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Euro Beer & Magnet TourEuro Beer & Magnet Tour
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Euro Beer & Magnet Tour

mars - maj 2023
A bit of a jaunt around Europe, to see some interesting spots and share beers with a few pals….plus collect a few fridge magnets along the way 💪 Läs mer
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  • 56fotavtryck
  • 14länder
  • 60dagar
  • 1,0kfoton
  • 78videoklipp
  • 12,8kkilometer
  • 53kilometer
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Datum stigande
  • ResenärEuro Beer & Magnet Tour
    Dag 23

    Lake Bled - a walk, a scramble, a row…

    18 april 2023, Slovenien ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    Sad to leave our vast apartment, we met another “Interrailing for the Older Crowd” couple, Judith and Paul, as we left Trieste….but after only a short time to chat, said our farewells as we leapt off at the first stop to hop across the tracks to our slightly grim looking 2-coach Grafitti Express - we were staying at the Island end of the Lake.

    We were to enjoy another bus replacement service on this journey, but with Christine now fully into checking the local train web sites, we were expecting it 👍

    This is why I employ her 💪

    Lake Bled: what a revelation!

    A truly beautiful spot to stay….after checking in at our very quiet place, we set off to walk the Lake. I took a solo excursion up a very steep hill for the viewpoints, then knuckled down to row Christine to the Island for an icecream.
    We completed a full loop, via the Art Cafe Bar, of course 🍻

    I STRONGLY recommend a visit here, ideally out of the main season: the boat fella agreed this was the best time to visit before things go crazy….he actually preferred it during Covid, when nobody visited 🤪    Läs mer

  • ResenärEuro Beer & Magnet Tour
    Dag 25

    Ljubljana: Filmfest, Umbrellas & Castle

    20 april 2023, Slovenien ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    We arrived in more beautiful sunshine.

    After a 10 minute walk, we found our home, with our lovely friendly host, Marija.
    Her place was a really beautiful old building in the heart of Ljubljana - she is the only umbrella-repairer in all of Slovenia and was very house-proud of her rooms 💪

    We wander off, and were soon acquainted in this small but character-filled city.

    We discovered we had arrived in the middle of their annual film festival, so we went to see an engaging tense dystopian tale named “We Might As Well Be Dead” at the stylish Slovenska kinoteka.
    In true film festival style, there was a quirky film festival intro followed by a welcome and thank you from the German director. After the film we all clapped, then reverently sat through all the credits before finally leaving!

    With no energy for food hunting, evening pizza & beer was procured at the Cutty Sark, with some football on TV.
    Back at base we found the most channels on our TV yet, including one showing some snooker: hurrah, the World Championships were under way, & this was the first time in 4 years we hadn’t gone to see a live session.

    Our second full day here saw us join a guided walk to make sure we hadn’t missed much.
    We learned about the main architect of Slovenia, Jože Plečnik. He apparently got wackier in his old age, producing the huge University Library that has walls allegedly representing a carpet…..
    We also discovered the tale behind Dragon Bridge (& how there are only 4 on it - the rest were wyverns!)
    In a break, we snacked on some cheap and tasty bread products from the well hidden indoor market, next to the main street market 👍

    After the guided stroll, a nice cuppa beckoned, before we walked up the park to the Castle on the hill: rather more focussed on selling features, & we heeded the wise earlier advice of our guide to avoid bothering to pay - you can walk around the courtyard for free!

    Finally dined at Sarajevo’84 for some Bosnian-Serb cuisine - very filling!    Läs mer

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  • ResenärEuro Beer & Magnet Tour
    Dag 26

    7 hours on IC247 💪

    21 april 2023, Ungern ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    We headed out early.
    Sad to leave our beautiful lodgings in Ljubljana, but with over 7 hours on one train, we had a long day ahead.

    By quirk of luck, I once again became The Man In Seat 61.

    For a short while, we had a Slovenian gent with us in the compartment. He struck up conversation: we talked about the fine beers we had enjoyed at the film festival, as we passed one of the breweries. He discussed train delays, and we agreed they happened all over Europe: turned out his job was something to do with the unions on the trains, and he was familiar with the strikes back home.
    Nice chat, but he eventually left the train.

    We got comfy: listening to music, reading books, snacking.

