The Meandering Wanderers

Home
The Meandering Wanderers

We are a retired couple wandering the world without catching a plane. Follow our slow journey around the world overland, departing February 13 2016.

This was on David's bucket list for years and has been in the planning stages for the past 12 months. Di is the a**l researcher and has run out of spreadsheet pages. So we're ready to rock 'n roll.

10/10/2022

Bratislava, Slovakia

I knew very little about Bratislava when we selected it as a city to visit that we had never been to. Quick google search to firstly find it, then how to get there and then what’s there. So Bratislava was a real unknown, we just heard it was a scenic place to visit.

I think if we had gone to Bratislava at the start of our six week trip I think we would have raved about it, but because we had seen lots of town squares, churches, castles, city walls and fortifications, palaces, restaurants, coffee shops, statues, memorials, town halls, arches, gates, …… the list goes on, then Bratislava has all that but does not do it better, but does it at least as well as all the other places. Bratislava has everything, it has history, war history, it has local cuisine, it has nice local wine and local beer, a great public transport system, it has the Danube River, so there are lots and lots of good reasons to go there - but it offers nothing different to many other medieval European cities.

The old town is the tourist hotspot - actually, there was something different there, there was a movie scene being shot in the town square, it looked to be a period piece set probably WW2 as it has some military uniforms - no I was not discovered, stardom still awaits!!

Two splendid and majestic buildings in Bratislava are the Presidential Palace and the Pink Palace, …., which really is pink. There are churches of course in old town, but one church caught my eye as being a little different just outside the old town and that church is the Blue Church, why is it called the Blue Church you ask - because it is blue!!!

Then there is the imposing Bratislava Castle which is built on a hill overlooking Old Town. The walk from old town up to the castle is a bit of an uphill slog but once up there the views are very good over the city and the Danube. If walking is not your thing then lots of local busses or taxis are available to take you to the castle.

The one and only city gate still surviving, Micheal’s Gate, was clad with scaffolding of course, and you could not see it at all - I am sure someone is making a lot of money in Europe recommending that all the tourist attractions much be covered in scaffolding!!!

Bratislava is the capital and largest city in Slovakia, it was not overrun with tourists, in fact most of the tourists seemed to be European based.

Bratislava likes it statues of a strange nature, with random statues throughout old town, the most popular was the ‘guy coming out of the manhole’!!! I was surprised at the tourists of any age and s*x who got down on the pavement to have their photo with this guy - if any city wants to be popular with the tourists just make random statues to entertain them.

Speaking of strange, the bridge from Bratislava across the Danube has not only a strange name, Most Slovenskeho Narodneho Povstania, told it was strange, it means ‘Bridge of the Slovak uprising’, but also, what looks like a UFO crashed into it. The UFO thing is actually an observation deck and a restaurant, but it looks like the Jupiter 2 from the 1960’s Lost in Space TV series!!!

I love little facts like this, the bridge is also, …… wait for it, ….. ‘the worlds longest bridge to have one pylon and one cable-stayed plane’ , what ever that means - so if the question comes up on The Chase, you will be all over it and grinning like a smarty pants!!!!!

I did enjoy walking along the Danube riverbank, the walkway stretches for many kilometres and you get to see some beautiful river cruise ships along its bank - a European River cruise is on our to do list. Whilst walking along the river bank, we encountered several bike/cruise trips and had to dodge around these wayward clumsy bike riders (we were never that awkward on our bike/barge were we!!!) - so annoying.

I can recommend a very good traditional Slovakian restaurant up near the Presidential Palace called Slovakian Pub - the food was very good and well priced (unlike the Slovakian restaurants in the main square).

Thus six weeks have flown by and we are heading home. This short trip was like dipping our toe in to see how cold the water was - we dipped our toe into the travel world again, and you know what it’s pretty good.

Next year lots more travel, with several areas of Australia to be explored before we head back to Europe and go looking for more places we have never been to.

Thank you for coming along and we will see you soon. 🥂🙏💙

07/10/2022

Day trips from Bratislava, Slovakia

Day Trip 1, Trnava.
Day Trip 2, Devin Castle

Bratislava in Slovakia was the 5th city we visited that we had never visited before. We left Krakow and we flew, yes flying is always our last resort, but there are no trains/buses to Bratislava, you have to chop and change several times and it just became too long winded and time consuming. A flight to Viena is 50 minutes and then you walk out the front of the airport and jump on a bus 40 minute bus to Bratislava, just so quick and easy!

Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia and it is right next to the border of three countries, Austria, Hungary and Czechia, they are all thirty minutes drive away. Czechia threw me for a second as I had never heard of it, but of course, it is the new name for the Czech Republic.

We stayed in an Airbnb very close to ‘old town’, it was nice, but got the shock of our lives we we walked in and the place had just washed laundry hanging everywhere, this has never happened to us before. Di sent an email to the owner mentioning the room looked like a ‘Chinese Laundry’, and a few hours later a very apologetic owner came to remove said laundry - he then knocked AUS$78 off the cost of our stay without us even asking.

We stayed five nights in Bratislava and during that time we took two day trips. The first of these was to the town of Trnava. To get there we caught the number 1 Tram to the main train station Hlavna Stasnica. Then the S50 train to Trnava, it took about 40 minutes on the train. The tram was 0.90 of a Euro and the train 4.60 Euros each return, so it certainly is a bargain!!!

Settlements in the Trnava area date back to thousands of years before Christ, the area is ancient. Trnava is nicknamed ‘Little Rome’! No it never burnt down whilst someone played the fiddle nor did it conquer half of Europe, the nickname is because of the many churches this small town has. There are less than 65,000 people who live in Trnava and there are nearly as many churches as people, or so it seems.

Whilst wandering through this quiet and peaceful city, we hardly saw any people, but we saw a lot of churches!!!

Our church seeing appetite was just about full and we never realised, so after the first three or four churches, we kind of just skipped a few. One thing about Europe, you can overdose on churches.

The Cathedral of St. John the Baptist is said to be amazing inside and offers the Wow factor we all seek when travelling - would you not know it, it was the one church in Trnava that was closed. We were teased by what was inside with glimpses through a dirty window, but never got our Wow hit!!!

Trnava is a fortified city, with walls and gates, which are nice without getting exciting. The main square is also nice, we had coffee and another extremely thick hot chocolate before the wet weather came drifting in.

The pedestrian main street of Trnava was spacious and looked lovely, especially as there were no cars allowed, and very few people walking around. We felt like we had the place to ourselves.

Unbelievably, we came across another yellow Camino shell and the arrow pointing to Santiago in Spain - I tell you the Camino is reaching out to us!!!

We enjoyed wandering Trnava, it took a couple of hours, then it was back to Bratislava - any easy day out.

The second day trip was by bus to Devin Castle. Now this day trip turned out to be a very pleasant surprise. You catch bus number 29 near the river front - it takes about 20 minutes by bus and cost 0.90 Euros each way……., a bargain.

Devin Castle sits on top of a rock cliff formation above the small town of Devin. We walked around and below the castle first. Austria is on the other side of the Danube River to Devin and in the communist days barbed wire ran along the river front on the Slovakian side to stop the inhabitants from fleeing communist rule. There are a few reminders of those old days along the river front here, like barbed wire monuments and memorials to freedom fighters. The Danube was also flowing fast and it was fun just watching the various vessels struggle to manoeuvre in the fast slowing currents. You also get to look up at the towing castle above the rock face - so make sure you walk around the castle from the outside.

It costs 6 Euros to enter the castle. Again, there were not many people at the castle, a few school groups early, but after they left hardly anyone.

I should be saying Devin Castle ruins because really that is all that is there, ruins. The castle was built between 864 - and the 15th century - then in 1809, our old friend Napoleon laid siege and literally blew the castle up. It has been in ruins ever since.

One part of the ruins really sticks out - literally - a watch tower stands alone on top of a narrow slice of rock, the rest has fallen away, this lone watch tower is called Maiden Tower and it looks the mysterious haunted tower.

The views along the Danube from the castle ruins are stunning and for that alone it is worth the entry fee. The ruins stand on a cliff face 221 metres above the river.

Inside the ruins there are a two small exhibition rooms, which showcase the weapons and items from the castle, but these areas are small.

When you wander around the grounds of the ruins, there is the site of the old church, gates and other small fortification ruins.

We wandered the ruins and surrounding area longer than we did Trnava - it was very impressive.

