16th April - Free Camping, Lake Balaton, Hungary
Today we joined Michelle and Dave to check out a fun park for the kids in Maribor (Slovenia) but it was closed, so we headed into the centre of Maribor to check out the city in our first convoy with the travelling family.....it turned out to also be one of the last convoy efforts.
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| The Convoy!! |
The first car park was unsuccessful (and a bus depot), the second the spot was no good and after u-turns, sudden manoeuvres and us leading the convoy past the nice motor way onto the small B roads (thanks Brenda) it was decided that we would set the final destination and each party would make it there on their own, which worked out pretty well.
So off we went towards Hungary, or should I say Magyarország, with the first stop being Heviz, which is known to be a thermal spa town. Myself, Dave and the kids enjoyed the natural spa while Michelle pampered herself and Nat checked out the town (to research ice cream prices - 50 cents apparently).
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| The Thermal Springs |
The natural spa, as it turns out, was also a popular healing clinic used for people who are suffering from certain illnesses. Needless to say our mood was quiet different to theirs and it felt kind of odd to be walking through the clinic, on a holiday, in your boardies, through what actually looked like a hospital in some areas with different wings and rooms off to one side with a big smile on your face ready for a nice relaxing dip. In saying that there were loads of tourists so I'm sure the patients were used to it.
The natural springs were not all that hot until you were inside where the warmer waters from below were localised in the one area. The depth of the thermal spring went to 30m apparently. After the swim we headed along lake Balaton in search for a free spot with the possible option for a fire.
We left this up to the professionals, Dave and Michelle, who would camp in a tree house if they could get Frosty up there. Wouldn't you know it, as we followed Dave he all of a sudden got a scent of a good spot and took a left turn up some random street. He found a small clearing with some bins, running water and you guessed it, a ready made fire pit. It was liked he knew it was there all along. Perfect site and exactly what we were looking for.
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| The spot with fire pit on the right |
The fire was lit, dinner was had but more importantly beers/wine was consumed and marshmallows were burnt, seared, roasted, grilled, rotisseried and demolished. Another great night with the whole travelling family and a special memory of the trip.
17th to 18th April - Budapest, Hungary.
Aahhhhhhh, nothing beats the smell of burnt wood on your clothes in the morning. After a furrowed brow from Nat when she saw my "little boy like" grubby clothes after my wood hunting, fire poking and what must of been some messy eating we headed off to Budapest towards the chosen campsite where we would meet up with Michelle and Dave.
We have been on some bad roads but the ones in Hungary are near the top, I almost needed a bra. We drove through some.....interesting.......places with .......interesting...people on the side of the road and began to miss Slovenia already.
After a few wrong turns we arrived at the campsite (met up with the family on the way) and we checked in and got settled. The campsite was an old train station with very friendly staff who gave us all a welcome drink when we arrived. We decided to have some typical Hungarian Goulash at the camp ground (highly recommended by the owners of coarse) which was pretty good.
Next day we caught the bus into Budapest and began to explore the city. The city is divided into two halves by the Danube river with one side being the "Buda" area and the other the "Pest". Almost like the new town and old town but there was a mix on both sides.
We checked out the Mathias church and we all (except Nat) went and visited the "rock hospital". This was a cool attraction and consisted of a hospital that was built in existing caves. The hospital was used during the second world war and the revolution and was also improved during the cold war amid possible nuclear attacks. One cool story was the method in filling the fuel tanks for the generators, they would have secret pipes that lead up to the street and into certain flower beds. As the story goes the "water" tanker would stop there often to water the plants (and fill the fuel tanks), it is said that these flowers were the best looking in the city!!
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| Parliament |
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| Matthias Church with glimpse of Fishermen's Bastion on right |
The family were keen to head home so we parted ways and Nat and I walked to the City Park to check out Hero's Square and Vajdahunyad Castle. It was a long walk and we wondered if it was going to be worth it but to our delight it was the start of the Easter festival so there was music, beer, sausages, huge sausages, enormous sausages and the sausage I had. There were all kinds of stalls also. We were even treated to some "Greece Lighting" in Hungarian.
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| Coolest statue |
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| This was the huge cinnamon roll that we bought and where they made it |
We caught the metro back to the centre and were lucky enough to find the "Tram No. 2" which is said to be one of the most beautiful tram rides around......it was ok. Perhaps in the light of day it would have been better.
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| On the tram |
19th April - Free Camping, Behind Gasthoff (Guest house) in Siederfeld, Austria
The whole travelling family left the campsite and headed towards the Memento Park, which had some cool statues from the communist dictatorship era. Not quite what I was expecting but still kind of cool none the less.
