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It had been over five years since my last trip out of the country, so with my 50th birthday approaching I decided to redeem some Aeroplan points and take a holiday with planes, trains, busses, a bunch of new cities, and a lot of walking. I had originally planned for my next big trip to be a return to South America, a hiking trip to the Patagonia region. My last trip had been to Europe so I wasn’t originally looking to go back right away but the schedule at my new job makes it a bit difficult to plan something in the northern winter / southern summer season. So with a friend and some wine, we both agreed a return to Europe was the plan. Boohoo for me.
There’s a direct flight from Halifax to Frankfurt, Germany, so that got it to the top of the list and put me right where I wanted to be. Central Europe was beckoning, a combination of beautiful architecture, amazing food and drink, deep history, and warm, welcoming people. Munich, Germany was to be the start and end point for the loop around a bunch of cities by train, and it was a quick flight south from Frankfurt. The flights were run by Lufthansa and were a step up from the typical flights I take: jammed into economy class, left to my own devices for what feels like an eternity. The staff were helpful, food was tasty, onboard wi-fi and entertainment, and decent-sized seats made the trips over the Atlantic Ocean far more bearable. If only the European trains were as enjoyable!
Munich, Germany#munich,-germany
We arrived in Munich in the pouring rain as Central Europe was experiencing historic flooding. That’s my luck! Good thing I packed my rain coat in the outside pocket of my backpack, as we arrived at the central train station both it and my pack’s rain cover were definitely required. It was a quick and direct walk out the main doors of the train station to the Hotel Jedermann, something we had planned for the entire trip, except in Florence, Italy, where staying close to the train station was out of our price range. We were in a great neighbourhood — a ten minute walk to a couple of local beer halls — so we decided to brave the rain and squeeze ourselves into Münchner Stubn and stuff ourselves with the first real meal of the trip. The beer was good, the food was excellent, the atmosphere top-notch.
I don’t know why but Munich was a surprise to me. I don’t really know what I was expecting, maybe something more industrial, but once the sun came out I found Munich to be a lovely city. The architecture is a wonderful mixture of old and new like much of Europe, and there was a real vibrancy about the place. Since we were in town for a very short time, we concentrated on where we could walk to from the hotel, which meant the famous Marienplatz and surrounding neighbourhoods.
We walked until we couldn’t walk any further, then stopped into another beer hall, Der Pschorr, for a rest and a beer or two and some pretzels. We kept walking and exploring, a theme of the entire trip. Of course, we couldn’t resist visiting another beer hall for supper, so we headed into one of the oldest, Nuernberger Bratwurst Gloeckl am Dom. It was fantastic of course, excellent sausages and beer, all in a single tiny, old, dark wood-paneled room. What a treat! Back at the hotel we decided on a nightcap in the cozy hotel bar. We tuned the TV to some soccer in German and relaxed a little while sending photos to friends and family. We thought the guy at the front desk thought we were a little nuts but he kept checking in to see if we needed another drink, and how could we not when the beer was local, cold, and €3?
As much as we had enjoyed ourselves in Munich, we were also excited to get on the next train and head east towards Vienna, our next stop.
Vienna and Bratislava#vienna-and-bratislava
We were settled into our first-class carriage on the train east from Munich towards Vienna, Austria when the ticket-taker scanned our pass and asked us where we were travelling to. Naturally, our response was “Vienna” since that’s where we were going. She then spoke the words a person on a moving train toward Vienna doesn’t want to hear: “this train isn’t going to Vienna”. Um what? Well, Vienna and Bratislava were basically closed to the outside world — from the ground anyway — because of the flooding. Roads and rails closed. We hadn’t checked the train operator’s website before leaving which would have told us what was happening.
Instead we were hurtling toward Linz, Austria, the end-of-the-line, for this train anyway. Yay for wi-fi on the train since we now had to find a place to stay in Linz, and quickly. Lucky for us there was a nice room at Kolpinghaus Linz (in German), a nice hotel we could walk to with our packs in the rain. Vienna and Bratislava were officially off the itinerary, so after dropping our bags in our room we grabbed some lunch and picked up a few things at the local Lidl — including a very well-priced bottle of wine we so richly deserved for our troubles — and settled in for the evening. It would have been nice to do some more exploring — the Danube River flows through the city — but the weather was miserable. In the morning we’d have an excellent hotel breakfast before the walk back to the train station. We had decided that if we couldn’t get to Vienna or Bratislava we might as well head south, away from the rain toward Ljubljana, Slovenia, and spend an extra three days there. This turned out to be an excellent decision.
