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Budapest

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I left Bratislava a couple of days ago, drove into Austria and around Vienna for a while. It was starting to rain as I left Vienna and headed towards Hungary. I had seen a large lake on the map and decided that I would drive to it and try to find a place to camp. The lake was beautiful and was surrounded with beach resort type villages. After driving around for a while I realised that there wasn’t any place for me to camp for free so went into the next camp site I passed.

The camp site was a really small one on the corner of the lake. I arrived and talked to the people who ran it, I was just asking about the price of pitching my tent and telling them about my trip when they mentioned there was an empty caravan and said I could sleep in it for free. I unpacked my stuff, cooked some noodles and then went to sit on the dock to eat. There were some people fishing from the dock so I thought I’d give my telescopic rod a try. The rod is fine but the hooks are rubbish. I need to get a selection of decent hooks, floats and weights at some point…

Europe Trip

Anyway, I slept in the caravan which was great because it rained a little in the night. In the morning I packed up and set off towards Budapest. When I arrived I struggled to find a spare bed in the first few hostels I visited but eventually found a great hostel and was greeted with a welcome shot. There was a guy sharing my room who is from the Netherlands and we went exploring the city and taking photographs in the afternoon. After we got back to the hostel we met an English couple who are travelling together and an Italian guy who is a guitarist. After jamming some 12 bar blues with the Italian guy I headed out into town with the English couple and the Dutch guy.

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We went to a ruin bar, basically in the old parts of the city there are buildings which were abandoned and marked for demolition. These have been turned into some very unique bars and make for a great night out. We returned to the hostel in the early hours and went to bed.

Today the Dutch guy and I went on a free walking tour of the city, it was great to hear more about the history of the city as well as see the nice buildings. After the tour we joined the leaders of the tour for some dinner in a really cheap canteen, I had some goulash and dumplings. After that we walked for miles to find an entrance to a cave. Budapest has lots of cave systems below its streets and we eventually arrived and one and went on the tour and got some good pictures. We just arrived back at the hostel and are resting before we go out again tonight to visit some more ruin bars. Tomorrow I’m leaving Budapest and heading through Hungary towards Romania. Not sure where I’ll stay tomorrow night but I can decide that tomorrow.

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Slovakia

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I have spent the last two days and nights in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. I drove down from the beautiful hotel in northern Slovakia, almost running out of petrol on the way due to the rarity of petrol stations on the Motorway, and checked into Patio Hostel. The first night I met an Australian guy called Andy and an English girl called Kirsten. We decided to go out for some drinks and were joined by three French guys, Valentine, Arthur and Jan. They were taking part in an event where they were driving around Europe in an old car they said was called two horses. In the event were nine teams, each driving one of these cars, with four people in each car, they were leaving Bratislava at 5am the next morning. They gave me a few tips of good places to visit in Romania so I’ll try to look into them when I get there. So the six of us headed off into Bratislava and went around a few bars drinking and having an amazing evening.

Europe Trip

The next morning Andy, Kristen and I were joined by Lars, he is a student from Denmark who was also staying in the same hostel as us. We headed out into town to take part in the free tour. The tour was great and lasted about 2 hours, we walked through the city being told about the important buildings, the history and culture of Bratislava. There was an orchestra playing in one of the squares which made for a great atmosphere. After the tour we walked up to the castle and looked down over the city, the view was really good but I think it would have been nicer to look back onto the old city rather than the new.

In the evening the four of us headed out to Slovakia Pub for some food. The food was the tastiest food I have eaten in ages. We had Goulash with dumplings. After we had eaten we headed out to find a relaxing bar with comfortable chairs. We ended up in a cocktail bar, this is where we met two guys who were on another amazing trip.

Europe Trip

These guys, Ed and Mark, were travelling through Europe on pedal bikes. They were riding from the North Sea to the Black sea, they started in Holland and followed the Rhine through Germany and France, they are now following the Danube all the way to the Black sea.

Europe Trip

We spent the night drinking in bars around Bratislava and listening to the live music in the bars. Bratislava is a great city for the history, the food and the drink. The history is free and the food and drinks are very cheap.

I’m leaving Bratislava today and travelling the short distance into Austria to visit Vienna for the afternoon. This evening I’m planning to camp somewhere fairly close to Vienna and then head to Hungary to stay in Budapest tomorrow.

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Poland

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The drive from Prague to Auschwitz took longer than I thought it would, the roads in Czech Republic were good and I managed to keep a good pace all the way to Poland. Once I crossed over the border there was a definite change, the roads were uneven with a lot more bends. I had prepared a route which seemed simple enough to follow, the only problem was that once I arrived in a small town I was supposed to take a road from there to the Auschwitz museum I found that there were three different roads all with the same number heading in different direction.

I stopped a few times to ask directions and managed to get fairly close, this is when I met a guy riding a CBR 1000, he said that he was heading the same way and I should follow him. I followed him to the museum and we stopped and had a brief chat, he was a motorbike mechanic and had done some touring on his bike. He offered to give me his mobile number so that if I ever had any problems while I was in Southern Poland I could call him. I explained I didn’t have a working phone but thanked him and gave him my website address.

I went into the museum car park and met the attendant, a Polish guy with one arm who spoke no English. We went into the on-site hotel so that the girl on the desk could translate. I explained I wanted a very cheap place to stay, they suggested the hotel, I explained it was too expensive and asked if I could sleep in the car park. The guy said I could but that it would be cold and I would need to pay for parking, a little less than 3 Euro. I agreed but then when we left the hotel and went back to the car park he changed his mind and said I could stay for free.

Europe Trip

This morning I woke up, packed up the camp and headed into the museum. If you go between 9 and 10 you can walk around on your own for free, I went at 10 and had a guided tour. After the Museum I headed to Krakow. There wasn’t much to do there so I didn’t stay long and headed south into Slovakia. The border here is really nice, as I got closer the road climbed up into the hills and I could see the rain clouds ahead. I managed to get my water-proofs on before I got into the rain but then had to drive slowly, trying to concentrate on where I was going with rain, condensation in my helmet, and awesome scenery all around.

I crossed over into Slovakia and decided I wanted to stay in a hotel tonight instead of having to put the tent up in the rain. I drove until I found one and stopped, its reasonably cheap but is a beautiful building in the hills. I’m sat here now having eaten a pork stew type meal and a strudel, drinking a beer in front of a log fire with relaxing music on in the background, trying not to fall asleep yet.

Tomorrow I’m driving through Slovakia to Bratislava and I plan to spend 2 nights in a very cheap hostel while I explore the city.

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Prague

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I arrived here in Prague yesterday and booked into this hostel. I spent most of the day trying to sort out how to replace my missing documents after the theft, but eventually I managed to get out into Prague.

I walked down to the side of the river and followed it towards Charles Bridge. As I walked down there was a small orchestra playing on a little island in the river, the sound carried quite far along the river and created a really nice atmosphere. I carried on to the bridge and went over it. I had an all you can eat buffet and then had a few drinks in Jo’s Cellar Bar, a really nice bar with lots a character.

Europe Trip

After a few drinks I decided to walk through the city, I saw some bats flying around in the streets which was cool, then decided to find a geocache before heading back to the hostel. I am adding pictures to the facebook page as I write this.

Europe Trip

Today I’m going to drive to Auschwitz, if I get there early enough I’ll do the tour, if not I’ll camp there and do the tour tomorrow. After Auschwitz its off to Krakow and then down into Slovakia.