Plitvice Lakes - day 1

This morning I got up and set off on the 5 minute walk to entrance number 1 of the Plitvice Lakes national park. I bought a two day student ticket and set off on the longest route, which included a ferry crossing. It was said to take 4-6 hours and it probably only just took 4 at a stretch and that was with stopping every 5 seconds for photos.

I walked round Plitvice Lakes national park with a salami sandwich in one hand and a camera in the other. The only thing that could have improved it was some butter.

I had the brand new experience of seeing a fish poo today. You sort of forget they do that sort of thing.

The route wasn't a circular one and when you finished there was a shuttle bus waiting to take you back to the start.
When I got to the end of the route it was only around half 11 and I didn't feel like stopping so I decided to walk back along a different route. I followed a route to the ferry stop. I was worried I wasn't going to be able to get on the ferry as my ticket had already been stamped. But when the ferry arrived they weren't checking tickets so I got on no trouble. I did a short crossing from B to C (as opposed to A to B this morning) and walked back to A (the entrance)

Just as I sat down to lunch I witnessed two mating dragonflies get massacred in one fell swoop of a guys shoe. They just sort of flew infront of his shoe. I then had to sit and eat next to their lifeless bodies that were repeatedly desecrated. At least they died happy.

The Plitvice Lakes are absolutely incredible. For those of you who haven't heard of it, the Plitvice Lakes national park is a massive area that includes 16 lakes all linked by a network of waterfalls and streams. The lakes are incredibly clean and the water is an amazing colour. I went a bit overboard on the photos (again) so I've just chosen a few as examples to put on here. I highly recommend a visit,  especially for those of you that are keen walkers, but even if you aren't. They are just stunning. The majority of the walk is along rickety wooden boards, like Vintgar gorge, only more rickety. Water is rushing by underneath and on the sides. Its slightly scary but absolutely great.

When I arrived and was walking round this morning it was so peaceful and quiet. I hardly saw anyone. All you could hear were crickets, birds and the waterfalls. Then, the later it got, the more people arrived and tours started. There were people everywhere. And it was chaos as people (myself included) all stopped to take photos on paths that weren't quite wide enough for people to get past in both directions.  But then whilst walking back to entrance 1, right along side the largest lake, it became peaceful again as everyone else got boats or shuttle buses.

Tomorrow I'm going to explore the caves I found and look at 'the big waterfall'. Apparently there is a cash machine in one of the park hotels so I'm going to have to walk there if I want to get to Zadar.

Dinner dilemmas

The next few days are going to make me fat. The nearest shop has bread, alcohol and alot of chocolate. That's about it. The nearest restaurant has shut down and the local cafe, at the entrance of the Plitvice Lakes national park only serves burgers and sausages.

I've bought bread and salami to make sandwiches for lunch,  but for dinner I can either have more sandwiches or a burger.

Admittedly I haven't checked out the shared kitchen facilities my guesthouse offers but there is unlikely to be anything I can utilise. As in, I'm too tight to buy pasta, plus I'd then have a massive bag of pasta to carry round.

I'm going to be burning off the calories during the day and promptly piling them back on in the evening. Which brings me to the other problem. There is nothing to do in the evenings. Apart from the park, there is nothing here.

The park is clearly the only thing that brings people to this area. There is nothing here. Literally nothing. The shop is at the park as is the cafe. I assume part of the reason the restaurant has closed down is because people  weren't using it. Mainly because there is no one here. Apart from the people who run the guesthouses of course. But they probably mostly cook for themselves. I'm staying about a 5 minute walk from the entrance. Down my road is about 6 guesthouses and thats it. They are in a fantastic location though - its so quiet and they have big gardens.

The third problem - because there is no one here, there is no cash machine. I got enough out for the guesthouse and a little extra, but it really is only a little, since £1 is about 100000000 kuna.

In case you didn't notice,  there was a slight bit of exaggeration in the last paragraph. I'll leave you to work out where. You need to do some of the work yourself.

You know you've been away for too long when...

You think with a foreign accent. No joke, I keep thinking, like planning out my day for example, and the voice will be in a foreign accent. Does anyone else get that? Nope? Just me. Ok never mind....

Just watched some female duck beat up two male ducks for trying to eat its food. You go girl!

I haven't done much this afternoon. I was going to get a boat to the church but they weren't running and I wasn't going to row myself there. I'd probably drown. Maybe next time I'll come with someone and hire a boat and also visit the castle.