    Eventually we arrived at Budapest, and took the M4 underground to Keleti, then had perhaps our longest walk to our Airbnb, at around 15 minutes. Clean rooms, and a chance to wash all our kit in the washing machine👍

    We discovered a delightfully healthy Eqyptian restaurant nearby, Oriental Bar Keleti, to round off our day nicely!    Läs mer

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  • ResenärEuro Beer & Magnet Tour
    Dag 27

    Budapest: Military Fun & Repression

    22 april 2023, Ungern ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    Another day of exploring ahead👍

    We discovered a “festival” in the huge city park near to our apartment. More of a recruitment fayre for the Military & Emergency Services! Fun, yet mildly disturbing at the same time.

    A beautiful and calming new House of Music venue raised the tone, followed by a walk up a magnificent edifice over the new Museum of Ethnography.

    The Police motorbike display team were outside, showing off their skills, & we took a quick visit to check out the nearby Széchenyi thermal baths: looked fancy, but somewhat pricey. A walk across to the Vajdahunyad vára lakeside fairytale castle before we finally tore ourselves away from all the action to walk to town.

    Seeking nourishment, it was nice to relax in the Scandi-feel of the A99 cafe, even with the instagrammers giving the place a bad name around us, posing and pouting 🤣🤷‍♂️

    Realised we would pass the infamous House of Terror, we felt we should pay it a visit.
    What a sobering experience 😳

    Fascinating yet terrible at the same time: so much repression over so many decades, first briefly by the Nazis, then by their “liberators”, the Soviets.
    Some harrowing tales on many video screens around, before slowly descending to the basement where so many were tortured and hung 😔

    This is the only place where the perpetrators are called out: there was no equivalent of the Nuremberg Trials for all the wicked deeds done 😡

    After a solid 2 hour visit, we needed some air, so continued our way to the other tourist hotspots.
    Works at the Parliament Building meant limited access, but visits to Heroes & Liberty Squares and of course the Danube raised our spirits on a pleasantly warm day. Interesting Reagan and Bush statues surrounding the Communist memorial….& a small frog statue also found rapidly by Christine!

    Liberty Square also hosts a “Memorial to the victims of the German occupation”. A controversial memorial the current Prime Minister Orbán had deployed during a night in 2014 to attempt to “white-wash” the terrible State choice to allow the Nazis in, the decision that resulted in the massacre of almost half a million Jewish, Gypsy and Hungarian homosexuals before the end of WWII 😳
    Nearby, we found a curious nuclear bunker vent….all interesting evidence of another era.

    The day was rounded off with a delicious traditional Goulash & Septoni beer at the Blue Rose restaurant, alongside some animated Greeks before a final slow amble home 👍    Läs mer

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  • ResenärEuro Beer & Magnet Tour
    Dag 28

    Last full day in Budapest

    23 april 2023, Ungern ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    We had a lazy start, plotting and planning ahead the next couple of weeks.

    Eventually we took a number 5 bus across the river & hiked up to Castle Hill - the Fisherman’s Bastion.

    Great views across to Pest before dropping for a lunch snack by the river, as a full size coach literally “drove” through it: a step up from Duck Tours!

    Walked across to Margaret Island for a stroll: a very popular spot for people to relax at the weekend, apparently.

    On round to the sad “Shoes on the Danube Bank” just past the imposing Parliament. Plenty of people taking pictures.

    In need of cheering up, we headed to a nearby “Ruin Bar”. Over a pint, we agreed we had seen much worse places 🤪
    I was also rather pleased to finally find a Rubik’s Cube mural…

    A final march home, and a good decision to have one more beer in the late sunshine across from our apartment in the lovely City Park as a final farewell.

    Unsure how Budapest left us feeling….the “military recruitment” festival and Museum of Terror certainly made us a little uneasy, but there was really no other reason to dislike the place….    Läs mer

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  • ResenärEuro Beer & Magnet Tour
    Dag 29

    A relaxing day at the baths!

    24 april 2023, Ungern ⋅ 🌧 15 °C

    Time to move on….so we checked out & left luggage at the station, then hopped on a tram to Dandár Thermal Baths, a proper local experience in a smaller baths. Very cheap to get in, with three indoor pools and two outdoor.
    Of course, one of the indoor ones was the cold plunge pool….one old fella gave Christine the thumbs up at my efforts when I got right under the freezing water 💪

    A nice lunch round the corner with a cute begging dog was followed by a short hunt for the elusive magnet…

    ….then a discovery (thanks to Seat61 😉) that our First Class ticket gave us Lounge access at Keleti: a chance to chill, relax and enjoy some complimentary snacks and drinks, before finally boarding our overnight train.    Läs mer

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  • ResenärEuro Beer & Magnet Tour
    Dag 30

    Brašov, via the steam train 🥵

    25 april 2023, Rumänien ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C

    After Budapest, we realised we had luxury access to the Business Lounge, so enjoyed an hour of free snacks and drink in a calm room before boarding our train.

