Easter Break: Part Two

Greetings readers!

I hope you all had a Happy Easter, wherever you were. I am now back in Vienna after spending the second half of my break traveling about Europe, sometimes on my own and other times meeting up with friends from Vienna along the way. There's a lot to recap, so I'll break it down into sections, based on the destination, for your convenience. Without further ado...

Easter Break Part 2a: Palma Mallorca, Spain

On April 19th I left Vienna to fly to Palma Mallorca, an island off the East coast of Spain. I was planning to eet up with my roommate, Stephanie, and the two other girls from UF for the first night, and then spend a day and a night there by myself before continuing to my next destination. Two other girls from my dorm happened to be on my flight, so we took the bus to the airport together and sat together on the plane. It was nice to not have to travel alone. We arrived in Palma Mallorca around 10 pm and caught the last bus into town, parting ways when I got off a few stops before them to go to the hotel the UF girls were staying at. We were all pretty tired that night, and stayed up talking for a little while but then went to bed. The next morning they had to be at the airport around 9:30 am, so we all had breakfast together at the hotel and then they left to fly to Brussels. After a hearty continental breakfast (which included a couple sanwiches I made and stuck in my purse for later), I took the bus to the hostel I would be staying at that night, a couple miles down the beach. I checked in and asked where I could rent a bike for the day. The people who ran the hostel made a call, and ten minutes later I was being picked up and driven to a bike shop. For 5 euros I got a bike for the whole day! I hopped on and headed towards the city of Palma, about 10 kilometers away. There was a nice bike path along the beach the whole way, and it was a beautiful ride.

I ended at the city's massive cathedral, and parked my bike to go inside. It was beautiful inside and out, with a ton of intricate stained glass windows.

When I left the cathedral it looked like it was about to rain, so I started to head back to the bike shop. It never did rain, but was pretty cloudy all day. It was warm enough, but definitely not beach weather which was a little disappointing, being on an island and all. That evening I went to get tapas and a drink with a couple others from my hostel, and went to bed fairly early.

The next day I had a flight around 3:30, so I planned to leave for the airport at about 1:00. I had the morning to spend on the island, but once again it was cloudy so simply laying on the beach wasn't really an option. I got coffee to go and took a long walk down the beach before going back to my hostel to pack up and leave. I took the bus to the airport and was off to my next destination.

Overall, Palma Mallorca was nice but probably not somewhere I would go again. It may have been better if the weather had cooperated, but it was also pretty touristy and reminded me a lot of some of the beach towns in Florida that have T-shirt shops on every corner. The cathedral, however, was beautiful, and I enjoyed my bike ride despite the sun's reluctance to appear.

Easter Break Part 2b: Edinburgh

On the 21st I flew from Palma Mallorca to Edinburgh Scotland to meet up with my friend Bobby for a couple days and then travel on my own for a bit. I got in around 8 pm and took the bus from the airport into the city. Right away I knew I was going to like Edinburgh. It got a friendly, yet slightly spooky vibe when I got off the bus at dusk, and it didn't hurt that the directions to the hostel were basically, "to the left of the castle". I made the fairly short, yet very uphill, walk to the castle, then down a set of steep stairs on the left side to the street the hostel was on. I checked in and waited for Bobby, whose flight didn't arrive until 11 pm. We decided not to do anything that night, but get up early to see the city. We got up the next morning and went to the hostel breakfast, and about halfway through his bowl of cereal Bobby started to not feel so hot. We speculate that it was food poisoning, and he was sick all day. Luckily, he had arranged for us to spend the next two nights with a friend of his from Texas, Alex, who was studying in Edinburgh, so we got to her apartment where he was able to rest all day in close proximity to a bathroom. I ended up going on a walking tour of the city by myself at 1 pm. It was a great (and free!) three hour tour that was very informative. Edinburgh has a lot of interesting history, most of which is based on fighting the English. I forgot my camera, so I didn't take any pictures until the next day, but here are some of the main sights the tour covered:

The Royal Mile, a mostly pedestrian street in the old town between the castle and the palace.

The Mercat Cross, used for public torture, announcements, and, on one occasion, to dispense wine for 24 hours.

One of many closes, which are staircase alleyways that connect the various levels of the old town, which is on a hill

A memorial to Greyfriars Bobby, the "guard dog" of the cemetery's caretaker. When his master died, Bobby went back to the cemetery to visit his grave every day until he himself died.

