Beautifully Soviet

Here we are in country number 10, Slovenia. I am sat in the van this
morning listening to the thunder and rain and hoping it will blow over
later so we can get out on our bikes.

Our first stop in Slovenia was at Ptuj, a thermal spa town in the East of
the country. The campsite was ruinously expensive but included access to a
water park/spa. We had a great afternoon exploring the town, which is one
of the oldest here and very pretty followed by a fun evening on the water
slides. I have never been a strong swimmer so always avoided them in the
past but after being called a wus too many times I summoned up some courage
and discovered just how much fun they are!

We are now staying in a place called Velenje, which is one of the most
beautifully soviet towns we have come across in all our travels. There is a
small old town, very run down and semi-deserted squeezed in between a
castle topped hill and a huge area of post 1950s tower blocks. In the
centre of the tower blocks is a huge empty square surrounded by massive
statues and suitably 60s civic buildings. However it seems to be quite an
affluent town, with lots of fancy shops and cafes and felt quite
comfortable wandering around last night. We also discovered a dry ski jump
slope, and watched the guys doing practice jumps just as if it was winter!
It looked quite scary, can't say I fancied having a go.

We have yet again changed our route plans, as the day before we planned to
drive into Croatia I thought I would just check our documents, only to
discover that our breakdown cover is strictly EU only, hence not Croatia.
We were quite dissapointed not to be off to spend September playing on the
beach but the extra cover was just too expensive. Will have to put it on
the future holiday list instead. We now plan to spend the next few weeks
exploring Slovenia and playing in the mountains and lakes of the Julian
Alps before heading into Italy for a grand tour down to Sicily and back.
Well thats the plan currently althoughlooking back through these entries
most of the plans I have talked about so far have changed lots.

We have spent alot of time thinking about our route the last few weeks as
we were also considering going through Romania and Bulgaria to Greece. We
discounted this for a couple of reasons; we were tempted to do it because
it would look good on the map when we get back to say we had driven to the
Black Sea, the sites in Romania are quite limited and not in great
locations for the things we wanted to see and we were actually not that
bothered about Greece! Again though Romania is one to go on the list as the
pictures of the mountains and buildings look fantastsic, and obviously now
having reently read dracula I want to see Bran castle!

Ah well its still raining so probably time to get the easystitch (my cool
portable sewing machine which has been really handy) out and finish off a
pair of trousers I am making. That bike ride is looking less and less
likely as we still can't see the mountains.

The promised videos

Not sure this is going to work but hopefully below is a video of the Slovak Bethelehem, one of the most amazing man made things I have seen in a long while.

Also apologies if you have it have tried to comment on here and couldn't, I had a setting wrong - should be OK now so give it a go!

Travels across the Prairie on Constitution day

So here I am in Lenti, a small spar town on the Slovakian border. We have had a really busy week, travelling a long way and it’s actually hard to believe that it is only a week since I wrote from Tokaj.

Our journey took us from Tokay south out across the Hungarian pustza (or prairie) towards the Hortobagy National Park, unfortunately as we are only in Hungary for a short time I had not been quite as conscientious with my reading as usual and had failed to discover that Thursday (20th August) was Constitution day and consequently a huge bank holiday. We got horribly stuck in traffic in the middle of nowhere surrounded by flat grass lands as far as the eye could see, thought it was roadworks, but in the end discovered it was the queue to get to the village we were aiming for. There was no way we would get the van through all the parked cars to the campsite so we decided to head on and get some miles under our belts. Out came the Hungarian camping map and we picked a random spot on the map. Martfu.

The random choice turned out be rather good as we had picked a thermal camping, basically a campsite attached to a thermal spa. As we drove in we weren't sure if it was open as there was not a caravan or tent in site, and our campsite book said that the spa was still under construction last year. Well it was open, just very quiet and we booked in for two nights of "wellness"! The facilities were luxury after some of the communal showering etc we have been subjected to in the Czech Republic, shiny new and spotlessly clean and I was in heaven! The only slight drawback was the heat. We arrived to 38 degree temperatures and as the site is new there was NO shade.(picture)

To recover from the heat we indulged in ice-cream and cool coca-cola in the campsite bar in the evening. On the TV they were showing the fireworks live from Budapest and they were amazing, definitely somewhere to be one August in the future.

