Interrail in the Balkans, November 5-24, 2018

We spent three weeks travelling in the Balkans, mostly by train --- this time with the Interrail Pass that allowed us to travel 15 days in 30. We only used 11 days, though. Our main destination was Romania, but we spent some interesting time in Montenegro.

The first day took us to Verona, Italy. The second to Zagreb, where we had been on our previous Interrail trip a year before. Then to Belgrade (Serbia), Podgorica (Montenegro), Arad, Timisoara, Alba Iulia, Brasov, Sighisoara, and Sibiu (Romania), and finally Innsbruck (Austria). We saved a couple of travel days by taking a plane from Podgorica to Budapest, from where we continued by train to Arad.

Beers and bocadillos at Osteria Arche.

The second travel day was not exactly the most beautiful, but it did not matter since we spent the whole day in trains and buses, first in a train to Trieste, then a bus to Ljubljana, and finally another train to Zagreb.

In Zagreb we had dinner at the seafood restaurant Ribice, which we found excellent on our previous trip.

Morning flower market in downtown Zagreb.

It was a bit hard to find a breakfast place, but finally we found ourselves at Choco Cafe for an omelette and poached eggs with bacon.

The train trip to Belgrade was fast and eventless all the way until the Croatian-Serbian border. Then the train started to make frequent stops at the tiniest stations, and was filled with loud passengers, who kept on smoking in toilets. On both sides of the border there were immigration formalities, and we got our first stamps to the passports since our trip to Japan in 2017.

We arrived at Belgrade Centre railway station (Prokop) which seemed still under construction. Following the "Exit" signs we emerged directly to the street where there were taxi drivers awaiting and nothing else. We asked the first one if he accepted a credit card and with an affirmative "yes" we hoped into his car. The ride to our airbnb apartment was quick, only that the driver kept his hands so that he blocked our view to the meter. Only when we were ready to pay and offered him the card, he refused; "only cash" and "no problem", he could drive us to an ATM. And then he started going around blocks, still having the meter on. We protested loudly, and he agreed to turn it off. He drove us from the ATM back to the apartment, but was not happy about what we paid him (the amount the meter showed when we arrived at the apartment the first time). This was the only negative experience of our whole trip, and the only incident when someone clearly tried to cheat us.

The fourth day of our trip opened chilly but with plenty of sunshine. We started by strolling around the pedestrian center looking for the tourism office.

House of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia.

Some of the downtown streets had apparent South-East Asian feel to them, with the posted menus and the color scheme.

Belgrade Main railway station, built between 1882 and 1885 and no more under operation, but a couple of businesses, restaurants mostly, still persist.

New development.

Most of the train traffic ended gradually in 2016 and 2017, and was moved to the new station. The last train left this station on 30 June 2018 to Budapest.

Near the station we found an interesting "ethnic restaurant" Zavicaj for lunch. Tei ordered breaded pork and fries.

Tomi had slow-cooked pork stomach (tripe) with potatoes and chard.

After the lunch we continued walking back to the pedestrian center.

Soon we found ourselves by the river Sava and a newly built riverside promenade.

Next morning we woke up early and our Airbnb host took us to the Topcider station, where we took a train to Podgorica in Montenegro. We had a 12-hour train trip ahead of us. This is the train's restaurant/cafeteria car. We drank quick cups of coffee, since the dense cigarette smoke was unbearable. When on a long trip with the chance for shower hours away, one does not want their clothes and/or hair smelling of cigarette smoke. Smoking onboard was prohibited --- there were signs everywhere --- but it deterred neither passengers nor train personnel.

Again, quite a peaceful and eventless train trip, except at some point the train became full of teenagers, who exited at the last stop in Serbia and the first in Montenegro.

Passenger underpass.

The view from our Airbnb apartment in Podgorica. The hostess' son picked us up at the train station when we arrived last night. It had already been pitch black for a couple of hours, so we really had no idea what the city looked like. We walked to the closest supermarket to pick up some dinner and breakfast items, including 'Ajvar', a red pepper based condiment popular in the Balkans that we learned to love in Serbia.

