RUB!X
Bergkamp 10
- Joined
- Feb 11, 2004
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- 1,549
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- Male
- HSC
- 2004
The RUB!X Guide to Europe Slash Travel Diaries (Pictures coming soon)
Important Miscellaneous Information
Ok, first a confession, I’m cheap, so all information provided here is to save you as much money as possible, and when you’re in Europe, that’s probably a good thing …
At airports, look for the samsung terminals, they have free internet.
You can check in all the way at some airports, so there is no need to transfer, ask.
I will provide a brief description of each place of interest and any recommendations …
Fact: 4 week holiday in Europe, with no day below 30 degrees Celsius.
Fact: If you want to holiday in Europe, go in summer.
All pictures were taken with my new favourite toy, the best camera money can buy for under 1k, the Canon S3IS 6.0 mega pixel digital camera, with 12x optical zoom.
$600 @ MSY, it is a steal.
Car Information
If your thinking of hiring a car to drive around in Europe, it is definitely best to go with the French, you don’t have to pick your car up in France, but it will cost you a small fee, BUT the French cars are the cheapest to hire as they are subsidized by the government.
The French government has an initiative that has been going on for more than 20 years, which means if you hire from Renault, Citroen or Peugeot you will get a brand spanking new car, yes brand new, every time, it’s the way that the French government is helping to support and expose and its car industry to the world.
Well anyway, we hired a Citroen C5 2.0 diesel and it was a pretty nice car, this was for 4 people with a lot of luggage mind you, I think that a Peugeot 206 would be just fine for 2-4 people depending on luggage.
If your thinking of hiring a car in Europe, please do remember to drive on the right side of the road, literally
, and yes, in Europe (except in the UK) all the cars are left hand drive.Another great website if your hiring a car is www.viamichelin.com, and if you have a laptop it might be useful to check out a program called Microsoft AutoRoute 2006 Europe http://www.microsoft.com/uk/homepc/autoroute/ProductDetails.aspx?pid=002 which gives detailed maps of Europe and many useful features (PM me if you want this program
)Airline Information
www.seatguru.com – this site will help you pick out the best seats on each airline, especially good if traveling with a partner, so u can get a 2 next to each other etc … ask for the seats at check in …
The ECONOMY experience
Lowest to highest: not good – average – ok – good – very good
Qantas – food=ok, seats=ok, cycle entertainment (average), service=good
Cathay Pacific – food=average, seats=good, cycle entertainment (average), service=good
Swiss – food=good, seats=good, on demand entertainment (good), service=good
Notes: With Cathay you get a gift – passport holder/neck thing, toothbrush/toothpaste, and anti DVP socks.
With Swiss you get to keep the clip-on headphones they give you
With Qantas they give you the magazine … lol
Introduction
Itinerary
June 23 – fly out … (Sydney �* Hong Kong �* Zurich �* Budapest)
June 24-26 – Hungary (family + hiking)
June 27-30 – Slovakia (Tatra Lomnic), Poland (Zakopane) and Czech Republic (Prague and Karlovy Vary)
July1-9 – Hungary (family) + Balaton lake + hiking + Budapest
July 10-11 – Switzerland (Grindelwald)
July 12-14 – SW France (Dordogne valley, Monpazier, Cadouin, Rocamadour)
July 15-16 – SW France (Archachon, Dune de Pyla)
July 17-18 – N France (Cancale, Mont St. Michel)
July 19-21 – England (London)
The rest of my family (father, mother and sister) left for Europe 2 weeks before I did, as I had my uni exams on, and of course, my sister and my mum both packed their suitcases to the brim with clothes, and left me and my dad with everything else, I was left with the 2 $12 tents bought from Homeart which will be our accommodation while not in Hungary, 4 sleeping bags and 4 of those mats you can roll up, all of which would not be returning with us to Australia, oh yeah and I had to pack my own clothes aswell :S …
Got to the airport in the morning at about 5:30am wearing my Socceroos jersey and watched the Australia vs. Croatia game on a big plasma TV in the check in area with about at least another 200 travelers, the atmosphere there was amazing, and the result sent us through to the knock out stage of the world cup, we were all screaming, singing, high-5ing and hugging each other, that was a great moment and something I’ll never forget.