    First, there was the excitement of our 2-berth compartment, a sandwich and a beer.

    Next we had passport checks done by stern Hungarian and then Romanian Police.

    Our clocks duly leapt forward another hour.
    Then we found we had drawn the very short straw: our the carriage with no way of turning off the heating 🥵

    The steward shrugged her little shoulders and pointed at the buttons and lights on an ancient board….a local fella explained this happened more often than not 🙄

    Ultimately we arrived in Brašov super tired after way too little sleep in our sauna.
    We did, however, enjoy a light breakfast on our way to our stop👍

    We looked across the road to our Soviet accommodation in Bloc 6: what a beautiful monstrosity 👀

    I remembered the Airbnb photos, and our host, Raluca, was waiting for us: this was a very early checkin, at 09:45hrs!

    Up to the 10th floor, with relief: the room itself was great, & she made full use of google translate speech to text to explain all we needed to know 👍

    We were pleased to catch up on lost sleep, and after a snacky lunch, we headed off into town.

    The walk in was not the most beautiful, but the old town made up for it: old, quaint, some work needed in parts but very adorable!

    After walking down Rope Street (“Strada Sforii”) - the third narrowest street in the world - we found ourselves outside the only tea shop in Brašov, and duly went in for refreshment).
    Much banter was enjoyed with the chirpy lady there, who had returned to her homeland after some years in Colchester!
    We asked her for a recommendation in where to dine.
    Normally people will hedge their bets and offer a few options: not this ball of energy: straight in to suggest Sergiana. Deal done!

    We took a slow amble up the hill to the White Tower before heading to eat.

    What a cracking underground restaurant: staff in local costume, a massive low-domed set of interconnecting rooms, and tasty yet refreshingly cheap local fare. The waitress even discouraged us from ordering sides: “too much!”
    Plus some fine local beer from the Ursus Brewery 😎👍

    Finally, a good decision to take a Bolt cab home at the princely cost of £2.33, giving us time to catch up on some snooker!

    Oh, & as we were waiting 4 minutes for George in his Prius, we bumped into another “Interrailing for the Older Crowd” couple we had briefly met when we arrived in Budapest: small world! Sounds like they are at Castle Bran tomorrow, maybe we will meet again!    Läs mer

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  • ResenärEuro Beer & Magnet Tour
    Dag 31

    A Bus to Bran

    26 april 2023, Rumänien ⋅ ☁️ 5 °C

    A lazy start on a grey morning. Summoned a bargain Bolt to the classy bus station to hop on the bus to Castle Bran, inspiration to Bram Stoker for Dracula.

    Some banter with a couple of young German legal eagles passed the journey nicely.

    The castle loomed majestically over the town below. The path below was full of souvenir tents, and there were far too many people - bus trips and lots of school children….but that didn’t detract from the Castle being a good day out.

    The torture rooms were well worth the extra money, and two young children were shrieking with delight at all the gruesome ways a human could be defiled in the name of extracting confessions! Their mum was squealing in horror as they chose their favourite punishment….

    The final part was dropping down a long lift, fitted inside the original well, on to the moderately daft ‘time tunnel’. At least it saved a long walk downhill!

    With temperatures remaining cool, we tried out Queen Marie’s Tea Room for soup, a drink, and a warm up.

    A grand day out!

    Return bus was due at 4pm, but we already knew that timetables in Romania were more of an aspiration than a fact….we passed the time chatting with an Aussie lady from Melbourne, travelling with her son.
    And of course indulged in a naughty but nice ‘chimney cake’ - a Transylvanian speciality 😍

    Back home, we had seen there was a small mural to visit near the station, but first dined well at FRACT - the ‘friendly restaurant and cozy terrace’. Felt like quite a swanky place, although since we were early, we had the sole attention of the proprietor and the maître d' 💪

    A stroll home admiring the fine old architecture (!) to close off our time in Brašov    Läs mer

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  • ResenärEuro Beer & Magnet Tour
    Dag 32

    Bucharest….Trains & Spies…

    27 april 2023, Rumänien ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    We packed up after a nice stay in Brasov
    With a bit of time spare, we approached the international window at the station to book some seats for future journeys. Lovely lady sorted it all out, with some bargain tickets!