The apartment building. Our first day in Podgorica was sunny and warm.

We strolled around the town for a while, until it was time to find a place for lunch. All restaurants in the city center seemed open, but all the customers were just drinking and smoking.

Ribnica Fortress, an Ottoman fortress built in 15th century.

Millenium bridge over the Moraca River.

A poster on the wall in the toilet of Selin Art Cafe Shop.

Finally we found Lupo di Mare for lunch. Mixed salad, seafood platter with black rice for two, two cappuccinos, and a bottle of wine cost 40 euros. Food was good and plenty, but the service a bit downhearted.

Mid-afternoon temperature. During our lunch we booked flights to Budapest, and later that evening we reserved two more nights in Podgorica at an apartment with a washing machine and no smoking, and also one in Budapest. We also planned our last two days in Montenegro.

A clever solution for bicyclists.

Evening view from our apartment.

Next morning was equally sunny, and we headed out for a morning walk to Ljubovic Hill (Park suma Ljubovic, 101m).

After breakfast we rented a car and started driving to Cetinje, an old royal capital of Montenegro, where the official residence of the president is located.

From Cetinje we continued to Lovcen National Park.

Our main destination was Petar Petrovic Njegos's Mausoleum that was constructed in 1971 on top of the Jezerski peak (1657m) of the Lovcen mountain.

To reach the mausoleum we needed to climb 461 steps.

The slopes of Mount Lovcen are very rocky.

The mausoleum was still a popular site to visit despite it being quite chilly this late in the Fall.

From the top we had an astounding view over this small and mountainous country. The place felt like being on the top of the world, literally.

We took another route back: first the road started wide with brand new pavement, but soon it turned into an unfinished road construction site, which we navigated in a thick fog.

We stopped by in Cetinje to take a look at the old monastery, and have a beer with some appetizers at Restauran Taverna: marinated carp salad and platter of ham and cheese.

When back in Podgorica and our new Airbnb apartment, we were too tired to cook dinner. We just did laundry and watched TV before calling it a day.

Our second week started with a ride to the lake Skadar. As soon as we turned off from the highway to a smaller road by the lake, a guy stopped us and tried to sell boating tours etc. We told him we were just going to drive, and he argued that we will not see any of the lake from the road.

He was right, kind of, since first we took a wrong turn and got on a narrow road that wound away from the lake and into the forest.

We made a U-turn --- quite a feat on the narrow road --- and then drove and found the right turn we missed previously.

The road followed the Southern coastline of the lake, but quite high up. Every now and then we parked the car and took a short walk to admire the splendid scenery --- the guy had been so wrong!

Fortunately, there was no other traffic, and we got the road practically all to ourselves.

Wild pomegranates.

We passed a small village of Livari, where an older toothless woman was selling wine and olive oil from a stall by the road. Next to the stall there was a hut with a sign 'toilet' on it, and I asked if I could use it. First she said no, but then tried to scoop water into the bowl. Eventually she gave up and told me to go behind a pile of sand. We bought a small bottle of olive oil from her for 6 euros (yes, unlike in many other countries on the Balkans, euros are used in Montenegro). After the stop in Livari, the road and the landscape changed from mountains to forest and rural scenery.

At the Albanian border.

View over Albania. The lake Skadar got its name from a city of Shkoder in northern Albania.

From the border we turned back South and drove to the town of Bar, looking for the directions to the old town. It was not hard to find a parking space, but as soon as we gout out of the vehicle, a man appeared out of nowhere shouting at us something about parking. Apparently, he wanted us to pay for it. But we wanted to see his ID first. After some back and forth, he eventually gave up and retreated still yelling and waving his arms about.

Before having lunch we walked around the ruins of the old town.

For lunch we found Restaurant Kaldrma, a very nice family, or at least father and son, run restaurant. The son spoke some English.

We had a veggie platter, a selection of vegetables of the house, and traditional veal with onions and eggplant. The food was awesome. We would have liked some red wine with it but the restaurant did not serve any alcohol.

