In which I do a lot of walking, get an unwelcome fine, and marinade in various bodies of water.
Day 29, 2nd October 2023: Budapest
I’d booked onto a walking tour in the morning, so I headed out in time to hunt out a delicious flat white at a place called Tamp and Pull just round the corner from my hostel, then played pastry roulette at the supermarket bakery section.
The tour group was one of the largest I’d been on, maybe about 30 people, but I ended up next to a Dutch girl, Anna, who just happened to be at my hostel too. The tour started with a whirlwind overview of Hungarian history, and I was surprised to learn that Hungary had spent most of its time as a component part of other empires or regimes, and hasn’t actually been an independent country for long. We then went round the key locations in central Budapest.
After getting some food recommendations from our guide, me and my new hostel friend headed out to the Jewish district to Getto Gulyas, and both got the chicken paprikas with nokedli. It was absolutely delicious, but an absolutely huge portion for lunch! We definitely needed a bit more walking, so we walked back to the hostel via the Great Market Hall, which was an enormous building with grocery stalls on the ground floor and food stalls and souvenir shops on the first floor. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen so many tacky souvenirs concentrated in one place!
We then headed back to the hostel and booked a river cruise in the evening. I had a few hours to fill until then so I booked some hostels for my onward travel, then headed back out into the city. I’d intended to visit the cave church at Gellert but it was shut due to mass, so instead I walked up the maze of paths to the monument at the top of the hill. It was also closed for repair works, but I managed to squeeze around the barriers to get the views, which were definitely worth it!
It was then back to the hostel once more to shower, change and meet up with Anna. We picked up a picnic selection from the shop, then sat by the river to tuck in and watch the sunset. We boarded the boat at 7.45 and managed to bag some window seats. It was an audio tour and peak tourist levels, but the commentary was good and the views of the city at night were absolutely stunning.
Day 30, 3rd October 2023: Budapest
I left the hostel around 8.30 and headed to the Fisherman’s Gate, as it was one of the old fortifications on the Buda side of the city and Anna had recommended it to me. The 1200 HF ticket only let you onto the walls and there weren’t many information boards, which was a bit disappointing. The views across the city were lovely, although it did feel like I was interrupting quite a lot of photoshoots! I’ve already seen a lot of churches on this trip so I didn’t pay the extra to go into the Matthias Church, although the tiled roof was beautiful.
I then walked over to the Terror Museum in the east of the city, which was the headquarters of both the Nazis and the Hungarian police during the communist regime. I had no real knowledge of what had gone on in Hungary in these times and it laid bare the horrific things that happened both in the gulags and in the cities and everyday life.
It felt a bit bizarre to come out into the brilliant sunshine, but I met up with Anna again and we headed to a small indoor market to try some langos. I went for the classic garlic, sour cream and cheese and it was enormous! It is sort of like a savoury doughnut has had a child with a pizza, and we ate them sat in a lovely small park around the corner.
We then got on the metro to go to the Szechenyi Baths, although when I couldn’t find a ticket machine at the station I made the wrong assumption that I’d be able to buy one at the other end. One 12000 HF fine later, I learnt that on this particular line the ticket machines were on the pavement outside the stations – oops!
I soon cheered up once we got to the baths, which comprised two outdoor pools (at 30 and 38 degrees respectively) and lots of smaller indoor ones. It felt quite good to swap between the 20 and 40 degree plunge pools – once the full body tingling had subsided! We managed to away a whole afternoon wallowing in the pools, sitting in the sun and people watching. I couldn’t believe how relaxed I felt afterwards, and it was a great antidote to all the city walking I’d been doing recently.
We then went and got some noodles, before ticking off another food to try while in Budapest, the chimney cake. Though the ice cream filled ones are definitely catered more towards tourists, it turns out that one filled with chocolate and pistachio gelato is an absolute delight!
Day 31, 4th October 2023: Budapest to Ljubljana
My train to Ljubljana was at 9am and was the only direct one of the day, so I was up nice and early to pack up and head to the shop to stock up on baked goods for the journey. I’d assumed I’d be getting the train from the same station I arrived at, but it turns out I actually needed to be at the Kelenfold Station in the west of the city, and not in the direction I was heading in. One slightly mad dash later, I was in the right place and was soon on the train.
The train was something from the 1960s, but it wasn’t very busy so for most of the journey I got the compartment to myself. The seats were comfortable but boy did the journey feel long! The scenery in Hungary was pretty flat and uninteresting,and we stopped at quite a few small towns that seemed to be little more than a station with one platform and lots of derelict buildings. Things improved once we got into Slovenia, and for some of it the train tracks followed the route of a lovely bright blue river in a small gorge.
We finally chugged into Ljubljana at about 5.30pm and I felt quite groggy, maybe because I’d sat down all day and not done my usual 20,000 steps! I checked into the hostel, put my sheets on and then forced myself to head back out for a wander round the town. Ljubljana seemed quite small, especially coming from Budapest, and I felt like I’d walked around most of it in about an hour.
I was in desperate need of some food that wasn’t completely beige, so I ended up at a place called Abi Falafel which had an overwhelmingly long menu. I finally settled on some lamb kofte-type things with a mountain of hummus and salads. Feeling revived, I went back to the hostel, chatted with my new roomates and rolled into my incredibly squeaky bunk.
