Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Travel Plans
This weekend, I am heading off to Krakow, Poland with the rest of the API group. We are also going to be meeting up with a group of about 15 ESN Exchange students who are also heading there, so it should make for an extremely good time! A few highlights we will be seeing are the Old Town in Krakow, Auschwitz Concentration Camp, and the Wieliczka Salt Mine. The weather will be a warm and balmy 32 degrees, with a VERY strong chance of snow. Woopieeee!!
Croatia Oct. 8-11
Preface
I randomly had asked my friend Dan, another exchange student, if he would be down for going to Croatia on this particular weekend. He asked for a vague agenda, and I told him my ideas...it took him about 20 seconds to agree to it. So I had a travel companion, and we went about setting our itinerary. The first thing we did was book a one-way flight from Zagreb, the capital, to Dubrovnik, at the very southern tip of the country along the coastline, because we found a ticket for something like 45 dollars. Eventual, we agreed that a train to Zagreb on Thursday afternoon and a train home from Zagreb sometime on Sunday would be our main transportation. Getting back from Dubrovnik to Zagreb would be by overnight bus, but we could'nt book that online, only in person at the bus station. A week went by, and we had been slacking on our accomodation booking, so we got together the Tuesday before we left to figure it out. In Zagreb, we found one for $16 a night, which 'claimed' to be 10 minute walk from the main train station. More on that soon. In Dubrovnik, a lot of the hostels were located 15-20 minute walks outside of the Old Town, but we didn't want to do that, so we paid the 20 Euro for one located in almost the very center of the Old Town, which actually turned out to be an f'in great choice!
Thursday, Oct. 8th.
Anyway, Dan ended up leaving Wednesday afternoon to get to Zagreb a day early, because he didnt have class on Thursday and just felt like getting up and going. I left Thursday afternoon after my classes, and a 6.5 hour train ride later, arrived at the Zagreb train station. I hand wrote the directions to the hostel on a piece of paper, and expected a quick walk around a few blocks to get there, but it turned into me walking a little over a half hour to this place. But I did find it no problem, and Dan was waiting outside for my arrival. We walked back to the Bus Station (halfway between the Hostel and Train Station) to grab a small bite to eat before turning in and trying to get a good nights rest.
Friday, Oct. 9th.
We woke up, got our shit together, and were out of the hostel by about 9:45. The city center was past the train station, so we got on a tram heading that way in hopes that we wouldnt be checked for a ticket, which we were not. Zagreb is the largest city in Croatia, with approx 900,000 people, but the main old town/touristy area is pretty small, like many other cities in Europe. We arrived in the main square, which used to be the dividing point between two medieval towns that eventually joined together as one.
We settled in, showered, and ran off to go grab a bite to eat. Both of us agreed that a seafood meal was in order, and Danny's guide book suggested a place right by the marina. An order of mussels and a seafood risotto did the body good, and the realization that this may be the last time we have had to enjoy fresh seafood until we head back to the states set in. After, we meandered around the old town, and I was dead set on catching a glimpse of the sunset, so we left the old town heading up the Lapad peninsula to try and find a good lookout point. A late arrival forced us to settle for the beautiful colors that the sky was displaying after the sun had already set, but I enjoyed them as they were.
Later, we grabbed to bite to eat at a restaurant that specialized in Bosnian/Serbian food. We ordered a plate for two, called the Genghis Khan (strange?), which was a plate full of meats veggies and sauces...amazingg.
We caught a bus at 9pm to overnight back to Zagreb, stopping along the way in BOSNIA (for all over 20 minutes) and Split, among others, and arrived back to the capital at around 7am. It was cold and raining, and our train didn't leave for another 3 hours, so we moped our way to the train station to wait it out. After about an hour and a half of waiting, I suggested we get a quick bite to eat at the restaurant, which we did. Finishing our meal, an older gentleman kept randomly looking back at us, before asking Danny where he was from, and offering to buy us shots, which we politely declined, considering the time. As we were leaving, he started to question Danny about what he thought of Zagreb, as well as saying something along the lines of "we are poor f'in people here, do you know how we make money? How I make money?" Turns out he was the Zagreb City Pimp and offered Danny a lay, but we hurriedly walked out of there before it turned any more awkward. We boarded our train and endured another 6 hour ride home to Budapest.
You can see pictures of this here: Croatia Pictures!