I hung around by the Lake for a bit but then it started raining so I just went back to the hostel and washed my hair. Now I am at a restaurant called Chilli, with which the card from the hostel I'm staying at gets a 10% discount. I've ordered a gnocchi with chickeny sauce. I am going to get chocolate pancakes for dessert. Then I'm going to attempt an early night. I have to get up at half 5 tomorrow to get the bus to the the train station to get a train to the bus to Plitvice.
I'll let you know how good my dinner is after I've eaten it.

It was good. I feel sick now though. It's half 7 and I'm contemplating going to bed. I'm the worst teenager ever.

Vintgar Gorge

These morning I woke up with a bruise of questionable origins on my arm. Some girl came in to the room, put all her stuff in and then left locking it behind her. It was about half 6. I don't think the two are related.

Around half 8 I went to the supermarket and bought a sandwich for lunch that may be ham, but might turn out to be horse. My slovenian isn't that great. Incidentally,  I ate at a place last night that offered horseburgers. Not sure if it was a mistranslation or...

I then set off for the gorge.  It did not take long to get there. An hour at most. Its a very easy, well sign-posted walk. I paid €4 for entry which was totally worth it. It was fantastic. The water was so clear and so blue you could walk all the way along the gorge on these old rickety wooden paths. It was so quiet because it was early morning. When I got to the other end however a massive group of possibly korean tourists had just turned up and were shouting at each other.

On the way there I encountered a group of cows running (if you can call it that) down the road towards me. I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to scare them and cause a stampede but I didn't want them to trample me. I hopped over a fence and started edging round them and hoped they just carried on going. They all stopped and watched me as I went past. I walked so slowly, scared that at any minute they would charge. The fence would not stop them. Thankfully they just started off down the road again and I was safe.

I would definitely recommend a visit there though when (and you will, coz I said so) you visit lake bled. Just dont get lost. At the end, go down the left side of the hut, not up the stairs by the toilet. Its taken me over an hour and a half to reach the end of the national park but a) I got lost and b) I was powering through so I have time to visit the lake. Its really not very far though.

I've got so many pictures, again, it looks better in real life. If you want to see extended highlights of my trip, when I get back I'll upload them somewhere. Just add yourself to the mailing list to receive the link (I'm going to send it to everyone anyway so you can't get out of it).

I'm just having a coke at the pizzeria by the exit before continuing back to Bled for lunch by the Lake.

Lake Bled

I arrived at the station at 3oclock and walked the 2km with my rucksack to the hostel which was easy enough to find.

My room is small but at the moment I'm the only one in it. Its a basic room with 2 bunks. As I was the only one in there I had the pick of the beds and steered well clear of the top bunks. The lockers weren't big enough for my rucksack so I attached it to my bed. The height of paranoia - locking up your rucksack in an empty, locked room so no one else can steal it. I think I have trust issues....

Jani, the owner, pointed out all the relevant things on a map and left me to it. I got lost trying to find one of the places he suggested to eat but ended up at another suggestion of his.

After eating I set off on a wander round the lake. It took me longer than Jani said it would but it was probably because I was stopping every 5 seconds trying to get a decent selfie (see a previous post for clarification). I still haven't got a very good one so the one I have will have to do. You can find it at the end of this post.

I haven't even been here half a day but already I'm wishing I was staying longer.

It took me 4 and a half hours to walk round the lake. I have 100 similar photos. Half are probably the same exactly. None look as good as what I could see with my eyes. When I finished I went and sat in a cafe with a nice view of the castle and the non-island church. By that I mean the church that isnt the one in the middle of the lake.

Tomorrow I'm going to get up early and head to the gorge.

A very serious piece of advice

Go to Lake Bled. Seriously. You can thank me later. There is something for every one. You can walk, you can hire bikes, you can hire boats, you can get a horse and carriage. You can swim, you can sunbathe, you can kayak, you can go white water rafting, you can camp. You can sit in a lake-side cafe and eat ice cream all day with an amazing view. Theres a church and a castle. There's fish and ducks and swans. There's even a water slide that goes into the lake. There's everything.

Most of all though, go because its incredibly beautiful, at least in my opinion. The water is so clear. I don't know if its just the time of year or because its not terribly well known, but its also not teaming with tourists.

My photos arent the best. You really just have to go.

