Budapest, Salzburg, Bled, Dubrovnik, and Everything Inbetween
Friday, October 4th - Sunday, October 13th, 2019
All Over Eastern Europe and the Baltics
Introduction AKA Chapter 0 (I wish more books called their intro. "Chapter 0". For no good reason, it would just make me smile. Which is reason enough?)
Before I begin, let's get something straight here. Contrary to popular belief, I DO go to class in this country. I AM studying and LEARNING. Now, does all that learning take place inside the classroom? Absolutely not. As in this case, when I actually did not have class for a week. Ergo (see, learning! An uneducated person could not use the word "ergo") a few of my new closest friends and I decided to see what we could learn about the world in Eastern Europe.
Map of our trip
So what did we learn? The answer, as dictated to me by travelmate and new BFF, Emma, on a train ride between Bled, Slovenia and Zagreb, Croatia? (Answers have been slightly edited for clarity. There was too much laughing between direct quotes.)
- Beanies are good. Wear them more.
- Glow in the dark products need to charge under a light before they will glow
- Cows are great. Emma would maybe like to work with them, on a nice farm.
- Bandmates make good travel buddies. Do not let the fame go to your head.
But none of those make any sense to the casual reader. So let's start at the beginning. It'll be a long one folks, I can't help it so much happened! I'll break it up by city though so feel free to peep into what you're interested in, or take some reading breaks and circle back.
Chapter 1: Bodacious Budapest
Budapest was as rubble-y and haunted as one might expect, but in a lot of ways felt more comfortable than I anticipated. Sure, people peed in the streets and there were exposed wires hanging all over, but the city had a vibrant nightlife, and was loud, and busy, and popular! Best of all, the Hungarian Forint is has a great exchange rate to the US Dollar. That's right, 1 Ft = 0.0033 USD. AKA we got meals for under $5. And coming from Copenhagen, AKA the 7th most expensive city in the world, according to Business Insider. (If you are curious, as I often am, the MOST expensive city in the world is tied between Singapore, Paris, and Hong Kong, and New York and Seoul are actually tied with Cope for #7. LA is #10. Switzerland has TWO cities in there though, so basically I'm thanking my lucky stars I didn't go over to Zurich or Paris. But I digress.)
Let me introduce you to our characters. There were four of us gals on this trip, Julia, a spunky and thoughtful woman from the University of Northwestern, who has a future as a stand-up comedian, should she wish. Emma, a student at Kenyon, and probably the kindest of us all, always stopping to take pictures and curiously look under every rock and stone. Olivia, a Bohemian art student at frat-heavy Bucknell, who was somehow able to carry on a conversation while sketching every castle or person we walked by (in detail). And me. Alone, we are all quite civilized, intelligent young women. (As Julia very loudly and drunkenly attested to at some point, to a group we met at a bar in Slovenia.) Together, we were absolutely chaotic in the best possible way. And so chaotic adventures ensued.
Julia AKA Shroom
Emma AKA Little Liability
Olivia AKA Captain Chaos
Cristiana AKA Crispi
See! Two sides!
From Kálvin tér, we walked the five minutes down the yes, slightly rubble-y streets, until we came across a set of crazy ornate doors that we could not believe were the entrance to our hostel. We stepped in and found ourselves in a courtyard that looked like it hadn't been touched since maybe the 1940s. It was dusty, it was grimy, it had yup, a big pile of rubble, it had exposed wires, it had a broken TV from the 90s, it had an old mattress, it had chipped tile, it was surrounded on all sides by a 5 story yellow building... It was perfect! It was like something out of a movie set.
Budapest market hall
A street in Budapest
We took a tiny elevator up to the 3rd floor, then shluffed our bags along the exposed walkway to another staircase, that led to the tippiety top floor, know only as "The Loft". We were greeted by a hilariously curmudgeony (but very helpful and informative) host of about 30, named Juan. He spoke like he was trying to be Dracula though, which was... bizarre. We think he was trying to fit in with the locals maybe? Or maybe he'd picked up a Hungarian accent? We do not know!
