Road trip: 36 European countries

Day 67 Wroclaw(Breslau)

21/5/2015

I explored the centre of Wroclaw today.The city has preserved an efficient tram system,and there is a stop right outside the Olympic stadium campsite,making it just 10 minutes to the city centre.Although the trams make life easy for pedestrians,driving through the city is a bit daunting ,as I discovered yesterday,with two lanes of traffic going each way on the main routes,over cobbles which have no lane markings, with the trams sometimes in the traffic queues but sometimes cutting across to routes of their own.

Wroclaw was severely damaged in WW2,with 70% of its buildings destroyed.As it was a German city (Breslau) and had been since the Prussians acquired it in 1740,the Soviets had no reason to hold back at all. In fact, as capital of Silesia,it has been through the hands of the Bohemians, the Austrians, the Hungarians and the Russians as well.The historic centre has been well restored,but it has not quite the same photogenic quality as Krakow.As such,tourists seem in much lower profile and it has a feel of a very genuine city.There is a big university right in the centre of the city and it has a buzzing nightlife and lots of trendy cafes and eateries.I read that it is going to be European city of culture next year(2016)

Reading up about how the borders of Poland have changed over the years,I am amazed by just how many times Poland has shrunk ,grown again,changed shape,disappeared completely, and then reappeared.Certainly it seems that the carve up of Poland between Nazi Germany and the Soviets in 1940 during the Molotov-Ribbentrop non-aggression pact was not without precedent. During the “Deluge” in the 17th century Poland disappeared, having been carved up between Sweden and Russia.In the 18th century,having briefly resurfaced,it was carved up between Russia,Prussia and Austria.Again in the 19th century,Russia occupied most of it after the defeat of Napoleon.

Have a look at Wikipedia on the subject:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territorial_evolution_of_Poland

In Wroclaw there is a huge 360 degree panoramic painting of the battle of Raclawice ("Panorama Racławicka") which is 15 metres high and 115 metres in circumference.This battle in 1794 was a victory by a Polish patriots' insurgent army against the Russian army which was at that time occupying the country.Ultimately the campaign failed to free Poland but it has gone down in Polish popular culture as the prime example of a patriotic nation seeking to preserve its independence.It was painted in 1894,and was in originally exhibited in Lvov, which was at that time within Poland.After WW2,the USSR took over the eastern third of Poland,and Lvov is now in Ukraine,but the painting was allowed to be transferred to Wroclaw.However,due to political sensitivities during the Communist era regarding displaying a legendary victory over the Russians ,it was not put on display here until 1985.There is a show with an interesting 30 minute talk through of the battle ,the painting,and its place in Polish folklore. Judging by the guest list,visiting dignitaries are ushered in to see it regularly.

here is the website :- http://www.panoramaraclawicka.pl/?lang=en

A section of the Raclawicka Panorama. The Polish peasant patriots armed with scythes, overrun the Russian artillery

Another section:the fleeing Russian artillery are fired on by Polish regulars

Immediately outside, in what seems to be a deliberate political move,is a memorial to the 22,000 Polish officers massacred by the Soviets at Katyn in 1940.This was erected in 1999.(The communist era had ended in 1989)On a lighter note,while on the subject of 1989,on my route into town I passed the “Rondo Ronald Reagan” (Ronald Reagan Roundabout) which trips nicely off the tongue!

The Katyn massacre memorial

The central square is rather like Krakow’s,with another Cloth Hall(Sukiennice) and off to one side is a smaller square ,Plac Solny(Salt Square) where the historic salt trade was conducted.There is also a medieval(14th century) Gothic town hall which has survived and now houses a small town museum.

Wroclaw is on the river Odra (we know it usually by its German name of the Oder) and there are several big islands in the river, linked by footbridges, and some of them are home to a series of huge churches and cathedrals. Back in the centre , adjacent to the main square is the huge church of St Mary Magdalen whose twin towers are linked at the top by a dizzying walkway called the Penitents' Bridge, which I climbed up to and walked over.

Cloth Hall (Sukiennice),a huge building in the middle of the vast main square,Wroclaw

The Cathedral island (Ostrow Tumski)

Plac Solny(Salt Square) -now full of flower stalls

Main market square,Wroclaw

The same view of Ostrow Tumski in 1945

The Penitents' Bridge between the towers of St Mary Magdalen (not my picture !)

One of the light-hearted features of Wroclaw is its Gnome population. There are over 300 of the foot-high metal statues of Gnomes in various poses scattered through the city centre, which have been appearing since 2001.Being the size they are they are not that easy to find unless you have the smartphone app .I found about ten ! Initially appearing as a jokey bit of street art,with no-one sure who was installing them, it has now become trendy for businesses to have their own example.

I have discovered that in Poland that there are quite a lot of self-service cafeteria type dining halls ,which seem very popular. Food is paid for by weight ,i.e. when at the till you place your loaded plate on a scales.These are really good places to sample traditional Polish food, as not only can you see what you are getting without having to translate a menu, but also you can also try a bit of everything. A big plateful and a drink(a favourite is a glass of cherry juice) sets you back typically about £4.In Wroclaw centre I spotted one which was packed with locals ,with a queue out of the door.That looked the best place to be but the queue did put me off, and I went and found a rather less popular,but still good one just down the street, where I ate lunch.

The Gnomes of Wroclaw. There are apparently more than 300 of the little folk.

