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Well, its my last day here in PÉCS and head off to Budapest tomorrow. Its been good here. Had 6 nights so have had time to look around, have a bit of a break and catch up with boring things like washing etc (all by hand)

Well, my first impression of Hungary was a bit scary. After landing in a train station on the border in the middle of know where, where absolutely noone spoke English and everything looked incredibly old fashioned.

I then ended up being ripped off by a taxi driver (first time this trip) and got to a motel that was out in the suburbs with no restaurants etc (8 pm after being at the train stations all day) I was a bit out of place.

However next morning I caught a bus into town and saw a very modern, fashionable town. Pécs has the best shopping centre Ive seen so far. Very modern. Well, I felt much better. Its amazing how familiar zou feel once you enter a shopping centre. Doesnt matter than you cant speak the language, you can tell the word sale in any language. Unfortunatelz I cant carry much but managed to buy a shirt plus another novel.

Very little English in Hungary. Only basic stuff at restaurants and hotels. Caught a taxi down to the train station and the driver didnt know the word train - did the choo choo thing and the arms as wheels. We both laughed because the trains dont sound like that anymore but it got me where I wanted to be.

Very funnz episode....

Lots of museams and I saw a Mining one. Coming from the Pilbara, I thought OK - it may be interesting. Well everythings very cheap here so didnt care if it wasnt. Anyway, ended up in the wrong museum, there was a modern art gallery next door and that was the one I went into to..

Then went out side and found correct door. Old man on the door wouldnt let me in. Couldnt understand why a female would want to go to a mining museum and kept mentioning the art one next door and pointing to that. I couldnt make him understand that I wanted to go in.

He kept blocking my way.... I laughed

Yesterday I caught a local train down to a small town called Villany. Its a wine growing area and I thought that it might be quite touristy. Well, in Hungary most things close down on Sunday. I thought lots of local people would be visiting the wineries but no it was verz quiet.

Anywaz, I enjoyed mzself. Went to a recommended one Bocks. The price was 110 Florints (1AUD = 164 florints) for a particular wine so thought OK - Ill get an inch or two of the wine to taste. Well ended up getting a full glass. Not the same winetastings as Australia. They dont give you tastes, they give you glasses.

It was a light red "Portugieser" lovely. Then had a 1999 Bock Cuvee (premium red) - really nice and only cost me 500 Florints. So after two glasses of red I was feeling very mellow but unfortunately had about 2 klms to walk so thought I should stop there.

Then walked the 2 klms found another cellar and had a reisling and chardonnay - all for the measly cost of $3

The cellars arent at the actual wineries. There is a street of shops really and thats where all the tastings are.

So.. then walked back to train station, found a bench and had a lovely nap until the train came.

Felt like one of the locals. I actually knew where I was, what train to catch back and what time it arrived etc. Very knowledgeable.

Today its raining so just going to mosy around. Just about to go and grab some lunch and then sort out ticket for tomorrow etc.

By the way, Hungarian food is VERY heavy. Cant believe how much fat they use. Its a bit much and Im hanging out for some light food but difficult to find. Even their salads are drowned out by dressings.

They also use lots of bone marrow in dishes. Actually could have ordered a stew of bone marrow. Couldnt think of anything more delicious... But I held back. Got to think about the waistline. Also in hotel they had a dish which the translation was "calf knockers". Unfortunately the waiter couldnt speak english so I couldnt ask him what it was. The imagination went beserk.

The other night, I actually ordered a pizza because it was a bit lighter (I know!!!!!!)

For lunch, Im going to try for some soup and salad.

Anyway, better go. Still got to check banking etc and Ive already been on this computer for a while. Its a good one though. Even getting used to all the z and y issues.

Talk to you all from somewhere in Budabest.

Seeya from Hungary (this is actually very close to what they say when they say hooray to people) seeya.

So, I do speak some Hungarian.

seeya

Kaz

However, most of my photos are quite big and its very slow and have limited upload capacity so dont think ill do it too much.

But here is a photo of me at Dubrovnik. Hundreds of steps - calf muscles are getting quite a work out.