Ljubljana, Slovenia#ljubljana,-slovenia
We made our way back to the train station in Linz, found our train going west and settled in for the trip to Salzburg, then south on to Villach where we changed trains. We were now on our way to Ljubljana! The trip was lovely as we were in a first-class carriage with wi-fi, comfortable seats, and huge windows. We chatted with a fellow from Berlin who was on his way to see his parents and took photos of the incredible mountainous landscape out the windows.
Before we knew it we had arrived in Ljubljana, we were truly in Central Europe now. We were very fortunate to get a room in the same place we would be staying later in the trip. The Central Comfort Apartments Mescanka is in the perfect location, right in the heart of the old city. It was a 15-minute walk from the station but this is one of those times you’re happy you’re walking. We got a great introduction to the city before even getting to our room!
I had no expectations of Ljubljana, only that it was beautiful. It met and exceeded that! Without doubt, Ljubljana was my favourite city of the trip. It is everything I want in a European city: architecture, history, food, wine, people. Everything was amazing. So much so I felt like it was too-good-to-be-true. The old city is motor-vehicle-free during the day and evening, so the walking is easy and safe. You might get run over by a cyclist but they’re very good and it was never an issue.
Like all of Slovenia, Ljubljana is very clean and safe, even at night. We had three days in the city and made the most of it by walking tens of thousands of steps each day and seeing just about everything you can see. Of course we also made time to stop and rest our legs with excellent beer and food! We had to try Slovenian dumplings and thankfully Moji štruklji Slovenije was just a few minute walk. We sat out on the terrace next to the river surrounded by beautiful old buildings and people out for an evening stroll. Both the traditional and sweet dumplings were delicious! Speaking of which, the evenings and nights are a wonder time for a walk through the old city with the bridges and buildings lit up. I’m sure the nightlife of the city is excellent but we were too tired to venture out drinking and dancing with the backpackers. Lucky for us our room was in the heart of the city and we could relax after long days walking without having to go too far.
After a few days in Ljubljana I didn’t want to leave, it’s such a beautiful city and it’s got the perfect vibe for me. But there was more fun, food, and exploring to be had so after an impromptu three days we were back at the station for an early morning train north to pick up the trip where we should have been after Vienna and Bratislava.
Budapest, Hungary#budapest,-hungary
This was the first long train journey of the trip. It took us all day to get to Budapest and even though all we did was sit on a train all day we were tired when we finally arrived in the evening. We couldn’t quite walk to the hotel from the station so we downloaded the Budapest transit app, bought a ticket for tram 49, eventually found the tram — it’s on the other side of the station than the more popular trams — hopped on board and made our way into our neighbourhood. It’s a bit terrifying navigating a foreign city’s transit system, but that’s all part of the adventure for me. Locals are always super-helpful if it looks like you have no idea what you’re doing and this trip was no different. We screeched along in the tram while watching the sun go down over the beautiful Pest side of the city. After getting off at the last stop and walking the five minutes to the hotel, we dropped our bags and went right back out again to explore and get something to eat. We were starving.
Once again our hotel, or guesthouse in Budapest, was in a fantastic location. The Broadway City Guesthouse is close enough to the hustle and bustle but without all the noise. It’s such a nice feeling to walk around all day, participate in the fun, have access to the best cafés, restaurants, and shops in the city, and still be able to easily and safely wander to your room when you’re tired and ready for pajamas and relaxing.
Since we were in Budapest on a very warm couple of days we did what we always did: start the day with a nice breakfast — this time at the Robert Capa Café next door to our guesthouse — and walk as far and wide as we could. The flooding further upstream made the height of the Danube River very, very high. Another metre or so and the city would have been flooded. Lots of people, tourists and locals alike, were down on the riverside to look at how high the water was, there was quite a crowd.
After walking all morning and half the afternoon we decided to stop for a cold beer on a quiet patio in the heart of Pest. Yes, more beer! It was a welcome and relaxing rest away from the noise of the city, a huge difference from Ljubljana where there’s no traffic to have to escape from. We could have sat there all afternoon but there was much more to explore. We headed out again back toward our guesthouse, stopping along the way to marvel at the architecture and some shop windows with very expensive watches in them. Keep walkin’!
