Bloody rain...

Hello. Lots to report so no wasting time...

We left Slovenia and entered Hungy. Various "i'm in Hungry in Hungary" comments have been said...I think we both are in need of some other company now! Our first stop was on Lake Balaton, and our reason for heading here was because of the Heviz Hot Sprigs. It is basically a natural thermal bath thing which is naturally heated to about 30 degrees and has lots of minerals so is supposed to be all good for the body. Because of these magical powers the water has, it seems to attract everyone over the age of 75 so we were pretty much the youngest people by far here. It was good fun tho. It is also good fun to laugh at old people who are wearing arm bands, especially pink ones! We stayed in the thermal springs until we were very prune like. I have no photos from here because I didnt know what the deal was with taking a camera in and whether they had lockers, so I have got one from the internet to show you what it was like. It was very good and relaxing...



Next up we went to Budapest. The capital. We went in the first day, and was glad we did, because we needed to get our bearings and make some kind of sense of where we were and what to see. It was all very strange being somewhere so big as that. Compared to Ljubljana this place was massive so we kind of got our whereabouts and managed to have a few beer in a cafe.

The next day in, we thought that probably the best way to see most of the place would be to join all the toursits and opt for the open top busses! It worked out pretty well be cause it showed us everything that we wanted to see and we also got a free hour long boat trip on the Danube. Something of the cherry on the cake or the deal breaker for us I suppose!

Heres some photos of Budapest...















I have been told to say by Becky that the fact her Pashmina doesnt "go" with her outfit is because it was so could she was "forced" to buy it,and didnt have this in mind blah blah blah!

Itr was very clod on the open top bus, but as soon as we got on the boat, the Sun came out and we were greeted with some blue skies. I did find this quite amusing on some chaps map that he had on the table whilst we were on the boat...



Sex Shop! I like how they make such a big deal of that! No we didnt go Mum!

That evening I believ was an evening of a full moon, and was bloody cold. Our first real chilly night whils camping. needless to say, the electric blanket has been used ever since. What a marvellous invention. We met another English couple that night at the site and spent most of the night drinking and chatting to them about where we have been and where they have been etc. Back at bed time, I realised that not only can Becky not get dressed (such as the photo from Lake Bled) but she also cant get undressed!



It may well be due to the fact that she had about 2 t shirts, 3 jumpers and 2 jackets on and then tried to take them all off at once! Anyway, Nina, you asked for some, so I got you one.

After a few days a Budapest we then went to our last stop in Hungry, a place in the outskirts off the Bukk National Park. We went via Eger which was some old town. When we were driving in, they must had had some kind of classic car festival and we were greeted by loads of old WW2 vehicles tooting and waving at us. Either that or thats just how they greet everyone that comes here. Here is Eger...



This is where things get very dull for 2 or 3 days, as when we got to our site, we had nothing but rain for our whole time here. Literally, the highlight I think was the food shop at Tescos! We asked the very friendly Dutch chap directions to there and he said "left at loads of Gypsy houses, right at the church,over the train track" I laughed when he said Gypsy house, but he really wasnt kidding. I think that we really saw some of the "slums" in Hungry. I could see us breaking down and these Gyp-os coming to steal our wheels. They all had wonky teeth and were filthy looking. We tried to take photos but were more afraid they would steal our cameras. The chap at the site told us that they all have about 10 children and start having them from about 16 because of the beneits and that they got more money that way than working. It wasnt very pretty. Hungary was so much poorer and less developed than any of the other places that we have been to.

After our time here confined to the van, we left for a journey initially set out for Levoca in Slovakia. We started our journey, and found the site just outside Levoca. We were the only people there and it wasnt the most "welcoming" of campsites, so I told the owner a little white lie that we were going to the town and would be back...we never went back! We did go into Levoca, and this was a bit of a disappointing place, and decided that rather than waste some of our time here, we could crack on and head to a nicer sounding place in Poland. So thats what we did.

Our drives lately have been, to put it simply, bloody freezing! I thought that we would be ok without any heating in the van, however for these drives we have both been unable to feel our feet, but we have been able to see our breath!