Last look at the lake Skadar when driving back to Podgorica.

On our last morning in Montenegro we drove to the foot of the Dajbabska Gora hill and climbed to the top. This is not an observation tower, but a radio frequency spectrum control tower.

It was another beautiful but a bit chilly morning. Then all there was left to do was packing and returning the car to the airport. Our flight to Budapest took off 1:55pm. It is time to sum up our Montenegro experiences with few points: we got a very positive impression of the country; the landscape was gorgeous, prices reasonable, and people nice and friendly - the air quality was very bad because of burning of wood and debris - smoking happened everywhere, even, or especially, where it was prohibited: restaurants, trains, tourist office - there were a lot of American movies and series on TV, not dubbed but with subtitles - there were also channels that showed folk dance all day long.

And then we were at Kalvin Ter in Budapest. The only reason we got to Budapest was to get faster to Romania. Otherwise it would have taken us at least two days to get from Podgorica back to Belgrade, and from there to Romania by train, but we did not find any good connections.

The train to Arad, Romania left early. We mostly traveled through very flat landscape.

We stopped a couple of times for immigration formalities, first for a longer period because of problems with some passengers' travel documents. Evetually they were removed from the train and asked to return to Budapest.

Arad railway station.

We stayed in a private room at Guesthouse Nimbus, a very nice room with a TV and fridge.

After a quick shower we headed out to the town, which was neither interesting nor idyllic.

Well ... the old trams were idyllic.

The river Mures.

"Our pizzas are just ok, not great."

Before starting our trip Tomi asked recommendations from his many Romanian colleagues where to visit in the country, what to see, where to eat, and of course he got tons of recommendations from Romanians proud of their country and hometowns. That's why we decided to stop in Arad. Our lunch place, La Pergola, was recommended by one of these colleagues.

We started with an antipasto platter and Romanian beers from Sitra Brewery.

For mains we ordered scorpionfish and turbot with vegetables. We had to admit that we were not impressed; this was probably the worst meal on our trip, both by taste and presentation.

Next morning we had a superb breakfast at Nimbus: coffee, juices, bread, cold cuts, tomatoes and cucumbers, and cheese-ham-mushroom omelettes made to order.

Since it was a gorgeous sunny, albeit chilly, morning we decided to go to another walk in the town after the breakfast.

We crossed the river Mures with a plan to visit the fortress of Arad, which looks so amazing in aerial photographs.

We did not find an entry to the fortress, and later read that it is in military use. We walked around the Neptun Swimming Center and Summer residences for a while.

On our way back to the hotel, we spotted a farmers' market, and bought some fruits and vegetables to cook dinner with later that day.

And then we were ready to board the train to Timisoara.

This old locomotive did not have any other function but to offer birds a place to rest.

In Timisoara we had the most elegant, Scandinavian style apartment, designed by the host's architect son. He and this apartment were featured in a recent local newspaper issue.

The apartment was located in a charming courtyard in an idyllic residential area consisting of small colorful houses. This was us on our way back from grocery shopping at the supermarket Profi.

Timisoreana Brewery. Our luck with good weather continued on our first full day in Timisoara: it was sunny and crispy cool. We spent most of the day strolling around the pedestrian center and the Fabric District.

Timisoara will be the European Capital of Culture in 2021, and it was apparent all around the pedestrian center; construction and improvement work was going on everywhere.

Crossing the Bega canal.

Pasarela Indragosttilor over the Bega canal.

Parcul Copiilor.

Romanian National Opera.

Piata Victoriei.

Next few pictures are from Piata Libertatii.

Piata Unirii.

Bicycle paths were well respected by pedestrians.

The Orthodox Metropolitan Cathedral.

Political poster art on Piata Unirii.

Curtea Berarilor Timisoreana, beer garden of Timisoreana Brewery. We had lunch there: Tei had a chicken chop with mashed potato and Tomi tripe soup (again).

From pedestrian center we continued to Fabric District of Timisoara.

Parcul Regina Maria.

Sinagoga din Fabric.

