Hi Hungary, I'm Evan - Budapest

Lordy am I Hungary! Yeah! Everyone loves a terrible pun, but here we were, in the capital of Hungary. Having heard a thousand good things about Budapest, we were quite excited to check out this fine city full of history and culture. Whilst it is pretty I would suggest that Prague is the prettier of the two cities and there are many similarities that can be drawn between the two, but in terms of partying Budapest takes the cake. Separated by the Danube, the city is divided into Buda and Pest. Pest is the business and wealthy district whilst Buda is the party side of town and where you will consume food in modern and indie bars and cafes.

Staying at David Hostelhoff party hostel, we knew immediately this was going to be a fun few days. And fun was most definitely had! The first night out was spent on the party river cruise where I had to admire the breathtaking beauty of the city through one eye after Em almost blinded me with a premature opening of her champagne. Plenty of new friends were made on this rather enjoyable cruise and stumble home.

Feeling the need for a lot of fresh air we spent the next day embarking a slow meander around the art filled streets of Budapest whilst sampling some delicious food. Being in Hungary we knew we had to sample the many Hungarian baths within the city. Deciding on the cheapest one, only later discovering we were the only non-locals in the place, a whole day was dedicated to relaxing whilst avoiding looking at the many large boned Hungarians floating past you in the whirlpool. Without our knowledge we joined a Hungarian hydrotherapy class whilst gently floating in the 35 degree pool. Well believe me, you haven’t done hydrotherapy until you’ve done it without understanding a word the instructor is saying and following the 65 year old Hungarian woman in front of you. Enjoyable is an understatement.

Organising an impromptu pub crawl with two Finnish, three English and four Australians was our final night in this fine city. And what a pub crawl it was! The ruin bars are world renowned and for good reason. They are old communist buildings that were left to disrepair until the mid-2000’s when some young adventurous folk decided it would make a great bar. They weren’t wrong. Graffiti strewn walls, caved in walls, strange murals and sculptures adoring all corners makes this one of the greatest places I have ever visited. The crawl part of pub crawl became literal at about 4.30 in the morning whilst trying to get home as the sun made its way into the sky over this outstanding city.

P.S. whilst in Budapest we had a crack at the Exit Point game, which is a simple concept of being locked in a room and having to work out clues and problems as you try to get out within an hour. Sort of like Saw, but no one loses their legs. It. Was. Awesome. We decided to coerce three English girls and one Aussie lad into joining us through in the Alice in Wonderland themed room. Ridiculous amounts were fun and we almost made it out. Two locks to go when the time ran out. If you ever get the chance to do one of these make sure you do. You won’t regret it!

Well central Europe you have been exceptional. Cheap. Exciting. Eye opening. One surprise after the next was discovered and I thank you. Old friends and new, but the time has come to disappear west and finally go for a surf.

Slovakia - Bratislava

A quick stopover of 14 hours was to be had in Slovakia on the way to Budapest. Having already been told that Bratislava was nothing special we decided to check it out regardless, and let me tell you there really was nothing special about it. Nothing against the fine country of Slovakia or the proud city of Bratislava, but there wasn’t a great deal going on in ye olde city. It is very business driven, with a built up skyline, but it does have an appealing old town and some incredible food that includes goats’ cheese gnocchi. It was worth one night, but I am not disappointed that was all we had there.

What's Kracking? - Krakow

This is truly a remarkable city. Miraculously surviving WWII without too much damage to the old town, this magical little place sits abroad the Danube with a bustling old town and a quirky, history saturated Jewish quarter. Surprisingly the Polish food was exceptional. On our first night in Krakow we embarked on the closest restaurant to the hostel and what a meal we were in store for. I decided to order the mixed plate of meat only to be delivered a small farm on a plate. There was every kind of sausage, chop, steak and other parts of animals that I am still unsure of. Em also ordered a potato pancake dish that was roughly the size of the Vatican City. Rolling back to the hostel extremely satisfied we slept uneasy due to the fact we were off to Auschwitz the next day. Being in Krakow we knew we had to visit this pointlessly disastrous part of the world’s history. Never have I been to a bleaker, more harrowing location. The genocide of 11 million Jewish people in WWII will go down as the greatest crime ever committed in human nature. It is disgusting and unimaginable to think that one human can do such things to another. It is experience I would rather forget, but unfortunately I know I never will.

Figuring we needed to lighten the mood after Auschwitz we took a walking tour through the Jewish quarter and were shown the film location for Schlinder’s List. This also lead to our very own vodka crawl as we sampled a variety bars and the eclectic collection of vodkas available. Highlights included the hazelnut, quince and lemon flavours.

Poland is somewhere that surprised the hell out of me. The people were friendly, the food fantastic and the culture still deeply ingrained. It is somewhere I would happily stumble across again.