I randomly had asked my friend Dan, another exchange student, if he would be down for going to Croatia on this particular weekend. He asked for a vague agenda, and I told him my ideas...it took him about 20 seconds to agree to it. So I had a travel companion, and we went about setting our itinerary. The first thing we did was book a one-way flight from Zagreb, the capital, to Dubrovnik, at the very southern tip of the country along the coastline, because we found a ticket for something like 45 dollars. Eventual, we agreed that a train to Zagreb on Thursday afternoon and a train home from Zagreb sometime on Sunday would be our main transportation. Getting back from Dubrovnik to Zagreb would be by overnight bus, but we could'nt book that online, only in person at the bus station. A week went by, and we had been slacking on our accomodation booking, so we got together the Tuesday before we left to figure it out. In Zagreb, we found one for $16 a night, which 'claimed' to be 10 minute walk from the main train station. More on that soon. In Dubrovnik, a lot of the hostels were located 15-20 minute walks outside of the Old Town, but we didn't want to do that, so we paid the 20 Euro for one located in almost the very center of the Old Town, which actually turned out to be an f'in great choice!
Thursday, Oct. 8th.
Anyway, Dan ended up leaving Wednesday afternoon to get to Zagreb a day early, because he didnt have class on Thursday and just felt like getting up and going. I left Thursday afternoon after my classes, and a 6.5 hour train ride later, arrived at the Zagreb train station. I hand wrote the directions to the hostel on a piece of paper, and expected a quick walk around a few blocks to get there, but it turned into me walking a little over a half hour to this place. But I did find it no problem, and Dan was waiting outside for my arrival. We walked back to the Bus Station (halfway between the Hostel and Train Station) to grab a small bite to eat before turning in and trying to get a good nights rest.
Friday, Oct. 9th.
We woke up, got our shit together, and were out of the hostel by about 9:45. The city center was past the train station, so we got on a tram heading that way in hopes that we wouldnt be checked for a ticket, which we were not. Zagreb is the largest city in Croatia, with approx 900,000 people, but the main old town/touristy area is pretty small, like many other cities in Europe. We arrived in the main square, which used to be the dividing point between two medieval towns that eventually joined together as one.
We walked around for a bit, Danny already having seen all this the day before, so he was my pseudo-tour guide for the 3 hours we spent in the city. Visited a cathedral where the corpse of the city archbishop was?? although I was not aware of that until after the fact, walked through the open air market as well as the fresh seafood market, which was awesome, as well as visiting the Croatian Parliament, Presidential Palace, and what they call the Green Horseshoe, a collection of parks and open spaces that when viewed from above takes the shape of a, you guessed it, horseshoe.
After our little tour, we hopped back on a tram to get to the bus station, because instead of paying around $40 for a taxi to the airport, Croatia Airlines has a bus that runs back and forth every half hour for $7. Arriving at the airport, we were checked in and through security in less than what seemed like a minute. Even with the lady in front of me having to forfeit here liquids and gels that were in her carryon. Thankfully, somehow, my cologne, toothpaste, deodorant, and what not made it through no problem.
A very, very quick 50 minute flight later, we landed in Dubrovnik to beautiful surroundings and a lovely temperature of about 79 degrees. We caught basically the same bus from the airport to the Old Town, and made our way to the hostel to check in. The Old Town is very hilly, and our hostel was located at the very top of one, but it was so worth it. Our bedroom was on the top floor of this 4 story building, and out our windows this is what we could see:
We settled in, showered, and ran off to go grab a bite to eat. Both of us agreed that a seafood meal was in order, and Danny's guide book suggested a place right by the marina. An order of mussels and a seafood risotto did the body good, and the realization that this may be the last time we have had to enjoy fresh seafood until we head back to the states set in. After, we meandered around the old town, and I was dead set on catching a glimpse of the sunset, so we left the old town heading up the Lapad peninsula to try and find a good lookout point. A late arrival forced us to settle for the beautiful colors that the sky was displaying after the sun had already set, but I enjoyed them as they were.
Arriving back at the hostel, we met some of the other travellers/backpackers that were staying there, most of them being Australian, but also one from Finland and a few from New Zealand. Some drinking and conversing occured, before some of us headed off to the only? club still open, Fuego. I made my way over with two kiwis and the Finland guy, and we stopped at the Hilton Imperial for a drink, Finland guy paying (thank god because the beers were like 15 bucks each). We reveled in our short-lived high-roller status, and proceeded to walk across the street to the club. Many drinks later, and after refusing a few shots the Aussies had bought for me, further evidencing that Americans can't drink worth a crap compared to the rest of the world, I managed to drag myself back to the hostel and passed out.