There is a small shop in the car park to the ruins, with a run down closed large hotel next to it - not sure what happened to the hotel, but it looks like it’s been closed for sometime.

So there are two quick, informative and easy to do day trips from Bratislava - both of which are very good value for money I recommend doing.

The adventure continues.

05/10/2022

Krakow, Poland.

Krakow is Polands’ second largest city, it was once, way back in the 16th century, the capital of Poland. It is a university city and has some of the oldest universities in the world - it also has some of the most miserable people I have ever encountered.

Now, I have met, and some follow this page, some wonderful Polish people, and I expected to be greeted, as I have been by the Polish people I have met outside of Poland, in a happy easy going manner - no, not the case they are miserable, and apparently Polish people being miserable is a ‘thing’. So, I googled ‘why are Polish people miserable’.

Apparently it all started with WW2, and this is now a serious topic, Poland was invaded by Germany, as the Germans invaded from one end of the country, Russia invaded from the other end. The two invading armies met about the middle and made a truce, which Hi**er kept for a couple of years before he invaded Russia. Poland had a huge Jewish population and the atrocities followed. At the end of WW2, Poland became communist, whether they wanted to or not. Poland is a strong catholic country and religion is not a communist thing, so they retreated within themselves, they feared other people, became fugal and ended up hating their lives. When the USSR and communism collapsed in 1989/90, Poland got their independence, but unlike other countries Poland maintained their distrust of other people, and since 1990, parents have passed this on to their children. Polish people, in Poland appear miserable to outsiders - the truth is they are wary of you and don’t trust you. So, when you go to the supermarket and you feel you have to apologise continually for getting the ‘totally pi**ed off checkout miserable person’ to scan your food items, it’s all due to 50 years of the worst oppression imaginable. Hopefully things will change with time; be patient and smile.

We had one full day to see Krakow (Auschwitz the other day), so it was running shoes on (no marathon jokes please), and off we went.……. ,straight into a cold miserable wet day, so much for our enthusiasm and smiles.

Krakow has the largest market square in the whole of Europe. The impressive Cloth Hall (Town Hall), runs down the middle of the market square nearly forming two squares side by side. The market square has all that you would expect from a European market square, just a lot more of it. Again, a great place for lunch, people watching and a quiet beer or two.

Poland has been a member of the European Union since 2004, but has not taken on the Euro has its currency, it has stuck with the Zloty. The Zloty dates back to the 14th century - see they don’t trust foreign currencies even, change is very slow in Poland.

From the market square head down hill to the Vistula River and the impressive Wawel Royal Castle. The castle was built in the 13th century and is the historically and culturally most significant site in Poland.

The castle represents many of Europes architectural styles of the medieval, renaissance and baroque periods - slowly, very slowly in fact, I am beginning to pick these styles - Di, who did art history at school, gets excited and shows off her wealth of high school knowledge at every opportunity……, lucky me! 🙄

Wawel Castle is a very majestic and in 1978 was declared the very first World Heritage Site. From the castle you get great views along the river and it takes a while to wander around this vast complex.

To dry off from the constant rain drizzle, we popped into the Wawel Castle coffee shop and Di ordered a hot chocolate - ‘milk or dark chocolate?’, the waiter sternly asked, ‘milk, please’ we steepishly responded. What came was a surprise to say the least. Di got a cup of melted chocolate, seriously it was thick brown……, melted chocolate - the sugar rush alone sent her head spinning but ‘drinking’ it was a challenge - apparently that was a Polish Hot Chocolate.

There are many parts to Wawel Castle and the main cathedral is also in the castle grounds - there also lots and lots of school groups there too, so time when you need to go to the toilet or you could be queuing behind thirty twelve year olds!!!

There is a fortified city wall running around ‘old town’ with gates and other fortifications like, the Krakow Barbican, but many of the old city defences are gone.

The cost of living in Krakow is far cheaper than other European cities we have visited, so it is cheaper to stay there. The main square area is by far the most expensive area in Krakow and a pint of beer will cost 24 Zloty (AUS$8) where as else where it will be half that - but a quiet beer in the main square and you can watch the world stroll by.

That was basically our day - yes, I enjoyed Krakow, previously we had been to Warsaw back in 2018, so we have a lot more of Poland to see.