Greyfriars church

By the time the tour ended it was early evening, so I went back to the apartment, then went to get a few groceries for dinner (including some chicken soup for Bobby), and went to bed early.

The next morning Bobby was feeling much better, and, as it was his last day in Edinburgh, we headed out fairly early to pack in a day of sightseeing. It was drizzling when we left, so we decided to go do an underground tour first, hoping that by the time we got back above ground the rain would have cleared off. The underground tour took place in some of the many vaults that are hidden under the city, which used to be the location of lots of shady activities, including but not limited to dead body storage. It was pretty spooky, but also included a lot of the city's history. Let's just say I don't think I would want to go down there at night. When we got back up to daylight, the rain had not stopped, but gotten worse. We got lunch at a pub, and then, despite the rain, decided to go tour the castle. We did a half hour guided tour outside in the rain, then were able to go inside a lot of the buildings to escape the weather.

Edinburgh Castle

The oldest building in the Castle, St. Margaret's Chapel, was built in the 12th century

A view from the castle

After the castle I took Bobby to some of the sights I had seen on the tour, stopping at a pub along the way to warm up for a bit (I had coffee of the Irish variety). Later that afternoon we went to a cafe called The Elephant Room for tea. This was on my list of sights to see in Edinburgh, as it was where J.K. Rowling wrote much of the first few Harry Potter books. It had a great view of the castle, and the tea was delicious!

The room where J.K. Rowling wrote

View of the castle from The Elephant House

Afternoon tea :)

When we finished our tea, the sun had finally come out! The timing was pretty good (though it would have been nice if the rain had stopped a little sooner), as we had planned to spend the later part of the afternoon hiking up Arthur's Saddle, a hill at the edge of Edinburgh with a great view from the top. The hike was a lot steeper than we anticipated, but we finally reached the top.

After the hike, we went back to the apartment for dinner with Alex and a couple of her friends, and that night we all went out to a pub. Bobby left early in the morning for a flight to Oslo, and I went an Easter Sunday service with Alex then spent the early afternoon planning where I would go for the next couple days. By that afternoon I had booked a train ticket and a bed in a hostel for two night, and at 5:00 pm I was off to...

Easter Break Part 2c: Highlands and Islands

I took a five hour train ride from Edinburgh to Oban, a small fishing town on Scotland's West coast and part of the lower highlands. I arrived around 10:30 pm, checked into my hostel, and went to bed soon after. I woke up early the ext morning to head out on a day trip to one of the many nearby islands. I ate breakfast at the hostel and walked down to the ferry dock around 9:30. I got there just as a 9:50 ferry to the Isle of Mull was about to leave, so I bought a ticket and hopped on. On board I got a cup of coffee and sat out on the deck on the back side of the boat. The 45 minute ferry ride was beautiful and relaxing, and included sights like these:

Once I got to the island, I really had no idea what I was going to do all day. There were a few buses at the ferry landing going to different towns, and the one to a place called Tobermory seemed pretty popular, so I got on it. About 45 minutes later I arrived here:

 And this was right next to where the bus stopped:

I walked up the main street a little ways, then back to the distillery to see if they had tours. They did, and the next one was about to start. The tour lasted about a half an hour, and included a walk through the distillery with explanations about the process of making Scotch whisky, and a tasting at the end. Tobermory Scotch is quite delicious, I recommend it. After the tour I was getting hungry, and had seen a fish and chips truck on the pier earlier, so I went there for lunch. there was quite a line, but the wait was worth it. I got haddock and chips and ate on the edge of the pier, near a small beach.

After lunch I walked to the end of the main street, where there was a hiking trail leading up the coast. I walked for about half an hour, then turned back towards town.

A view from the trail.

 By the time I got back, I only had about an hour before I had to catch the last bus back to the ferry landing at 3:50 pm. I went in some of the shops, including one interesting store that was called "Books and Tackle". I also went in the town's small, free museum to learn a little bit of it's history. there was an interesting exhibit about a ship from the Spanish Armada that had sunk right in the harbor. It was reported to have been carrying a vast treasure, but no one has ever found it, despite repeated attempts as recent as last year. I had some ice cream, got a sandwich at the grocery store and caught the bus back to the ferry, then took the 5:00 ferry back to Oban. I at my sandwich for dinner on the boat, and then spent a relaxing evening reading in the common room of my hostel, watching the sunset over the harbor.

The ferry coming back to get me.