Gnome exploitation !

Day 66 Krakow to Auschwitz-Birkenau ,then Wroclaw

20/5/2015

today's route ( 310 km)

After a thunderstorm and heavy rain all night I was up very early this morning.It’s an hour’s drive from Krakow to Oswiecim (Auschwitz) but the only way you can get into the museum as an individual traveller at this time of year is before 10am,or after 3pm.Without a guide it’s free but because of numbers you have to book a timed entry online,and mine was 9-45.Leaving nothing to chance ,especially the Krakow rush hour,I left the campsite at 7am,but got there ridiculously early at 8-15.Fortunately I was able to change my ticket and get in immediately. Judging by the large numbers of coaches that started to arrive later ,it’s no bad thing to get there early anyway.Three campervans seemed to have spent the night in the museum carpark-a bit cheeky but a good tip.The weather suddenly brightened up as I arrived and it actually became very hot.

For those who have been to Auschwitz, excuse this part,but I will relate all.The Auschwitz memorial museum has two parts.Firstly,Auschwitz I.This was a Polish army barracks taken over by the Nazis when they occupied Poland.They started using it immediately for Polish political prisoners and detainees,and hostages taken as reprisal for attacks on Germans by the resistance,and gradually it began also to house ethnic groups the Nazis wanted to exterminate,such as Jews,Roma gypsys,and Russian POWs.The Nazis started experimenting with barbarity,conducting medical experiments,and trialling gassing.A large proportion of people were simply worked or starved to death .A horrible fact was stated that if you were not resourceful enough to find an extra food supply,you were dead of starvation and overwork in 3 months.Another board described how if a Polish prisoner escaped,their family was arrested and made to stand under a sign explaining the reason.They were kept in till you gave yourself up,at which point you could expect to be excecuted.The choices inherent in that!

The camp is relatively small(at least,by the standards of the second camp),and is made up of three rows of the 3 story brick-built Polish barrack blocks.It also features the infamous gateway with the motif Arbeit Macht Frei.The electrified barbed wire fence still exists

Auschwitz I

Arbeit Macht Frei.The building on the right is the one against which the orchestra played(there is a photo)

A large number of the buildings house museums,some showing the general conditions and horrors, others memorials to the dead of a specific nation.I knew to expect rooms with piles of belongings,mountains of shoes,spectacles,hairbrushes,combs,shaving brushes,prosthetic limbs,suitcases,all looted from the arrivees.What I found quite chilling was one block which in a dimly lit hall had a column made up of sets of striped prison clothes on frames,positioned as if marching in ranks,hunched over with exhaustion.It looked as if a column of ghosts were marching.All the exhibits were very well done,and there was much to read.Also unsettling were the rooms of family photographs taken from arriving prisoners all showing happy normal people on holiday,at weddings etc.

The camp purpose-built as an extermination camp is Birkenau,later known as Auschwitz II,which is 3km away from Auschwitz I.This is the place with the building with the gateway through which trainloads of prisoners passed,and which had the gas chambers .

You can walk straight in here with no ticket: it’s such a huge space. About 30% of the huts were brick built and still stand but the rest were wooden, and only one restored or preserved row remains.The remainder are marked by their concrete base and brick built chimney only,and the multitude of chimneys stand like sentinels over the vast complex.All the electrified wire and the watchtowers remain.There are no exhibits here,but one can enter some of the buildings and see the three-tier 6ft x 6ft wooden sleeping platforms.

The equally infamous entrance to Birkenau (Auschwitz II)

All the guard towers, and electrified fencing ,remain.

One of the demolished gas chambers

The ranks of chimneys of the vanished huts stand like sentinels over a huge area

"sleeping" areas

The wooden huts were a adapted from a standard German field stable.Designed to house 40 horses,they accommodated 400 prisoners

The horror of the place was really brought home to me by contemporary SS photographs of the camp posted on interpretation boards at the sites were they were taken,and as many of the buildings still stand it is easy to orientate oneself to such positions as where the infamous selections of arrivees for immediate death in the gas chambers,or slave labour , took place.,and now one can still tread the road from where the train would stand,to the remains of the gas chambers.

This building is unchanged,and identifiable in the photographs

Photographs showing the selection of prisoners

The Nazis blew up the gas chambers before the Russians arrived,so they are piles of rubble.The ponds where all the ashes from the crematoria were thrown still exist,and hauntingly are now full of happy frogs croaking among the buttercups.The camp is vast and it is shocking to see the infrastructure the Nazis were in the middle of putting in to extend the camp.It made me think that this is just one of many many such camps, some well known such as Dachau or ,Belsen,some less so such as Plaszow which I wrote about yesterday.And this was just one camp among many other camps in this area,housing slave labourers,and Allied POWs made to work etc. See the book “The Man who broke into Auschwitz” by Denis Avey for more on this.

When at the end of a quite a tiring walk around the camp I sat down to scoff a plate of food at the carpark café, with a view of that railway entrance building, eating a meal suddenly seemed inappropriate.

On a lighter note,while on the subject of food,I made an interesting observation yesterday.Of course in the UK now,many supermarkets have special shelves of Polish food.In a supermarket in Krakow I found chicken Tikka Masala,and chicken Jalfrezi on sale,so it seems returning Poles are bringing a curry habit home.

