To the happy few who have followed this blow-by-blow account of our Interrail adventures, I bring good tidings. This is the final instalment. There is light at the end of the tunnel. Monday 24 June (cont.) When we're away from home for more than two nights we like to choose a "local" in which to…
No Flixbus today Our first Italian train of this trip would be the 09:39 Frecciarossa (red arrow) from Trieste to Milan. Friday 21 June The first-class seats were comfortable, though when the brakes were applied it was a bit scary. The complimentary "meal" consisted of a stupid cardboard box containing two biscuits and a tiny…
After two nights in Zadar, an insanely early taxi for the 07:00 Flixbus to Ljubljana. Seven and a half hours' travel, including a wait at Zagreb for our connection, but such is life. Tuesday 18 June How lovely to see Zagreb bus station again - just enough time for a snack and a breakfast beer…
It was hot - well over 30c - when the Arta Line catamaran from Split docked at Hvar (the trip takes exactly an hour). The Pjaca, or Trg, one of the largest squares in Croatia, is surrounded by fine Venetian buildings and the Cathedral of Saint Stephen. There were plenty of souvenir shops and restaurants but…
Unlike Hungary, Croatia is a country we had already visited: in 2013 to the Istrian peninsula (Pula, Rovinj, Montovun, Beram, Poreč etc.), and in 1989, before the start of the Yugoslav Wars, to Dalmatia (Dubrovnik, Korčula and Split). Of course a sizeable chunk of Croatia's population has no memory of life in "Yugoslavia". Another thing…
We awoke to a dry and cool morning in Vienna following a very wet evening. Lingering over breakfast at a nearby Herr Mann bakery, we nearly missed our train (the wonderful Railjet). Two and a half quiet and comfortable hours later we pulled into Budapest Keleti. Tuesday 4 June Arriving at Budapest Keleti Our first…
"So, how are you?" goes the greeting. Most normal people automatically come back with something like, “Very well, and how are you?” Or, increasingly, “I’m good” - referring, one assumes, not to their moral condition but their physical well-being. But what if we took that question literally? People who know me say that I look…
We marched to Zürich Hbf, in comparatively balmy weather, to catch the 08:57 to Sargans, from where we would pick up the Railjet to Vienna. Saturday 1 June Neither of us had ever been to Vienna, although it had been on our minds for at least 10 years. My knowledge of Germanic culture is patchy…
It is a while since I last blogged. It's not that I've nothing to write about, but that I've been too busy actually doing things. Anne and I have just returned from four weeks travelling through central Europe: eight countries and more than 5,000 km (mostly by train, with a few Flixbuses when necessary). I…
"I am a proud Lancastrian. I hate London", said Madam X recently to a friend of mine. It is the kind of remark you could write a book about, if you were so inclined. What, if any, is the connection between the two statements? Apart from the obvious, what does it signify? If addressed to…
The Wight Stuff 