My flight was supposed to leave at 9:50am, it left 4:15pm, that was so frustrating, because they kept saying it was only delayed by 1 hour … 5 times … bastards … anyway I finally get on the flight, and then just when were about to leave, there is a medical emergency on board, and they have to open up a side exit door, etc … and the flight is delayed for another hour, so someone starts to sing waltzing matilda and we all joined in, the we just kept going, songs which followed were: Australia fair, Down Under, Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi, and the football anthem “ole” replaced by “Aussie” after we all got tired of singing, someone yelled out “At least we woke up first class, you bastards!!” to an explosion of laughter, and the flight finally got under way.
I was sitting next to another 2 people, (I was in the window seat, I <3 the window seat, because I never get up
)1 lives in Hong Kong, and another visits frequently, as I was sure to miss my connecting flight to Zurich I asked them what I should do in HK while I wait for the next flight, that sparked conversation for nearly 3 hours and I made 2 new friends, they showed me maps and everything, my next day of HK site seeing was planned down to a tee, where to go, what to go on, they were very helpful and even wanted to meet up with me and show me around … BUT when I arrived in HK (almost 2 hours late for my transfer flight to Zurich), There were these people yelling out “Soorie” “Soorie” “Soorie” anyone for “Soorie!!”, I was so amused I looked at them, and caught a glimpse of a Swiss Air logo on one of the girls suits and soon put together “Soorie meant Zurich” … I replied, yeah I’m going to Zurich but my flight was 2 hours ago, they replied, “No, Sir, please, come this way immediately” … so the girl takes me to the gate in like 2 minutes, I didn’t even go passed security or anything, and on the PA system, “Can passenger Matthias … flying on Swiss Airlines flight LX325 to Zurich go to gate 21 immediately”, sounded urgent, because usually they say “please” and don’t signal you out, and yep I was the last person on the plane, and I received many deadly stares on the way to my seat, lucky I wasn’t holding a duty free bag or something …
Haha another interesting thing I noticed with the Swiss people is that they are firstly, almost all ugly, quiet, uninteresting, bland and emotionless, the captain of the plane announced that the Swiss had beaten Korea 2-0 not a single hand was raised, not a single noise …
Another thing about duty free, just don’t bother, its not cheaper, no matter where you go, I recommend it for tobacco and alcohol only.
Because of the mad rush in Hong Kong, my luggage did not arrive in Budapest until 2 days after arrival.
Hungary
Budapest main attractions: Vaci Utca (shopping street), Chain bridge, Elizabeth bridge, Matthias church, Margaret island, parliament house, fishermen’s bastion, Matthias church
For eating check out the “Fatal” restaurant, it is quite famous in Budapest, it can be found on Vaci Utca and the food there is great, they give you huge servings as well, a serving enough for 3 people, no one in my family could finish
, it’s quite cheap too. Lake Balaton – Hungary’s second main attraction, it is a great lake, and very popular, go into a “strand” which is a fenced off strip of the balaton about 400 meters long and has facilities such as showers, toilets, restaurants, you have to pay, but don’t worry, its peanuts, like <$1AU, while your there you must check out the food called “langos” if you don’t like to swim, there are plenty of other things to do, just join in a game of soccer, volleyball or just sit down relax and enjoy the eye candy … Europeans are not shy
There are many more nice castles around Hungary, but most if not all were fucked by either the Germans or Russians throughout the ages so its more like ruins, than actual places you should visit, so I really wouldn’t bother.
Hiking in the mountain regions of Hungary, if I can call them that (Hungary is almost dead flat) are quite nice, we walked up a few, ones I would recommend are: Hideg Hegy (Cold Mountain) and Kekes Teto which is the highest mountain in Hungary, which is in the Matra region.
Czech Republic
Prague – One of the most beautiful cities in the world, and definitely a must visit if in the region, the buildings, the history, an amazing place and an unforgettable experience.
Although I have never seen in my life seen as many tourists concentrated in one place as I saw in Prague, there are absolutely shitloads of people everywhere, especially the old town square, you literally have to push people to get through.
Main attractions: old town, old town square and Prague castle which can all be seen in a day on the walking tour we did, “Silver Line Golden Prague” self guided walking tour to which there is a book you buy at the old town square for 50 krona, which tells you about all the monument and sites you pass, or you could take a guided tour for like 300 krona/hr per person I think it was or whatever, oh yes, and money exchange, please don’t change it at those cheap box looking places, trust me, go post office or bank.
We stayed in Trojska, which is in the Northern part of the city, close to tram and 10 mins from city centre and if you’re driving, want good value and a parking spot I would definitely recommend it, we stayed at AutoCamp Trojska.