We left Michelle and Dave for the day as we continued on through Hungary and along the river Danube and towards the Danube bend. We drove to Szentendre and then Estergom which is just on the Slovakian border.
Szententre is a small medieval town, where we had yet another ice cream, with some nice buildings and streets with cafes etc.
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| Szentendre - main street |
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| 100% made from marzipan |
We drove along the Danube Bend and were glad we did as it kind of lifted our opinion of Hungary since our very first drive. We visited Ezstergom which has the 3rd largest Basilica/church in Europe. It was pretty bloody big.
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| Ezstergom |
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| That's me in front of the column |
The best view of the Basilica was from the bridge which linked Slovakia and Hungary. With me being me I had to then cross the bridge, set my foot on solid Slovakian ground and walk back, just cause.
We then started the drive back which ended up being south of Vienna to meet up with Michelle and Dave who had an awesome home cooked meal waiting for us. On the drive over we were a little concerned that perhaps they wanted to spend Easter alone with the kids and at the same time they were concerned because they "were making us" drive all the way back into Austria for Easter, so at the same time we both wanted the same thing!! It was then time for great food, more beer and of course more chocolate.
20th April - Free parking in outer Vienna, Austria
I managed to buy some Easter eggs in Slovenia and hid them in the garage of BB, so this morning I gave widdle naddy a widdle easter egg hunt just as she likes it. The interior of BB is great for hiding eggs but I also made her go outside to hunt as well.
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| The hunt! |
We then joined in with the rest of the group for the egg hunt and Michelle even gave Nat and I a bag to join in. I could see Nat get very excited and perhaps a little "white line" fever was kicking in so I warned her that the hunt was for the little ones and no hip and shoulders please. I actually think I ended up with more in the end!!
After the hunt it was bacon and eggs and then off to the city for the day. We found the free spot, hopped on the bus and then metro and headed into town. Vienna is a really nice city with beautiful buildings and lots of people.
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| The free spot |
Nat and I managed to secure some tickets to the dancing horses and then we headed to the Easter markets that boasted 40,000 decorated eggs.
Shortly after our much deserved beer we all decided to head home for some R&R and Nats spag bol. Its always great when you ask people to join you for dinner and then ask for them to bring a pot and some extra pasta so their own kids won't starve.
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| The Last Super |
21st April - Free parking in Krems, Austria
Today we all headed towards Klosterneuburg which is a short drive from Vienna. Well its a short drive if you ignore your stupid GPS and take the main roads and not go through the centre of Vienna, thank god it was Easter Monday.
We walked around the little town, had some lunch and said our good byes to the family as this was where we parted ways. We would hopefully see them again soon though, even if its just for BB and Frosty's sake.
We headed off along the Danube and towards the Wachau Valley, we found a free spot in the suburbs to empty and refill and then decided to press on towards Krems for the night. We found a street along the river and it ended up being an early night.
22nd April - Danau Camping, Austria
The camp site was just down the road from where we were so we checked in early, received some much needed power and walked into Krems. Nice town with cobble stone roads and pretty buildings all with different colours. We walked up as high as we could to try and get a nice view of the town and the river and ended up in some ones vineyards, not quite the view I had in mind so the search is still on.
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| Krems |
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| Nat's favourite street in Krems |
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| Not the view I wanted but still nice |
After some lunch and washing at BB we took the bikes and rode into Durnstein. A really cute little town about 8km away. It was a good thing this region of Austria is known for its apricots and not tree bark because otherwise we would have bought 30 euros worth of tree bark products. It was the first store we came to and for some reason everything we tasted was awesome and we had to get it. We ended up with chocolate coated apricots, apricot liqueur, apricot juice and apricot gummy lollies.
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| Approaching Durnstein |
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| The apricot shop |
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| Our apricot products |
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| The town from the other side of the river (taken the next day) |
That night we looked at the map and realised that there is a lot to see in the region and we may not have enough time given that we had to be back in Vienna by the 26th for the Horse show. There are several towns all along the river, world heritage walking trails and the Melk Abbey. I decided that I wanted to do two walks of about 17km each over the next few days which should give us time to get back to Vienna.
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| View of the Stift (he he) from the campsite |
23rd April - Free Parking in Gusthoff Plaika, Erlauf, Austria
So with a big 17km walk and some questionable weather forecasted we set off early for a spot to park BB no longer than 15min did we decide that due to the sunny weather (which we really wanted for Aussichtswartre, highest lookout point in the region) we would drive up to the Stift and then quickly make our way along the river towards the look out point.
