Beyond Vienna, 29 September 2017

Today was one of those days when we visited three different countries in one day!  We started off in Slovenia, at Lake Bled, where after breakfast we tidied up and I made a quick dash to the supermarket for rolls and milk while the SW used the services and checked out.  The first bit of driving was down to Jesenice, where we were finally able to join the motorway in time to go through the Karawanken tunnel into Austria, and thus over Austrian motorways to Bad Reichenhall which, despite being a suburb of Salzburg is, in fact, in Germany!  We had one stop for the SW to drink coffee, and then turned aside in Salzburg to get diesel as it was cheaper there. Mind you, the last time we'd filled up had been in Hungary, and we have been in Croatia and Slovenia since then!

Bad Reichenhall is an old friend; we used to come here on ice dance courses back in the day, and after a hard morning's work at the rink, many of us used to spend our afternoons at the Rupertusbad, a wonderful spa baths the other side of town. Well, the motorhome park is just across the road from the spa, so guess where I headed after digesting our rather late lunch!  It was being upgraded the last year we were here, but that was some years ago now, and it is still great fun. There is now a public swimming pool as well as the spa area - if you buy a ticket for the late you can use the former, but not vice versa. I decided against a sauna, but spent my time in the indoor and outdoor salt baths with a mixture of jacuzzis, overhead water massage, as the circular current thing like they have in the baths in Budapest!  Great fun!

Meanwhile I was very impressed by the locker system. You got given a wristband as you went in - pink ones for the sauna and blue for the rest of it - and you undressed in the usual little cabin with a wet floor (which locked by bolts on the benches, not the doors, rather confusingly), and then you put your stuff in an open cupboard which you locked with the wristband!  And when you were near it, coming out, it flashed at you!  Much better than trying to have the right coin and remember your number (I can never read the labels on the keys without my spectacles).

 

I'd stupidly forgotten my flip-flops, since I'd been wearing them as slippers since Budapest, and in hindsight my towelling robe would have been nice, too, but you can't have everything.  And it was fun.

But we are definitely on the way home now!

Beyond Vienna, 28 September 2017

Feeling quite a lot better today, thankfully, so this morning we went for a potter around the lake. Sadly, my stupid lungs don't seem to like being at even this rather modest altitude (it's only about 500 metres - dammit, I've competed at much higher!).  So we didn't walk as far as we would have liked, but came back and had a coffee in the café here.

Then the SW learnt that he could use some practice ice at the rink here, so we got our act together and went into town on the little tourist train that runs round the lake for the purpose.

There was time for a sandwich in the rink café before the session started, so we had that, and then went into the rink to meet the coach and confirm it was ok. The first half hour was primary-school children, so the SW got some solid work in, and then he got off when the older, better skaters got on.  We had just missed a little train, so wandered down to the next stop, hoping to find the supermarket (there is one up here, but its range is somewhat limited), which we didn't, but we did find a place that sold ice cream, so had a delicious cone before the little train came along. 

After which, the SW insisted on going out on yet another walk, round some mountains, and I read quietly.  And am about to make an interesting supper of sausages and leftovers!

Beyond Vienna, 27 September 2017

After yesterday's awful drive, I was really dreading today's. We started off by driving into Ljubljana, hoping to see some of the sights and sing en route at a supermarket for bread,, but when we got to the car park he'd chosen, the SW said the turn into it was too tight, so we decided to head on.  What we saw of the city looked pleasant and prosperous, although we didn't see the old town or the castle.

The drive to Bled turned out not to be too ghastly, after all. A lot of it was on a concrete road, which vibrated horribly, and there were some hairpins, but in the whole it was all right.  We arrived and set up on time for lunch, and then the SW went out to explore. I was very tired and not feeling great, so I slept almost all the afternoon. 

We are to spend a whole day here tomorrow, and tomorrow night, and I have no real plans to do much other than potter! 

Beyond Vienna, 26 September 2017

This morning was All About Zagreb. After breakfast we bought day tickets and caught a tram into the town centre where we saw the various sights and took a funicular up to St Marks Church and the Greek Catholic cathedral.

We walked back down via the Stone Gate, and then caught a tram that went round the town a different way to get back to the van via a very large Kauffman store where we used up our currency on bread, cheese and fruit, and a bus for one stop to the end of our very long road!

After lunch and using the services, we headed on to Slovenia. I had decided I was to mean to pay for a vignette and we could go non-motorway. Big Mistake - the roads were horrible, all hairpin bends, roadworks, etc, even one faulty level crossing where we had to slither between the barriers (don't try this at home, boys and girls), as did most other people!

Slovenia is very pretty, more like Austria than like Croatia. The language is a bit different, too, which surprised us. School, for instance is "skola" in Croatian, but "šola" in Slovenian.  However, after that nightmare drive, I am rather out of love with it, and as it appears we may have to buy an Oyster card, or its equivalent, to use public transport here, I doubt we'll bother.