After a day soaking in the thermal waters (which are brown and made my skin tingle - that’s good right?!), we continued our journey across the prairies, which became more and more reminiscent of the Midwest - strip towns along railway lines, truck stops, diners and ladies of dubious character stood around on the sides of the road - to Pecs.

Pecs was an interesting if slightly uneasy town. It is capital of culture in 2010 and has a lovely old centre, but also some very poor areas and people rummaging through bins just outside swanky bars. A city of contrast, where rich and poor extremes were much more obvious than anywhere else we have been so far in Eastern Europe. Having said that though we had a lovely few days here, the campsite was great, and we were lucky enough to catch a free classical music concert on Sunday night in front of the Cathedral. The Budapest Symphony performed Mahler’s 8th and I have to say I was surprisingly enthused, particularly by the 2nd movement.

Enjoying the finer things in life

19th August 2009

So here we are in country number 9 (Or 10 if you count my 5 minutes in
Poland the other day which Chris says is cheating!) Since I last updated
this we have spent some more time in northern Slovakia (visiting Levoca,
the unesco listed ruined castle at Spis and another national park) and then
started our journey south and west towards Croatia.

Yesterday we arrived in the wine growing regions of northern Hungary. To
quote Louis XIV the sweet wines produced in this part of Hungary are "The
wine of kings, the King of wines".

Today we have been finding out for ourselves by doing a wine cellar tour
and tasting at the Rakoczi cellars here in Tokaj. We certainly agree with
the sun king (Theres a sentence I never expected to write!). The wines are
really nice and we have bought a bottle to have as a treat on one of our
birthdays or anniversary.

So for the oenophiles amongst you Tokaj wines are made from the juice of
overripe berries not harvested till late October, and mixed with "aszu"
essence which makes them even sweeter. The "aszu" berries are left to ripen
on the vine until they look almost like raisins and are then used to make
the sweet essence added to the wines. However they need a long warm autumn
to ripen perfectly and the "Aszu" essence is therefore only made in good
years.

The campsite we are staying on is on the banks of the river Tisza, a wide
gently flowing river perfect for canoeing. Chris had a paddle on his own
last night while I recovered from the long drive here and this morning we
went out together. We changed seats though and I had a try at steering, not
something I have been allowed to do since the Maldives when we spent a long
while going round in circles! Anyway am much better now and it was good
fun, also weirdly easier on my arms than the front seat. All in all a great
day.

Alice Ward

Sent with SnapperMail
www.snappermail.com

Its a small small world

No we haven't just been to Euro Disney, and sorry if you are now humming
the tune. (I am!) We spent a great evening last night with an English
couple in the campsite bar. They are on a very similar trip with a
campervan, having quit their jobs and set off not long after us. As we
chatted we discovered a lot of common interests (walking, biking,
canoeing), and then that they live in Cotham! It is such a small world, we
have driven thousands of miles and the first English we get chatting to
properly come from the same city!

Today it has actually felt a bit more like England as we have been out on a
long walk in the rain. It has been a great walk though, we went through the
Hornadu gorge, which at times involved some very scary "technically aided"
sections. For technically aided read bits of chain and steel plates stuck
in the rock face (picture). Generally I found these OK but one section
where we had to walk on metal grills, holding the chain fixed into the rock
with the water pouring underneath was just a bit too much for me, and to my
ultimate shame I froze. I am definitely not cut out to be a climber,
although today was fun I definitely prefer my walking on terra firma!
Yesterday we did a similar but easier walk up one of the steep gorges which
involved lots of long ladders up the sides of waterfalls. It is fantastic
to be able to do these walks, as back home it just wouldn't be allowed for
health and safety reasons and we are getting into some spectacular scenery,
with waterfalls through the canyons.

Anyway dinner is nearly cooked and I am absolutely starved after today so
time to sign of for a while.

fire

so since I last wrote we have had a great week walking, cycling and sight
seeing in the Mala Fatra followed by couple of days by a lake on the edge
of the High Tatras. The weather has generally been fab and the scenery is
stunning. Today we have arrived in he slovensky raj or translated the
slovak paradise, a national park full of river gorges with one way walking
routes through them using ladders etc. We go on our first trip tomorrow.
Watch this space but the photos look fantastic!