This was installation created by a local artist in remembrance of the Jewish people that lost their life during that horrific WWII period. 

Prague

Ah Prague. A melting pot of European cultures and beer. A city with ancient secrets and beer. A place where new and old friends were mad with beer. If you haven’t picked up on the subtle hints, the Czech Republic is full of beer and meat, but mainly beer.

Prague is an exceptional city, dirt cheap for us Australians, STRAYA! But simply full of history and one the greatest drinking cultures I have ever witnessed. One thing I love about Europe is the ability to walk down a street merrily swinging your beer as you sing Chumbawamba, and never has a city embraced this lack of law like Prague. Everyone in Prague has a beer in their hand. From the child in the pram (usually cause Mum has her hands full with the one she already has, in each hand) to the dottery old lady crossing the road. It becomes clear why she is dottery after she empties the thirty beer cans into the bin.

Besides the drinking this is a brilliant city, full of little modern bars, exciting exhibitions and history. Meeting with two old friends in Josef and Luciee was a great time, and the fact we then tagged along with Luciee for the rest the week was an even better time! The Czech’s on the whole are not friendly people, but being embraced by Luciee’s group of friends was something to treasure.

Prague is also the city of festival, and don’t we just love festivals! For the duration of our stay there was the Island music festival which is a free jazz and ambient music festival on the Islands on the Danube, we managed to also frequent the annual Prague food festival which tickeled our tastebuds in the most agreeable way, the arts and fashion festival in the centre of town and by far my most favourite, the Andy Warhol exhibition. Which technically isn’t a festival, but for my eyes it was. A visual festival if you will.

The city is full to the brim of sights, and being the diligent tourists we are, we managed to see the majority of them, but my personal favourite apary from the Charles Bridge (which is simply gorgeous darling) was the Lennon wall. A simple tribute to one the greats, hidden behind a church and next to the river, this is a beautiful sight. The level of street art and buskers were simply incredible in this fine city and of course how could I not mention the meat. This part of Europe is destined to give me Coronary Heart Disease as the food here is just meatalicious. Seriously it is a vegetarian’s worst nightmare. I am still salivating.

On a side note we stayed in an airbnb flat while we were there. A young man by the name of Juan was our host. Now Juan took quite a fancy to myself (and why wouldn’t he, he’s only human! Am I right!! Seriously though). This fancy led to Juan answering Emma’s questions towards me, only saying good morning to me and ignoring Emma and I am almost certain filming me in the shower. Now like any young lass trying to her impress her dashing prince I took every opportunity to escape the confines of Juan’s hungry stare by dressing in skimpy clothing and dropping my pen in front of him. Kidding, I hid behind Emma majority of the time. Ah Juan, we could have had it all. If you weren’t really creepy and I didn’t have a girlfriend or wasn’t straight.

Czech, Czech, Czech, Czech It Out - Cesky Krumlov

This adorable medieval town of twinkling brooks and mystical turrets will forever live within my memory as the place I witnessed the end of an eight year iron fisted domination of the greatest sporting spectacle in NSW and QLD. That is right ladies and gentleman, in this ancient town of beer and bears I watched Trent Hodkinson cross the line with 8 minutes on the clock and seal an extraordinary victory the might blues. Cockroaches!! Is it the end of dynasty? I doubt it, the QLD team is the greatest ever assembled in living history, but we will take 2014 with both hands and drink from its glorious cup in all of its Todd Carney inspired glory!

Anywho Cesky Krumlov. What a place this is! Woooo! Czech Republic delivered! Although to be honest after Vienna, anywhere with something interesting to do was a welcome a relief, I mean Baghdad would’ve been fun after that boring ass place. But this little town in the south west of the Czech Republic is one the most well preserved medieval towns in Europe. Drifting down the river in a canoe and watching the world slowly drift by, drinking beer brewed by smoke, eating my body weight in parts of a pig that should never be consumed (in this instance pork neck, knee and knuckle were on the menu) and traversing through a castle where the prince threw a local lass out the window because she said no to him, were just some of the highlights. It was a dam good introduction to the world of the Czechs.

Take This Waltz - Vienna

Now trying to get from Ljubljana to Prague is literally the work of a master mathematician. That shit is out of control. Anyway the only way was to drop by that grand old city of the Hasburgs, Vienna. Listening to Leonard Cohen’s “Take This Waltz” and Matt Costa’s “Vienna” had me moving exuberantly in my pantaloons.  Well what a difference a deep voiced poet and a softly spoken ex-skateboarder can make to a city. The romance those two troubadours threw into those songs was something magical, but arriving in Vienna, in real life is something completely different. This is without a doubt the most boring city in Europe thus far.

