Spisska Nova Ves

After spending quite a while riding in the train we finally arrived in Spisska Nova Ves where we immediately made our way to the tourist information center to find out about accommodation in the town. While there we were told of a nice and cheap hostel and also we found out all about Slovensky Raj, the nearby National Park that we planned on spending a couple of days exploring in. So after finding out all of the information we made our way to the hostel where we eventually got a room (after using an internet translation program) and settled in for a few days. The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent buying groceries to make picnic lunches and enjoying a nice meal out in the only small area we could find with restaurants.

The next morning we got up fairly early and after a quick breakfast we ran to the bus station where we boarded a bus that would take us to Cingov, the starting point of our day hike. From Cingov we paid our small entrance fee and began the hike along a nice wide and flat path that led into the small hills. After a short distance (and a few junctions) we came to the Hornad River, the main river in the National Park, and continued to hike along it. This is the point when the hiking became more interesting as both the terrain and the scenery started to change. The scenery was quite beautiful as we were walking along the river bank through some great forests and we even occasionally had to walk over top of the river on small metal grates that jutted out from cliff faces. This was quite fun as the way it was setup you wouldn't normally find back home in the Rockies so the change was nice. After hiking along the river for a bit we came to another junction where we left the river and started to make our way uphill through one of the many gorges in the National Park. The short hike through this gorge was absolutely fabulous as we were hiking along a small stream and at several points throughout the gorge we had to climb ladders up cliff faces right next to small waterfalls. It was lots of fun taking our time to climb through this gorge and it felt like the hike was truly a jungle gym for adults. Once we reached the top of the gorge we climbed up to a nice grassy meadow with a small hut and restaurant and we sat down to enjoy our well earned lunch while enjoying some fantastic views over the surrounding countryside. After lunch we started to make our way back down along a ridge line and we were rewarded with some great views. A couple of hours later we found ourselves back at the trail head and after a short wait we caught a bus bound for Spisska Nova Ves where we just returned to our hostel to relax after the days hike. That evening was again spent enjoying a simply meal outdoors before another fairly early night.

The following morning was pretty similar to the previous one and after our breakfast we raced off to the bus station to catch a bus to Podlesok, a different trail head. Arriving at the trail head we again paid the small entrance fee and immediately started off along one of the many trails. This morning we started off hiking up through another gorge and this one contained even more ladders, bridges and other obstacles. Again we had a great time climbing through all of this and the beautiful day and scenery only helped. About half way up the gorge we were hiking through a relatively easy section when right in front of us a goat ran across the path. We were both pleasantly surprised and spent the next few minutes watching him stare at us before continuing on our way to the top of the gorge. Once we completed climbing all of the ladders and bridges we emerged at the top of the gorge from where we had a short walk back to the grassy meadow where we enjoyed lunch the previous day. Upon reaching the meadow we again sat down to admire the views and enjoy some food before continuing on. This time from the top we climbed down right next to the gorge we had climbed up the previous day (all the gorge trails were only 1 way due to the numerous ladders) and when we got to the river we continued along that to see the rest of it that we didn't get to see before. The walk back to the bus stop along the river wasn't as fun as the hike up through the gorge although it was still through some beautiful scenery so we enjoyed it all the same; and after a short while we found ourselves back at the bus stop where after a short wait we hopped on a bus that took us back to Spisska Nova Ves. The evening was spent in similar fashion to the two previous ones with a simple dinner and lots of relaxing with a few beers before heading to bed.