    On the platform, it was clear there were some big school trips on the move 😱
    We muscled our way on to the train and grabbed seats: a man was helping settle his elderly mum into a seat and welcomed us to sit with her.
    Another fella in a smart long coat joined us.

    Then TheKids™ boarded.

    It was soon apparent that they had booked the entire carriage. Granny was frostily telling them where to go (we assume), & smart fella urged us to remain seated.
    With two kids pluckily trying for their seats (the ones we were sat in), we happily stood up.

    Then their teacher told them off, and moved them away.
    Granny looked satisfied.
    Greatcoat grinned.
    We sat back down 💪

    I used Google translate to tell Granny “all the fun of travel”, which made her laugh 🤣
    I showed her our “find my iPhone” which illustrated how far apart we were from our offspring. She showed us her grandson on hers. She gave us boiled sweets: we knew we had been adopted 💪

    We got chatting to the man.
    Christine instantly guessed he was Spanish, which impressed him. He claimed to work for NATO, but after a while I saw through his game & told him I was writing my travel book about how we met the Spanish James Bond on the train. He laughed, but I could tell deep down he was concerned his cover was blown 🕵️‍♂️

    He was thrilled to discover we played volleyball, & showed us a video he had of his daughter winning her first game, with him (in uniform!) saying some words. Even more thrilled to hear about how we also enjoyed snooker - he discovered the game whilst being posted in England!

    The kids left after a few stops, & we continued alongside the Carpathian Mountains: Granny proudly writing the names of the peaks on her puzzle book to share. Turns out you could get the Busteni-Babele cable car to the top. Maybe one day 🏔️

    Eventually, we parted at Bucharsti, with sturdy Granny refusing help with her baggage and heading off to muscle her way through the busy and somewhat tired old station.

    Our apartment block was another solid and imposing edifice outside. Anyone would think I was deliberately trying to enjoy a Communist Holiday. We got the key from the safe, and discovered we had another slightly dodgy lift to get us to the 4th floor.
    Luckily the inside was again nicely fitted out.
    After some noodles and plotting and planning, we set out for a little explore.

    Bucharest is another grand old place in need of some cleaning and investment….but with a beautiful Romanian Athenaeum concert hall and some grand statues.
    A Lebanese place inside the fancy looking Park Hotel provided some fine dining, before the walk home.    Läs mer

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  • ResenärEuro Beer & Magnet Tour
    Dag 33

    Barkarest….Walkies!

    28 april 2023, Rumänien ⋅ 🌙 12 °C

    Today was time to explore this grand city, starting with a Bolt to our meeting point: a Civitatis walk with Edward.

    Naturally the first Bolt failed to appear, but when we summoned another, we found him parked literally next to where we were standing 🤣. He finished his orange, and off we went.

    Edward was a very entertaining guide: so much history and architectural knowledge shared, explaining the ‘why’, as well as truth v myth…. culminating in the fall of Ceauşescu….& indeed the reasons he was declare guilty after just one hour of hearing (the Soviets, removing him before he could spill the beans on them, since you asked!)

    We met another fella, Ivan, plus another couple from the Older Interrailers…and a very enthusiastic lady from Dallas, Heddy!
    The tour ran for almost 3 hours, and he certainly earned his tips 👍

    We decided to go for lunch at a local place he recommended, Bodega "La Mahala". There, we felt surrounded by locals - a great decision….& a most disgraceful doughnut/cherry/cream dessert for an extra sugar boost. We only ordered one, but clearly something got lost in translation 👀

    A long and hot walk around the immense Palace of Parliament & the very quaint "Saint John Chrysostom" church was followed by a much needed cuppa at the beautiful galleried Carusel Café.

    That revitalised us for the final walk home….only broken by a dog leaping out and trying to bite me at the Revolution Square 😱

    Didn’t get through my walking trousers, & the owner was in tears….she explained he was a rescue dog, fully vaccinated. Despite my swearing profusely at the time, I suspect he was just surprised by my appearance and perhaps felt I was attacking her 🤷‍♂️
    We relaxed and continued home, shattered after another 20k step day.    Läs mer

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