Saturday, Oct. 10.
Waking up and looking outside was beautifulllll, almost made me forget how much I felt like crap! Holy Hangover! Around 10 after we had eaten a quick breakfast, the first thing on our agenda was to walk the mile and a half along the top of Dubrovnik's famous walls. These walls were originally built to protect the town from invasions and what not, and some are set directly on the cliff side overlooking the water, rising over 120 feet high in some places. I struggled a bit, but slowly was feeling better...very slowly. After our walk, we decided a quick bite to eat was in order before beachin' it. I ordered a salad, but couldn't finish it. My stomach just said no. I was actually really excited to find the beach because I'd get to pass out for a little bit. Well, we found a pseudo-beach, not wanting to walk the extra 15 minutes to the real one, and we both jumped in a swam for a few minutes before Dan retired to a rock to read and me to another to lay down.
Earlier in the day while on the wall, we had seen a few guys jumping off some of the rocks/cliffs on the outside of the walls, and Danny had his heart set on doing it. I agreed, somewhat hesitantly, but definately wanted to partake in it. The place we ended up going was this cliffside bar called Buza. Rows of chairs and umbrellas lined the multiple levels of this place, with an area to hop into the water at the bottom and plently of rocks and cliffs to jump off of. It ended up being the same place that we saw the guys jumped earlier, so we were excited. Turned out to be one of the funnest things I've ever done, and it gives you a real rush. We started off with what we figured were 20-25 foot cliff, but Dan made the suggesting to move up a little higher, and we were jumping off 35+ foot rocks. Everyone loved us. People would stop and watch us from atop the wall, people sailing by would cheer us on as we jumped, and we even got a few others to join us and made a marathon of it.
Later, we grabbed to bite to eat at a restaurant that specialized in Bosnian/Serbian food. We ordered a plate for two, called the Genghis Khan (strange?), which was a plate full of meats veggies and sauces...amazingg.
We caught a bus at 9pm to overnight back to Zagreb, stopping along the way in BOSNIA (for all over 20 minutes) and Split, among others, and arrived back to the capital at around 7am. It was cold and raining, and our train didn't leave for another 3 hours, so we moped our way to the train station to wait it out. After about an hour and a half of waiting, I suggested we get a quick bite to eat at the restaurant, which we did. Finishing our meal, an older gentleman kept randomly looking back at us, before asking Danny where he was from, and offering to buy us shots, which we politely declined, considering the time. As we were leaving, he started to question Danny about what he thought of Zagreb, as well as saying something along the lines of "we are poor f'in people here, do you know how we make money? How I make money?" Turns out he was the Zagreb City Pimp and offered Danny a lay, but we hurriedly walked out of there before it turned any more awkward. We boarded our train and endured another 6 hour ride home to Budapest.
You can see pictures of this here: Croatia Pictures!
Weather
So one good thing about coming to Europe was that I would actually get to experience fall for the first time in 4 years, right? Wrong. Budapest had extremely warm weather consistently, being in the 70's well into October, so it still somewhat felt like summer. But on Monday, winter arrived a lot quicker than expected. It was been raining, gusting winds, and in the mid 30's to 40's since. I was not prepared to deal with such cold weather in the middle of October, but luckily, its supposed to warm up to the mid-high 50's and low 60's next week, so I pray that the weather report is correct.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Transylvania, Romania Oct. 1-4
Thursday, Oct. 1st.
I arrived back to my flat in Budapest at around 9:30am. I was very cranky, having not gotten THAT much sleep on the train back. I think it may have had something to do with the sleeping pills I took during my hangover, and the hallucinations that proceeded to occur. I don't remember ever laying back down for a quick nap, as the roommates woke up and wanted to hear all about what happened.
Sooner than later, I had to pack up my things and head over to the meeting spot to catch our bus. I showered, but still somehow felt very dissheveled as we made our way, stopping at a sandwich shop to pick up some food for the road. Having not ate in what felt like forever, I grabbed three of them.
On the excursions held by API, we hire a driver and a large van/small bus capable of holding 17 people, so there only being 7 students, Reka, and 3 other tag alongs, we had plenty of room to spread out, and I opted for a row of 2 seats all for myself.