Our last full day spent in the Spisska Nova Ves region we spent doing a short day trip to the nearby town of Levoca. After getting off the bus in Levoca we made our way to the old town which is one of the few Slovakian cities that has its ancient city defenses mostly intact. Walking through the city walls we came into the quieter old part of the city and after a couple more minutes we emerged at the small main square. Once at the square we wandered around for a few minuets admiring the old buildings lining the square and eventually came around in a complete circle so decided to enter the huge Church of St Jacob. The actual architecture of the church was fairly boring although in the interior were lots of beautiful alters including a huge golden alter that's one of the most famous in Slovakia. After visiting the church we wandered around the exterior of the town hall, into a couple of other smaller churches and saw the cage of shame: a small cage where women were occasionally held to discipline them. We then enjoyed lunch in the town square before wandering around the old town and its walls. By this time the sky had darkened quite a bit so we made our way back to the bus station and just as we got on the bus it started to pour. Thankfully when we reached Spisska Nova Ves the rain had let up but we still decided to hang out inside using the internet in case it changed again. The evening was again spent fairly quietly because the city seemed to shut down at 10pm so we had to return to the hostel where we just went to bed.

Our last morning in Spisska Nova Ves we just packed up our bags and made our way to the bus station where we boarded a bus to Poprad our next destination where we planned on doing some hiking in the High Tatra Mountains.








Lianne hugging the cliff face while walking along the small metal grates over the Hornad River during our first day hike.














Lianne climbing one of the many ladders that we had to during our hike up through the gorges.



















Another photo of Lianne climbing the several ladders.




















Standing at the midpoint of two ladders on our second day hike with a small waterfall running down right beside me.



















Lianne looking shameful in front of the cage of shame in Levoca.

Bratislava

Arriving at the train station in Bratislava we quickly walked down the road and found our hostel just a couple hundred meters away. After checking in and dumping our bags in our room we set off to explore the city for the rest of the day. Our first stop was the Bratislava Castle which is perched on top of a hill just at the edge of the old town and overlooking the Danube River. Climbing up the hill we were able to have some great views out over the old town of Bratislava and across the river to the newer communist side. The views were completely different and on one side we had beautiful old buildings while across the river all we saw were countless apartment blocks which all looked identical. The castle itself was sadly undergoing massive restoration work so we couldn't get close to the actual building but we did discover a small museum detailing Bratislava's history (only in Slovakian though) and contained a small ancient coin collection with some interesting stories in English. After visiting the castle we wandered back down the hill and started to wander through the old town where we found a place to eat a simple lunch. After lunch the rest of the afternoon was spent exploring the small alleyways of the old town and hunting for the unique statues present there. All together we saw at least 4 interesting statues and those were: The Watcher (a statue of a worker peeping out of an imaginary manhole), The Frenchman (a statue leaning on a park bench), The Photographer (a statue peering around a corner taking a picture, something like a paparazzi), and The Schoner Naci (a statue who is tipping his top hat). After exploring the charming old town we returned to our hostel for a short rest before heading out to eat an excellent dinner at a packed local pub where we spent most of the evening before returning home to bed.

The next morning was our last day to explore the Bratislava city area and we started off by taking the bus out to nearby Devin Castle. The castle contains a nice open space with green grass and lots of old stone buildings that are in various states of ruin. Upon entering the castle grounds we were delighted to find out that there was a large reenactment occurring that weekend so hundreds of people had turned up dressed in historic costumes and were marching around and displaying how people used to live in the castle. We watched the main performance for a few minutes but since it was all in Slovakian we couldn't understand anything so we then started to wander around the castle grounds. In one of the more restored buildings we found a small archeology museum that talked about restoration work being done to the castle and some of the finds that they had made there which was interesting; but other than that most of the castle was in ruins and the highest buildings were off limits to tourists so it only took a couple of hours to see everything.

Returning back to Bratislava in the early afternoon we then proceeded to visit the small Museum of Jewish Culture which contained a nice display about Jewish culture and an even more interesting and moving exhibit about the Jewish community lost in WWII. After visiting the museum we returned to the hostel for a short rest before returning to the delicious local pub for dinner and a few drinks to spend our last evening in Bratislava.

The next morning we set off for the train station and quickly got settled down for a long train journey to our next destination Spisska Nova Ves where we planned to explore the nearby Slovensky Raj National Park.









