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  • TravelerBrisbane to Manchester
    Day 108

    Manchester: The end but the start

    June 14 in England ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    📌 A flight from Poland to Manchester! The end of our travels to get to the UK, but the start of our next adventure. It had been an unbelievable journey so far, we had learnt and seen so much that we won't forget. Both keen to get some routine and to stop being a tourist for a while seemed like a nice change on the horizon.

    📌 We travelled on a packed train from the airport to Hebden bridge where we met a woman who was also heading to Hebden bridge, she was super stressed and so grateful we helped her with the trains and times. Our first impressions of the UK were going well, the northerners were already loving a chat with us ☺️

    📌 We met Emily at Hebden bridge station, and we were welcomed to a very quaint and cool town. It was nice to be in the comfort of someone's home, particularly with a furry friend named Brunswick.    Read more

  • TravelerBrisbane to Manchester
    Day 104–108

    Gdansk

    June 10 in Poland ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    📌 The final stop of our trip, a few days on the coast of Poland. Gdansk was another beautiful old city that had been smashed and rebuilt since WW2. The Airbnb was in a prime location, we were staying at the top of an old house.

    📌 Walking through the old town everyday felt like walking through time and fairytales, the architecture and cobblestones were some of the best we had seen. Another walking tour added some context to the history of the city and it was quite interesting, plus having a few Americans on the tour always creates something extra.

    📌 A visit to the WW2 museum was fascinating, unfortunately we went late in the day so we had to hurry through, but it was definitely one of the best museums we'd seen anywhere. The way the information was presented and the way they have done the rooms, some which are done as war torn streets, is excellent. We definitely have a pretty good hold on the factors that were influencing WW2 since going on this trip ☺️

    📌 A day trip was inorder to suss out Sopot, a beach town not too far from Gdansk. We got the train and it was nice to walk around but it was quite underwhelming, very touristy in terms of stalls and shops plus paying to walk on a pier? What!?

    📌 We finished the trip to the docks where they have set up bars and food stalls on a cool industrial way. We then moved on to a karaoke bar which was hilarious as some people sang renowned English songs or Spanish or of course majority polish, unfortunately we didn't have the courage to pull out land down under this time.
    Gdansk was one of our favourite cities and is definitely worth visiting! It was a good finish to the trip.    Read more

  • TravelerBrisbane to Manchester
    Day 101–104

    Warsaw

    June 7 in Poland ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    📌 A visit to the capital of Poland on our way through to the coast. This time we caught a packed flixbus which was a fun 5 hours full of poor internet and weird smells of people's lunches ☺️

    📌 We didn't really have any significant plans here, we sort of made it up as we went. We did a walking tour giving us some insight into Warsaw and how much of it was destroyed in WW2 (approx 85%). We explored the rebuilt old town which was nice and they have done an excellent job recreating the buildings.

    📌 Warsaw was a modern city and it would be an easy place to live, we got around easy, there were plenty of bars and great restaurants, including a vegan Asian fusion which we enjoyed. We pretty much just relaxed and spent the days doing whatever, including a run and a workout in the park. It is a city worth seeing for history and insight into WW2 and we were happy we went.    Read more

  • TravelerBrisbane to Manchester
    Day 98–101

    Wrocław

    June 4 in Poland ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    📌 A new polish city, we arrived by a train that was a close call due to the traffic in Krakow. We were staying a few tram stops away in a residential apartment

    📌 Wroclaw had a beautiful old town, it has large central squares, and very well preserved buildings. A lot of the city, like many in Poland, has been rebuilt since 1945. It was hard to not walk through the old town without wanting to take a photo or visit one of the shops or bars.

    📌 We did a self guided walking tour in Wroclaw, exploring some of the churches, buildings and also the quirky gnome statues that are all over the city (apparently 600+) that begun as a resistance to communism. We also explored a panoramic painting that is one of the largest in the world, 115m long and 15m high, it was part of interactive art where you were guided through an important historical battle with the Russians and the poles for land. The ground at the base of the painting was set up as a battle ground and the lighting made you feel as if you were in it. Another random activity was a visit to Hydropolis, a museum about water and it's role in many different things, it was very interesting but super long.