Our hostel building from up top near the Loft
The door into the courtyard
Our Hostel Courtyard
The Loft was a homey "no shoes" hostel, and we had a 4-person room all to ourselves! We felt so safe and welcomed there, and I think all of us would recommend it highly to anyone in the area. The walls were covered in graffiti art, and letters from past guests, thanking the hostel staff. There was a kitchen and common area, two bathrooms, a few rooms, and Juan lived on-site to help you out with anything you might need. When we arrived, Julia and I were in DESPERATE need of some food, so Juan sent us down the street to the shwarma place with "the best meat to vegetable ratio. The other places put only a little meat, and too much lettuce". Our shwarma cost us $2.50 each and was heavenly.
Julia with $2.50 Shwarma
Before the other girls arrived, we thought we'd walk around and scope out the area, and hit the Museum of Terror. Now, I'm ashamed to say Julia and I expected the Museum of Terror to be kind of a meme, and something we could joke about. Weird old torture methods or something. Ya, no. Don't be ignorant fools, like the pair of us. Nope. As we were about to learn, the Museum of Terror was very serious, and also, very popular. (Meaning lots of very long lines).
The House of Terror
The museum is designed to be walked through in a very specific order and is designed almost like an art installation. Julia and I both found it to be visually stunning. Most of the plaques were in Hungarian though, which made it tricky to understand what exactly, we were supposed to be looking at. And the staff was not so friendly. But, Julia pointed out that there is something to be respected in a museum that is catering mostly to its people, not to tourists. There were sheets of paper in every single room, in English, that you could take to learn more about what was going on. But by the end, I was tired of reading a novel and anyway, the pages didn't always line up exactly with what you were looking at in the room. If I were to do this museum again, I'd learn about Hungarian history ahead of time, to have more context, and then really immerse myself in the dramatic displays, because they were unlike anything I've ever seen in a history museum. The most intense part was at the end, where they recreated Soviet-style prison and torture cells that you could go inside. (CREEPY!) You weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but I'll post a few from Google.
Main courtyard
As you can see from these very-much-not-my-images-that-I-stole-from-the-internet, the exhibit is visually striking. It's crafted to evoke emotion and to stun.
The Museum of Terror focuses on Hungary's horrifying (and rather recent) past. The museum starts really during 1944 when Hungary was invaded by Nazi Germany. There is brief mention of the Arrow Cross Party, which is Hungary's Nazi Party, and their symbol is used throughout the museum, but no real distinction is drawn between them and our regular, run of the mill, swastika-loving German Nazis. The museum models itself as being kind of 50/50 about the terrors of Nazism and the terrors of the Soviet occupation afterward, but the major of the museum focuses on the Soviets.
A curtained car that would glow in time to music
The Soviets came through in 1945 and basically bulldozed Hungary. They absolutely trashed Budapest. In 1949, the Soviets set up a puppet government in Hungary, called the Hungarian Socialist Workers Party, and created the Second Hungarian Republic. All the Arrow Cross folks had to very quickly abandon ship and pledge their loyalty to the new Socialist Party. Even then a lot of them weren't safe. Hungary was part of the Eastern Bloc until 1989. Under the Soviets, Hungary became one of the most brutal totalitarian states in the Eastern Bloc, and political opponents (real or imagined) were kidnapped, tortured, and murdered in secret in the same building as the museum. People were also deported to Soviet work camps, some of those had only just survived Auschwitz. The last Hungarian prison in the USSR wasn't released until the year 2000. A lot of the dead were only boys of 16 or 17.
One of the recreated spaces down in the prison
Basically, things were not great for Hungary. But the tone of the museum was a little troubling to me... I got the very distinct sense that the Hungarians were a deeply sad people, still very much coping with recent trauma (understandable) but also that they were as a result, becoming very nationalistic and somewhat alt-right. Now I'm making a few leaps here, you don't have to agree with me. But it was curious that I couldn't find very much information in the museum about the Arrow Cross Party. Or the fact that Hungary was actually allied with the Axis powers until 1944 when it tried to sign a peace agreement and was therefore invaded by Germany. But Hungary was very closely tied to the German and Italian economy, and their fascist party pulled them out of the Great Depression. This was really glossed over in the museum.
