Travelled very comfortably south from Vienna on the intercity (IC) train. A picturesque trip through the mountains. Stopped just over the border in Maribor, second largest city in Slovenia.

Besides three and a half hours on the train being enough, I wanted to stop here to pay homage to the oldest producing grapevine in the world, reckoned to be around 450 years old.

My guide book says that the town is “embraced in its wine growing hills”. I would have said it was squeezed between the Drava river and the foothills. Here in the early morning river mist.

But it is certainly true that the city stops and the vines begin.

In a few hours I have left Beer country and re-entered wine country.

My guide at the regional museum told me that this is one of the oldest wine growing regions in the world and that the Romans learned wine making here and took the knowledge to France, Spain, etc. The ones I tried are pretty good. Characteristically light and bright with fruit.

Surprisingly small, the city has a nice old town.

There are some very large restaurants in the old town, quiet now off season, but I expect full of tourists setting outdoors in the summer.

Unfortunately, like many towns in the world today, while the mall is crowded with shoppers

the downtown is not prospering and has too many shuttered store fronts and gritty avenues. But I am sure that summer sunshine and good low cost food and wine would gloss over much of this.

The old town is full of students, (all) night and day, providing a rollicking, lively ambiance.

They have some nice buildings,

A good regional museum in the old castle,

And a beautiful city park.

I have written more than once this fall about the turbulent and bloody history of the Balkans. Mostly about ancient armies clashing in the distant past. Surely Maribor had those, siege by the Turks, etc. etc. But this town has also endured ongoing tragedies just over the past 100 years.

This was a predominantly German city up until WWI.

But during that war the Austrian/Germans rounded up Slovenes and put them into detention. The resentment that built up prompted the Slovenes after the war to “persuade” the German population to leave the city.

Then in 1941 the Nazis swept in. I took this picture from the spot on the old bridge where Hitler stood and declared that the region would once again be German.

So throughout WWII Slovenes were rounded up for slave labor and death camps. The Nazis converted the heavy industry here into armament manufacture, and so the Allies targeted it with repeated air attacks. Maribor has the distinction of being the most bombed city in Yugoslavia.

After the war ended the Yugoslav army rounded up the collaborators, the “home guard” and their families and deposited them into mass graves around the city.

And so I really hope for those rollicking students in the old town to bring about a better future for this place.

Tomorrow I continue south to the “pint sized capital of Slovenia”: Ljubljana.

 

 

Vienna is a gorgeous city with the wealth of centuries on display.

The home of Empires: the Babenberg, the Habsburgs, the Holy Roman Empire, the Austrian Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

This is the wealthiest city in the world and every year called the first or second world city with the best quality of life. From the humblest to the richest of goods for sale in the city all are top quality and top price.

The traditional European home of music and art.

The entire old town is now a UNESCO world heritage site.

Saint Steven’s Cathedral, parts dating from the 1200’s, is the symbol of the city.

Magnificent buildings, palaces, churches are literally on every corner and I could fill many blogs with pictures of them.

 

If you visit here please be sure to tour the Hofburg Castle, home to the Habsburg family for 600 years.

There are countless restaurants here, of course. Here are some fun food shots taken while walking around.  I could have shot hundreds.

A Vienna story. When the second Turkish siege of Vienna was lifted by the Polish army in 1687, the Turks left behind hundreds of bags of coffee. The enterprising Viennese used them to set up the first coffee houses. Their patrons did not like the grounds in their coffee typical of the Turkish brew and so they invented filter coffee.

Gyor was the Celtic city of Arrabona when it fell to the Romans. Three rivers meet here, a historically strategic position in the Carpathian plains. Looking at a map you can see all of the old roads radiating out from the city. The town has been fought over and occupied by practically everyone. The Celts, Romans, Magyars, Turks, Habsburgs. Napoleon’s troops retreating from Russia blew up the remaining bits of the fortifications.

I love the rolling sound of the name of the region: Northern Transdanubia.

