We’re on the plane! It must be a strange feeling for Emma; she’s never heard of Klagenfurt so she’s still no idea in which country we’ll land!

We’re now sitting in Villach. It’s a relatively small place on the south coast of Austria! It was actually the pilot who gave it away as we were landing in Klagenfurt and Emma has been getting all excited about a few days in Austria. Little does she know that we haven’t taken the train west to Villach in order to make our way northbound into Central Austria!

Quite the opposite: We’re waiting for a train to Jesenice. I think the truth will hit home when we arrive and everyone is speaking something quite different to German! Better still, would be if there’s a passport check on the train! Either way, our Austrian adventure will come to an end and our Slovenian one will begin!

We’re through the Karavanke Tunnel and suddenly the buildings look older, the language is different and we’re at a station with no information at all about our next journey to Bled! Emma is a little surprised that we’re no longer in Austria, but our main concern is to catch the right train.

We grab some cash and following advice from two very friendly locals, we’re on the correct track. The train conductor is even friendlier and is happy to take Euro for payment. He’s even kind enough to find us 20 minutes later to tell us the next stop is our.

We get off and the sun is still out. It’s reflecting off Lake Bled which you just can’t miss. Fortunately it’s an easy two- minute walk to Pension Zaka and after a quick, cheap pint (due to them forgetting about the reservation), we’re shown to our room. It’s actually an apartment: kitchen, bathroom and a huge bedroom.

We shower and head a couple of kilometers along the river to Vlabod restaurant. It’s absolutely gorgeous. The ambience is lovely, the service is exquisite and the food is out of this world! We’re left very satisfied and head back home, with just enough time to take pictures of the incredibly bright moon which is illuminating all the things that we’re going to visit tomorrow!

19th October 2005 – Bled

A great night’s sleep and an even better continental breakfast and we’re ready for the trek around Lake Bled. We’re on the west side and decide to go anti-clockwise, hoping the sun will be behind us for most of the day.

The southwest side of the lake is pretty quiet. There are a few runners and a few rowers, but apart from that it seems like the area is absolutely our own.

We reach the foot of the Mala Osojnica walk and decide to climb to its peak at 685m. It’s absolutely worth is. Despite being tricky at a couple of points, we arrive at the top and the view across the whole lake is sublime.

We stay for a short while and head back down to continue our journey.

The route along the lakeside is varied and apart from the odd other tourist, it’s still peaceful. Around midday we reach the Gondolas, where a trip to the island can be taken.

It’s a pleasant trip and the 30 minutes on the island are well-spent. The Church (of the Assumption) is nice and you get a free wish by ringing its bell.

After we’re brought to shore, we’re starving so we head further east towards what appears to be the touristy part of the area. There are loads of hotels and bus loads of pensioners. We decide on a pizza and then plan our route up to the castle.

We’re actually a lot closer to the castle than we thought. Before we know it, we’re climbing another steep hill (mountain!) and our legs are starting to feel it. Twenty minutes later we reach the top and it’s a great castle on the very edge of a cliff. It has been redesigned many times over centuries, but each design is always built right up to the edge of the 100m cliff edge, allowing us to drink our beers and look straight down at Lake Bled.

As the sun sets and a pigeon eats all the restaurant left overs, we turn back down. The castle was nice, as was the small museum, but we’re tired and we set off on the 2km walk home.

Back at the roam we freshen up and decide to have more beers! It has been a long day and we’re still digesting the pizzas, so we’re happy to have a liquid dinner and an early night.

20th October 2005 – Ljubljana

Another good night and we have our last breakfast at Penzion Zaka. We’re told the nearby train station isn’t any use for Ljubljana, so we have to walk a couple of kilometers to get to the main bus station.

We wave goodbye to Lake Bled and within 90 minutes we’re in Slovenia’s capital.

Unfortunately it’s raining, but we quickly find our new home for the day. Just before we arrive, I tell Emma that she’ll need her ‘Get Out Of Jail’ card, which panics her a little before she finds out that we’re staying in a converted prison!

It’s just how I hoped it would be, but we’re a little early so we dump our stuff in the luggage room and walk into the centre. Still raining, so we jump into a coffee house which also (pure coincidence… honestly) has the most amazing selection of cakes that I’ve ever seen!

As we’re freshed up, and it has practically stopped raining, we head out towards Stari trg and Gornji trg. These roads are littered with coffee shops and bars, with some shops selling all kinds of random things. It’s very pretty, but we decide on entering a place that sells beer!