There's also a gorge/valley near by, or a 'wally' as Jani the hostel owner likes to call it. I strongly suggest you visit

So long (farewell, aufwiedersehn, goodbye) Salzburg

Last night I had schnitzel for dinner. It was yummy. I did my laundry and got chatting to an Australian guy who was having dryer issues. I was watching Sound of Music,  noticing all the places I had been when I bumped into him again. He said he and another guy he'd met where going for a drink and asked if I wanted to come. I was like yeah why not and we went in search of a bar. We found some smoky 'music pub' and got a drink. Despite only having one, I feel this morning like I've had about 100.

Now I'm getting up and packing before its off to Lake Bled.

Again I've arrived at the train station way too early. This train had like 3 changes and an hour wait at one of the stations so maybe I'll get lunch there. I went with jeans this morning as its not warm here but its meant to be around 21º in Lake Bled today. Its a 2km walk from the train station to the hostel so I might die. Normally it would be fine. But with jeans, a hoody and a massive rucksack in the heat, I may not make it.

I have had a lovely couple of days in Salzburg. It is a beautiful place. I love the fact its surrounded by mountains.

However my dislike of a particular group of tourists has grown. They just seem to be so ignorant and oblivious of others. Yesterday at the trick fountains, one of said group kept whacking me with his bag, walking right in front of me and then stopping and getting in the way of my photos, yet expecting me to move out of the way of theirs. And just now at the train station I was standing on the platform which was basically empty and three of them came up and stood right in front of me. So close I could see the individual hairs on their heads. I had been standing there at least ten minutes before they arrived and the whole platform was empty, yet they invaded my personal space, seemingly completely oblivious to the fact I was there.

Anyway.... rant over.

I'm just on the train out of Salzburg. I arrive at Villach HBF at 12:43 although it will probably be a bit delayed. I only have ten minutes to catch my next train so that might be a bit tight. We'll see what happens!

There are some lovely views of the mountains as we leave Salzburg. The clouds are quite low and the photos aren't very good but its very scenic!

Yesterday I visited Europes biggest amber shop. I was going to buy Mum a present but I couldn't even afford a speck of amber at those prices. So instead I took a nice photo of an amber tree. This is for you Mum!

It seems we're about 6 minutes behind schedule so it's going to be a rush. We're just passing some snow sprinkled  mountains. They look amazing.
I need some new adjectives. I keep using beautiful and lovely.

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Woooooo! I made the train. With 3 minutes to spare. Success! <- you have to say that like the man in the guntree ads.
Turns out the train is going to be 20 minutes late departing anyway. At least there is an hour gap at the next change over.

The train ride from Salzburg was aesthetically pleasing (trying to avoid the use of beautiful). There aren't any mountains and lakes to look at on the train from Portsmouth to Cambridge. Once I saw a tardis in someone's garden but thats about as interesting as it gets.

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I am glad my train was delayed.  There is absolutely nothing at this train station. I'm hungry but have no food. I'm going to venture to the supermarket across the road.

I went to the supermarket and bought pizza flavoured baked roll things. Like a tiny version of french toast. They didn't at all taste like pizza. Now I'm just waiting for a train to Bled Jezero. Pretty sure I'm going to be the only one on it. I'm not even sure its going to turn up.

Platform 2 they told me. I stood on platform 2, the platform the woman in the information desk and the station guard man said the train would go from. Behind me, on platform 3 was a train with open doors that had been sittting there for a good 20 minutes. The guard started pointing at the train saying Bled and a whole load of Slovenian. He was trying to tell me that the train at platform 3 was the one I needed. I am fairly sure now that I am going to end up in the wrong place.

Finally arrived in Bled. The lake is stunning. I'm going for a walk and an eat. Ciao

An afternoon in Salzburg

I had bratwurst mit pomme frites for lunch at a cafe at the bottom of the hill. Because I walked up and because my ticket included it I got the funicular back down from the castle. I wizzed round the rest of my Salzburg walking tour, passing lots of beautiful buildings and Mozarts birth place. The walk took me back across a pedestrian bridge.  This bridge had loads of padlocks with couples names on locked to the sides. The bridge had a fence, all the dots you can see in the picture are padlocks. There must have been hundreds.

I went back through mirabell gardens and took some photos for your benefit and got some people to take some of me for my benefit. I was wizzing round mainly because I wanted time to see the trick fountains at Schloß Hellbrun. That is where I am headed as I write this. Its not quite walking distance so I'm on the bus.

