2022 and all that

My start went so smoothly this morning that I found myself at Budapest-Kelenföld with well over an hour to kill.

Like Budapest-Nyugati, the station where I arrived, Kelenföld station is little more than a run-down open-air concourse, underpass and platforms. No shops and cafes or much in the way of services. With a dog in tow, this is by far the best arrangement. The way out is immediately obvious and there’s much less chance of accidents on the platform after a long train ride.

The plush shopping centre 100m away from Kelenföld station couldn’t be more of a contrast, so I repaired there to wait in Starbucks. Lottie gets fussed over and spoilt wherever she goes. This was no exception. She was soon comfortably ensconced with water bowl and a cup of cream. It would have been mean not to let her have a lick.

I think I’m more into the zen of train travel today. Nothing fazed me, not even a last-minute dash to Vienna Meidling station from Vienna Hbf when my Interrail pass told me the train departed from there. Only to arrive at Meidling and realise that the train originated from Vienna HBf anyway and I could have stayed put.

Everything changed when we crossed the border into Austria. Before that, all the passengers had been lolling around doing their own thing on the mask-wearing front. As soon as the train conductor announced that there’d be a 40 eur fine for those not wearing an FFP2 mask, we all sat up as one, obediently rummaged in our bags and had on the correct facial wear within seconds. I thought I’d better make sure Lottie was legal too. She wasn’t pleased.

It was sunny and warm in Vienna, but the train to Graz climbed up beyond the snow line.

Continuing the theme of Austrian civic efficiency, the public transport in Graz is phenomenally good. I stepped off the train and virtually straight onto a tram. Street traffic is just gliding trams, bicycles and pedestrians. Not a car anywhere.

As I managed to finish a whole translation about banana wilt (it’s a plant disease, not a euphemism) on the train today, I thought I’d reward myself by sampling the local brews.

I was so tired that I fell into bed well before 10 last night and still found it difficult to get into the groove today. The flat is really comfortable and well equipped, so I did a quick load of washing before setting out.

Budapest has always been a magical place of my imagination, split into Buda and Pest by the river, gateway to the East, part of the Ottoman Empire, joint capital of the Austro-Hungarian empire, folklore, Magyars etc etc. I wish I was staying a bit longer to see more of what superficially seems like a modern European city but clearly has much more to discover.

It also reminds me of a rhyme my grandfather used to recite: Austria was Hungary/Very Very Hungary/Ate a bit of Turkey/Dipped in Greece/Long-legged Italy, kicked poor Sicily/Into the Mediterranean Sea. I just found that version via Google because I couldn’t remember it exactly, but I’m sure my grandfather’s wording was slightly different.

I headed for the river Danube and walked along its banks to the Great Market Hall, an amazing covered market.

Unfortunately dogs aren’t allowed in, or maybe they meant wolves. It was hard to tell.

Undeterred, I headed over the nearby Liberty Bridge and climbed up into the park giving great views over the city.

Eventually I wended my way back to the flat and on the way was unable to resist a chimney cake, a leavened sweet delight cooked over charcoal on a spit with various fillings. They’re the same as the trdelnik in Prague.

Lottie happily flaked out after a morning’s sightseeing, so I left her snoring in the apartment and set off for the day’s main attraction, a trip to the Széchenyi thermal spa.

Before that, I was buying Lotttie’s dog ticket for tomorrow’s trip online and suddenly realised that I’ll be leaving Budapest from a different station from my arrival station. Good job I checked! The new station is about 3 miles away. Too far to walk so it’ll be a tram ride. That meant a detour to the tram stop to do a recce and get a tram ticket to save a lot of faffing around tomorrow.

Luckily tomorrow’s tram stop turned out to be right next door to the metro station and after initially feeling a bit daunted by the logistics, I was relieved to find I could hop straight onto metro line 1 to the baths and be there in 10 minutes.

The baths were everything I’d been promised and more. The pools range in temperature from 28 to 40C and I swam a few lengths in the never-ending fitness pool, swirled round the flume in another pool, hung around in the 38C pool watching the chess players and then went inside to sample the indoor pools. Shame I haven’t got more photos, but iPhones and water don’t really mix.

I could happily spend all week in Budapest sightseeing and going to the spa every day. The next thing on my list would definitely be a boat trip to Római-part to walk and picnic by the Danube. Sadly I’m on a tight schedule, though, and tomorrow I’ll heading for Graz via Vienna.

I walked the kilometre to Prague station rather than brave the Metro again. It was a good move to give Lottie and me a bit of exercise before another 7-hour train trip. Highlight of the walk was seeing and enthusiastically greeting another Lagotto.

Trolley cases make a huge noise on the cobbles: the soundtrack to modern pilgrimages. I was walking down the middle of a traffic-free alley with narrow pavements on either side to get a better GPS signal, when a police car drew up behind me and I got a proper dressing-down for jay-walking. I felt a more measured response would have been “Madam, are you lost?” but I suppose it’s been a long time since even a British bobby said that.