We’re ready for lunch, so we follow the guide book’s advice and choose ‘Puccini’. It’s a bit tricky to find (the devils have renamed it) but it’s worth every step of the way (it’s also in the west side of the city).

I’m loving it as we appear to be near the University of Ljubljana, which if the restaurant is anything to go by, must be a Ladies-only uni! The place is heaving and clearly must be a favourite with the students. We share our table as it’s so busy, but it all adds to the atmosphere.

We have a quick look at the Roman Wall (it’s not that exciting) and head back east.

Next, we prepare ourselves for the uphill walk to Ljubljana Castle. It’s 376m high, so we’re a bit gutted to find that due to a private event, the tower is close. Nonetheless, the rest of the castle is free to explore.

Once we’re done, we head back towards our prison and check in. The room is clearly designed, but with the cage door and tiny windows you really do get a sense of being locked up!

Before we got to the prison, we passed a cute market, mainly selling food. We head back in that direction to look at the famous bridges of Ljubljana: The Zmajski Bridge has four dragons on it, one on each corner. Further west, there’s the Tromostovje Triple Bridge, so called because of the three paths across a bend in the Ljubljana River.

It’s food time again so we head across the bridge to Sokol restaurant. It’s well furnished with big heavy tables and chairs. Better still are the waiters in ‘local’ clothing, clearly trying to cash in on the tourists’ stereotypical view of Slovenes! Once again the food is good; the cheeky waiting wishing Emma ‘Good luck!’ as he served the biggest salad we’ve ever seen!

We’re stuffed (obviously!) and after a 30 minute walk around the more modern side of Ljubljana, we go back to our cell for some shut eye.

21st October 2005 – Zagreb

We have a great night’s sleep in the cell (no late-night prison visits either…) and we quickly get ready to leave. We have an early train to catch so we at the buffet breakfast quickly and make our way to the station.

The prison is in an area called Metalkova. It’s similar to Kobenhavn’s Christiania area, supposedly independent from local rule and laws. We never got to see that side of it (apparently it all gets lively after midnight) but the number of pubs and clubs in the area did bode well for any future visits!

Our train is a little delayed, but before we know it, we’re heading further south-east, to yet another country and another capital: Zagreb in Hrvatska.

The journey isn’t too long and we arrive to much better weather. The sun is strong and the skies are clear. We head west towards our hotel, which again seems to be close to the university (I must have some kind of magnetic device…) My disappointment is the missing star on the hotel. After a Slovene “Penzione” followed by a prison cell (!) I thought a four-star hotel was well-deserved. However, the hotel has done something wrong as it has been demoted! Not that we care, the room is big and clean and the hotel’s location is a short walk to the centre.

We immediately set out to find a restaurant called “Boban”. I was hoping for a nice shrine to the ex-Milan player, but instead we got an underground Italian restaurant with very “business-like” clientele.

We plan a route around Zagreb so we see most of the touristy things. Firstly we got to trg Jelacica. It’s the main square and I’m happy taking a few photos; better still, are a group of builders who see me and do a big Mexican wave all for me!

We head towards the famous gothic towers of the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Unfortunately, one of the towers is being cleaned and has scaffolding all around it.

In the vicinity is the 13th Century Store Gate; a painting of the Virgin who attracts quite a few people praying.

Zagreb is split in to an upper and lower level. Whilst the southern lower) part has all the shops and is the busiest area, the upper part is much older and has much more character.

We’re keen to find the Lotrscak Tower, which stands at the edge of the upper part (the upper part is on two hills called Kaptol and Gradec, which explains the Zagreb symbol – a heart – that we’re seen absolutely everywhere).

The tower is not particularly tall, but the views are great. The whole city and the mountains in the distance is great. This is only bettered by the incredible friendliness of the ticket salesman! He’s so polite and only too happy to chat away and give us lots of information.

I certainly have been surprised by how friendly people have been so far on this trip. I expected it in Bled, but even the two capital cities have made a really positive impression.

We climb down the tower and around the corner to “Tolkien’s House”. It’s decorated exactly how you’d expect it to be with such a name and its selection of Belgian beers is fantastic. Yet we stay for just one as once again our stomachs are rumbling!

Emma is keen on finding a restaurant called “Mimice”. The guide book has been spot on with all its recommendations, so I agree (I think it’s obvious what happens here…)

We take the funicular railway down to the lower town and decide to have one more drunk before the meal. We go to “Bulldog” which has a great modern design. It feels like you’re inside some kind of futuristic flying machine. We order a couple of Belgian drinks (again!) and then start searching for the restaurant. After a while, we suddenly see a small sign, pointing down some steps. We walk down them and find that this highly recommended restaurant is a… fish and chip shop!