From the Fabric District we took the tram #1 to the railway station to buy seats in the train to Alba Iulia for the next day --- only that the tram did not go to the railway station as we thought, but we ended up walking quite a bit, after a long day of walking.

Timisoara was probably the most beautiful and trendy city on our whole trip, and the fact that we had nothing but sun for the whole day made it all the better.

A waiting room and toilets at a railway stop.

Alba Ulia railway station, one of the stations and its surroundings we visited that had undergone a recent remarkable improvement.

We stayed at Step Inn (not this in the picture), a guesthouse run by an older couple who did not really speak English more than "OK!" and "OK?".

Soon after settling in in our room we headed to the town.

We climbed to the old town. With the exception of the very first couple of days, which we mostly spent in the train, this was the first grey and cold day in almost two weeks.

In the old town there are Romanian Orthodox Cathedral ...

... and Roman Catholic Cathedral right next to each other.

We had lunch at Downtown Cafe. We had pork "a la Downtown" with horseradish sauce, and "rustic" with rosemary potatoes, all downed with pints of dark Staropramen. Later in the evening we tried to find a place for dinner around the Inn, but found nothing, so we spent rest of the evening looking for an accommodation in Brasov.

Sunny and chilly weather was back next morning. We had to reach an early train to Brasov, but could not get out of the building since someone had locked the front door and we could not open it from inside. It took sometime before someone heard our shouts, and came to get us out. The hostess offered us coffee but we had to decline since we had a train to catch.

And before that, we had to buy some breakfast. Luckily Subway by the station was already open. We got us an Italian BMT and a BLT, with a pumpkin spiced latte. The service was efficient and friendly, and the sandwiches the most delicious we have ever gotten at any Subway. Subways in France are particularly bad since they are so mingy with toppings and the dressing.

The train left on time, but after a 10-minute ride we had to change trains in Vintu-de-Jos. Brasov train was 40 minutes late, which time we shivered in the wind on the platform, before realizing we could go indoors to wait.

Once in Brasov in the late afternoon, we did not do much else but go grocery shopping, cook dinner, and do laundry.

After two weeks of mostly sunshine, we entered the third week of traveling in snow. It was not too cold, only -1C, so the snow was really wet. It was quite a change both in weather and scenery.

We wanted to climb Tampa Hill, with a big "Hollywood" style "Brasov" sign on it that we had seen when entering the town the day before.

The snow was too steep, it was still falling, and we would not have seen anything from the top anyway, so we turned back down to the town.

Orthodox Cathedral of Brasov.

We climbed to the Citadel of the Guard on another hill.

But the citadel was closed for the season.

So we slid back down to the town in the snow.

Before returning to the apartment, we stopped for lunch at Beraria (beer restaurant) Ciucas.

We ordered fried trout, and ...

... pork with polenta, and two rounds of beers, Ciucas and Efes.

Then we returned to the apartment to do some laundry again. The usual story of our travels :)

Original TUC with a new recipe. How original is that?!

Then came the day we had been looking forward to for so long: it was time to visit Bran Castle. Because is the only castle in all of Transylvania that actually fits Bram Stoker’s description of Dracula’s Castle, it is known throughout the world as Dracula's Castle. However, it has nothing to do with the story, nor Vlad "the Impaler" Tepes, sometimes known as Vlad Dracul, a Walachian prince with a castle, who has been depicted by some historians as blood-thirsty despot.

Before we were on our way we watched the but driver to carry snow from the sidewalk to wash his windshield.

The bus ride to the town of Bran took only about 30 minutes.

The castle seen from the road.

The chilly and strong wind on the top of the hill blew us from our feet. It did not help that the footpath was very icy. We had to hold on the handrail in order not to slide back down.

We strolled around the castle for quite a while going through narrow staircases up and down; the directed route was quite a labyrinth.

We also had some nice views to the surrounding countryside.

Have to admit that the castle was less impressive than the story of Dracula or legends of Vlad the Impaler, but we still enjoyed our tour.

