Posted by: travelrat | May 15, 2024

First Look at Bucharest

Bucharest: 16th April 2024

I’m not too impressed with Bucharest at the moment. But, to be fair, I’m not too impressed with a lot of places on arrival; but almost invariably, things improve after a night’s sleep. First of all, we had to deal with what is probably the slowest baggage carousel on the planet; I swear the baggage handlers were transferring the pieces from the aircraft one by one!

 It took us nearly as long to drive to the hotel from the airport as it did to fly here. True, the drive was mainly along tree-lined avenues, but those avenues are for walking, not driving. However, I suppose any city in rush-hour is just the same.

We passed a prominent landmark, the Arcul de Triumf , built in 1935 and an almost exact copy of the Arc de Triomphe, except the traffic around it wasn’t so bad …not quite, anyway! Could this be one of the reasons Bucharest is sometimes called ‘The Paris of the East’?

I wasn’t all that keen on the dinner we had at the hotel that evening, either. We didn’t want much: just a ham and cheese sandwich. But, they used processed, plastic cheese!

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Posted by: travelrat | May 8, 2024

A Cruise on Lake Bled

Bled: 6th October 2023

Taking a boat trip across to the sole island in Lake Bled was almost compulsory. There’s only one building on the island, the Church of the Assumption, which is reached by a rather steep flight of steps … with an ice-cream stall at the top!

The boat is a sort of man-powered punt affair, which carries about a dozen people, Some guide-books call it a gondola … like in Venice, the ‘gondolier’ stands at the rear, but propels the boat with two oars.

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Posted by: travelrat | May 1, 2024

River Cruise

In retrospect, it may have been better to have taken the river cruise we just did, from Bucharest to Budapest before the one we took in 2018, from Budapest to Amsterdam. When you compare the two, ‘Buc-Bud’ comes out less favourably … although it’s quite enjoyable in its own right, especially if you haven’t done ‘Bud-Ams’. Those who booked ‘Buc-Ams’ are in for a real treat.

The cruise visits four countries, each with its own currency. This could have been a major pain in the olden days, but nowadays, in practice, most places will accept the euro. It’s best, though, to carry your euros in small-value notes, for you’ll often get your change in the local currency. And, if all else fails, there’s always The Plastic!

There shouldn’t be any problem with language; most people you’ll come into contact with speak English … I only came across one person who didn’t, and we got along quite nicely in German.

One thing to remember; the Danube is a busy river. Although all cabins have windows, often, if you aren’t actually cruising, your view on rising will often be either the quayside, or the side of another ship.

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Posted in Bulgaria, cruises, Danube, Hungary, river cruise, Romania, Serbia | Tags: , , , , ,

Posted by: travelrat | April 15, 2024

Dracula’s Castle

All being well, we should be off again tomorrow, cruising the Danube between Bucharest and Budapest. But, before that, we’ll be going to see ‘Dracula’s Castle’. We know, of course, that Count Dracula wasn’t a real person, but a figment of the imagination of author Bram Stoker.

It is said that Stoker based the legendary Castle Dracula on Bran Castle, and Dracula upon one of its more unsavoury occupants … Vlad Tepes, sometimes known as Vlad Drakul. He’s better known to us as Vlad the Impaler, because he impaled people, and that’s really all you want to know about that.

As far as is known, Stoker never visited Transylvania, or laid eyes upon Bran Castle, although he may have seen pictures. Vlad predates him by several centuries … but he was a natural for the role; the Victorians loved that kind of thing.

From the book, we gather that Jonathan Harker journeyed to Castle Dracula from Bistritz (Bistrita) to be met at the Borgo Pass. The Count returned to the castle along the Sereth (Siret) River, which would put Castle Dracula well to the north, an estimated 100 klicks away from Bran Castle.

But, hey; it’s only fiction! There’s no such person as Count Dracula. I might, however, have a crucifix and some garlic in my baggage, just in case!

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Posted in books, castle, Romania | Tags: , , , ,

Posted by: travelrat | April 10, 2024

Carriage Ride: Video

Bled: 6th October 2023.

I’m not quite done with the carriage ride yet. Here’s some video.

Music: ‘Sardana’ by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

(Sorry, Kevin; I turned it down considerably, to emphasise the sound of the horse’s hooves.)

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Posted in horses, landscape, Slovenia | Tags: , , , , ,

Posted by: travelrat | April 3, 2024

Lake Bled Carriage Ride

Bled: 6th October 2023

We took a ride around the lake in a horse drawn carriage. Well, we couldn’t not, really. It seemed the little park near where we had lunch held more carriages than cars! But, for your money, you do get a complete circuit of the lake, and had several glimpses of the castle, and of THE island. It’s claimed as the only island in Slovenia, the only building on which is the prominent Church of the Assumption.

It would have been possible to hire an e-bike or an e-scooter instead, which would have meant a lot more stopping and staring time … but, probably, wouldn’t have been quite the same. Besides, we had a boat to catch.

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Posted in horses, landscape, Slovenia | Tags: , , , , ,

Posted by: travelrat | March 27, 2024

Bled Castle: Pictures

I didn’t say much about Bled Castle when we visited last week … mainly because there wasn’t much to say without launching into a prolix history lesson. In which, I’m sure few people would be interested; it’s probably on Wikipedia if they are.

Because, it’s pretty well impregnable, which means all the occupants had to do was stay within the walls, and wait till the Ungodly went away. Which doesn’t make for very interesting history, anyway

But, here’s a few pictures …

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Posted in architecture, castle, Slovenia | Tags: , , , ,

Posted by: travelrat | March 20, 2024

Bled Castle

Bled: 6th October 2023.

It’s a long way into Slovenia to visit Bled, but it was worth it. The paperwork that came with our trip said take passports, but our guide told us that, since Croatia had recently joined the EU, they were no longer necessary.

Our first visit was to Bled Castle, a fairy-tale confection perched high on a rocky tor. We got through the difficult bit first; the climb up many steps to the castle. That’s the only way up; to approach from any other direction would be impossible, unless you had excellent rock-climbing skills. It was, we were told, never invaded, and you can see why.

Its unassailable position means, of course, an excellent view, as it overlooks the beautiful Lake Bled, with its solitary island containing the Church of the Assumption can be seen in the distance. But, more about that later. First, we descended into the town, to eat the packed lunches provided by our hotel, while sitting on a bench by the tranquil lake.

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Posted in architecture, castle, Slovenia | Tags: , , , ,

Posted by: travelrat | March 13, 2024

Pula Pictures

Pula: 4th October 2023.

I’ll round off our visit to Pula to post a short slide show of some pictures of the old Italianate centre … and another one of a gelato stall. Most of the signs are in Italian, as well as Croat, for there was a strong Roman, and later Venetian influence. Betweenthe wars, Istria was occupied by Italy … and, indeed, some considered it a part of that country.

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Posted in architecture, Croatia, pictures | Tags: , , ,

Posted by: travelrat | March 6, 2024

Franschhoek Street Art

When I discussed street art a little while ago, I wondered if it might include paintings on the walls of commercial premises, whose message is simply ‘Come in! Buy things’?

Let’s have a look at the town of Franschhoek, in South Africa. Since it’s a noted wine area, every other shop sells … you’ve guessed it … wine! Most of the remainder sell food, and, of course, to go with superior wine, it has to be superior food. Some shops, indeed, sell food and wine.

Now, if you’re selling the same quality product as Smith, next door, or Jones across the road, you need some way of attracting customers to choose your establishment over the others. And how better than to decorate your shop with some street art?

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Posted in art, South Africa, wine | Tags: , , ,

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