Lianne sitting on the park bench while The Frenchman leans on.




















The Watcher statue on the left with one of the most original street performers that we saw posing beside him.

















Some of the people dressed up for the reenactment at Devin Castle.











A view of the highest points of Devin Castle with some of the greenery in front of it.

Vienna

After a short train ride we arrived in Vienna and quickly found our hostel and still not feeling the best we decided to have a short nap before setting off to do some sightseeing. So after our short rest we made our way to the metro and went into the centre of the city where our first stop was the massive St Stephen's Cathedral. Upon exiting the metro station the cathedral was right in front of us so we felt that we should spend some time admiring it and we even had to back up down a nearby street to fit it all into a picture. After admiring the front of the church we entered it to see the beauty that was inside of it. Afterwards we wandered all around the perimeter of the church where there are supposed to be circular grooves for standardizing the size of bread loaves and some iron bars for measuring the lengths of cloth; however, we couldn't see them and part of the church was being restored so we figured that they were hidden behind there. Leaving St Stephen's Cathedral we walked along some nice (and busy) pedestrian streets to the nearby Hofburg (Imperial Palace) unfortunately by the time we arrived it was getting late in the afternoon so we decided to save the tour of the palace for another day and instead just admired the exterior of the palace for a short while before setting off to find the Kaisergruft (also known as the Imperial Vault). Upon reaching the Kaisergruft we descended down into its basement where we got to tour around hundreds of tombs all belonging to the Habsburgs. The tombs were all extremely decorated with carvings and some of them were quite eerie, it was truly fascinating. After touring the Kaisergruft we decided that we were feeling hungry and tired so after tracking down a delicious Wiener Schnitzel restaurant we made our way back to the hostel and fell asleep at the wonderful hour of 7 pm.

The next day we woke up nice and early after our early bedtime the night before and after enjoying a small breakfast we set off to explore the Hofburg Palace. Entering the palace we got to take a very well done audioguide tour of the Silberkammer (silver chamber)m Kaiserappartments and Sissi museum. The silver chamber wasn't that interesting as it was just hundreds of dishes that the Habsburgs owned although the audioguide did give some interesting stories about some of the sets. After the silver chamber we entered the Sissi museum which gave a great life story of Empress Elisabeth (Sissi) which went into great detail about her obsession with her looks and with traveling. Finally in the palace we got to tour the Kaiserappartments which were extremely beautiful and set up exactly how they used to be. Upon leaving the palace we enjoyed some sausages from a street vendor before checking out the Museums Quartier, a huge area dedicated to museums, which we wandered around a bit but decided that we would rather spend our short time in Vienna seeing other sights rather than seeing more artwork. So we quickly left the Museums Quartier and made our way to Cafe Central, which used to be a favourite spot of Herrs Trotsky, Freud and Beethoven, and enjoyed a cup of Viennese coffee along with a slice of the famous Sacher Torte.

After coffee and cake we took a short ride on the tram circling the city centre to get a glimpse of other sights such as the university and city hall before returning to our hostel. At our hostel we signed up for a walking tour of Vienna and as we waited for that to start we put in a load of laundry. Unfortunately when we went to meet up for our walking tour we found that the group must have left a little early so instead we just did a small tour of Vienna in the evening on our own, seeing the city hall, palace, and cathedral all lit up at night. After our tour we grabbed a quick bite to eat and returned to our hostel for an early night as we were still feeling a little sick.

The next morning we woke up feeling much better and set off to explore the Schloss Schonbrunn (the Habsburgs' Summer Palace) and upon reaching to site we began to explore the massive gardens. The gardens were extremely beautiful and perfectly manicured and since the day was quite nice we spent quite a while wandering around them enjoying the views and the day. After enjoying the gardens we went to attempt to get a ticket for a tour of the palace only to find that we would have to wait an hour and a half before we could even enter the palace and at this point since it was our last day in Vienna we decided that we didn't have time so instead just returned to the centre of the city. Back in the city we grabbed a quick bite to eat before heading to KunstHausWien, an art gallery designed and dedicated to Friedensreich Hundertwasser. Here we spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying his fascinating, although quite unusual, artwork while walking through his even more unusual building as nothing was straight (not even the floors). Afterwards our last evening in Vienna was spent enjoying a simple meal and still taking it easy as neither of us was back to 100% yet.