Karlovy Vary – Nice little town and we were there during its International film festival, the town is a bit posh but beautiful, and in superb condition, the 18th century housing is very nice, and you could honestly take away the cars and it would feel like your back in those times, it’s quite a small town so we just walked down one side of the river till the end and came back on the other, KV is famous for its hot water springs, which are featured throughout the town.
Slovakia
We wanted to stop there to look at these beautiful mountains, but were greeted with disaster, terrible storms wiped the whole place out … as we drove through; trees all gone near the hotels and resorts, looked like a wasteland … apparently non native trees were planted in that region, like some kind of pine, and it couldn’t handle the storms or something, my grandfather was saying.
Poland
Well, after the disappointment, which was Slovakia, we headed straight for Zakopane in Poland, but the Slovaks weren’t done with us just yet, we aroused much suspicion at the border, as the Slovaks naturally hate Hungarians it was probably not surprising we were pulled over and interrogated and had our car searched, we were people with Australian passports, driving a French car and with Hungarian names, that must have been just too confusing for them, anyway after checking our car we finally made it into Poland.
Zakopane is a nice place, we stayed in some camping, forgot the name, but it was ok, next day we went hiking near the cable car place that takes you to the top of the mountains, but there was too many people in line, so we went for a walk, quite a long one, which we had to pay for … lol, but it was worth it, it was a great walk, with great scenery.
After we returned from the walk the people in the line for the cable car had shrunk so we decided to go up, this was in the afternoon, it was really nice, but it was foggy (which kinda always seams to happen to our family whenever we go up any kind of mountain, its gotten to an almost curse like state), and we couldn’t see much, so instead I just threw snowballs at my sister.
If you do have more time then we did, I would definitely suggest doing a longer walk from the top of the mountain, to have a look at all the lakes and what not.
On the way to Switzerland we noticed some really interesting houses made of wood, which we took pictures of.
Switzerland
Grindelwald is a small village near Interlaken, and one of the best places to visit in the European Alps, absolutely breath-taking scenery, we stayed at an awesome camp site in the valley where the 4000m+ mountains just totally surround you, its amazing, “Camping Gletscherdorf” is the name.
I would definitely visit this place again, and spend more time here, but this time we only had 2 days here, so we had to choose our program wisely, we searched for the best hiking trails and it was down to either the Jungfraujoch or Schilthorn Piz Gloria peaks, those are the 2 main peaks you can go to, we choose the later and it was amazingly … foggy again, but it did clear up a little, the Piz Gloria restaurant on the top here was used in the filming of James Bond 007 “On Her Majesty's Secret Service”.
There are 3 stops with the cable car on the way, and we got off at Murren, a car-less village about 1600m up, and from there we did the round walk called “The North Face” walk, and it is one of the best walks I have ever done, the scenery was just wow!, I’d definitely recommend this place.
France
Dordogne Valley – Perigord (South West) region – Fascinating and interesting country-side style area of France, filled with chateau’s, castles, churches, vineyards and ancient cliff face buildings dating back thousands of years, as well as the magnificent, and clean Dordogne river.
This is the home of all things duck, like liver pâté and foie gras, yep, the stuff on iron chef, so if you’ve ever wanted to try it, its here!
We stayed at the Le Butte camp site, and it was ok, it was on the river and on a part of the river which had quite a fast current, which is fun, just float down and run back.
Next day we canoed/kayaked our way down the Dordogne river 19km, from Vitrac to Calviac, which was a lot of fun, you go with the current, so there is little work required, and a bus takes you back, it’s a great way to see a lot of the sites (castles, chateaus, old towns and bridges etc …) and was a lot of fun, I think it was 15 euro for canoe (2 people) and 20 euro for kayak (1 person), definitely recommended.
Next we had to make our way to Arcachon, but on the way we stopped at the following places of interest:
Cadouin – visited some old monastery, and I remember the gothic architecture and that it had the supposed “holy shroud” like the cloth that was on Jesus’ head, so pilgrims used to flock there, until science proved that it wasn’t actually the “holy shroud” so now not so many people go there, nothing special really …
Rocamadour – quite interesting old village and home to the “Black Mary”, a statue of the Virgin Mary which is said to have healing powers and many pilgrims come here to pray.
Monpazier – beautiful little village and in amazing condition despite it being and features buildings from the 12th century through to the 18th century, many churches, markets and architectural and archeological things to see.
Arcachon – Home to huge sand dune “Dune de Pyla” on the west coast and on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. There are 3 camping around the dune, we stayed at the first, and it was pretty good.