The luggage

A few days ago in Hope Square outside Liverpool Street Station I was very moved by the statue to the children of the Kindertransport, clutching their small suitcases, teddy bears and violin cases. After refusing visas to Jewish migrants throughout most of the 1930s, the British government finally agreed to an emergency rescue operation in 1938. Around 10,000 mainly Jewish children were transported to Britain on trains and ferries from Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia and Poland. All the children were without their parents and babies were carried by older children.

With a horrible circularity, Prague Station has a Farewell Memorial recognising the sacrifice of parents who sent their children to safety knowing they would probably never see them again after the Nazis invaded Czechoslovakia. Eight trains carrying children bound for the UK left Prague in the spring and summer of 1939 in evacuations organised by Sir Nicholas Winton, a former British aid worker who died in 2015 aged 106.

Farewell memorial commemorating the sacrifice made by the parents of the Winton children.

Not a lot more to report today. I had an uneventful trip and mostly had an old-fashioned style train compartment to myself for the whole time. Walked to the apartment, which is really comfortable and well-located for a walk near the river .

At the moment I’m having goulash soup with local cherry lager and have booked a ticket to Széchenyi Spa baths tomorrow.

Had a slow start reading the paper, listening to the news, sending off a small job and doing a load of washing.

This trip has been planned for a while and I originally bought my Interrail ticket in hope of better things to come on the very bleak night that was New Year’s Eve 2020. I have had second thoughts about setting off to do something so frivolous and enjoyable when people are being blown to smithereens a few hundred miles away, but as Simon Calder pointed out in his excellent Travel Week newsletter, the countries that are giving the most support to Ukrainian refugees need income from tourism more than ever.

I follow a few Italy travel planning pages on Facebook because of my holiday house rental venture in Italy. Worryingly, Americans are already talking about postponing their trips on the incorrect assumption that the war is affecting the whole of Europe.

Anyway, I was out of the house by about 9 and set off intrepidly in the direction of the Prague Metronome high up on the other side of the river, affording great views.

Once I’d got to that vantage point I wandered on through Letná Park, coming across very few other people, most of them dog-walkers.

Eventually I worked my way round to Prague Castle. At first it seemed more modern than I expected for a building with 9th-century origins, but then I realised the “Castle” is a large complex of buildings in different styles from different eras.

Every square centimetre of Prague’s streets and pavements is cobbled and tiled and lots of the tiles are very small. It must have taken literally armies of people to lay them all.

Cobbles and tiles everywhere

The way back down to my Old Town base was very scenic too and by that time the sun had come out.

Having done the sights and had a good hike, I felt entitled to confine myself to the fleshpots of the Old Town for the rest of the day. Trouble is, there are so many temptations, I might struggle to fit them all in before I leave for Budapest tomorrow morning.

Later: just finished a stodgy and immensely satisfying dinner. I decided to eat on Old Town Square again. It’s touristy but the covered eateries are really comfortable and cosy. Plus it takes 2 minutes to walk home.

This afternoon I did a bit of work and then set out to find a replacement for the pyjamas I accidentally left on the ferry. When I saw an old favourite name, I couldn’t resist.

C&A is alive and well in Prague.

Amazing what a difference a good night’s sleep makes. Woke to hazy sunshine and discovered that my hotel was actually located outside the imposing front entrance of the Berlin Hapthof station, so I needn’t have schlepped round from the back entrance in the rain last night. The Ukrainian refugee centre is also right outside the station entrance.

A steady trickle, rather than a stream, of tired looking families who’d presumably just got off the train was queueing outside.

I just had time for a brisk walk over the river to the Brandenburg Gate and back. The highlight was spotting a red squirrel.

Found the train very seamlessly and even located the right lift so Lottie didn’t have to put her new-found escalator-riding skills into practice. No wagon numbers on the outside but I luckily ended up sitting in my booked seat by sheer accident

The train journey was very comfortable and uneventful. Lottie didn’t get the shakes and I got about four hours’ work done. Passports weren’t checked at the Czech border but the train announcements changed: the one I liked most was “the train is delayed because it was late arriving from abroad”. We have to wear medical grade or nano-fabric masks now. Lottie’s supposed to wear a muzzle but I’m just ignoring that.

Prague main station isn’t well equipped with lifts, but I managed to navigate two massive down and then up escalators to travel 3 stops on the metro. Don’t think I’ll attempt that again without better insurance.

Now sitting in the Old Town Main Square listening to a stirring rendition of the Ukrainian national anthem at a free concert for Ukraine.

My cabbage pancakes with kefir were tasty but almost exactly twice as much as I could actually eat – and I’ve got a big appetite. Lottie is shamelessly making friends as usual

My flat is great. It’s in a courtyard right above a few little bars and has a kitchen and washing machine so I’ll be able to regroup and relax as I’m here for a couple of nights.

Looking forward to a leisurely start tomorrow with no train to catch