The drive was about 8-9 hours through the open grasslands of Eastern Hungary and the rolling hills and mountains of Northwestern Romania, before we arrived at our destination of Cluj-Napoca (Romanian) or Koloszvar (Hungarian). The city has 2 different names because of the large minority of ethnic Hungarians who live all over Transylvania. We were being accomodated in a fairly new hotel called Hotel 7, which was set up on one of the hills of the city. We checked in and found our rooms, and proceeded to make our way down into the city center to find a place to eat. Walking on the main strip, we found a fairly nice restaurant that looked like it catered to the more upper class customer, yet when we looked at the menu we were astonished to see the prices for meals. Between the 8 of us that had a full me (soup/main course, sometimes both and a drink or two) the bill came out to be only 80 dollars. We all agreed we loved Romania.
Proceeding from there, we decided to venture off to look for a bar to go to for a few drinks. Kevin had asked the receptionist at the hotel about a good place to go, and attemped to navigate us to this place. When we arrived, we all were clearly underdressed (Jeans and a tee shirt/shorts), but decided to try our hand at entering anyway. We all made it in except the person wearing shorts, Kevin, so the group split up, with Erica, Cristy, Corey, Hannah and I staying and Kevin, Dan, and Claire heading back to the hotel. Standing around at the bar, we all were convinced that everyone was staring at us, and that everyone knew we were Americans, but we ordered drinks anyway and huddle in a circle, laughing at the crazy Romanian's and their dancing. I believe we were all on the verge of leaving anyway, when Corey decided to go party boy and accidentily knocked Cristy's glass from her hand, falling to the floor and breaking and in the process giving Erica a minor cut on her foot. The girls ran off to the bathroom to patch her up, as I stood there and acted like nothing happened, trying not to draw any more attention to our group then already was. I kicked the glass off to the side while waiting for the girls, and once they were done we immediately left and headed back to get some rest.
Friday, October 2nd
The next morning, we awoke to breakfast in the Hotel, and then met our guide for the remainder of the trip, Zolt. He was born and raised in Cluj-Napoca, but is completely Hungarian in ethnicity. The first part of our day consisted of a two hour walk around the city, seeing some of the major highlights. Having spent the night on top of one of the hills, we first drove over to a lookout point and you could see almost the entire city.
After our tour, we boarding the bus and headed off on an hours drive to the town of Torda, famous for its underground salt mine. I had never been in a salt mine before, so this was a first. The temperature inside was a cool, crisp 45-50 degrees, so we all bundled up before heading in. The tunnel to get inside the mine was really cool, and very, very long, as seen here. Inside, there was an echo chamber...we all agreed I had the loudest voice (go figure) and I was to yell something. My echo was heard something like 26 times over, and our guide said that normally 17 is the approx number of times you can hear it. Guess I do have a really loud voice....Inside, there was salt everywhere, as you can imagine. A staircase encrusted with a few inches of salt, salt dripping down from the rocks on the walls and ceilings, salt everywhere! It was a pretty neat thing to see, and a nice stopping point during the day of what was a day full of activity!
Finishing up at the salt mine, we again boarded our bus and began our journey to the town of Segesvar, or Sighisoara in Romanian. This town is best known as the birthplace of one Vlad Tepes, or as you all know him Vlad the Impaler/Dracula. To preface what I am going to say next, Romania has a very large minority of Roma people, or Gypsys. For the most part, normal people think of Gypsys as poor/nomadic people always on the move and scam artist masters. However, in this particular part of Romania, the Gypsys are very rich. The men wear a tall, black hat (similar to what was worn by Abraham Lincoln) their whole life, and the price of such hat is upwards of 100 Euro. Also, they build extremely large houses, larger than any of those that a normal Romanian would build, to symbolize their status and wealth. This is one reason why they are not very liked in this part of the world. However, these 3, 4, and sometimes 5 story houses are never fulled occupied. The Gypsys only live in the basement or ground floor, and all other floors contain absolutely little to no furniture at all. I snapped a picture of such houses as we drove by on our way to Segesvar.
We arrived in Segesvar at around 330-4pm. We walked up to the old town and visited the clock tower, walked up to the lookout of the clock tower (obviosuly), visited Vlad Tepes' birthplace, grabbed a bite to eat, and before we knew it we were leaving and on our way to our accomodation for the next two nights in Zetelaka. Zetelaka is located in an area where there is a very high percentage of ethic Hungarians...I believe about 90% of the county was made up of them, specifically, the Szekely Hungarians. Zetelaka was not that far from Segesvar, about an hour and 30 minute - 2 hour drive. We arrived in the village, and after navigating a few dirt roads, we found our street with the host families we would be staying with. There was another, much larger tour group arriving at the same time, and we all were invited into the yard of the head businesswoman in the village, Olga. Welcome drinks and snacks we given by children dressed in traditional clothing, and we all stood around and socialized for a few minutes before heading off to our respective families.