The following morning we got up and quickly packed before heading off for the train station where we boarded a train for Bratislava, our next destination.









Some of the tombs that we saw in the Kaisergruft.




















The St Stephen's Cathedral all lit up at night time.


















The opera house at night time.









The beautiful gardens of the Schloss Schonbrunn with part of the palace visible behind it.










The exterior of the KunstHausWien art gallery.

Sopron

So after finally leaving Budapest after our week long stay there we arrived in the small town of Sopron in the late afternoon. Our first stop after getting off the train was in a tourist office where we found out all of the accommodation available and were disappointed to learn that there were no hostels and the student dorms had closed their doors for the summer. Our only budget option left was then pensions and private rooms so we set off to try a few. After the first few we found that it was going to be a tough task as most required a phone to call the owners or only had limited reception hours. After nearly three hours of wandering the town we finally came across somewhere that had available and fairly cheap rooms so we took it. By this time we only had time for a short break in the hotel before setting off to grab a quick bite to eat in the town square. The evening was ended fairly early as we were still both exhausted from the festival so we didn't get much sight seeing done that day.

The next morning we awoke and set off to see Esterhazy Castle which is located about half an hour outside of Sopron. Unfortunately we were both starting to feel fairly sick, no doubt from the lack of sleep and excess germs at the festival, so while on the bus we managed to miss the stop for the castle. Thankfully we only missed it by one stop and half an hour later we found ourselves outside of the Esterhazy Castle. Our hour long guided tour through the castle was pretty interesting as the small percentage of the total rooms that we saw were furnished as they used to be and the english description of them was quite good. So after getting to see several beautiful reception rooms, bedrooms, dining rooms and other various halls we got to explore the exterior a bit before having to catch a bus back to Sopron. By the time we arrived in Sopron we were feeling fairly bad and even though it was only mid afternoon we proceeded to have a few hour nap to try and recuperate. After our nap the rest of the afternoon and evening was spent using the internet and searching the few restaurants in Sopron for some Potato Croquettes, a potato dish similar to Tator Tots that we had only found in Hungary, since this was to be our last meal in Hungary. After enjoying our meal of potato croquettes and soup we returned to our hotel and went directly to bed as we were too sick to do anything else.

The next morning we reluctantly hauled ourselves out of bed and packed our bags. Afterwards we made our way to the train station where we caught a train bound for Vienna, our next destination.









A clock in the Esterhazy Castle that used an Angles finger to point out the time.


















One of the many fully furnished rooms that we got to see in the Castle.















The Fire Tower rising above the old town in Sopron.












Note that the pictures for Budapest have also been posted below.

Budapest

We arrived in Budapest after a relatively short travel time compared to the past few times and quickly found the hostel that we had booked for our first 3 nights there. After dumping our bags we set off to find some lunch and explore the city a bit. We started off by walking towards the centre of Pest (one of the main regions of Budapest) and from there we made our way to Andrassy street. Here we strolled along looking at all of the beautiful old buildings including one that used to be the headquarters of the communist party and now houses a museum and a cafe where the Secret Police used to visit. At the end of Andrassy street we came to Heroes' Square which is a huge square containing several statues of heroic Hungarians. From here we wandered into the large City Park which was fairly nice but the highlights were the huge Szechenyi Baths and the Vajdahunyad Castle. We decided to save the baths for a later day as we didn't have our trunks with us and it was getting late in the afternoon and the castle is closed to tourists so all we could do was stroll around its perimeter and admire the chaotic building style (the castle has been added to by countless different rulers, each adding their own eras design so the result is quite chaotic). Leaving the City Park we slowly made our way back to our hostel where we just enjoyed a home cooked meal and spent the evening hanging out with other guests in the hostel.