We are parked up in a restaurant car park where one may park for 24 hours if you eat there (they charge a small fee if you don't); we had a really delicious meal. I had squid grilled in garlic with a sort of bubble-and-squeak of spinach and potato, and the SW had a pork schnitzel with chips, followed by apfelstrudel with ice cream. I didn't have room for a pudding and, sadly, couldn't even finish my squid!  Oh, but it was delicious!

Beyond Vienna, 24 and 25 September 2017

We were not really comfortable at the thought of travelling any distance without a spare tyre, so we spent yesterday at Tranquil Pines, too. This has put us a day behind ourselves, but we will catch up by spending only one night at Lake Bled instead of the two we had planned. Unless we drive straight to Cité Europe from Trier, instead of spending the night en route. We shall see....

So, anyway, we didn't do very much yesterday. In the morning we drove to the local town of Tamási and visited Lidl and located where the tyre repair place was, to which we had been recommended by Andrew, our host.  Then in the afternoon I rested while the Swan Whisperer went for a hike, which he thoroughly enjoyed.

This morning we made our farewells and headed off to the tyre place, which mended and replaced the tyre and put the spare wheel in its bin under the van, all for €23, which we thought was excellent.  Then a last shop in Hungary, and on to pastures new in the form of Croatia, where we had never been before.

 

We hadn't realised Croatia was not part of Schengen, so we had to show our passports and our vehicle registration documents, both on leaving Hungary and on entering Croatia.  However, we were not held up for long, and drove cross country (to avoid paying motorway tolls) to Zagreb. We are parked up in one of those secure parking for motor homes - not glamorous, and not very cheap, either, but safe and legal and there are services, and there would be WiFi if we had parked up nearer the entrance.  The Swan Whisperer has gone to get currency and to explore a bit, and I am making a chicken casserole. Sadly, what I thought was a cut up whole chicken turns out to be several chicken backs, probably designed for soup, but I expect it will be eatable even if there isn't much meat!

We rather like Croatia - no idea what its infrastructure is, apart from agrarian, but the villages are much tidier than their Hungarian equivalents, and the road are better.  One day we'd like to visit the Hungarian Great Plain, just because we can....

Meanwhile I suppose this is the furthest point of this holiday, and we will be homeward bound from now on. But we are only just over half way through!

Beyond Vienna, 23 September 2017

Best laid plans, and all that...  We were just heading off from the camp site this morning when the guy behind us pointed out that we had a flat tyre.  Oh dear. Fortunately, we had a spare wheel and a jack - but the latter appeared not to with very well.  The Swan Whisperer went back into the camp site and found a very nice New Zealand guy who had a jack and who came and helped him change the wheel and pumped up the tyre for him - it has a screw in it, such is why it went flat.

However, by that time it was already noon, and we reckoned that the baths would be crowded out at that time on a Saturday, so we sadly decided not to use them, but to head on to this camp site I had heard of, in the heart of the country, run by an English couple.  It is very nice indeed; we are the only people here, and they gave us a beer on arrival and chatted until the rain came.

We may well stay here another night so we can check our tyres on Monday. The is a Lidl in the local town, and you can tell they use it, as lovely thick Lidl paper in the loo (I do hate the thin stuff we have to use in the van, but it can't be helped), and I am already looking forward to my shower tomorrow morning!

Beyond Vienna, 22 September 2017

What a difference a night makes!  The rain stopped sometime during the night, and when we woke, it was to bright sunshine. Which has lasted all day.

So we did various domestic-type things like using the services and changing the gas bottle, which decided to run out on us just before breakfast.  Then the Swan Whisperer trotted up to the metro station to get me a day ticket (we were told he didn't need one, being over 65) and then we headed to the tram stop at the end of the road.  We changed trams when we got to the river, and ended up in the centre of Pest. 

After pottering about a bit and deciding not to go into the cathedral, we found somewhere to have a rather expensive cup of coffee, and then walked down the main shopping drag to get the SW a new pair of shoes, as his have demised and let in the rain. Mission accomplished - oh, you have never seen such a Euro high street with familiar brands from all over Europe, even Tiger - we decided to have a real tourist lunch - goulash soup, followed by chicken paprikash, followed by a pancake with jam. Very traditional, very predictable, very carb-heavy, and very delicious!

Then we walked back up the street to the metro station and caught the "Foldalatti" up to the park to check on the opening times of the baths there, and to see whether there was anywhere we could park nearby, as we thought we might do that before we head on tomorrow.  

The next hour or so was spent on buses heading over to the Buda side and back (the main tram terminus/interchange there is considerably posher than it was ten years ago, or whenever we were last here).

Then we found a tram that would take us to a big Tesco's, for shopping purposes, and thence back to the camp site. Now we (well, the Swan Whisperer) are doing a mid-holiday washing (it isn't quite half way through, but we can do another load later if we feel the need), and then it will be a light supper tonight!

I am tired but because I didn't run for any buses or trams, I don't feel unwell as I did after our day in Vienna, so I'm hoping not to flake out again.