After kicking our shoes off for a little rest we researched a few places to try for supper. We settled on a highly-rated restaurant in our neighbourhood called Menza. There was a bit of a wait for a table so we sat at the bar where we ordered drinks which I then proceeded to spill all over the place. They were nice enough to make me a new cocktail and before long we were seated. The butter-poached chicken on a bed of beetroot risotto was very good.
One great moment of serendipity on this trip was that our guesthouse was located two doors down from the Robert Capa Contemporary Photography Center. I couldn’t believe my luck, not only was this gallery in Budapest, it was 20 steps out the front door! On the second morning I decided I would spend some time in the gallery. I thought maybe an hour but ended up staying for 2.5 hours. If you’re in the city and interested in photojournalism and the life of one of the best, I highly recommend setting aside some time for this gallery.
Our next stop wasn’t too far a train journey away so we didn’t need to rush to the station but eventually we needed to make our way back to the tram stop going in the other direction. So sad! Budapest is a beautiful, vibrant city.
Zagreb, Croatia#zagreb,-croatia
Our journey to Zagreb meant taking an afternoon/evening train. It was nice to see the sun set over the countryside south of Budapest. There weren’t too many people on the train south at this time of day so it was nice and quiet. We hurtled through the farmland making stops now and then. Of course with crossing a border the train stopped at the first station in Croatia where we were asked for our tickets again and our passports. Central Europe is really taking this irregular migrant thing very seriously, we were asked for passports on the train in each new country.
Night had fallen and we were kind of sleepy in our seats when an employee came through the cars saying we were stopping in 10 minutes to get on a bus. Um what? No communication at all, just “we’re stopping to get on a bus in ten minutes”. Well, this is how it goes on European trains, especially in Croatia. No one knew what was going on but we did as we were asked and got off the train and on a coach. We made our way through the countryside again for about 45 minutes when once again we stopped. This time we stopped at another train station, got off the first coach and onto a second coach. What’s happening? No one knew! So here we were on another bus but at least we were going in the right direction, toward Zagreb. Before long the bus was stopped again, at another train station. This time it was off the bus and back on the train. What’s happening? No one knew! Once gain we were flying through the countryside at night. Will it ever end? Will we get to Zagreb? Would that be the last of our train troubles? Well we got to Zagreb after 11pm but it wouldn’t be the last of our train troubles.
Once gain we took a tram through the city to our hotel, the Hotel Park 45. The tram stop was right in front of the hotel thankfully because neither one of us was in the mood to walk through a foreign city late at night. The city was dead quiet but we were in no mood. We stopped at the registration desk to check in and the lovely young woman at the desk asked us what our journey to Zagreb from Budapest was like. We told her the train/bus/bus/train story and she laughed. Ahh she said, you’ve now experienced the Croatian student life! Students come to school in the city and visit their family in the towns and villages so take the train home. And train/bus/bus/train isn’t even the worst of it we were told! We decided to look on the bright side and add this to the list of our adventures. It makes for a funny story at least, but these are the sorts of things that make people think we’re crazy for travelling like this. We made our way up to our room — the nicest and most modern of the whole trip — dropped our bags, got into our pajamas and promptly fell asleep.
We only had one full day in Zagreb and we wanted to make the most of it. We’re never in a rush but we know we have to get going at some point. My good pal Blaise found his namesake church — the church of St. Blaise — not too far from our hotel so we had a very nice breakfast at the hotel and headed out on the sidewalk. It was nice and warm again here in Zagreb making the walking easy. Zagreb is a much quieter city than the others so far, and it was a welcome change. We could get around easily, mixing in with the locals going about their day. Zagreb is a small, compact city that is easy to see by foot, with lots of beautiful architecture and those narrow alleys I love so much.
We walked much of the city, climbing up to the old town, seeing the beautiful St. Mark’s Church and wandered through some of the old streets. After stopping at the old Stone Gate, we kept going down toward Ulica Ivana Tkalčiča, a street full of shops, cafés, and restaurants. Once again we found ourselves thirsty and tired so we found another highly recommended restaurant to stop at for lunch, La Štruk. Like Ljubljana, we wanted to try the local dumplings and this is the specialty at La Štruk. We found a nice table in the quiet terrace out back and settled in for a lovely meal.
