The adorable Adriatic........

Today we enjoyed a comfortable 3½ hour coach trip from Zagreb to Zadar, with scenery ranging from lush green hills with the occasional quaint old church or castle, to snow-capped mountains. We passed through many road tunnels through the mountains, a couple of them more than five kilometres long.

We are now on the Adriatic coast and the temperature has risen from thirteen degrees to twenty-three degrees. Zadar means “already existed” in Greek and traces of continual settlement on the Zadar Peninsula go back to the tenth century BC. We started our exploring this afternoon by walking the three kilometers from our seaside hotel into the old town centre. On the way we thought we must have taken a wrong turn as we came across the Sphinx in the grounds of a grand old mansion.

Zadar is a walled town and most of the walls and gates, built under Venetian rule in the sixteenth century, are still standing. We visited two of the city gates, including the elaborate Town Gate, built in 1543, embellished with a statue of the Venetian lion and coat of arms. Nearby is the Trg Pet Bunara (Five Wells Square), the site of a former moat and still containing a cistern with five wells that provided Zadar with water until 1838. We passed the town watchtower, dating from 1562, and walked through the Roman forum, constructed between the first century BC and the third century AD.

Two of the more unusual sights were the Sea Organ and the Sun Salutation. The Sea Organ (the world’s only) consists of a set of stone steps descending into the sea, with pipes and whistles built into them. As the movement of the sea pushes air through them, they exude wistful sighs and very hypnotic ‘music’. Right next to the Sea Organ is the Sun Salutation, a 22 metre diameter circle of solar plates cut into the pavement. The panels collect the sun’s energy during the day and with the wave energy from the Sea Organ, create a trippy light show from sunset to sunrise, simulating the solar system. The energy created from both of these attractions powers all of the lighting along the lengthy waterfront promenade.

We stopped for dinner at a little sidewalk restaurant, tucked away in one of the many narrow alleys, before wandering home as the glorious sun set over the Adriatic Sea. Tomorrow – explore Zadar old town in earnest.

Gradec, graves and grey skies.......

The rain has stopped and the sun has tried to warm up our 17 degree day. After a tram ride to the bus terminal to secure our tickets for Zadar tomorrow we set out to retrace our steps from yesterday in the hope of seeing more, now that the rain has gone. Back to the cathedral to explore the inside. There are some impressive frescoes from the thirteenth century and an ornate tomb of Cardinal Alojzije Stephanic. Outside, the remains of the fifteenth century wall surrounding the cathedral are still present.

From the cathedral, we wandered to Kaptol Square, part of the medieval Upper Town, with buildings from the seventeenth century. We passed through the Stone Gate and arrived at the ‘Virgin and Child’ painting on the wall which was all that remained of the wooden gate after the great 1731 fire destroyed the rest. The locals believe that it therefore possesses magical powers and have set up a shrine in front, where they pray and leave flowers. Next we visited the beautiful Jesuit Church of St Catherine, built in 1620, with very ornate pink and white stucco on the internal walls and a beautiful tromp l’oeil fresco on the northern wall.

On to the thirteenth century St Marks Church, with its colourful tiled roof that was added in 1880. The tiles form the medieval coats of arms of Croatia, Dalmatia and Slavonia. Past Parliament House (fairly plain) and on to the Lotrščak Tower, which was built in the thirteenth century to protect the southern city gate. We watched (and heard!) its cannon fire at noon, as it has every day for the past hundred years. With deafened ears, we rode the 1888 funicular down to the Lower Town with a fellow Aussie couple.

After lunch we ventured two kilometers out of town to the Mirogoj Cemetery. Known as one of Europe’s most beautiful cemeteries, it didn’t disappoint. As there were no cremations in Croatia until about 25 years ago, every body had to be buried. There are hectares and hectares of the most ornate graves, lovingly tended and all set in lush green surroundings and the entire cemetery is surrounded with huge stone walls. We decided to walk back to town and finished our day in a little sidewalk café having afternoon tea and watching the locals quietly passing by.