I got on the right number bus but heading in the wrong direction originally.  The lady driving the bus was getting more and more worked up as she tried over and over to tell me I needed the other side of the road. I had understood her the first time but I couldn't get off the bus because she had shut the door so she thought I was confused. When she eventually realised that I was telling her I understood,  she opened the doors and let me off.

I am now on the right bus in the right direction with the same driver.

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The Hellbrun palace trick fountains are definitely worth a visit if you're in Salzburg and don't mind getting a bit wet. They are very clever seeing as they were built in the 17th Century. There is a 'theatre' with 150 moving figures, which represented a town, all run by one water pump. One of the figures was a cow being hit on the head with and axe by another figure and its front legs buckling. The Palace is quite beautiful aswell, although nowhere near as big as Schloß Schönbrunn. But it was quite nice to do the audio tour, during which I learnt that if you want to catch a unicorn,  you have to lead a virgin deep into the woods and wait until the unicorn lays its head in her lap, because then it is tame.

The sun is attempting to make an appearance but it is still not particularly warm. I've been in Austria twice now and have not yet tried 'Schnitzel'. Maybe I should have it for dinner...

Salzburg Castle

I'm clearly too strong for my own good. Some how whilst trying to screw the top of my contact lense solution on, twisted it so hard the top broke. It was pretty much like I twisted the top apart. I had to do some emergency surgery with plasters.

I also just did that 'try and take your lense out of your eye when you already have' thing so I was basically just touching my pupil repeatedly. It was quite painful.

Today I am doing a walking tour (unguided) of Salzburg. The map I got from the hostel has different length routes on. I'm doing the middle one as it includes the castle. I am writing this from the castle shop I am sheltering in as it just starting pouring. I am wearing my coat for the first time. I'm also wearing jeans and a hoody. It is not warm.

I decided to pay to go in Salzburg  castle and I'm glad I did. There are some lavishly decorated rooms and fantastic views of Salzburg and the mountains. It even managed to stay dry long enough for me to go up the tower. I'm just seeing if it will ease off so I can continue on my way.

P.s apologies - what I was calling the Hapsburgs is actually spelt Habsburgs

Its just not the weather for it

So theres not much to do when its raining. Or rather that you would want to do. So this is going to be a short post.

Day 8 - Salzburg

Prague was a lot of fun. I met some pretty awesome people (mainly californians). It is a beautiful city.

But now, on to Salzburg. Famous for Mozart and the Sound of Music. Apparently the hostel I'm staying at plays the film every night at 8pm.... sounds thrilling. Thankfully I'll only have to see it twice. There's nothing wrong with the musical/film but every night?! The hostel turnover can't be that fast!

When I get to the hostel I think I'm pretty much just going to collapse on my bed. I am very tired. Too many late nights and early starts. Then after my nap I'll probably just see what I can find to eat and do this evening.

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I found the hostel easily and planned my day for tomorrow. The room is lovely. Its an all female dorm and again I am on the  top bunk. There are only 6 beds in this room so it will probably be a tad quieter.

After that, I went to one of the eating places recommended by the hostel which was like a healthy fast food place - asian style. There was sushi,  noodles and curry. I had noodles with pesto. Due to the healthy, green, bio nature of the place, they didn't have coke. So that's my next mission. I'm going to wander down to mirabellplatz and kurtgarten to see whats a-crackalakin (going on). If I can't find cheap coke there I'll head back to the hostel bar. Tomorrow I am embarking on a monster tour of Salzburg so I will be resting my feet and getting an early night. Or at least thats my plan... I'm quite comfy where I am at the moment -  lounging in a wicker chair in the noodle place.

Train troubles

I got up at 6:30 so I could get the 7:55 train to Cesky Krumlov before heading on to Salzburg this evening. By 7:07 I was ready to check out and make the ten minute walk to the train station. I decided to double check the train time before I left,  just incase. Good thing I did too. The train was actually at 7:15. There was no way I was going to make it in time. Maybe I could have if I hadn't had to check out and was 100% sure of the way to the station but I wasn't. I checked for the next train but it wasn't until  9:15 and I didnt feel it was worth going , just for two hours. I'm so annoyed. Will definitely have to go there on another occasion.

So I decided to go straight to Salzburg. I looked up the train times and discovered the next one wasn't until 9:15 either (same train possibly?). So now I have to sit in the train station for an hour.

Its absolutely chucking it down outside. I'm soaked from the walk here. The forecast is for rain the whole time I'm in Salzburg. Maybe I shouldn't have complained so much when it was hot and sunny.