Leaving Auschwitz I re-joined the motoway and drove west towards Wroclaw.It was a tedious 2 hour drive through a rather dull landscape in the pouring rain, which had timed its return perfectly with my departure from the camp museums.There is one campsite in Wroclaw,at the Olympic stadium,built in the 1920s not for the Olympics but named that way simply to indicate a place of sporting prowess.It was of course renovated by the Nazis in 1934-39(In common with the whole western third of Poland,Wroclaw was actually part of Germany up until 1945,and was known as Breslau)Learning that Wroclaw’s one Unesco World Heritage site was just 20 minutes’ walk from the campsite,I set off to look at it,at the end of the afternoon.This is rather a strange treasure,the Centennial Hall(Hala Stulecia),a pioneering domed building built of re-inforced ferro-concrete in 1911-13.When it was built,as a recreational building,it was the largest dome ever built.Amazingly,the biggest before then was the Pantheon in Rome(AD126 !!).The Centennial Hall doubled that size ,hence the new technology of reinforced concrete by the German architect Max Berg was considered revolutionary.Next to it,also designed in 1913 in happier times,by a German count and a Japanese gardener,is a very attractive Japanese garden,with all the typical elements,arches,lake,flowing water,and masses of maples and rhododendrons

Centennial Hall,Wroclaw.A revolutionary new use of re-enforced concrete allowed the building of the biggest dome the world had seen,in 1911

Something more pleasant to look at .The Japanese Garden in Wroclaw,designed in 1913

Day 65 Kraków

19/5/2015

This morning I headed into the centre of Krakow.I had learnt that the city holds a special place in patriotic Polish history,being for a long while the capital from the 14th to 16th centuries, and thereafter the cathedral remained the mausoleum of Polish Kings.The Royal Palace had been in Wawel castle ,a huge structure on a small hill at the south end of the old city.This is a small town in itself,with the cathedral within the precinct,and although ravaged over the years it has been restored through the early 20th century.I visited Wawel castle first and went around the state rooms,which had much Italian Renaissance and Dutch Old master art on the walls ,and 16th century friezes by,among others ,Hans Durer,brother of the more famous Albrecht Durer.Some of these pictures linked nicely with the Italian Renaissance sights I have seen earlier.For example,there was a large picture of the entry procession of Queen Marie-Louise Gonzaga(of the Mantuan ruling family) into Gdansk.

The Royal Palace end of the huge Wawel Castle

Within the castle precinct-the cathedral

Leonardo Da Vinci's "Woman with an Ermine"

In a special little museum of its own was the Palace's treasure,the Woman with an Ermine,by Leonardo Da Vinci.Apparently this toured to London in 2011,but its history echoes that of the Polish state.It was evacuated to France in 1830 when the Tzarist Russians took over Poland in that period,and then returned but confiscated by the Germans in WW2,although it did still hang in the castle which was the residence of the German Governor,but later removed to Germany,from where it was recovered in 1945.

Krakow ,unlike the majority of Polish cities,escaped destruction in WW2 and its history is intact.It is a major tourist destination now,and there were tour groups everywhere, on horsedrawn carriage tours,golf buggy tours,Segway tours,and big groups walking.The old city has a very impressive huge central square,Rynek Glowny.In the middle of this is the massive Renaissance era Sukiennice (or Cloth hall).The Town Hall tower is a freestanding structure in the square,the original town hall having disappeared at some point. From the Tower of St Mary’s church a bugler plays a special five note Polish anthem(the Krakow anthem) every hour ,repeated in each of the four directions.This is played on Polish radio at noon.

The town hall tower in Rynek Glowny

The Cloth Hall in Rynek Glowny

Like a wedding gone viral, carriages await tourists in the square

A vendor of "obwarzanek krakowski" a local type of bagel.They come with different coatings of seeds,e.g. . caraway, sesame, or fennel.The vendors are on virtually every street corner.

A synagogue in the old Jewish quarter,Kasimierz

Just south of Wawel castle, but the same side of the river Vistula,is the old Jewish quarter of Kasimierz.The population of course were virtually annihilated in WW2 although it has been preserved and there is a small returned Jewish community.Here the streets and squares are smaller and quieter.There are several synagogues,and a number of Jewish restaurants and hotels are running.Otherwise it is full of trendy eateries.

The Jewish population were initially transferred by the Germans to a ghetto the other side of the Vistula.Here Oskar Schindler’s Enamel and metalware factory ,which was depicted in the film "Schindler’s List" ,still exists: it is now a museum of the German occupation of Krakow.Eventually the Jews were moved to a nearby concentration camp at Plaszow 10km away (not Auschwitz) and murdered or worked to death. This was where The brutal commandant Amon Goeth, played by Ralph Fiennes in the film, was in charge.The visit to the museum was of course quite harrowing but dealt as much with the hardship of the Polish people as with that of the Jews:For example between the Germans and the Russians 90% of all university educated Poles were executed or imprisoned in WW2,with the supposed plan of making the country more pliable.

One interesting thing that I have noticed is that all the Polish websites I have looked at have just Polish and English language options. In Hungary,Slovakia and the Czech republic they all seem to include a German option, and a few have a Polish version. Locally,even the website of Krakow airport ,which is obviously an international hub, has no German version .I do wonder whether this is a legacy of the war:of course Hungary and Czechoslovakia had a much more ambivalent relationship with Germany in WW2,whereas Poland was firmly on the receiving end from both Germany and Russia.