We continued our exploring by foot and decided to do another load of laundry since there was a laundromat close to the hotel. We had seen much of the city during the day so we decided to take a bit of a rest, do some laundry and go back out in the evening. This was a great idea as Zagreb really comes alive when the sun goes down. So many people walking, chatting, relaxing, eating. What a life! I even found a shop selling hot sauce where I tried a few samples and left with a bottle and some local chocolate. We found a bar/restaurant right in the middle of it all and sat ourselves down. Mali Medo is a simple place, good beer and bar food outside where we could watch the world go by. I had the local sausages and a giant beer, which were both great. Our server was nearly run off his feet but he did a great job.
We decided to keep walking a little more to burn off a few of those supper calories but before long we were back at our hotel ready to relax for the rest of the evening and get ready for our return the next day to Ljubljana.
Ljubljana, Slovenia, again#ljubljana,-slovenia,-again
Once again we had a short journey by train from Zagreb to Ljubljana. We had time to have another nice breakfast at the hotel and not rush to get to the train station. The tram back to the station had a stop outside the hotel so we eventually headed out to catch the next tram and get ourselves to the train station nice and early. There aren’t too many places to sit but thankfully we found a couple of seats and waited for our train to arrive. Soon enough, we were on our way back to Ljubljana.
Arriving in Ljubljana it felt like seeing an old friend again. I really did enjoy Ljubljana on our earlier visit and was happy to be back. We already knew where we were going and headed straight out of the station with our bags toward out accommodations in the old town. In 15 minutes we were back at the Central Comfort Apartments Mescanka, it was like we never left. This time we had a full-service apartment with lots of room and a small kitchen. It was perfect for us as we had already eaten in a few good restaurants and decided to use the kitchen for preparing suppers. We walked over to the local grocery store, picked up a bit too much food — it’s so exciting seeing things you can’t get back at home — and made a nice simple supper.
Since we had already spent a few days in Ljubljana we decided to go a little outside the city centre and walk up to Tivoli Park to get some fresh air and stretch our legs. Tivoli Park is a quiet place free of tourists, it seems like the place locals go with their kids, school groups, to go for a run or walk the dog. If you’re looking for a respite from the popular city centre, this is the place. There are lots of paths to walk and a small café, Čolnarna, next to a pond to get some very good ice cream, which we of course did.
After a couple of hours wandering the park we headed back into the city for more exploring. I took the opportunity to get into one of those awful tourist shops to buy a Slovenia t-shirt, and some Ljubljana magnets with a dragon on them. Sometimes you have to do the touristy thing. After another day of walking we headed back to our guesthouse to relax and prepare supper.
Our next train, to Florence, was a night train from Ljubljana so we checked out and walked back to the train station to store our bags for the day. We decided to take a bus up to Bled and the bus station is right next to the train station so it worked out perfectly. We jumped on the bus to Bled that was just about to leave and made our way to this recreation destination. The dark clouds threatened to rain on us all day but all we got was a little drizzle. We walked around the entire lake, stopping here and there for a photo and a rest. It took us a few hours and a lot of steps but it was well worth it as we got different views of both the castle on the cliff and the church on Bled Island. And the good thing about the loop is you end up back in town where there is beer on the lake to help you forget about your sore legs and feet. Also close to the end of the loop there was a local painter selling his small paintings for only €4. He had one on display that looked exactly like it had during the day with dark clouds over the lake. I couldn’t resist and he was a funny guy so now I have a small painting of Bled in my apartment as a nice memory.
After our beer we caught the next bus back to Ljubljana to get some supper, pizza at Capriccio, before walking back to the train station for our overnight train to Florence. Our pizzas and beer were excellent and just before we were about to leave we decided to check the train website to see if the train was on time. Well, the train on the first leg from Ljubljana to Villach, Austria was on time but the train on the second leg, from Villach to Florence was cancelled. Yes, the train from the middle-of-nowhere Austria to Florence was cancelled for “technical issues”. Now what?
Little did we know this would be the worst part of the trip. We finished our beer, paid the bill and headed directly to the train station. It was already after 9pm and we hoped we could get a new reservation for the trip that had been cancelled. Luckily the station ticket agent was open until 10:30pm and the woman working was fully prepared to help us out. She told us it happens all the time and not to worry. We got re-booked on a new train but this one made an extra stop in Padua, Italy. We had to take it. So we got on our train in Ljubljana, got off in Villach, Austria at 12:43am to find out our train to Padua was 2 hours late. There isn’t anywhere in Villach to wait indoors so we had to sit on the platform and try not to freeze for two hours while waiting for our train to appear. Eventually it did, but the car we were reserved on wasn’t on it. Um, what? Turns out the front half of the train got unhooked and another train was attached to the back and there was our car. Whew!