Cheers my friends, the adventure continues.

03/10/2022

Auschwitz-Birkenau, Poland.

The Flixbus trip from Dresden to Krakow took about 7 hours and was a comfortable enough journey. The cost was 25 Euros each(AUS$87 for two), so it was an efficient and economical way to travel. From the bus station in Krakow to our Airbnb it was a mere 15 minute walk.

Krakow was the fourth of our five cities that we had never been to and would visit after the bike barge ended. The main reason for coming here was to visit Auschwitz-Birkenau WW2 concentration camp. I have previously visited three other such concentration camps in Europe; Dachau in Germany, Malthusian in Austria and The Ninth Fort in Lithuania. Auschwitz-Birkenau though is probably the most infamous of all.

I debated doing the trip by my own means but it is a little tricky so I chose not to and booked a tour the next day.
There are several problems with going to Auschwitz-Birkenau by public transport. Firstly, the train trip to the nearest town, Oswiecim, takes over 90 minutes. Then you have a two kilometre walk to Auschwitz. You can only visit Auschwitz without being in a group before 10am, from 10am onwards only groups with guides, so if you turn up after 10am, you must slot in with a group anyway. Then you have to get from Auschwitz to Birkenau which are 3.5 kilometres apart. There is a free shuttle bus between the two, but that is only every hour. I just felt the whole day was awkward, so I booked a tour on the afternoon we arrived for the next day.

For 42 Euros the tour picked you up, for me that was at a hotel at the end of the street where the Airbnb was, transportation for the day, entry to the camps are free, English speaking guide and return to pick up place. The tour company offered a packed lunch for AUS$8 if you wanted, I never got one, but those that did were not too impressed. 🤷🏻‍♂️ The day is a long one, I was picked up at 10.00am and dropped back in Krakow at 6.15pm.

There were 16 people on our bus and the number went to 24 once we were at Auschwitz for the actual tour of the camp. Our guide was a Polish lady who spoke excellent English and was very passionate in her commentary about the history of the camps.

Auschwitz was a Polish military academy before it became a concentration camp, and it does have that military look about it.

The groups set off about five minutes apart - so there are a lot of people, apparently on weekends in summer you have to book well in advance, there are also lots teenage school groups. The guides try to keep the five minutes spacing between groups and you are constantly stopping and starting, this though was never a problem as the guide was simply a wealth of interesting information about the camps.

You pass under the words ‘Arbeit Macht Frei’ (Work sets you free), as you enter Auschwit, these words are on the entrance to several such camps. Walking under these words is a rather peculiar feeling and it gives you the shivers. The prisoners at Auschwitz made the sign and they made the B in Arbeit upside down, it is bigger at the top than the bottom, this was supposed to have been their subtle act of rebellion.

The tour takes about 90 minutes and weaves in and out of the streets between the barracks, you enter several barracks and view many exhibits.

There are parts where you cannot take photographs and other places where you are to be silent - it is all very tastefully done.

You learn about; the arrival process, the victims, where they were from, why they were there, the punishment, the daily life, the sorting of people on arrival, who went straight to the gas chamber, who worked, you visit the gas chambers, you learn of the medical experiments - you see photos, you see the exhibits of items, you see where things took place - you see the electrified fence, the guard towers, you see a lot.

It is a very sobering and emotional tour.

There is a restaurant and a small shop if you want to buy food items. There is also an Auschwitz/book store.

After the tour, we had 30 minute lunch break. Then back on the bus to Birkenau.

Birkenau is Auschwitz 2. The construction of Birkenau began in October 1941. It was built by prisoners and was built in wood. Birkenau was a large camp, a lot bigger than Auschwitz and held about 90,000 prisoners at its peak.

The train line enters the front of Birkenau and in the middle of the camp the prisoners were unloaded and sorted - anyone who could not work was sent straight to the gas chambers, mostly women, the elderly, the sick and children.

There are no exhibits, photos etc, at Birkenau, you just see the camp. Most of the barracks are flattened and the gas chambers were destroyed and have been left as a pile of rubble - it does though still have that eerie and ominous feel to it. You actually walk a fair way in Birkenau as it is very spread out.