Also in the museum was a smaller exhibition, describing the arrival of the Soviets and entitled “Liberation or Subjugation ?”.Its stated purpose was to rewrite the “myth” which had been indoctrinated in Poles since 1945,that the Russians had specially manoeuvred to avoid fighting and damage to Krakow, owing to its historic importance to Poles. The museum stated that this was a propaganda lie, and the city was saved purely by random chance as the fighting moved past it.

Day 64 Olomouc,Czech Republic to Krakow,Poland

18/5/2015

today's route (335 km )

I retraced my route from yesterday,this time making sure that I took the main road and the motorway,as opposed to the forest route which my satnav had taken me back on last night, from Kromeriz, and in mid-morning, after 50km, I arrived at the city of Olomouc, the historic capital of Moravia.

Actually there is nothing wrong with forest routes and nowhere in Slovakia and the Czech Republic have I been worried about the state of the roads, which are very good. Last night, however, I did feel I was being led into the middle of nowhere, with only the gradually decreasing number of kilometres showing to destination for reassurance. But in these countries, I have found that when you seem to be in the middle of nowhere, you suddenly come on a car park with people having picnics or loading their bikes onto the back of their cars, i.e. a benevolent rather than a threatening wilderness.

Olomouc surpassed my expectations. I had detoured to it to see the one item in it that is a Unesco World Heritage site, but the city is very attractive, with lots to see, and it is a shame that the nearest camping ground is 50km away as it would be easy to spend a day or two.The whole of the central area is cobbled and mostly pedestrianised.There are two big interlinked main squares.the first one I walked into had a couple of big 18th century fountains and a pretty impressive Plague Column.But this was just an appetiser for the one I had come to see which was in the adjacent main square,Horni Namesti.Here there is the mother of all Plague Columns,and this is is the Unesco site.

One of the two squares in central Olomouc. A fairly impressive Plague Column, but this is just an appetiser for the main one

One of six Baroque fountains in the squares

Following a plague that struck Moravia in 1714-16 the architect ,a Walter Renzel ,wrote to the city council “To the glory of God the Almighty, the Virgin Mary and the saints I will build a column that in its height and splendour will be unrivalled in any other town." And he seems to have done just that.

The Holy Trinity column,Olomouc

The main square had the indignity of being briefly renamed Adolf Hitler Platz by the ethnic German Czechs who took over in in WW2.At the end of the war the retreating Germans destroyed the historic animated astronomical clock on the town hall ,also on the main square, which had been like the famous one in Prague. Around 1950 ,in the communist era, it was rebuilt in the “Socialist Realist” style and instead of saints it now has images and animated figures of proletarians engaged in joyful industrial and agricultural toil.By pure chance I arrived at the clock at 5 minutes to Midday, just in time to see it perform its full show,which went on for 5 minutes.

Within this square also there are more Baroque fountains of a similar era to the big column,making six in total in both squares .These were left , apparently, after the development of piped water,by a cautious city council concerned about fire,at a time when a lot of cities in the region were removing their fountains.

The town hall clock,Olomouc.At twelve,the band strikes up,the industrial and agricultural workers,mothers with babies,and sporting participants go round in a procession,and finally the cock crows.

Among the Baroque fountains, one modern one

After lunch I decided that I had done all I wanted to do in the Czech Republic and headed onto the nearby motorway, towards Poland.
It was an easy 250km drive ,motorway all the way,to Krakow,where I arrived in the late afternoon,and settled into the campsite in the suburbs and did a bit of research about my new location.The countryside areas of Slovakia and the Czech Republic I have driven through have been beautiful .There are no hedges by the road or separating the fields so you can see for miles as you drive,and beyond the fields there have always been heavily wooded hills.I noticed more industry,both old and hi-tech going on in the Czech Republic as opposed to Slovakia.Southern Slovakia seemed very rural.But the motorway across southern Poland is a step up in both busy traffic(3 ,sometimes 4 lane motorways),and here there is much more evidence of industry and business parks.I also encountered the first motorway hold-up I have found outside England, fortunately on the other side of the road!

Day 63 Bojnice to Trencin,then Kroměříž,Czech Republic

17/5/2015

today's route ( 190 km )

The campsite reception remained closed this morning but the gate barriers were left open due to the occupants of the cabins coming and going. I had a pleasant overnight spot on grass overlooking the lake ,with electricity ,and I even found a basic toilet open up by the cabins on the hill, although the main campsite ones were shut up. So I had no option but to declare this site a freeby and leave without paying anybody.

Last night, a rather-the-worse-for-wear, but very friendly, Slovakian man ,who was staying with his family in one of the cabins 30 yards away, staggered up and introduced himself holding a nearly empty bottle of Jagermeister and two shot glasses. After knocking back a glass he had pored out for me, I was invited over to his cabin veranda to meet his family, wife and 3 children. I was plied with plenty of beer ,more Jagermeister, and even fed a little. They hardly spoke any English but we had a good chat. I was very interested in their views. For example, they had firmly declared sympathy with the Russian side in the Ukraine conflict, partly because of refugees who had arrived in Slovakia. They expressed nothing but contempt for USA foreign policy, and were only slightly less scathing about the EU. Their arguments sounded very familiar, though-they felt that their country paid too much in,and didn’t get enough out,and felt it was lining the pockets of the bureaucrats.Also the cost of housing was becoming unaffordable ,and the only way to get ahead financially was to go and work abroad.They were very xenophobic and probably racist,stating they didn’t like Moslems,and were a white nation,although when I asked they said there were very few Moslems in Slovakia anyway.They also didn’t seem to think much of Hungarians.I was dismayed but not wholly surprised to hear that the only domestic image they had of British people was TV footage of drunks causing problems in Bratislava.I fear ,however,that Bratislava can’t be the worst place in Europe for that sort of thing by a long way.