The next morning we got up and after a quick breakfast we set off to explore Buda's castle hill (Buda is the other main are in downtown Budapest and located on the opposite side of the Danube river). Walking to Castle Hill from our hostel took a little while but we eventually made it up on top and from there we started exploring the medieval buildings. We started off by wandering around the Royal Palace and checking out the views from its walls but we didn't actually go inside it as it only housed some art museums now and we figured we would rather spend our time exploring other sights. So after walking around the Royal Palace we started to make our way to the other end of Castle Hill and soon found ourselves at the magnificent Matthias Church. The exterior looked amazing with a multicoloured tiled roof, although there was lots of scaffolding around it for preservation work. The interior of the church was even more breathtaking although it seemed to be turned into more of a tourist attraction than a church as there was even a souvenir shop inside of it. We still enjoyed wandering around the church though and gazing at the magnificence where the old Kings and Queens of Hungary were crowned. Outside of the church there was the Fishermen's Bastion which was a nice wall along the edge of Castle Hill that provided some great views out over Budapest. After the Fishermen's Bastion we made our way to the far end of Castle Hill where we checked out the Military History Museum where we spent the last bit of our available time that day learning all about Hungary's past military campaigns. The museum was huge and after enjoying nearly 2 hours we decided we had to leave even though we weren't finished as we wanted to get to the music festival fairly early that night. Leaving the museum we walked down from Castle Hill through the Vienna Gate and quickly caught the metro back to our hostel. At our hostel we enjoyed a quick and early dinner before heading back out to make our way to the site of the Sziget Festival.

Arriving at the festival we were completely overwhelmed at how huge the area was and the number of people that were there for it. It took us almost 30 minutes of walking around the festival grounds before we were even able to find the main stage although during this time we had stumbled upon a couple of other stages and spent a few minutes enjoying the Hungarian bands playing on them. The festival grounds were huge and it seemed that everywhere you looked there were hundreds of tents pitched for the people that were planning on living there for the next 5 days. To go along with the tents there was every kind of booth imaginable from food booths, to actual bars set up and even a couple of temporary supermarkets. That night we enjoyed music from SKA-P, Snow Patrol, and Lily Allen along with thousands of other people at the main stage before checking out some of the other stages and eventually returning back to our hostel at 4am to crash.

The following morning we got up fairly early (early considering our bed time) and after a quick breakfast we set off to check out Statue Park. After an hour of riding buses we made it to Statue Park which is a dumping ground for old Socialist statues. Since its separation from the Soviet Union in 1991 a bunch of Socialist statues from around Budapest were taken to this park and are now displayed for tourists to come see. We enjoyed wandering around looking at about 50 different statues (some of them absolutely massive while others were just small busts) before we checked out the fantastic museum on site. In the museum they have a video playing on loop that shows some of the training tapes they used for training citizens to spy on their neighbors. It was fascinating to watch but before we could enjoy the entire thing we had to leave in order to catch the bus back to the centre of town. Making it back to the centre we quickly made our way to the hostel where we again enjoyed a quick and early dinner before setting off for the festival. That evening we got to enjoy the end of a German band called Die Toten Hosen, Bloc Party, and Fatboy Slim. Again after the main stage finished we stayed around enjoying some bands on the smaller stages and finally returned to our hostel at 3am to go to bed.