Radio center or something inside the museum
I got the impression that Hungary was trapped between two very extreme ideologies... And after years under the torturous regime of the far-Left, they are now swinging back to the far-Right. However, this is just my own take and I am by no means a historian or political scientist. Just a casual observer in the country for all of 3 days. (Although upon further research, it appears that the Fidesz-KDNP Party Alliance, their nationalist conservative Christian party, has been in power uncontested since 2010). It interesting to me that I got that sense from a museum though.
After the Museum of Terror, we stopped by a ruin bar for a casual drink. Ruin Bars are uniquely Budapest. They really took steam in 2004, in the old Jewish Quarter. The Jewish Quarter was the ghetto during WWII, and when the Germans occupied and deported all the Hungarian Jews to Auschwitz in 1945, it was left to rot. Until the early 2000s, when someone in the slowly healing Budapest got the idea to take over one of the abandoned buildings, leave it in crumples, through in some eccentric vintage furniture and antiques, grab some liquor, and call it a bar. They TOOK OFF, and there are now a bunch of ruin bars around the Jewish Quarter, and they are some of the most popular bars in the world. (If you want more info on ruin bars, check out this link.)
A street in the Jewish Quarter (there is a lot of street art here)
The biggest synagogue in all of Europe
Julia and I went to the first-ever ruin bar, Szimpla Kert, and because we were there fairly early in the evening, there were kids and families and dogs all mixed in with the more traditional bar crowd. Later that evening, once Emma and Olivia arrived, well, then we would REALLY ruin bar.
Inside Szimpla
Inside Szimpla
At 12am, the four of us walked to Instant & Fogas Ház. Then proceeded to wait in line to get in for about an hour. Good news? No cover. Instant is the biggest and one of the more "clubby" ruin bars. It's in an old apartment building, and they knocked down a bunch of walls to create more dance floors. Entering Instant was like entering a time warp. We lived like, 10 days in there. We met so many people, including a gal from Finland, Vilma, and a weird magician from Croatia. We dance and tried the Palinka, the national liquor of Hungary. (It BURNED!)
Me, Vilma, Emma, Julia, and Olivia
We ended up rescuing quite a few abandoned orphan women in this club. Some of which were being drunkenly carried off by suspicious men. Note: Do not enter Instant alone! Stay with your friends! Or, find us, because we were ready to be friends with anyone. Instant felt safe, but I wouldn't want to be super drunk or alone there, like some of these women were. Too many men from all over the world with too many different definitions or levels of respect for consent, you know?
Us with ummm... We don't know. Some people that jumped in a picture
(pretty sure the dude to my right is the bad Croatia magician though. He messed up his magic trick. It was sad)
Despite that rather GLOWING review I just gave club life in an international city, this was the most fun any of us had ever had at a club. We stayed. Until. 6:30AM! There were so many things to see and different places to dance and different people to meet that we were never bored. At some point in the evening, we stopped giving our real backstories, and started telling people we were traveling artists, or all journalism students from Wisconsin, or an underground band called Pigeon Fightclub. (Pigeon Fightclub quickly became an ongoing joke the rest of the trip, and we've now come up with a whole album and song titles. No music though... As Julia puts it, "we're more of a brand, than a band".) Emma somehow used up all the photos on her disposable camera... And boy are we all excited to see how those turned out!
Inside Szimpla
We rolled out of Instant laughing and deliriously tired, in time to catch the sunrise over the Danube. On our walk back to the Loft, we stopped at the only place open, a little bakery, and ravenously ate pastry after pastry to the slight horror and confusion of the woman behind the counter. By 8:30am, we were all tucked into bed. And by 1, we were ready to roll again!
Us at 6:00am-ish by the river
The rest of the day was spent at a sweet food market not far from our adventures at Instant, and Gellert Baths. Now, if you're a long-time follower of the blog, you might remember that I have been to the Gellert Baths once before and found them to be ABSOLUTELY REVOLTING! So I sat that one out and almost passed out on the Baths' lobby couch. (I did not, I managed to stay awake by texting my parents back home (happy to hear I was alive and thriving) and reading the latest news in the NYT. Gotta stay up to date on cybersecurity and the impeachment process and tiny love stories, you know?) My mother made it perfectly clear in her texts that I am no longer allowed to tease her about staying out until 2am at a ruin bar a few years back, when I was out until 8:30. Touché Mom, toché.