The following day was my last on the coast, as I had tickets for a 6 pm train back to Edinburgh. In the morning, I walked to the castle ruins on the road out of Oban that I had seen from the ferry the morning before. I found a trail that went straight up to the castle, and was surprised to find that it was free and open to the public. I was the only one there at the time, so going into the one remaining tower (which was very dark on the bottom level) was a little spooky, but I was able to climb a winding staircase up the tower and see all of Oban and the harbor.

The tower I went in

Upstairs in the tower

After spending a little time in the castle, I walked back down to town. I wandered for awhile, going in and out of shops that looked interesting. I stopped for coffee and a scone, and then went to the Oban distillery (yes, another distillery. I was in Scotland after all) to sign up for a tour. I got a spot in the 2:30 tour, so I had some time to spare. I walked around to the other side of the bay and up the road for awhile where I found a nice park at the Oban sailing club. I sat in the sun and watched the boats for a little bit:

Oban from the other side of the harbor

A boat coming into the harbor

I then walked back to the ferry dock, where I had remembered seeing a fresh seafood stand the day before. I got some mussels, that were cooked in the shell in white wine and shallots, as a late lunch. They were fresh and delicious, and a bargain at 3 pounds!

Delicious box o' mussels

By this time it was nearly 2:30, and I had to get to my tour here:

The tour was similar to the one in Tobermory, but a little more in depth. Also, they were actually distilling in Oban, where as the tour I went on in Tobermory was of an empty facility, as it was a holiday (the day after Easter). It was neat to see the process in action, and it smelled delicious. We got to try a sample of whisky straight from a single barrel, which is rare because the contents of many barrels of the same year are mixed together and diluted slightly before bottling. The distillery itself is the oly place in the world where this opportunity exists. We then also got to try the finished product, Oban 14 Year, and I even go to keep the glass with the distillery's logo that I used for my samples! The tour and tasting lasted about an hour and a half, and after that I went back to my hostel to pack up and look up directions to my next hostel. I left the hostel around 5:30 and stopped to get some fish and chips to go for dinner on the train. It was a nice ride back through the rolling hills and lochs at sunset, and I arrived back in Edinburgh around 11 pm. I stayed with Alex again, and got up at 3:00 am to catch the 4:00 am bus to the airport and my 6:30 flight.

I really enjoyed my time in Scotland, and it is definitely somewhere I would recommend visiting. Edinburgh was a beautiful city with a very interesting history, and had more of a small town feel to it than many cities I have visited in Europe. I would say it is definitely in my top five cities I have been to so far. The coast of Scotland was also beautiful, and my train ride through the highlands left me wanting to see more of that part of the country as well. It was also pretty nice to be in an English speaking country for the first time in over two months!

Easter Break Part 2d: A Day In Munich

The last leg of my trip was a very short visit to Munich. I flew out of Edinburgh early, and got to the airport around 10:30 am. However, the airport was about an hour and a half outside the city, so I took a bus and got to Munich's main train station at about noon. I checked into my hostel, which was conveniently located about a block from the station, and then tried to figure out how I was going to find my friends from Vienna who were also in Munich. We were all staying at the same hostel, and I knew they had gone on the 11:00 free walking tour the hostel hosted. I asked the worker at the front desk where and when the tour ended. He gave me directions, and I set off into the city.  Unfortunately, I left my camera at the hostel, and therefore have no pictures of Munich, but I can at least explain what I did and saw.

I had about an hour before the tour was supposed to end, so I went to a church and stopped for coffee before heading to the square where I would hopefully be able to spot the tour group. I ran into them on the way, and actually caught the last 20 minutes or so of the tour myself. There were six of us altogether, and as we left the tour group it started to thunder and lightning. We took refuge in a Starbucks, and spent nearly two hours waiting out the storm, talking about our various travels. When the storm passed we walked around a little more, stopping at 5:00 pm to watch the famous Glockespiel go off. The Glockenspiel is the clock tower in Munich's city hall, and resembles a giant cuckoo clock. Three times a day, the tower plays a few songs, and life-size figures dance and joust. We went back to the hostel to freshen up, then made our way to the Hofbrauhaus beer hall for dinner, and, of course, a beer. We ate traditional German cuisine, including giant soft pretzels as appetizers, and toasted our giant one liter beers. Everything was delicious, and we sat around the long wooden table listening to live Bavarian music, eating and drinking until about 10:30. We went back to the hostel, where I showered and went to bed, setting my alarm for an early hour once again to catch my 7 am bus back to Vienna.