There is a nice, not too large and not too prosperous pedestrian only old town. With a variety of buildings dating over the past thousand years.

We journeyed to visit a working Benedictine Abbey that has occupied a high point of ground for those thousand years. A stopover point in the first crusade. Now a UNESCO world heritage site.

The 400,000 volume library was remarkable, but the Basilica newly renovated.

Back in Gyor on a rainy Sunday we visited churches in the old town and I photographed their surprisingly dis-similar interiors.

This is our last day in Hungary. We take the train up to Vienna Austria tomorrow.

Returned to Budapest. This time for a leisurely stay in the company of CAMarchand.

 

 

It would have been easy to enjoy many cities with the weather we have had this week: sunshine and the 60’s. But Budapest is a grand and delightful city and we have been out every day enjoying it.

 

 

The city straddles the Danube, the longest river in the EC and a traditional border of the Roman Empire.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The town of Buda sits on a narrow, low hill on the West side.

 

 

 

 

The castle of the Magyar’s, dating from the 1200s broods up over Pest, across the river.

The castle stands on the ruins of a number of earlier fortifications. The Habsburgs were in residence for about 150 years. The entire town has been repeatedly destroyed by the Turks, the Christians, and most recently when the Germans, on Hitler’s orders, fought to the last with the Red army. Walking around Buda I wonder if the ground itself contains a cacophony of bits of the DNA from the blood of so many armies from Asia, the Middle East and Europe. Likewise the people.

Today it has been (once again) rebuilt/restored and it is beautiful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Across the river the old town of Pest has a fine area of pedestrian only streets. And here in a warm November there are plenty of people about.

The Americans have established fast food beach-heads in Pest.

But mostly there are many many restaurants serving what seems to me to be the same “traditional Hungarian dishes”. Although I suppose the tourists like this, I have learned to avoid them, and frequent the plentiful Italian and French restaurants.

There is a nice central market to enjoy a stroll through.

And a truly excellent National History Museum.

Some more “Grand Budapest” photos;

A “lest we forget” section;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And some unusually styled photos to enjoy.

Bonus:  A (repeat) travel tip. Hotel laundry charges are one of the biggest rip-offs in the world   Our hotel charges $6.36 to launder one pair of shorts. Having built up a load of laundry needing processing, (all darks so one load), we locate a nearby laundry using “maps”. There the proprietor runs the washer and drier while we walk about .. and charges us $5.50 for the entire load. This included a pair of Cathy jeans, which in the hotel would have cost $11.02 !!!

P.S. If you carry a bar of laundry soap you can always push the laundry along a few days until you are in some place long enough to deal with it.

Enjoying Munich with Cathy.  This is one of her favorite cities.

Munich is, of course, glorious. The old capital of Bavaria, backed up to the Alps, and not particularly historic unless you are studying the medieval salt industry and trade.

At the moment the warm weather is lingering into mid-fall, and the city is full of people.

 

At noon the tourists (us too) fill the square in front of the Rathous (city hall) to watch the ancient glockenspiel turn.

There are of course plenty of grand and official looking buildings.

But also plenty of just great views and interesting little places around the old town.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Munich is the kind of place one could stay in for an extended period. Great markets with the highest quality foodstuffs of every kind. A wonderful downtown city park (the English garden) to walk in. You would have to leave if you needed any kind of clothing, etc. Because Germany is expensive!

A lot of the tourist activities revolve around Munich having (I am told) the best beer in the world. And (I know) they are in a tie with southern China for the best pork in the world.

You can enjoy both together (the serving suggestion) practically everywhere. Sitting outdoors in the sun, in the beer hall. Everywhere.

I have been here on and off over 45 years. And there are restaurants I go back to, just because.

And I particularly enjoy the Technology Museum, 5 stories of technological history to warm an old engineer’s heart. They have cars and planes and boats (a U Boat with the side cut away so you can see all the interior), and I cannot stay away from the hall of the steam engines that ran the industrial revolution. They have a Watt engine built from the original drawings.