Of course the train was full of people sleeping, stretched out across the seats, it was 2:30am! So we had to wake up some people to get to our seats. That’s how you make enemies in a foreign country. We were squished into our seats and we couldn’t sleep because we had to pay attention to what station we were arriving at. There was no overhead display or announcements so thankfully our phones had a data plan to open up Maps and track our journey to Padua. Once again it was time to get off a train, but this time waking up a few people while we grabbed our bags off the rack above our heads. We made it to Padua at 7:15am, and looked for the train to Florence. Of course, we were two hours late and the reservations we had were useless. Blaise went and got us new reservations for the business-class carriage, at least we’d have big seats, a bottle of water and some biscuits. I could have taken someone’s head off at this point but we found our car, boarded yet another train and tried to get a few minutes of sleep.
Florence, Italy#florence,-italy
Our journey from Padua to Florence went by without issue. What a relief. We arrived in Florence with seven hours until we could check in to our hotel, seven hours to wander the beautiful city on no sleep. We stored our bags at the train station and wandered the streets for a little while. It was just so nice to finally be in Florence after that crazy night. We eventually stopped at a nice café, the Òzio Bistro for lunch. The coffee and avocado toast was very much appreciated and put me in much better spirits. We wandered a little more, stopped at a small shop to get some bus tickets, grabbed a bottle of wine, retrieved our bags from the train station and found the bus stop across the street where we’d take the number 7 up the hill to our hotel, Villa La Stella.
We were both exhausted and frankly a little smelly so we decided to get to the hotel and just relax. We had been carrying a bag of food with us for a couple of days and with the bottle of wine we had enough for a supper in our room. The view out our window over the hills of Tuscany was beautiful. We could watch the sunset and sip on our amazing €4 bottle of wine. We could finally have a shower and change into clean clothes. We could catchup on our email. We fell asleep by 8:30pm.
Once again, our hotel had a fantastic breakfast and amazing staff. We fueled up and decided to hang out on the sunny patio for a few hours. The guy who ran the kitchen and restaurant came out to say hello and made sure we knew we could use the back entrance of the kitchen to make ourselves as many cappuccinos as we wanted. We took him up on his offer and spent a relaxing couple of hours on the patio drinking coffee and reviewing photos on our laptops. It was pretty amazing.
As happy as we were we thought that maybe we should get back into one of the most beautiful cities in the world. We stashed our laptops back in our room, filled up our water bottles and headed down the hill into Florence. It was only 1.3km so why take the bus when you can walk through beautiful neighbourhoods? This is one of my favourite parts of travelling like this, making my own way between here and there. We made it into Florence and that’s where the insanity starts, I really don’t know how the locals do it. It’s complete and total chaos with people everywhere. So we spent a good six hours walking the city and finding alleys of calm amidst the insanity. We did see some of the famous landmarks but we really focused on getting out of the popular piazzas and streets. We didn’t line up for anything, instead spending our time wandering down quiet alleys to find interesting buildings and shops.
While I was in Florence I wanted to buy a t-shirt from ACF Fiorentina, the local football club. They have stores throughout the city but I wasn’t paying €120 for an official jersey. Eventually we wandered down a quiet side street and look at that, an ACF Fiorentina shop. Would this one have a simple t-shirt in my size for €30? Well they had exactly what I was looking for, for €35 so I bought it. That was the only thing I really wanted to buy in Florence and I was happy. Except as we continued our walk down another quiet street we came across another shop. This one had an absolutely beautiful men’s wool coat in the window, I stopped to drool over it without stepping inside. How much did it cost? I didn’t want to know because if it was less than €250 I’d buy it. Blaise stuck his head inside, flipped over the price tag, looked at the price, flipped it back and stepped outside. “How much do you think?” he asked. Uhh, “150?” I replied. “Close”, he said. “190”. Damn, below my price threshold. So I went inside, got sized up, tried one on and fell in love. TACS is a simple store selling beautiful clothing made from locally sourced Tuscan wool, crafted by local craftspeople. I purchased the Naxos coat in dark green. I love it, and it’s a memento of my very short time in Florence I will treasure for the rest of my life.