My stay in Munich was short, but pleasant. It was nice to see friends and hear stories about everyone's travels, and the city itself was pretty and friendly. The beer hall was probably my favorite part, as the atmosphere was so lively and the epitome of what I picture when I think of Germany. The bus back to Vienna was very nice and comfortable, and the promotional price of 9 euros (for a 7 hour trip) really can't be beat.

So, all in all I had a great trip, but it's nice to be back in Vienna, and to know I will be able to sleep in the same bed for awhile. Vienna welcomed me back yesterday with warmth and sunshine, and the city looks even more beautiful than when I left. I love traveling and there is so much I want to see and do, but I have also grown quite fond of my daily life in Vienna and will be happy to return to it, at least for a little while ;)

A Month of Easter Break

Here in Austria, spring break works a little differently. It is nearly a month long. I finished up classes the week before last and am off until May 3rd, when I return to school for a final exam and the start of a new class. So what have I been doing/am planning to do with all this free time? Read on...

Last Sunday morning Ed arrived in Vienna for his long-awaited week long visit. I met him at the airport around 8:30 am, and we headed into the city to get in as much sightseeing as possible before he passed out from exhaustion after two overnight flights. We made it to a lot of the main sights of Vienna, including a tour of the Imperial Apartments at the Hofburg Palace in the city center. That night, we made dinner at my dorm and got to sleep fairly early.

Monday was another busy day in Vienna. We started with a 9:00 am tour of the Schonbrunn Palace, followed by some time spent in the palace's extensive gardens and finding our way through the hedge maze.

Schonbrunn Palace

The maze, from the platform in the middle

Giant eggs at the Easter Market outside the Schonbrunn

 Later that afternoon we did some errands in preparation for our trip to Slovenia and took a guided tour of Parliament. In the evening we went to see a murder mystery play at the English Theater.

We left early Tuesday morning to pick up our rental car, and arrived at the office around 8:30, only to find out that the rental car company we booked through had changed the pick up location and we were at the wrong one. Half an hour later we got to the right office, and by about 9:30 we were on the road. After figuring out how to get out of the city, we hit the highway and it was pretty smooth sailing until we had to get off the highway close to the Slovenian border, at which point Google maps took us on a road that looked like this:

It was a beautiful, nerve-wracking drive on a very narrow road that twisted up through the mountains with nary a guardrail in sight. Needless to say, we took it pretty slow and arrived a little later than expected. We got to Robanov Kot, a small village in the Savinja Alps of Slovenia, around 4:00 pm.We were warmly greeted at the farm/bed and breakfast by the owner, Marijana, with homemade blueberry schnapps and warm, delicious crepes. We dropped our bags off in our cozy room with two balconies overlooking the mountains, and drove back down into the valley to hike up to the waterfall before it got dark and/or started raining. We didn't quite beat the rain, but made it back to the car before it was more than a sprinkle.

The Govc Tourist Farm in Robanov Kot, Slovenia

The 300 foot Slap Rinka waterfall

 

 

 

 

 

The view from one of the balconies

At 7:00 that night, we had our first meal at the farm, as breakfast and dinner came included with our half-board accommodation (only 32 euros per night!) We had no idea what we were going to be served, Marijana just asked us what time we would eat and we showed up in the dining room. It turned out that dinner was a delicious four course meal with soup, salad, a main course of pork, potatoes, eggplant, and pasta, and some delicious cake with a maple-like frosting for dessert. After dinner we went to the sauna and hot tub for a bit, then headed to bed so we could wake up early for a day of adventure.


On Wednesday morning we went down to the dining room for breakfast, which had been scheduled for 8:30. This meal, like dinner, was a scrumptious feast of fresh-from-the-farm foods. We had fresh baked bread, homemade jam, honey and butter, a platter of meats and cheeses, a sweet cottage cheese made on the farm, eggs cooked to order, and plenty of coffee.

A great way to start the day!

At 10:00, our climbing guide, Andre, from  tour company called Adventure Valley, came and picked us up at the farm. We drove down into the valley to a limestone cliff popular for climbing, with a variety of routes for all different ability levels. We spent the morning working our way up to more difficult climbs, and finally both got stuck on a route called "Alien Trap".