I found all this very interesting as I thought it was the older generation who tended to hanker after the communist era, not young couples with families.Their suggested solution was for Slovakia to leave the EU and go it alone,which I suspect is not realistic.

When Patrick Leigh-Fermor walked through southern Czechoslovakia in 1934,talking to locals he realised the ethnic tensions between Czechs, Slovakians and Hungarians had been increased by the treaty of Trianon ,which broke up the Austro-Hungarian empire after WWI. Borders were extensively re-aligned and significant minorities found themselves in the "wrong" countries. Talking to a Hungarian he met on the road he was told that his people were unhappy ,"..all the local inhabitants, though Hungarians, are compulsory Czech citizens now. The children have to learn Czechoslovakian: the authorities hope to turn them into fervent Czechoslovaks in a couple of generations. The Hungarians hate the Czechs, and the Romanians too, and on the same grounds-they feel less strongly about the Serbs, for some reason-and they mean to get back their lost territory..."

A little further down the same road in fell in talking with a Slovak schoolteacher:- " it is true that the local villages are Hungarian,but further north they are pure Slovak as far as the Polish border.....they had been under the Hungarians for a thousand years and always treated as in inferior race.....Slovak children used to be taken away from their parents and brought up as Hungarians.....the schoolteacher didn't seem to like the Czechs much either,though this involved a different kind of resentment..."

The main square of Trencin,with its Plague Column ,and the castle up above.

In the morning a 40km drive eastwards brought me to the city of Trencin in time for a coffee and a walk up to the huge medieval castle that overlooks the town centre. The town square and couple of adjacent streets was a pleasant pedestrianised area although the majority of the town seemed to have nothing of interest and was quite industrialised, although apparently there is a university somewhere .My latest theme is ‘Plague Columns’ which seem to exist in the main square of most of these old towns.These are historic Catholic religious monuments, so-called because they are usually offering thanks for deliverance of the town from some disaster such as a plague. I saw yesterday that Banksa Stiavnica had one,and there was one in Trencin today.

Trencin Castle

Trencin

I had considered spending the night in Trencin but had arrived in mid-morning and ,while there was a perfectly respectable campsite by the river, I decided there was not enough to see after all, to justify spending the rest of the day there. I therefore climbed back into the van and progressed over the border into the Czech Republic,to the town of Kroměříž which is situated about 60km northwest of Brno and has the most amazing set of accents on top of its name ! Here there is another Unesco site,the Archbishop’s Palace.The Archbishops clearly did pretty well for themselves, as the Palace is a colossal Baroque and Rococo construction which is just as impressive as the Hapsburg royal palaces I have been visiting, and this one also dates from Maria Theresa’s era.

£4 bought me an interminable guided tour with lengthy descriptions in Czech(90 minutes-there seems to be no other way to do things round here)but my Habsburg tuition is sinking in as I recognised portraits of a young Emperor Franz Joseph 1st ,and his wife Sisi, before the guide got round to describing them.Attached to the palace is a large landscaped park, and ,a little way through the town,a separate formal Renaissance flower garden,which forms part of the Unesco-sponsored ensemble. Kromeriz is a very attractive town,much more so than Trencin,again blessed with an extensive pedestrian zone in the centre,and some impressive buildings.In the town square is ,of course,another example of a Plague Column.

Kromeriz,and another plague column

Kromeriz.The towering structure of the Archbishop's Palace behind the main square

The Palace ,from the park

Kromeriz ; the Renaissance pleasure garden

Setting the satnav at 5pm for the nearest campsite ,I was led on a very scenic hill road for 20km,through a rather remote forest on a small road, arriving at the campsite which is a little clearing in the woods with a few huts to rent. Just before arriving there I passed through the small village of Velehrad which has a disproportionately huge ,although rather bland looking, cathedral , and some large blocks of ecclesiastical buildings dwarfing the small village.This apparently is the Czech Republic's premier place of Catholic pilgrimage. On the basic little campsite there is one couple in a tent,and a small party in the cabins.The owner came over and,on hearing I was just staying for one night,seemed to forget the idea of any payment.There are basic facilities and electricity, and it’s a peaceful spot, on the edge of a wood with a long distance cycle trail running past.

Day 62 Esztergom,Hungary to Banksa Stiavnica and Bojnice,Slovakia

16/5/2015

today's route ( 215 km )

I made my exit from Hungary over Danube via the Maria Valeria Bridge as planned. To start with I travelled through southern Slovakia by a rural main road through many small towns and villages, none of which looked particularly prosperous. I noticed that the town names were bilingual in Slovakian and Hungarian, reflecting the sizeable Hungarian minority in this region. The land was initially flat, before, after about 60km,starting to become hilly, the beginnings of the Tatra mountains. The Tatras are in fact a continuation of the Carpathian range, which ,looking at the map, swirls up from Romania, forms the border between Slovakia and Poland, and then curls down to the west to form the natural barrier of the Czech Republic-Slovakian border. As the hills began ,my route merged into a new dual carriageway, the old main road subsumed into it. I had been hoping to avoid needing a Slovakian motorway sticker, as my chosen road was “red “on the map but as it became clear that this road was classed as a motorway and the only alternative was a minor lane,I pulled into a fuel station and bought a ten day sticker (10 euro).Up in the hills,past a road to ski resort now closed for the summer,lay my destination,the Unesco World Heritage town of Banksa Stiavnica.

