Sound of Music´ tour. Next time.
Well I´m going to wander around a bit more now and hope the rain clears up.
Tuesday, 23 June 2009
Saturday, 6 June 2009
Looking back
Tito & Tarantula were awesome last night. Really grimy, bluesy, rock. It was especially cool when they invited people onto the stage for 'Woke up Blind'. They played for a good 2hours and I'd have watched them for a further 2.
All in all the night cost about 15€, including 2 beers, a kebab and the ticket.
Anyway, before I got to Budapest I was in Bratislava, Slovakia. They've had the €uro since January this year, so it was still inexpensive there, but I'm sure it'll get to cost more before too long.
I didn't realise at first, but this was where they set that Quentin Tarantino associated film 'Hostel' (still refuse to watch it - at least until I get back). The hostel was great, it had a themed bar in the cellar with artwork on the walls, red lighting and other stuff, made to look like Hostel. There was also an ugly-as-hell British Bulldog, who was a resident of the hostel. Really funny; walked around like a gorilla and just looked grumpy all the time, like an old man.
Beer was ridiculously cheap in Bratislava, the best I could get was 1,10€ for a half-litre. And it was actually good! Of course you could also get to the supermarket and pay less than 2€ for 2litres of 10% beer, but times weren't that hard.
I was in the hostel for 2 nights, and I met a good few people. There were the 2 Canadians (can only remember that one of them was called Pierce), a Chilean called Milton, Dave, a guy from Indiana... and a couple of Finns, amongst others.
Though Bratislava was a very small town, it was a good place to spend a couple of nights. On my first evening there I went off with the Canadians, and saw most of the sights in some 20 or 30 minutes. Then it was the beer.
Apparently this place is quite popular with the British Stag parties solely for the cost of everything, luckily there weren't any there this time! Another fun thing to do was to count how many times you would hear the word 'Budapest'. Everyone had something to say about it as they'd either just come from there, or like me, were heading that way.
So I'd definitely head to Bratislava again, but maybe not for much more than 3 days, as there isn't too much to do.
All in all the night cost about 15€, including 2 beers, a kebab and the ticket.
Anyway, before I got to Budapest I was in Bratislava, Slovakia. They've had the €uro since January this year, so it was still inexpensive there, but I'm sure it'll get to cost more before too long.
I didn't realise at first, but this was where they set that Quentin Tarantino associated film 'Hostel' (still refuse to watch it - at least until I get back). The hostel was great, it had a themed bar in the cellar with artwork on the walls, red lighting and other stuff, made to look like Hostel. There was also an ugly-as-hell British Bulldog, who was a resident of the hostel. Really funny; walked around like a gorilla and just looked grumpy all the time, like an old man.
Beer was ridiculously cheap in Bratislava, the best I could get was 1,10€ for a half-litre. And it was actually good! Of course you could also get to the supermarket and pay less than 2€ for 2litres of 10% beer, but times weren't that hard.
I was in the hostel for 2 nights, and I met a good few people. There were the 2 Canadians (can only remember that one of them was called Pierce), a Chilean called Milton, Dave, a guy from Indiana... and a couple of Finns, amongst others.
Though Bratislava was a very small town, it was a good place to spend a couple of nights. On my first evening there I went off with the Canadians, and saw most of the sights in some 20 or 30 minutes. Then it was the beer.
Apparently this place is quite popular with the British Stag parties solely for the cost of everything, luckily there weren't any there this time! Another fun thing to do was to count how many times you would hear the word 'Budapest'. Everyone had something to say about it as they'd either just come from there, or like me, were heading that way.
So I'd definitely head to Bratislava again, but maybe not for much more than 3 days, as there isn't too much to do.
Friday, 5 June 2009
Budapest
Ok, so I've missed a few locations.
Don't worry, I will get to those. Aslong as you can stomach the wrong order of countries visited, rest assured that I'll get to each place when I can.
For this post, I'll attempt to go backwards from the present.
So.. since the 3rd of June (as I may have mentioned, who knows), I've been in Budapest. It's good here, there's plenty to do and it is relatively small, for a capital city. This is especially apparent when you commit to walking around.
Today (4th June) I walked for a 4 or 5 hour stint after I got a good hearty breakfast from the local market. It was a traditional Hungarian meal of fried potatoes, sausages, tomatoes and other bits and bobs. It was a good sized plate and cost just 3 Euro, including coffee (rank, but caffeinated).
I walked along the river and caught various bridges, important buildings and suchlike along the way. I also caught upto the main (biggest) thermal, Turkish bath. The prices seemed quite reasonable, so I think I'll head there at some point before I head off to locations unknown.
Another thing I stumbled upon this evening was a gig for Tito & Tarantula tomorrow night, so... I think I'll inspect that. Can't wait.
After my big walk today, I went to the food market again and got some food for a late lunch, which turned out to be more of a dinner after I finally cooked it. I got a couple of chicken breasts (2x the size of those in England) and some garlic, lemon and small potatoes. I don't remember the price, but I remember at the time it was almost ridiculously cheap.
A bit after I'd eaten I went with Reinier, the dutch guy, to a Hungarian rock band, across the bridge. It wasn't bad at all, even though we only got half an hour's worth (we turned up a bit late) and it was only the equivelent of a Euro to get in. They sounded like the Hives at half-tempo.
So, overall I'm liking Budapest. Apart from the road works and other similar guff going on in too many places, its quite cool.
Don't worry, I will get to those. Aslong as you can stomach the wrong order of countries visited, rest assured that I'll get to each place when I can.
For this post, I'll attempt to go backwards from the present.
So.. since the 3rd of June (as I may have mentioned, who knows), I've been in Budapest. It's good here, there's plenty to do and it is relatively small, for a capital city. This is especially apparent when you commit to walking around.
Today (4th June) I walked for a 4 or 5 hour stint after I got a good hearty breakfast from the local market. It was a traditional Hungarian meal of fried potatoes, sausages, tomatoes and other bits and bobs. It was a good sized plate and cost just 3 Euro, including coffee (rank, but caffeinated).
I walked along the river and caught various bridges, important buildings and suchlike along the way. I also caught upto the main (biggest) thermal, Turkish bath. The prices seemed quite reasonable, so I think I'll head there at some point before I head off to locations unknown.
Another thing I stumbled upon this evening was a gig for Tito & Tarantula tomorrow night, so... I think I'll inspect that. Can't wait.
After my big walk today, I went to the food market again and got some food for a late lunch, which turned out to be more of a dinner after I finally cooked it. I got a couple of chicken breasts (2x the size of those in England) and some garlic, lemon and small potatoes. I don't remember the price, but I remember at the time it was almost ridiculously cheap.
A bit after I'd eaten I went with Reinier, the dutch guy, to a Hungarian rock band, across the bridge. It wasn't bad at all, even though we only got half an hour's worth (we turned up a bit late) and it was only the equivelent of a Euro to get in. They sounded like the Hives at half-tempo.
So, overall I'm liking Budapest. Apart from the road works and other similar guff going on in too many places, its quite cool.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)