We had the same guide in Birkenau as in Auschwitz, she followed us over, and was once again exceptional in her knowledge and her compassion for the victims. The guide refused tips and said her duty was to keep the memory of those who perished alive. The tour took over an hour in Birkenau.

The tour was compelling and very interesting, the bus trip back to Krakow was quiet, most of the group were lost in their own thoughts.

Di did not do the tour as she felt it would be too emotionally draining for her. If you are in Krakow, or nearby Katowice, then it is a tour I think you should seriously consider taking. The memory of what occurred must be preserved.

02/10/2022

Dresden, Germany.

The third of our five places we had never been to.

From Berlin to Dresden it is an easy two hour train trip. We had a nice, very little, but nice apartment about 15 minutes walk to the ‘old town’ of Dresden.

Dresden is one of the cities that was destroyed towards the end of WW2. At the time Dresden had hundreds of thousands of refugees. It was bombed in February 1945 with incendiary high explosive bombs, which resulted in large fires - the majority of the 25,000 who perished were women and children.

As a result of the WW2 bombing Dresdens’ majestic old town was completely destroyed. A debris removal program started after the war, this debris removal program ended in 1977, such was the destruction of Dresden. The rebuilding of Dresden after the war was slow, due to it being in East Germany and the cost for the socialist government. After reunification in 1990, the rebuild received money from countries like Britain and the rebuild progressed quicker. Many buildings were finally rebuilt in 2005, though some continue today.

We walked along the banks of the River Elbe towards the old town and I must admit it is one of the most imposing of all old towns and really quite the spectacle.

Like most old towns everything revolves around the market square, here you have your church, town hall, business district etc. Most old towns are fortified and have gates to pass through the walls and fortifications. Dresden has all this and does it well. What sets it apart is what is just outside the fortifications. Firstly, the two bridges leading into old town. Secondly, old towns position on the water front. Then incredible buildings like Zwinger Palace, calm down, Zwinger not sw***er!

Zwinger in German means small fortification outside of a larger fortification (that’s my understanding). Now I was really looking forward to this place, and yes it’s stunningly beautiful, but it was being restored and scaffolding and construction was everywhere - I will steal a photo from cyber space and show how it should look, then show how it did look, ahh travel can be such a heart breaker!!

Then there is the Furstenzug, which is a large mural painted on the city wall. It was painted in 1871, but was replaced by porcelain tiles in 1907 to make it weatherproof. It depicts the progression of dukes and kings of Saxony from 1127 to 1904. At 102 metres long, it is the largest porcelain artwork in the world.

Dresden is famous for its Christmas markets, whilst we were there there were markets in the old town market square each day. I saw many market stalls saying they had ‘the best currywurst in the world’, so I had to try this. I was disappointed, a sausage in thick tomato sauce with curry powder sprinkled on top - ok I have tried it.

Dresden is really the case of the ‘old’ being by the new, as around old town are some very modern large malls and shopping arcades.

We then walked about two kilometres from the market square to The Grand Garden Palace. You can catch a tram, but the walk is pretty good. When you enter the Garden Palace grounds you literally have a 1.5 kilometre walk along a tree lined path to the palace. With each step the palace, in the far distance, slowly gets bigger, and then it opens up into the large palace and garden. The tram takes you to a shorter side entrance. Built in the 17th century, the palace is now used for art and theatre events.

The weather was not kind to us again, and the second day, in particular, was cold, windy and wet, but that did not dampen our two full days in Dresden, it is well worth a visit.

The next morning we headed to Krakow, in Poland. There was no direct train so we returned to the ever reliable Flixbus. The one bus each day for Krakow departed at 6.25am. The bus departs from the main train station - standing in the dark waiting for a bus outside the main train station allows for a viewing of Dresdens’ more seedy and colourful characters to parade by - interesting, but we survived. Bus takes seven hours to Krakow.

The adventure continues 🙏🥂

30/09/2022

Potsdam and Charlottenburg.

Our go to train from Potsdam to Berlin was the S7, one of the stops along the route to Berlin, was at Charlottenburg. Charlottenburg is a very nice little town and it has a very lavish palace, our first stop for the day was to visit the palace.