Trinity Square in Banksa Stiavnica,with its 'Plague column'.(I ate lunch on the restaurant terrace just to the right of the monument.)

This town grew up in an area of precious metal mining(going back as far as the Huns,who discovered silver here)and became wealthy in the time of the Hapsburg empire(and provided wealth for the empire), before the metal finally dried up in the nineteenth century, meaning that the historic town and surrounding area is held in a time warp with attractive old buildings.It was in fact the old kingdom of Hungary’s third city at one point.

I thought Hungary was cheap,but despite the fact that this town is now largely a tourist destination I ate well at lunchtime in the main square ,with a substantial two course meal,and coffee costing just £4-50 which suggests that Slovakia is just as reasonable.

The late baroque Kalvary,(mid 18th century)

The "new castle" ,Banksa Stiavnica, built as a watchtower in the Ottoman wars (16th century)

My next stop was Bolnice castle, 60 km to the west,and I managed to get some value from my motorway ticket with another 30km on the dual carriageway.

Bolnice castle is “Slovakia’s most visited castle” ,a fairy-tale type castle, originally dating from the 12th century but given a fairly hefty makeover in the early 20th century.It was truly very busy,rather like visiting Longleat at a summer weekend.There were large packed car parks ,big crowds and no end of cafes,stalls,ice creams and,staff dressed as furry characters and medieval peasants.The castle itself had been taken over by “The international festival of Ghosts and Spirits”,apparently an annual occurrence,where the rooms are decorated with props and have actors doing ghost shows(only in Slovakian)The queue went down the road a fair way, with no shade available to make waiting comfortable.I contented myself with gathering some scenic snaps from the outside,then moved on.

Bojnice castle

I ended up at a campsite 10km beyond Bolnice ,on the shore of a small reservoir at the village of Nitriansko Rudno.There are attractive wooded hills ringing the area.My guidebook suggested it wouldn’t be open yet but earlier in the day I had managed to get someone on the phone who seemed to say that it was. It turned out to be a huge grassed lakeshore, with a number of cabins(seemingly weekend homes),and some people in tents fishing.The campsite amenities,toilets,bar,reception were all firmly closed.There were lots of people from the cabins about, though,so I found some grassy shade and some electricity and helped myself.

Day 61 On the road again ! Budapest to Esztergom

15/5/2015

Today's route ( 85 km )

As I arrived back into Budapest at midnight I had decided to spend the night in an airport hotel-in fact THE airport hotel as there is only the one at Budapest airport! Rather oddly I was offered a huge (20%) discount for paying in cash in Euros, as opposed to in Hungarian with my card; I’m not sure how the economics of that work out. This is the only hotel I’ve stayed in with its own dental implant clinic(Dentistry is one of Hungary’s biggest exports).

On reclaiming the van in the morning ,all was well. I seemed to have brought the British weather with me as it was 12 degrees and drizzling with rain, very different to the 28 degrees I left behind 10 days ago. The only issue is that the carpet glue which I used to fix some leatherette covering to the walls has not coped with what must have been 40 degree heat inside the van, and it is peeling at the edges. Some dabs of epoxy will hold it till I get home.

After replenishing the larder in a Tesco hypermarket I set off for what should be my last day in Hungary. I headed north of Budapest to the Danube bend,where it changes direction from west-east ,to north-south.

Visegrad;the remains of King Mathias's Renaissance palace in the foreground, and the medieval castle ruins on the hill above,

Part of Visegrad castle;the yellow Trabant in the foreground is a relic too !

The drive along the river was very scenic,with dense chestnut woodland going right to the water’s edge,and the same on the Slovakian bank,to the north.I stopped at the small town of Visegrad,which was the ancient capital of Hungary in the 14th century.There are two ruins, firstly on the hill overlooking the town, the medieval castle,and also down at river level are the ruins of a Renaissance summer palace built by King Mattias in the 15th century. With a nod to a similar summit meeting centuries ago,a meeting here in the 1990's founded the Visegrad group, comprising Hungary,Poland,Slovakia and the Czech Republic, a forum to aid mutual support between these 4 nations relatively new to the EU.

This whole area was ravaged by the Turks in the 16th century.There didn’t seem much left of the Renaissance palace so I left that alone, but instead took advantage of the cool weather and fresh legs to climb the 300 metres up the hill to the castle.There was not much more up there than a ruin,together with some rather basic medieval- themed exhibits aimed at schoolchildren, but the views of the Danube were superb.

A great view of the Danube valley, from Visegrad castle

30km further up the river lay my final destination of the day, Esztergom. This was another ancient capital of Hungary ,from the 10th to the 13th centuries,but today remains a much more interesting place than Visegrad .I had particularly wanted to fit in a visit here not only because of the historical interest but also because,more importantly to me ,it plays a big role as a break point between Patrick Leigh Fermor’s books “A Time of Gifts”, and “Between the Woods and the Water”(see my home page).