Dune facts: nearly 3 kilometres long, 500 metres wide reaching 107 metres in height, and moving inland at rate of 5 metres per annum.
It’s a tough climb, because its steep, especially if you’re an idiot like me and challenged yourself to walk up the dune not using the stairs provided, but when you do get up the view is amazing, it’s the best place to watch a sunset, very romantic, a kind of “golden bridge” effect is created where the sun reflects on the water, and an image of a “golden bridge” is seen, which really is an absolute once in a lifetime opportunity and it is really something special.
The Arcachon town is quite nice; it has a seaside promenade, marina type thing with shops, and café’s and restaurants which was an enjoyable evening’s walk.
The next day we went to the beach, we were expecting nothing in the form of waves, and we were surprised, there were waves! Surfable./boogieboardable ones at that, decent 1-2m waves, unfortunately I didn’t have a board, but it was fun trying to catch waves swimming nonetheless, there was beach and people as far as the eye could see There were tens of thousands of people at the beach, and at least half were either naked or topless, Europeans aren’t shy that’s for sure …
Our last stop before London was Cancale and Mont St. Michel, which is a town built on an island about 1km in diameter, and is one of the biggest tourist attractions in France after Paris, they started building here in the year 708 and continued until the 18th century, this place is really quite interesting and worth a visit, the Abbey is wonderful, although the queue is long, it is worth it, and the streets full of shops are also quite an experience.
The spring tide, which we missed, as we were there at low tide must be quite a site, where the flood tide (biggest tide in Europe) comes in at a speed of 10km/h.
Cancale is a nice little seaside fishing village and when we there it was low tide, and it was interesting to see that all the boats were just sitting on mud, the town is full of seafood restaurants, and by looking at the menu’s all selling exactly the same thing, at ridiculous prices, we pondered that what that place really needed was a fish’n’chips shop, as we tried to think of ways to implement our brilliant business idea and become millionaires we were getting hungry and as this place is famous for its oysters, so we bought 2 dozen oysters (they were HUGE) and a baguette at the market and that was dinner.
From Cancale it was on to Calais.
England
After we dropped off the hire car, we took the Seafrance ship across the English Channel from Calais (France) to Dover (England) at a cost of 19 Euro; the P&O ship costs 25 Euro.
Accomodation: The Oxford Hotel, 80 pound per night, few mins walk to Paddington station, which is 15 mins from Heathrow
London – RUB!X’s recommended attractions: Tower of London (we didn’t go in as it would of cost 50 pound for a family of 4 = $150AU almost), the 2 big churches: Westminster abbey and St. Paul’s cathedral are exceptional, good value, must visits, BUT no photo taking is allowed (but you can try *wink wink*) … the Big Ben, Parliament house and the London Tower bridge are also must visit locations, there are nice walks along the river, you might also want to check out the London Eye. We didn’t as we thought it would be not much better than the top of St. Paul’s (walk up to top) also London Eye is also expensive and there is usually quite a long queue, what was good value was the Thames river cruise 16 pound for 4 people (when u show your 1 day travelcard for the metro) 1hr cruise (Westminster – Tower Bridge return) we went at sundown 20:00ish was beautiful.
London public transport system is exceptional, with trains and especially the underground every few minutes, we didn’t have to wait more than 2 minutes for the underground … watch out for pick pockets, my dad punched the shit out of one trying to get his hands on our new camera, Canon S3iS, got him square on the jaw, he fell, then he ran, and we all laughed and swore at him, hahaha … Pubs are the go for best value food and drinks, and have a great atmosphere, Hyde park and all London parks were a disappointment, they were like a desert, but more than that they were poorly maintained, everything was overgrown and rubbish was everywhere, its no wonder, its very hard to find a bloody bin in London, I was just disappointed I had this perception that in London everything was like perfect, and tidy, but it wasnt …
Another interesting observation every second car in London is a taxi, the rest are Porsches, BMW’s, Mercedes Benz and Audi’s … bloody hell its hard to pick out a crap car, this certainly stood out in my mind …
Sainsbury is the place to shop or a TESCO if you can find one, Harrods is like David Jones gone crazy, so over-priced, Marks and Spencer’s is ok though.
Hong Kong
We had a stop-over in HK on the way back and it’s worth a days visit if you can afford it, the harbour is beautiful, especially at night, this is when HK really starts to shine, during the day we just visited the hill lookout and walked in the streets, on a touristy curcuit walk thing, taking in the sights and sounds and foods, I ate some local sizzling steak something or other which was nice.
The End.
PM me for any questions or whatever
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