Part of the wall (about 60-80 feet high)

Ed attempting to climb the "Alien Trap" route

After climbing, we went back to the farm to pack a quick lunch, and were then picked up by another guide for a bike trip in a closed mine. We drove through the mountains for about 45 minutes to the 300-year-old mine, where we were outfitted with bikes, helmets and headlamps before the metal gate was closed behind us. The tour lasted about two hours, and included a few stops along the way to see different areas of the mine and hear explanations of the history and the mining process. After leaving the mine, we rode downhill for a few kilometers to the mine's museum, then got a ride with the tour company back to our car at the entrance. It was a very interesting and unique experience, with a mix of history, geology and adventure. At one point the guide had us turn our headlamps off to see how completely dark it was in the mine, and get an idea of what a miner experienced when his light went out unexpectedly and he just had to sit down and wait for someone to find him.

WE got back to the farm that evening and once again had a delicious dinner. We were pretty tired from our day of activities and went to sleep right after we ate. On Thursday, our lat full day in Slovenia, we got up before breakfast to walk around the farm for a little bit. We once again ate a very filling meal at 8:30, and headed out for a day of hiking. We planned to hike to the end of the valley and up the mountain as far as we could before reaching snow, then back towards the farm and up the mountain on the right side. As we were leaving, the farms resident mischevious dog, Zen (probably not how it is spelled, but that's what it sounded like), began to follow us. We thought he would turn back a little ways down the road, but he seemed to be pretty excited to go on an adventure, and so we gained a loyal companion. We reached the end of the valley and started hiking up the mountain. We stopped for a break at a small waterfall, where Zen enjoyed drinking the fresh alpine water and splashing around in the pool.

Zen playing in the pool under the waterfall

Hiking to the end of the Robanov Kot valley

As we continued on, the trail got steeper and harder to navigate. We reached a point where there was really no discernible trail, just a rocky ledge with a wire handrail and metal spikes sticking out of the rocks as "steps":

The "trail"

 When we reached this point, Ed started to climb up a little ways to see what was ahead, while I stayed closer to the bottom, standing on one of the metal rungs and holding onto the railing. The loyal Zen tried to follow Ed up by climbing up the slightly grassy part on the right. He got about ten feet above me, lost his footing and started to slide down. I lunged to the right, holding the railing with my left hand, and used my right arm and leg to catch the falling Zen. If I hadn't caught him, he would have continued sliding down and off the cliff we had just come up via a very steep staircase.

Zen decided to lay down for a bit after his near death experience.

We didn't want to leave Zen behind, and were a little wary of the "trail" ourselves, so we turned back to bring our new friend home. We dropped him off at the farm, where he was distracted by some new people walking by long enough for us to slip away and continue our day of hiking. We spent the afternoon exploring trails going up the right side of the valley, passing through other farms up higher into the mountains before heading back down for dinner.

 We had our last supper on the farm that night, and a final breakfast the next morning before heading back to Vienna via the Mauthausen concentration camp outside of Linz. We stopped there for about two hours and took a very sad walking tour with audio guides before driving the final couple hours back to Vienna.

Saturday was the last day of Ed's visit, and we spent it seeing a few things in Vienna which we didn't get to in the beginning, including the Danube River and the Stephansdom cathedral and crypt. The crypt tour, which we had not planned on but happened to be there at the right time for, was interesting and slightly creepy. The older part was first built in the 13th century, and contained, amongst many caskets, metal jars filled with the preserved organs of the royal family. The "new" part of the crypt, built in the 17th century, was full of the bones of the more common Viennese, including a pit right under the center of the city where the bodies of the victims of the plague were dumped and buried. On Saturday night we got standing room tickets for the opera and went to watch the last 45 minutes or so, as we didn't really want to stand for an entire 3 hour performance. On Sunday morning I rode the train to the airport with Ed. Saying goodbye was hard, but we had a great week of new and exciting experiences.

Tomorrow I will kick off the second part of my spring break with an evening flight to Palma de Mallorca, and island off the east coast of Spain. I will meet up with the other three Florida girls there for a couple days on the beach, then fly to Edinburgh to meet my friend Bobby. I will spend a week there, then fly to Munich for a day and night with a few other exchange students and return to Vienna via bus. I haven't put a whole lot of planning into this excursion, besides knowing where I am sleeping most of the time, so we'll see how it goes. I'll try to keep friends and family updated on my whereabouts and write about the whole trip when I return to Vienna on the 28th. Until then, auf wiedersehen!