I arrived back to my flat in Budapest at around 9:30am. I was very cranky, having not gotten THAT much sleep on the train back. I think it may have had something to do with the sleeping pills I took during my hangover, and the hallucinations that proceeded to occur. I don't remember ever laying back down for a quick nap, as the roommates woke up and wanted to hear all about what happened.
Sooner than later, I had to pack up my things and head over to the meeting spot to catch our bus. I showered, but still somehow felt very dissheveled as we made our way, stopping at a sandwich shop to pick up some food for the road. Having not ate in what felt like forever, I grabbed three of them.
On the excursions held by API, we hire a driver and a large van/small bus capable of holding 17 people, so there only being 7 students, Reka, and 3 other tag alongs, we had plenty of room to spread out, and I opted for a row of 2 seats all for myself.
The drive was about 8-9 hours through the open grasslands of Eastern Hungary and the rolling hills and mountains of Northwestern Romania, before we arrived at our destination of Cluj-Napoca (Romanian) or Koloszvar (Hungarian). The city has 2 different names because of the large minority of ethnic Hungarians who live all over Transylvania. We were being accomodated in a fairly new hotel called Hotel 7, which was set up on one of the hills of the city. We checked in and found our rooms, and proceeded to make our way down into the city center to find a place to eat. Walking on the main strip, we found a fairly nice restaurant that looked like it catered to the more upper class customer, yet when we looked at the menu we were astonished to see the prices for meals. Between the 8 of us that had a full me (soup/main course, sometimes both and a drink or two) the bill came out to be only 80 dollars. We all agreed we loved Romania.
Proceeding from there, we decided to venture off to look for a bar to go to for a few drinks. Kevin had asked the receptionist at the hotel about a good place to go, and attemped to navigate us to this place. When we arrived, we all were clearly underdressed (Jeans and a tee shirt/shorts), but decided to try our hand at entering anyway. We all made it in except the person wearing shorts, Kevin, so the group split up, with Erica, Cristy, Corey, Hannah and I staying and Kevin, Dan, and Claire heading back to the hotel. Standing around at the bar, we all were convinced that everyone was staring at us, and that everyone knew we were Americans, but we ordered drinks anyway and huddle in a circle, laughing at the crazy Romanian's and their dancing. I believe we were all on the verge of leaving anyway, when Corey decided to go party boy and accidentily knocked Cristy's glass from her hand, falling to the floor and breaking and in the process giving Erica a minor cut on her foot. The girls ran off to the bathroom to patch her up, as I stood there and acted like nothing happened, trying not to draw any more attention to our group then already was. I kicked the glass off to the side while waiting for the girls, and once they were done we immediately left and headed back to get some rest.
Friday, October 2nd
The next morning, we awoke to breakfast in the Hotel, and then met our guide for the remainder of the trip, Zolt. He was born and raised in Cluj-Napoca, but is completely Hungarian in ethnicity. The first part of our day consisted of a two hour walk around the city, seeing some of the major highlights. Having spent the night on top of one of the hills, we first drove over to a lookout point and you could see almost the entire city.
Finishing up at the salt mine, we again boarded our bus and began our journey to the town of Segesvar, or Sighisoara in Romanian. This town is best known as the birthplace of one Vlad Tepes, or as you all know him Vlad the Impaler/Dracula. To preface what I am going to say next, Romania has a very large minority of Roma people, or Gypsys. For the most part, normal people think of Gypsys as poor/nomadic people always on the move and scam artist masters. However, in this particular part of Romania, the Gypsys are very rich. The men wear a tall, black hat (similar to what was worn by Abraham Lincoln) their whole life, and the price of such hat is upwards of 100 Euro. Also, they build extremely large houses, larger than any of those that a normal Romanian would build, to symbolize their status and wealth. This is one reason why they are not very liked in this part of the world. However, these 3, 4, and sometimes 5 story houses are never fulled occupied. The Gypsys only live in the basement or ground floor, and all other floors contain absolutely little to no furniture at all. I snapped a picture of such houses as we drove by on our way to Segesvar.