We ended the tour in the museum shop, and bought a tourist guide book of the castle, a fridge magnet that is a miniature book about the castle, and coffee that had a distinct cinnamony scent and flavor.

After the castle visit we had lunch in the nearby restaurant, name of which we did not write down and have since forgotten. We started with a mixed salad and a tomato-cheese salad.

For the mains, Tomi had polenta with sausages and bad smelling cheese, and ...

... Tei had beef soup.

Then we returned to Brasov by bus.

We did our last grocery shopping in Brasov at the supermarket Kaufland. In the Balkans it is the first time we have seen frozen food sold as bulk.

Fast forward, and we were in Sighisoara the next day. It seemed our luck with weather had run out since it was grey, rainy, and cold again.

Crossing to the old town side of river Tarnava Mare.

Google guides us to our guesthouse that was located quite a climb up on the hill just next to the old town. The gobble stones were wet and quite slippery.

Since our room was not ready yet, we just left our backpacks to the storage and descended to the town.

We found a lunch place at the restaurant La Perla. Tei had a salad, a huge one, and ...

Tomi pork with porcini sauce.

After the lunch we returned to the guesthouse to check in, and then took a stroll in the old town.

We took The Scholars' Stairs up to the top of the School's Hill, where there is a church and the oldest school in the city. The staircase has 175 steps and was built in 1642 to protect school children from bad weather.

The "Church on the Hill".

Sighisoara viewed from the citadel (the old town).

Sighisoara Clock Tower is the main entry to the citadel.

The "Church on the Hill".

After a long walk we returned to our guesthouse, and after a short rest, headed out again to find pizza for dinner. To our surprise we found the old town square completely empty.

But one place was open, namely Restaurant Casa Vlad-Dracul. Although it is probably the most touristy restaurant in the town, tonight we were the only customers. After a long search they found us a dry red wine, Domeniul Coroanei Segarcea Cabernet Sauvignon (2014).

For mains we had prune stuffed chicken fillet with potatoes and stuffed cabbage rolls with polenta.

The next day was our last in Romania. We took an earlier train to Sibiu than planned, since we did not have much to do in rainy and cold Sighisoara. In Sibiu we had a few hours to spend before boarding a night train to Vienna.

In the early afternoon we were in rainy Sibiu and walked directly to the old town, where we found an ice rink, ...

... and Christmas market.

What we were really interested in finding was a place that served pizza. If you wonder why, it is because we had not eaten a single pizza during our trip, and now it seemed a very attractive idea.

It turned out to be more difficult we thought, but eventually, with the aid of Google, we found the restaurant Intimi.

It is time to sum up our Romanian experiences: - the country was cheaper than many travel sites claimed - English skills were a bit weaker than in Montenegro - TV is full of American TV series, which are not dubbed, but subtitled - TV also had dedicated channels for folk dance and music- restaurants and trains were non-smoking, and people did not smoke - red wines were predominantly sweet or medium sweet - restaurant menus listed the weight of each ingredient in dishes - air quality was almost as poor as in MNE.

We spent the last two hours before the night train at a Scottish pub enjoying good Romanian beers from Bucharest.

Vending machine for books.

The passport control passed at 2am., but otherwise the train trip was eventless, and we slept well.

After a train change in Vienna, we reached our final destination of the trip, Innsbruck.

Before heading out to the town, we enjoyed pints of pils at the lobby of Marmota Hostel.

Early Friday evening in Innsbruck was busy.

People already had started crowding the Christmas market.

But we were more interested in finding a dinner place.

We chose Gasthaus Goldenes Dachl, and ordered a mixed salad and pumpkin soup to start with

For mains we had pork in various formats with spatzle, sauerkraut, and potatoes. The portions were hefty and flavor-wise pretty predictable.

This was our last travelling day. So, after three weeks on the road, or the rails, we were heading back to Grenoble, via Zurich, Geneva, and Bellegarde (in France), with a bus connection between the last two.

Before leaving we had a nice breakfast at the hostel.

The afternoon in Switzerland was sunny.

By the time we left Bellegarde, little after 7pm., it was already dark.

A tired traveller.