Although Zagreb is the capital of Croatia, the core of the city consists of the preserved medieval city, known as Gradec and Kaptol, both rich in history, quaint, orderly and relaxing. We have really savoured the slower pace over the past few days and hope this is indicative of Croatian life as we continue on.

Tomorrow, board the bus for our journey westward to Zadar and the Adriatic Sea.

Tricky trains; cold but charismatic Croatia

An interesting couple of days. We left our Budapest apartment in bright sunshine late yesterday morning (Saturday). At 1.20pm we took off for Zagreb by train in our first class, 6 seat,non-airconditioned compartment (no buffet car available for our six and a half hour journey). After a couple of hours we were all shunted off the train and had to drag our luggage across a few train tracks and onto very old local buses to take us on a hot, crammed, 30-minute drive to another station where we boarded another train and resumed our stylish journey. Then shunted into a siding while first Hungarian, then Croation, immigration officers checked our passports which seemed to take forever and a customs officer, completely devoid of passion or even interest, asked us whether we had anything to declare.(we felt like saying “Yes, your trains are crap”. We had to remind ourselves that a little over a decade ago this country was at war with itself). Then continued on to Zagreb, arriving 40 minutes late, to be met by Ksandro, the manager of our Zagreb apartment. A delightful man with perfect English, he had us here in no time at all, gave us lots of written information about Zagreb – including a five-day weather forecast! – as well as some tips for getting around and left us to our own devices.

We dumped our bags and took off into the night, exploring our neighbourhood and watching as each of the mini-markets we came to closed their doors just as we approached. So a couple of slices of pizza and salad from a café-bar then into bed. It was a worthwhile exercise if only to see how Zagrebians (is that what we call them?) spend their Saturday nights – teenagers and young adults groping each other or simply sitting chatting as we walked through the local park; people of all ages sitting drinking (beer or coffee) and talking in the many street bars around the square. All in all, a picture of people just enjoying their evening. There may be a dark side to Zagreb, but we certainly didn’t see it in our wanderings.

Our apartment is delightful. It is on the sixth floor of a building literally one minute walk from the main town square and is modern, tastefully furnished and decorated, with a good size loungeroom, bedroom (with wide comfortable bed) and eating area. Unfortunately the bathroom, off the bedroom, is about the size of a broom closet. It only has the space for a small shower that you have to enter, turn and close the screen doors behind you, and a small pedestal wash basin (your butt is back in the bedroom once you step out of the shower). Then there is the kitchen – about one metre wide , with cupboards either side, and about 1.5 metres long. In that space there is an under-bench fridge and separate freezer, a two-burner gas cook-top, a dishwasher, a washing machine; but it is well-equipped in terms of cooking equipment.

It has been cold, 13C, and raining lightly today. We explored the local Dolac food market and bought fresh food for our next couple of meals. The produce is very fresh and very cheap, and all weighed on old-fashioned balance scales. Then went for a walk up to the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary (worth another look tomorrow when there isn’t s service running), then a stroll down a lovely mall flanked by outside eating areas and bars and continued past some lovely parks. Then back to our apartment for a late-afternoon rest, pan-fried trout and salad for dinner (washed down with a local white), then into bed.

Tomorrow – pray for fine, warmer weather and traipse around the rest of this beautiful, relaxed city.

Working our way down the Liszt, naturally………

The highlights of today were a visit to the Liszt Ferenc Memorial Museum and the Hungarian Natural History Museum. First we hopped the bus and then two trains to get to the Liszt museum, pausing on the way for a bit of musical inspiration. This is a quite modest set-up, occupying only four rooms in an old residential block on Andrassy Avenue, but it is the actual apartment where Franz Liszt spent his last several years and composed some of his greatest works. It has been restored and refurnished with Liszt’s own furnishings and, more importantly, with the two grand pianos (one of which was built especially for Liszt), the organ, the organ/harmonium (that Liszt ordered built to his specifications), a glass harmonica and the desk at which he worked, which has a small slide-out keyboard. His work-room also included his single bed, his private prayer pedestal and a small dining table. All very tasteful and evocative.