Simple plans often have simple mistakes, and we were to make some big mistakes this day - you book a time online to see Charlottenburg Palace and pay 14 Euros each, the idea for the online booking is that large clumps of tourists do not arrive at the same time, causing tourist sightseeing rage. Personally I like this idea.

The tram to the train station in Potsdam takes 20 minutes, catch the train, train takes 15 minutes to Charlottenburg, then underground and walk to palace takes 20 minutes - we gave ourselves 90 minutes to make our allocated time at the palace - plenty of time!!!

Caught the tram no problems - arrived at the train station and S7 was leaving in 2 minutes - we ran, get to platform just as whistle for train sounds, on we jump, off goes the train - perfect timing - but!!! After ten minutes we realised the train had diverted off its usual direction - we then realised in our haste, we had caught the S1, that had not left the platform and the S7 we wanted was arriving after the S1 departed - we were on the wrong train!!!!! 🙄We never used to make these mistakes - well not often!!!

Okay, so we get off the train, catch S1 back, get off train at familiar station and wait for S7 - now it felt like an Amazing Race episode and we were coming last. 11.10am was our scheduled time at the Palace, the S7 train we were on eventually arrived at Charlottenburg station at 10.59am. Race to Underground, then on to platform to catch U2 - which train is going in the correct direction? Now transport tickets are not a problem, as we bought a 10 Euro 24 hour ticket for all local transport in Berlin and greater Berlin. So we just had to jump on one, and, ……. We chose wisely, it was the one headed in the direction of the palace - phew, but on exiting the underground, we had an 800 metre walk - Di has these lovely long sprinters legs and gracefully lopes along, me, I have short stumpy legs that takes three steps to her one long graceful stride - my little legs are pumping whilst she glided along!

We arrived at the palace at 11.33am, late, Di had already said she would start crying if there was an issue with us being late and an older woman crying is ‘universal sympathy’! But, the guy at the palace entrance just said ticket and scanned us in - 11.10am booking is just a guide, no problems!!! I had to sit and catch my breath and rest my weary little legs!!

The palace is lovely, but not as good as Versailles in France, which it is based on. Charlottenburg Palace was built in 1793, it was substantially destroyed during WW2 and has been completely restored.

It has extensive gardens surrounding it, with a large courtyard at the front which was used for ceremonies and parades. It took about 90 minutes to walk through and view the exhibits in each of the rooms. Well worth the visit, but be on time. 😂

The walk back to the underground and S7 train to Potsdam was very comfortable and smooth.

Potsdam is the capital of the German state of Brandenburg. It was also where the German Kaiser and Prussian Kings lived until the end of WW1 in 1918.

Potsdam played a significant role in WW2, as it was here that the leaders of USA, Britain and USSR met to divide up Germany at the end of the war in 1945.

A short walk from the train station over the bridge and you arrive at a very beautiful market square, cathedral, museums, one of the oldest film studios in the world - it really is special - sadly, right amongst it they are building some unit blocks and it does look like it is spoiling the area, I guess we will just have to wait until we they are finished to judge.

We then walked to Nauener Gate, the old city gates, and had a unique lunch under the gates arch: we had French Pizza with prawns and a German pancake with egg, potatoes and bacon - washed down with a lovely beer, or two - very nice indeed.

We then stopped off at the town hall, and then made one of the biggest mistakes of our travels, …… we went back to the apartment - a huge mistake, we missed out on the very beautiful Sanssoucci garden and Palace!!!!!! This was one of the reasons we were in Potsdam in the first place, we totally forgot about!!!

So please google Sanssoucci Palace in Potsdam, make sure one day you come here and actually go there, as I am sure you will not be disappointed as we are right now!!! I think my little legs were tired and infected my brain, or I had a very big seniors moment - I cannot believe we forgot to go to Sanssoucci Palace!!!!! ☹️

Even though we missed the main attraction of Potsdam, we still loved the place and it’s a great cheaper option than staying in Berlin. The trains to Berlin are frequent and reasonably priced.

Okay, we will return to Potsdam one day and I would like to see more of Berlin, our three nights and two full days were nowhere near long enough here - to do it justice, give yourself a week…… and go to Sanssoucci Gardens and Palace 😭

The next day we set off by train to Dresden.

The adventure continues. 🥂

Address

Website

http://www.meanderingwanderers.com/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when The Meandering Wanderers posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.