Adventures of Saj

Oh yes, dear friends, Salzburg is synonymous with the Sound of Music. And salt. And Mozart. Even though Mozart hated Salzburg, and couldn’t wait to get to Vienna, Mozart paraphernalia filled every street corner in Salzburg, from chocolates, to postcards to baseball hats (could you see ANYONE actually wear such a thing?!) And so, having arrived in our brand-spanking new hostel, Shel and I sat Tim down and indoctrinated him on the wonders of the 1960s musical epic (what I can’t understand, and never will, is how Tim managed to go through his whole life without watching it – absolute madness really). We sung along (actually it was more me) to every song, scaring the little children who were also watching the movie. It was important to do this, as the tour we had booked for the following day included a sing-along session, and I wanted my voice to be at its finest (ie not sound like nails on a chalkboard).

Piling into the bus the following day, it was disappointing to find that the bus was half-full of Americans from army bases (commonly referred to as army brats). Those kids were seriously annoying – loud, obnoxious, demanding to be the centre of attention (what is with people like that?!). While it detracted slightly from the tour, it was still sweet years, especially singing along (or sounding like nails on a chalkboard).

In the arvo we checked out one of the major salt mines in Salzburg. It had stopped producing salt years ago, and so to pad out the tour beyond 1.5 hours, they created a cheesy multimedia presentation where comedy and historical facts merged into a terrible show. I mean really, what is the point of going so far underground to watch videos?! We jumped on a boat and rode across an underground lake, which would’ve been awesome, except for the fact that they played videos on the walls around the lake. There were also a couple of sweet year slides, which was seriously so much fun (to the extent that Shel went ‘Weeeeeeee!!’ down the last one; yes she really enjoyed it).

We also climbed up to Hohensalzburg, the massif fortress overlooking Salzburg. There were some amazing views of Salzburg, with snow-capped mountains in the distances (I do love snow-capped mountains). There was also some gold history about the town, highlighting the role of the Prince-Archbishops in developing the town. Despite being a priest (or because he was one) one of the more prominent Prince-Archbishops had 15 illegitimate children, and instead of keeping them in the shadows, he proceeded to place them in prominent positions!

So yes, Salzburg was smashed and onto Vienna – the next post will be entitled Vivacious Vienna (don’t know about the rest of yous, but Shelley hates the cheesy alliterations – I love it!)

Adios munchachos

I had my first Amazing race type experience. I had to get from Mostar in southern Bosnia, to Budapest. Two buses and a train later (including running from Zagreb bus station to the train station, getting onto the train with 10 mins to spare), I made it to Budapest by 3pm. Shelly had already arrived, and Tim came in from Vienna a few hours later.

The gang together, the next day we tackled Budapest. We saw the biggest Synagogue in Europe (although we couldn't go inside, coz it was being renovated, DAMN IT) as well as the Terror Museum, which highlighted the atrocious activities of the Hungarian Secret Police during the late 1940s-early 1950s.

The following day was positively massive! Not really having a sense of distance, we decided to walk some of Budapest's key sights on the Buda side. Boy was there a shit-load of walking. From the Chain Bridge, to the the Citadel and the Liberty Statue (which had a ridics spoofing view of Budapest - amazing photos all round!), to the Buda Palace, St Matthias Church, Margit Island and Parliament, we pretty much walked every major sight. The feet were hurting, the body was exhausted; yet, we saw that there was an outside wine festival, so we decided to smash that! (I know you're jealous Scott!) While the grilled meat was expensive (yet gorgeous), the wine was quite cheap. Disappointingly, Hungarian wine was overrated. But it did the job, and having had a massif day of walking, I went to bed with a sweet years buzz.

I celebrated Easter Sunday in St Istvan's Basilica; it was awesome hearing a full organ and choir in a beautiful church like that. Hungarians have an interesting tradition - they bring a basket full of food and wine and have it blessed after Mass.

Shel, Tim and I decided to do something different - we walked. So we headed out and walked along this amazing street in Pest, which led us to Heroes Square, this huge square (strangely enough) which celebrated Hungarian heroes (strange again, I know). But the best thing about Heroes Square was the garden alongside it, and the best thing about the garden was the Szenchyi Baths. Budapest is renowned for Baths, and these Baths were fully sweet years - a shitload of pools of varying degrees, saunas and steam rooms. The most amazing thing about these Baths were the outside pools, which were easily better than any hotel pool in the world. No seriously. So having punished our feet over the last day and half, it was great to kick back, chillax and enjoy the medicinal effect of water - GORGEOUS. It was also great to feel like we had a lot of money, although the side of European men in tiny Speedos is not pretty.