We drove via the Tatra Mountains and this was a very scenic route. Lots and lots of ski resorts about.



We kept climbing higher and higher in the mountains, and when we got to the height of the clouds I could hardly see the windscreen wipers it was that bad.

We got to our site in Poland, and the area around there was beautiful. Also, we werent the only people at the site, so it made us feel a little bit better. Whilst we were here, we made the most of their restaurant for a couple of nights and had some really awesome food. Here is some of that. This should hopefully satisfy your request Liz...





It was crazy how cheap the food was. We both had 3 courses and about 3 drinks and it was 22 pounds for the lot. Cheaper than McDonalds...and a hell of a lot nicer!

On our day here, we went for a stroll about as the rain seemed to ease off. We were camped at one end of a lake, we walked what we thought would be the best way, but had a dog follow us all the way. We thought it was the camp site dog, so when we couldntget any further we asked the reception if it was theres but it wasnt. Apparently some stray. We lost it for a bit and began walking the corect wa around the lake, then some ten minutes later when we were adamant that we had lost the blighter (who im sure was half dog half fox) came running past us and nearly got killed by a tractor! I think it was because I had jaffa cakes in my pocket that he could smell them! So, he joined us for the walk again, but when we got a bit further up, he only went and killed a bleeding pidgeon! Needless to say, fox dog wasnt in our good books, so when we saw a coach party draw up, we lost him in the crowds! I also ate the Jaffa Cakes to avoid any chances of him finding us again!

Here are pictures from our walk around Poland. It is a place called Niedzica I think, which was pretty close to the Slovakia border...





From here we then drove to some Salt Mines still in Poland which were just outside of Krakow. They were pretty impressive. basically they have been used for years to get salt and now a day I think it is mainly used as a tourist attraction. The main highlight here was the Chapel which was all carved out of the salt. The picture probably doesnt do it justice, but it was pretty awesome...



We were going to go into Krakow, but after driving through it and not really finding anywhere to stay, and also neither of us that bothered about going we headed for Auschwitz as this was something that we both definately wanted to do.

Auschwitz was a pretty incredible place. Very shocking and disturbing. There was so much that I learnt and didnt realise how the place was ran. I wont tzpe it on here as its not the most uplifting of subjects, but i shall put some pictures on instead...















We are currentlz in Vienna, and this is where we have come from since Auschwitz. I shall post about here the next time, as we are wanting to get out of the internet cafe and see some more of the place.

Good bye for now...


Oh, before I go, heres another one for Nina...



Thanks for everyones comments also. I very much appreciate them.

Byesy Bye.

X

Caves, Bled, Loo-Blah-Nah and Ptuj...

Well, I know you're all intersted. It lasted for 3 days. The chilli lsted for 3 days. Anyway...bloggage!

Slovenia is bloody lovely, and because of this, I have taken soo many photos and if I dont update this soon, it will take m e ages the next time.

There will be a lot of photos in this one. WARNING. There will be a lot of photos in this one.

We stayed at our site in Ankaran for 3 days. We did use the Olympic size swimming pool, by the time I did one length, I realised I had to swim back again and it was really far! Two lenghts is what I did before I got tired and gave up on my swimming carreer.

When we moved on from here we went via the Skocjan Caves. They were really amazing. I didnt expect it, but we enterred them and then we walked through them which was about 2.5km long. They were massive. The first part was called the silent chamber I think, then the second part was where the river ran through them, but this was after you crossed the bridge 45 metres high. It was very Indiana Jones stylee! Infact, I think it was more the Goonies stylee (which Becky hasnt even seen...what a loser!)

They said no photo's in the cave, but obviously, I ignored I ever heard this, but to be fair, all you can see is black, so I wont put any of those on here. Here are some when we were leaving the caves some 2.5 km later when the sunlight came through and a photo could be taken...



When we got out, you could get a lift or walk up. We opted for the walk, which went via a waterfall and another collapsed cave. Here is the waterfall from a way away...



Here is also a view of the Slovenian countryside from the top of the cave bit where you buy the tickets from...



There are thousands of Churches everywhere, generally really high up and it makes the countryside look really cool.