Food market
Yummy fry-bread-esque hamburger thing
The other three went into the baths and really liked it! They said it wasn't very crowded on a Sunday night during offseason, and that it was very relaxing after a long night. Good to hear.
The next day we loaded up for the train station. And folks, it looked like something out of a movie, I kid you not. It was crumbly and desolate and took us a good 15min to figure out where to catch our bus. Julia and Emma got on no problem, but Olivia and I were startled to find out we had bought tickets FOR THE WRONG DAY! Even though there was empty room on the bus, the bus lady would not let Olivia and I trade in our tickets. We could buy tickets for 19 euros each, but we had to pay in cash. Now, remember Hungary and Denmark both refuse to adopt the euro. So, of course, we didn't have any cash!
The train station
The inside of the train station
The scariest thing of all: A true pay phone
And that is how Olivia and I randomly ended up in Bratislava. Yup. The next available bus route to Salzburg was through Bratislava. After I got over my frustration at having to pay an extra $40, the whole situation has quite funny. We arrived in Salzburg about 3 hours after Julia and Emma, after running through Bratislava and switching to a train last minute in Vienna (we only had 6 minutes to find it and get on!) It was insane. Honestly, I'm surprised we all survived this trip, I'm not gonna lie. And thus began our time in Salzburg, home to the Sound of Music.
Bratislava
Eating sandwiches on the train
Chapter 2: Stunning Salzburg (Yup, I'm keeping up the alliteration. Deal with it.)
Salzburg is quite literally, straight out of the silver screen. Nestled along the Salzach river in the Alpes, this place is known for Mozart and the Sound of Music. We stayed at Meinnger Hostel/Hotel, in a 6 person room we shared with two Canadian gals. It was kind of a cross between a hostel and hotel and was very clean and nice with an ensuite bathroom. Plus, they had Ben & Jerry's for sale in the lobby (you know I partook!)
Julia and I in Salzburg looking normal
Julia and I in Salzburg looking suspiciously reserved
We only had one day in Salzburg, so we spent the morning walking around the city, and strolling into a dirndl. I about DIED the dirndls were so gorgeous. I promised myself that one day I will come back with the budget to afford one. (If you don't know, dirndls are traditional Austrian dresses, and I would say are most commonly associated in my mind, with Oktober Fest. But these were real and gorgeous. I have a feeling a few of the dirndls at Oktober Fest are purchased on Amazon.)
A dirndl image I stole off the internet
In the afternoon, Julia and I took off on our Sound of Music Tour. There are quite a few Sound of Music Tours in this city, as you might imagine, and we chose "The Original Sound of Music Tour", through Paramount Tours. It was 4 hours of cringey sing-along bliss! We went to the Mirabelle Gardens, the Pegasus Fountain (from Do Re Mi), drove by Nonnberg Abbey (where Maria was an initiate, but also where the real Von Trapps were married), Schloss Leopoldskron (the back of the house in the movie - they used the front of a completely different house, and the inside was ina studio in Hollywood!), the famous gazebo (now at Hellbrunn Palace), and Church Mondsee (where they get married in the movie.) It was beautiful and they served champagne on the bus and our tour guide, Peter, was the cutest old man!
Julia embracing her inner governess
THE Gazebo
Julia, Peter, and I
Pegasus Fountain in Mirabelle Gardens
The best part of the tour might've been that we drove outside of the city of Salzburg, and actually got to go into the countryside a little bit. It was a stunning drive. That and Peter also insisted on showing us a John Denver and Julia Andrews tribute to "The Sound of Music" called, "The Sound of Chirstmas". And then John Denver apparently FELL IN LOVE with skiing in the Alpes, and then wrote his song "Dancing with the Mountains". Peter made us watch the whole music video. It's to DIE for.