The museum is in way better shape today than it was in 1945.  In fact it seems impossible they saved anything.

Here is the Marionplatz in 1945.  One of the many places where you can (like London) see the new buildings that filled in the bombed gaps.

Munich actually survived the Allied power’s bombing pretty well. As opposed to say Dresden where the capability of humans to create a “fire storm” (plasma loose on the earth) was tested. Who can understand the first half of the 1900’s and our self-inflicted destruction of the leadership of western civilization in the world.

Munich, this prosperous, beautiful, welcoming city was the home of the Nazi party. The first death camp was constructed just down the road. So it goes.

Some church pictures. Just because.

 

Pecs is not a big town, but seems to be as it sprawls across a valley and climbs the surrounding hills.

It has scrappy areas, but also fine houses and gardens, shopping, malls, etc. Some of the town walls dating from about the year 1000 are standing.

Tribal people were around this area for thousands of years, but the notable history of the town starts when the Romans displaced the Celts about 2000 years ago. They built their town up into the Capital of the Province Valeria, known for its fine wine plantations. This was an important early Christian center in the first centuries AD. And after the Romans came the endless Balkan wars.

The Ottomans held the area twice, one time for over 150 years. They converted all the churches to Mosques and built more, which the Christians converted to Churches upon their return.

I think that this may be the only city I have ever been in that was pillaged and burned by the Christians.

Today Pecs is a major University town. And a major tourist attraction, because the old town has somehow survived mostly intact through the centuries of war, including a nearby tank battle of the Red army.

And it is spectacular. Some pictures.

I have also been enjoying the numerous, well marked hiking trails in the hills, although they are a bit rough for street boots.

Pecs is said to have a Mediterranean climate. Now, well into the Fall, the weather is chilly but with a warm sun under a bright blue Bemidji sky.

A Pec story. The old Bishop’s summer house is a ruin.

Which maybe started when the Turks began to use it as a hostel for Dervishers. Presumably the whirling type, which probably ran down the neighborhood.

The prices for everything (Taxis, Hotels, meals) are about one third higher here than I have had over the past few weeks. And my hotel is full of Germans with lots of German TV stations. Maybe these observations correlate.

I have been eating mostly in (good) Italian restaurants having once again had a terrible “Hungarian” dinner in the Tourist area. There is fine dining here. But somehow that is not so attractive when travelling alone.

Some random indoor pictures.  The little café interior is in a place that has been operating since 1758.  The lobby picture is in a fine hotel right downtown.  It has a beautiful and large dining room. I tried to get in for Sunday Brunch and it was fully booked!

 

Tomorrow (middle of the night) I waggle up to Budapest and then fly to Munich to rendezvous with CAMarchand who is winging in through Philadelphia. Looking forward to her company travelling with me over the next few weeks.

 Balkan Trains: Key learning: Take the Inter-city (IC) trains, and get into the first class car. It is still very difficult to climb up into the car, but once on board the seats are quite comfortable, and there is space to stow your luggage.

The washrooms are bad, but so it goes.

Wrote here on a crisp blue sky fall morning, trundling across farmed valleys and through wooded hills. Romania might be a bit down at the heels, but this is a pretty country. The villages we pass look interesting and it seems to me that a wander around road trip through the Balkans could be a pleasure.

Arad

Earlier I had changed my plans and shortened my stay in Arad, based on it being described to me as a “little county town”. But it was as interesting as anyplace I visited it Romania. You can guess its history: captured and belonged to everybody over the centuries.

Pictures around town.

 

What I liked best about Arad is that it is a living working city. Bustling in fact. And therefore plenty to see.  Sibiu as a contrasting example had a great old town, but after seeing it in one day not much else going on.   Arad street scenes:

 

 

Part of my stop here was to figure out how to cross into Hungary. The people at the ticket booth at the train station had never heard of the train I had researched for my plan and wanted to put me on an overnight trip with train changes.

