6. Planning the second half of the trip : Bratislava to Riga

            

 

Part 2:  Bratislava to Riga

 

Bratislava Old Town   (c) Rick Steeves   

 

Monday 9th October, Bratislava 

I once stood briefly on the railway platform in Bratislava 25 years ago, when the train from Prague to Budapest stopped for 10 minutes, just to be able to say that I had set foot in another 'new' country Slovakia! This time I plan to stay a bit longer! The short trip from Vienna means that it doesn't make sense to use one of my Interrail travel days for this trip and I will just hop on any one of the hourly trains from Vienna. Andrea's modern apartment,  again booked through HomeExchange has full laundry facilities, so I will be able to take care of this essential task while staying there. I am very much looking forward to my guided walking tour of Bratislava's Dark History.

Wednesday 11th October, Budapest 

Tricia and I both loved Budapest when we visited by train in 1996, especially the Gellert thermal and mineral baths. The present Art Nouveau building dates from 1918 but people have been enjoying the rich mineral waters for centuries. Like Prague, I look forward to seeing how the city has changed over the last quarter century. My compact  accommodation here is owned by an Italian lady called Monika who visits once or twice a year, it is very central so I hope to be able to walk everywhere, even though I remember some spectacular metro stations from my last visit.

 

Friday 13th October, Krakow 

The nine hour train journey from Budapest to Krakow Glowny central station is the longest one on my itinerary and even doubles back to Bratislava before heading north east. Unfortunately there is no sleeper train option on this route, or I would have chosen it. I will use the time to catch up on some reading and do the research for my final five cities, so I am hoping there is good wifi on the train.

I have been to Poland once before just before Covid, and visited Wroclaw and Bydgoszcz. I loved both cities, so the chance to discover two other Polish cities on this trip made complete sense. Krakow was chosen not only for its famous Old Town, but also as it is close to Auschwitz. I have wanted to visit the (in)famous site for a long time and I have no doubt but that the visit will be very moving. With my three-night stay, I  am looking forward to being able to relax in Elsbieta's spacious apartment, after the long trip. Google tells me there are two Irish bars, Ronnie Drew's and Duffys, so I should be able to watch whichever quarter-final match Ireland is (fingers-crossed) playing in, on either Saturday or Sunday!

 

Monday 16th October, Warsaw 

From Krakow, it is a relatively short three-hour train journey to Warsaw. I know very little about the city, except that it was extensively destroyed during World War II and rebuilt largely in Soviet-style concrete, with a now completely restored Old Town. I have secured a home exchange with Jerzy, a retired Pole now living in Canada, who is letting me stay in his refurbished city centre apartment. 

Wednesday 18th October, Kaunas

Kaunas was the European Capital of Culture in 2022, so I expect that there will be lots to see and do here. It was the temporary capital of Lithuania in the 1930s when Vilnius was absorbed into Poland. A pupil in my former school grew up in Kaunas and he told me a lot about the city. Apparently it has lots of Art Deco architecture which I love and there is even an Art Deco museum that I plan to visit. I have great memories of visiting a similar small Art Deco city in New Zealand called Napier, back in 1998. As unfortunately it is only for one night, I am just staying in a city centre hotel next door to the central bus station, where I got a very good B&B rate. 

 

Thursday 20th October, Vilnius

Vilnius was a difficult city to find home exchange accommodation in for my dates, a lot of the homes on HE also seem to be used as airbnbs. There were also plenty of  airbnbs, but these were working out more expensive than some hotels, given that they all charged a hefty cleaning fee on top of the nightly rate. I may still have the chance of a home exchange apartment, but the owner will not know until closer to the time. So for the momenmt in Vilnius I have booked a hotel on Booking.com, with free cancellation. It has breakfast included for only €49 a night. I am looking forward to Discover the Secrets of Vilnius on a walking tour on my first morning. 

Saturday 22nd October, Riga 

In the end I decided to remove Tallinn and Helsinki from my planned itinerary, as I have already visited both cities, and really dont want to be away from home for more than a month. So Riga in Latvia is now my final destination. I have got a lovely home exchange apartment in the city centre, owned by Laure who is a French national. As I am staying three nights, I will have time to do two different walking tours, one of the Old Town and the other an Alternative Tour of Riga.