After the caves, we carried on driving to Lake Bled. This is such a beautiful place. To be fair, the Country so far, well the parts that we have been through has been so gorgeous. Its a very pretty unspoilt place. I realise I sound like a bit of a woofter right now! I'll have a pint of beer later and read FHM whilst talking to strangers about horsepower!

OK, it was at Lake Bled that I realised that Becky still hasn't learnt how to get dressed...



No Becky, thats the arm hole!

This is where the photo overload is coming. Lake Bled is beyond any words that I know to describe how beautiful it is. I'll let the pictures do the talking. We went for a walk around the whole lake so it was kind of like "I know i've taken 83 photos, but I havent got one from this angle yet!"















That wasn't so painful was it now! OK. Hopefully you can see what I mean.

As you may be able to see from the clouds, we have had our first bit of bloody rain since June. Luckily it lasted about 2 days, on and off and that's it, unlike the England version that we have heard. The rain however, I think made it look even better than if it was sunny. Kind of more dramaticky and scary!

After a couple of nights here we headed to the capital. Ljubjlana. It is pronounced Loo Blah Nah and to save me typing im going to refer to it as Loo. Our site was roughly 3.4 miles away from the city and it was on one road with a bike path that we needed to make this journey, so it was very easy to get into. We went in on the Saturday, however everything shuts at 2.00 pm and we got there at 2.30pm, so decided that we would have to be making the 3.4 mile bike ride again on Monday once everything is open. We did stil walk about anyway and found a pub so all is good. Loo is a very small place, and it doesnt take long at all to walk about. They say that a lot of people use the city as a place to meet friends to chat and that, and you could really tell this. It was a really really lovely place. There were so many cafes/restaurants/pubs it is crazy. Here are some photos of the city...







The site that we were staying at, as well as it being ideally placed for seeing the city, had a volleyball tournament going on so we watched volleyball for ages in the evening. It was a really good standard too, unfortunately not many girls were playing. For some reason we were rooting for "Tubsters" team, I really thought he couldn't play volleyball due to his size, but what he lacked in atleticism, he made up for in passion. He was a very vocal player. Tubsters team actually ended up winning. We were pleased.



Here's Tubster. He wasnt playing at this point, but was very good at shouting abuse at his team mates when they did something wrong. I thought he was just there for the after game cakes!



As we were here Sat, Sun and Mon, we didn't bother going in on the Sunday as everything would be closed again. Instead, we forced ourselves over to the Swimming complex that they have. It was all right I suppose...



Another little gem this campsite had up it's sleeve.

On the Monday, we biked in (in the rain!) and went up to the castle where we climbed the tower for some great views over Loo...





Here are some general pics around Loo also...









I think that their logo thing for the city is the dragon, hence the last photos, and this was taken on Dragon bridge.

Loo was really cool, and we were both really impressed with it. Today we arrived at a placed called Ptuj, which I think that you pronounce it P-tooey. We walked in along the river to get there from the site. It is the oldest city/village in Slovenia, and also as the reviews say, "the most prettiest." It was very pleasant. Again, we found ourselves climbing the castle and having some more great views. Here are some of the phots that I took, only a few hours ago. Isnt the Internet a wonderful thing...!





I like this one...



BUM OUTLET. Classic!

Ptuj was very nice, however not really loads and loads to do here. We wlaked down the oldest street in the oldest village in Slovenia, so thats something to put on our C.V.

Right, well I dont think it could be any more up to date, other than the fact that I tell you that Becky is right now sun bathing on a lilo that she has blown up, and I will be going back to have something to eat probably.

It is unfortuately our last day in Slovenia today, and tomorrow we will be driving to Hungary. There are some natural thermal spas there that we are going to go in then its Budapest and further into Hungary before going to Slovakia then Poland.

Well well well. This is the end until next time, so its good bye from me.

X

p.s. Hope everyone reading this is very good. Please feel free to leave any comments, I appreciate all those left so far. I have no idea who really reds this thing. I know Grandma does because Mum prints it out for her and posts it to her. Hello Grandma! Sorry for the spelling Grandma! Thanks for printing it and posting it Mum!