Day 32, 5th October 2023: Ljubljana to Bled
I must have been completely wiped out last night because it appeared I’d slept soundly through a rough one. I’d been worried about waking people up by rolling over on my squeaky bed, yet apparently the man above me had been snoring so loudly that a full argument had occurred without me knowing!
I popped out to pick up a granola bowl and some snacks from the supermarket, ate my breakfast back at the hostel and then packed up my bag again to head to Bled. My bus was at 11am and got to Bled at 12.15, but I was able to check into the hostel early and bag a bunk.
On the recommendation of the guy behind the desk, I then headed out to the Vintgar Gorge which was about half an hour’s walk away. It was 10 euro to get in, which might have put me off going if I’d known about it but was actually well worth it. I’d never seen such crystal clear turquoise water before, which you looked down on from boardwalks bolted to the side of the gorge. I walked back to Bled via Zasip and St Katarina’s Church.
I still had most of the afternoon, so I made the most of my time by doing a circuit of Lake Bled. The lake felt quite sanitised and touristy, with lots of cordons to stay off the grass, but it was still nice to see the castle and church on the island from all angles. At the western end I also went up a steep hill to the viewpoint at Mala Osojnica, which was well worth it for the view. As a last hurrah, I went to another viewpoint by the castle, then picked up some soup from the shop and went back to the hostel to tuck in.
Day 33, 6th October 2023: Bohinj
I got up relatively early and picked up some breakfast and lunch from the shop, then went to the bus stop to head to Lake Bohinj for the day. When I arrived in the village of Bohinj the lake was completely shrouded in thick fog, giving it quite an autumnal Scottish feel. The walk along the lakeside was much more pleasant than Bled, and by the time I got to Ukanc at the other end of the lake the fog had mostly burnt off and the sun was coming out.
From Ukanc, I turned off the lakeside trail and headed up to the Slap Savica waterfall, which had a 3 euro entrance fee. Again, it was completely worth it as it was a truly beautiful cascade. Back at the lakeside, I kept walking until I found a perfect little private beach. I took the opportunity to go for a swim, although the slippery rocks did make getting in and out slightly less than graceful! It was a lovely spot with the mountains reflecting on the lake, and I managed to do most of my drying off in the sun.
I then carried on around the lake to the Korita Mostnice, which was another limestone gorge with a trail running alongside it. Because it was out of season the entrance hut was closed, so I managed to get in for free. It wasn’t a particularly long route but it was very scenic. In some places the gorge was very deep and narrow and in others was spread out into flowing pools, and again the colour of the water was amazing. The surrounding birch woods were just starting to show the first signs of autumn.
I headed back to the bus stop and went back to Bled at about 5pm, already making plans to revisit Slovenia another time. I booked some more hostels, then spent the rest of the evening eating and drinking in the communal kitchen with the lively crowd that was there.
Day 34, 7th October 2023: Bled to Ljubljana
I’d intended on doing a little walk to a viewpoint in the morning, but instead I ended up sat on a sunny lakeside bench doing some journaling watching the rowers doing their early morning training. At 11.30 I got the bus back to Ljubljana and checked in at my hostel, which was above a slightly bizarre England/football themed pub.
It was much brighter weather than when I was here a few days ago, so I went for another walk around the town. It was a quick walk up to the castle, which had good views over the city and across to the mountains.
There wasn’t much else to do which didn’t include eating or drinking, so I made the 45 minute walk to the Boulder Scena climbing wall, which was surprisingly quiet for a weekend. There was a huge bouldering area with loads of wall angles, including a really cool inner wall within an island. The setting was quite hard but really interesting, but there were quite a few routes I surprised myself on. I was all climbed out by 6, so I headed back to town via the supermarket for dinner. Unfortunately the hostel only had a microwave and a tiny table as a kitchen, so I ate and then chilled reading in bed for the rest of the evening.
Day 35, 8th October 2023: Ljubljana to Florence
I had assumed that I’d booked a bus to Venice station (as there isn’t a direct rail link to Italy from Slovenia), but it was actually just a large taxi that had me, four Americans and the driver’s daughter in. As such, we set off early and tanked it down the motorway, arriving at Venice Maestro an hour early.
I’d been cautious about the transfer and booked my next train at 12.30, so I had two hours to kill journalling, reading, podcasting and snacking.
I pulled into a much hotter Florence at 2.40 and got to my hostel at check in time, so I managed to bag a bottom bunk by the window. The hostel looked like a repurposed 1970s hotel, and even had a pool in the outdoor courtyard!
I did a spot of washing, then headed out to explore town after the worst of the heat had subsided slightly.
I’d seen photos of the cathedral, but I wasn’t quite prepared for how incredible it looked in real life, with all the intricate carvings and different colours of marble. I also wasn’t quite prepared for how busy it was, which was probably exacerbated by there not being many pedestrianised streets.
I did the usual semi-aimless wandering and took a roundabout route to go to Michaelangelo Piazza to watch the sunset. It was also very crowded, but the view across the city was panoramic and really beautiful, especially in the fading light.
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