The following morning we had to pack our bags and move to a different nearby hostel as our first one was full. So after arriving at the new hostel where we planned on spending the next three nights we dropped our bags off and made our way to the Terror House, the museum on Andrassy street which used to be the headquarters of the communist party for Hungary. Walking into the museum the first thing that you see is a huge tank pointing its barrel directly at you so it definitely sets the mood for the next few hours. The museum then proceeds to go into amazing detail about how life was like in Hungary under the communist rule, so from the end of WWII right up to 1991. We spent nearly 3 hours checking out the museum and learning what everyday life was like for the citizens of Hungary and what they had to go through during that time frame and I have to say it was probably one of the best museums I've been in in my life. It was a truly great exhibit. After leaving the museum we again returned to our new hostel for an early dinner before heading back out to the music festival. That night we got to enjoy the last bit of JET, Primal Scream, Pendulum, and The Prodigy on the main stage before spending a little while checking a few other stages. We didn't stay too late that night (returning home around 1am) as we planned on getting up early the next morning to do a day trip out of Budapest.

On Saturday morning we got up pretty early and made our way down to the local commuter train station. From here we road the train to the end of the line while trying not to fall asleep again and after about an hour we made it to the picturesque little town of Szentendre. Szentendre is located just north of Budapest on the Danube river where the river starts to turn south (we headed up river from Budapest) and so the region is called the Danube Bend. Once in the town we started to wander its pedestrian lanes in the centre of the town which are all full of little shops, cafes and restaurants. We also visited the Belgrade Cathedral before venturing into the Serbian Orthodox Ecclesiastical Art Collection which had some beautiful religious icons. After the art collection we went to find out how to get to the nearby open air museum, the highlight of Szentendre, but we found out that we just missed the bus out to it so we decided to walk the 3km to the museum.

Arriving at the Open Air Ethnographic Museum we got to walk around several old towns (around 6) that had been rebuilt to show what life in different parts of rural Hungary was like. It was extremely interesting getting to see the different types of houses, churches and stores as they all varied quite a bit over the country. In addition to just seeing what the houses looked like we were able to learn what the main income source was for each region whether it was agriculture, trade, wine or anything else. All in all it was a fantastic way to spend three and a half hours seeing the traditional wooden and stone houses for regions of Hungary that we had already visited. Leaving the museum in the late afternoon we made our long way back to Budapest where we returned to our hostel for a bit of a rest and some quick dinner before heading back out to the festival that evening. At the festival we only got to enjoy Placebo on the main stage but we stayed for quite a while after enjoying some of the local bands on smaller stages. By 1:30 in the morning we decided that we were almost dead and made our way back to the hostel for some much needed sleep.

The next morning was our last full day in Budapest and we decided to take it fairly easy. After a nice sleep in and a late lunch we made our way to the Szechenyi Baths where we planned to relax all afternoon. While in the baths we got to sample about 15 different pools (all of different temperatures and some of them containing healing minerals in the water) and almost as many saunas. After 3 hours of just soaking in the warm and cool pools and exploring the beautiful building we felt much more revived and set off back towards our hostel for another quick dinner. Afterwards we made our way back to the festival for the last time where we enjoyed performances by The Offsring and Faith No More on the main stage. Again we felt we should stay and enjoy some of the other bands playing later but we didn't stay too late as it felt as if the festival had truly come to a close. So just after midnight we left the grounds and went home to bed.

On the following morning we again took our time to get up and after enjoying a leisurely breakfast we packed our bags and set off for the train station. Upon reaching the station we found it absolutely packed with thousands of other people who were clearly leaving the festival but thankfully since we were only getting a domestic train ticket we had no problems with the crowds. After a short wait in the train station we boarded a train bound for Sopron which is near the boarder with Austria and was our next destination.









The interior of the Matthias Church. This picture doesn't really do it justice as it was absolutely fantastic.



















One of the largest socialist statues at Statue Park complete with a banana peel that someone had put under his front foot (you can see it if you look closely).

















A shot of the communist red star made up of flowers at Statue Park with a few of the statues visible in the background.















Some of the typical historic Hungarian buildings from one of the small "villages" we saw at the Open Air Ethnographic Museum.













Some ancient firetrucks in another of the villages at the Open Air Ethnographic Museum.