Fortunately, we remember passing a fancy hotel on trg Jelacica, whose restaurant looked pretty good. Two house later, and Emma has eaten a whole fish, I’ve had a steak with a stunning cognac sauce and the waiter recommended the local wine which only came in one litre bottles!

We’re both a little on the tipsy side and I’m proud that the waiter taught me how to pronounce Hvala (”thank-you”) properly!

We’re soon back at the hotel and ready for bed.

22nd October 2005 – Zagreb, Budapest

We get up early as we’re not sure when the train to our next (and final) destination will be.

At first, we’re disappointed that we won’t be leaving Zagreb until nearly 16.00. However, we realise that this gives us a great chance to look around the areas that we didn’t see yesterday. Furthermore, our next destination is Budapest, which is a train journey over five hours long, so we’re not bothered about arriving at 9ish as arriving a couple of hours earlier would not make too much difference.

We head north from Zagreb’s station, through the parks and up to the main square, stopping just one for a quick coffee. The weather is excellent today so I take some more photos before heading even further north through the food an flower market. Yesterday we saw the “cleaning up” of the market, including one sole woman picking any edible bits from the floor.

Today, the market is buzzing with life and people are practically falling over each other to buy and taste the food.

We decide that we want to go to a museum in the north of the city. It’s even further north so we keep climbing the hills in that direction. On our way, we discover a funky road, only briefly mentioned in the guide book and yet it’s our favourite part of Zagreb so far. The buildings are old and have character, but there are plenty of cafes and restaurants to keep us happy.

Yet even further north are some very modern shops and it’s at that point we decide to take another drink pit-stop.

It’s another stylish place, but we can’t stay long so we head west-bound (and up even more steps) to the museum.

It’s now 12.40 and the place closed 10 minutes ago. We’re a bit gutted, but this means we can keep walking around the lower part of the city and do some window shopping.

It feels like quite a quiet day and yet we’ve done a lot of walking and sight-seeing. By the time our train is ready, we’re pretty shattered and glad that we can look at some of Croatia and Hungary’s scenery without moving!

One disappointment is the lack of a restaurant on board the train, so when we arrive in Budapest, Emma is very hungry (we ate in Zagreb for lunch – but I was the only one to have a full meal).

It’s dark of course, but within 20 minutes we find our way to the hotel (using the great tube system) and dump our stuff. There’s no time for showers as Emma takes us straight out to the local recommended restaurant.

The area seems magnificent. All the buildings have style and fancy hotels are everywhere. We are told by one restaurant that the kitchen is closed (it’s half ten now) but that the restaurant across the road is open.

We’re glad it is too, because the service and food is great. I’m particularly amused to see an advertisement for a Phil Collins gig – he seems to be following us on our journey!

We head back to the hotel and settle down for our first night’s sleep in Hungary.

23rd October 2005 – Budapest

We both have an excellent night’s sleep and despite (possibly) the worst buffet breakfast (although still not bad) of the holiday, we start packing our stuff!

I explain to Emma that the surprise best accommodation was fully booked for Saturday evening, but that is where we are headed now!

It’s a longer walk than expected, but made much easier by a lovely coffee shop stop as well as a pleasant surprise that the Budapest Marathon has just started! We see the leaders and the following pack speed past, just as we reach the River Danube. It’s truly a great river: Absolutely enormous and full of life on both sides. We’re happy to walk along it just at the point it splits into two to go around the ***** island.

I’m still trying to think of a nice way to introduce the surprise accommodation, when Emma hands me the perfect opportunity:

“Look, that boat is a hotel!” She cries.

“Cool, let’s stay there!” I reply.

Emma gives me a sarcastic “yeah” look, but the truth hits home when I start walking down the plank to the boat’s entrance!

She’s really excited, but so am I. Seeing the pictures on the internet is one thing, but inside the boat is marvelous. It’s all wood and very nicely decorated. Certainly it will be out best night of the trip!

We leave our bags in storage (it’s still a bit early to check in) and start our day’s walking.

We head south down the riverbank and the groups of marathon runners have thickened. Just as the crowds of runners become very large, we pass the Parliament building. It’s a famous icon and it’s obvious why. The architecture is impressive (better still, most of it has recently been cleaned – no scaffolding!) and its main dome sticks out from all the buildings around it.

We walk around the Parliament building and past the gunned guards and then notice that there’s the annual TNT photo exhibition is in a museum opposite. I know it will be good as I know all about it through working at TNT and immediately go in.