Actually, Im pleased with how Im physically coping. Back has been pretty good and only had the odd twinge or two. Beds are really firm though and i think that is helping.

Ankle is sore after a big walk but have only had to use antiinflammatories on two occasions. When Im sitting down for a while and get up its reallz painful but once I get going again, the pain seems to go.

Sounds like Im falling apart doesnt it but as I said, Im pleased....

Anywaz, this was onlz so a photo could be uploaded. Ill do another blog with an information update

Cheers
Kay (world traveller extrordinaire)

Reallyy haallenging keyboard this time. im stnding up in a bar at an internet point. basicaly the keyboard is at chest height and you feed coins into a slot. the keyboard is metal and you have to hit the keys rellz hard......so apologies for any mistakes. And I was going to do a long entry as well but nnot sure if i cn.

wéll ive sid goodbye to croatia and now in pecs hungary. i had a few days in zagreb (flew there from dubrovnik). it was zmy first experience of an eastern european city and i liked the atmmosphre. first impressiosóns....buildings were huge. there was lots ofspace and it was very old fashioned. i stayed prettz up market at the palace hotel which is one of the oldest hotels in europe. it was verz old worldz.

the first day,i did a self walking tour throughout old town. very well explained via booklet. the church was amazing and huge. the old part of town was verz different from the coastal towns and had a differenet atmosphere.

funny thing... there are heaps of cafes where you can get coffee, wine etc but no food. hard to find a restaurant. also millions of shoe shops but not many clothes shops. also quite a few perfumaries. so everzone smell great and have great shoes...

croatian food is difficult to find. its a mixture of lots of countries. italian strong... so ive had heaps of pasta. so mz first night inzagreb i found a restaurant and had a kebab (grilled pork9) and ordered a verz plain salad. there is also lots of pastry stuff and bread. (Kris, youd have problems)

Next daz in zgreb, i went to one of the best museams. it was huge and had some fantastic displazs of venetian glass, roman statues -all sorts of stuff.

but it was the paintings that were the ebest. again, all the masters. but what made it better than florenve, was that there were onlz one or two other people there. so i was able to stand before a renoir for ages and just take it in.

all croatians holidaz at the coast so zagreb was emptz.

HUNGARZ

3 train changes to get to pecs and all on local trains, that is, inner town trains, not anz big ones. as usual, had platform problems. you would think that there would be 2 platforms to a set. one onleft and 1 on right. no.... there is 2 a and 2 b and platform 3 is actuallz the 4th platform.... anywaz, solved it but quite stressful. then i onlz had 5 minutes between train changes aand was readz for the big dash.... so got off the train, ran to the first uniformed person with the towns name written down and then got back on the same train.....it kept going.... so no need to panic. i was even 3 minutes earlz......

then 3rd train change, ended up 3 hours at hungarian border station, with noone speaking english and then the onlz person on the train....quite spooky. thank goodness to the timetable that the person printed out for me in zagreb. it had all the station names.

then got to pecs and found my pension was quite a waz out of town so caught taxi and didnt have enough hungarian florint. so taxi got paid in croatian kuna and got a lot of money... oh well. you learn....

so todaz have been finding closer accommodation and move tomorrow

i will trz and do another entrz in daz or two. i am running out of coins plus verz frustrated with this keyboard. talk about advanced rsi.

see ya..

kaz

Well...where do I start.

Am in Dubrovnik and its is absolutely fantastic. So picturesque. Every street is a photo opportunity, the buildings are great and the view of the ocean is spectacular.

I ended up finding this fantastic apartment right smack bang in the middle of the old town. Its a ground floor apartment (no steps to haul suitcase up) that has a TV, microwave, fridge, shower toilet and washing machine. I'm so impressed. The furniture is 60's kitch but who cares. All for 55 Euros.

Remember that laundromat I told you about in Split. Well it ended up being owned by an Australian. I was finding it difficult getting any accom in Dubrovnik and she knew of someone who had apartments. Anyway, his was full but he knew of someone who had a vacancy. Again, I was shown into the place so didn't have to find it.

Its only 10 metres to a great Pizzeria. Round the corner, is a tiny supermarket. Very handy.