And so our Budapestian (??? - I do love making words up) adventure was over. The following day we headed off to Salzburg - stay tuned for 'The Salzburg of Sound and Salt' blog

PS: photos are being uploaded on Facebook slowly but surely - GET ON IT!

PPS: Hope yous all are well

The country of the last great war on European soil - the scene of untold atrocities and horror keep tourists from experiencing the intense beauty, culture and history of Bosnia.

And so, from Slovenia, we thought it'd be gags to do lunch in Croatia before heading to Bosnia. And so the Croatian Cuisine Crusade began. We headed to a town called Opatija, a town in northern Croatia that was on the Adriatic Coast. You could not teach the view of the coastline that greeted us – since it was an overcast day, it was hard to distinguish between the sky and the water, great photos were had by all. Lunch was at this ridics swanky restaurant that charged a measly sum for cuisine that was fit for a king. And so we ate like kings (more like king and queens).

Following lunch, it was time to tackle Bosnia. Having had a run-in with the Bosnian border people (The guy asked me if I thought he was blind or otherwise stupid!) we continued onto Banja Luka. The drive was incredible - huge snow-capped mountains, narrow valleys and windy roads, gold! Having spent a night in Banja Luka, we realised that Bosnia was a pretty cool place. And Sarajevo certainly enhanced that vibe!

The meshing of Eastern and Western cultures, it truly is at the crossroads of many worlds. The town is still heavily influenced by 400 years of Turkish rule and 40 years of Austro-Hungarian rule. Jewish, Muslim, Catholic and Orthodox places of worship were within a Bosnian scarf of each other. While the cuisine was amazing, partly coz it was cheap and Turkish, the coffee was even better! Bosnian coffee is an experience in itself, to the extent that I bought myself a Bosnian coffee set!

Our walking tour guide, Muhamed, was a dude. He gave us a gold tour of the town, even bought us coffee – now thats a tour guide.

And so, having experienced the awesomeness of Bosnia, it was time to bade farewell to new-found friends in Mostar, and make the 24 hour, Amazing Race-style dash from southern Bosnia to Budapest. To catch up with Shelley and Tim.

Watch out for Bedazzling Budapest Buildings and Baths!

After being sick and tired of being sick in Vienna, it was time to make the 6-hour train journey from Vienna to Ljubljana. And what a train ride it was - train wound its way around the Southern Austrian Alps, revealing snow-capped mountains and hidden villages. I found out later that at least one of those remote villages had the staple of any good town - a kebab shop!

I made my way to my Ljubljana digs - a former military prison that was converted to a youth hostel! Talk about a bohemian part of town - this place was covered in graffiti, with weird people loitering around at night-time. But the nightlife in the area was crazyness - good times were had by all!

Ljubljana was an interesting place - tiny laneways snaked their way between grand buildings. Being a university town, many bars and cafes spilt onto pathways bordering the river. Yet, perhaps because it was still bitingly cold, it lacked atmos. There was charm, certainly, but Ljubljana would be one smoking hot town during summer! Having met some crazy Dutch people in town for the Euro 2008 qualifiers, I tried (but failed miserably) to get tickets along to the game. To drown my sorrows, I smashed my first kebab on continental Europe!

After a few days checking out the intracacies of Ljubljana, I made my way to Piran, a wedge of land that jutted into the beautiful Adriatic coast. A place set up by the Venetians, the views were positively spoofin - three sides were surrounded by water, with the Croatian and Italian coastlines in the distance! A daytrip a couple of hours outta Piran were the Skopjcan Caves, where sensational underground gorges were carved out by an underground river. Covered by UNESCO, these caves were gigantic!

Back in Piran, it was here that I met a couple of Aussies that were driving around Eastern Europe. Over a cup of coffee, we decided to throw our plans in the air and head to Bosnia! With a Brit in tow, that is what we decided to - to tackle Beautiful Bosnia. Watch out for the next instalment!

Many of you complain and grumble about airplane food - I have just stepped off a plane containing some of the best airline cuisine in history! Braised beef with beans and pumpkin, accompanied with chicken on cous cous, salad with dressing, and the most spoofingest chocolate cake I have eaten since smashing some at a tea plantation in central Sri Lanka! The cake was to die for; it's times like this that I miss my sister, whose inability to do anything on a plane apart from sleeping means that I get to have her meal as well! Oh Dil, why couldn't you have at least accompanied me on my flight to Europe, so I get a free meal!?!?!

Tim, watch out, the cake is seriously spoofing, see if you can bring me some to Budapest!