    📌 We mixed it up a little food wise as polish food, although delicious, was very meat or carb heavy. Hence Thai, more indian and some Italian was enjoyed. We also visited a few mylk bars (cafeteria subsidised by the government), enjoying a cheap lunch. It felt very authentic to be dining in these localised establishments.    Read more

  • TravelerBrisbane to Manchester
    Day 95–98

    Krakow

    June 1 in Poland ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

    📌 Train into Krakow and we were both keen to see a city that we had both been but this time in a bit more depth. The Airbnb was interesting, a clean but small studio with a foldout couch bed 🤔

    📌 Krakow was cool, we started with one of the best walking tours we had been on with a hilarious guide. Some of the highlights were just now much Poland had been through in its history, occupied and divided twice, removed from the map by the Austro-hungarians, Prussia and Russians and then again in world war 2 by the Nazis and Soviets. Interestingly Copernicus also famously studied in Krakow.

    📌 We enjoyed the food and the Jewish quarter, the cool bars, the little cafes gave plenty of choice. One of the highlights was a small polish restaurant with cramped tables and candles that served a delicious pork rib, amazing pierogi and apple pie. We also found a 1920s speakeasy cocktail bar with a jazz singer which was awesome.

    📌 Overall it was nice to see Krakow slowly, learn some history, explore the Schindler's museum again, go for a run and enjoy delicious food.    Read more

  • TravelerBrisbane to Manchester
    Day 93–95

    Zakopane: The Polish Tatras

    May 30 in Poland ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    📌 A flixbus onto the other side of the Tatras toom us to the busy side, and it was obvious. Zakopane was a developed, busy, small city. It was similar to Queenstown, which was very different in comparison to the rugged, quiet and less developed Slovakian side.

    📌 Again the weather was looking up and down but it looked like the full day we had of hiking would be sunny in the morning. We planned an early wake up and without really knowing how to get a bus to the famous Morskie Oko lake (start of the hikes) we decided we would go for it. A nice large polish carb filled meal of sauerkraut, schnitzel was also preparation ☺️

    📌 We started the day early and knew where the buses were but times were hard to grasp, as we headed down the main street a bus driver yelled out Morskie Oko and signalled to get on. As we drove around town, this appeared to be how they got people on their buses and it also indicated that the business around Morskie Oko was true.

    📌 We started our hike and we were glad we were glad we headed to the 5 lakes trail first as this meant splitting off from 100s of people heading to Morskie Oko, even at 7.30am. The hike was tough but it was amazing, we ascended around 1100m through beautiful valleys and eventually made it to the lakes which were incredible. The surrounding mountains were still patchy with snow and it was fabulous to take it all in. We thought we had reached the high of the hike but then we found out as we ascended over a ridge to make it down to Morskie Oko that the views got even better. We had a panoramic view of the lakes and the weather was fantastic. There were a few sketchy areas as part of the track was covered by snow and a slip would have been an unknown fate, plus the knees on the descent got a great workout, but it was all worth the incredible hike. We finished in Morskie Oko as the rain came in, the lake was packed with people and it was lovely but we definitely made the right call going up first. I'll

    📌 We ended up walking approx 24km and enjoyed some beers, delicious polish cuisine of pork and schnitzel and some apple pie as a treat after a tough day. The Tatras were incredible and we had gotten very lucky with the weather.    Read more

  • TravelerBrisbane to Manchester
    Day 91

    The Slovakian Tatras

    May 28 in Slovakia ⋅ ☀️ 13 °C

    📌 The Slovakian Tatras were incredible, the weather was perfect, despite a few 50/50s on rain we had a great few days of hiking.

    📌 A hike to popradske pleso lake was a great start, the beautiful afternoon sun on the lake and chalet was very peaceful, it was so quiet and there was probably 10 people around the lake. We finished the 12km loop with a meal on the lake down the bottom as the sun was setting.