However capable travel agent Cristina

 

Piggybacked me into a car taking two travelers to the Budapest Airport who dropped me in Szeged. Which proved to be a very easy trip on a brand new motorway. Across farmland as flat as Illinois.

 

 

I can truthfully say that I enjoyed this visit to Romania. And I do not always say that leaving a country.  Everyone I met was friendly, helpful and kind.  It is an interesting country and perhaps I can see more of it one day.

Hats off for the food and wine.

Some bonus photos around Arad.

 

A Romanian Bus ride

Journeyed to Sibiu by bus. Had come from Oradea to Cluj by train and not noticed I had been sold a second class ticket. It was a difficult trip. Very hard to get luggage onto and off the train and nowhere to put it. Crowded, stuffy with wretched bathrooms.

But there are many independent bus companies operating in the Balkans and I decided to try. The hotel arranged a reservation for me. ($8.33)

The company operated out of a little shed at the bus station.

The bus was crowded with small hard seats. The proverbial “cheek by jowl”.

We made very slow progress because of many stops, and at every stop a laborious process of new passengers buying tickets from the driver.

One rest station. Fresh new paint.

Pay this woman a quarter and use the wash room. No towels. No problem, dry your hands in your hair.

 

Sibiu

I came to Sibiu as surely all tourists do, to see one of the best preserved medieval old towns in Europe. And it is very nice. The town was originally founded by Germans and was one of the six Saxon cities of Transylvania. Here are some photos of a few of the more spectacular areas and buildings.

There are also interesting little nooks and vistas around the old battlements.

Even the unrestored streets in the old town are are interesting. And there are still plenty of crumbling buildings worthy of saving.

I was attracted to a large produce market down by the river in the real town.

 

This is a very tidy town with block after block of fine houses with well-tended gardens. There are also areas of gritty soviet style apartment blocks, and poor people with the history of hard living written on their faces.

Cathy asked me why my “indoor” pictures were always pubs and restaurants (woops) and so I took these:

 

Tomorrow back on the train. Six hours across Romania. Did get a first class ticket ($27). Will lay over two nights in Arad, a little town near the border and figure how to best cross into southern Hungary.

So impressed by the price to quality ratio of Romanian wines. Googled it up and learned that they have been making wines here for 6000 years. Wow indeed.

Divide by 4 to get dollars.

Cluj Napoca, the capital of Transylvania.

This city was known to the Greeks as the capital of Dacia. Which fell to the Romans. But the Romans packed up and left before the year 300, so only fragments are left of their colony.

In Medieval times one of the six Saxon cities of Transylvania.  In modern times back and forth between Hungary and Romania, and now within Romania.

The city is within a valley between rolling hills along a fast moving river. Not too big and easy to walk around. Lots of effort is being put into the renovation of of the city:  streets, sidewalks, buildings. But there are also still many rundown buildings that could be wonderful if restored.

As always the communist infrastructure has fallen into ruin and blight. The town gas distribution system throughout the city is (you guessed it) ghastly.

There are some fine buildings here, notably the Orthodox Cathedral.

And the Roman Catholic Basilica.

And to go along with them here are some street photos of some other interesting buildings.  Starting with the opera house.

One photo I posted on Facebook for my urban planner friends is this impressively designed street accommodating cars, parking, bicycles and pedestrians.

I have enjoyed my visit and time spent in this city. And for future visitors have made up this little catalog of “Things you could do in and around Cluj”

Ride a Romanian train and meet nice people

Find a nice Pub/Restaurant

Go to a Craft market

Or a farmer’s market

Walk along the river, or in the hills, or the Park

Go to the game

Track down history

Or philosophy

Get married

Make a new friend

Here are some random indoor pictures

And I must share with you my best pictures from Cluj.

The happy eggs.

 

 

 

Off tomorrow deeper into Romania.