Brussels 2008 – The Long Hot Walk

Arriving in Brussels by train, one of the first things we spotted in the distance was the Atomium. We didn’t even need to consult each other, we both knew instantly that this would be on our list of things to do.

It’s interesting that I remember it this way, because you’d think that the Atomium would already be on the list of things to do?? no?? so maybe seeing it from the train like that just confirmed to us that we would definitely go, and not drop it from the list… I forget.

I am not sure who’s idea it was to walk to the Atomium from our hotel – probably mine, and how we ever found it was a miracle because the map my Lonely Planet guide was the WORST map possible to follow.

Well, then again, in all fairness, the map was of Greater Brussels and I don’t think the authors ever thought that anyone would ever actually WALK all the way! Providing an accurate map of an area so far removed from the city centre was probably never seen as a priority.

So why did we use it? Well, we’re stupid I guess!! We didn’t realise that this map was a simplified map that showed only the major roads (not even labelled with the street names) and closest metro stop. When I saw the map, instead of realising this fact, I thought: This is easy! look! only a few roads and we are bound to see it when we get close.

UUUUGGGHHH no. Didn’t quite work out that way.

We set out from our hotel around 8AM and started with a visit of the Basilique Nationale du Sacré Coeur on the way, hard not to stop when you see this in the distance! It was humongous.

It kept us well motivated too because from the viewing platform, we got a glimpse of the Atomium in the distance.

Why it didn’t hit us then that there were way more streets in reality then on the map? no idea.

The walk up until then was fine, but after visiting the Basilica, we got SO LOST! And it was SOOOO  HOT!

My husband and I have spent a lot of time studying maps of the area since then, seeing if we can determine just were we walked.

We know how we got to the Basilica, that part was easy (6km)

But the 2nd half of the trek, from the Basilica to the Atomium is an educated guess. We are fairly certain we followed this path, but would not swear to it:

That roughly another 5½km. I remember huffing and puffing up hill in the blazing sun, my husband sweating profusely, thankfully we found benches so we could stop and rest.  Eventually, I spotted a map at a bus stop. GREAT! except… where the Hell were we on the map??? No idea. No one around to ask. No glimpse of the Atomium in any direction.

We finally found it around lunch time. It emerged like a vision through the trees!

Boy was I ever PISSED when I discovered there was no restaurant in the Atomium! Just a cafeteria! GRRR  after that journey, I was ready for table service and cloth napkins!

After our visit, we went next door to Mini Europe and had lunch there. It was crazy-disappointing!! So anti-climactic after that journey!

Budapest 2009 – The Hot Walk

On vacation we are on our feet all day.  We love walking and sometimes skip public transportation on purpose to walk to our destination, enjoying all the sites along the way.

That is when the weather cooperates! We don’t like heat so if the sun comes out, so do our bus passes!

Heat ruins the fun because by the time we get to wherever we were heading, we are so sweaty and hot and grumpy that all we want to do is find shade! Ironically, we end up missing out.

Case in point: Our walk to Hero’s Square in Budapest.

The plan for the day was:

• Tour of the Parliament Building
• Check out the Ginormo Church (really the Basilica of St Stephen, but it was so huge I gave it a new name)
• Walk to Hero’s Square

Great morning! The tour of the parliament building was fantastic… and gorgeous!

 

And then onto the Ginormo Church (Basilica of St Stephen) to see “The Holy Right”, the 1000 year old mummified right fist of the Saint-King Stephen.

It’s kept in a very dark room and you have to pay to see it. I think it was something like 200 Forints (1$) for 5 minutes. You drop the coin in the box and it lights up the hand.

Here’s our blurry shot of the Reliquary, you can kind of make out the fist near the top…

 

And then, the walk to Hero’s Square. Straight as an arrow down Andrassy Street – a little over 2km.

It started off as a great walk, but it was getting hotter and hotter and we were fading fast! There was NO SHADE!

We saw the Opera House:

and many more beautiful buildings like this one.

The architecture is a lot like what you would expect to see in Vienna but a little more run-down. Still very beautiful!

And look at these 2 buildings, one dirty and one clean.. neat!

We were melting, so we stopped at Müvész Café to finally try Hungary’s Famous Dobos Cake and hide from the heat!

I love LOOOVE these types of old cafés that remind me “La Belle Époque”

I didn’t like the cake AT ALL! bleh – not for me!!! I thought it was gross.

yes, I know my husband is not very appropriately dressed!! HA HA HA but the place was pretty empty so who cares! And we were SO HOT! I had a tank top on under that jacket and just covered up for the picture.

Leaving the café and continuing down Andrassy Street, we became less and less interested in the sights. Actually, we didn’t care anymore! All we wanted was shade and there was NONE

When we finally made it to Hero’s Square (essentially, a large open square with ZERO shade), we couldn’t have cared less!!! we were just cranky and grumbling.

We got less than 5 decent pictures, NONE from the angles I wanted, NONE of the images I wanted to capture, we just clicked and split.

I’m still annoyed that I don’t have “nice blue sky” shot to replace this one I took in 2002 (before I met my husband)

Croatia 2008

I am not sure whether Dubrovnik rates as an “Amazing Sight” or a “Great Destination” since the destination IS the sight. What does that even mean? You go to Paris to see the Eiffel Tower. You go to Berlin to see the Brandenburg gate (things). You go to Dubrovnik to see The Adriatic and Explore the Dalmatian Coast (places).

I wasn’t all that impressed with Dubrovnik when I was there, it’s the memories and the pictures that have elevated it’s status in my mind over the years, and the more time passes, the more I remember it fondly.

The screen saver on my computer is a random slide slow of my vacation pictures, and every time a shot of Dubrovnik comes up, I think: WOW that was nice.