It’s fantastic. The photos range from monumentous sporting achievement to painfully sober pictures of recent world disasters and wars.

Our entry fee also gives us permission to view the permanent exhibitions, but they are not really that interesting to us and we make for the exit.

Nearby I find a perfect spot for my own photo opportunity but it isn’t long before we start thinking of food! We are quite some distance from any recommended restaurants, so we settle for the Budapest Pizza Express. It has a different menu to the UK so we both try new pizzas which are very tasty. I also finish off with a slice of chocolate cake!

Further south is one of the main shopping streets. We stroll down it and then back west towards the river. Opposite us on the Buda side is the very large Gellért Hill. We cross the bridge and start our climb!

Before we get too far, there’s a church which is actually built into the rock and is very pretty inside.

Climbing further up, the view across the capital just gets better and better. It seems to take forever to get to the top, but it’s incredibly satisfying when we do. The “fortress” at the top is quite large and amongst the touristy stands, there are plenty of historical monuments regarding the second World War.

We find that inside the walls there is a museum, so we take a wander. We find that from inside (and on top) of the museum, the view gets even more impressive.

Most of the museum is a bit rubbish, but Emma (fortunately) finds the underground bunker, where the Nazis used to hide out. Inside it’s very creepy and claustrophobic. It’s strange to think what happened inside just 60 years ago.

Furtherstill, the photos and stories on the walls about the Jews, the bombings and the dead, really hits home.

We find a hotel outside the bunker which has yet another photo exhibition. The theme is war and the photos are very good, capturing the feelings of the people as well as what was happening.

We decide to head down the hill and back to Pest. It takes no time to climb back down and as we’re crossing the bridge, the sun sets over to the west behind Bupa.

We’re absolutely exhausted, so we head back to our boat (!) via tube.

In the cabin (which is by far the best room we’ve had all holiday) we get ready for dinner. We contemplate going back to town, but we then discover that the restaurant on the boat looks pretty good.

It’s better than good – the food is great, the recommended wine is fantastic and before we know it, we are stuffed and ordering a second bottle to drink in the cabin! Shortly after, we’re fast asleep!

24th October 2005 – Budapest

We wake, shower and maker our way to our final breakfast. It’s pretty average but there’s as much yoghurt as I want, so we eat plenty knowing today is probably another day of walking!

The day is gorgeous, so once again we head past the Parliament building, taking a slightly different route towards Buda. There’s a funicular and we’re determined to avoid a long, steep climb like yesterday.

We cross the Szechenyi Lanchid (chain) bridge, which just like all the other crossings, is very individual. We then pay a ridiculous charge to empty our bladders, before finding that the damn funicular is closed!

We start the uphill walk!

After what seems like a 10km hike (probably no more than 1km), we’re standing outside the Kiralyi Palota (Royal Palace). It’s nice, but pretty quiet. In fact, the best part is to turn around and look across the river towards Pest. You can see for miles in both directions – it’s really impressive.

We head northbound to the Matyas Templom, which is the really touristy part of Buda. There are tour guides and hundreds of people looking at the church and walls of the Varhegy (Castle hill). It’s the first time we’ve really seen so many tourists on the holiday.

We nip into a coffee bar to get freshened up (although it’s possibly the worst coffee in Hungary) and then continue to explore the remaining monuments.

The next stop is the (comparatively) easy walk to the metro station by the river.

There are still a couple more thinks that we want to see and they are all in Pest.

First we stop to Menza, which is decorated like Budapest in the 1970s. The food is good and the waiter speaks Italian although he’s a bit confused why Emma doesn’t.

We depart for the Terror Haza, a museum of spying and the AVH (secret police) only to find that the (impressive) building is closed. We’re a bit gutted, but it does mean we can spend more time in the Varosliget Park in the north-east.

After what seems like an eternity (I’m dying for the toilet), we reach the park and I find myself a convenient bush.

The park is being done up, so there’s not too much to see except for the very impressive Hosok ter (Heroes Square). There are a few tourists, some skateboarders and the enormous monument.

The sun is quite low in the sky and it’s very relaxing at this end of the city and it certainly feels like an apt way for our journey to end.

However, there’s still time to have a look at Raday Utea; it’s a long road full of bars and despite it not being late evening, we stroll along it. We stop just once for a beer and herbal tea, before making our way back to the boat.

The airport is quite far out of town, so we taxi our way there. Conveniently, with the sun setting, the driver makes his way through rush hour, slowly taking us past all the touristy things. We’re practically doing the route that the tourist bus does, so we get to enjoy our trip right until the last minute.