We arrived in Segesvar at around 330-4pm. We walked up to the old town and visited the clock tower, walked up to the lookout of the clock tower (obviosuly), visited Vlad Tepes' birthplace, grabbed a bite to eat, and before we knew it we were leaving and on our way to our accomodation for the next two nights in Zetelaka. Zetelaka is located in an area where there is a very high percentage of ethic Hungarians...I believe about 90% of the county was made up of them, specifically, the Szekely Hungarians. Zetelaka was not that far from Segesvar, about an hour and 30 minute - 2 hour drive. We arrived in the village, and after navigating a few dirt roads, we found our street with the host families we would be staying with. There was another, much larger tour group arriving at the same time, and we all were invited into the yard of the head businesswoman in the village, Olga. Welcome drinks and snacks we given by children dressed in traditional clothing, and we all stood around and socialized for a few minutes before heading off to our respective families.
The houses on this one particular street were actually very nice. There is a program called Rural Tourism that many towns in Transylvania take part in, providing homestays filled with nice beds, clean sheets, and excellent meals. For some areas, including the one we were staying in, this is the only main source of income they have. That is because Romania refuses to use funds that are sent specifically by the EU for the development of the Transylvania region. However, Romania does not like the fact that Hungarian minorities are using their ethnic heritage as a tourism device, and the governments ultimate goal is to assimillate all minorities into one, Romanian-centric culture. They do this by refusing to allow ethnic Hungarians to be educated in Hungarian schools, attempting to abolish the use of the Hungarian language, etc etc. And it is such a shame. But anyways, our home was very very nice...nice furniture, fairly large, and our host was a lovely woman named Erika. She didnt speak much English and kept out of sight, and only really appeared when serving us food. Speaking of food, it was absolutely amazing. We were given two flasks of Palinka, one Cumin flavored and the other Sour Cherry, and our meal started off with this Paprika infused potato soup that was to die for. The soup was followed by a Schnitzel of sort, with rice pilaf and pickled cabbage and peppers.
After dinner, our tour guide Zolt rounded everybody up, apparently to go look for bears or something. Well, we didnt find bears, and it was cold and raining, but we did find this very scary bridge over a small river, with some A-Holes deciding it would be funny to swing it back and forth when no one could see more than a foot in front of them coughKevinandDancough. After our little walk through the village, we walked towards the main road and headed to a bar to enjoy some drinks, before heading off to bed in preparation for a long day on Saturday.
Saturday, Oct. 3rd.
We awoke to the smells of breakfast, but before that, I proceeded to take a shower in a tub with no curtain. If anyone has ever done that, they know the challenge that situation poses and the extremes you have to go to not to flood the entire bathroom. But anyways, after a nice helping of friend eggs, meats, and cheeses, as well as 5 cups of coffee, we again loaded off the van and were off to an obscure location in the Eastern Carpathian mountains for a hike. Something like three hours later, and after a quick stop off at the top of a mountain to galavant around for a few minutes...
....we arrived at the Bekas Canyon. We walked the 3 kilometers through the canyon, admiring the scenery and and such and stopping to pick up a souvenir or two. I bought a winter hat because it was mad cold, and also a traditional Szekely knife...crazy sharp. Here are some pictures of that!
After walking through the canyon, we made our way back up the road towards Lake Gyilkos, or Killer Lake. Legend has it that a shepherd and his heard were swept into the like by an avalanche/mud slide, and his image can still be seen in the moon light at the bottom of the lake. We grabbed a bite to eat, a few of us getting fresh grilled stream caught trout, and also chimney cakes, a cylindric shaped pastry that still had smoke coming out one of its holes after it was cooked, hence the name. After we left, we stopped in a few small towns on the drive back to Zetalaka, one town Szovata, is famous for its helio(sun)-thermic lake, and another, Korond, is famous for its handmade pottery. I picked up a few pieces because they were fairly cheap. I also enjoyed a very nice sunset and a "moonrise?"