    📌 Our second day was 50/50 as a mild thunderstorm warning was expected and we weren't sure whether to try summit a peak in unknown whether, plus if anything would even be visible or consider another hike. We started the summit hike and we were about to turn around but then saw some other people on the trail which have us comfort for the weather but also from any bears 🐻 ☺️. We persisted on up the 5-6km waiting for the trail to change as described by the blog but it never did, and then we realised why, we were on the wrong trail. Despite this, our trail was even more incredible, we had hiked into a mountain valley surrounded by peaks, with a chalet at the top (approx 2000m) where you could get drinks and stay the night if you wished. It was probably one of the nicest beers we have had and it was well earned as the ascent was steep and long. One of our favourite hikes to date.    Read more

  • TravelerBrisbane to Manchester
    Day 89–91

    Kosice

    May 26 in Slovakia ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    📌 A few train changes and we left the Hungarian countryside for a small city in Slovakia. We didn't have much expectations as we had little knowledge of Slovakia but we were excited to see what it had to offer.

    📌 Kosice isn't huge but it was very quaint and colourful to walk around, the main street was wonderful to walk down and it had unique features such as a singing colourful fountain to songs such as Queen or renowned classical music songs.

    📌 We climbed the old church tower, we drank cheap delicious beer despite the rude waiter ☺️, we had a sugar overload on ice cream and we enjoyed the city. One of the best things was sitting down watching the fountain with a delicious lemon and passionfruit sorbet.

    📌 As for Slovakian food, it was similar to our previous countries but a new one that came up was was trying sheep's cheese potato gnocchi with sauerkraut. A more sour and less saucy gnocchi.    Read more

  • TravelerBrisbane to Manchester
    1
    Day 87–89

    Eger: A wine trip

    May 24 in Hungary ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    📌 it was a goal to explore some of Hungary's wine regions and a perfect way to do this was a stop which on the way to Slovakia. Eger is one of the oldest wine regions and is known for wine cellars that apparently span 150km under the ground for wine storage.

    📌 We arrived in Eger via a comfortable train and we were happy the accommodation was close as their was no rideshare. We ditched the annoying bags and explored the small colourful town for the afternoon and then enjoyed some delicious Italian.

    📌 Our full day was spent in the valley of beautiful women, which was a unique wine area as it was a essentially a street loop (like a court) of wine cellars all next to each other with a underground cellar area. The wine was cheap (3-4$) and tasty so we enjoyed 4-5 places alongside some cheese and Hungarian salami also. It was worth visiting this area and tasting some delicious wine of Hungary whilst also seeing a smaller more local side of the country.    Read more

  • TravelerBrisbane to Manchester
    Day 82–87

    Budapest

    May 19 in Hungary ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    📌 A interesting overnight train brought us to Budapest. We found our sleeper carriage at 11.45 and it was already occupied by two sleeping Germans, the lights were on, the windows open and the room was boiling. It was as if they had just passed out 🤣 The journey was reasonably comfortable once we got the room cooler.

    📌 Our Budapest accommodation was a great base which was a relief as 5 nights in a average place would have sucked! We started with a walking tour which was great, particularly as a few Aussies were on it and they had a good laugh when they heard Chloe complaining about a few daft questions from some Americans. We realised now that we were further west and approaching June, the accents were much more familiar and English was more common.

    📌 One of the highlights of Budapest was the food, the first night in an outdoor Mexican bar was elite (delicious churro cheesecake). Another great night, I organised a surprise date at a modern Hungarian restaurant that gave off Melbourne vibes which then lead into us running through the rain to a wine bar. Whilst, a few other nights involved great Indian and Vietnamese meals. The Goulash, the beers, the variety of cool bars and restaurants were great and it felt similar to home. Another great stop was a cool bar that had been built of random objects amongst and old factory, it was here we had a froccs wine (soda water and wine) which was very refreshing.

    📌 We explored the Buda castle and it's complex which was beautiful but busy. We explored the Jewish quarter where we learned the history of how the Jews here were potentially the worst off in all of Europe. Despite this, the Hungarian government will still not recognise its role in the holocaust which is crazy.

    📌 A great highlight of the stay was the night cruise along the Danube where we got unlimited Prosecco (Chloe's find) whilst admiring the lit up city buildings. Once finishing this, we found a cool cocktail bar playing jazz in an underground cellar which was a great way to finish the night and another great find in a city full of cool places.    Read more

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