Then back on the train a little way out of town to the Hungarian Natural History Museum, a large historic building containing displays of stuffed animals, insects and birds from around the world, as well as reconstructions of animals and primates/humans from the neolithic age to the present, together with a time-line of human development in Hungary over the last few millennia. It also contained Noah’s Ark with the stuffed animals making their way on board. A fascinating and well-presented exhibition.

Back to town, a walk to the Central Markets for a bit of shopping, then the slow walk back to our apartment for a bath and a home-cooked meal. Tomorrow - Parliament House (we’ll get there eventually) and Margaret Island.

Hospital, history and hot spa……

Today we set out to return to the Buda castle area, after being distracted with our suburban ramblings yesterday. First we visited the “Hospital in the Rock”, which runs beneath the castle wall in a limestone cave network. It was used to treat civilian and military war casualties during World War 2 and had two functioning operating tables. Although its capacity was supposedly 240 patients it generally had up to 700 patients at a time. Dead bodies would be removed at night for burial in bomb craters, however there were frequent shootings of the burial party by German troops. It was again used extensively to treat victims of the Hungarian uprising in 1956 when protestors, mainly students, were set upon by the Communist occupying troops. From 1962 it was classified as secret by the Communist regime, and set up as a nuclear survival bunker. It has been restored exactly as it would have been in the 1940’s through to the 1960’s, including much of the original equipment, and contains 70 wax figures and the original medical equipment throughout a labyrinth of wards, theatres, kitchens, boiler rooms and rooms full of communications and surveillance equipment. As a point of interest, the original anaesthetic machine, from 1944, was used in the Madonna film Evita. It was a fascinating experience to walk through this important remnant of modern Hungarian history. We were even given heavy woolen capes to wear as it was very cold down there, however we were told that when the hospital was in use it was generally about 34 degrees due to the overcrowding and poor ventilation.

We then walked to the Royal Palace, within the Buda Castle complex. The palace has been razed and rebuilt about half a dozen times over the past seven centuries and now contains the Hungarian National Museum, where we spent time savouring the vast collection of artefacts from the eleventh century onwards. After lunch and with the usual aching feet , we made our way to Gellért Hill, a 235 metre high rocky hill overlooking Budapest in the castle district. Here stands Budapest’s Liberty Monument, erected in 1947 in tribute to the Soviet soldiers who died liberating Budapest from the Germans in 1945.

A visit to Budapest would not be complete without a visit to a thermal pool and spa, so we dragged our weary bodies to the Gellért Spa Baths, which are fed by the medicinal springs that were already famous in the thirteenth century. Here we soaked in the 36 degree waters of the Roman-style indoor spa pools and swam in the enormous outdoor pool, complete with wave machine that sprang into action every thirty minutes - you could body surf from one end of the pool to the other. Refreshed, we then walked across the Liberty Bridge to the Central Markets, set within a magnificent 100-year-old building. We inspected the vast array of Hungarian merchandise before heading back to our apartment with two calorie-laden Hungarian cakes, to enjoy after dinner with our Hungarian wine – it all helps to ease the pain in our over-walked feet.

Tomorrow – Parliament House (at last) and wherever else our curiosity takes us.

Trains, trams and buses in the ‘burbs of Budapest

Today we tested Budapest’s public transport system – and it passed with flying colours. Five trains, eight trams and three buses took us north, south, east and west as we ventured out of the city to visit a couple of places that had piqued our curiosity.