THE HILLS ARE ALIVE
"Dancing with the Mountains", by John Denver ;)
That night, we met up with Emma and Olivia again for a yummy dinner at Zum Zirkelwirt, before taking a walk along the banks of the Salzach River and hitting up a jazz club for some live music.
Olivia and I on the banks of the Salzach
What a night. And then our time in Salzburg was over! So fast!! We hopped on an Agatha-Christie-esque train to Bled, Slovenia. And here's where things really got crazy.
Me and Emma on the train
Chapter 3: Belligerent (Americans in) Bled
Let us set the scene. Bled is a gorgeous lake town summer retreat in the mountains of Slovenia. Long day hikes, peaceful water, older couples strolling, younger couples honeymooning. Us. And some straggler backpackers we somehow picked up.
How serene
Boats in Bled
It all started on the train platform in the tiny town of Jesenice, Slovenia. We had an hour between trains, and we met up with this Australian dude, named Isaac, who also happened to be waiting for the train to Bled. So we made an event of things and got a bottle of champagne and some wine and some local beer from a grocery store across the street. It took Isaac a good hour or so before he felt comfortable telling us his name. He did tell us that his friends sometimes called him Pistachio, so unfortunately for him, we ended up calling him Little P-Stache. Poor Little P-Stache.
Us all with Little P-Stache
We ended up checking into our hostel in an old monastery of all places (1A Adventure Hostel) and then met up with Little P-Stache and a few of his buddies again. We then took a night hike into an abandoned building (we were certain there would be a few ghosts in there, but no such luck) and then hiked up to Bled castle. In the dark. With these strangers. There was pizza, and swimming, and exploring, and we somehow ended up at the only bar in this tiny summer town? I don't know guys, it truly was a mess. And I think Olivia describes it best in her apology letter to Solvenia.
Bled
She writes: "Dearest Slovenia, I owe you an apology. I’m not asking for you to forgive me, nor do I expect you’ll let me back in. You deserve better than me, the fun uncle by day, cheap Austrian whore by sundown. A completely unsustainable lifestyle, I know. And as for my habits, I reached rock bottom last night on the floor of a monastery unsuccessfully picking the lock to my room, reeking of arugula and regret. I don’t know what it is about you that turns me into a munted beast. Your crystal lakes and majestic peaks have been so good to me, and after 18 hours I’ve only just had a mind clear enough to appreciate it. I have committed a tasteless variety of offenses, invented new levels of degeneracy, and scared the sh*t out of every man, woman, and traveler who had the misfortune to encounter the likes of me. I am so sorry, Slovenia. More things to apologize for come every minute as my memory returns... something about the Backstreet Boys haunts me. We’ll always cherish what memories we have together. Deepest apologies, PFC ❤️"
Julia in an abandoned building
That's a BIT dramatic. We had a fun time. But I definitely want to come back and stay a week, so that I can go visit their famous gorge and take a few longer hikes. The landscape is STUNNING. 10/10 would recommend Bled.
The castle we hiked up to
More of beautiful, to-go-for-this-world Bled
The next morning, we called a taxi to take us to the train station. Turns out, it was the same dude who brought us to our hostel. We then saw him working IN our hostel and the train station. When questioned further about this, he simply said, "I am a ghost." We are pretty sure he does every job in this small town. Then it was on to Zagreb by train.
Chapter 4: Zany Zagreb
I really don't want to admit it, but at first glance, Zagreb scared me a little bit. To start out, when crossing into Croatia, the train stopped dramatically at the border, and armed guardes came on to check adn stamp our passports. It was intimidating. Turns out, Croatia is not part of the Schengen Zone.
Snacking on traditional Slovenian Cream Cake on the way to Zagreb
Once we got there, it was full-on classic Soviet Bloc architecture, trash in the streets, and graffiti-covered walls. We had to somehow make it from the central station to another bus station to get to the airport, to get to our final destination of Dubrovnik. And in-between all that, meet up with a friend of Olivia's, Borna, who lives here.