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| What's wrong with crocs and socks? |
The Stift Gotteig looked better from the campsite we were at and since we were going to go inside the larger Melk Abbey we left soon after we arrived and headed towards Spitz. In true Nat and Ben Style we drove through Spitz in record time (no easy park for BB) and headed towards our camping spot so we could do the climb up to the look out. We decided to take the scenic route once we past Spitz and began to climb quite steeply. Before you knew it we were driving past the car park that was only about a 20min walk to the lookout, again worried that the weather would turn we decided to park up BB and "hike" for 20min to the lookout. Thus completing our two days of walking within the first half of the first day!
Jauerling park is really nice and the lookout was cool, although a little overcast and hazy and not quite the view I was after so the hunt was still on.
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| From the lookout |
There was also another look out point, which was about a 40min walk from the lookout tower, which was meant to have a café with outdoor seating. So we took off in anticipation to find that it was closed for another week. However the view was what I was looking for.
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| Finally, the view I wanted |
We then headed down the mountain towards Melk and still had some time in the day to check it out. To our delight the whole town was being pulled up and re-done (or so it seamed) which kind of took the gloss away from a pretty city. We decided to check out the Abbey which is meant to be one of the main draw cards here and it was actually pretty good.
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| Ah, lovely Melk |
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| Melk Abbey (driving shot unfortunately) |
Since 1089, Benedictine monks have continually been living and working in Melk Abbey. The monastery is responsible for 23 parishes and the Abbey school is a secondary school with over 900 pupils.
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| All the little rooms were presented as nice as this |
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| The library (sneaky shot) |
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| Creepy |
Afterwards we had a drink in the street that wasn't torn up and enjoyed some good WIFI. We contemplated the fact that we had done three days of planned sightseeing in one day. The only conclusion we came to was DON'T GET UP SO BLOODY EARLY!
We then headed off to another gasthoff for a shnitty and a beer. With the deal being you don't pay for the parking provided you buy dinner.
24th April - Free camping in Krems, Austria
Having completed the three days of sightseeing in one day yesterday we had some time to check out Krems a little more and then Vienna the day after.
Bit of a nothing day although once again we managed to buy another 30 euros of apricot products from the Bailoni distillery. We parked BB in the same spot as our first day, went for a jog and were rewarded by getting drenched in the storm.
25th April - Free park in Kritzendorf, outer Vienna, Austria
Having walked through some of Vienna a few days earlier we tried to focus our time on some different areas. We caught the train (which was literally 90 paces from BB) into the city and began our own walking tour. |
| Our spot near the station |
Nat had written down some cafes and markets that she had read about and we managed to find the food market in the south west corner of the city. Loads of stalls, cafes and restaurants. We bought some various goodies and stopped at a wine bar for some refuelling.
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| Huge barrel of Sauerkraut and Pickles |
We then continued the walking tour through the city. The next refuelling stop was the famous Sacher Hotel café for some Sacher Torte and apple strudel (also on Nats list), fully satisfied we then headed towards the Aussie bar for a few ANZAC day beers.
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| The Menu |
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| They should invest in bigger buns |
When we arrived in the morning with BB we were delighted to see the train station so close, at 5am however we were not so delighted. My God, any nice dream I was having about Jessica Alba was soon interrupted by a thunderous goods train at 5am and then several passenger trains soon after. Looks like my date with Jessica will have to wait.
So the next day was my Horsey day, the famous Lippizan Stallions showing there stuff in a tradition that has been going for over 400 years. They perform in one of the wings of the Hofburg Palace which in itself was a really nice building.
The show itself was pretty cool although they could have compressed the 70min show into probably 30min. Nat's favourite move was the "dancing on the spot" move, which they did a lot. It was kind of odd seeing the horses doing such controlled movements. "I want to break free!!" is all I could think of.
Sometimes they looked like they were enjoying it, like a kid when they are skipping, other times it sometimes looked like they wanted to break free and go nuts or just walk properly, it almost looked unnatural but I guess that's the beauty of it and shows the immense training and control required by the riders. They also did some cool jumps and things as well.
I'm glad we went and also glad we were only able to get standing tickets as anything more may have been too much cash for what it was, but that's from me who is not a horse dancing enthusiast.
It was a little drizzly when we left the show so we sought some cover and found a café and waited for the sun which eventually started to break free. We hopped on the metro out towards the Schonbrunn Palace.
We were planning to head towards Bratislava (Slovakia) tonight but come 5pm when we got back to BB we opted to stay the night and start tomorrow fresh after another 5am wake up call by the trains.
Its obvious to see why Austria is one of the big boys with the holiday makers, its closely creeping up towards Slovenia in our rankings and we will recommence our Austria experience in a few weeks.