First, a train to Moszkva tér metro station, then a couple of trams to II Szilágyi Erzsébet fasor, then aboard the Cog Railway, built in 1874, for a steep climb over 3.6 km in about 15 minutes to Széchenyi-hegi, 427 metres above sea level. This is one of the prettiest residential areas in Budapest and we wandered around for a while and had morning tea. We also visited the station of the Children’s Railway, a narrow-gauge rail that goes even higher. This railway was built in 1951, while Hungary was under Communist rule, by a group of socialist scouts known as the Pioneers and it is now staffed by children aged between 10 and 14 years (except for the driver).

Next we made our way back into the city and headed off in another direction, by tram and bus, to Memento Park, about 15km from town. This park was opened in 1993 and houses many statues that had been imposed on the people of Budapest after Hungary fell under Russian Communist rule after World War II. It speaks well of the Hungarian people that, following their liberation from the Communists in 1990, they chose to establish the park and retain the statues as part of their history, distasteful and oppressive as it was during that period.

Then back into town and off in another direction for a stroll along Andrássy Avenue, a world-heritage boulevard that runs for 2.5km, past the magnificent National Opera Theatre, erected in 1884. The avenue ends at Heroes’ Square, which dominates the landscape with spectacular statues and monuments, including a 36 metre high column topped by the Archangel Gabriel holding the Hungarian crown and a cross, and surrounded below by statues of rulers and statesmen, including King Stephen. Then we walked across to Vajdahunyad Castle, now an agricultural museum, and checked out the “Anonymous” statue – a chronicler at the court of King Béla III (King of Hungary and Croatia 1172-1196), who wrote a history of the early Magyars. Budding writers still touch the pen of the statue for inspiration. We then went underground and rode home on the metro line which runs the length of Andrássy Avenue and is the oldest underground rail line in continental Europe, opened in 1896.

Another fascinating day. Tomorrow – back up to Buda Castle, then a swim in the thermal pool and spa on Gellért Hill and perhaps a visit to Parliament House.

Hungary for history and culture.....

Well, here we are in beautiful Budapest after a fairly uninteresting 7-hour train journey from Prague. Our apartment is modern and spacious, and very well-equipped, set in a narrow back street dotted with retro bars, but just a short walk from the Tesco supermarket, which has all our food needs for the week, and close to the Metro and to Pest town centre. We headed out for the Buda side of the Danube this morning but coudn't resist stopping at St Stephens Basilica on the way. One of its major drawcards is the holy chapel, which contains the mummified hand of St Stephen, dating back to 1038.

Next we reached the Chain Bridge, the first stone bridge to be built over the Danube. Nine bridges span the Danube linking Buda to Pest but Chain Bridge, with its famous lion statues, takes pride of place. We continued on to the funicular which took us up to Castle Hill, where we had magnificent views back over the Danube to Pest. Then to the 700-year-old Mattias Church. It has a distinctive multi-coloured tiled roof and Gothic spire. When the Ottoman Turks occupied Buda castle in 1541, St Mattias was converted into a mosque and all the frescoes were white-washed over. It was restored to its present state in the nineteenth century, including the medieval frescoes. Next door to the church is the Fishermen's Bastion, a rampart built in 1905 on the medieval castle walls. It was the Buda fishermen's duty to defend this side of the hill during the middle ages. The existing bastion is solely ornamental but offers spectacular views over the Danube to Parliament House and beyond.

After a quick Metro ride underneath the Danube, our last stop for the day was the Great Synagogue, a short walk from our apartment. It is set in an area that was to become a World War II Jewish ghetto and is the largest synagogue in Europe, second largest in the world (to New York). It seats 3,000 people over three levels. The style is typically Byzantine-Moorish and it is beautifully decorated inside with gilded arches and large, suspended chandelier-type lights. In the courtyard is the Holocaust memorial in the shape of a metal weeping willow, each leaf engraved with the name of a Budapest Holocaust victim,. The memorial lies over the mass graves of hundreds of those murdered by the Nazis in 1944-45.

Tomorrow - back up the hill to have a really good look at Buda Castle and all it contains.