Vienna - Downtown, AUSTRIA

Weekend trip to Vienna/ Christmas market

Location: Vienna, Austria
Currency: Euro

This short post will primarly touch the historical monuments within the Inner Stadt (downtown) and the traditional Christmas market. The reason for this is simple - we only had a couple days there during which we did not use any sort of public transport hence walking was the only option ☺

How to get there, I took FlixBus from Budapest. It's a roughly 3 hours ride, not that bad. The seat was comfortable, the toilet was working. Surprisingly!

Well, I don't have muh to say, it was rather a visit to the Christmas market. We ate the market, so nothing fancy, really. A couple of cups of mulled wine and punch served well enough to warm ourlseves up in the cold winter evening. As of 2017, a cup of mulled wine/ hot chocolate was around 4€ . 

The downtown - or let's say innerstadt - is still very monumental, I felt like if we went back in history. The streets were spotless clean. Walking on the streets between these historical buildings, I had the feeling that I couldn't even imagine them on a warm sunny day, they had such a "cold aura" or how to say. 

So, let the pictures speak! All of them were taken by me, either with my camera or with my smartphone. 
More will be uploaded to my Facebook page.

Hofburg

Rathauspark

St. Stephan church

Belgrade, SERBIA

Weekend trip to Belgrade

Location: Europe, Balkan region, capital of Serbia, somewhere in the middle of the country

Currency: Serbian dinar

How to get there: depends from where you are coming 😊 In my case, I took a bus, actually two, to get to Kiskunhalas (HUN) and from there I had a direct train (MÁV-) to Belgrade (approx 6 hours). From Budapest you can either take the train or a FLIXBUS coach. Strange thing that this time the train was cheaper (23 €). Reserved seat is kind of an uncommon thing on serbian trains 😃, plus you have to pay an extra fee (3€ one-way).

Once there, don't be surprised on cyrill letters. English signs are common - making it easier for us, foreigners. However, as a contrepoint, even the street names quite close to the train station happened to be written only in Serbian.. so, despite my preparations which included pre-downloaded Google Map sheets, I had to ask some locals for help - just to make  sure that i'm on the right way. And (not that much surprisingly) I was 😊 The next mission was to find the hostel (Mosaic Hostel Belgrade), which was way more difficult than i have expected... no signs at all, the entry of the multi-storey building is hidden within the arcade floorway of a striptease dance school 😃

the fortress

The place itself is small but super clean with a well-equipped kitchen. Our private room was big and bright, in a modern style.  The city center is within easy reach with plenty of restaurants and pubs. There is a supermarket just down the building. The fortress is about 10-13 mins walk, the fountain on the main square is about 5. Do not expect hills or extraordinary viewpoints. 

a shot from the military museum..

One of the main "attractions" is the fortress. It has an open-air military museum as well as a playground for children. The latter is part of an interactive natural science thing, let's say sculpture park, so there's a fee to entry. The walk within the fortress is relaxing (at least it was so in october), and from the edge of the wall facing west you get the view of the cofluence of the two main rivers: Sava and the Danube.

Not far from the fortress, there is a zoo and if you walk further a nice walk offers itself along the river :) Plenty of the amenities on the docks were however closed.

Heading in the opposite direction either on the next day or in the afternoon - you will see huge churches. I'm not religious, so for me they only meant architectural uniqueness.

church of Saint Sava

Saint Mark's church with a crypt

This walk lasts at least 25 mins to the farther one (Church of Saint Sava), plus another 15 back to the closer one (Saint Mark's Church with a crypt). If you don't want to spend money on tickets, they are a good option to spend your time and make some exploring hand in hand with cultural sightseeing. 

The city itself isn't huge, and if you're lucky enough as I was, your travel partner is also keen on walking his feet off 😃, hence the city can be checked as done on your list. 

Big amounts of construction works were in progress while we were there. As of architecture along the main pedestrian streets, elements of the communist era are mixed up with today's somewhat modern style. The posh neighbourhood can be distinguished with a blink of an eye with its fancy houses and expensive cars parking in front of them.

We didn't really talk to the locals, but when we did we did it in English and had no misunderstandings. Dining facilities are abundant, both local and international.

Coca Cola ad in the modern district

The country is cheap compared to Western EU/UK, US, etc. 


The train station is unbelievably small.. and there's only one small tabac shop. The toilets only work with some change, so be prepared when in need ;) 

Train station - main entrance

Baska, CROATIA

A  (non-stop) weekend trip to Baska, Croatia

Location: Croatia, Krk island (south)

currency: Hrvatska kuna

Meeting point was in Budapest, Hungary slightly before midnight. The busride was okay, we arrived to Baska around 9 am. After taking our backpacks out from the bus, we headed to the beach where the majority of the group spent the day. Few others including me were wandering along the coast discovering the smaller bays.

Looking back to the main beach

The locals weren't very helpful regarding our inqueries about public toilets, haha. And although it may sound silly, it is a very important question if you are not planning to spend money in cafés every time you have to pee. I can't say anything more beacuse we didn't really had any other interactions with the locals.

The weather was great! Not even a single cloud, perfect for a summer day-trip. In the midst of July, obviously ;) The advantage of gettting up early (or even skip sleeping) is that you arrive to the beach before the crowd :P 

The neighbouring islands also represent the typical croatian island - i.e. bare, no or rare vegetation on the more or less slightly abrupt slopes. This is due to its geological origin: the abundance of carbonate sediments and karsts. Karst formations are very common as well, and as a result of carbonate sediments you can find tiny creatures - e.g. shells - in the rock if you keep your eyes open enough.

Islands, such as Krk island on which Baska is situated, are all part of the Adriatic chain. They were formed by splitting apart from the mainland during the subsidence of the Adriatic plate. This was the time when the sea intruded into the lower areas and slowly won over the higher peaks which form the islands today.

up there that yellow thing is where you are going next ;)

The place is rather a tourist destination although it is worth a walk if you are an explorer type. Around the main beach you will find  the main tourist resorts only, but with a hint of enthusiasm and motivation, you can make a short trip - but ascending! - to the church. It has a fairly nice view over the bay, so it's worth to make it once you are there.

cemetery next to the church

view from up there

I can't say much about the prices as we only had a coffee in the town, then later in the evening a dinner in the town of Krk. But that was a bigger one in a bigger town, so it obviously did cost more. 

 And of course, narrow streets where you can get lost easily - as I did. Which is quite uncommon and must have happened because I was late from our meeting. Just right when we were about to leave the town..