Dubrovnik was the last 3 nights of a 2-week vacation in 2008 that included: Copenhagen, Milan, Monza Grand Prix, Venice, Zagreb and finally Dubrovnik. So perhaps I wasn’t blown away with it at the time because I was just plain old tired. Also, Dubrovnik is CRAZY touristy. Wall to wall tourists and shopping and I don’t particularly like that.

Arriving in Dubrovnik was easy, we flew in from Zagreb, only 1 hour away.  I don’t remember why we didn’t take public transportation to our hotel from the airport…  we just jumped in a cab.

Our Hotel, HOTEL LERO, was very nice. We were comfortable and if you craned your neck, you could see the Adriatic when stepping out the door.

From the hotel, we would walk to the old town.  Took about 30 minutes or so. There was a bus, but we never bothered because it was easy to walk to… except for the first day! HA HA HA we were too busy talking and looking around, that we missed the turn we were supposed to take and ended up on a higher road looking out over the old town (yellow path) instead of the road that would lead us straight in (red path).

You can’t tell from that picture that it’s on the side of a hill so the yellow path is higher then red one.  Turns out our wrong turn gave us some great views!

We had to walk down to get back to the “red path” and into the old town.

The Old Town was very nice, but the highlight of Dubrovnik for me were the views out from Dubrovnik of The Adriatic Sea, and exploring the Dalmatian Coast with excursions to Ston, Korčula and the Elafiti Islands (Koločep, Lopud and Šipan)

Just look at the colour of the water! It’s incredible!

And could you have a bad lunch with a view like this?

The old town was nice, but you can cover it all in 2 hours so -  it’s the excursions that really complete the trip.

We went on 2 excursions in 2 days. One was to Korčula with stops in Ston and Mali Ston, and ended up with a WEIRD (but very friendly nonetheless) bunch of English Tourists. It was my husband and I, the driver/guide, and 6 of them travelling together.

I signed up for this excursion at the tourist office after reading the brochure. Included was the transportation, a stop in Ston to see the walls & a guided tour of Korčula (which you get to by boat). We would stay in Korčula long enough for lunch, then on the way back, stop in Mali Ston where we would have a chance to sample the oysters – apparently the best on Earth. Great! Let’s go!

For those of you who have taken these types of guided tours / day excursions, you will know that they pick you up in a van or mini bus at your hotel. On this day, we were all piled into a van with 3 benches that would sit 3 people each, including the driver / guide.  The English Tourists had been picked up already and they sat in the back 2 benches, so my husband and I sat in the front bench with the driver / guide.

He was a character! We liked him. (We chatted him up later on in the day and discovered that he had been a engineer in France and fell upon hard times).  At the start of the trip, when we were all on the van, he greeted us all in a few languages. I forget exactly who said what, but it came up that my husband and I spoke French and we exchanged a few pleasantries with the driver /guide who also spoke French and that was that.

When we arrived in Ston, our first stop, one of the English ladies came over to me and with an apologetic tone, asked me if I minded if we conducted the tour in English. I suppose it was nice of her to asked if I minded, but I felt bad that she thought I wanted it in French…  which I didn’t. It was an awkward moment.

After our short stop in Ston, it was off to Korčula. Another beautiful yet CRAZY TOURISTY place. After getting off the boat, our guide led us to the area just outside the main gate and then gave us suggestions for how to spend our time. He also asked if we wanted a tour. The English people didn’t look interested, but I piped up and said: I would very much like a tour since we did pay for it after all! They looked at me like I had 2 heads. One woman asked me what I meant and I told her that the price we paid for this day trip included a guided tour of Korčula. She was shocked, she really had no idea! Didn’t she read the brochure BEFORE paying? They took the tour.

Lunch was one of the best vacation lunches ever. Not because of the food, I have no idea what I ate anymore, but for the atmosphere. (By this time we had parted ways with the rest of the group, no idea what they did for lunch).

How nice is this! outside, next to the water, under the trees? AHHHHH 

Next was a brief stop a the the Dingač Winery, which looked like a DUMP! UGH would not have bought anything even if I could! (can’t because it’s too complicated to bring home) If you wanted to buy wine, they would offer to fill it up in a large plastic pop bottles. The English group bought two.

Our last stop before getting back to Dubrovnik, was in Mali Ston. Remember in the brochure, it said we would get the chance to try the world-famous oysters and seafood here. I have never had oysters before, but I was game to try at least ONE, especially if I am in the place where the best ones in the world are from!!

We were brought to a restaurant that I have seen a few times on TV, where all the travel shows are filmed…. and that’s when the English people decided they didn’t want to eat. WHAT! come on!!!!!!  I was pissed. They were so fussy and didn’t want anything to do with the place. It was nice, clean!!! what the Hell!!

So now what! we (my husband and I) couldn’t just sit down and have a full meal while these guys waited for us outside, there is nothing else to do in Mali Ston!

I suggested they have a coffee or something, but they just turned their noses up at the idea.

So, we just had a few oysters and that was it. I tried one and it was just ok. I drowned it in lemon and it was gross to chew it. My husband had 6 and loved them – he said he could have had lots more.

The guide told us to stay, sit, relax, have more, order some wine…  but with the others standing around waiting for us to finish, I felt rushed and pressured.

In the van, on the way back from Mali Ston, I made a point of mentioning what a TREAT it was to try some local food, and a delicacy too! since we are here on VACATION and probably will never be back to Mali Ston in all our LIVES so I jumped at the chance to TRY SOMETHING NEW.

HINT HINT!!!! GRRRRR  bunch of babies!

However, I am glad I had the chance to go! At least my husband and I made the most of it!