20th June
Woke early to walk down to the Embroidery market which started at 3am -we were there just after 6am!It was manic with stall holders and women standing in lines with embroidered blouses etc over their arms. The traditional colours are white with red embroidery but it appears that each village has it’s own designs and colours.
We had a quick breakfast of cheese (?) filled pancakes - we have had a lot of pancakes and sour cream but I’m happy to report that my clothes still fit, even a bit loose, must be all the walking!Had a four hour journey north to Lviv. As the driver put it ‘the houses are well looked after and represent the people whereas the roads represent the government’. The roads are terrible and you spend the whole journey swerving around massive potholes and driving on the wrong side of the road. There seems to be no road rage & no accidents!
Went out to dinner at the most amazing place. Firstly you had to know where it was otherwise you would never have found it. We went through an alley and at the end was a plain wooden door but when you knocked a man in military uniform with fake machine gun asked for a password. We didn’t go there but upstairs & knocked on the door of what looked like a unit, the door opened and it was a man’s kitchen - even had some chops frying on the stove. You really felt that you were in someone’s house but then you entered the restaurant. The whole place was related to the Masons hence the secrecy. One of the group went to the loo & came back saying that it was decked out as a throne. We were then taken to other hidden places where another loo was was clear plastic with bundles of American dollars plastering the walls & in another room was a 1930's car in amongst the tables. Food was great.
Walking back to the hotel we watched as an illegally parked car was lifted onto a truck and taken away. the locals were delighting in the fact that the numberplate showed that it was from Russia & we could hear “Ha ha Ruskie!”
This city reminds me of Lisbon (with its trams) & Prague.
21st June
The day started with a 3 hour walking tour of the city. The city was crazy because there was a vintage car rally going on & many streets were closed. traffic was at a standstill & even the trams had problems getting around. It was very hot and humid & we tried to get into the shade as much as possible. We did visit a couple of churches. The churches had all been closed during the Soviet rule & WW11 & were only recently opened up again.
Had a nice lunch in an interesting restaurant but it soon became extremely busy with people from the car rally & we were glad to leave. A few of us then caught the tram to visit a cemetery ( I know but it’s actually a museum of statues!). It was actually very pleasant to be in a cool, green area.
Boarded the overnight train at 9pm. I was on the top bunk, luckily there was a ladder so no crazy antics! It was pretty compact & I had to put my bags on my bunk. There was a Russian lady on the lower bunk who didn’t speak English so there was no conversation! It was extremely hot & the airconditioning didn’t work. I just couldn’t get to sleep & at 3am the Ukrainian border guards came on for our passports. Other border inspectors go on wanting to know where we were from & how many bags we had - later heard that anyone who was American had their bags opened and thoroughly checked! We then spent a good two hours shunting backwards & forwards as the wheels on each carriage were changed - they are a different gauge. Finally our passports were returned. I finally dropped off to sleep when the shout of “Passports” rang out, this time from the Hungarians. They spent so long studying my British passport even using a magnifying glass - I picked up the word hologram - that I whipped out my Aussie passport. That got them going & soon both were returned! I think I slept for a few hours but the delight at leaving the train at 11:20am was overwhelming.
When we were finally clean & our stomachs full we were given the option of a 3 hour cycling tour of Budapest. We are staying on the Pest side which is flat so the ride was easy & we covered a lot of ground taking in the important sights. Most of the group dropped out for the Buda side but I gamely carried on - i wished I hadn’t when we started to climb up the hill but the view from the top was worth it!
23rd June
Did a tour of Budapest on the ‘hop on hop off’ bus which included a trip down the Danube - wanted to get some pictures as I hadn’t taken my camera on the bike ride.
Have changed groups as only four of us were going through to Istanbul. Most of this group are from Perth. It is strange to see the other group go as we had some laughs together.
Woke early to walk down to the Embroidery market which started at 3am -we were there just after 6am!It was manic with stall holders and women standing in lines with embroidered blouses etc over their arms. The traditional colours are white with red embroidery but it appears that each village has it’s own designs and colours.
We had a quick breakfast of cheese (?) filled pancakes - we have had a lot of pancakes and sour cream but I’m happy to report that my clothes still fit, even a bit loose, must be all the walking!Had a four hour journey north to Lviv. As the driver put it ‘the houses are well looked after and represent the people whereas the roads represent the government’. The roads are terrible and you spend the whole journey swerving around massive potholes and driving on the wrong side of the road. There seems to be no road rage & no accidents!
Went out to dinner at the most amazing place. Firstly you had to know where it was otherwise you would never have found it. We went through an alley and at the end was a plain wooden door but when you knocked a man in military uniform with fake machine gun asked for a password. We didn’t go there but upstairs & knocked on the door of what looked like a unit, the door opened and it was a man’s kitchen - even had some chops frying on the stove. You really felt that you were in someone’s house but then you entered the restaurant. The whole place was related to the Masons hence the secrecy. One of the group went to the loo & came back saying that it was decked out as a throne. We were then taken to other hidden places where another loo was was clear plastic with bundles of American dollars plastering the walls & in another room was a 1930's car in amongst the tables. Food was great.
This city reminds me of Lisbon (with its trams) & Prague.
21st June
The day started with a 3 hour walking tour of the city. The city was crazy because there was a vintage car rally going on & many streets were closed. traffic was at a standstill & even the trams had problems getting around. It was very hot and humid & we tried to get into the shade as much as possible. We did visit a couple of churches. The churches had all been closed during the Soviet rule & WW11 & were only recently opened up again.
Had a nice lunch in an interesting restaurant but it soon became extremely busy with people from the car rally & we were glad to leave. A few of us then caught the tram to visit a cemetery ( I know but it’s actually a museum of statues!). It was actually very pleasant to be in a cool, green area.
Boarded the overnight train at 9pm. I was on the top bunk, luckily there was a ladder so no crazy antics! It was pretty compact & I had to put my bags on my bunk. There was a Russian lady on the lower bunk who didn’t speak English so there was no conversation! It was extremely hot & the airconditioning didn’t work. I just couldn’t get to sleep & at 3am the Ukrainian border guards came on for our passports. Other border inspectors go on wanting to know where we were from & how many bags we had - later heard that anyone who was American had their bags opened and thoroughly checked! We then spent a good two hours shunting backwards & forwards as the wheels on each carriage were changed - they are a different gauge. Finally our passports were returned. I finally dropped off to sleep when the shout of “Passports” rang out, this time from the Hungarians. They spent so long studying my British passport even using a magnifying glass - I picked up the word hologram - that I whipped out my Aussie passport. That got them going & soon both were returned! I think I slept for a few hours but the delight at leaving the train at 11:20am was overwhelming.
When we were finally clean & our stomachs full we were given the option of a 3 hour cycling tour of Budapest. We are staying on the Pest side which is flat so the ride was easy & we covered a lot of ground taking in the important sights. Most of the group dropped out for the Buda side but I gamely carried on - i wished I hadn’t when we started to climb up the hill but the view from the top was worth it!
23rd June
Did a tour of Budapest on the ‘hop on hop off’ bus which included a trip down the Danube - wanted to get some pictures as I hadn’t taken my camera on the bike ride.
Have changed groups as only four of us were going through to Istanbul. Most of this group are from Perth. It is strange to see the other group go as we had some laughs together.
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