Dinner at the home-stay was even better the second night then the first. The soup to start it off was amazing, and was followed by some cabbage stuffed with minced meat and sour cream, again, amazing. After dinner, we all agreed we didnt want to walk back to the main road to go to the same bar again, so our guide called the head host family lady to see if there was a bar in the village, which there was. It was "right across" the large wooden bridge, so we ventured off to see if we could find it. Crossing the bridge, we didnt have the faintest idea of where this bar might be, so we continued walking in the direction of the wobbly bridge we had crossed the other night. I decided it would be fun to cross it and actually know where it goes/hold on and not be in the rain, and we had all but given up on the fact that we couldnt find the bar and were going to head back. In a sense, we did one large loop through the village, and on our way back passed the same bridge that we were told the bar was across. I told everyone to stop and that I was gonna walk back over to see if I could find it, and I came across what looked like a large barn with a HORSE parked outside and a bunch of noise and commotion coming from within. I went back to my tour guide and told him of the horse parked outside, and he said yes, that is the bar we were looking for. So strange haha. But anyways, the bar was a small hole in the wall inside a courtyard to what I thought was a barn. The bartender was very friendly, but we apparently picked the night when the village drunk decided to show up as well. Not even our tour guide, who speaks Hungarian, could understand what he was saying. But we managed to make friends with Ferenc (the village drunk), Bela (his friend who may or may not have been embarrassed by Ferenc's actions) and another man who just sat quietly at the table drinking as we all attemped to converse (which was a fail, because we dont speak Hungarian and none of them spoke English). Another man showed up at the bar, and proceeded to buy every one of us at least 2 rounds of drinks, maybe 3. He was younger than the other 3, but was missing teeth and was creepily hitting on the girls lol. This night in its entirety may have been one of the funniest nights of my life.
All pictures of my Transylvania trip can be seen here: Transylvania Pictures!
Dinner at the home-stay was even better the second night then the first. The soup to start it off was amazing, and was followed by some cabbage stuffed with minced meat and sour cream, again, amazing. After dinner, we all agreed we didnt want to walk back to the main road to go to the same bar again, so our guide called the head host family lady to see if there was a bar in the village, which there was. It was "right across" the large wooden bridge, so we ventured off to see if we could find it. Crossing the bridge, we didnt have the faintest idea of where this bar might be, so we continued walking in the direction of the wobbly bridge we had crossed the other night. I decided it would be fun to cross it and actually know where it goes/hold on and not be in the rain, and we had all but given up on the fact that we couldnt find the bar and were going to head back. In a sense, we did one large loop through the village, and on our way back passed the same bridge that we were told the bar was across. I told everyone to stop and that I was gonna walk back over to see if I could find it, and I came across what looked like a large barn with a HORSE parked outside and a bunch of noise and commotion coming from within. I went back to my tour guide and told him of the horse parked outside, and he said yes, that is the bar we were looking for. So strange haha. But anyways, the bar was a small hole in the wall inside a courtyard to what I thought was a barn. The bartender was very friendly, but we apparently picked the night when the village drunk decided to show up as well. Not even our tour guide, who speaks Hungarian, could understand what he was saying. But we managed to make friends with Ferenc (the village drunk), Bela (his friend who may or may not have been embarrassed by Ferenc's actions) and another man who just sat quietly at the table drinking as we all attemped to converse (which was a fail, because we dont speak Hungarian and none of them spoke English). Another man showed up at the bar, and proceeded to buy every one of us at least 2 rounds of drinks, maybe 3. He was younger than the other 3, but was missing teeth and was creepily hitting on the girls lol. This night in its entirety may have been one of the funniest nights of my life.
Sunday, Oct. 4th.
We woke up feeling greatttttttt (NOT). Many of us were hungover/still drunk. We got on the bus and drove to the city of Tirgu Mures and walked around the city for a few hours (most of us). We visited a few churches and the cultural palace. The city center was very quiet but that was most likely do to it being early Sunday morning. We left to head back towards Cluj-Napoca and drop our guide off, before heading back on the 8 hour drive to Budapest.
All in all, Transylvania was about 35% what I was expecting, with the other 65% surprising the hell out of me. I knew there were going to be old villages, I knew there was going to be a strange mystique associated with the land, but some of the information we all learned and the sights we took in were invaluable, unable to describe to someone unless they visit there for themselves. American's thoughts of the area consist of Vampires, and thats about it, but there is oh so much more to discover about this wonderful, naturally beautiful area in Eastern Europe
All pictures of my Transylvania trip can be seen here: Transylvania Pictures!