His first book ends with him standing on the Czechoslovakian side of the river on Easter day 1934 watching colourful preparations for the Easter service across the river in Esztergom ,and the second book starts off with him crossing over to Hungary to those celebrations. This break point has been noted and reiterated by various more modern travellers following in his footsteps, and the irony was not lost on me that I am now at the junction between the second and third stages of my own journey, and about to cross the same bridge, albeit in the opposite direction.

The bridge he crossed is the Maria Valeria bridge(named for an archduchess of Austria) but this was in fact blown up by the retreating Germans in 1944.Prevarications between the respective communist regimes in Czechoslovakia and Hungary meant that it was not rebuilt till 2001(and then mostly funded by the EU as a part of preparatory grants for the two countries joining the EU).Today I strolled across the bridge to the Slovakian side and the town of Sturovo ,having been told that 70% of the population are still ethnic Hungarian ; it is not a particularly attractive place compared to Esztergom,though. Walking back ,I was able to see the same view of Esztergom that Leigh-Fermor would have seen as he approached in 1934. Esztergom’s most striking feature is the huge cathedral, or basilica, built in the mid-19th century and which is the largest church in Hungary, and the seat of the head of the Hungarian Catholic church.It sits up on the historic castle hill, where next to it there are also remains of the royal palace and castle from the medieval period.

Leigh-Fermor had approached Esztergom from the Slovakian bank of the Danube. ".... far away on the other bank I could see my destination; it had been growing steadily in size since my first glimpse that morning. A cliff loomed over a long sweep of the river and on this ledge was perched a white fane that resembled St Peter's in Rome.A light circle of pillars lifted a gleaming dome into the sky.It was dramatic, mysterious ,as improbable as a mirage and unmistakeable as a landmark for many miles across the desert of liquid and solid. The basilica of Esztergom...."

Turning up at the basilica and the palace museum late in the day, I again managed to end up with a personal guided tour. Much of the palace has been reconstructed, largely from excavated ruins (again with EU funding) and now a series of rooms with traces of restored frescos exist. The most extensive frescoes are thought to bear a close resemblance to Botticelli’s work, and there is fierce debate as to whether he could be the painter.(I get the impression that this aspect has been talked up by the authorities, as opposed to the experts, to aid the acquisition of funding).

See jekely.blogspot.com/2011/03/botticelli-in-esztergom.html for discussion about this.

Further debate concerns whether the palace was actually destroyed by the Turks, or by the Christians in the process of re-taking it from the Turks.

Esztergom basilica on the left,with the medieval royal palace on the same hill ,to the right

Esztergom, from the Slovakian side of the Maria Valeria bridge, just as Patrick Leigh-Fermor would have seen it at Easter 1934

The Maria Valeria bridge between Hungary and Slovakia , with a huge river cruiser passing.

Esztergom Basilica

On walking back to the campsite along the river I came across the tail end of a training session at Esztergom Rugby Club.I wasn’t aware that rugby featured in Hungary, but the Esztergom team is in their top flight.The riverside walk is very pleasant, peaceful ,with a tree lined cycle track,and lawns, and views of occasional monolithic river cruisers gliding silently by.This is all very reminiscent of some of the lower reaches of the Seine,around Rouen,and Les Andelys ,where there are similar peaceful tree lined stretches with ruined medieval castles.

Break time

5/5/2015

Lostintransit is now taking a short break from travelling .I have left the van at Budapest airport. I should return and the journey resume on 15/05/15

Day 60 Budapest

4/5/2015

Having explored the old citadel of Buda last night,today was the turn of Pest.This is a different city altogether,much the bigger place,with streets laid out on a grid stepping back from the Danube. It’s very much like trying to explore London on foot, often difficult as the points of interest need searching out rather than just appearing by strolling. On surfacing from a metro station, as in London, one is faced with several identical-looking busy streets running past you in various directions and it takes a bit of orientation. In the end I opted for an open top bus tour which took the strain out of walking around on a hot day. This included a boat trip down the section of the Danube in the centre of the city, landing on St Margaret's island (Margit Sziget),which is a big park linked to both sides of the river by the Margaret Bridge (Margit Hid).

In contrast to the medieval origins of Buda, the twin city of Pest only really took off in the 19th century. Leigh -Fermor wrote "Apart from a few old streets and squares,...I liked Pest much less than my own side of the town(Buda)but I never tired of surveying it from the Fisher Bastion. I could see great Oxford Streets, like the Andassy ut and the Rakoczi ut, slicing their canyons through the boom city: the quiet citadel my side of the water had long since been outstripped.Flights of steps,arched and roofed-in like slanting cloisters, zigzagged downhill from this eyrie and I always seemed to be out of breath from toiling up them,or rushing down full-tilt and haring across the Szechenyi Bridge, late for some appointment in Pest"

Budapest Central Market Hall, built in 1895.An interesting covered market but as a sign of the times,there is now an Aldi in the basement

In the market you can buy thousands of types of salami...

......also paprika for your Goulash

I get the impression that Budapest is culturally quite an edgy city.There is a phenomenon known as ruin bars which are night spots that get set up in empty buildings, some of them very large ,and filled with random or themed mixes of junk,or items of interest etc. This idea has been running a while now and some are now part of the tourist trail. There are only a few pedestrianised streets, and the traffic is busy. I was a little bit disappointed by what I found but perhaps I needed more time to search out the really interesting things. For example there are a number of Turkish baths/thermal pools with the habit for them left over from the Ottoman occupation.I also didn’t give any of the museums a trial.