A security guard just came round and woke all the sleeping tramps. I sat next to one earlier and almost passed out from the smell. I didn't sit there long.

At 9:15 everyone piled into the train and the compartment I was in ended up like fish in a whatever the analogy is.

It looks like its shaping up to be another horrendous journey. At the next station we'll have to get a bus, almost certainly meaning I will miss my connecting train from Linz to Salzburg. Oh well, its all part of the fun!

Its still raining. If it rains when I'm at Lake Bled there will be hell to pay.

Thankfully the bus journey was only short but since I only had 8 minutes at Linz I don't think there is much chance of me catching the train but by the sound of it (credit to Leila) the trains are frequent so I can just catch the next one possible.

I was in a compartment first with two australians and then 3 americans, all of which were going to Salzburg. Clearly they thought I knew where I was going as they said they were all going to follow me. I hope they arent expecting me to lead them like the pied piper as I have no idea where to go.

2pm and into the last half hour of the first leg, we are trundling through every tiny Austrian station with fantastic views over the hills, despite the clouds' best efforts. And yes, its still raining.

The man of the american family, at every stop, asks the woman 'is this it?'. It clearly isnt Linz. All it is is a building at the side of the railway track and a concrete slab that can hardly be called a platform. It is clearly not a major station like Linz.

When we got to Linz there was a ten minute wait before I was wizzing off to Salzburg on the 14:53

Blaaaaaaaaaah - couldn't think of a title

Today has been a fairly quiet uneventful day. You can probably tell from the fact I have only posted one thing all day. It's rained most of the day. I'm heading to Salzburg, via Cesky krumlov, tomorrow and the forecast for those places is rain rain and more rain.

I went for a little walk with a guy called Bryon this morning and we wandered down Charles Bridge which is a decorated pedestrian bridge across the river. Then we wandered back past Wenceslas Square (oblong). We were originally going to see the dancing house but then it started raining.

We sat in the hostel bar playing cards and then at around three headed to a cheap local restaurant Bryon had been to before. He ordered the chicken liver and I had pork steak with ham, cheese and mushrooms on top with potato dumplings. It was rather yummy.

We then came back to the hostel. Later I went for a short walk to the New Old synagoge which was fairly average.

Now me and Bryon are sitting in the kitchen doing nothing. Fun fun fun

Wenceslas Oblong

I have had a lovely evening at Wenceslas Square, which is actually an avenue and not at all square hence the title. I stumbled upon, I guess what you would call, a busker. Although he was actually good. When I got there there were about 20 people standing and sitting watching him. By the time he finished it was more like 100. There was a massive crowd round him and loads of people bought his cd. I was almost tempted but then I remembered I'm a poor penniless student. He was really good and funny and the crowd were all clapping and some were even dancing. It was a fantastic spontaneous event. I've put a photo of half the crowd before it reached full size just to prove I'm not exaggerating (- as if I would!)

After he finished I walked to the end of the avenue to where this massive building was, although I have no idea what it was.

On the way back I passedthis 'paint a brick' thing for charity. I decided to have a go. I figured that I don't need to eat tomorrow anyway. 

Nodding Apostles

This afternoon I went to the square which is just down the road from the hostel. Its the centre of the old town. There were stalls at one end and various acts in tje middle. I sat on the kerb with many other people just watching life go by. Then just before 5 I went over to one of the churches bordering the square to see the nodding apostles mentioned in the guide book.

At the hour mark of every hour, the two blue windows at the top of the sundial clock (see photo) open, little figures slide past the window and the apostles at either side (see photo 2) start to nod.

I went back to the hostel and ended up getting locked out of the dorm. I had gone to the loo, without my key and when I left the door was propped open. When I came back, it was shut.  The hostel has a kitchen area so me and the other guy also locked out sat there. There were two sleeping girls in the room and we knocked on the door till one of them answered. She did not look happy. But really, we did her a favour. If she sleeps too much now, she won't sleep tonight.

After finally getting my stuff from the room I came back to the square, bought a crepe and sat down again.
The square is obviously the non-clubbing place to be in the evening. There are many acts to entertain the people. First came an all-girl marching band type thing that appeared to be German but were carrying a norwegian flag, then a band who were wearing genie type shoes. There is also a man cracking a whip. Literally.

Sitting watching the horses got me wondering. What do horses do if they have an itchy back whilst attached to a carriage? Answers on a postcard (or in a comment below) please.