My only photo from Zagreb
Well, we walked along the train tracks to the bus station, and then looked for a restaurant nearby. Now, admittedly, train-track areas are not usually known for their beauty or you know, safety. So I really, really think I got a not-as-great impression of Zagreb as I would have gotten if we'd stayed a few days. We met Borna at a place called Submarine Burger and wow. That's the best burger I've had in a long time. Borna was really friendly and kind to us and introduced us to medica, a Croatian honey liqueur. (Medica > palinka any day.) He also informed us that Croatia, unlike Denmark, HAS UBER! And guess what? It was cheaper and faster than our weird bus/shuttle thing.
The Zagreb Airport is also new and has won many an award. It is big and open and efficient and empty. I was a fan!
Wait I forgot I took this picture inside the airport too!
Chapter 5: Delightful Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik might just be my new favorite place in the world. We arrived at night, and our shuttle dropped us off outside the gate to Old Town. Old Town Dubrovnik has only one way in, is surrounded by medieval walls, is right on the water, is full of stray cats and dogs, and only allows foot traffic. I was instantly in love!
Olivia in Dubrovnik
Coco
AKA the funniest dog I've ever seen
We walked in and the streets were still alive with music and laughter and twinkle lights. It reminded me so much of Spoleto, Italy. Just a little smaller, on the water, and as we would learn in the morning WAY more tourist traffic from cruise ships. Old Town Dubrovnik is home to almost no locals during the summer months.
Dubrovnik Street
I learned from my tour guide that living in Old Town is really expensive, and so during the summer, most locals rent out their homes if they live there. This allows them to save money for winter when a lot of people don't work. The economy is really tourist-dependent, so during the tourist season in the summer, people work 2-3 jobs to save up money. It's always interesting to me how tourism impacts a community, for better and for worse. I also learned that tourism didn't really increase that much since Game of Thrones, it's been pretty crazy here since the end of the War of Croatian Independence, 30 years ago.
Emma, Olivia, and Julia at another Jazz Bar
More Dubrovnik
If you're a Game of Thrones fan like me, you might also know that Dubrovnik is where they filmed King's Landing! Inbetween gelatos, I managed to book myself on a Game of Thrones walking tour. We visited the site of the Battle of Black Water, the Red Keep, and Circe's famous Walk of Shame. I learned that HBO paid the community a WHOLE lot of money, to keep people from spoiling. Then people blackmailed HBO and got even more money. It was crazy because they had to shut down whole pieces of Old Town right in the middle of peak tourism season. HBO had to pay those shop owners or restaurant owners, etc. for a full day's worth of work.
Me overlooking King's Landing
Some folks recreating a pic of Sansa and Little Finger
Joffery killed some of Robert's bastards here
I learned that a lot of locals were cast as extras. Some were just older people who had never even seen the show, but just wanted something to do. Some were super fans. I also learned that the worst actor to have in Dubrovnik (she threw food, tantrums, and spontaneously fired extras) was Natalie Dommer, who played Margery Tyrell. Apparently (SPOILER ALERT) the locals were QUITE happy when Circe blew her up in the Sept. The best actor to have around was Peter Dinklage, because he would party and drink with the locals. One of his most memorable nights ended up with him too drunk to find his way back to the Hilton Imperial Hotel that the show had rented out, so he followed a bunch of Aussie backpackers back to their hostel and slept on the couch in the lobby. The hostel staff took a picture, and gave it to the tour guides, but didn't post it. Haha.
Me on the Iron Throne
King's Landing? Or Old Town Dubrovnik?
Inside the Red Keep?
The best part of Dubrovnik though was that it was warm, and we could go cliff jumping! We honestly spent most of our two days laying on the rocks, soaking up the sun. At one point, we all fell asleep! Olivia, Julia, and I were big fans of leaping into the water from the salty rocks. We even convinced Emma to come away from the salty grey sea cat she was taming, to jump in too! The water was nice, the company was nice, the weather was nice. It was the perfect way to end an amazing week.
Swimming!
Rock-lounging
A refreshing drink
Another refreshing drink in some golden-hour lighting
More rock posing
Thankfully, SAS was the bomb, and just put us on the next flight with no fuss. Which gave us time for a very expensive but much-needed airport meal, before heading on home to Cope.
And thus ends our adventure.
Until next time,
Cristiana
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