So, I'm staying here 5 nights which will be lots of time to see things.

Today, I spent 2 hours climbing the fortress walls (the circle the whole old town) and you can walk around the top. Boy was it hot!!! But I made it....

Then I had a nice cool couple of beers (Croatian beer is lovely) and then had a siesta. And now I'm here at an internet cafe which would have to be the trendiest I've seen. (Plus keyboard is exactly like the one at work so I feel very comfortable)

So...as you can see, I'm impressed with Dubrovnik. On Friday, I have booked a trip out on a sailing yacht (big one) it takes you to three islands plus has an English guide on it.

The only thing bad about Dubrovnik is that Liza's song hasn't come true (yet). Only Kris will really know what that means!!

Bit of overview on the general trip....

Only hassle really is getting from place to place....

Florence to Ancona
Two trains - Florence to Bologna, then Bologna to Ancona (Ferry Port). Bloody Bologna!!! As I've mentioned, Italy doesn't tell you the platform until about 10 mins prior and then its a mad rush to the platform. Well on the TV screen it said platform 6 which meant hauling case down flight of stairs, plus up flight of stairs. Then they went and changed the platform twice. However they only made the announcements in Italian. So I had to keep going down the stairs, checking the screens, going up the stairs, going down the stairs ...you get my drift.

Then to top it all off, the aircon on the train was busted and I had 6 sweaty italians to share it all with!!!

Bus - Split to Dubrovnik
6 hours instead of 4.5. Very windy roads, traffic jams, crowded bus, with mix up of seat allocations and a very grumpy bus driver who didn't speak a word of English. Then I was supposed to get picked up at the bus station and got a phone call saying catch number 1 bus to the Pile Gate. They don't seem to think that this would faze you a bit. So, I then have to find a number 1 bus (which was fairly easy). Luckily the pile gate was the last stop and then I was met!!

Good thing about that trip was that I got to have a pee in Bosnia. It actually goes through Bosnia for about 1 hour and we stopped at a rest station.

All the fun of travelling.

John and Kris will really emphathise with me on this....

Greg - thanks for the joke (loved it) Pls send me your email address. I've only got it on my memory stick which is back at the apartment.

Thanks for all the comments - glad to see that people are reading it.

So.... see ya from Dubrovnik - I think I may go and see a couple more old buildings and then have another beer or two....

Cheers Kay

Howdy all

Well I'm now in Croatia at a city called Split. Its a lot larger than I thought - over 300,000 people. I found an accommodation via Travellerspoint and ended up in a room in the old part of town.

They offered free transfer from the ferry so I phoned and organised and got a lady that spoke perfect English so was very pleased. She even gave me a bit of a guided tour.

The accommodation is nothing fancy and is owned by an old gentleman who doesn't speak much english. Its clean though and in a really good location. Just round the corner is a small shop, down the road is a laundromat (with internet) which is where I am now and not far to restaurants etc.

Today spent most of the morning walking (feet are getting a bit of a thrashing - elastoplast everywhere)through the palace which is really an old fortress style area with roman walls around a part of the town. The original buildings are 400 AD but it was destroyed a few times and then rebuilt around 1300s. Amazing really because you have people living in houses amongst these fantastic ruins. Apparently they are some of the best preserved roman ruins in the world.

Its quite laid back and lots of tourists around. I think its the place where Europeans come for holidays. Its much nicer than the Italian coast line (what I saw) and much more touristy.

Well, better go. I've got to find some accommodation for Dubrovnik yet plus how to get there so a bit to do...

(Don't know how to say hooray in Croatian)

Cheers Kay

Very quaint. Lots of cafes (fantastic coffee) nestled among the streets. You turn the corner and there is another one. Each as quaint as the other. So this morning, I had a hot coffee and then about 2 hours later, a iced coffee. Its very hot at the moment so the iced coffee was refreshing.

Its been a bit difficult to find out what to do though because tourist places are closed on Sundays. Tomorrow I'm either going to go to a historic town Trogir (UNESCO) or over to one of the islands. Then the next day off to Drubrovnic.