From the river : Buda castle,the former Habsburg royal palace,now museums.The site has always been a royal palace since medieval times,but rebuilt many times.The present building is a conglomeration of a basic late 18th century Baroque structure from Maria Theresa's time,a re-build in around 1855 in Franz Joseph I's time, then badly damaged in WW2,and restored afterwards.

The neo-gothic Hungarian parliament building,completed in 1906

Some typical streets of downtown Pest: Many say that they bear a good resemblance to those of Paris in the 1930's.

The Liberty Bridge (Szabadság híd ),built in the late 1900's

Day 59 Vienna to Budapest

3/5/2015

today's route ( 250 km)

It is just a 230km drive from Vienna to Budapest which takes a couple of hours on the direct motorway between the two.(These capitals are surprisingly close together – and I only just bi-passed Bratislava, which is only 60km from Vienna).The motorway was actually in better condition on the Hungarian side of the border compared to the Austrian. Interestingly, despite there now being no discernible border crossing between Western European countries, other than a welcome sign, Austria and Hungary have not yet dismantled their border crossing areas and the motorway briefly stops to wander through a decrepit concrete paved area ,lined with concrete bollards,with abandoned duty free shops,to the unmanned border booths.The only reason to stop is to buy a Hungarian motorway vignette,but I already have a valid one.It is a real nuisance having to work out how long your various road tax vignettes will last, and how to get one for the next country. Please ask your MEP to press for reciprocal road tax agreements across the EU!

I am heading for a the closest campsite I can find to the centre of Budapest,but it’s on the other side of the city to the one I’m approaching from.I have hesitated to accept my satnav’s plan to take me slap through the heart of the city and out the other site,but after a bit of checking I decided to follow the directions,for to go round the motorway ring road would add an extra 60km.In fact its fine;other than stopping at a few traffic lights the traffic is quiet,and I cross the Danube by the white Elizabeth Bridge and arrive at the campsite on the Eastern outskirts of Pest with no hitches. Whether it would have been a different story had it not been Sunday, I don’t know.So I have travelled down the Danube from where it is known as the Donau, to cross it once more where it is now known as the Duna.

My first impression of Budapest is that it looks very different to Vienna.For a start the Danube flows right through Budapest,like the Thames through London,and the huge neo-Gothic Hungarian parliament building sits right on the river bank, as ours does in London.(That is on the east side of the river,Pest.The twin city of Buda is on the hillier west bank).In comparison ,the centre of Vienna is set well back from the river,and the river bank there is either wooded ,motorways,or industrial.Also there is very little baroque architecture evident here in Budapest,as opposed to the surfeit of the stuff in Vienna.If anything the centre of Pest resembles Paris,although with rather grubbier buildings,and it doesn’t take long, heading out of the city,to find utilitarian 60’s concrete apartment blocks lining the main road.

I arrived at the campsite at about 3pm, and by 4pm had walked the 15 minutes back towards the city centre to the terminus of Metro line 2,from where it is just 10 minutes to the centre of the city.I was pleased to hear the ‘next stop ’announcements on the metro in dual Hungarian and English, as opposed to just German in Vienna. English is definitely the Lingua Franca in Eastern Europe,if that makes sense;you often hear other Eastern European tourists making themselves understood to the locals in English , although by necessity the staff of bars,restaurants ,and so on, usually can speak both German and English.

This is not a modern phenomenon,judging by Patrick Leigh-Fermor's comments on arrival in Budapest in the Spring of 1934.He had fallen on his feet and joined the smart set in the city, having been given introductions from landed gentry he had met further back on his journey, in Austria and Germany."Very many of these people talked English; when an exception cropped up, German was used,sometimes ,I think for historical reasons, rather reluctantly, but it was the universal second language."

The Hungarian parliament building

The 'Fishermen's bastion' up on Buda castle hill, built as a viewpoint in 1895

Is it just me,or is this reminiscent of Bristol ?-The Szechenyi Bridge, or Chainbridge, over the Danube. It was in fact designed by Scots architects in the early 19th century.

I set out to explore the old city of Buda,up on a hill in an elongated oval above the river.Up in the old city, the streets are quiet and attractive,and have friendly old ,multi-coloured painted buildings such as I have been seeing in other old towns in central Europe.It is a steep climb up quite a number of flights of steps to reach the top from the metro stop on the riverbank, but at the top there are great views.As well as the smaller older buildings there is just one Baroque monster up here ,the Buda Castle Palace,at one end of the hill, the former Hapsburg royal palace, remodelled several times and now housing the national gallery, and the Budapest museums.

The atmosphere here doesn't seem to have changed much since 1934,judging by Leigh-Fermor's descrition of Uri utca,one of the main streets in old Buda,where some of his new friends put him up for few days. "The Uri utca-die Herrengasse in German-a waving street of jutting windows,tiled roofs and arched doors with coats of arms,ran along the very summit of this castled height....Perched above the din of the capital,this patrician quarter had something of the hush of a country town...."

Its nice to be back where the prices are so reasonable.Coffee and a cake in central Buda,£2 .The same coffee and cake in Vienna,£8.I had a pint of beer in a bar outside on the river bank opposite the parliament building,costing the equivalent of £2.This would have been £5 in Vienna.How the cost of living can differ so much in just a short distance ,with no barrier between the countries ,is a puzzle.