We had a great stay in the mala fatra and found a gem of a campsite. We had
a pitch by the river, with its own fire pit and spent the days being very
energetic followed by evenings sat around the fire. Chris tried to make
fire the "Ray Mears" way but in the end resorted to matches, it seems that
its a whole lot harder than it looks on tele! We also got chatting about
the human fascination with fire and I found a great quote today in the
welcome brochure here that sums it up sooo well: "Fire is a good servant
but a bad lord".

Our sightseeing trips have taken us to two folk villages, collections of
painted log houses. The first cicmany (Picture of me on last entry) was
really unique, all the houses are dark stained logs painted with white
patterns to resemble embroidery patterns. A lot of inspiration for some
great sewing when I get back!

We also cycled to bethelem! I guess that needs some explanation....to be
more precise the Slovak Bethlehem, a 10m long, 3m high wooden carving
depicting the nativity. and slovak life. It was full of moving parts,
people chopping wood etc and was just amazing. I have some videos (photos
just don't do it justice) so will try and figure out how to post them on
here.

Yesterday we spent playing in the lake and broke out the canoe for a great
paddle in the sunshine and some glorious views of the hills around,
followed by a dip in the lake to cool of when we got back. This is the life!

Alice Ward

Sent with SnapperMail
www.snappermail.com

Mate nejaké zmrzlina and other useful phrases

31st July 2009

Well our Czech is slowly improving and of course we have mastered the
important phrases such as "do you have any ice cream" (title) and "a large
beer please"! It is slightly more difficult on campsites as our phrase book
only really gives hotel bookings. However most of them seem to have a
smattering of German, if not English. In fact the default position here
once they are aware you are foreign is to speak German, which really
doesn't help me much as I probably now have about as much Czech as German.
It is amazing what you can achieve though with a few smiles, gestures and
a phrase book, even if sometimes you're not quite sure what will arrive. We
currently have a lump of meat in the fridge that we think is pork, we will
find out when its cooked.........

We have being doing holiday camps Czech style for the last few weeks. Most
of the campsites have a large area of wooden chalets, and a smaller area
where they fit in the tents and a few caravans. They are generally well set
up for social life though and we have had a few fun evenings in their
bars/cafes and met some interesting people. The wash blocks however are a
bit more hit and miss. I have come to appreciate a shower with a curtain
and an unlimited supply of hot water. We have had places lacking both, and
the last one turned the hot water of at 9am. You will all understand how
upsetting that was to me!!! I'm not even going to start on how wrong having
to make polite conversation (whilst naked in the shower ) with other happy
campers is!

I also now really appreciate the invention that is the washing machine.
Launderettes are few and far between here so we have been relying on the
campsites. This has been interesting, as 9 times out of 10 their machines
seem to be "kaput" , a fairly universal word it seems! If I am lucky I am
then introduced to the alternative washing machine, which is more 19th
century wash day, in Tabor I had to fill one machine with hot water in a
bucket from the shower, hand rinse in the sink without a plug (much thanks
go to mum for the plug she gave me before we left which was very useful!)
and then use a separate spin dryer. I was really tired by the time I had
finished all that and very much in need of zmurzlina! Generally though the
sites have been a lot of fun with a great holiday atmosphere.

We have been sampling the local delicacies whenever possible. There was a
folk fair on in Telc while we were there with a street market selling all
sorts of yummy sweet things. A particular hit has to be the "bangle"
cinnamon roll covered in sugar. As a treat we had lunch a few days ago in a
restaurant specialising in moravian cuisine. Chris had roast beef, not very
adventurous I hear you say but it was served in a spinach sauce, and with
bread dumplings. He wasn't all that impressed with the level of green the
meat was hidden under it has to be said, and came to the conclusion it was
the moravian equivalent of mushy peas! I tried Slovak gnocci covered in
sheep's cheese, and fried bacon fat which was. great!

Today we have moved on into Slovakia and are on a great campsite by a river
on the edge of the mala fatra mountains where we hope to have a cheap few
weeks walking and cycling. More soon .......