The fabulous trip to the Balaton

Monday 24th of June:

After we had a week with at least 35 degrees, we decided to relax and go for a swim at the famous lake Balaton (the biggest inland lake in continental europe) before we head of to Belgrade. So we took a traditional last picture before the departure early in the morning at the metro station. By the way: Budapest has not only the second biggest parliament in Europe but also the second oldest metro.

Because we didn`t want to loose too much time enjoing the sun, we took a train for four Euros:

After two hours we arrived in Siofok and it startet to rain like cats and dogs immediatly. Hans didn`t like that:

The city was rather empty, there were no Langos and the best thing to do was to eat some spaghetti:

Then we really wanted to see the famous lake. We stayed there for 30 seconds and decided to go back to Budapest:

On our way back home we entertained the train with some wicked guitar sounds:

The Balaton from the train:

We stayed a last night at Davids flat and ended up doing the same things as always:

Next stop Belgrade….. the Balkan is calling!!

Budapest

On our second day in Budapest we moved from the camping place to Tom, the only couchsurfer who replied to our emergency request. After we spent a couple of hours for couch requests for Belgrade and writing the blog we had some beers with him and another couchsurfer from the UK.

After the second night we moved to Davids flat. He is a guy Tobias met when he was in Rome. He was a great city guide and a awesome host. He showed us around the city and we also met some of his friends. Thanks to David we had a marvelous time.

The next two nights we stayed at his flat and explored the nightlife of Budapest.

So we saw a great brass band in a club on a ship at the Danube. There we met some wicked dancers, who partied hard. After a while, we recognized that they are Germans too.

After the concert and before we went to the next party:

The next day we saw a exhibition of photographs from Helmut Newton :

Then we did some sightseeing and were impressed by the beauty of the city:

Especially at night the view over the Danube is just amazing:

Next stop Balaton……. coming soon

From Krakow to Budapest

19.06.2013 After three nights in Krakow we continued our trip towards Budapest. Last picture in Krakow at Tomasz‘ flat:

And again we didn’t manage to get up early so we started our trip around 4 pm. We waited a while to come out of the city. Maybe our spot was not perfect but nevertheless quite exciting:

After three hours we arrived in the very south of Poland. Between Krakow and Budapest there is no highway, so we had to take the E 77 for the whole time, which goes through a couple of villages and cities. So we couldn’t wait on motorway service areas and had to do it the oldschool way:

From there we went to Slovakia. We arrived at a small petrol station directly behind the border around 9 pm. There we met two other hitchhikers, who were also stocked at that place. We decided to use our brand new tent for the first time. When we wrote to Tomasz that we are going to sleep in the slovakian forest, he replied with this message: „Do not let bears eat you :)“ which increased our excitement.

We built up our tent in the darkness in the middle of approximatly one million moskitos. Especially Tobias had a big and nasty fight with them, which he unfortunatly lost:

Here are some pictures from the day after:

Tobias is brushing his teeth:

Hans instead starts the day with the rock’n roll breakfast:

After two hours of waiting in the burning sun, we finally got a ride towards Budapest:

But after a while we had to wait again for another lift in the middle of nowhere:

During the trip we got compensated by the beautiful landscape of Slovakia:

Budapest welcomed us with a lovely sunset:

After 10 hours of hitchhiking we finally arrived in Budapest:

And three hours later we found ourerselves here:

Lee, the nice guy on the right side offered us his company taxi for our way to the Camping place. So thanks a lot to Lee and Samsung 🙂

After a long day and some problems to find a place to crash, because our couchsurfing host canceld last minute, we decided to sleep at a biker camping place near the city centre where we ended the long day in a relaxed way 🙂

Auschwitz

On the second day in Krakow, we decided to go to Auschwitz/Birkenau, which is just 70 km away from Krakow. We didn’t manage to get up early so we arrived quite late, what actually was a big advantage, because there were no guided tours anymore and the bulk of tourist were already gone. That’s why we had the possibility to see the camp in quietness.

Even though we felt quite well informed about the holocoust, it was a very special impression to see the place where so many people suffered. About 1.1 million people died there because of starving, torture and murder. It is hard to discribe what you feel at this place, but we would recommend to everybody who has the chance to visit Auschwitz as well.

On the walls there were hundreds or maybe thousands of portraits from the prisoners. The most of them stayed in Auschwitz just for a couple of weeks until they died. It was very depressing to look into their faces and see their fear and their harm. But sometimes there was still a rest of pride in their eyes.

Birkenau is just one kilometer away from Auschwitz. It is less touristic but almost more impressive, because it’s much bigger and you get an idea about the dimensions of this mass murder.

Krakow

16.06.2013: After six hours of hitchhiking we easily arrived in Krakov. We didn’t have to wait at all for drivers who were willing to pick us up, so everythink just went smoothly.

Thanks so much to Tomasz our host in Krakow:

17.06.2013: At the first day we did some sightseeing in Krakow and had some quality time beside the vistula (Weichsel):

 

 

17.06.2013: On our trip to Auschwitz we hitchhiked with a super niced couple, who also gave us a ride back to Krakow and showed us a beautiful lake, where we hung around for a while. Thanks so much to Monika and Bartek!

We would like to introduce you Winston (Churchill) who became a really good travel buddy for us:

Also at night we spend some time with Monika and Bartek and some friends of them beside the Vistula but before we hung around with Bartek at his flat, watched youtube videos and had some discussions about Metallica and so on…….

 

After a long night on our way back home we made a last tourist picture in front of the castle.

Thanks to Tomasz we had two bikes to discover the city, which made our time there really pleasant.

Before departure

That is the plan:

We will see what will happen………… everything is possible and we are almost ready to start.

The horse is in the stable.