Now, I am a fair guy, I like seeing equal opportunity, even if that equal opportunity leads to the Knights languishing at the bottom of the table, but hey everyone has to have a go at winning the premiership, but Jesus Austria, I have seen more entertaining paint drying tournaments then your so called magic capital. Christ. Let me watch forty two, fifth division Narara-Wyoming vs Lisarow test cricket matches then visit another museum. Would it kill you to make one thing free? Or at least less than my average monthly income?

I will not try to be harsh on this golden aged city, because it did have some gorgeous architecture and we did get to a rather awesome independent label trade show and a fantastic Gay Pride march through the middle of the city. But honestly, the money those Hasburgs had and they didn’t think to put in some epic public attractions? Come on people. Thankfully were we off to Prague after this snore fest of a city. (Actually make sure you try the street hotdogs there. It will blow your mind!)

Ljubljana

Next on our Slovenian adventure was the capital city of Ljubljana. A tiny city that would hold its own with any city around the world. A reflection of the inner west but with more cool, full of fixed speeds and black rimmed glasses, a true hipster paradise as bar and cafes spill onto the streets creating this vibrantly exciting, avant-garde mood upon the ancient streets of Slovenia’s political and economic capital. Having live concerts in the park, watching dancing and strange jazz fusion whilst drinking beers and eating cake, wandering around abandoned army bases that have been turned into artists compounds adorned with street art, walking tours that rate in the top three and eating. This last part is especially applicable to Ljubljana as it has the best Open Food market in the world (huge call, but I’m making it, you gunna stop me?). We decided that yes, we will eat our body weight in delicious foods from around the world and yes we will drink exciting new alcoholic beverages and insanely delicious Slovenian craft beers and yes we will be goddammed excited about it!!

Slovenia was beautiful, inspiring, grungy, weird, sexy, cool and by far one of my favourite places in the world. You have my vote.

Slovenia and the Lake That Bleeds

From Zagreb we caught a two hour train to the capital of Slovenia, Ljubljana. Europe, you still amaze me that a two hour train ride can land me in another country whereas at home I would be lucky to make it from Gosford to Hornsby in that time (take that City Rail! Yeah!). We quickly changed transport and jumped on a bus to land ourselves in Bled.

Bled. A name that conjures images of vampires and monsters but could not be further from the truth. Not only is the town a gorgeous little alpine-esque cluster nestled among mountains, it overlooks Lake Bled, one of the most beautiful things you could lay eyes on. The entire country of Slovenia is 59% forest and this is no more prevalent in Bled where all you can see is green. It’s not easy being green Kermit, but Slovenia is coping. 

Wandering around the lake at night and ogling at the castle rising above the moon, eating traditional Slovenian meals and diving headfirst into the Bled cake. A delicious mix of flaky pastry, cream and custard. I would die for it. Arriving at the hostel and being confronted with a girl (Jaime Moyghan) who went to your school, deciding that you are Ryan Gosling and rowing Emma around the lake in a gorgeous little row boat, I see your romance and I raise one Notebook moment. Swimming in blue waters of the lake, avoiding ducks and geese (evil creatures they are) and in a general sense, living. 

Zagreb

One of the many exhibits in the Museum of Broken Relationships. Also one of the funniest.

The capital city of Croatia was a brief two hour bus ride from Plitvice and after leaving the incredible nature of the Lakes we couldn’t help but feel a little down heartened to be back in a city. In saying that Zagreb had its charm, the hostel was one of the best we have stayed in filled with friendly Scots and Americans, the city itself is quite zany with the old town sitting comfortably with modern and artistic endeavours. The zaniest attraction we came across was in fact the museum of broken relationships. A place where people can leave items that remind them of previous lovers to help the healing process. An interesting idea and a place that was funny, touching and depressing all at the same time. The city also had fantastic fresh food markets.

Croatia was a blast, many new friends were made and experiences were had. You will be missed.

Split & Plitvice Lakes

Following the sail we decided to have one night in Split. Split was fun. We  were tired, grumpy and still fairly hung over, but we did manage to do some hiking and find some cool beaches. Although Split smells. Bad. But it is a beautiful city, just take your peg.

This was a child's puzzle that four grown adults could not figure out.

The decision was made to join Cam on a road trip to Plitvice Lakes national park. Karen decided to join and we made our way north and into the Croatian wilderness, sometimes known as the A1. Well what a place. The most stunningly beautiful scenery I have seen. The national park sits mostly untouched bar the odd wooden walk way and café, but is surrounded by breathtaking mountains offering an alpine feel. The lakes are so clear they almost look empty. We walked for seven hours and yet the tiredness didn’t really set in. spent the night laughing and eating with two really great people.

Plitvice:

Awesome place and great people