Monday, October 12, 2009
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Travel Plans
This afternoon after my classes, I am heading off to the beautiful country of Croatia. Taking a 6 hour train to Zagreb, the capital, and spending the night, followed by a half day of sightseeing before flying an hour down to Dubrovnik on the Dalmatian Coast and overnighting there. Depending on how much sightseeing we get done Friday afternoon will depend on if we take a 1/2 day-2/3 day trip to Kotor Bay in Montenegro! We are planning on taking the overnight bus back to Zagreb, and either sightseeing a bit more there on Sunday morning and catching a train back to Budapest in the afternoon or getting off the bus and hopping right back on a train and arriving back to BP sometime in the afternoon. Croatia was a country extremely high on my places I'd like to visit list and I am very very excited to be going!
Cheers!
Cheers!
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Oktoberfest aftermath
I would call the day a success. I arrived in Munich at approximately 6:30am, so I had time to wander around and prepare myself for the day ahead. I got a coffee and muffin in Starbucks at the train station, and let an hour or so pass by before I decided to hop on the metro. From the main train station, the festival was only 1 or 2 stops away; easy enough I figured considering I would most likely be heavily inebriated later in the day as I would try to make my way back. I arrived at the "Theresienwiese," the park where Oktoberfest is held every year. Work crews were still cleaning up from the day before, washing the pavement and getting all the beer kegs delivered to the tents. I attempted to scope out a plan of action, as there were three tents I really wanted to visit, but I figured once I got into one of the tents I probably wouldn't leave.
Finally 10am rolled around, which is when a few of the tents first open. I peeked inside a few before making my way into the Hofbrau tent. I knew from reading that this tent was notorious for being packed with foreigners, and my thoughts were that I would meet up with some other tourists and make some friends. After walking around the tent to see where the important areas were (bathroom, souvenir stand, etc), I picked an empty table, and soon was joined by an older gentlemen from Denmark who lived in Malta and spoke 9 different languages. We ordered our first round and were soon joined by two Italians (the tent was PACKED with fans of the Italian football club Juventus), and soon after by two german men, probably father and son. They in turn called over two more people, german girls, and our table was now full.
The atmosphere inside the tent was great. On one hand, all the Juventus supporters couldnt get enough of chanting their fight songs and whatnot, and on the other the band that was playing was great. Traditional German drinking music, a few American sing-a-long songs (not the right word, but songs that EVERYONE knew i guess) and the beer girls walking around carrying sometimes up to 15 steins of beer at once!
..........
Five liters of beer later, I thought it would be a great idea to actually go get something to eat. It was around 4:30 and I hadn't eaten since the muffin at starbucks at 7 that morning. One bratwurst with mustard later...
...I wake up in the metro stop for the main train station around 8pm. If you'd like to know what I remembered of the three hours in between, please ask me personally haha. I headed back to starbucks and sat there for 3 more hours until it was time to get on the night train back to Budapest. I paid the extra the money for a sleeper compartment. It was a neccessity.
Someday, hopefully soon, I will return to Munich for Oktoberfest, and this time with a very large group of people to make for a heck of an experience.
Finally 10am rolled around, which is when a few of the tents first open. I peeked inside a few before making my way into the Hofbrau tent. I knew from reading that this tent was notorious for being packed with foreigners, and my thoughts were that I would meet up with some other tourists and make some friends. After walking around the tent to see where the important areas were (bathroom, souvenir stand, etc), I picked an empty table, and soon was joined by an older gentlemen from Denmark who lived in Malta and spoke 9 different languages. We ordered our first round and were soon joined by two Italians (the tent was PACKED with fans of the Italian football club Juventus), and soon after by two german men, probably father and son. They in turn called over two more people, german girls, and our table was now full.
The atmosphere inside the tent was great. On one hand, all the Juventus supporters couldnt get enough of chanting their fight songs and whatnot, and on the other the band that was playing was great. Traditional German drinking music, a few American sing-a-long songs (not the right word, but songs that EVERYONE knew i guess) and the beer girls walking around carrying sometimes up to 15 steins of beer at once!
..........
Five liters of beer later, I thought it would be a great idea to actually go get something to eat. It was around 4:30 and I hadn't eaten since the muffin at starbucks at 7 that morning. One bratwurst with mustard later...
...I wake up in the metro stop for the main train station around 8pm. If you'd like to know what I remembered of the three hours in between, please ask me personally haha. I headed back to starbucks and sat there for 3 more hours until it was time to get on the night train back to Budapest. I paid the extra the money for a sleeper compartment. It was a neccessity.
Someday, hopefully soon, I will return to Munich for Oktoberfest, and this time with a very large group of people to make for a heck of an experience.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)