After dropping all that cash I had to get out of these amazing alleys full of tempting items. We headed down to the Ponte Vecchio, the famous bridge covered in jewelry shops. I knew I wasn’t interested in anything for sale there! Unsurprisingly it was packed. The views are amazing but the crowds quickly turn the vibe sour. I’m happy I went but was also happy to move on. We had reservations for 7pm at a well-regarded pizza restaurant called Pizzium on the Piazza Del Carmine so we slowly made our way over to that neighbourhood. We were a bit early so we sat on the steps of the Santa Maria del Carmine church to rest our legs until the restaurant opened and watch kids and parents kick a soccer ball around. This was another quiet corner of Florence.
We finished our pizza and wine and headed back to the bus stop to catch our bus up the hill to our hotel. The bus was packed, we might have been the only tourists on board, but it was running on time dropping off and picking up as we wound our way through the city and up the hill. Our stop came up on the display, we rang the bell, and got off across the street from the private road up to the hotel. Perfect and only a couple of Euros! Before leaving the city we stopped into a store for another bottle of wine which we opened after arriving back in our room. A fitting end to our very quick visit to a beautiful city. The next day we’d be back at the train station catching our ride to Munich, then our flight back across the Atlantic.
But of course the trains in Europe weren’t finished with us quite yet. The journey to Munich was going so smoothly, our trains were on time and the transfer in Verona flawless. We got on a first-class carriage that looked brand new, large seats, mostly empty and quiet, fast wi-fi and plugs that worked. What could go wrong? Well, as we approached Munich Central Station the train stopped, and not at the platform. We sat there not moving for a few minutes until an announcement declared we weren’t moving because someone had pulled the emergency brake on the train in front of us and neither it nor our train could move until that was fixed. Amazing! So we sat there, unable to get out for half-an-hour. Finally the train nudged forward and we could get off, get our tram tickets and get out to the airport. We had decided to go all the way to the airport as there was a better chance of getting a taxi there than at the random tram stop closer to the hotel.
As we made our way to the tram platform we found out it was closed. No tram from here, the whole platform taped off and guarded by police. There had been an “incident”. Now what? How do we get to the airport on a train from here? Thankfully a very helpful police officer helped us get to where we needed, he whipped up a route on his phone and let us take photos of it so we could follow it as, once again, we had to take two trains where one would do. So on the U2 subway we went along with all the Oktoberfest revelers. It was kind of cool honestly, most people were tipsy and in a good mood. All the way to the end-of-the-line we travelled and got off with hundreds of other people to wait on a windy, freezing platform — it was 6 degrees! — for what felt like forever for the tram to take us to the last stop at the airport. By the time we got to the end, we were the only two people left on board.
It was late and we were starving so we went into the airport to look for something to eat but everything was closed. We gave up, headed outside to a taxi, and on to the airport hotel we had booked. By the time we checked in it was 10:45pm, we asked when the bar closed, 11pm was the reply. Perfect! Time for one last beer in Europe, a chance to unwind after another crazy day of train travel. It was cold and tasted amazing.
After our beer at the bar it was back to bed. We were up a bit early in the morning to shower and pack for the final time. Our pre-arranged taxi showed up right on time at 8:30am to take us to the airport. We decided to get to the airport a few hours early to get our bags checked, which took all of 3 minutes, and get through customs and security which took longer. Once through we had our final European breakfast, and before long our flight to Frankfurt was ready to board, only 20 minutes late. Once in Frankfurt we didn’t have long to wait to get on our final journey, back home to Halifax.
The flight was uneventful, the food was decent, and best of all, we arrived back home 20 minutes early. Win! I finally made it back downtown by 7:30pm, dropped my bags, put a few things away and collapsed. Back to work in the morning!
Wrapping Up#wrapping-up
Despite all the insanity with the trains it was an amazing trip, a real adventure. In all I walked over 156,000 steps and stopped in over 130 train stations, some more than once. I ate amazing food, drank amazing beer and wine, saw incredible architecture, stayed in funky local accommodation, and took a whole lot of photos, some of which aren’t bad!
Would I do it again? Definitely. But maybe not with all the trains.
If you’re interested, there are more photos I’ve been publishing individually:
- Budapest Central Market, September 2024
- Waiting on a tram, Zagreb, September 2024
- Senegalese street seller, Florence, September 2024
- Dog walkers, Tivoli Park
- Ljubljana colour
- Florence windows
- The lonely pigeon
- Graffiti, Ponte Vecchio
- Zagreb nights
- Evening commute, Ljubljana, September, 2024
- Castle climb, Ljubljana, September, 2024
- Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, September, 2024
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